Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Chamber Group ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2

" Arigatou, Mama!" Syaoran called that Saturday morning, as his four sisters led him to the entrance of the building. Fanren opened the door and passed the door to her other sisters before entering.

" ID, please." The security guard said, about the millionth time she said it that day. Syaoran showed her his id before moving on. His sisters rushed to the elevator. They were in haste, so they didn't stop to read the bulletin board. Eriol and Yamazaki were already there.
" Syaoran-san! About time!" Eriol joked.
" Hey!" Syaoran looked at his watch. " I'm ten minutes early! What are you talking about?"
" You mean you don't know?" Eriol asked incredulously. " You won the competition!"
" Nani?" Syaoran rushed over to the bulletin board, were several people were gathering. On it was clearly written, " This year's winner of the piano concerto competition, ages 15 and under, is LI SYAORAN."

" Oh my god, I won the thing. I can't believe it!" Syaoran blinked, stunned. " I can't believe it."
" Congratulations, Li-kun, I believe." Said a girl with green eyes. Syaoran recognized her as the symphony orchestra's concertmistress as well as the winner of the violin concerto competition last year.
" Arigatou." Syaoran shook his head. " I can't believe it."

It was always like that. The strings, brass, wind and piano competitions were all held around January or February. The winner of the violin competition as well as piano were somehow more significant than the others, because more people play those instruments. But the violinist always plays right before the Christmas break of the second year, while the pianist always plays right before the school ends on the same year.

Yamazaki laughed as Eriol patted Syaoran on the back. " See? I told you you could do it."
" Arigatou." Syaoran laughed. " But...what happens now?"
" You'll be playing in the last few months." Eriol told him. " You played Prokofiev, hai?"
" Hai." Syaoran shook his head in wonder. " Wow..."
" Wait until your mother sees that." Yamazaki laughed. " She'll be so proud. And your sisters. They'll be screaming."
" Gomen. I can't wait." Syaoran jumped up. " Ai! Nine-o-clock! My chamber class! I'm going to be late, Ja ne!" He lifted his bookbag and nearly ran for the elevator, had he been allowed to.

" Ohayo!" Syaoran called to Yui, a violinist. " Gomen. One elevator got stuck on the fourth floor. I had to use the other one. Am I late?"
" Almost." Yui looked at the door of room 512. " By the way. Congratulations!"
" Nani? Oh. Arigatou!" Syaoran smiled. " I was so nervous about it. I still can't believe I really did it."
" Well, you did, Syao." Yui smirked.
" Hmph." Syaoran disliked the nickname, but there's no keeping Eriol and Yui from using it. Eriol, because he was annoying, and Yui, thanks to Eriol.
" Where's Shigeru?" Syaoran asked.
" Over there, getting a drink." Yui ran his fingers through his hair. " He's thirsty in this weather! It's really snowing out there!"
" Hai. I got some trouble with traffic." Syaoran agreed. " He's always weird." He looked towards the cellist, coming back from the fountain. " Where's Chiriko?"
" In the bathroom." Yui answered, just as the violist came out. " And just in case you're going to ask, Fujima is absent, or late, it depends."
" That's the trouble with a quintet." Syaoran muttered dully. " Always someone missing."

Just than the door opened. The sensei smiled at them.
" Ohayo, students!" he said kindly. " Congratulations, Syaoran! Good job!"
" Arigatou, sensei." Syaoran blushed as he entered the room first. Pianists have nothing to carry except their books. The others, on the other hand...

" Ai, Syaoran-san, can you give me a hand here?" Shigeru asked.

" Hai, I know, it's crazy out there!" Eriol agreed. " It's snowing like...like the Yellow River! Only it's the Snow River."
" Oh, arigatou for the compliment." Syaoran knew the meaning behind the words. " Although our river wasn't as exciting."
" Hai, I guess." Yamazaki shrugged. " And all the talk of global warming."
" What was the girl's name that was the runner up, Syaoran?" Asked a boy named Jounouchi.
" Rika something." Syaoran blinked. " I'm guessing she was the brown haired girl. Oh well, she's pretty good. I didn't see her play, but it is hard even to win fifth place in that thing."
" And you won first. I knew you could do it!" Eriol laughed.
" Arigatou. You were always so faithful." This caused everyone to laugh, and Eriol blushed.
" I'm having a concert today." Syaoran sighed. " I can't believe it." He looked about the cafeteria.

The cafeteria was a big room. It was below the lobby, with stairs leading into it. There were circular tables with plenty of chairs around it, and students eating their lunch. Syaoran leaned back and looked at the clock against the wall in the back of the cafeteria, right on top of the windows. One-o-clock.

