His Melody

Author's Note: Please, Have this song in background while reading this. I have made it just for this chapter: "This is for you, Akane"

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(Akane's PoV)

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And then, after closing my eyes, the first note came alone.

He pressed a single key, and I immediately recognized it: a simple A. My 'favorite' note, because it was the initial of my name.

It hung in the room the way notes hang in rooms with good walls, filling the corners slowly before fading.

I didn't know if he played that note on purpose.

Then, after a few instants, the second note arrived, and the third, and they fell into each other. After four bars, I understood that I had never heard anything like it before. That melody was something new.

It wasn't one of the pieces he'd played to me. Not at all. Those were the old things, written in an empty house, composed by a boy who was alone and making conversation with himself and the music. Those pieces had been beautiful in the way lonely things are beautiful.

This was different. Way different.

The melody was in A major, and it moved the way warm water moves, rising and settling, finding its way forward without rushing. There were places in this song where it opened into something wide and bright, and places where it pulled inward and went quiet.

Every single note felt like it was touching something inside me. Something deep where not even I could reach.

It's hard to explain... I'm a musician, too. I play the electric guitar, and I know what sounds good when I hear a song. But... this wasn't about sound.

It was about the specific sensation of being reached, note by note, as if each note was a fingertip pressing against a different place inside my chest.

The sensation was both painful and relieving.

Then, he hit a wrong note about two minutes into the performance.

I heard it. It was a half-step too high, and I heard him pause for an instant before continuing. 

A few bars later, another one. His left hand arrived a beat early, but he immediately corrected himself. 

He was adorable, and he was doing all of this for me.

But I still couldn't understand what the surprise was since he had already played for me.

Shin was uncertain, and the song had that quality of something being played for the first time, still finding its own shape.

For some reason, despite all these little flaws, it was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard.

Because the mistakes he was making were proof that everything I was hearing wasn't practiced. It was genuine. He was giving it to me rough, with the seams still showing, the way you hand someone a letter you haven't had time to proofread.

Suddenly, the tears came back, but this time they were quiet and soft. 

They just slid out from under my closed lids and tracked down my face. I didn't even feel them, in some ways, and I didn't even try to stop them.

Then, the song moved toward something.

I felt it rising in the last few bars, with the melody climbing, gathering warmth, before reaching the end. The last chord was a bittersweet A Major chord, with a sound that filled the room and lingered for a long time before fading.

And then, after a few instants of silence, I opened my eyes.

Shin was sitting at the piano with his hands still on the keys, looking at me over his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Akane..." He said, scratching the back of his head. "I've had this melody in my head for a while now, and I was composing it mentally, trying to figure out how it would've been." He said, resting his hands on his lap. "To be honest, I wanted to finish this song properly and play it for you to celebrate our first month together. I wanted it to be perfect, but then I thought that maybe it was better to play it now, even if it was ready." A small pause. "This... was the song I had made for you." He then smiled. "For us. In A Major, because A is the initial of your name."

I remained completely speechless. I felt like every word would've been meaningless compared to what I was feeling inside me.

I looked at him through the blur of my own tears, and I felt my mouth doing something that I would've never expected after such a bad day.

I was smiling. Naturally. 

"It was awful, you know?" I said, sniffling. "You missed at least four notes, and the bridge was a mess. And I'm pretty sure that you invented a chord at one point that didn't fit at all." 

After my words, his face went completely flat, and it was funny.

"But... it was beautiful," I said, and my voice cracked on that word. "It was the most beautiful thing anyone has ever given me." I smiled even more.

He then stared at me for a second with that stupid flat face, clearly trying to decide whether to process the compliment or the insult first, and then his mouth twitched. He started laughing, and his laughter warmed me.

"You know..." He giggled a little. "You are incredible at ruining moments. That's a talent. You should make this your job. You'd be a billionaire."

'He's now speaking like me, what a cutie.'

"Don't act like you're the victim here. You did the same thing this morning when I was opening my heart by telling you about my dream. And what did you say? 'You were definitely eating in that dream.' Tch— This is payback for ruining everything, ghost boy." I was laughing too now, and I felt much lighter. "We're even."

"We are never even, Akane. You know it." He smiled.

"Me? I'm innocent. I'm only a poor little girl who wanted to share a cute moment with her boyfriend." I frowned, jokingly. "Now come here, I need you," I added, opening my arms to him.

He was still laughing when he looked at my invitation.

