The skies of the first Friday of November were filled with dark clouds. As I could not fall asleep, I headed to school early in the morning. Once I entered the classroom, I was immediately surrounded by my classmates.
"Haruto, I heard you're gonna have a showdown with the Princess today?"
"What? What do you mean by showdown, Sun? What will happen if Haruto loses?"
"Perhaps Haruto will be her slave for life?"
"Then isn't that the same as things are now?"
My face turned green after hearing everyone saying things like that.
"Hey, why does everyone know about this!?"
"Didn't you talk to the Princess in the courtyard yesterday, Haruto?"
"You guys saw?"
"The atmosphere was quite nice, but you just have to say things like having a showdown. The audience was really disappointed!"
It's not like we were putting on a show there.
"So, when are you guys competing? Competing in what? What does the winner get?"
Ah, so they didn't hear about the part where we will be having the showdown later after school? That's fantastic. Despite me trying to divert the topic, it still ended with me telling them everything other than the place and time of the showdown.
"A new club? With Weiss? And Yang? And Ruby too?"
Why are they so damn excited?
"The Ruby girl you are referring to is the one in from class 1-A?"
"Yeah, the one who looks like the head of a band of female hunter."
What sort of analogy is that? I can't understand that at all! Then again, is Ruby that well known in school?
"Starting a band in that small room together with those three cute girls? Haruto you lucky bastard, I hope you lose!"
"I'd rather you win Haruto, then I'll take over your place in the band."
"Yeah, you definitely must win, and then I'll join in too."
"You know nuts about instruments, right?"
"I can be in charge of moving the instruments."
"Then… I'll be in charge of wiping their sweat."
"Somehow, I'm feeling more and more motivated."
And they actually started singing our school anthem—I felt like I should just run out of the room. Just as they were discussing on the topic regarding the time of the showdown, Yang walked into the classroom, and that silenced everyone. I'm saved…
"Are you guys saying bad stuff about me?"
The few guys flashed an awkward smile, before returning to their seats. Seems like everyone has finally learned one of the basic etiquettes in society—not to gossip about the person in front of her.
𖦹𖦹𖦹
During lunch break, my desk was filled with sauce cutlet bread which the guys purchased from the store: seems like they were all praying for my victory. But how can I possibly finish that much bread!
"Haruto, you mustn't lose."
"Though I'm not too sure of what's happening, but you definitely must win Haruto!"
One by one, they grabbed onto my shoulders and cheered me on. I just stared at the pyramid of sauce cutlet bread blankly. It's not like there's zero chance of me fulfilling their expectations, but with everyone being that excited about it, I was honestly quite troubled by them.
After school, I brought my bass to the roof. Though Ruby wanted me to go there first, I didn't see her around when I got there. Then again, I remember she has work today? I then spotted something placed on the floor near the fence where Ruby usually sits. I walked over to take a look, and it's actually John Lennon's album of covers, Rock 'n' Roll. The second song of the CD is simply titled as Stand by Me. I took out my discman, and placed the CD inside. As I listened to the hoarse voice of John Lennon, I looked downwards through the fence and waited. I took out a piece of unfinished sauce cutlet bread and stuffed it into my mouth.
Halfway into the song, I suddenly remembered how Weiss will always head straight home on Fridays. Shit, I actually forgot that. But just then, the back of a girl together with her snow-white colored hair came into sight. I was at ease. What's going on? She doesn't have to do what she usually needs to do? Even as I watched Weiss walk into the practice room, I still allowed the song to flow from my earpieces and into my body. I grabbed hard onto the fence and stood there motionlessly till John Lennon's voice faded away.
I switched off my discman, and carried my bass. When I reached the practice room, I heard Weiss playing Beethoven's bagatelle on the other side of the door. I stopped in my tracks and thought of how I should enter the room. I came up with various lame ways, such as kicking the door open with my foot and then yelling "Sorry to disturb!," but in the end I decided to just knock on the door.
The bagatelle suddenly stopped, as if it was shocked motionless. The uncomfortable silence was like a gush of bone-chilling cold air that seeped through from the gaps, and it persisted for quite a while.
