Music of Life - First Movement
Swinging his backpack onto his shoulders, Ryutaro Morimoto stole one last glance at his reflection in the mirror before grabbing his large, oddly-shaped instrument case and heading out the door, on his way to his first day as an 11th grade student at high school. An excited grin broke out on his face as he realized what this new year would mean for him.
I’m moving up… to the upper level band!
Ryutaro began to imagine what it was going to be like. He and his friends would finally get to join the seniors in the advanced ensemble, revered school-wide, as it was well-known to be one of the best high school bands in the country.
“Ryu!” A familiar, cheerfully light voice called from behind. Without even having to turn around, Ryutaro knew who it was.
“Chinen!” he smiled as the shorter boy ran up beside him and nodded in greeting.
“So are you excited?” Yuri Chinen beamed happily. “We’re finally moving up!”
“Yup! I even brought my French Horn today, even though we usually don’t get to play on the first day of school,” he grinned sheepishly.
“That’s okay, Ryu,” Chinen laughed. “I brought my flute, too. I thought that since we’re now in the advanced ensemble, we probably will get to play today. I think the upper level groups start rehearsing earlier in the year in order to get a head start at more preparation time.”
Ryutaro nodded. “Ah, I see. That makes sense. I wonder if Ryosuke brought his clarinet, then. Knowing him, he probably thought the same thing. He always likes to be prepared, planning out his actions before making a final decision,” he smiled, thinking of their friend.
“I wonder…” Chinen frowned slightly, at the mention of Ryosuke. Has he gotten over his love for Daiki Arioka yet? I don’t think Ryutaro even knows anything about that entire incident… Ryosuke’s never told anyone other than me, has he? But really, Ryosuke ought to move on… it’s been two years since that cruel senior broke up with him. Frankly, I don’t understand how Ryosuke could possibly still love him, even after Daiki already crushed his heart with rejection…
“Chinen, are you alright?” Ryutaro asked, wondering why his friend had left his sentence trailing off at the end.
“Oh, yeah, sure, definitely!” Chinen quickly recovered, bringing his thoughts back to Ryutaro. “I’m just… excited, is all,” he grinned forcedly.
“If you say so…” Ryutaro rolled his eyes. Chinen seemed to always space out after mere minutes. His attention span was like that of a squirrel. The two walked on, their chatter continuing aimlessly, and it wasn’t long before they were standing outside the front gates of the school.
“You ready for this?” Chinen asked, grinning up at Ryutaro.
“Ready. Are you?”
“Ready,” Chinen nodded back.
“Let’s do this.”
~~~~~
“There are more seniors here than I imagined…” Ryosuke Yamada whispered to Chinen as the conductor began explaining his class to the students.
“Yeah, but just remember, these are all the 11th graders from last year, so next year, we’ll be the seniors welcoming the new members of the ensemble,” Chinen smiled. “That’s so cool, isn’t it?” he whispered back eagerly.
“I guess, but still…” Ryosuke looked around the room and spotted the one face he had been dreading to see. “He’s here…”
Chinen froze. “Oh no, you can’t mean…” His eyes widened as he spotted the senior he knew Ryosuke had to be talking about - Daiki Arioka.
It had been two years, and Ryosuke had matured some, grown a lot, and mellowed out almost completely. By this time, he was no longer the hyper and cute little Ryosuke Yamada that had fallen for Daiki. He had even begun to think that he had gotten over the senior by now, even though whenever Chinen began on one of his occasional rants about how the boys in their grade were never pretty enough or cute enough for his standards, Ryosuke’s mind would always flash to an image of Daiki - the perfect boyfriend.
On the outside, however, he would always tell himself, and Chinen, that the guys were good-looking enough, and going to an all-boys school, there had to be at least one guy in their grade that Chinen felt would make a proper boyfriend for him. At that point, Chinen would always pout and turn away, Ryutaro would promptly shake his head ashamedly, and Ryosuke would laugh… and laugh… and laugh…
But now, seeing Daiki in person reawakened his heart, and uncontrollably, his heart began pounding at the sight of the older boy sitting across the room. He wanted to stop himself, but he couldn’t. He wanted to pull his eyes away, but he couldn’t. He wanted to block out all thoughts of Daiki, in fact, he had wanted to for two years now, but he just couldn’t.
