His Lie in April - 四月の彼の嘘 (Shigatsu no Kare no Uso) (COMPLETE)

Trouble Lies Ahead

NOTE: As I said, starting with this chapter, things will only partially follow the original from until episode 13 of the anime/chapters 24 to 26 of the manga. After that latter point (which will be at chapter 38, published as of May 22, 2019), things will start to diverge from the original story entirely.

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Kaori's last-ditch ploy to get Kousei, who was still stuck in his ways to be her accompanyist, finally worked.

Both Kaori and Kousei got to work on performing their parts for the competition. 

Even as all this encouragement to play again was coming back to him, Kousei had moments where he couldn't shake off flashbacks of his mother being cold-hearted towards him. But Kousei would try and press on the best he could as he arrived at Towa Hall with Kaori, with Tsubaki and Watari watching from the audience. 

Both Kousei and Kaori had prepared rigorously to get them ready for this day. Things were looking good. Kaori told Kousei, "Please, try and look up to me." 

This was because Kousei would often look downward as he played. Kousei started off by adjusting the piano bench to his liking. The audience members remembered Kousei from all his previous competitions, but they also had some questions as to why he had an accompanist- it was the first time he had performed with one, ever. 

As they had designated beforehand, Kousei and Kaori performed Camille Saint-Saëns' Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso. Things started off smoothly for the two, but those flashbacks of his deceased mother watching him from her usual spot in the audience caused him to black out briefly, pounding the keys and playing them off-key, until he just didn't want to play. His motive was that he didn't want to disturb the audience. With this, Kaori halted her playing of the violin, as well. 

She took a moment to get her train of thought back on track and continued. As Kaori played solo, Kousei remembered what his mother reminded him of what he told him about the piano. "The piano is you. If you touch it gently, it will smile. If you touch it with force, it will become enraged." 

Those words never left Kousei, as they stuck with him like glue every time he played. However, just as their performance reached its climax, something went horribly wrong. Kousei suddenly stopped and put his hands on his chest. Oh, god, what is going on with me? I can't play or think straight! He thought. His breathing became increasingly labored, and then Kousei's glasses collapsed, and he fell face-first into the piano; all the piano keys produced a sound that all the keys were hit out of tune. 

The audience gasped lightly at first upon seeing this. Kaori, somewhat oblivious to what was going on with Kousei at first, continued without him, but as Kousei stopped and eventually collapsed, she shockingly gasped over what she saw. Oh, my god..... I think Kousei is having a heart attack! She thought to herself as it happened. 

The audience gasped even louder and were also left in shock as to what happened. It was as if all time had stood still. It didn't take long for someone to notice, and an ambulance arrived on the scene, and rushed the unconscious Kousei to Totsuhara General Hospital. Kaori was shell-shocked. "I don't like this..... now I'm scared, and Kousei might have had a heart attack...." 

The P.A. Announcer at Towa Hall came on, saying "Due to this unfortunate event, the remainder of this musical competition has been postponed to an unspecified date. We apologize to everyone in attendance and those who have participated." Watari and Tsubaki were also as shell-shocked as Kaori was.