"Hey…" I was the first to talk, but I had no idea what to do. "I'm here to compete with you. I told you about it yesterday, right?"
The door opened. Weiss's guitar was slung on her shoulders. She took a look at me, then lowered her gaze.
"… You really came."
From the tone of Weiss, I could sense that something was not quite right. Somehow, she's different from usual.
"As the representative of rock, I am here to take revenge on the stubborn classical supremacist."
"You idiot! Are you serious about this? You didn't even know how to do the hammer on a couple weeks ago."
"Don't belittle me!" Then again, why did she even know things like that? "You peeked at me practicing?"
"N-no w-what are you talking about!" With her face flushed red, Weiss slammed the door shut with her two hands. "Why do you have to do such a thing? Do you really want to use this room that badly?"
Why did I keep doing such things? Ah, I don't even know it myself. Ruby did say that it is for love and revolution. Yang said this before: "You are very concerned about Weiss, right?" I don't know. But I cannot allow things to go on like this.
Weiss said from the other side of the door, "Just do whatever you wish over there! I don't care anymore."
Just this once, I chose to remain silent.
Oh well. I already knew things would turn out like this. I took out my bass and plugged in the cable, then I squatted down near the door. There's a hole beneath the hinge of the door which I can directly plug my cable into. That is the result of my fifteen minute work yesterday—a cable that extended from the amplifiers and installed next to the door.
Just as I was about to hijack the stereo device, my hand stopped. For some reason, I suddenly remembered a certain piece of musical history which Mom once told me half in jest. It starts with a small stream in Germany. The river flows into a beet plantation, then later spreads throughout the whole of Europe. It clashes with the local music, and was either engulfed by the music, or it ended up swallowing the music instead. It then flows into the seas, and spreads through the whole world. That's how a lot of things in this world are born, and rock is one of them. Therefore, if we are to seek out the history of invasion and integration that spans over three hundred years, all the things will be linked to each other.
I plugged the cable into the hole. At that instance, a sharp screech blared out from the amplifiers on the other side of the door. I could almost see the frightened looks of Weiss.
"What have you done?"
She found out. In reply, I turned the volume of my bass to its loudest. The room was filled with feedback.
"Hey, what are you do—"
In order to drown her voice, I played the opening note of the piece. Allegretto vivace.
I must not play it too quickly as if I was stepping on the floor with force, but at the same time seeking for a place to step on with my toes; to use the low notes to stomp out the boundaries of the octave, and then to retreat back a little with slightly hesitant steps.
I could even hear Weiss holding her breath in shock. Of course, she should know what piece this is just from these eight bars. She had released an album with this piece inside two years ago in February. I had listened to that CD many times, to the point where the CD is close to being damaged.
It's Beethoven's 35 piece, Variations and Fugue for Piano in E major—the variations were later used in his Symphony No. 3. There's another title to this piano piece, which is Eroica Variations. Back then… Ruby did tell me that there were four reasons for choosing that piece.
"It's just as you can see…" Ruby began pointing at the scores as she explained. "This is a piece that starts off with a single melody in low-pitch. In the opening thirty-two bars, only the bass will play, and one can immediately realize that this is Eroica. With this, we'll be able to fire the first salvo, and pull the opponent into our music."
With that, Ruby tapped at the tempo marking it with her finger.
"It's allegretto vivace, so don't ever go too fast. One of the weapons of Weiss is to be able to strum her guitar accurately at great speeds. Should the showdown turn into a situation where speed will decide the victory… Namikaze, you will lose all chances of winning. You can decide on the speed of the whole piece via the opening thirty-two bars, that's the first reason I chose this piece."
"But…" There was a hint of uneasiness in my voice. "At this part that leads to the overture, there is a place where the four voices will merge, and the melody after that will be the part where Weiss starts to play! If she starts to rush at then…"
"Namikaze, all you are thinking about is the areas in which you may lose…" Ruby shook her head and let out a sigh. "Don't worry. This is the second reason why I chose this piece. This variation…"
Ruby scanned through the scores quickly. A variation is actually a technique where a short main theme is repeatedly played by altering the playing styles, or even the melody. In general, the similar parts will be repeated for several cycles.
