https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leTVfMb2uME
Concerto for two violins - Bach
1717
It's open mic night, and sometimes at open mic night some people bring classical instruments.
Kaeoke Crown is moderately populated today. Nobody's noticed the birds outside, unless you're magical, in which case you may have. The entire place is also lit up in blues and purples, nobody has ordered Ramune, and nobody's wearing orange, and no one has really picked up either.
So it's a normal saturday evening, in other words.
Kyousuke Kamijou is here to perform, and although he's got a second person up on stage with him- a girl with long orange hair- Hitomi Shizuki is sat around watching his performance on a table next to the bar.
It's actually rather busy, as anywhere on Tokyo is on a saturday night.
Sayaka hasn't been to the crown in a while. Or at school for that matter, either. Heck, being a Puella Magi is hard work, and she's had to work twice as hard with the less enticing grief 'cubes'. However, she was excited to hear Kyousuke perform tonight, even if it's an odd setting for a classical performance. But heck, this was no ordinary performance, but an open mic event. And while Sayaka's not particularly talented in playing a violin in spite of all her attempts, she can at least sing a little.
When she enters the game center, she's delighted to see all the shades of blue. Cool! At least she fits in here with her short blue summer dress and short black jacket! Peering around, she sees a few classmates from school, and
Heey, isn't that Hitomi-chan!? She hasn't seen her in a while between her becoming a Puella Magi, and Hitomi's multi talented performances, clubs and practices! She smiles and waves to her, eyes sparkling cheerfully. "Hitomi-chan! Heey!"
Jiaying Maki is at the crown, half wondering if it would be too weird to try and due one of two bands. This means mostly that she's sitting there at a table, poking idly at a drink and enjoying the music. She had noticed the birds, but she's not sure what to make of them. Dressed in a jade and silver Chinese style blouse, a loose fitting jacket that is currently resting on the back of her chair and a pair of fitted black jeans that are showing their wear by now!
Not recognizing anyone off-hand, she's continues her moping off at her table. The calling out, cutting over the music does get her to sit up and looking around though.
Nicola noticed the birds, in the sense that she saw them. She has no idea if there's anything special about them. Earth is weird about what's special and what's not, as far as she's concerned. But music, and free time, and meeting people.
The little girl plops down on empty chair, not really caring whether or not someone else is using the same table, and starts to look over the menu to find something to spend her allowance on.
It's not exactly a concert hall, but you know how it is. It's kind of like if you're an actor. Sometimes you have to take the bit parts so you're kept busy when you're not doing the big parts. And if you can't even do the bit parts, you take the free work so that you keep yourself from losing your edge.
At least that's what Kyosuke explained to Hitomi (in more words than that, granted). So naturally, here she is- sitting and smiling in the audience is, after all, good practice.
Nicola just happens to startle Hitomi just enough by sitting down right next to her to break her out of that, making her sideglance at the short-haired girl.
"Hello there. Are you here to perform, or just to watch?"
A member of the staff comes up to Jiaying's table- itself, just to the side of Hitomi's- to ask her if she's ready to perform.
Thankfully Kyousuke hits a break in his performance at just the right time. The hushed rumble of applause that follows means that the bluenette isn't shouting into a quiet room.
"Oh, Sayaka," she says, looking away from Nicola for a moment. "It's been a while since I last saw you. Are you here to perform as well?"
Sayaka smiles. She had noticed the beautiful birds as well, but it appears that not everyone sees them. Are they..Magical? But where did they come from? Oh well, she'll worry about that later. Glancing back at Hitomi she smiles, "It's been a long time, hasn't it? But you're looking well. Are you and Kyousuke-kun still an item?" she seems more relaxed than the last time they chatted about the boy they both had an interest in. Clearly things have changed since then. "He looks amazing up there as always, but dont worry, I've moved on..Will you be performing too?"
She grins, "I'm not as talented as either of you, but I'll at least try and sing tonight!" Glancing around, Sayaka doesn't recognize Jiaying or Nicola, although she may have seen them at some other school from time to time. She nods and smiles at them pleasantly enough.
Haruna Kurosawa slides into the Karoke Crown and grins like a doofus. Did she notice birds? Maybe! But they're birds. Right?...
Corvus is with with her. Corvus is in seagull mode, perched on his shoulder. See. Corvus is smart. If he's in bird form- Haruna can't push him up on stage to sing in human form.
