Expression

Chapter Forty-one

It was as if Noriaki couldn't get a break from conversation today. Not that he minded this development; he simply wasn't used to it. He dialed Marco's number.

"Hello?"

"Marco! It's Kakyoin. You play piano, don't you?"

"A little bit, yes."

"I've been thinking about learning how to play music."

"Huh! Oh, I never did remember to get a piano for my apartment, did I?"

"I mean, I never even got the bookshelves I needed for mine. But do you have a suggestion for how I should start to learn piano?"

"Well, there are people who give professional lessons. But those are rather expensive, you know. I could try to teach you."

"I'd appreciate that." Noriaki paused. "Wait. How would you even get a piano into your apartment anyways."

" ... Oh. You're right. I could get a keyboard, though. I've been looking about getting into synths. I can still teach you about piano with that, of course. The experience will be different, but at least applicable."

"That sounds good to me." As Noriaki set another appointment, he found that the winter was becoming not so boring, not so empty, after all.

Elise arrived the next day. She looked around at the messy, under-furnished apartment, saying nothing, waiting for Noriaki to call Polnareff. As they waited for him to show up, she gave a nervous, excited smile.

"Allo?"

"Polnareff? Is it you?"

"Oh! This is Elise, isn't it?"

"It is. I'm here with Kakyoin. Listen, I wanted to apologize for everything that I've put you through. You didn't deserve any of it."

"Thank you. I don't blame you anyways. I blame myself, to some extent. I allowed my anger to blind me so that I was working with the man who killed my sister."

"It's not your fault. DIO used that anger against you. He took advantage of the tragedy." Noriaki tried to reassure Polnareff. This was a converation he'd been through before, with just him and Elise. He hoped he knew the right things to tell Polnareff to comfort him.

As the talk continued, he watched the tension easing from Elise's face, a sort of relief taking its place as a burden she's long been carrying began to slide off her shoulders. While he couldn't see Polareff's face, there was a change in his voice that, too, was impossible to ignore. He spoke more freely, more lightly, even laughing now at times.

Noriaki could tell that Elise was suprised. She wasn't used to this side of Polnareff, this man who loved to joke and show that he cared through exaggerated gestures of friendliness. She'd only known the Polnareff consumed by grief and anger, Noriaki realized. He would have hated to know what had gone on in Polnareff's mind while she was there. It certainly didn't have as much joy as this, if at all.

"You know, Polnareff... I never could have expressed this to DIO, but I really was happy when I heard you'd killed J. Geil," she said when Polnareff mentioned the event. "I didn't hold malice for a lot of the people who worked for DIO, but he was one of them."

"Thank you. I just wish it could have brought Cheri back."

"I'm sorry she can't be here any more," Noriaki said. "But I'm sure that, in her time here, you were a wonderful brother to her. I know you, Polnareff. You're a good, kind-hearted man. I'm sure if you could ask her, she would say that her life was worth it just for knowing you."

Polnareff spoke with that tremble of a crying person. "I hope I was. She was a wonderful sister; she deserved the perfect brother. Everything I did... was me trying to be that for her."