" Alright, I better get going; Yoshihara-sensei is very strict on getting to class on time."
" Conducting, hai?" Eriol asked. " Yah! I better get going too. I have theory class. Mind if I come with you?"
" Of course not." Syaoran swung his bookbag over his shoulder. Yamazaki and the others went on eating their lunch; they don't have any classes at this hour.

" I'm thinking about taking conducting." Eriol said to Syaoran. " Is it hard?"
" Right now it is." Syaoran took out his baton, then put it back, satisfied that he had brought it. " The first year is alright. You have to know the names of the instruments in English, French, Italian, German and Japanese."
" The English I know." Eriol shrugged. " I come from England, after all. German and Italian? French?"
" Hai. You know. Petite flûte, violon, arpa, grancassa, klavier, ottavino. That sort."
" Sounds easy enough." Eriol muttered. " You just memorize the names."
" That's true. And they're often in score order so you can tell even if you forget. The transposition is harder though. That you have to memorize, although some just tell you. You know, Trumpet in B flat, that sort."
" You're discouraging me."
" After the first quite boring semester, then you'll come to the actual conducting. Of course, by that time you'll need a baton. They don't sell batons at this school, pity. Yoshihara-sensei will teach you the basics, one two three, one two, that sort, cut time. And then he'll give you an easy symphony; something like Haydn in D major, and then wala. You start conducting. It's in room 331."
" Three thirty-one? Nice! They have a great piano in that room, although unfortunately it's always flat." Eriol rubbed his chin. " That's annoying. The pitch is always lower. No matter what the tuner does."
" Well, at least that's not our piano." Syaoran shrugged. " But the sound is very good, and the keys have a nice feel. If it happens to be that in your class next year, your class is missing some instruments, the pianists fill in. It's very nice."
" That sounds encouraging."
" Mind you, most people are fourteen or above in that class. Last year when I took the first course, I went in there and like, whoa! Everyone's four or more years older than I am! And when Yoshi-hara asked me what grade I was, and when I said sixth, he was like, ' Sixth grade!' Someone in the class, I think it was Taichi, said something like, ' He's the baby of the class!' The only problem was...of course, I was a little too short, so I couldn't watch the conducting classmate when I'm at the piano..."
" Well, I'm alright around old people." Eriol laughed. They stood in front of the elevator.
" How many classes do you have again? Six?"
" Hai. I don't take chorus or music history."
" Oh. So you have...chamber? Theory and ear training, of course. That's three...conducting, and two more. What are they?"
" Composition and Private lesson, of course."
" Ooh, your teacher is bound to be proud!"
" I guess." The elevator opened and the two boys went in.

" You've got to be kidding me." Syaoran muttered as Eriol and Yamazaki sat with him in ear training class. They were staring into the textbook, asked to sight sing ' Sakura', the Japanese folk song. The only problem was, they had to sing it in pitch numbers."
" Alright, I'm play with you all for the first time, and then you can try on your own." The sensei said from the piano. Syaoran sighed. This is boring.

" One one two, one one two, one two three four one two one-seven-six..." The class sang. It probably sounds stupid to those who don't understand, but quite frankly it makes sense to some extent.
" Try again. It's one two one six." the sensei instructed.
" Would have been better if we just sang the actual words." Yamazaki muttered to Syaoran.
" Would have been." Syaoran agreed.

" Finally, lesson over. But I have a concert." Syaoran banged his head on the cafeteria table. Eriol sighed.
" Hey, if you could win the competition, why are you so scared of a concert?"
" Because I have a bad case of stage fright."
" That stage fright didn't cost you too much, eh? You still won."
" By some weird luck, anyway."
" What are you playing?"
" Tarantula."
" By Liszt? Wow. That's a tough piece."
" Hai." Syaoran sighed. " Should I be worried."
" Iie." Eriol cocked an eyebrow. " Relax. It's only five-o-clock. You still have an hour to go-the concert's at six."
" What are you playing?"
"Pathetique." Eriol answered.
" Ugh! You're so lucky! I've always wanted to play that."
" You have no idea how sore my arms were at first." Eriol groaned. " They were practically falling off their sockets. Beethoven didn't get the reputation of being violent for nothing."
" I imagine." Syaoran answered. " But Tarantula is not easy either."
" I love that piece." Eriol wiped his glasses. " There's this part that reminds me of an insect minding its own business, but here comes the spider! Where are your sisters, by the way?"
" They're going to come down at six. They have their own concert."
" Why don't you go listen to them?"
" No way. I'm so tired. I feel like sleeping."
" Let's go to the lobby. I don't feel sleepy. I'll make sure I wake you up." Eriol smiled.

Much to his surprise Syaoran nodded.

" Gladly!"