“Okay, so let’s get into our sections so we can establish who are going to be the section leaders for this year,” the teacher, Mr. Kamenashi, requested in the form of a statement.
As the students all began to clamor around to find their sections, the seniors led the way, directing where each section was to be placed. Ryosuke soon found his way to his designated section, and greeted his fellow clarinet-playing friends Yuto Nakajima and Keito Okamoto, whom he had met last year in the junior band. Chinen made his way over to the flute section, and was met by a friendly greeting of a certain Kei Inoo, who then claimed the position as their section leader.
Ryutaro clumsily searched around for other horn players, but he had no idea who to look for, or even where to look. It seemed to him as if French Horns never really did have a set place in the orchestra. From his junior band experiences, because Ryutaro was the only French Horn player in the group, he had been moved at least six times by the end of the school year, depending on what instruments the conductor had wanted his sound to blend with the most at the time.
“Do you need help finding your section?” a senior with a cheery smile inquired.
“Uhh, yes, please,” Ryutaro smiled sheepishly back. “I play the French Horn.”
“Oh, well, then, you’ve already found the right place!” the older boy grinned. “I’m glad we have a new player this year, our sound is just going to be that much bigger and better! Right, Yuya?”
“Yup,” the boy sitting behind him agreed unenthusiastically.
The smiling boy laughed. “Way to be welcoming towards the new guy, Yuya.”
“We can’t all be as happy and hyper as you always seem to be, Daiki.” A smile tugged at Yuya’s lips, as he reluctantly got up and greeted Ryutaro.
“So how long have you guys been playing?” Ryutaro asked, trying to stall for time as he hurriedly memorized the names and faces of the two horn players.
“A couple years,” Daiki shrugged. “I’ve never actually thought to keep count. How about you, Yuya?”
“Me neither, actually. But I’m pretty sure you’ve been playing longer than I have, Daiki. Plus, you are first chair, Mr. Section Leader,” Yuya laughed.
“You’re our section leader?” Ryutaro asked, making sure he had heard correctly.
Daiki nodded. “Yes, and hopefully you won’t have a problem with that?” he smiled.
“No, no, of course not!” Ryutaro hastily replied. He didn’t want to make any enemies already; it was only the first day. “I was just making sure,” he insisted.
“It’s alright; try relaxing a little…” Daiki trailed off, indicating to Ryutaro to finish his sentence for him.
“Ryutaro,” he answered quickly. “But everyone just calls me ‘Ryu’,”
“Well then, Ryu, I’m pleased to welcome to the French Horn section of the advanced ensemble!” Daiki announced in a bright, smiling tone.
“Hope you enjoy yourself,” Yuya added.
Ryutaro nodded, “Thanks. I hope to learn a lot, too!”
My section seems pretty nice… At least I don’t have to worry that I won’t be accepted in the upper level band. I can’t wait to see what excitement awaits me this year! As long as the people around me are all as welcoming and friendly as Daiki and Yuya, nothing can go wrong… right?
~~~
A/N: Yay Ryutaro actually appeared in my Ryutaro fic!! hahaha xDD and Chinen, Yuto, Keito, and Yuya, too! heehee ^^ now only Hikaru is left! (yes, he is coming too!! X3) Well... not much happens in the first chapter, and the ending really didn't end up being much of a cliff-hanger, so it's kinda a fail, but it'll hopefully lead to more interesting things? ^^;; Thanks for reading anyway! :) On a side note, I'm really falling in love with ariyama (so it's kinda actually really sad that I've already broken them up in my own fic here... =___=) but I'm having trouble finding fics for the pairing... do you have any recommendations?? hahaa XD