Chapter 5: A Game of Chess

"Is this some kind of sick joke?..", Kousei asked Watari in horror.

"Nope. It's legit..", Watari answered plainly.

"There must be some mistake.. Right! It's an old photo. No wonder the window's still broken..", Kousei was beginning to deny it.

"You yourself said that it was the new Sumiya football team. I should be there as captain if it was old, not Shizu-san..", Watari rebutted quickly, making a good point.

"Edited?..", inquired Kousei while sinking in his seat.

"Doubt it. It's zooming at the same quality."

"Then what the hell is this? She's been dead for almost three years. This is insane."

"I know, right? I wanted to show you this first before I go there to see for myself..", replied Watari.

"Are you crazy?!?! Why would you want to see a ghost?! That room's haunted, I tell you! I'm dreaming. This is a nightmare. Wait. I had too much to drink..", Kousei exclaimed in fear and was freaking out.

Suddenly, Watari placed his hands on Kousei's shoulders, looked him in the eye, and kicked him right on the shin.

"Ouch! What was that for?! Tsubaki can do that to me, but not you. You're a footballer for crying out loud!..", Kousei yelled and danced around in pain.

"Awake now?..", Watari asked impatiently.

"Yeah.. might need to get my leg amputated though..", Kousei answered while massaging his most probably bruised shin.

"Okay, Kousei. First, I need you to calm down and think. Breathe in.. breathe out..", Watari insisted again while demonstrating how to take deep breaths.

"Watari.."

"Yeah?"

"I'm not in labor.."

Watari frowned at Kousei, with his nose and mouth somewhat disappearing, and almost popping a vein. He turned around, grabbed his beer and went back to his chair to sit. He drank again before taking a moment to sigh. "Surely you wouldn't know what a ghost looks like?..", he asked.

"How should I know? I've never seen one..", Kousei answered.

"Then how do you know that this is a ghost?"

"Good point..", thought Kousei as he caressed his chin. "If this was really a chess match, my ass was getting kicked."

Kousei thought of the possibilities. He looked at the photo again. It still managed to give a chill down his spine, but he could look at it now without freaking out.

"The girl in the music room definitely resembled her..", pondered Kousei while he stared intently at the picture. "But I couldn't think of any way how she could be alive. It was impossible. She died after surgery almost three years ago..

"If it was an edited picture, then that was one damn good editor.. not to mention the fact that it was quite sinister also. Did Watari have this edited to convince me to come home? I wouldn't think he'd go that far though..

"Another possibility was the girl in the picture could be a look alike. Yes. That made more sense. What are the odds, right? I had to zoom it quite a lot so the quality made it a bit blurry. It could be any other girl."

"It could be some random blonde middle schooler, Watari..", Kousei finally broke the silence after giving it some thought.

"Let me see that again..", Watari said as he grabbed his friend's phone. "The resolution's quite blurred if you zoom it in that much so there's no way to say for certain that it's Kao-chan.. but she does resemble her a lot with the way she let her hair down and how she wore that school uniform."

"Now that's wishful thinking. I thought I was the one who couldn't move on..", pointed Kousei out, feeling a bit more realistic with a smirk growing on his face. "Like I said.. could be another blonde girl."

"Then that's quite a coincidence. How likely is it for a certain blonde girl to sit in front of a piano in a music room of a random Japanese junior high school at exactly the same time the school's football team's photo was taken?..", Watari asked. Kousei himself got exhausted with the length of the question.

"It's a good point, Watari.. but it simply is one hell of a coincidence. She's been gone for quite a while now.. I think we're at a point that we should give everything up about her save for her memory."

A really depressing silence followed. This chess match took a turn for the worse, although in favor of Kousei. He was winning the game of words suddenly, but he didn't know it could be this damn sad. This conversation was getting way longer than expected, so he dropped the bomb. He felt like he didn't really want to talk about it anymore.

"Kousei..", Watari really just won't give up.

"Hmm?..", Kousei made a sound while he chugged on his beer.

"Her memory.. that's exactly the point of all this. It's wishful thinking, I know.. but if you really value her memory, don't you think that this coincidence is a sign given by her?..", suddenly Kousei felt a shiver after Watari said this. He was getting to a really good point. "She is a pretty superstitious person, you know. Kao-chan.. Kaori's telling you to come home, Kousei. To move on.."

"Checkmate..", thought Kousei as his eyes began to widen in disbelief. "Why do I get the feeling Watari practiced these lines?"

It took Kousei quite a while to accept his defeat.

"Dammit Watari! Why'd you have to bring this up? Not fair..", boomed Kousei after a few moments of silence.

