Hi, please read.

"Watari!" Tsubaki called out. She saw him emerge from around the street corner and started running towards him. It was a bright and sunny Saturday morning, and Kousei was nowhere to be found.

"Hey Tsubaki, did you find him yet?" Watari asked. "No, I checked his house, the school, all his usual spots. Where could he be?" Tsubaki said between heavy breaths. She had been running around all morning only to find herself back in front of her house.

"GOD WHERE IS THAT IDIOT," Tsubaki screamed, "WHEN I FIND HIM, IMMA SHOVE HIS GODDAMN PIANO UP HIS A-"

"Okieeeeee," Watari said, "Let's just calm down now Tsubaki." Watari moved toward her and put his hand on her shoulder. "He's probably off sulking, you know he's angsty."

"Yeah, you're probably right. It's just we all promised to go see her together. We could have been the first one she saw after her surgery, but apparently, Kousei decided he had better things to do," Tsubaki growled.

When Watari spoke, it was barely a whisper, "Really Tsubaki, do you really think that Kousei would do that?" A moment of silence passed between them. Tsubaki unclenched her fists, "Of course not but… where could he be then?"

As the silence resumed, Tsubaki noticed something on his shirt. "Hey what's this?" She quickly snatched it off Watari's chest before he had a chance to react. "Hey, give it back," Watari protested, swinging in vain to get it back. It was a hospital visitor ID sticker and it was postmarked from yesterday.

Tsubaki quickly made the connection and looked up at Watari in a mix of disbelief and anger.

"You went to visit Kaori without us?" She asked. Watari kept avoiding her stare. He had a troubled look on his face, almost like he was remembering something painful and was trying to push it back down. Quickly as it came, it disappeared and his cheeky smile came to replace it.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I couldn't wait, you know? I was just way too excited to see her. I'm really sorry about that " Watari said as he grinned sheepishly. Watari looked down again. "It's just, she could've died," Watari pulled his head back up and looked at Tsubaki in the eyes, "I just. I just needed to see her."

Tsubaki could tell he was telling the truth, but from the way he said those words, she knew there was more than he was letting on. She didn't press.

"It's alright, let's just go find Kousei and see her altogether, okay?"

"Okay." Watari looked back with resolve in his eyes but in that resolve, Tsubaki could see a little crack. And like his friend, she was willing to do anything not to let that crack grow.

"Why am I here?"

Kousei sat on the bench and watched a group of children ran across the playground with their instruments. Back to the playground where he first met her.

One particular child named Haruto bounded across the field with a shiny new instrument in his hand.

"Guys look, I got a new melodica!" His friends crowded around him and oohed and aahed at the sight. "That's so cool!" " Was it a present?" "Nope, I bought it with my own money." "Cooooooooool!" They looked at Haruto with such admiration in their eyes.

"Who brought their instruments today?" Haruto asked. All his friends raised their hands with recorders and bugles in them. "YAY GUYS LET'S DO THE SONG THAT WE DID YESTERDAY" "YAH" his friends responded.

"One and two and three and four and…." Haruto started to lead the melody and his friends followed.

While this was all happening, Kousei observed from afar. "Ha, he's just like you Kaori. Always taking command and being pushy yet so persistent in the music that you created." he thought wistfully, "What would you do in this situation?" As he thought back on all his memories with Karoi, he fell on a particular one. One in a tiny dessert cafe.

Kousei got up and walked over to the group of kids.

He bent down and said, "Hey guys." "Hi Mister," they responded. Haruto spoke up and said, "Did you like our playing?" Kousei smiled and said "You guys were great! You could be a really amazing quartet one day!" Haruto blushed ever so slightly and said, "You think so?" "Of course, why couldn't you?" All the kids smiled a little more.

"You guys were playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, right?" Kousei asked. "Yeah!" "Do you mind if I give it a go?" Kousei asked as he reached his hand out for Haruto's melodica. "Can you even play mister?" Haruto asked, not really wanting to give his brand new melodica to a complete stranger. "I mean, I think I know how to play a little." "Come on Haruto, I wanna hear him play!" his friends pleaded. With a heavy sigh, Haruto handed his melodica to Kousei. "Just be careful please!" "Don't worry, I promise I won't hurt it," Kousei assured him.

"Hmp, he won't be as good as me." Haruto thought.

Kousei brought the melodica up to his mouth and began to play.

From the moment he heard the first few notes, Haruto couldn't look away. "What… What is this?" Haruto thought. "Why are the notes so much louder? Why are the notes so much happier? We were playing the same song, so why is his music so much more beautiful?" Kousei's music danced around Haruto's ears, filling every nook and cranny. Haruto's eyes grew a little bigger as everything became more colorful. "Green and blue? Joy and… sadness?" Haruto could feel and see everything that came from Kousei as he played more and more. His eyes filled with tears just a little. "His music sounds so happy, so why am I crying?"

Kousei's song started to come to an end and every child's eyes were locked onto him. Kousei blew the last note and pulled the melodica from his mouth.

He turned his head to look at them. They stared at each other for a moment before every single one of them started wailing. Kousei jumped up. "WAHHHHH" they screamed. "OH NO. IM SORRY DONT CRY. CRAP GUYS IM SORRY WHAT DID I DO?" Kousei jumped around them frantically trying to defuse the situation. "IT... IT WAS SO PRETTY MISTER!" they cried. "Huh?" Kousei said, visibly confused. "MISTER, THE MUSIC… IT WAS SO PRETTY!" "Oh…" Kousei said. As he tried to get them to stop crying, he thought back to his first meeting with Kousei. He thought back to the first time he heard her play. He thought back to how he felt when he heard her play. He thought back to how pretty the notes sounded.

When Haruto finally stopped crying, he stammered "MISTER, I SWEAR. ILL BE BETTER THAN YOU ONE DAY. ILL MAKE MY NOTES AS PRETTY AS YOURS!" Kousei smiled and he bent down in front of Haruto. "I know you can. It's like my friend told me, 'Believe that the stars will light your path, even a little bit. Come on... Let's go on a journey'. You can become better than me and play notes prettier than me. Go on your own journey and make the music yours." Kousei handed Haruto back his melodica and walked off.

The kids all started at his back, wondering who this man was; the man who played the prettiest notes they had ever seen.

Hello, you marvelous human beings. I have not been active and I apologize profusely. This quarantine is letting me write some more so that's great. There's nothing new, it's just I was dissatisfied with how the last chapter ended so I got rid of some stuff and a new one is in the works. In the meantime, please watch Haikyuu and Your Lie in April again. Thanks, and please stay inside, stay safe.