"Almost every variation will have ritardando and fermata at their later part. You get it now? There's a 'pause' after a certain fixed distance. No matter how fast Weiss speeds up the tempo to, the fermata will always disrupt the flow of her playing, and with that you can get back your own allegro. This piece of music is unique in that sense."
Phew… I heaved a loud sigh. Indeed, everything makes sense. I am certain that this is the only piece possible. If it is this piece, then I may actually win.
"And the third reason…" Ruby gave a sinister smile, "This piece is in E major."
I recalled each and every sentence which Ruby had said, walked through the opening theme with heavy steps. At the end of the low-pitched melody which I played, was a long pause. Weiss's guitar finally made a recovery, and the noise of her electric guitar overwhelmed the pause.
I held onto my breath as we went into the second overture, a series of simple yet hesitant melodies of the guitar entered. Goosebumps appeared on my skin in an instant. The ingenious use of syncopation moved and infused just two of the overlapping tones. However, all the music that we know is born from that intoxicating feeling that one gets when two sounds overlap each other.
In the third overture, I threw a simple line of melody towards Weiss. The high flying high-pitched notes of the guitar descended into the low-pitched notes of the bass—it seemed as if Weiss' steps had passed right through the torrential waterfalls.
Weiss' guitar led the fourth overture, and took over the main theme. The whole melody shifted an octave higher, and skipped through the brisk middle octave beneath it. The tempo suddenly hastened, and even though I was thrown about by the huge force, I finally managed to barely grab onto the gaps in between the phrases of Weiss' melody, and pried them wide open with my low notes, which acted as an intermediary between them. It's a goner if I am to fall here, and there's no chance for me to start all over. I applied the brakes to restrain Weiss.
We've finally reached the main theme, but I was barely hanging on by a thread as well. It should be your ordinary chord accompaniment, but my fingers were trembling non stop. I desperately tried to get back the original tempo using the short pause. Weiss never slowed down despite going into the second variation with a merciless speed—Weiss could continuously play triple notes in the time it took me to play a single one.
I took a deep breath before going into the forth variation. That will be the first crisis. As my fingers were strumming the sixteen-beat legato smoothly, I did realize that Weiss was currently with the slight disadvantage—Weiss's simple theme sounded wobbly amid the constant rising and falling of my timbre. She probably thought I wouldn't know how to play that part out. I held my breath and focused my attention on the intense passage. I then recalled the words of Ruby yet again.
"E major is…" As she gently caressed the guitar on my knee with her fingertips, she said, "You should know, right? It's one of the most difficult scales to play on the bass and the guitar."
I nodded my head. Simply put, scales that are easy for guitars are those that do not require the guitarist to press onto the chords much as they play. However, the E which frequently appears in the E major is a semitone lower than the lowest note playable by the guitar or the bass. As a result, the guitarist will need to press on the higher ends of the chords during the playing, and that is something rather difficult in terms of the finger movements.
"The E major is just as difficult for Weiss, especially during the part where she has to play the middle-pitched notes during the high-pitched melody. Even if speed is her greatest weapon in her arsenal, she will definitely be severely weakened by that."
"… No, wait… " I gave a knock on my bass. "It will be equally difficult for me to play too, right? Isn't that so?"
The strings of the bass and the strings of the guitar are of the same tone during tuning, so the parts of both parties will be equally difficult to play. Because of this, Ruby had specially shifted the pitch upwards by a semitone in her composition, and converted it to E major.
"Namikaze…" The expressions in Ruby's eyes were no longer that of irritation—instead, it had changed into a pitiful gaze. "Do you still remember what I said? I said we will be doing exactly what Paganini did, right?"
"Eh… ?" I do… remember something like that. That's… something that happened on the day when Ruby was picking out the piece through a huge stack of CDs and scores. After hearing the sounds of Weiss's guitar, Ruby did mention Paganini's name out of the blue.
