Your Lie in April || Haikyuu

3 || Moonlight Nightmare

  "Number five, Iwasaki Y/N. You're on standby. Get ready please."

Nothing. Nothing was said. She couldn't bring herself to say anything, as she was feeling numb. The other contestants gave her stares when passing by to come on and offstage, looking at her dull state. Stares of pity were donated.

She hated pity. She was tired of it. Was she really that pitiful? So pitiful to constantly be given those looks? No matter what happened, that's the only emotion people could display towards her. Maybe she really was pitiful.

"Number five, you're up."

She wasn't going to break. She wasn't going to break, at least not in front of all these people. She pushed herself up off of the ground, emerging into a straight stance, breaking out of her crippled cradling form. She was going onstage. She was going to play the piano. That's what she does, doesn't she? All she has to do is press the keys in order and follow the tempo; become a slave to the score. She wasn't called the Human Metronome without a reason.

The heels of her shoes clicked against the waxed wooden planks of the stage. She took a seat in front of the piano, the cushion of the stool sinking at the pressure put on it.

She put her hands up, letting them float above the keys. All she had to do was press, but why weren't her hands moving down? Shake. Shake. Shake. Her hands started to shake, perhaps shaken up enough to be noticed by the audience.

"Hey, what happened to her?"

"I don't know, but I think it's because of her mom and that rambunctious violin guy that played at the gala."

"What happened to them?"

"Apparently her mom died in a crash."

"I heard that violin guy got hospitalized because of a crash too."

"Do you think they crashed into each other?"

"It's not entirely impossible, but I doubt that's what happened."

She ignored the comments made by the spectators of the show. She was on stage, and nothing should get between her and the piano. That was impossible if all she could hear were whispers talking of her mother and her friend. She couldn't think. She couldn't concentrate.

Thankfully, the judges of the competition shushed the audience, silence filling the venue once again.

'Finally.'

Piano Sonata No. 14. Third movement. Ludwig van Beethoven and Giscard Rasquin. She practiced this piece nonstop just for today. The girl silently prayed that everything would go according to plan.

'All you have to do is play.'

Breathe in. Breathe out. Start playing.

The audience watched with amazement, as she continued to play the piece accordingly to the score. Iwasaki Y/N, piano prodigy, never failed to draw the people in with her playing.

Everything was flowing smoothly, almost-robotic like playing could be seen in her, like a reincarnation of the original composer. Nobody could play quite like her. Everything about her screamed 'prodigy'. Her hearing. Her touch. Her sight. She played like it was the easiest thing in the world. Her concentration and focus led her to her success. But today, her concentration and focus was her downfall.