Reawakened Guitarist

It's still midnight, and the rain is becoming little less intense. Susumu is still sleeping while sitting on the floor with his back slouched.

The clock continues to tick, and the small hand is pointing to one, while the long hand is pointing to six, I also have to mention that there is an alarm clock on the stand next to Ayano's bed.

Ayano groans, followed by a sigh; she sits up upright in bed, one eye closed; her hair is a tangle, she thinks, <It's still raining...?> she rubs one of her eyes.

She looks around her room, then observes Susumu; she carefully gets out of bed so as not to wake him sleeping, moves over to her desk before halting in the middle of the room, thinking that if she starts typing on the computer, he will wake up practically instantly.

She takes some earmuffs from the shelf and steadily places them on his ears; she walks back and nearly laughs when she realizes she put the earmuffs with cat ears on him; she prevents herself from laughing by shielding her mouth.

She then walks over to what she calls her 'work surface,' sits in a chair, and turns on her computer; while waiting, she checks her phone and notices the temperature is ten degrees Celsius.

She is wearing a pink hoodie, so she isn't cold; she looks at Susumu, who is only wearing a white button-down shirt, and gives him a concerned expression; she gets up from her chair and retrieves a blanket from her bed before putting it around him.

As the computer finishes booting up, she goes to her desk, pulls up her files and some images, and begins clicking away at her keyboard— Ayano is back at it with the sleep deprivation!

A few hours have passed since the small hand is now pointing at the number five, and the clouds have finally dissipated, revealing the orange sky; rays of light peak through the small break in the window curtain, Ayano has fallen asleep at her desk, resting her head on her forearms.

Susumu slowly awakens, rubs his eyes with the back of his hand, and then feels the blanket on his back with his free hand; he feels his ears and something soft, and then moves his hand up the thing and feels the cat ears.

He removes the muffs and sets them on the bed behind him as he pushes himself up; however, he keeps the blanket on; if you saw him outside, you'd undoubtedly think he was an elderly lady.

He then walks up to Ayano's sleeping desk and shakes his head in dismay before shaking her on the shoulder and saying, "Wake up, Shinsato-san."

"Onii-san... It isn't dawn yet..." Ayano mumbles in her sleep.

Susumu examines the items on her desk; there is a framed portrait of her and her two siblings, a younger sister and an older brother, beside the monitor.

Fun trivia fact: Shinsato Ayano's older brother is in college, while her younger sister is still in middle school. From 'Ayano's Middle School Days'— Throw some stars and make them glitter over that in the post effects... her older brother would always wake her up early every morning, trivia fact finished!

Susumu mumbles, "Onii-san?—" He shakes his head and continues, "Whatever, just wake up already." Ayano gently opens one of her eyes while straightening her back and stretching her arms.

"I'm awake..." Ayano moaned, and Susumu looked out the window, where the clouds had finally parted, leaving only a few rain puddles to be melted by the sun.

Susumu then walks over to her bed and carefully places the blanket on it before facing her and asking, "Do you mind if I use your bathtub?" Ayano turns her chair to face him and adds, "Sure, just be sure not to do anything odd with my soap." She is still dizzy from waking up.

Susumu then walks out of the room, saying, "Sure..." He walks up to the bathroom, opens the door, and walks in; there is a laundry room before the actual bathroom; he slides open the glass door and turns on the bathtub.

After filling the bathtub with water, he walks out into the laundry room and begins stripping off his school uniform; after stripping, he enters into the bathroom and slides the glass door closed; he then steps into the bathtub and lies down.

He feels the warmth of the water embrace his body, and he breathes a long sigh of relief as he sinks deeper into the water; he hears a knock on the glass door, and he looks to the glass door beside him before asking, "Shinsato-san? What is it?"

Ayano is on the opposite side of the glass door, but she can't see through it because of the obscure design. "Do you remember yesterday when I mentioned I hadn't worked on the music or voice acting yet?" she asks.

Susumu recalls her remarks from yesterday before correcting his posture in the bathtub, to which he replies, "Yeah, why do you ask?"

"You told me you played the guitar previously, correct? Well... could you please produce the music for the game as well?" Ayano begins to brush her hair with her hand.

"I haven't played the guitar in a long time, last time I played was back in middle school... but I think— I think I can still play the guitar if I try hard enough," Susumu says, resting his head on the wall behind him.

Hmm... Maybe if I go back far enough, I can visualize Susumu playing the guitar in middle school— never mind, that's simply too difficult for me as a narrator, moving on!

"Sure, I can do that," Susumu says in response to her question.