Which was /totally/ going to happen and Haruna may be just a little sourpuss about it. Just a litte.
Let's see...
Oh a shock of Blue. It's Sayaka-chan!
She's talking to someone though.
She sneaks past Jiaying's table and Nicola's table with a familar seagull and then peeks at Nicola and blinks once. "Oh. Hi." she says with a series of blinks.
She sneaks on over near Sayaka. "Sayaka-chan, hi! Are you here to watch or perform? Who's your friend?" she smiles over to Hitomi.
A pause.
"Anyone know why that girl over there is mopey?" she motions over to Jiaying. There's some concern there.
"Just to watch! I'm Nicola Esprit, who are you?" The girl's accent is strong, and practically impossible to place. Definitely not asian in origin, despite that Nicola looks like she might be. She goes back to looking over the menu when Sayaka comes by, not wanting to interrupt anything. She blinks when she gets greeted by Haruna, "Hi?" Then she glances towards Jiaying, too. "Nope."
Jiaying Maki had been off in her own little world when the staff member gets her attention, getting a visible jump from her. She glances back to the stage, then at the staff and asks, "How long?" Hoping it's not too soon. She's got to get her head back together!
Maybe she should just wing it. There's an oblique thought that most of the people in the crowd wouldn't know if she was just counting to ten and back right? That's cheating though." She still doesn't recognize anyone unfortunately.
Then the song ends and she's up. Catching the concern from Haruna, she looks embarrassed, which isn't helping with standing up on the stage, she fidgets, trying to get over the whole standing on stage singing thing. She puts on a weak smile and starts to sing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMD0Uupsg8k
"Myself? My name's Hitomi Shizuki," she says to Nicola.
Kyousuke's finished taking his bows and putting his violin back in its case, so he begins to trundle over to Hitomi's table now that everything is finished. When he gets there, he looks at Nicola. Despite the fact that there are two other chairs there...
"Uhm... you're in my seat..."
Hitomi is the centre of attention right away, or so it would seem! And she has met a ... person with a seagull on their shoulder. Isn't that a little unusual? Well, m-maybe she's one of those people who trains birds for a local show. There is a moment of confusion as she looks at Haruna, then Sayaka, searching for some sort of connection between the two girls that isn't there. "Ah, my name is Hitomi Shizuki. Are you a friend of Sayaka's?"
"The two of us have been together for a few months now, yes," she says to Sayaka. There's something about her having said she's moved on which, somewhere, makes a little icy spark jump off of the end of some nerve in her chest. "He's been doing things here and there and I've been accompanying him... I have hardly seen you or Madoka in quite some time."
Hitomi hushes after the conversation comes to a pause, stopping to listen to what Jiaying the 'mopey girl' wants to perform. It's certainly... different, isn't it? Hitomi hasn't often heard much of this kind of music. Is that... chinese? "She certainly seems to have the heart to get up on stage even if she didn't look like it. Maybe it was just stage fright." Smile smile.
Kyousuke is still standing behind that chair. Hitomi smiles and tugs him onto one of the empty ones.
Sayaka smiles at Hitomi. "Well good for you! I'm glad you two are getting along. I guess things worked out like they should." she does however glance at her phone and frown as she gets an incoming text message from someone. "Ohh darn. I was hoping to stay but looks like I need to take care of something!" she gets up, looking at Kyousuke, "That's okay, please take my seat! I'm sorry I didnt get to stay and chat with you all." she looks pointedly at Kamijou as she says this as well. "But I gotta go. Talk to you later, Hitomi-chan, Haruna-chan!" and she's off.
Haruna Kurosawa looks at Sayaka as she leaves and waves. "Byyyye Saya-chan! We'll talk later!" she smiles. She then steals Sayaka's seat and sits there. "Hi! Yeah I'm one of Sayaka's friends. My name's Haruna Kurosawa!" she beams. Smile. "I'm in 10th Grade, Infinity University." she says.
"Oh. This is my friend. Corvus." she says motioning to the seagull on her right shoulder. Corvus sort of looks anywhere else for the moment. Like at Jiaying Singing.
"Oh. She's good!" she says softly.
"I'm not here to sing or perform. I just like coming to watch people sometimes." she pauses and peeks over to violin boy. "That was a good performance." she says matter of factly. "Though I only caught the tail end of it." she smiles sheepishly.