Watari laughed for a while before he spoke again. "Oi, I'm just the most awesome instrument of love sent by Kao-chan to save you from misery..", he replied while he stood up on the chair as if he were in front of a big audience. "So.. let's go?"

"What? Wait. Now?..", asked Kousei with a bewildered look on his face.

"Yeah, dummy. Start packing."

"Why do I get the feeling that this was all planned?

I'll just call my dad. He might get surprised to find no one here tomorrow..", answered Kousei, slightly panicking. "I only got to see my dad a few times in a year, and this was one of it. But I can't believe I'm actually giving it up, for what?"

Good thing was Kousei's dad was actually thrilled at the fact his son was going home. Maybe it really was about time. He even said that he'd try to pass by the house as well. Kousei didn't bet on that though.

"Watari..", Kousei called after talking to his dad, realizing something.

"Yeah?..", Watari asked.

"It's Christmas eve. It's gonna be hard to get train tickets to Tokyo."

"Oh wow. Yeah. I didn't think of that..", Watari replied, suddenly feeling down.

Kousei felt bad as well, but conflicted knowing that just a while ago, he disagreed to all this.

"Luckily for you, I wasn't able to pick a girl up in this place to take home, so I have an extra Shinkansen ticket here!..", Watari beamed with a big smile as if he was a magician in a children's party, waving the ticket around.

"What a sorry ass excuse..", thought Kousei as he gave his best friend a suspicious look.

"Okay, what time does the train leave?..", asked Kousei.

"In a couple of hours..", Watari replied, causing Kousei to widen his eyes in shock.

"Eh?! You've gotta be kidding me!..", Kousei answered, immediately panicking and throwing stuff anywhere that he could potentially bring home.

"Yeah. Best hurry it up..", Watari said with a smug expression.

The surprised out of his wits Kousei packed his stuff as fast as he could. He didn't even have the chance to fold the clothes he brought.

It was late at night, so all the other Japan Railways lines were closed. In short, they had to run towards the nearest bullet train station. It was so abruptly executed Kousei thought his chest was going to burst when they arrived. However, Watari seemed to have not minded at all since he was fit as hell.

"I.. don't.. even know.. why I.. bother..", whimpered Kousei in exhaustion, still catching his breath.

"Relax buddy. Enjoy this. We're going on a journey..", assured Watari with his usual sparkly smile and a thumbs up.

"We're going on a journey..", a certain blonde girl's voice spoke in Kousei's thoughts. He then pondered to himself as he pulled himself up from fatigue. "Where did I hear this before? Well, off to uncharted waters then.."

The sound of a passing bullet train, or Shinkansen, woke Kousei back to reality. He knew he hasn't seen ghosts before, but somehow, he felt like she was haunting him every now and then.

"Kousei, this is us. Hop in..", Watari said as they both went in the train.

"I guess there's no turning back now..", Kousei replied reluctantly.

"Damn right, buddy. It's on."

The two old friends walked through the aisle looking for their seats. When they found it, they simply put their luggage inside the overhead compartment. And then suddenly, Kousei realized something.

"Wait..", Kousei said in slight panic as they sat down.

"What now, Kousei? Something tells me this trip's not gonna be smooth..", Watari answered, frowning.

"Seto-san and Koharu. They've planned a trip to go to me tomorrow as well."

Watari just laughed. He was probably enjoying his best friend's entertaining stiffness.

"It's fine, Kousei. Hiroko-sama already knows you're coming to Tokyo..", said Watari, making Kousei confused again. "In fact, she's picking us up at the station..", he added before Kousei gave him a suspicious look.

"You told her beforehand, didn't you? No way she'd go out of her way just by telling her now in the middle of the night. This was all planned..", Kousei said while giving his friend a blank expression.

"No way. This was all spontaneous..", Watari replied and chuckled awkwardly.

"Who else is involved? Did Emi put you up to this?"

"No man. It's just me."

"Aha! So, you do admit you planned this?"

"Okay, okay fine. This was a little planned. Emi-chan did have a hand in it too, but it was more of what words to say.."

"I knew it, they teamed up..", thought Kousei as he continued to give Watari the same scrutinizing look. "But again.. I have to admit.. it was perfectly carried out."

"But that picture is legit. No editing there. That's actually the reason why we got the plan going..", Watari added.

"So, Emi knows about the photo? Oh.. what have I got myself into?..", Kousei was beginning to have second thoughts about this trip when Emi's name came up, but the train started moving. "She's gonna kill me for falling into a trap."

"She's not testing you, buddy. She just wants you to find answers for yourself."

"Yeah.. I hope you're right, Watari."

