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There’s a beautiful melody coming from somewhere behind the corner.
Eijun perks up, pricks his ears, and looks in the direction the sound is coming from. It is a lovely koto melody and even Eijun can tell that only someone who is very skilled could play it so beautifully. So he decides to go and see who’s the one playing. He follows the melody, like a hungry animal would follow the smell of cooking meat, all the while mentally clinging to every single note he catches with his ears. He turns the corner, then another one, and soon reaches a small crowd forming an arc around the stairs of an inn. Everyone seems as entranced by the music as Eijun is, so they don’t pay much attention when he pushes his way past them, eager to see the performer up close. And when he does, all air leaves his lungs, and he feels as if the time has stopped.
There aren’t many things Eijun is good at. He’s loud, at times very annoying, and most certainly not good at using his head. There is, however, one thing he can do almost too well. That is singing. Friends back at his village used to gather at his home after long workdays just to listen to him sing all their worries away. Eijun’s voice is powerful, vibrant, and somehow manages to resonate with listener’s soul. It’s a talent. Which is why one day Eijun packed his things and left home, leaving behind only a letter promising his friends that he would return once everyone in Japan had heard and loved his singing. And what is a better place to start conquering people’s hearts at than Kyoto? “None” he had answered his own question while munching on a piece of bread and looking at the map on his first night under the open sky. And so it was decided.
And now, standing still as stone by the stairs leading to one of the many inns in Kyoto, Eijun thinks, no, knows that the man sitting in front of him would be a perfect partner for him. After all, it’s the first time Eijun met someone whose music resonates with his soul. And it is also the first time he feels so fascinated by, and so drawn to a person he just met.
Not knowing what to do with the overwhelming emotions inside of him, Eijun just stands there, in front of the performer, intently looking first at his long slender fingers gracefully pulling at the strings of his musical instrument, and then at his face. The man’s facial features are relaxed and his eyes closed. It requires more than a little effort to stop looking at the gentle smile playing on performer’s lips.
After what feels like both eternity and no time at all the music stops, and Eijun who was just in the middle of studying long eyelashes finds himself looking straight in the eyes of their owner. The eye contact lasts for a short instant and before Eijun has the time to gather his thoughts, the man has already gotten up and disappeared inside of the inn.
“Miyuki Kazuya, accompany my singing!”
“Huh?” Kazuya looks up from the book he was reading and his mouth widens into a sly grin “Can it be that you were somewhere in the crowd listening to my playing just now, fell in love with my koto, and decided to scout me as your accompanist? Too bad though, I love my current lifestyle, and frankly, don’t have time to play with kids who can’t control the volume nor the pitch of their voice even when simply talking.”
“Whom are you calling a kid!?” Eijun’s voice cracks from agitation and the sound of Kazuya’s snickering almost drowns in the sound of him grinding his teeth.
Alright, so maybe barging into Miyuki’s room right after asking the man at the entrance what his name and room number was wasn’t the brightest idea Eijun has ever had. But certainly there must have been some kind of mistake, because there’s absolutely nothing gentle or graceful about the man in front of him, sitting cross-legged and somehow managing to look down on Eijun despite his eye-level being lower.
“At least listen to my singing before you say anything else! You’ll be shocked by how damn good I am! You might even end up begging me, Sawamura Eijun, to sing more pieces than one to you, Miyuki Kazuya!” Eijun straightens his back and takes a deep breath in, fully ready to start singing at any moment now, but Kazuya just yawns and sprawls out on the floor.
“I am tired and you’re noisy. I’d advise you leaving before I call the owner.” When Eijun still doesn’t seem convinced about the hopelessness of the situation, Kazuya waves his hand at him gesturing him to leave for the last time, and rolls over to another side, completely turning his back to Eijun.
He can hear the younger male huffing and puffing for a while but then there are footsteps and it seems that Eijun is finally leaving. The door opens and shuts again, and silence falls onto the room.
Kazuya sighs and sits up again. Is he regretting chasing the guy away? Not really. Is he disappointed in how quickly the guy gave up? Maybe just a little. Eijun, was it? For someone who was so confident in his singing skills, he sure was quick to leave the moment his audience turned his back on him.
But this isn’t the first time somebody approached Kazuya with an offer to form a band, and so he’s already used to the feeling of disappointment that lingers for a while afterwards.
“If you really are that confident in yourself, then instead of giving up and walking away, you should make your audience turn to you once more with your music.” He mutters to himself.
“That’s!” Kazuya jumps up startled and springs around to meet Eijun’s determined gaze. “That’s exactly what I was planning on doing anyways! I mean,” Eijun fidgets a bit under Kazuya’s stare, and looks down on his hands. “at first I almost left, but then I realized that if I left today, you’d probably tell the guard at the entrance not to let me in anymore, and since this place seems quite expensive for someone like me to stay at I figured if I didn’t make you acknowledge me now, I wouldn’t have many opportunities in the future either so...”
Eijun trails off the moment he notices that Kazuya is smirking at him. But somehow, for once during their conversation, Eijun doesn’t have the urge to punch that smirking face. Instead he takes a deep breath in, smiles and clothes his eyes.
