OMORI: RECITAL

Blisters

Another day, another time to practice. A day where he wishes he could spend time with his friends. It was getting close to September, school would start again soon but more importantly there would only be a month left to practice. He could hear Mari playing the piano downstairs already, it's too early.

Sunny headed downstairs to grab breakfast, he put two pieces of toast on his plate but only ate one piece. He didn't feel that hungry. He begrudgingly picked up his violin and was about to play until he heard a knock on the door, he listened out for a bit longer until realising Mari hadn't stopped playing, it was on him to open the door.

Sunny went downstairs, sliding his hand along the banister and heading into the living room before opening the door. "Aubrey?"

"Morning Sunny. Can I come in?" Aubrey smiled at him. Sunny moved himself out the way and shut the door after Aubrey walked in.

"So what are you doing here?" Sunny remembered what happened last night, part of him wanted to make sure she was ok.

"Sunny, I said I'd practice with you more often didn't I? This is me being true to my word."

Sunny blushes a little, she really did mean it, "I didn't think you'd be here the next day though."

"Well... Here I am anyway. Come on, let's go to yours and Mari's room so we can practice."

Sunny and Aubrey walk upstairs not before Aubrey stops and quickly listens in to Mari playing the piano. Sunny sees her stop and simply waits for her. Aubrey realised she was hanging around for a bit too long so she started climbing the staircase and headed into Sunny and Mari's room.

Sunny picked up his violin once again and Aubrey readied her flute. Sunny counted them in and they began to play from the beginning. Both of them made minor mistakes when they got to the middle but they were able finish the melody and ending without any problems, Sunny groans "That middle bit is so hard..."

"It is, I'm surprised Mari thinks that we can do something like this. Hero, Basil, and Kel really do have the easiest part since they just have to make their instruments sound like the ocean." Aubrey realigns the sheet music on the stand.

"Yeah, they don't have to put in as much work but at least they don't have to deal with all of this. When Mari changed some of the notes we had to deal with that."

"On the bright side it would be a bit too late for Mari to change things again, maybe she already sees it as perfect?"

Sunny sighs, "I hope so, let's keep at it."

The two begin to play again but halfway through Sunny starts wincing in pain, Aubrey takes notice of this and she stops playing. "Um Sunny? Are you ok?"

Sunny places the violin on his bed, "My hands and fingers just really hurt. I can push through it."

Aubrey looked at Sunny in concern, she shook her head and walked closer to Sunny, she held both his wrists and took a closer look at his hands, "Maybe Hero should take a look at that..."

"I'm fine there's no need to trouble him." Sunny tries to reassure her but Aubrey doesn't care what about what he just said.

Aubrey lets go of Sunny's left wrist but kept hold of his right as she started dragging him out of his room, "We're going next door."

"A-Aubrey!" Sunny stuttered, in the end he let her drag him out. She pulled Sunny all the way to Hero and Kel's house before knocking on the door.

Kel opened the door, "Oh, hi Aubrey, hi Sunny. What's up?"

Aubrey began walking into their house without even being given permission to enter, "Is Hero in? Sunny's having problems with his hands and fingers."

"Uh yeah, he's upstairs." He tries to look at Sunny's hands but sees Aubrey pulling him along by his wrist, "Don't tell me you two started acting like Hero and Mari."

Aubrey and Sunny blushed. Aubrey yelled at Kel, "No! Where'd you get that idea!?"

Kel rolled his eyes, he hears someone come downstairs and it turns out to be Hero. Looks like he heard Aubrey yelling at Kel.

"Hi everyone, what's with the yelling, Aubrey?"

"Nothing. Sunny said his hands and fingers hurt. They don't look good, can you take a look?"

Hero smiled, "No problem!" He takes a look at Sunny's hands before sucking in air through his teeth, "Yeah that's pretty bad. Sunny's got blisters."

Aubrey frowned, "What can we do for him?"

Hero smiled confidently as to reassure both Aubrey and Sunny, "Don't worry, I know what to do. Kel can you get the first aid kit and the sudocream from the bathroom?"

Kel nodded, "On it!" Kel darted upstairs and came down just as quickly with what he needed. Hero instructed Sunny to hold his hands out.

"Ok Sunny, this might sting a little but it will help to protect and get rid of your blisters." Hero started spreading the sudocream on the blisters, Sunny winced in pain as this was happening, "You're doing great, Sunny. Now, I just need to cover them with some soft plasters and you'll be all better in about a week." Hero placed the plasters one by one as gently as he could, "All done!"

Sunny then looked up at Hero, "Thanks."

Hero grinned, "No problem. You need to let your blisters recover so no playing the violin for awhile. I'll let Mari know about it so she doesn't push you to practice, ok?"

In that moment Sunny felt himself shatter, he has to waste a week or maybe more to recover, Sunny put on a cliff-face and nodded in response. He was worried that he'd fall short on time, that he wouldn't be able to get things right in time.

Aubrey's voice took him out of it, "Should we head back to yours Sunny?"

Kel smiled excitedly, "Can I come with!?"

Aubrey looked annoyed at Kel's insesity but Sunny nodded in reply to Kel's request.

Hero placed the plasters back into the first aid kit, "I'll come with too. I want to watch Mari practice."

Kel sighed and smiled a little, "Yeah of course you do."

The four headed back over next door and walked into the house. Hero broke off with the group at the stairs and went into the piano room where Mari was practicing. The rest headed upstairs into Sunny and Mari's room to spend time with each other.

Sunny instinctively picked up the violin before Aubrey caught him doing so and shut him down, "You can't play right now, Sunny."

"Right..." Sunny sighed as he put it back down, he sat on his bed with Kel as Aubrey began to practice again. Sunny couldn't help but look at her as she practiced, Kel however was fidgeting with some of Sunny's toys. Sunny sighed and grimaces, Aubrey came over to play with him and he just had to get blisters. He felt he failed her in a way but he was just failing himself for believing that. Sunny took a deep breath and just decided to keep watching Aubrey practice, the music dancing around his head.