That Summer

Chapter 18

After a week of not bringing up the spirit world to Haru, everything seemed to be normal. I went to class and visited Hiro every day while Haru continued searching for the greenhouse that I already went to twice now. Now that I only had one week left before summer break ends, I had to think about how I would break it to Hiro. I wasn't sure if I should tell him the truth or just make up another lie. But now that I knew I was repeating the same cycle when Hiro was a teenager, I didn't want to lie to him twice. I also had to think about Hana and what her deal was. She seemed upset that Haru wasn't being faithful a servant to her anymore. But it wasn't my fault that Haru didn't listen to her. He barely listened to me. With this aside, I promised to take Hiro to my music class to see Matt, the professor he also took.

Today, we were reviewing the basics of the piano and the grand scale. Hiro and I shared a piano in the back of the class so we didn't disturb other students. There was an in-class assignment where we had to compose a piece of our own. As everyone slowly started coming up with their compositions, I thought back to the piece Hiro showed me when I visited his house. I only read the sheet music once but I could remember all the notes and my fingers started to move on its own.

"Mirai, are you playing --?" Hiro started.

"You know this song as well, Mirai?" Matt appeared out of nowhere and cut off Hiro.

"You know it?" I stopped playing and looked at Matt in surprise.

"How could I forget? One of my students insisted on only playing that song throughout the entirety of my class. And to my surprise, you brought that student with you. Isn't that right, Hiro?" Matt smiled at Hiro and patted him on the back.

"It's been a while, professor," Hiro said quietly.

"I remember you were only a teenager when you took my music theory class. Now you've grown into a strapping young man. What have you been doing since the last time I saw you?" Matt leaned over the piano excited to listen while Hiro seemed a little embarrassed.

"He got his masters and now he's getting his Ph.D. here too." I chimed in knowing Hiro would be uncomfortable.

"Really? That's great. I knew you'd always be on the move. It's kinda surprising that you're still at this campus though. I remember our dean wanted to transfer you to another university in exchange for more funding. But you adamantly refused." Matt laughed as he recalled memories that obviously weren't a laughing matter to Hiro.

"I think he made a good choice to stay. When his thesis is done, this university will be just as distinguished as Stanford." I tried to be optimistic for Hiro since he wasn't being talkative.

"That would be amazing. Maybe then, Hiro can finally follow his real dream." Matt smiled.

"Real dream?" I looked at Hiro who was checked out of our conversation and looking at the blank music sheet.

"Hiro actually minored in music because he wanted to play the piano. In one of the reflection essays he wrote for me, he said he wanted to pursue music because there was this girl who loved playing the piano. He wanted to be able to play for her when she was sad. When she was happy, he hoped they could play duets together." Matt had a mischievous smile now.

"Aw, that's sweet. I didn't know that." I nudged Hiro who still wasn't listening.

"I see you found the girl you were looking for, Hiro? What was her name? M --" Matt started to ask.

"I actually came to visit you personally. Mirai hasn't started her in-class assignment yet." Hiro finally spoke up.

"Oh, right. I'm still lecturing. Come with me, Hiro. I want to show you something in my office." Matt motioned Hiro to follow him.