Emotionless

7 - Through the Looking Glass

Okami (before running into Haruhi)

'This school...it is...unnecessarily large,' I thought to myself, hoping I would find an empty room sooner rather than later.

Soon enough, I happened to stumble upon Music Room #3 and decided to peek my head inside to ensure that it wasn't occupied. I quickly regretted this decision as I struggled to keep a look of disgust off of my face, trying to ignore the rose petals that tumbled through the air and passed by me out of the door. There were already 7 people gathered inside, grouped together in the middle of the room and facing the door as if they'd been expecting someone. Clearly, I'd interrupted something.

"Welcome to the-"

I bowed, interrupting the group with a quick "my apologies," before shutting the door, effectively cutting them off. I didn't want to be around them any longer than I had to, and at this point, I really didn't have to.

I could faintly hear confused voices muffled by the door as I turned to walk away. 'I guess I should keep looking.'

I continued walking around the huge campus once more until I came across yet another music room, which I was sure I'd passed at one point before without realizing it. Music Room #4.

'Hopefully, there are no lunatics behind door #2...'

I opened the door much more cautiously this time, but when I was met with silence I fully peeked my head inside, relieved that it was empty.

'Jeez, about time. I swear this is the only quiet place in this entire obnoxious sickly pink school.'

After unpacking my trunk of instruments I decided to continue to wander while I wait until most students had already left campus before I considered playing any of my instruments. 

...

(Present time, after Haruhi ordeal)

When it was time and I could hear the bustle of students on their way to leave, I finally pulled out my violin, starting by playing a slow, sad piece on the beautiful strings. I liked to mix up my music quite a bit though, so the slow piece was quickly followed by the much faster-paced Roundtable Rival by Lindsey Stirling.

When I was satisfied, I decided to switch to my other instruments - my flute, piccolo, and trumpet, in that order. I played to my heart's content, ignoring the sounds of the last few students wandering the halls as I continued to simply waste time before continuing my investigation here.

I switched to playing the piano that sat in the middle of this room. All the while, memories from my past had been flashing through my mind, nagging at me after thinking about them so much earlier. I tried to use the piano to get these emotions off of my chest. 

My fingers practically trembled as I shook the memories away, distracting myself by placing a delicate touch onto the ivory keys of the grand piano before me. The room was so incredibly empty and yet here I was, wishing for all of the noise to just stop. I needed an outlet, I needed one single sound that would drown out all of the other ones. 

I took a staggering breath before I realized what was happening to me, and it felt like my heart stopped. My closed eyes silenced all of my other thoughts before snapping open to calmly continue to play any music that came to mind in this hauntingly crowded, abandoned room. My fingers flew across the keys, stringing together beautiful chords with the help of my foot against the piano's pedal, rhythmically releasing and stepping and releasing and stepping...