"But, how do you explain that?"
"Paganini's Violin Concerto No. 1. You should know that, right?"
I tilted my head, and tried recalling the songs that I should have heard of before. I then remembered the vast knowledge of my mother.
"Ah!"
The bass on my knee fell onto the floor with a thud. Paganini's Violin Concerto No. 1—in E major. I see, so that's how it is.
"You finally got it?"
"I have to lower it by a semitone when tuning?"
Ruby laughed and patted my head gently. The E major is difficult for violinists in the same way as it is for guitarists. However, the solo in the concerto played by the Violin of the Devil, Niccolo Paganini, is written in E major. As such, he tuned his violin by a semitone lower—I just… have to do exactly like him. By lowering the strings of the bass by a semitone, I will force Weiss to take on the highly difficult E major, while I am playing the simplest E major.
"… That's really despicable…" I accidentally let it slip through my mouth.
"How's that despicable?" Ruby prodded my forehead with the pick. "In order to achieve victory, giving out your all till the final moment before the battle is necessary, no? This is also an act of respect for your enemy."
"Hmm, that may be the case…"
"The fourth reason, is we will be doing fugue after the variations." Ruby said the final reason. "Weiss will definitely not let go of the fugue. Therefore, we just have to let her know that the piece of music is not something that can be played by a person alone. Those are the reasons for me choosing this piece of music—Eroica Variations, because it practically exists for you to use it to defeat Weiss. Therefore…" Ruby placed her two hands on both of my shoulders, and looked straight into my eyes as she said, "Resolve yourself, and teach her a good lesson."
After playing through the continuous phrases, I pressed my back hard against the door, and took a huge gulp of air. The strings and the neck of the bass had become slippery due to my sweat.
The fifth variation finally returned back to the simple two voices melody, but that short moment of rest was over in an instant. I rushed straight into the sixth variation in C minor without having the chance to slow down the tempo. That was the only part where the lowering of the bass by a semitone was unable to wield its effects. It's as though Weiss cleaved open the opening phrase with an axe. The screeching melody dragged my body along, my fingers began to spin, and I played quite a few notes wrongly.
I could almost see Weiss's rapidly-firing questions appearing at the places where I had planned to stop at—in response, I replied using the same tones that had my stuttering sighs mixed into it. Even as we entered the beautiful dreamlike canon, Weiss was hardly showing any mercy. If I was just a beat slower, she would immediately smash my line of melody that was trying to sketch out her footsteps, and began the next melody by herself.
I could then feel a slight amount of weight pressing against my back. Even though I could see nothing, I somehow knew… that Weiss was leaning her back against the door, just like me. I could almost hear the heartbeats of Weiss, though that could very well be the sound of my own heartbeat, or the echoes of the bass.
Just as the backbeats were sustaining the melody of the tenth variation—the melody of which the dragonflies were fluttering all around us—I became more and more confused. Why am I doing such a thing at a place like this? I had even forgotten about the fact that I was thinking of all sorts of things as I glanced at the scores in my efforts to keep up with Weiss' guitar. The tips that Ruby told me had already disappeared completely from my brain.
All that's left were my fingers moving willfully. Which of the sounds are made by my bass, and which of them are from Weiss's guitar? I don't know. My modified Aria Pro II and Weiss' Stratocaster were like twins shaved out from the same piece of wood, and had blended together with each other impeccably. I can't quite explain the phenomenon by saying that they've tuned themselves with each other so as to blend together perfectly. It's like a mere millimeter of distance between them, a circuit bypass, and a careful balance of the high and low tones—a miracle that happens only after the integration of everything mentioned above. Weiss and I were totally like the left and right hands of a person.
And with that, the final variation came. C minor. It's similar to the vastness of the sea in the night that has just experienced a violent storm. The thunders were gradually receding, but they were still reverberating deep within the clouds. The whispers from the depths of the ocean.
