Runaways [MikaYuu]

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

A/N: Okay, but I'm so excited for the next couple chapters. I spent my english class planning out the 4 possible endings I have after chapters 19-20 and I am so pumped! Enjoy this chapter!! xx

Three weeks have passed.

Yuu would say things feel like they're normal, but he'd be lying.

There was less than a week before he turned eighteen. Less than a week until his coronation. Less than a week until he'd be forever wed to Shinoa.

It was like he was walking straight into an inescapable hell with no way to turn around.

Yuu has spent the past three weeks pouring all his concentration into exactly what his parents wanted from him. He stayed up late, straining his eyes to study under the soft candlelight. Every Sunday he practiced fencing with Shinya, and by some miracle, he was slowly improving (to the point where he actually beat Shinya a couple of times). Yuu appreciated fencing as a safe outlet to release his frustrations, and he felt himself getting mentally and physically stronger as a result. He was horseback riding every weekend too. Chi still hated him, but he hadn't been bucked off her back since that accident a month ago and Yuu even brushed her mane once. He was also preparing for his orchestra performance, which meant practicing his violin for two hours every afternoon.

Since the fiasco with the crown's disappearance, nothing has been stolen from the castle since, which immensely pleased his parents (though, King Ichinose got enraged from time to time that the culprit was never found). They'd received many tips from greedy commoners looking for rewards - accurate to Yuu's prediction - but after proving the suspects innocent, they were left at square one once again. Eventually, Yuu's parents gave up and ordered a identical crown to be made.

Besides school, Yuu hadn't interacted much with anyone - mainly because he refused to talk to his friends about what was going on, though he knew Shinoa most likely filled in everyone on the juicy details - and the isolation was seriously getting to him. Yuu knew it was partially his fault, because he kept pushing away the people who genuinely cared about him and couldn't escape the ones who didn't. His messed-up thought process alluded to the idea that ignoring everything and everyone would make the problem go away eventually.

The clock struck five, signaling it was time to take a break from his studies to practice his violin. Yuu sighed, closing his Latin book and putting everything away into his satchel before finding his violin case under his bed. He lugged the heavy container onto his bed, unlatching it and revealing the shiny violin inside.

He retrieved the instrument, holding it by the neck as he grabbed the bow. Just as he was about to set his music up on his music stand, he felt a cool breeze rush in through his open window. A chill went down his spine and he turned around immediately, breathing a sigh of relief when it was just the window opening on its own.

The wind felt nice, Yuu realized, and he decided today he'd get some fresh air and practice outside today.

He opened the double doors leading his balcony all the way, dragging the music stand and music in one hand and his violin and bow in the other, because only wimps make two trips. Yuu readjusted everything to his liking and flipped to the first page of his piece - the fourth movement of Bach's Violin Sonata No. 3 in C major - before positioning the chin rest under his chin.

Yuu took a breath to steady himself, feeling his entire inside swell with anticipation before he dragged the bow across the strings for the first note and he was off.

The allegro tempo of the sonata was like that of a bird, free and fleeting. The notes were like second nature now; because he could play the rhythms like clockwork, his mind wandered off to places he didn't allow himself to think of, let alone speak about with others.