Eternal Melody

She keeps taking advantage of his goodwill, his kindness. It isn’t fair on him. Yuhi, however, shook his head. “I don’t mind you taking advantage of me, Sumire.”

“How could that be your–” She stopped in mid-sentence when she saw his face’s expression.

This is unfair. If he looks at her like that, how is she supposed to argue back?

“I want to sleep.”

Yuhi kissed her cheeks. “You want to ditch me?”

“I am staying here.” Her gaze fell on the stars. It was indeed romantic of him to do something like this. She did not know much about relationships, but she felt that her relationship with Yuhi was going well.

The only unusual aspect is living together. In society’s eyes, it would be rare. They are only high school students; she still hasn’t come of age either. Realistically this is the age where they should still depend on their parents due to lack of finances. But due to Yuhi-sans situation, he was forced to grow up a little faster than others. The same went for her too.

An average high school student should not be able to afford living expenses and school. But the reason Yuhi and her could do this was due to the help of those around her.

They hear a small knock on the tent door. “Yuhi, is Ibuki-san there with you? She has a guest.”

“A guest?” Yuhi repeated.

“Makoto Soujiro.”

At that comment, her eyes widened. Ah, she forgot to tell Soujiro. He must have been worried sick about her.

________

Soujiro did not want to cause her problems by appearing at her school like this. But he wanted to speak to her for a bit. Since she returned to his side, they have not discussed their engagement or anything.

“I wanted to speak to you.”

Soujiro reached over and brushed his hands on a stand of her hair as he gently kissed it. “As have I. Princess.”

“Mm, I see. I’m glad. I thought you were angry with me.”

Soujiro raises his eyebrows at this, “Angry?”

“Yes. Back when I stayed with you, I acted strangely. I even went through desperate measures and avoided Yuhi. I wanted to be in a place that was away from Yuhi for a while, so it was perfect timing.”

So that’s it. Soujiro did figure that to be the case and did think of proposing they go on a trip with just the two of them alone. “You could not help it; it’s not unusual at all. Being emotionally unstable isn’t a problem. You’re just a little bit more sensitive than others, but that doesn’t mean you’re odd.”

“Indeed, whenever I talk to you, I feel a lot calmer. When I was thinking about it myself, I thought that there was something wrong with me. So perhaps I came here to be consoled a bit.” Sumire trails off, “Soujiro, do you remember my performance in the final selection last year?

“Ave Maria’ a sorrowful and yet beautiful melody. ‘Crescendo’ feelings that increase like a crescendo. Both songs spoke out to each other.”

Her violet gaze softened. “That’s right that performance was for Yuhi. Even though it should have been for Ru, it probably then that I realized that I was seriously in love with Yuhi. Ru knew that, but I never told anybody else. Everybody thought that I chose to part from him because of senpai. In the end because I was indecisive, things become like this now. I realized that I have yet to solve and end things with my past relationships.”

“If you’re going wholehearted on that quest of yours. I would suggest you start with Ichinose.”

“With senpai? Why?”

Soujiro shuts his eyes. “The reason I reinstated the engagement with you was because of jealousy. I saw not only your wholehearted performance for him. It was because I saw how much you loved him that I proposed the engagement despite having made a promise with somebody.”

Nanairo Feather. When he saw his fiance during the broadcast of the group’s first concert, it surprised him. However, even then, those people did not interest him. It wasn’t until that other one showed up that he indeed turned his attention to the group. Soujiro, too saw it, the international concur broadcasts.

His family is fond of classical music, and so during a meeting with their clients, they always without fail watched the selection. He did not know about the girl participating until the end of the first selection when they announced the girl’s disqualification for the round.

His clients didn’t recognize the name. But his brother did, ‘So your fiance is still as mysterious as ever, huh? It’s true that I once praised her for her gracefulness and manners. However, back then, I had already noticed that the aura around her is quite unusual for your everyday princess. There have been rumors about a blonde hair demon princess throughout the Yankee groups in Japan. Want a bet brother, that the demon princess there speaking of is your fiance?’

That conversation was one that remained fresh in his mind, which is why he had been indeed eagerly anticipating the girl’s return. Soujiro wanted to prove his elder brother wrong. However, he was fully aware of the girl’s nature of not being a typical Princess. Sumire never behaved in a manner that showed she was of noble blood. If it were not for her graceful aura, he would not see her as nobility.

After all, during there first meeting, she expressed precise desires of knowing state of affairs concerning wars. That time though, he found it to be unusual.

When he went home that night and thought it through, he realized that it wasn’t as uncommon as he thought. After all, she is still a ruler; in the end, wanting to know the state of what’s happening around you is normal. His brother convinced on the matter that the demon Princess everyone is talking about is her.

Soujiro continues. “I wanted to prove that you were innocent from my brother, and yet, I also wanted to monopolize you. I did not want you to belong to anyone else even when people spread the news of your family.

I wanted to believe you were alive, so when I met with Haki, she told me everything. I made up my mind that I would wait for you to come to your decision. I was surprised how much you changed when I saw you again, but I was surprised how beautiful the love you were trying to convey was.”

That performance, for a person who was not him. Soujiro understood that it was already far too late.