Jiaying Maki hurries off of the stage almost as soon as her song is done and hides there at her seat. What, she's not a crowds person! At least her disguise didn't flicker or anything right? No one said anything if it did at least. She settles into her chair, then looks over at the others that are nearby at her table. One of them looks kind of familiar. Can she put her finger on it though? Well, she's not moping anymore at least!
Somewhere within a city block, a Wraith appears.
Probably, anyway.
Sayaka, I have things I'd like to speak to you about. Sayaka, do you know where Madoka's been, Sayaka let's-
Sayaka goes. Hitomi doesn't feel bad at all: it was nice that she just got to say hello to her, really.
"Oh uh- thank you," Kyousuke says, sitting down.
"Goodbye, Sayaka," Hitomi says after her, looking to see if someone else is going up onto the stage before she does anything else.
"I also go to Infinity," Hitomi says to Haruna, "Although I'm two years below that."
"Thank you," Kyousuke says, bowing his head when Haruna praises him. "During the summer there are less places for me to practice, since schools are closed for midterm and such. So I find it good to take oppurtunities like these."
"Are you studying to work with birds?" Hitomi asks Haruna. "I remember seeing performing birds at waterpark shows when I was younger."
It's curious to see Jiaying go back to her table- she's almost a different person. Noticing she's looking at them, Hitomi twists to look at her table and asks, "Do you recognize someone, miss? Would you like to come over and sit with us?"
Haruna Kurosawa smiles at Hitomi. "Nope. Corvus is just a feathered friend. Don't worry. He's tame. And very clean." she insists. Corvus nods his beak rapidly.
"Just think of him as an exotic pet!" she smiles.
She smiles. "I'm in the Kickboxing Club. You in any clubs, Hitomi-san?" she asks. She looks over to Kyousuke. "Practicing makes perfect, I'm told." she says.
"Though I admit, beepy, electronic music is more my style. I was kinda hoping to see 'The Foundation' here. Big fan."
"Guess they're not here though." she says sheepishly.
She peeks over to Jiaying.
"Hey everything alright?" she asks Jiaying.
Jiaying Maki looks over when she hears the name of that bird more than anything else. Hadn't she heard it before, maybe even talked to a bird named that? She remembers it being chatty and providing burgers. She peers at it curiously, trying to see if it does anything odd- then she's interrupted. "I think I do actually? But I can't... put my finger on it." She offers a smile, happy for the distraction and calmly moves over.
Settling down, she looks to Haruna and says, "Uh-s-sure everything's fine. Just lost in thought, sorry!" it's a lie, but she's steadily getting better at them. "Thank you" She says to Hitomi as well. Then it's back to the bird, trying to rack her memory.
Kyousuke just nods.
"Ahh... no, I don't do anything like that," Hitomi replies. "The clubs I attend... are the ones more like tea ceremony and dance."
"That's not my style either," Kyousuke says, sipping the drink Hitomi was holding onto for him. "I don't think either of us are cut out for that sort of thing."
no one must ever know of the quiet visits to boxing club, keep it secret
"I like all sorts of music," Hitomi says, with a finger on her chin to help her think. Since Jiaying is also very interested in Haruna's bird, she continues. "Does Corvus like to dance to electronic music and such? I remember seeing a video of a bird that could dance and even sing on Nico Nico. It's surprising what kind of things they can learn to do."
"Well, it is just mimicry," Kyousuke says to her.
"Mm, that doesn't make it any less interesting."
There's a brief pause between acts, or perhaps there aren't any more on the card, so the MC is asking other people if they'd like to come up and perform.
Corvus seems to take offense to this. Mimicry my butt, he thinks. Alas he can't say that because a seagull talking would be all sorts of attention drawing. Haruna does peek at at Jiaying.
"Oh." she says. "Did you find that burger place?" she asks softly suddenly. Yeah they met.
Her eyes peek back to Hitomi. "Oh those sound like intresting clubs." she smiles a bit. "Not much of a dancer myself. Never was a traditionalist..." she says more quietly. "For tea ceremony."
She looks over to Kyousuke and just smiles at the bird comments. "Corvus is very mannered. He'll do things. If I ask very nicely. No. Corvus doesn't dance. Not publically. Only when he thinks no one's watching." she says slyly as if to say it in a way Corvus can't hear.
