Burnt to Ashes - Kenichi Todoroki

Seen Behind Shadows

Kenichi's POV:

Another day came and went, and I didn't even want to be there. I couldn't get away from Shinju. Somehow he'd always be a part of me, and as much as I didn't want to accept that, it was the cold hard truth. And I did say I rather have the cold hard truth than a warm soft lie.

Ryker's club ended ten minutes later than mine, so I decided to swing by the room. Tons of instruments were in there, and it seemed to be some kind of music club. Not only was Ryker there, Milo and the Astaroth kid were too.

Ryker had a cello, Milo had a violin, and Astaroth had this bigger cello that just stood up.

"I didn't know you played the cello," I muttered to Ryker.

"How could you not?" Milo raised a brow. "He's played at least for me before."

"Maybe I forgot," I said, "my bad."

"Don't you play violin?" Ryker asked me.

"A little," I responded. "Just a bit. I take it from my brother sometimes but I would never take lessons or whatever," I paused, "and is that a big cello?"

"A bass," Astaroth corrected me. "It's a bass."

"A bass," I echoed. "That's just a four stringed guitar, that's not a bass."

"Okay you need a little lesson on music, Kenichi," Ryker snorted. "That's a bass, specifically a double bass. It's basically a giant violin, same strings and everything, just a lower octave."

I shrugged, "Same thing."

"We've been working on something if you'd like to hear," Ryker plucked a few of his cello strings as he spoke, "Violin, cello, and bass duet."

"Let's hear it," I pulled a chair and crossed my legs, acting as if I was deeply judging them.

"This is, uhm–" Milo flipped over a sheet of paper, "Serenade for Strings by Antonín Dvořák."

"We're supposed to have Maxwell on viola and violin two at once, somehow but, he couldn't make it," Astaroth muttered.

Ryker counted, and they began.

What I had noticed was how they all somehow blended together nicely. It was only the first week of school; how did they manage to work through this? Must be musical geniuses.

When they finished, Ryker said, "And that's all we have so far."

"It sounds really good, actually," I said. "How did you manage to learn all of that so fast?"

"Practicing, of course," Astaroth mused. "Only way you can be good at anything."

"I think more specifically, slowly building." Ryker added. "We marked a section to work on, then we started just learning the notes. Then the rhythms. Then we added in things like slurs and crescendos and other dynamics. And when we mastered all that, we practiced putting the parts together and coming in at the right time."

"The perfect way to learn anything," Milo agreed.

"Right... Ryker, we gotta go, remember?" I turned to him.

"Oh yeah, you're right," Ryker put his cello on his lap and pushed in the end pin. "Milo, you can drive home on my motorcycle, just come pick me up tomorrow."

Ryker dropped the keys in their hand. "Will do," they said.

Ryker and I made our way to the library, which I hadn't visited yet. It was huge to say the least. Shelves and shelves of books stacked to the ceiling and six floors, as large as the school, running straight through the middle. A giant dome-shaped window was at the top, letting in the sunlight that would only be present a few more hours.