The Afterlife Sonata (Your Lie in April fanfic)

10-An Unexpected Turn

Weeks later...

Tsubaki and Tomoki Satoshi are practising in her room for hours. They enjoyed playing random sheet music, until Tsubaki had decided what to play for the finals.

"What was it, Tsuna-chan?"

"Hey! You forgot our agreement! Because you called me that way, I'll play by my own!"

"I thought we would play Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata...?"

"Nope, Satoshi!" Tsubaki snapped, and she took new sheet music from a paper bag. "Here it is!"

"Hmm... I think you're going to kill yourself, Tsubaki..."

"Nope!" Tsubaki proudly replied, "I have practiced this even before I have met you!"

"Uh... okay?"

"Ugh."

"That was... a transcription of Liszt's Sonata in B Minor... for solo violin."

"Yeah, and...?" Tsubaki shrugged.

"That's technically hard!"

"Ugh, please..." Tsubaki whispered, sight-playing the first 13 measures of the transcription.

Minutes of silence came and later, Satoshi's hands twinkled and danced into pressing out Liszt's Transcedental Etude No. 10.

"Ah, wonderful... You must have really practised hard, Satoshi..." Tsubaki commented on his playing.

Six minutes later, Satoshi played the Liebestraum No. 3. That time, Tsubaki whipped up his hands, blushing, and sat in front of the upright piano.

"I got this because I wantes to learn how to play! Teach me that!"

"Show me your skills then! I want Liszt!"

"Ugh! I can't! I seem to have no chance to stand against Liszt's compositions!"

Thus Tsubaki attempted to sight-read the right hand. Luckily Satoshi played the left hand, and before the cadenza...

"Get yourself hooked!"

Satoshi accidentally pushed Tsubaki off the chair and played the cadenza in the correct tempo.

"Ahh!" Tsubaki replied, pushing him off and playing the last chords through sight-reading. "Franz Liszt, here I come!"

"Your last chords are too loud! You might break the piano!"

"Who cares? This is Liszt! L-I-S-Z-T!"

Nao suddenly slams and opens the unlocked door. Surprised at how Tsubaki hit the piano keys and making the Liebestraum a severed noise, Nao blurted out, a feat she never did before.

"Argh! Now I'm seeing Lisztomania again! No! Never! I'd rather have to get away!"

Tsubaki finishes the chords and faces Nao. "Hey, what? We're just having fun!"

"Eh... you and Satoshi are shouting and wailing while trying to get the chairs! Plus, you seem to ay nothing but Liszt! Play Mozart!"

"No!" Satoshi and Tsubaki replied, "Nay! Never!"

"Ugh. I've always wanted to hear either Shostakovich or Mendelssohn or..."

"Not even Wagner or Schumann! Eww!" Tsubaki shouted.

"Play Chopin or Berlioz!"

"Nope!" Satoshi replied, "I'm Liszt's number one fan!"

"Whatever... I wanted Beethoven or Bach or Brahms! Or... maybe Bartók and Dvořák!"

"I AM DEVOTED TO MONSIEUR LISZT, MISS KASHIWAGI!!!" Satoshi replied.

"Stop that surname calling, you Mr. Tomoki!" Nao yelled, rolling her eyes. "I hate you, Monsieur-Liszt-Maniac..."

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"Kousei... Those Mozart and Bach scores are really amazing. But... your choice of Chopin scores really exhibit redundancy. Why is that so?"

Mr. Seto asked the pianist during their stay back in Poland from the London visit.

"Uh... Chopin... I like the way he composes. He makes me cry, he literally gets me off thos world full of remorse."

"Oh boy... it seems like I'm interviewing some random artist. Please be more natural, Kousei. I know how you feel."

"Uh... sorry, I just got used to it... Pardon if the freezer is below zero Celsius."

"Okay. Please practice this..." Mr. Seto said, handing Kousei some sheet music.

"Liebestraum?" Kousei was surprised as he read the title. "I've never heard any Liszt composition since before..."

"What?! Mrs. Arima Saki never brought you to those?"

"She said, when I'm eighteen..."

"Years have already passed, Kousei. You're turning eighteen somehow, a few months shall wait."

"It's so fast, Sensei..."

"Don't call me 'sensei'. I feel it too cliché...  Just call me Mitsu-san, if that's comfortable."

"Okay..." Kousei said, and he began to sight-play the piece. Later, Mr. Seto took time to talk about Kousei's style.

"Perhaps the reason why you're being down back there in the Chopin Institute is..."

"What?"

"You kept on playing only Chopin. Chopin and Chopin. Why can't you... or I mean, why not try some new taste?"

"Why? Are they annoyed at Chopin?"

"Of course not. It's just that they expected something from you, I thought."

"How's my playing by the way, Mitsu-chan?"

"Fluid and irreplaceable. I felt such fleeting joy everytime you play. I felt that very sad emotion when you tap the keys, once like a colorful palette but then... it's painting a dull and blue artwork."

"How about you... your feelings towards her?"

"I can't tell you, Arima..." Mr. Seto replied with a sad face. But I'm telling you that... my share of a wedding ring is stashed away in some place under many things. I myself can't tell where to find it..."

Kousei simply flipped up the other Liszt compositions given to him. They are so colorful; only an exceptional pianist would ever change its mood.

Perhaps Kousei really did it. Playing the Liebestraum No. 3 over and over during the night, he ended up sleeping with tears soaking up his pillow.

Miyazono Kaori must be there again.

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[Especially dedicated to 'Master' Franz Liszt as well... if not for Lisztomania then... this wouldn't have came into life.]