the violin idiot ✩ k. tsukishima x fem!oc

𝐜𝐡 𝟐 ✩ 𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭

𝟎𝟐

𝟏𝟎:𝟎𝟎𝐩𝐦

Tsukishima was reviewing his notes for the day. His pencil tapped on his desk in boredom as he listened to movie soundtracks to study. He was on the last subject before he was ready to retire. He scanned the pages with disinterest, forcing his attention which was dwindling.

Movie soundtracks were always a safe bet to listen to. The lack of lyrics allowed him to concentrate. Listening to The Lost World's soundtrack always allowed him a sense of giddiness. Still, the girls he saw from before sent him into unease. He had ignored the feeling for most of the night and was proud of the amount of reviewing he was able to do.

He looked down at his English notes and reluctantly put them away. He pulled out his laptop to open Google.

He began by searching for violin covers of the Jurassic Park main theme, saving some of the videos he found into a YouTube playlist. As he continued down the rabbit hole, unsure of exactly what he was searching for, he discovered a variety of violin covers—classical, rock, and even Vocaloid. His interest grew, and he transitioned from watching covers to exploring YouTubers who reviewed violin performances.

The YouTubers reviewed Japanese violinists in one video, leading him to web articles and eventually to violin competitions in Japan. One particular article featured the top competitors from the Sendai International Music Competition. His eyes widened when he recognized the brown-haired girl and the red-haired girl among the top competitors.

He hovered over the brown-haired girl, now identified as Hoshiyama Mitsuko, and clicked on another article about her. Unbeknownst to him, it was a hit piece attributing all her awards and talents to having Hoshiyama Mizuki as her mother. He scoffed at the content, dismissing her as nothing more than a privileged 'golden spoon' girl. She likely didn't have to work at all to earn her position in the classical world.

His thoughts drifted to the girl on the hill and her unwavering persistence to play. There was a blend of beauty and stupidity in her determination to continue, even amidst her apparent suffering. Something in it felt strangely familiar, which unsettled him.

He stared up at his ceiling for a moment and wondered what she might be doing now.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

𝟏𝟎:𝟒𝟕𝐩𝐦

Evening practice dragged on longer today.

Mitsuko recalled starting her practice just after dinner, around 7pm. Since then, the silence every time her bow disconnected from the strings of her violin had become almost unbearable. When she played, she could focus on simple things like intonation, articulation, or phrasing. When she stopped, she could only think of her mother.

Hoshiyama Mizuki, the prodigy who birthed a prodigy. Thoughts of her were rarely ever simple.

She veered the slightest bit off track in her bowing, producing a sound that only she could perceive as incorrect. Frustrated by her lapse in focus, she cursed herself. She knew better than to allow herself to falter at the mere words of high school orchestra members.

She intended on playing Caprice No. 5, that accursed piece that left her in second place, over and over until she felt satisfied, but that feeling of satisfaction was only ever achieved through perfection.

Every minute error was grounds to start over, even if she was nearing the end of the piece. She huffed, cursing either the flimsiness of her tingling fingers or her decreased mental concentration from playing for hours.

Again.

Again.

Again.

Mitsuko heard her older brother pounding on her bedroom door. A signal that she needed to quiet down for the night. A signal she already ignored at least twice before.

She uttered a half-assed apology across the door and wiped the sweat from her forehead with her arm. She carefully packed up her mother's old violin away for the night, sighing as she grabbed her black headphones from her desk and hopped onto her bed.

She put them on and sunk into her bed. She grabbed her phone and muttered a curse when she saw the time. She shook her head, connecting the wire to her headphones to her phone and blasting rock music into her ears before any unwanted thoughts could creep in again.

She bit her lip and slowly turned her palms upward, staring down at them. Her callused fingers were red and swelling, exhausted from overuse. She examined them further for blisters, seeing two new ones.

She glanced behind her to check if she had closed her curtains yet, quickly seeing that she hadn't. She propped her body up, kneeling at the window. She was about to close her curtains when she saw a beautiful full moon illuminating the night sky.

She paused her music, a gentle smile gracing her lips as she sighed wistfully, gazing at the celestial beauty. She had always been deeply fascinated by the moon and stars, even as a child, but the moon held a special place in her heart.

She rested her head on her folded arms atop the window sill, graciously embracing the calm of the night.