"Thank you, Ishibashi-san," Ayano says as she goes out of the bathroom; he hears the door close and sinks into the water before sighing, "What did I agree to?"

Okay, he'll stay in the water for the next ten minutes, and I'm not going to narrate him simply sitting in the bathtub, so let's get this over with.

(+ TIME ADVANCE +)

Susumu has changed back into his school uniform, he fastens his tie before departing the restroom, and enters Ayano's room; seeing her typing on the keyboard, he asks, "Are you going to have breakfast here or at a restaurant?"

Ayano stops typing and turns to face Susumu, saying, "I don't eat breakfast, I only eat lunch and supper." Susumu adds, "Heh?" as he looks at her with a puzzled expression.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day! How great is it that eighty-three point nine percent of people in Japan eat breakfast? I knew that because I'm from everywhere, being a narrator and everything, but in the end, I was assigned to Japan.

What were we doing? After he lets that sound escape his mouth, Ayano pouts and directs her brows downward, saying, "What? You know some people don't eat their breakfast, right?"

"Isn't it strange, though? It kind of kickstarts your body at the start of the day, which is why I think it's really important," Susumu says, scratching the side of his head while looking at the dining room.

He returns his gaze to Ayano, who is now staring at the monitor with headphones on; he sighs lowly, squinting his eyes, and murmurs, "Seriously?" he shakes his head.

"I'll be going now, Shinsato-san, see you on Mond—," he exclaims loudly as he walks out of the room.

"Wait!" Ayano exclaimed, Susumu turns around with a smirk, "What is it?" She clicks her tongue before gently asking, "Could you kindly come back here tomorrow?"

Susumu then places his palm up to his ear, mockingly asking, "What did you say?" Ayano swallows her pride and asks, "Could you kindly come back here tomorrow with your guitar?"

"Sure, what guitar do you need me to bring? If I recall correctly, I have an acoustic and an electric guitar," he says, putting his hand down and nodding.

Ayano swings her head from side to side, thinking out loud, "Perhaps the... acoustic guitar?" Susumu nods again, "Alright, see you tomorrow, Shinsato-san."

Ayano then returns her attention to her monitor, saying, "Take care, Ishibashi-san."

Susumu then walks to the front entrance, slipping on his shoes before taking his school bag; opening the front door, he steps out and closes the door behind him; and begins heading down the stairs and approaches his wet bike.

He shakes his head in disbelief, gets a handkerchief from his pocket, and wipes the bike seat. He climbs it and unlatches it from the railing after an excruciatingly long wiping of a rubber bike seat.

He begins cycling toward his house; there are still puddles on the sidewalk, and he makes no attempt to avoid them; instead, the bike makes contact with the water, splashing sounds whenever it comes into contact with a puddle.

After thirty minutes, he comes to a halt in front of his house, locks his bike to the railing, and proceeds to his house; once there, he unlocks the door and walks in, shouting, "I'm home!"

"Welcome home, Susumu-kun!" his mother says as she peers around the corner. Susumu removes his shoes before passing past his mother, who smells the perfume of the shampoo he used while still in Ayano's apartment.

He then walks inside his room, cautiously lowering his schoolbag; he unlocks his wardrobe and pulls out a grey hoodie, followed by some black jeans.

He removes his school uniform and places it in his room's laundry basket before putting on his change of clothing; after putting on his pants and sweatshirt, he looks at the guitar case in his wardrobe.

He pulls out the guitar case and closes the closet; he then unzips the case before removing his acoustic guitar, which he inspects for a time.

He sits on his bed, holding the guitar, and muses, <Maybe... maybe I truly have forgotten how to play the guitar...> He shakes his head to clear his mind.

<No, I used to appreciate playing the guitar when I was younger; maybe the skill is still someplace deep inside me and I just need to yank it out,> he reasoned.

Before rolling up his sleeves, he pulls out a notebook with musical notes on it and prepares his right hand to begin strumming... I would definitely cheer for him if he could hear me right now, which he can't.

He closes his eyes and exhales quickly, then reopens his eyes and begins strumming, a lovely and calming tune emanating from his guitar, and he doesn't even need to look at the melody sheet because of the memory of playing this same song when he was younger has emerged.

This could possibly—no, this will undoubtedly relax a very stressed person in an instant.

His left hand's fingers move beautifully, going from string to string to modify the tone of each strumming motion made with his right hand as if he has mastered the tune.

He stops playing the guitar after plucking the final string, his eyes widening as he understands what has transpired... He'd reawakened his inner guitarist.