When lunch period came, Hiro remained in the classroom with Hotaru and Natsuki, eating his bento while chatting endlessly about everything under the sun. Aoi popped up in the conversation several times, but not enough for it to be creepy. "I think it will be a lot less stressful for Yuki if we have a pianist in the club, not to mention that we won't have to worry about which instrument to play anymore." Hotaru spoke, not looking up from the notes he was reviewing while still managing to eat without the food missing his mouth. Hiro was constantly surprised by how studious his friend was. XX
"Well, if we have a pianist it means we have a lot more choices when it comes to what song we're gonna play in the competition." Hiro leaned back in his chair and stared out the window, watching the cherry blossoms fall from the trees lining the courtyard. "Finding one without the piano component was really hard, and it wasn't even a good song either." The three then went on to discuss note translations - since Hotaru played the double bass while Natsuki and Hiro played the violin - as well as teasing poor Hotaru about the fact he'd have to lug his double bass home for extra practice at some point. XX
There were only about ten minutes left of lunch when the three boys, along with the rest of the orchestra members, each received the same mutli-media text from Yuki stating that Shimizu Aoi had officially handed in his application to join the club. "I knew he would! Natsu, you owe me five-hundred yen~" XX
Natsuki groaned in protest, but coughed up the money anyways, grumbling about bluffs and whatnot. Their attention was on Aoi when the blue-haired boy entered the room, and the three boys, as well as the other orchestra members that were in the class, stuck thumbs-up gestures in his direction as praise for joining the club before returning to their previous conversations. Hiro waved Aoi over and grinned at him. "We heard you decided to join after all, and we wanted to thank you! Hotaru and I are the only members who can play the piano, but I'm lead violin and Hotaru's the only double bass, so neither of us can play the piano parts without messing up our own sections. Yuki's been really stressed about it so you did us a huge favor by joining~" XX
From then on, Hiro and Natsuki practically dragged Aoi into their music-centered conversation, their casual mannerisms suggesting that they'd known the boy for years. Hotaru was a bit more formal, and didn't say a whole lot, simply correcting his chatterbox friends when they were incorrect and scolding them when they were impolite. Ten minutes later, the bell rang and prompted everyone to their seats, Hiro and Natsu both groaning in protest. XX
When classes ended three hours later, several members of the class stood up in tandem, a decent contrast to the more leisurely exits from the previous day. "Time for rehearsal! And its nice out today, so we'll be playing outside again~" Gathering his things, Hiro swung his violin over his shoulder and hopped over to Aoi's desk with the usual spring in his step, pointing a thumb toward the door with a grin. "Time for your first North High Orchestra rehearsal, newbie! Best not be late~" Hiro spoke in a joking manner and left after Natsuki and Hotaru, who were arguing over whether or not a treble clef was harder to draw than a bass clef. The three waited outside for Aoi to catch up, and dragged him once again into their conversation as they walked. XX
"The Orchestra room is the only club room on the same floor as the roof access, so Sensei lets us practice outside when the weather's nice. Helps us to listen closer to our instruments as well, since there aren't any walls for the sound to echo off of." Hiro explained some of the club's habits and rules, as well as the rather odd methods they used to improve their skills (one example being random days where the members would spend the few hours of club time simply listening to their own performances from a recording). "And if you're nervous, don't be! No one really cares whether you're famous or not~" XX
Sure enough, no one said anything about his popularity, and simply thanked him for taking up the empty piano slot, regarding him as nothing but another regular student as everyone tuned their instruments and discussed the previous day's performance. And thus, the rehearsal began, entertaining as ever.
"Well, if we have a pianist it means we have a lot more choices when it comes to what song we're gonna play in the competition." Hiro leaned back in his chair and stared out the window, watching the cherry blossoms fall from the trees lining the courtyard. "Finding one without the piano component was really hard, and it wasn't even a good song either." The three then went on to discuss note translations - since Hotaru played the double bass while Natsuki and Hiro played the violin - as well as teasing poor Hotaru about the fact he'd have to lug his double bass home for extra practice at some point. XX
There were only about ten minutes left of lunch when the three boys, along with the rest of the orchestra members, each received the same mutli-media text from Yuki stating that Shimizu Aoi had officially handed in his application to join the club. "I knew he would! Natsu, you owe me five-hundred yen~" XX
Natsuki groaned in protest, but coughed up the money anyways, grumbling about bluffs and whatnot. Their attention was on Aoi when the blue-haired boy entered the room, and the three boys, as well as the other orchestra members that were in the class, stuck thumbs-up gestures in his direction as praise for joining the club before returning to their previous conversations. Hiro waved Aoi over and grinned at him. "We heard you decided to join after all, and we wanted to thank you! Hotaru and I are the only members who can play the piano, but I'm lead violin and Hotaru's the only double bass, so neither of us can play the piano parts without messing up our own sections. Yuki's been really stressed about it so you did us a huge favor by joining~" XX
From then on, Hiro and Natsuki practically dragged Aoi into their music-centered conversation, their casual mannerisms suggesting that they'd known the boy for years. Hotaru was a bit more formal, and didn't say a whole lot, simply correcting his chatterbox friends when they were incorrect and scolding them when they were impolite. Ten minutes later, the bell rang and prompted everyone to their seats, Hiro and Natsu both groaning in protest. XX
When classes ended three hours later, several members of the class stood up in tandem, a decent contrast to the more leisurely exits from the previous day. "Time for rehearsal! And its nice out today, so we'll be playing outside again~" Gathering his things, Hiro swung his violin over his shoulder and hopped over to Aoi's desk with the usual spring in his step, pointing a thumb toward the door with a grin. "Time for your first North High Orchestra rehearsal, newbie! Best not be late~" Hiro spoke in a joking manner and left after Natsuki and Hotaru, who were arguing over whether or not a treble clef was harder to draw than a bass clef. The three waited outside for Aoi to catch up, and dragged him once again into their conversation as they walked. XX
"The Orchestra room is the only club room on the same floor as the roof access, so Sensei lets us practice outside when the weather's nice. Helps us to listen closer to our instruments as well, since there aren't any walls for the sound to echo off of." Hiro explained some of the club's habits and rules, as well as the rather odd methods they used to improve their skills (one example being random days where the members would spend the few hours of club time simply listening to their own performances from a recording). "And if you're nervous, don't be! No one really cares whether you're famous or not~" XX
Sure enough, no one said anything about his popularity, and simply thanked him for taking up the empty piano slot, regarding him as nothing but another regular student as everyone tuned their instruments and discussed the previous day's performance. And thus, the rehearsal began, entertaining as ever.