The ghost boy looked at everything. At my face, at the tear tracks, the ruined mascara... and most importantly, he looked at my smile.

Then, he stood up from the piano bench and crossed the two steps between us and fell into me. Of course I caught him, and then we went down onto the bed together, with his weight on top of me and my arms wrapped around his back.

Without even thinking twice, I kissed him. I poured everything I had left in that kiss, which wasn't much, but was apparently enough, because he made a sound against my mouth that went straight through me.

Then, I put both my hands on his jawline, my fingers spread along the bone. 

I held him there, and he was pushed up on his elbows so he could look at me.

His eyes were dark in the lamplight, and I was sure that they were saying something. They were saying it so loudly that I could hear it without him opening his mouth.

"I love you too, Shin," I said. "Maybe way too much. Sorry."

His eyes went wide.

"Stop reading my mind, Akane. That's scary," He said. His voice was barely there.

And then, my eyes went wide too, because he had just 'said' it, in his own way. I didn't expect it, but I was happy. More than I could ever imagine. 

He loved me, and he'd just told me without telling me, in the most Shin way possible. 

I felt my heart beating like crazy.

Then, I pulled him down before either of us could say anything else, because if he saw me crying again, he'd worry, and I didn't want him to act like a doctor anymore.

I just wanted to feel him, the way he is. To feel his love, the only one I've ever received.

My arms went around him, and his head ended up in the pillow beside me, while my face found his shoulder. 

We lay there in complete silence, tangled together in the lamplight of our room, our house, and our only safe place.

Then, his hand found my hair again, while mine found the back of his neck, and the piano sat there in the corner holding the ghost of a melody that wasn't finished yet but carried something very important.

We stayed like that for a while, silently wrapped in each other's arms. Long enough that my heartbeat went all the way back to normal.

But suddenly, a strange sensation appeared inside of me.

"I'm hungry." 

Shin immediately stood up on his elbows, stared at me for a few seconds, and then laughed. My hands were still on his neck.

"Obviously. I already knew," He said.

"Okay. Let's hear it. How did you know?" I asked, my thumbs gently rubbing against his skin.

"I'll talk like you, wait a second-" he coughed a little. "*Ahem*, 'I've survived an emotionally devastating afternoon, and my body has spent a lot of energy. I need a ton of calories to recharge myself, Ishikawa.'" He then started laughing alone.

I stared at him with a flat face. He seriously imitated me.

"That was... okay. 8/10." I said, giggling.

"Why not a 10/10?" He asked. 

"Because your voice is too masculine, Ishibaka. You will never have a beautiful princess-like voice like mine," I then landed a fast kiss on his cheek. "But hey. Don't you dare mock me like that. I'll get offended and then I may strangle you with a pillow during the night." I smiled.

"Okay... but I can't promise that I won't joke about that again." He said, this time his turn to kiss my cheek. 

"Good boy. Now feed me." I said.

"Seems like the princess has returned. Good." He said, smiling.

"It's your problem now. Act like a proper boyfriend now. Go, go!" I said.

He sighed.

"What do you want to eat, Akane?" He asked, poking my cheek.

"Mmmh... Everything edible. And also something with rice. Oh, and also something that isn't healthy. I need dirty calories." My voice returned to normal.

Shin laughed and then sat up.

I sat up too. I swung my legs off the bed, put my feet against the floor, and then, before standing, I looked at the piano one last time.

I thought about everything he did for me, especially about the fact that he'd given me an unfinished song because tonight was more important than a perfect celebration.

"Shin," I called him, my voice soft.

"Mmh? What is it?" 

"The song." I held his eyes. "It was wonderful, so... finish it, and play it at our wedding." I blushed a little when I said that.

For a second, Shin stared at me with a flat face, but then a beautiful smile broke across it.

"I promise." 

A simple word that made something settle in my chest. Something warm.

In that moment, I was sure that in my entire world full of pain and lies, he was my only certainty. And I couldn't be more grateful to destiny.

After I stood up, I held out my hand to him.

"Come on, ghost boy. Feed me. I've cried enough for one lifetime today, and I've decided to convert the remaining sadness into calories as soon as possible. Don't waste time." I smiled.

Then, Shin took my hand, and we went downstairs together.

And when we had arrived in the kitchen, I leaned against the counter and watched him moving to grab every ingredient he found, and I let myself have one more moment of his warmth before the rest of the evening arrived, because I wanted to tell him what happened with my mother.

He needed to know, and I was sure I wouldn't cry this time.