I thought I would get a Checkpoint .5 in as well tonight, but let's treat it as something for tonight in a different time zone then. This Checkpoint is more dialogue than I expected, but I hope you enjoy.
@Minami-chan: Thanks for reading as always! Before the butler cafe really comes into play, Yuichanzu will be dealing with their plans for the talent show event.
Checkpoint 42
After school, their time together finally arrived. The moments between had dissipated into a distant memory.
Fingers on the strings of the guitar, Kobayashi Yui absentmindedly watched her partner Imaizumi Yui narrate how the first day of preparations for the food committee part of the class had gone. They were alone in an unused music room to practice for the cultural festival.
With the afternoon sun filtering in through the drawn curtains, Zuumin’s smile seemed dazzling to the eyes. Lyrics fluttered through Yuipon’s head. The windows felt like they had opened, curtains blowing with the wind, sheets of music blowing away, and then it cut off.
Zuumin’s face was right in front of Yuipon’s. The shorter Yui asked, curiously, noticing that Yuipon’s hand on the guitar had fallen to side and that Yuipon was gazing off somewhere else. “Yuipon, are you listening?”
“Ah, sorry. I zoned out.” Yuipon sheepishly replied.
“That’s unexpected.” Zuumin giggled. “Should we move onto writing our song then?”
“That sounds good. Do you have a genre in mind?”
“I don’t know, but I like the song you were just playing on your guitar.”
The taller Yui paused in surprise. She murmured questioningly to herself, “I was playing something…?”
“Yea?”
Yuipon’s fingers settled firmly on the guitar and began to play the song that she had not been aware she had been playing before. The notes, she had imagined them in a moment of boredom while waiting for something fun to come. “Do you mean this?”
“That’s right.” Zuumin nodded.
“I think it’s not quite right though.”
“If you change the chord during that second part, then maybe-”
“Because it’s supposed to be a duet. It’s missing the other part still.” Yuipon blurted out, interrupting Zuumin. “Let’s write the other part now.”
A little surprised at first, the shorter girl clapped her hands together with a big grin and cheered, “Let’s do it!”
The two of them, sitting cross legged on the ground, a little haphazardly, made their song together. This chord, that note, this melody that would match, the essence that was Yuichanz melded together before they realized.
“Should I write it down?” Yuipon wondered aloud.
Zuumin responded, “Eh, Yuipon, you know I’m terrible at reading sheet music.”
“Just the chords. Just the chords then.” The taller Yui said as she searched for a pen and paper to write. Shaking the pen before starting, she jotted down what they had created so far.
Zuumin who had been watching then suggested, “Maybe also the sheet music.”
“Why?”
“I like Yuipon’s handwriting.”
Yuipon lightly retorted, “Music notes are just music notes.” She didn’t see how a line and a circle and maybe a bar would be pretty enough to be liked. Yet she still dug out a sheet and began to outline the notes, digging into her brain to remember what they had been playing.
Zuumin pointed to the a place on the paper, knowing that Yuipon was writing despite her remark, “We can write the lyrics here.”
Yuipon hummed, “We need to write the lyrics first then.”
"Yuipon’s killing dreams here.”
“We’re not done with writing the song either though.”
“It’s okay.” The short girl stated with an odd confidence and sang a quick line, “For example, doesn’t ‘
The stars in the sky are beautiful because we can’t ever reach them’ sound good with here?”
“Isn’t that sad?”
“Just a little.”
“It’s like a love that won’t come true.”
“The tune is already melancholic.” Zuumin said. “But, wouldn’t it be nice to write a love song?”
“Love, huh? Have you ever fallen in love before, Zuumin?”
“Not really. Maybe there was that boy back in elementary school, but…” Zuumin trailed off, furrowing her brows, glancing at Yuipon’s eyes almost sparkling. “What about Yuipon?”
“N-” Yuipon wanted to answer, but she couldn’t. Instead she looked away and said, “Probably not anything that can become love.”
“I’ll cheer you on.”
“How about marriage? Do you want to get married one day?” Yuipon gulped, feeling sweaty palms, as she added on abruptly.
Zuumin didn’t notice Yuipon’s near stutter at the beginning of her sentence, instead saying, “It would be nice to. If I got married, I would want to get married to someone who can deal with my occasional unreasonable requests. If there’s marriage, I guess there’s kids? I think having two kids would be good since having an odd number would be lonely.”
“You’ve really thought far ahead.”
“What about Yuipon?”
Yuipon paused, her mouth feeling oddly dry, “I don’t know. I guess, maybe something like I’d want to keep my own family name for convenience?” She didn’t know what words were coming out
“I’m the opposite. Rather than Zuumin or Imaizumi,” Zuumin shook her head. “I want to be called Yui by the person I marry.”
“What a lucky person.” Yuipon said. Tapping the pen in her hand to the rhythm of their song, she pondered upon a sudden idea, “How about
‘Please marry me’ for a line? No, it doesn’t really fit.”
“
‘Please marry someone better than me’ maybe.”
“And ‘
please forget about our good memories.’”
“This is too heartrending!”
“Isn’t it?”
“Let’s get back to writing the song. And make it a happier one!”
“Love isn’t all bitter or sweet. It’s bittersweet, right?”
“A sweet song would be nice though. I want to sing a happy song.”
Yuipon’s heart stung. “Yea, you really fit smiling.”
Zuumin replied, “That’s my line, Yuipon. I like Yuipon’s smile.”
“By the way, we’re performing this for the cultural festival, right?”
“Yes?”
“This is really heartrending.”
“Like I said!”
“But it seems like a good song.”
“True. It really is.”
“It’s a little embarrassing to say this about something we wrote ourselves.” Yuipon noted after both of them had said their self-praises.
Zuumin laughed. Pumping her fists into the air, the short girl proclaimed, “Well, let’s make it an even better song then!”
Agreeing, the two of them returned to working on their song. Singing, playing the guitar, writing down notes, almost mixing up the papers, time passed. The afternoon sun began to redden outside the window, and before they knew it, the day had begun to end.
While Zuumin sang a section that they had decided to have the shorter Yui sing solo, Yuipon’s hands on the guitar that were playing a still barebones accompaniment unintentionally stopped. Zuumin’s acapella captured her ears.
The short girl finished her singing. She had noticed Yuipon’s hands stop. Looking toward the window, she said, “It’s already this late? Maybe we should stop for today.”
“Yui-chan.” Yuipon said in the start of an answer, words slipping off her tongue distractedly before her eyes widened with alarm that she had called Zuumin Yui aloud. “Sorry, Zuumin. I-”
Zuumin placed a finger on Yuipon’s lips. “Yuipon, keep calling me that?” Her mouth curved upward only slightly. “Just for now.”
“Sure.” Yuipon couldn’t say anything else to the heartbeats ringing in her ears.
She didn’t know why she heard the song they had just been playing in that smile when neither’s hand was on the strings of their guitars. Perhaps it was the sound of her own pulse. Nonetheless, their practice stopped for the day.
Topic: Eccentric (TechiNeru+) [Short hiatus (likely to end after March)] (Read 27351 times)