" Wake up, Syao!" Eriol shook the boy. " It's time! Five fifty five, mind you!"
" Huh?" Syaoran rubbed his eyes. " Oh. Time. I see."
" Good thing you're already dressed." Eriol helped the other boy up. " Otherwise, you'll be late. Although you're the last one."
" Hey, being last isn't that good."
" True. But the last is always the best. I use to be the last, until you came two years ago."
" Hey! Gomen, but it's not my fault I want to be good."
" And you turned out to be the best."
" One of them. You won the competition last year." Syaoran followed Eriol to the elevator.
" Elevator? To the first floor? You lazy!"
" I don't feel like climbing." Eriol explained. " And the staircases are so long."

Luckily, no one was in the elevator, so they didn't interrupt anything. Syaoran headed to the backstage area of Yagami Hall and sat down.
" Konbonwa!" Said a girl, her name was Yoko. " Our little star!"
" Arigatou. Stop it." Syaoran blushed.
" Congratulations, anyway." Said another one, Mariko was her name-she was Yoko's sister.
" Arigatou. Did it start yet?"
" Byung Ahn already went in." Yoko said.
" Oh. Do you have the program?" Syaoran asked. Yamazaki handed him the program; it was on a blue sheet of paper. Syaoran sat down on the soft couch-too soft actually, and scanned the sheet.
" Nineteen people. Whoa, sensei really has a lot of students." Eriol looked at it. " Last time I saw there were only eleven."
" Nineteen people. But last time he didn't include Hua and Kyu." Syaoran answered.
" Who were they again? Hua's the Chinese girl...who's Kyu?"
" The Korean. Don't you remember? Tall guy, about thirteen or so, gaunt looking, looks like he didn't eat for several decades."
" Hai, I remember him. He's the guy with the dark tan, hai?"
" Hai."

There was a sound of applause from the audience. Mariko paled.
" My turn." She said mournfully, as a releaved Byung opened the door and came in, while nearly collapsing.
" How many people were there?" Eriol asked.
" What do you expect? Nineteen people. Mariko and Yoko are one group, Kyu and Danbi are one group, and so you basically have...twenty two people, not including the guests and our sensei." Syaoran paled. " Oh boy..."

" Good luck." Eriol said to Syaoran as he went in. Syaoran walked on stage and there was a great applause. He smiled shyly, bowed, and sat down.

Since when did Eriol become so tall? He wondered as he lowered the seat. Oh shoot, oh shoot, such a big audience! Why did they all have to come? My sisters, ack!

Syaoran settled himself down and stared at the keys. Whoa, the keys are bright. Must calm down. You ready Syaoran? Good.

He began, and gradually he forgot his fear. The audience was still there but he couldn't see them anymore. He couldn't afford to pay attention to them. He was paying too much attention to his piece.

After what seemed like a short time, Syaoran was done. And as soon as he did, he suddenly realized how nervous he actually was during that entire time. He bowed, and then he felt so sick, so sick, as if he was about to faint any minute. He walked to backstage and closed the door. He was received with a pat on the shoulder.
" Good job, Syaoran-san! You were great!" Eriol told him reassuringly.
" I think I'm going to faint." Was all Syaoran said.

" Yuck. Cheese. It tastes like vomit." Syaoran grimaced.
" I know! What kind of horrible cheese is that?" Eriol agreed. " I mean, I love cheese, but that kind is just horrible. It tastes like the thing was spoiled."
" The sandwiches are good!" Yamazaki chuckled. " Do you know that cheese was actually invented in North America? The Native Americans..."

" Ignore him." Syaoran whispered to Mariko, who was a little bit confused. " He's always making up stories during receptions.

" And tobacco was also one of the inventions the Europeans found in the North American region..."
" He never quits, does he?" Yoko sighed. " Our old Yamazaki."
" That's him alright. If there's one day when he doesn't do that I'd swear he's drunk." Syaoran shrugged. " I so hate cheese. You have more of those soda over there?"
" Hai, first place winner." Yoko teased. " I so envy you. But you did it, anyway. Look, garlic bread. Want your breath to smell like garlic?"
" Do you think I care? I'm staying home tomorrow!" Syaoran laughed.
" But I'm visiting!" Eriol pouted. Syaoran blinked.
" Oh. Right. Then please eat some garlic bread so we can't smell the breath of the other."
" No way. I suggest you don't eat it either. Who's taking home all this?"
" The sensei."
" No way."
" Iie. Actually, I thought Takato was going to take these home. He's the only person who can finish all this tomorrow, in any case, and he's the only one who has space in his car."

Eriol laughed. Syaoran is so funny.

Syaoran lied down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. Today was a good day. First he actually pleased his teacher. Second, he won the competition. Third, the concert was alright. Four, he had a chance to eat at the reception. Five, well, everyone knows him now. Syaoran chuckled at that. As he closed his eyes he thought about the future. Oh shoot, I have to practice that Prokofiev with the Symphony Orchestra. Welcome concerts. And with that, he fell asleep.