Me and Ai

Chapter 35: Everyone Meets Kaoru

Chapter 35: Everyone Meets Kaoru

"Good morning everyone, to start this class I've got a copy of one of last year's graduation auditions. Since the graduation auditions are near, I was thinking of giving you guys some inspiration for your songs."

"Now, let's have...Kaoru!"

Hyuga-sensei gave me a smile and I went over to him to get the music sheet. He smiled at me as he gave over the music sheets; I gave him a wry smile.
Hyuga-sensei seems unusually happy today; it freaks me out a bit.

I went over to the piano and looked over the music sheets before playing it.
The song was wonderful as expected from a graduation audition song. As I played the song, everyone was quiet and concentrated on listening to the song. Everyone had their eyes closed and was listening to the song attentively; the song was so smooth and captivating.

"Thank you for playing for us, Kaoru. You can go back to your seat now."

I smiled and nodded and went back to my seat.

"Now! Let's have a sample of one of your works in progress!"

Everyone became noisy.

"W-what?!"
"Eh?! No way! My partner and I haven't even finished half of our song yet!"
"I don't have any lyrics yet!"
"Our melody isn't that good! There are still many parts to revise!"
"I hope I don't get picked!"

Hyuga-sensei laughed while hearing everyone's reactions. He looks over the class and points at a random student. Hyuga-sensei, this is just evil of you.

"You, let's hear what you've got so far!"

The student jumped in surprise.

He went over to the piano with his partner who was in our class and they performed whatever they have completed so far.

Everyone listened to their song and it was okay; there's a lot to improve on but it was okay. Hyuga-sensei gave them some pointers and advice on the revision and then he started looking for another pair to show what they had so far; I think we listened to about five pairs before class ended. Even I would have never been prepared for what Hyuga-sensei just did; good thing that I wasn't called.

"Hey Kaoru, are you going to eating with us?" Syo said.

"Yeah. I'd like that."

"Ah! Wait, shouldn't you be going out by now? What about your recording?"

"It's alright. The recording has been moved to the evening due to a conflict in schedule with the person I'm collaborating with so I'll be whole day in school for today."

I'll be having lunch with everyone except for today, and until the recording finishes, I'll be with them as Kaoru. I guess this will be the first time that everyone else will be meeting Kaoru.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

"EH?! I can't believe I'm having lunch with Kaoru!" Tomochan said as we ate at the table.

"Tomochan, calm down. You're attracting attention." Haruka said as she tried to calm down Tomochan who was just too happy at the moment.

"Ah! I'm sorry! I'm just really happy right now. Sorry for the inconvenience!"

"Haha. It's alright."

Oh Kaoru! You're too kind!"

I guess Tomochan really is a fan of Kaoru. I feel kind of sorry for her. I wonder what her reaction would be when she finds out that Kaoru is actually Kaori.
Masato then comes over to the table.