Using my right hand, I strummed out a low G that extended endlessly outwards. And then, along with the parting of the clouds, I could finally see the arrival of dawn. I listened to the rumbling echoes in my stomach intoxicatedly, and loosened my left hand. Then, I gripped onto the neck of the bass tightly with my sweating palms once more. It's the fugue. I've finally arrived here.
After expelling all of my wishful thoughts that were burning in flames of darkness, what appeared before me was something filled with endless possibilities—the ensemble that was shimmering like crystals.
I immediately drew out the first note of the beginning phrase. The four simple voices which existed since the beginning of the war rang, while the main melody of the fugue began its flow along with the signal. After four bars, Weiss began chasing the already-running me. Between the two melodies that will not intersect and will never touch each other, exists what seemed like the melody of mirage. Who actually played that—obviously, it's Weiss and I. We constantly sent out fragments of the melody, and they slowly merged into a crystal clear line of melody—it felt like there was a third person playing together with us live.
I didn't quite know what was happening either—all I did was play whatever was written in Ruby's scores. Weiss seemed to have analyzed the meaning of the tune in an instant, and kept replying to me. That's the only thing I could come up with. However, is that really something that is possible? Without any words, and only transmitting our feelings through music—can this miracle really happen? Or will the miracle disappear the moment I open my eyes.
… It gradually disappeared. I stopped the movements of my fingers. Weiss's melody, which was supposed to be chasing me, had suddenly disappeared. The hallucinated warmth of Weiss which I had been feeling on my back this whole time had disappeared as well.
I turned around. A eek sound came from the other side of the door. It's the faint sound produced from the feedback of the guitar. I had a bad feeling about this.
"… Weiss?" I tried calling her once. She did not reply. Instead, I began hearing the ominous sounds of moaning and weeping through the gaps of the door.
"Weiss!" Since I heard no response despite me yelling out loudly from outside, I began knocking on the door. I suddenly heard the sound of something knocking against the floor, and then another blast of feedback reverberated inside.
I tried to open the door by pressing hard against the handle. For a moment, I forgot about the method of opening the lock, and I nearly tore the door down. I finally remembered: I have to press diagonally downwards to the right before turning it. As the door opened, Weiss, who should be leaning against the door, came crashing onto my body instead. I quickly supported her. Weiss' back knocked into my bass, and the amplifiers blared out a tight noise.
Weiss' fair skin had turned even paler.
"What's wrong?" My voice was higher by an octave due to my panic.
"… I'm fine."
"How does that look fine! Can you stand?"
"I can't. But… I 'm really okay." Weiss brushed my hand away and tried sitting up. However, her shoulders lost balance immediately, and her right leg was paralyzed. After seeing how her body had twisted into a strange position, I propped up her upper body and leaned her against the wall.
"Why have things turned out like this… " Weiss began sobbing. She turned her head away to avoid looking at me, and murmured. "Why? I have already forced myself to forget everything, so why did you make me remember again?"
What is she talking about? I really have no clue. I removed my bass from my shoulders. The strings seemed to have brushed into something, and a low-pitched tone rang through the small classroom. Weiss's left hand twitched a little.
"Stop! Stop it! Don't make it play any sound!" Weiss was possessed by a sudden surge of strength—she snatched the bass away from my hands, and slammed it forcibly onto the ground. One of the knobs on the bass fell off from the main body. There was a loud horrifying sound akin to a pair of claws scratching against the walls.
Weiss collapsed onto the bass and the guitar that were lying on the floor, just like a marionette that had its strings cut. The amplifiers were persistently giving off a disharmonious sound which was similar to wailing voices, but I had no idea how to stop those sounds. Now what? Why have things turned out this way? What should I do? In any case… I should head to the infirmary first. Amid the sharp shrieking sounds of the feedback, I finally managed to come up with that.
"I'll get the school nurse."
"I don't want that…" Weiss moaned.
What the hell is that idiot saying at a time like this? I immediately sprinted towards the main building. Just as I was about to dash into the infirmary, I almost crashed into Shizune-sensei, who is the school nurse. Shizune-sensei is very young, and it is said that she used to be a guitarist. And the first thing she did was to actually grab me by the collar and yell "Don't run in the corridors!", before realizing something and releasing her grip.
