"Y'know," Kaede began, as usual, "there is said to be a piano in the middle of Habahiroi. Although no one has seen it, some people have claimed to hear piano noises in the woods..." She paused... dramatically. Her hands put slightly out, raised to shoulder length. Rotated then little by little.
"You guys wanna check it out later?"
"There's no way there's a piano in the middle of the forest, that's just a myth. Even Daisuke studies there sometimes! And he's heard nothing so far, right Daisuke?"
"Yeah, that's right," Hiro chuckled, pointing at Kaede. "Don't believe everything you hear, Kaede-san."
Kaede "hmph"-ed in response. Not long after, she started again, "well, tell us if you her anything Daisuke-chan, and we'll discover the secret together! Right Tsutomo-chan?"
"Yeah!" Tsutomu thrusted his fist into the air. "Wait, maybe we'll get a reward for busting the mystery?"
"I don't think we should be looking for a reward, you know? That way we're not doing it because we want to, but we're doing it because we just want the reward, right?" Hiro said, while staring at the school's front door. His friends saw that he was absorbed in what he was seeing, so, almost automatically, his two friends also stared.
★
"What're you up to today, Shizuko-chan?" asked a girl with curly black hair.
The girl presumed to be Shizuko answered, "the usual."
"Awwwhh! When are you gonna tell me your secret place? I wanna study with you there!!" complained the girl. Shizuko just giggled, and was off.
★
Kaede then made "the Face" when she had brilliant ideas.
"ね、広ちゃん、 what if we go study with you today?"
"Okay, but we really need to focus on studying, no weird stuff."
★
"Nowwhy... exactly.. did we run..?" Hiro questioned between pants.
"So.. we could...study," sighed Kaede.
5 minutes of silence until a "This was all useless! Turns out there is no piano!" that came up from Tsutomu.
"Alright, what if.. we start studying... now?" Hiro said with a wheezy voice. Kaede and Tsutomu agreed vacantly.
In accordance with their vacancy, Kaede packed up and announced, "I'm gonna study at home now!" as Tsutomo went alongside her. Hiro sighed and continued his own studies.
★
「できた！」cheered Hiro. He sighed as he packed his things. And suddenly, he found himself deep in the forest. "And I told Kaede-san not to believe everything she heard.." Hiro sighed.
As if his problem wasn't big enough, he checked his watch.
"IT'S 6:30 ALREADY!?" he screamed at his watch. "Oh no! I have to get home quick!"
★
He slumped against a tree, panting and sweating, after a long attempt to find the way back to his house.
"6:45," he murmured, dropping his arm at his side. "I hope okaasan didn't send a whole search party looking for me... I knew running around was a bad idea." So now he learnt his lesson and walked. This time he finally found the way out.
「お兄ちゃん！どこに行く？ 大丈夫？」 Hiro's younger sister screamed while checking him.
Hiro laughed at her and replied, "I'm okay, don't worry.."
"Where were you this whole timeee!?"
"Ummm, Ongaku de Mori...?"
「ええええええええ!?」
"Shhh! Sunny, calm down! Me and my friends we're just studying there!"
Sunny stared at him down. "You usually don't study for over an hour..."
"Yeah, well-"
"Oh! Were you also talking about the piano competition?"
Daisuke tried not to "declare" a staring contest. "Um... What..?" Daisuke inqired in return.
Then it struck him.
--
banner credits : https://pin.it/59NxnIQJq
first published at 5:38 P.M. Tuesday March 19, 2024
YOU ARE READING
Cognizance
General Fiction"I can't really remember... It's one of those memories that you're not sure if it was real or not.. I guess..." ◇ There was a boy who was pressured to join a piano competition, but he hasn't practiced in years. Then he meets a girl who helps him pra...
