---

“There you go, cookies and cream flavoured ice cream…” Handing Hihara his cone, sat down next to him on the bench. “And I have my mango sorbet...” Noticing Hihara had been acting all weird and quiet, asked in concern. “Kazuki senpai, is everything okay?”

“Um…-chan,” Hihara finally spoke up as he gave a soft smile. “Do you want to go away on a onsen[ii] trip with me?”

“Eh??” Never in the world did expect that. They have been going out for a while now, yet Hihara had never even reached first base. Just when wondered if the pace was a bit slow, Hihara had suddenly made a request to go straight to home base!

“Ah, it’s too fast isn’t it!” Hihara called quickly, his handsome face turning red in embarrassment. “For…forget what I just said!”

“I, I am free this weekend.” To his surprise though, lowered her head and replied, her voice soft and tiny.

When he saw such sweet, beautiful expressions, Hihara felt his heart burnt and before he knew what he was doing, his body moved first. Wrapping his arm around ’s shoulders, Hihara pulled her closer before he finally pressed his lips on hers.

Not expecting that, the ice cream dropped from ’s hand as she slowly closed her eyes feeling her mind drifted off.

“I am sorry!” Sense finally returned to Hihara as he quickly moved away.

“It’s okay…” muttered feeling her cheeks still burning hot. Taking a quick look around her, she whispered. “Next time, maybe…we can do it at a place…less public.”

Although ’s words were almost inaudible towards the end, Hihara’s eyes widened as he finally remembered, although fortunately there was no one around, they were in the middle of a park!

“-chan, I am so sorry. I didn’t plan it that way!” Hihara panicked with the discovery and wanted to bang his head against a tree. His first kiss with was supposed to be, as his mind had virtually simulated many times, to be romantic, beautiful, nothing abrupt like that!

“No, really. It’s okay.” comforted Hihara again. Gently holding his hand with her own, she smiled. “I am actually, really happy.”

“-chan…” Hihara felt the urge to kiss her again. But by now he would have learnt to not make the same mistake twice. “Next time it will be romantic, I promise.”

Smiling shyly, asked. “So, where are we going for onsen?”

---

“Ekiben[iii]! I missed ekiben so much!” Hihara cheered when he opened up the lunchbox bought from the train staff that pushed the trolley to sell food for the long distance ride.

“What flavour did you get?” asked as she leaned over admiring Hihara’s lunchbox. “Wow, you have yakitori, tonkatsu, tamagoyaki…”

“Here, have some.” Passing the chopsticks Hihara kindly offered.

“In that case, you can have some of mine too.” Opening her own ekiben up, revealed another box packed with delicious food.

With Hihara’s abrupt invitation, the two love birds made their way out of Yokohama city on Saturday morning to spend a night at the onsen resort in Hakone. The trip so far had been sweet and wonderful. The two already bought lots of snacks and food from train stations, items and souvenirs tourist always ended up buying when travelling.

However all was fine until the okami[iv] at the onsen resort led them to their room. It was a beautiful Japanese style room with balcony outlooks into the river beside the resort. In the tranquil atmosphere, thought the whole place was so quiet that Hihara was able to hear her racing heartbeat.

“-chan,”

’s body jumped when Hihara broke the silence.

“According to the guide here, we can enjoy 32 types of different hot springs.”

“Oh…oh, really?” Trying to calm her heart, sat down next to Hihara who was studying the brochure.

“Wow, it apparently takes more than two hours to go through the whole thing!” Hihara exclaimed when reading through the information. Looking over at , Hihara asked. “Should we try it out soon?”

“Sure, let me get changed.” blushed and said quickly. She felt stupid acting all nervous and weird when Hihara appeared to be really simply enjoying the onsen facilities.

As the two hopped from one hot spring to another, some of them even inside the cave, soon forgot all her nervousness as she really started to enjoy the natural wonders with Hihara. When dinner was served up in their room, both Hihara and cheered at the banquet. There was lobster sashimi, boar hot pot, tempura plate, enough food for five people!