At first everything goes well. The words leaving Eijun’s mouth are perfectly on pitch and no notes are longer than needed. Even the tone of his voice is perfectly fitting the lyrics of the song.
Eijun opens his eyes and finds Kazuya staring at him, his mouth slightly agape. “Miyuki is impressed by my singing just like I said he would be!” Eijun thinks. “He is intently listening to every word leaving my mouth just like I was listening to every single note he played on his koto!
“Which reminds me, what was I singing about again?”
He had been so happy to have earned permission to sing he hadn’t thought too deeply into what to sing, opting to leave it for his heart to decide. So what exactly is the song he is performing right now?
A nursery rhyme. Great. Or not so great after all.
Eijun stutters. His voice cracks. He takes a false note. Eijun stops singing, apologizes, and starts singing another song, this time a beautiful and rather complicated piece. But it doesn’t go right. His concentration and momentum is lost. As is Kazuya’s attention.
That evening most of Eijun’s money goes on the inn. Miyuki had completely and utterly rejected him, and Eijun, having no motivation nor energy to go searching for a sleeping place, just takes out most of his money and gives it to the owner of the inn, getting in return ownership of a tiny room in the opposite wing. For a week.
As he falls asleep, a thought, that maybe spending all of his money on seven days of staying near a person, who probably doesn’t want to see nor hear him anymore, wasn’t the smartest idea, passes his head. Eijun is too tired to think further though. Instead, he rolls on his back and lets his mind drift off to sleep.
Most of Eijun’s next week passes in a haze. He wakes up when sun rises, skips the breakfast served at the inn, and goes into the city to earn some money by singing on the streets and inviting himself over to parties happening all around the town. Kyoto is a busy place and Eijun, despite not having got approval from Miyuki Kazuya, is still a pretty good singer. He doesn’t earn enough to keep living in the same inn after the week is over, but at least he no longer has to worry about finding a roof to sleep under once his time is up.
Most of Kazuya’s next week passes just like any other. He wakes up near midday, eats his cold breakfast, goes out on the steps of the inn, performs in front of his public, and then goes back to his room until his performance in the evening. Since a handsome man playing koto on the stairs is good for business, the owner is letting Kazuya stay there for free as long as he performs at least two times a day. At other times he’s free to do whatever he wants so he just lies on the floor and eavesdrops on people talking outside. Somehow recently Sawamura has become the hot topic between the maids of the inn. He is energetic, runs around the town despite having paid a fortune to stay here, and his looks aren’t too bad either. Kazuya figures it isn’t that surprising to hear female gossiping about him at times.
Although, he notes, it’s not like the singer only shows up for meals and when it’s time to sleep. If one looks carefully enough, it’s possible to spot him behind the corner of the neighbouring building every now and then when it’s time for Kazuya to perform on the stairs. He doesn’t push his way to the front rows the way he did that time though, and Kazuya is just a bit disappointed at the thought. Not that he is going to admit it to himself or anyone else.
The last night of Eijun’s stay at the inn he is unable to fall asleep. The bitterness he had been keeping in for the last week, the longing and sadness he felt every time he found himself listening to Miyuki’s performance, hiding behind the corner, the fear of humiliation that might come were he to be spotted – all these emotions keep overflowing his mind and soon it’s too much to take. So Eijun gets up and goes to the inner yard.
It’s tiny and not illuminated but the bright round moon in the sky illuminates everything well enough for Eijun to see his surroundings, so he steps on to the soft grass and walks up to a single cherry tree standing in the middle of the yard. It’s nearing summer, and most of the branches are covered in leaves, and as Eijun clothes his eyes and starts to silently hum a song to himself, he catches himself on the thought of how much more romantic it all could be if the tree was in full bloom that very moment. But there is really no need for romantic scenery in Eijun’s life. It’d be a total waste on someone like him or a situation such as this. So Sawamura Eijun discards the idea and instead focuses on the tune leaving his lips. A simple melody he is pretty sure he’s never sung before.
Is he just coming up with it on the spot right now? Probably. And for someone as simple-minded as Eijun it really is an incredible achievement. But he doesn’t think about that either. He just focuses on putting all of his emotions into his song. Singing his heart out to the darkness of the night, when no one can hear him.
Or so he thinks. But as he begins a new line, a gentle melody starts playing from the opposite direction of where Eijun came from.
The moon is probably at fault here, since Kazuya has never suffered from sleeplessness before. And it must be because he is tired, but when he hears Sawamura’s singing he instinctively reaches out for his koto and gently, as if he is afraid of scaring the song away, starts pulling at the strings.
For countless time already, Eijun is overwhelmed by the immense feeling of joy from hearing Miyuki’s koto. For the second time, he thinks, no, believes, that they would make an incredible pair of musicians.
Sawamura Eijun opens his eyes, looks up and the moon, smiles, and keeps singing.
Miyuki Kazuya opens his eyes, looks up from his koto, and for the first time pays attention to the lyrics instead of only focusing on the melody.
Sawamura Eijun is singing a love song.