He does. Flustered gull. Hrk! ~_~
"I think most of the clubs I go to are the ones people call 'traditional interest'," says Hitomi. The clubs for oujo-samas and wannabe yamato nadeshikos, in other words.
She smiles a little again as Jiaying and Haruka seem to make the connection that they do in fact know one another; her work, in that respect, is done.
"There are just as many kinds of dance as their are music," Hitomi notes. "If you ever found one that you liked, I'm sure you could find a way to get into it. If not at Infinity, then definitely somewhere in a place like Tokyo."
Kyousuke looks at Corvus and listens to Haruna- although he doesn't reply much, mostly just nodding and saying things like 'right' and 'mm' to her. "So you're not here to perform with him?"
Come to think of it... "Are you going to perform, Hitomi?"
"Oh, I don't think so. I wouldn't want to overshadow you, after all."
"Oh, okay."
Haruna Kurosawa smiles. "Nope!" she says to Kyouske. "I'm just here to listen." she says softly. "That's okay, right?" she smiles.
She looks over to Hitomi and leans forward a bit, placing her elbows on the table.
"I'm not very graceful." she admits. "I need a little help when I dance." she says. What Ballroom-themed Precard. Go away.
"I think one club is enough." she admits a little shyly. "I didn't use to be a in a club for the longest time until I met Hannah-chan." she says. "Just shy. N' stuff." like crippling despair that powers like a raven-witch form.
"Um. Maybe Craft Club." she says. "I like making hairclips!" she beams.
Jiaying Maki returns from her quick phone call, setting the phone aside, then as an after thought, stuffs it into her pocket. "I did get those burgers eventually, I had to pay for them though- didn't have it in me to try to get it the free way." She smiles to Haru after, resting her chin on her hand. A glance to Hitomi and she asks, "For who and the what?" A quick shake of her head and she says meekly, "I'm in the art club and some nerdy clubs." The mention of hairclips gets a funny look. "How do you make them?" She asks
"Oh, yes, I'm sure that's the same with a lot of people," Hitomi replies. Kyousuke took a moment to take another mouthful of his drink and is not in a position to reply right now. Literally, really, he's getting to the bottom of the cup. You ever try nodding when you've got an almost-horizontal cup to your lips? You'll spill your drink.
Hitomi nods to Haruna, sometimes she forgets that people do not have the same level of extracurricular commitment that she has. "Another friend of yours? I do think it's best to try and find things you can do with other people. Maybe you could find out if anyone you know is in craft club, as well?"
"Traditional interests, ah... that usually means things that people recognize as strong examples of Japanese culture," she replies to Jiaying. She thinks for a moment; is she Chinese? "Art and performance that have been strongly upheld thriugh the generations as proper and cultured."
"Hitomi," Kyousuke says, pushing his cup across the table. "I'm finished, I think. Let's get going."
"Ah, of course!" she says. "No, I don't think I would have done too well up on stage..." That's a lie, actually.
She gathers her bag from under the table and prepares to leave. "You two will be fine, I'm sure you have lots to talk about. Goodbye, Haruna! Goodbye, Corvus!"
And she's soon off, hands on Kyousuke's arm.
Haruna Kurosawa looks between the two and then back to Jiaying. "Not free. Just a very good discount." she winks. "Well I'll take you next time!" she beams softly.
She looks over to Hitomi and nods. "Like! Yeah she's a friend! and yeah Cra----"
And then Kyouske is just kind of tugging Hitomi away whoops. Time to go.
"Um, bye." she says awkwardly with a little tiny tiny wave.
Corvus would purse his beak if he could. That was a little rude wasn't it? Not that he's mister class...
Jiaying Maki listens to Hitomi and nods quickly, "A-ah that makes sense." She leans back, drink in hand as she asks, "So you use the- the stringed instrument? I always forget the name of it? Things like that?" What, that's the only traditional thing she can think of that's not a kimono.
When Hitomi's pulled away, Jia looks confused, glancing over to Haruna, "Sorry?" Thinking maybe that's why they're going. She's not still moping is she? Looking down, she then shakes her head and tries a smile out. "Uh, it's nice to meet you again though!" and to Hitomi and Kyousuke, she offers a wave, "It was nice meeting you two too"