It Started at the Temple {Akaza x Reader}

Chapter 4

"Oh hello Y/N, and I suppose this is your father?" Giyuu sounded the same, his voice almost emotionless.

Wait, how did he know my name? I never mentioned it to him before.

My father shook Giyuu's hand, "Yes I'm Sumiyoshi Kamado, and you are?"

Giyuu seemed to be surprised by something and then he was back to normal, "I'm Giyuu Tomioka sir. Your daughter will be in good hands."

They let go of each other's hands and Giyuu stepped out of the way as his arm motioned us to walk in. "Come inside, please, and you can place the koto on the rug in front of mine," and with that my father smiled and walked in with me right behind him.

I glanced at Giyuu with a smile as I passed him and he didn't return it. I was starting to feel like our session wouldn't be what I expected. He was polite but he didn't seem to care all that much. His face always seemed to be stuck in the same expression.

I followed my dad as he bent down and sat the koto down on the rug that Giyuu mentioned. I stood there in silence as Giyuu passed me and continued to talk to my father.

"Is there anything I can get for you? Water, tea?" He said, his voice still monotone. I couldn't see his face from where I was standing but my dad seemed non-friendly toward him. That was a first.

"No, I wouldn't want to waste any of your time. I'll be leaving now." As my dad walked past Giyuu and stood in front of me, he gave me a hug," You take care of yourself Y/n. I'll see you later."

I hugged him back, "Yeah dad, bye," and then he let go and walked out the house, giving me a short smile before closing the door.

"Well your dad doesn't seem to like me," I turned around at the sudden voice. It was silent before and the noise had startled me. Giyuu had already sat down behind his koto.

I walked to mine and sat down, "And it's unusual, he usually likes everyone."

"Hm, well let's start," he looked straight into my eyes, "Do you know anything about the koto?"

My mind faltered as he kept staring. Why was I so nervous?

"Well?" He seemed to be getting impatient as the seconds ticked.

"Um not really," I finally answered, "I did tune it before coming here though."

He placed his hand on his koto, "Pluck the strings on yours and see if they sound the same as mine when I do the same. If they do, you did it correctly."

I placed a finger on the first of the 13th strings and strummed it when Giyuu did his. It sounded alright. Then we moved onto the next but that one sounded off. I cringed when I heard the difference.

"It's okay, just tighten it just a bit," he leaned over his koto to touch mine. He tightened the string in a swift movement and went back to his original position.

The whole time his body was close to mine and I could smell his scent coming off of him. It was like a subtle ocean scent with a hint of something herbal. Maybe like lavender and eucalyptus.

Luckily it wasn't anything I was mesmerized by, it was just a nice fragrance. We once again start plucking the strings together and all of them were tuned correctly besides the last one. He helped me tune it accordingly.

It was odd, he was actually a good teacher. He was patient with me and never raised his voice. And by how badly I was understanding anything, I would have gotten mad at myself. A while passed and he just showed me the different strings and how to switch the pitch by pushing or pulling them.

He helped me learn the correct way and my hand placement. He asked me which ways were more comfortable so it would fit my style. I felt weird at how soothing the time with him felt. It was like an escape from reality while improving at something.