Vol 4 Chapter 17 (1/2)
When I opened the door leading to the roof, the shy noon rays of March blinded htly
Nors like the tru as they opened their bentos in the courtyard, or guys chasing after the ball in the basketball court Normally, it should be pretty lively But today, the school was shrouded in a soles I could hear were the school song and the piano acco from the sports hall
I lay down on the rough concrete floor and looked down, and i on the fence Her two braids were swaying about in the spring breeze, and a few strands of hair were resting on the black guitar on her thighs Her eyes were closed—is she listening to the school song?
Wait, her eyes are closed?
I rushed forward in a hurry
”That's dangerous, Senpai! And you're still holding the guitar—”
Kagurazaka-senpai opened her eyes a little and looked in my direction and smiled
”In the past three years, I've spent wayon the chair in my classroom So you don't have to worry”
No, even if you say that, it's really easy to fall off when your eyes are closed What the hell are you thinking?
Senpai probably found the uneasy expression on , so she jumped off the fence and patted me on the shoulder
”I get it, we need our bodies for our perfor rash I raduation cererand as possible”
”Urraduation ceremony instead?”
I pointed in the direction of the sports hall
”You do know it's a school tradition to have the third year student with the best overall grades in the ht?”
”Oh, is that so?” I had no idea
”But the teachers are unwilling to let a student who has barely passed the attendance requirements be the representative, and I have no intention of reading a script that has been checked over by the teachers anyway We share the same interests, so I skipped the ceremony and came to the roof instead It's the world of the adults And right now, the person acting as , along the lines of 'a future full of hope' and so on”
Chiaki and I had been worried about whether or not Senpai could successfully graduate, but that woraduation, and had even already enrolled herself in a national university It wasn't like I didn't kno srades to be that stellar
”Senpai would definitely say soraduation speech”
”If you want, I cantomorrow's live performance”
Sently caressed her Les Paul We were holding a graduation concert at Bright the next day, with Senpai as the star
”Oh right How did you knoas here, young man?”
”Because ent to the graduation cere for you I waited outside while Chiaki snuck a peek inside the sports hall She told me you weren't there”
Because of our school's large student population, the only non-graduating students that could attend the ceremony were a small handful of students involved in student council work
”Ah, there you are! I finally found you!”
Shocked by the sudden shout, I turned my head around and saw Chiaki next to the door to the roof, running in our direction
”Nao got the better of ain This sucks”
Chiaki stared fiercely at urazaka-senpai's arm
”Did you two split up to search for me?”
”I thought Senpai was in the practice rooraduation ceremony anyway?”
”We no longer live in a world where we have to graduate under the supervision of others Did you want me to take part in the ceremony?”
”But I was planning to catch you as you alking out of the sports hall to take your second button”
That's for the guy's uniforainst the fence as she removed her Les Paul from her shoulder
”It just so happens that there's four buttons on my blazer This—or what you'd refer to as the second button—is for Comrade Aihara”
Senpai tore her bottom-left button off and passed it on to Chiaki A blissful expression appeared on Chiaki's face
”And this is for young man”
She gave ht
”This one's for me”
She kept the top-left button for herself and put it in her pocket
Then, lastly, she tore off the final button and gave it a kiss, and turned to face me
” Where is she now? Europe?”
I was taken by surprise, but I knew i about
”She should be on a tour in Russia At least, that's what I read in the azines”
”Oh, Russia huh?”
Senpai began walking towards the fence on the opposite side of the roof, and Chiaki and I followed her, as if ere being attracted by soy Beneath our eyes, the scenery of the school was laid bare for us to see The white lines frarounds were actually the sakura blossoms that had been planted in the school, but they were only blosso at about thirty percent
Kagurazaka-senpai swung her tightly clenched fist with all her ht, and threw that last button into the air Chiaki and I didn't follow the trajectory of the button's flight, and instead, just stared at the broad, blue sky
It had probably flown to the other side of the ocean
”There's no longer any need for this”
Senpai took off the blazer that was devoid of buttons and threw that dark blue feather over the fence It rode on the winds and soared down, towards the colour of the sakura far away from us
”Why is this so?”—I thought to myself
It wasn't an eternal fareould be seeing each other the next day on the sae—but my tears wouldn't stop
Mafuyu hadn't returned even after a year had passed
The first tih the cover story of a azine—sometime around summer last year, I think The story covered Mafuyu's successful rehabilitation, as well as her desire to make a comeback onto the music scene
Her first co that was fairly uncommon—and on it, was the full collection of Beethoven's piano concertos Ebi+chiri was the conductor, and the Boston Orchestra, the accohter pair had becoe success But it seeinal plan to have Mafuyu perforether with Yuri had been canned, and, as a result, Kagurazaka-senpai had become incredibly envious of the saedher request, because I didn't want anyone else to hear it
Perhaps because it was my treasure
Just like she had told us, Mafuyu had also begun holding concerts as well It had started off with her perforrew to her perfor more frequently on television as well But it wasn't just that, it seeazines were also hot on her heels I couldn't iether on stage and study together with The saered, that had pissed others off, that hadface to others
But I knew from her piano—be it from the CDs or the live telecast on channel four—that that Mafuyu still existed In a country on the other side of the ocean and out of laht
Yuri, on the other hand, was e me all the time, and there were even occasions when he would send me a letter while he was on tour
”I saw Mafuyu when Ebi+chiri invited me to Boston Are you jealous?”
Or wouldlike that
” Is she doing okay?”
”I a if you are jealous”
Why are you angry? Though I am indeed jealous
”That is just the way Naomi is, and that is why Mafuyu refuses to speak whenever I try to bring Naomi up in our conversations”
”Urm I see”
I heaved a sigh It was quite a huge blow to hear that from someone who saw her frequently
”Why don't you go see her?”
”No, well, you see she's not in japan”
I knew very well that that was nothing more than an excuse, and Yuri probably kneell If I had really wanted to see her, all I had to do was have Tetsurou contact Ebi+chiri, or ask Yuri for his assistance Regardless of whether she was in Aht But I beca to see me
Mafuyureally horrible to her
”Mafuyu ht now She probably does not want to speak to me”
My thoughts were overshadowed by Yuri's tearful voice
” Nah, I don't think that's the case”
”Maybe she does not want to see me anymore Naoht?”
What responsibility?
Yuri will be coather at the studio or the live house when you're here, since Senpaithose plans, we ended the call
After disconnecting the call, I suppressed the slightly painful war out from the inside of my eyes
She's probably too busy with her recordings and concerts anyway—I consoled myself That was the habit I had developed last winter, when she had been in America for a full year I always told azines, or when someone mentioned her all of a sudden
But when the pain floay from the inside of my head, all that was left inside were Mafuyu's sry voice; her hispers
Feketerigó had continued its activities even in Mafuyu's absence The biggest change however, was that Senpai had begun accepting guest performers into the band
”Because we're learning how to fly with our broken wings”
And so, for the graduation concert, the craht people—was aluitarists I had no idea ere playing halfway into the perforhout the whole thing, and had made quite a few mistakes
But the main event was the celebration that happened after the performance We were on the second floor of the Chinese restaurant we often patronized, and aside from the members of the band, there was also Hiroshi+, Furukawa and the rest of the members of Melancholy Chaht, and the er of the shop that Senpai worked at All sorts of people were there, drinking crazily
”Kyouko, we'll be celebrating your graduation with thirty shots Prepare yourself and your glass!”