Bye-Bye Akihiko

Trial- Chapter 1

Akihiko Kaji refused to acknowledge Ugetsu Murata.

Instead, he chose to retain his composure; straightening his spine and raising his head with the last remaining strands of dignity, that he could muster. Taking a sharp inhalation of breath, Akihiko took one singular step forward. He was stepping away from his addiction. He felt the metaphorical thread that connected their hearts, strain, tug and suddenly snap.

Akihiko refused to look back.

Akihiko refused to fall victim to his precious temptation, again.

As he removed the rose-tinted glasses, Akihiko watched as colour flooded his vision and cleared his mind.

He was free.

Since high school, it had always been Ugetsu and Akihiko. Never one without the other. The pair were inseparable and where one half went, the other was certain to follow. They were two halves of a whole. Whether it be to the local grocery store or to a National competition, Ugetsu and Akihiko were almost always, one step behind the other.

During High School, the pair had lived together in an enclosed cage. Their shared home had become a juvenile prison, separating their world from that of reality. Their small, restricted cocoon had brought them unlimited safety. The concrete walls forced them together; they knew of nothing, but the others existence. They lived onlyfor each other... yet this suffocating isolation had led to them losing themselves in the madness of love. Their feelings had unknowingly bordered a dangerously thin line between addiction and adoration.

When Akihiko had first entered Middle School, he had discovered his love for classical music and quickly rose through the ranks in National competitions. He had once believed that his destiny lay in playing the violin. At the time, he was an assumed prodigy with the strict elegance and grace required to play such a delicate and sympathetic instrument. He felt confident in his own abilities. For years, he remained self-assured.

However, his life would quickly change when the summer of his first year in high school arrived. From abroad came a genius with unprecedented talent, both natural and sublime magnificence, and phantasmagoric skills. Ugetsu Murata was a truechild prodigy, created to crush and destroy the innocent hopes and dreams of his junior competitors. Ugetsu was a God amongst men; able to play complex pieces of music with ease and radiate extraordinarily powerful expressions of one's soul through his notes.

At the ripe old age of 17, Ugetsu Murata was already a musical genius. Ugetsu Murata was certain to change the course of classical music forever...

That was not to say, however, that Ugetsu was detached from his own humanity, nor was he detached from life itself. He was not free from struggles; he suffered endlessly at the hands of grief, of worries, of stress and of his own dire insecurities. Regardless of his talent, he was a human with the ability to feel, but unlike his comrades, both his heart and his emotions were overflowing and overwhelming. His feelings continually spilled from his heart, like a tap pouring water into a small paper cup, one that was unfitting for its size and was beginning to crack under the intense and constant pressure. Whether it be sadness, pleasure, fear or joy, his feelings were exponentially greater compared to his fellow man. These emotions accumulated inside of his chest; his emotions were subconsciously subdued and made to fit a shape that was unsuitable for their size.

Ugetsu was numb. No one had ever taught him how to feel.

During Akihiko's first year of high school, the pair had unknowingly entered the same competition, after which Ugetsu had transferred to Akihiko's high school. Having spent his entire childhood travelling internationally, it was common for Ugetsu to change schools on a yearly/bi-yearly basis, in accordance with his father's strict schedule. Ugetsu was not granted the opportunity to connect with his father nor was he able to voice his own opinions, and thus he remained silent and accepted his fate. Ugetsu was always alone; no friends to remember he was ever even there and no one to reminisce on his short stays with tear filled eyes. He was a no one in a crowd full of everyones. Perhaps it was due to a lack of parental/maternal affection or the unpredictable yet heavily controlled nature of this life, but Ugetsu was antisocial, always failing to form relationships with his peers.