War Is Over

Ch. 4

Hajime waved at Kaito, who dropped him off at the house. He was pleasantly surprised when he learned the people who wanted to take him in were the people who came to visit him the last few weeks. The elderly couple he had grown fond of, Kazuki and Mirai. Although he had protested a bit against it, he had accepted their offer with less hesitation than he had the initial offer of Kaito.

He slowly walked across the driveway to the house at the end. He was not really used to walking outside with his crutch yet, so he constantly stumbled over small obstacles like rocks and sticks. The small bag he carried contained some clothing he got from Kaito. When he came closer to the house, he started to hear the faint sound of music. A violin. No, two. Hajime unconsciously stopped and listened. It was a cheerful melody, but at the same time sad, bright, but deep, it made you feel invincible and vulnerable at the same time. Then the music stopped, quite abruptly. It was like he was thrown back in time. He stood there again, when the lights went out and the music stopped too. His heart raced, he felt dizzy, everything went blurry, and suddenly he was on the ground, panting like he had just ran a marathon. Cold sweat dripped from his chin to the ground. He struggled a bit to get up again, and to get his bag, that had fallen on the ground too. He just stood there for a few moments, catching his breath, and dusting himself off. When he finally reached the house, he was incredibly tired, and almost fell over again, if it were not for the door that gave him some support. He rang the bell, and the door was opened almost immediately, causing him to nearly topple over. Kazuki, who opened the door, quickly gave him a hand, and helped him inside. He sat him down in the living room, where Mirai was just putting away a violin.  "Good morning!" she said, "welcome to our home!" "Thank you for inviting me here madam, mister." He made a slight bow with his head. Mirai laughed. "No need to call us that young man. You can just call us Mirai and Kazuki." A little uncomfortable by the warm welcome, and still a little shaken from his experience outside, Hajime just nodded again. Kazuki gave Mirai a silencing look. "Come now, Hajime is recovering, he must be tired from the trip." He turned to Hajime. "Shall I show you your room? Then you can rest a while before lunch." 

Hajime woke up at twelve, as he saw on the little clock by the bedside. He had not really paid much attention to the room yet. Kazuki had brought him here, after showing him the bathroom. He had not said much, except "this closet is empty, you can put your stuff here", and "get some rest, I will come and get you for lunch".  Hajime only saw the bed. As soon as his head hit the pillow he slept.  Feeling a little more relaxed and rested, he sat himself up on the bedside and looked around. The room was not big, but it fitted the necessary things. A bed with drawers under it. A desk that was slightly too big for the room, but with a lot of storage space too. Above the desk a single shelf sat upon the wall, half-empty as if someone hastily took a couple of things away from it. In the corner stood a small closet. The window took up a whole wall, and it provided a view of the meadows behind the house and a small lake in the distance. He absently opened one of the desk drawers, only to find it absolutely packed with sheet music. Hajime recognised them, as they were well-known pieces for violin, violin and piano, or concerto parts. The next drawer also contained sheet music, but all from the same composer. The composer nor the pieces looked familiar to him. Some pieces were not even finished yet. Maybe someone in the family wrote their own music. 

A knock on the door and it opened. Kazuki peeked around the door, and his face lit up when he saw Hajime was awake. "Ah Hajime, good to see you're awake. Did you rest a bit?" Hajime nodded. "Yes, thank you." Kazuki came inside and saw the sheet music. "You know those pieces?" he asked. "Yes, most of them. Only this composer, I've never heard of." "Ah yes, those were written by my daughter. Do you play an instrument yourself?" Hajime did not notice the glint of sadness that went over Kazuki's face. "Yes, I play....played the piano actually." Kazuki noticed his hesitation  "If you can play, you can play young man. It might be good for you too. We have a piano downstairs, you can play whenever you want. But if Mirai hears this, I think she will nag you until you play a duet with her. So you better practice first!" Kazuki laughed. Hajime smiled politely and looked at his hands. They were once soft and white. But they were hardened from his time in the army. They looked red from the fresh scars. They had been bloodstained many times. How could they make music again?

When they came downstairs, Mirai just walked past with a plate filled with freshly baked buns and bread. Hajime felt his stomach rumbling when the smell reached his nose. "Come, we can eat outside, the weather is great! Oh, and Kaito is here too, Hajime!" This surprised him, since Kaito was always working at the hospital. But Hajime was glad he came. They grew close in the past weeks. Kaito worked hard, so he did not have much time to go out with people of the same age. He and his father ran the small hospital together, with the help of a few more nurses. So when Hajime was recovering, Kaito talked to him whenever he had some spare time or helped Hajime with an exercise or something. Hajime mostly listened, glad someone distracted him from all the things going on. Kazuki and Mirai walked outside, and Hajime followed them, still a little unstable while stepping out the door. Kaito rushed to help him, and Hajime let him, despite mumbling he did not need help. When they all sat around the table and started eating Hajime silently listened to Kaito and Mirai talking. He stared at the edge of the table, trying to not get lost in his thoughts. His chest felt heavy. Mirai stopped talking and looked at him. "Have you eaten enough?" she asked, like a worried mother. Her eyes were fixed on his. Hajime looked up. For the first time he noticed the colour of her eyes, here outside in the sun. They were green, but not just green. Suddenly the garden started to spin around, blurring and morphing, revealing a bloodstained face. Green eyes filled with tears. A hand on his arm, no at his throat. He could not breathe. "Let....go..."