KOF School

Yagamusicians

Iori was relieved when his best friend texted him to ask what clubs he wanted to join for extracurricular. In the end, he decided on joining the school band and the basketball club. Aiko, on the other hand, decided on joining the badminton club and the school band together with her brother.
"It's been a while since I played my bass, and I want to do it again," Iori smirked at his sister. "Hey, what do you say you whip out your sax and we both have a jam session together?"
Aiko grinned, nodding. She quickly ran off to her room and returned with her rose gold saxophone. Iori brought out his bass and the two tuned their instruments before playing together.
It was a song the two of them wrote when they were younger, one that was called Cool Jamming on the Moon. They enjoyed playing music together after such a long time in exile.
Masaomi walked in as the two were engrossed in playing, stopping at the front door in surprise. Kazuhiro walked right into him, not noticing that he had stopped midway, and watched the two of them in awe. Iori's bass went well with Aiko's saxophone. Eventually, the musicians finished and ended up laughing. They were, however, quickly interrupted by applause, making them turn to see their father and uncle in shock.
"That was impressive," Kazuhiro chuckled as he came over. "One of your songs, was it?"
"Yeah, we call it Cool Jamming on the Moon," Iori smiled. "It's been a while since we played anything. I wonder how am I with my sax..."
He handed his bass to his sister and ran off to get his red-tinted saxophone. He tuned it for a bit and played the song with his sister again, with their instruments switched. Iori almost forgot how fun it was to play the saxophone, especially with this song. Aiko chuckled as she remembered the time the two of them wrote this song together in Iori's room, experimenting, crossing out some of the bars, then laughing at their desired outcome since it was so funny yet joyful and light. Starting out fun, then having a soft tone, only to become fun and funky again.
"Do you still have the scores for this song, Niisan?" Aiko asked when they finished again.
Iori nodded. "I do. I think it's in my manuscript file. I'll go look for it later."
"Imagine playing this on our school stage..." Aiko dreamily said. "Ah! That would be a dream come true!"
Iori noticed his father and uncle still watching them and chuckled sheepishly. "We're joining the school band. We were supposed to join a long time ago, but with the turn of events... forgot..."
Masaomi nodded slowly. "I see... at least you're joining something now."
"What sport are you two joining?" Kazuhiro asked as he sat himself down on the armchair.
"I'm joining badminton while Niisan is joining basketball," Aiko informed. "The teacher in charge is Niisan's PE teacher, and his friend's sister, so he already informed her about it."
"Oh okay," Masaomi nodded. "Is it the boy that came to visit you in the hospital?"
"That's him," Iori nodded. "His name is Kay Dash. Kind of a peculiar name if you ask me..."
"It is, his features are very unique too," Kazuhiro added. "Where is he from?"
Iori scratched his head and shrugged. "I have no clue. He had a messed up childhood after his mother died and his father went into a coma."
"Oh..." the older men said in unison.
"But don't worry, his dad woke up when he was ten so he's happy now," Iori quickly added, getting up with his bass and saxophone. "Anyway, Aiko. You wanna polish your saxophone? I know mine needs some polishing."
Kazuhiro quickly stopped him. "Hold it." He took a look at the reddish saxophone. "Looks fine to me. Also, don't ever try to polish your sax yourself. You got that?"
"Why?" Iori wasn't sure why polishing the red-tinted brass was a bad thing.
"Because it will mess the mechanics," Kazuhiro said, handing the instrument back to him. "So don't even try."
"But what if the paint chips or something?" Iori asked, still curious.
"Then we have to take the whole thing apart and redo the paint job," Kazuhiro said. "Now, go put it away in its case, don't leave it hanging around."
"Okay," Iori said, bringing it with him to his room. He turned to his sister and motioned for her to follow. "Aiko, can you help me look for the scores? I wanna take all of it out."
Aiko nodded and followed him, handing his bass back to him as she cradled her own rose gold saxophone and case. Iori closed the door as soon as the two of them were in. The older men burst into laughter when they heard more saxophone music coming from behind the closed door.
"Okay, so they're having another jam session in there," Masaomi chuckled. "Speaking of which, that's something we should be doing too."
His brother smirked at him. "Let's do it, then."

Kyo sighed as he looked at the Mathematics worksheet that Igniz had given for homework. He didn't understand a thing, the equations seemed to float around him, mocking him as if they knew he can't solve them.
It's not like he didn't study, Maths was something Kyo couldn't understand for the life of him, especially now in his senior year. Many people taunted him, saying that he would be that one student who had no choice but to spend a few extra years in high school since he was unable to pass the first few times. Goenitz, Takuma, Benimaru, and even his own father. All of them had pointed this out to him at least once.
Kyo took a deep breath and bent over the Mathematical equations one more time. Nothing lit up. Kyo then took his textbook out and started poring over that instead, trying to find the method of solving this equation easily. He stared at the instructions and frowned. The examples were far too easy compared to the ones grinning at him through the worksheet.
"Kyo?" He suddenly heard his mother call.
Kyo immediately turned around, trying to put on a brave face as she approached him. "Yeah?"
"Come to the living room, Kyo," Shizuka called. "There's a new movie released and we're gonna watch it now."
Kyo shook his head. "I can't, I have homework."
Shizuka looked at him in surprise. "But it's Saturday."
"Yeah, but..." Kyo groaned, leaning his head against the wood surface of his study table.
Shizuka sighed and went over to him, running her fingers through his hair. "Is something wrong, Kyo?"
"I can't understand those Maths problems no matter how much I try to learn it," Kyo confessed desperately. "I can't do Maths, I can't understand any of the equations! Am I really that dumb?"
"Oh, Kyo..." Shizuka lifted his chin. "You're not dumb, you're just a little slow. That's all."
Kyo sniffed. "Mom, even Shingo is a faster learner than I am. And people think he's dumb."
"He's actually not, he's still smarter than you," Shizuka couldn't help but say.
"You're not helping, Mom," Kyo groaned.
"Okay, okay, let's just go to the living room, your father is waiting," Shizuka chuckled, pulling him up. "Now, come on. The movie looks good." Kyo got up and reluctantly followed her out."