“-chan,” During the meal, Hihara asked. “Have you enjoyed yourself today?”

“Of course I have!” In contentment replied.

“In that case,” Putting down his chopsticks, the sad, lonely look that haven’t seen on her kind senior’s face returned once again. “Don’t worry about me, just go to Vienna.”

“…Eh?” The chopsticks dropped from ’s hand with Hihara’s shocking statement. “What do you…how did you…?”

“Tsukimori told me.” Hihara confessed. “He told me that Maestro Schinkel had offered you a scholarship to Vienna because he thought you were talented and gifted and wanted to further train you. But…” With a sigh, Hihara asked. “Why did you turn him down?”

“I…” Not knowing what to say, looked away. To be honest, her reason was shallow. Deep within, when she was first offered the scholarship, thought she had won the lottery. However, when she realised, taking up the scholarship would mean leaving Hihara and study abroad with Tsukimori. She was frightened she could lose Hihara because of it. “I, I didn’t want to leave you…”

Hihara felt his heart constricted in pain with what said. Tsukimori was right when he told him that if he really loves , he should let her go. He was joyful of course that granted his wish to become his girlfriend, but he had never once wanted to become the person that takes away ’s dream.

“-chan,” Hihara got up from his seat and sat down next to instead. “Do you remember the first time we played a song together?”

nodded as she felt tears filled her eyes. How could she forget? It was the first duet she had ever performed with anyone. It was with Hihara, she discovered the joy of music.

Gently holding her in his arms, Hihara smiled. “The reason I am so in love with you is because of your enthusiasm, the way you never gave up and through you I was able to learn new things about music.” Lovingly fondling her hair, Hihara continued. “That is why, I don’t want you to give up such talent and gift. I don’t want my own immature fears to become the reason you give up on such opportunity.”

“Kazuki senpai…” sobbed as she held her wonderful friend, lover and senior.

“Go to Vienna, do what you need to do.” Softly whispering, Hihara said. “And when you are home, I will be here, waiting for you.”

That’s right. Hihara knew he should no longer doubt or fear. When he found out from Tsukimori, had declined the offer because of him, he was ashamed to know how immature he was. Instead of protecting and support as he had always wanted. He became her stumbling block. If he truly loves her, he must learn to trust her.

“I will come back to you, Kazuki senpai.” sobbed as she gave Hihara a soft kiss. “For I have no other home than here, beside you.”

Three years, he was there for her. He was always her home to return to. Whenever she was down, upset, never need to look elsewhere. She was always able to find comfort, peace, a warm embrace in Hihara.

Tasting the tears mixed with ’s sweet bitter kiss, Hihara responded, softly, lovingly and carefully. So romantically as he had promised.

As the two woke up the next day beside each other, no words were needed as they exchanged a smile. Holding the soft body tightly close to him, Hihara was assured once again, there was no more need to fear. Tsukimori may be better than he was in many ways, a perfect match for , but it no longer mattered. He will do what he does best, waiting, be the dock that she could return her sail to.

---

A few more months went by since that day, as the time to depart closed in, felt her heart heavy. It was rather odd because three years ago, she was in the position where the man she loved left her. Three years later, although she was able to go to Vienna with that man, he was no longer the man she loves.

The day came when was leaving for Vienna. Wanting to spend every moment together, Hihara accompanied her to the airport. When the voice on the announcement had advised for passengers to go to gate, immediately sensed tears filled her eyes.

“It’s okay, we will soon see each other right?” Trying to be the mature one, Hihara comforted despite he too could sense intolerable pain in his heart.

Nodding, finally let go of Hihara’s hand. Seeing this, Tsukimori gave a sigh, “I will go in first. , I will meet you at the gate.”

“Tsukimori,” Knowing what Tsukimori did was to give them a private time to say goodbye, Hihara stopped him before he left.  To both their surprises, Hihara gave Tsukimori a sincere bow. “Please take care of -chan for me.”

