Salut D'Amour

Measure 10: In the Eyes of the Cello

SHIMIZU’S POV

***

“So will it be the chicken fillet or the French cuisine, sir?”

I slowly look up and come face to face with a girl who was smiling brightly at me. I notice that her hair is purposefully slick to one side and there is a tinge of pink on her cheeks. Did she have a fever? I look again at the menu infront of me and resume reading the long list of names in swirly letters. The letter ‘s’ in the word Spain reminds me of an image of one of the first G-clefs ever to be written. It had the same squiggly and funny twist at the end.

Speaking of G-clef, I had brought with me an almost-exact copy of Bach’s cello piece and it had the same funny looking G-clef as well. I smile and think to myself – music isn’t really about perfection isn’t it? Even the greatest musicians loved to use music for fun.

“Er…sir?” a

I look up again and see the same girl although this time, her smile is no longer as bright as before.

“Yes?” I reply then the strangest thing happened – her face turns to a deep shade of red. Did her fever suddenly rise? Is that even possible?

“I…I must go…” She squeels and she runs away. Did she go to see a doctor? I smile and return to the menu. Good for her.

“Oi Shimizu-kun! Have you chosen a dish yet?” That voice only belonged to Kanazawa-senpai who was waving at me as he entered the dining hall. I smile at her and he sits himself on the empty chair beside me.

“That’s strange…I was expecting Hihara to be here first. Is that kid alright?” He mutters scratching his head. I look around and see that although the dining hall consisted the main deck, the number of chairs did outnumber the number of people. The chandelier hang about silently as people sheepishly chose their own table to sit upon, chatting with their few acquaintances. The waiters, however, were like lightning. They seemed to be hopping from one table to another in a matter of seconds and always had the silver trays carried in a balanced manner. It always amazed me how they could move that quick.

It reminds me of Tsuchiura-senpai’s fingers.

They were agile but very light. They hardly seemed to touch the keys but the sound begged to differ. I could never put myself to believe that such a strong guy could be so gentle. He reminded me of a bear.

“Kanazawa!” We look up and see that Hihara-senpai had just entered the room, beaming in brightness. Thinking about Hihara-senpai makes me smile.

He’s always so bright and happy. So joyous. And whenever he played the trumpet, it was like the sun was shining always. Hihara-senpai always made me smile.

“Yo Shimizu-kun!” He waves at me and I give a slight bow. But as he has arrived quickly, he ran away much quicker. He ran towards the fountain at the center of the room. “Sugoi! This is awesome!” Hihara-senpai enthusiastically inspects the fountain.

“He sure acts like a first year.” I hear a sigh and see the bear Tsuchiura-senpai. I give a bow and he just sighs. “Hey Shimizu…Sometimes I can’t believe that he’s almost a college student.” Tsuchiura-senpai smiles at me as he joins Kanazawa and I at the table.

“Oi! Yunoki! Look at the design of this fountain! It’s got all of our musical instruments in it!” Hihara-senpai calls out for the person who has just emerged from the door.