"You're from Class 1-B, right? The same class as Weiss Schnee?"
I was breathless from my run, and could not speak as a result. I barely nodded my head in reply.
"Did you see her in the classroom? She should have an appointment with the hospital today, but the hospital just called and said she hasn't arrived yet."
She should be going to the hospital today? Friday. The only day which Weiss will head home immediately after school. Hospital. I was shocked.
As I tried to regulate my breaths, I gasped. "Weiss… fainted."
"Where is she?" Shizune-sensei's voice was still calm, but there was a change in the expressions of her eyes.
"Courtyard…" Shizune-sensei quickly grabbed a few medications from the rack, then grabbed my arm and rushed out of the infirmary. When we returned to the courtyard, we saw Yang squatting next to the crumbling Weiss. Why is Yang here? Could it be that she was waiting for our showdown to be over?
"Xiao Long, please step aside. I'll administer some first-aid, and then I'll call someone." I stared blankly at Shizune-sensei's actions, while Yang was looking at me helplessly.
"What in the world happened?" I could only shake my head in response to Yang's questions.
"What in the world have you guys done for things to have turned out like this… " Shizune-sensei glared at me as she checked Weiss' pulse.
"We… were just playing the guitar."
"That's all? How can that be? There shouldn't be a problem for her to play a musical instrument."
Shizune-sensei, she knew about Weiss's condition?
"In any case, I've asked her father to head over. He said he'd be here soon."
Weiss's left shoulder trembled slightly. She slowly leaned herself towards the side of Yang's legs, and lifted her face which was filled with a pained expression.
"No… I don't want that."
"What are you talking about? You should be reporting to the hospital today, no? Do you have any intention of treating your illness at all? You can't get careless! Your body's condition is different from that of an ordinary person, so we'll have to ask the doctor in charge of you to come down as well… "
Weiss shook her head as tears fell from her eyes, "No. I don't want… to be seen by him in my current state."
Shizune-sensei ignored her protests, and turned around to speak to me.
"Describe what happened in greater detail. Xiao Long, please get the cushions over there and prop it under Weiss."
I had only seen Senju Tobirama via the photographs. Despite that, even though I was some considerable distance away, I saw the two men in suits at the parking lot walking in our direction—and I knew immediately that the one leading the way was Weiss' father.
"What in the world happened?"
The same stupid question which was asked by a certain someone came out from Tobirama's mouth as well. His stern and well defined contours were clearly showing his anger. Rossweisse-sensei came to the courtyard on the call of Shizune-sensei. After seeing her arrive, he immediately started to rage.
"To think such a thing has happened even with you around her! What will you do if something happens to Weiss!"
"You can't expect me to be by her side all the time, right?" Rossweisse-sensei replied coldly.
The middle-aged doctor (he should be a doctor?) who came along was standing next to the emotional Tobirama, and was telling Shizune-sensei to 'carry the lady to the car' via his eyes.
"What's with you not going to the hospital? Who are you sticking around with?"
I turned my eyes away, and had even wondered if I should just run away from that place.
"Guitar? You said guitar? Are you joking, who allowed you to play that sort of thing? Weiss, what are you trying to do by learning the guitar behind my back? Do you not know how important your fingers are? You may never get to play the piano…"
"Maestro Tobirama! Please! Don't corner Weiss like that!" Rossweisse-sensei said that with a painful voice.
"I did not send her to this school so that she could play things like that!"
I bit onto my lips as I listened to the piercing roars of Tobirama. The doctor and father then stuffed Weiss into the backseat like she was a bagged corpse. There was nothing I could do, other than to watch everything in silence.
Just before the doors of the car closed, Weiss and I exchanged sights. The expressions of her eyes were the same as that of back then—they could not make a single sound, and could only seek desperately on something to depend on—those eyes were like the skies just before a downpour, filled with dark gray clouds.
No, I can't let her go like that. I could almost hear some sort of whisper right next to my ears, but I could not say a single word, nor could I move a single step.