Upon those words, Tsukimori remained silent for a while before he finally nodded.

“Kazuki senpai…” After Tsukimori left first, called the name of her beloved friend once more.

“Work hard, -chan!” Hihara gave the sunshiny smile that always managed to warm her heart. “I will also aim to become a music teacher. I want to let many more know what wonders music could do to them.” Gently placing his hand against ’s soft cheek, Hihara added. “Because it has brought you to me.”

Unable to hold in the tears any longer, wrapped her arms around Hihara and gave him a sweet kiss goodbye. Three years ago, she lost what was important to her because she was unable to trust in the man she loved. Three years later, she learned, there was no more need to doubt or fear. The distance separating their bodies could never terminate the heart and love they have for each other.

Epilogue

“Hihara sensei, is it true your girlfriend is coming to watch the selection today?”

“Wah! Where did you guys hear that from?!”

“Kanazawa sensei told us,” One of the students selected for the Seiso Gakuin annual concur grinned. “No wonder you looked so dressed up today.”

“I, I am not purposely dressed up for it.” Blushing like mad, Hihara justified. “Today is the day for the first selection, and as your teacher, I have to dress appropriately too!”

“So who is Hihara sensei’s girlfriend?”

“Don’t you know? The special guest today, ‘ ’.”

“Eh?? That famous violin soloist is Hihara sensei’s girlfriend? No way!”

Beaming with pride, Hihara said. “She is a marvellous musician isn’t she? She once was a student here too at Seiso, a contestant like you guys.”

“But weren’t you a contestant too, Hihara sensei?”

“Yes I was, and it was the best experience ever in my life!”

“But did you win?”

With the sharp question, Hihara cleared his throat. “The whole experience was not about winning. It’s about enjoying! Didn’t I already teach you that?”

“What’s the point of the Concur if it was never about winning?” One of the contestants asked coldly.

“That is for you to find out.” Hihara smiled. “Three more selections to go!”

---

“The performances were amazing.” said when she and Hihara walked along the car park on their way to pick up Hihara’s car. “It really reminded me of us when we were once here.”

“It really does,” Hihara beamed. “One student even asked what the point of attending a Concur was when the result was not about winning.”

“Ah, sounded like something Tsukimori-kun would say.” Giggling replied.

“It sure does.” Laughing too Hihara replied. After ’s return from Vienna, Hihara no longer felt anything when that name was spoken from her lips. As promised, returned to him despite being apart from each other for many years. She was with Tsukimori daily in Vienna, but her heart was with him.

“How long are you going to stay in Japan this time?” Holding ’s hand in his, Hihara asked. As a world-class violinist now, spends majority of her time in Europe.

“For about six months.” replied. Her grip on Hihara’s hand tightened as she stopped walking. “Kazuki, would you, I mean, can you give me a reason, like, you know, to stay longer?”

“A reason?” Hihara stopped walking too and asked.

“…Nothing, don’t worry.” Squeezing out a smile shook her head and changed the topic. “Where are we going for dinner tonight?”

“Ah, I booked a table at La ’Aqua tonight.”

“La ‘Aqua??” ’s gorgeous eyes widened in shock. “That place is so extravagant, and it’s so hard to get a booking!”

“It’s okay, I had booked weeks in advance.” With a wink, Hihara smiled.

Yes he has.

Quietly reaching for the small box sitting inside his pocket, Hihara secretly took a breath to relieve the nervousness whenever he thought about it. asked him to give her a reason to stay longer, and indeed, he had planned already to offer her that reason tonight, at the harbour side restaurant, La ‘Aqua.

He will be her home, for as long as they both shall live…

Fin…Hihara Kazuki Side

[ii] Onsen is the Japanese word for hot springs

[iii] Ekiben is a type of lunchbox only sold on shinkansen, or at train stations.

[iv] Okami are the service people at onsen resorts where they would dress in kimono and assist your stay there.