It was going to be a five hour trip north. Then, the train was going to have two major stops before reaching the capital, Osaka first, Kyoto next. The trip began in the middle of the night, so it was going to be dark the whole time outside. There was no point looking out the window even if Kousei sat at the rightmost seat.

This actually meant that it was a perfect time to sleep. And it was what Watari did the moment the train moved. Kousei never knew how his friend did it, but they were just talking when the train hummed, Watari dozed off.

However, the problem was Kousei can't seem to sleep in moving vehicles. This was going to be a long and sleepless night.

"We're going on a journey, huh?..", asked Kousei of the voice in his thoughts. "You really have your ways to haunt me.. Will I forget you? No, I can't. But should I? Why are you calling me back?"

At first, it was all darkness with a few random lights coming from scattered houses. After about a couple of hours, a cluster of bright lights could be seen from a distance. The train was coming to a halt. They were at the first stop, Osaka.

"Wow, that was fast..", Watari said while he yawned and stretched, almost making Kousei drop out of his seat in shock.

Kousei gave him a blank look. "No it wasn't. You were asleep the whole time."

"I was?"

"No shit.."

After that, Watari yawned again and squinted at the clock positioned in front of the cabin. It was 3:03 in the morning.

"I think I'll take piss. See you in a while, bro..", Watari said as he stood up to walk towards the exit.

Kousei followed his friend with a stare as he left. When Watari got out, he could still actually see him since he sat by the window. And since the train had stopped, he was starting to fall asleep, especially that they've started playing classical music in the cabin.

Kousei drowned in his thoughts again as he listened to the piano piece reverberating through the speakers. He knew this song very well. This was Chopin's Nocturne No. 2 in G major, Op. 37. "It wasn't originally his, but Chopin expanded the Nocturnes, almost making it his own. It reminded me of the days practicing with my mother. It was really soothing and slowly making my eyes heavy with every time the keys hit."

It was like watching a big screen playing two movies at the same time and on top of the other. At the bottom, Kousei could see the bright lights of Osaka station with Watari walking towards the restrooms. And above was his mother, Arima Saki, smiling at him while she played the Nocturne inside their music room at home.

Then suddenly, Kousei's eyes widened in shock, awakening him completely. Once again, every single strand of hair on his body stood. A tiny blonde girl who resembled her was walking right behind Watari.

As Chopin's Nocturne climaxed, hundreds of thoughts raced through Kousei's mind. He started to sweat, but it was cold. He shivered as the chill pierced through his bones. He slowly grabbed his phone while he was shaking just by looking at.. her.

"What are you doing here? What do you want? I'm here. Can't you see me?..", a fraction of the many questions in Kousei's thoughts resounded in his head.

"Ah.. moshi moshi?..", Watari answered his cellphone.

"..b-behind.. y-you..", Kousei replied, still nerve wracked.

"Wha-..", Watari said as he spun around quickly, knocking the blonde girl behind him down on the floor.

Suddenly, the blood surged in Kousei melting all the ice that made him shiver earlier as he stood up quickly, holding the window with both the palms of his hands. He panicked as she fell down. It flashed him back to a memory when she fell on the floor of the rooftop of a certain hospital. But he was able to catch her in his arms that time. It was the last day they spent together.

"I'm scared.. Please don't leave me..", the voice of a sickly blonde girl cried in Kousei's mind.

Kousei just watched in horror as Watari apologized and helped her stand up. It wasn't her. He realized that the moment the girl looked up to Watari.

"I was overthinking again..", said Kousei to himself. "No.. I was thinking about her again."

"Oi Kousei! What was that about?..", Watari asked from the other side of the call, bringing Kousei back to his senses.

"Sorry.. I was daydreaming, I guess..", Kousei replied with his voice faltering.

"You alright, buddy?"

"Yeah. Just need some sleep."

And then when Kousei turned around to sit down, he saw everyone looking at him conspicuously. They all stared at him in confusion with what he just did. He just looked down and sat quietly in his seat after.

"What was I thinking?..", Kousei asked himself in shame. "That was embarrassing. She's not the only blonde in the world..

"And yet.. there was a time when she was the only one I could see.. a single anomaly in the usual order of things.. a lone bright star in a cloudy night. She was the only splash of color in my monotone..

"But that's supposed to be gone now. And yet.. the colors remain. Why does it seem like she's coming back?"

By the time Chopin's Nocturne ended, someone called Kousei from the middle of the aisle while he looked out the window.

"Yuujin A!..", she said while Kousei slowly looked at where she was.

"Friend A.. only a few people called me that before..", thought Kousei gleefully.

She was right there, glaring at him, wearing her usual school uniform, and letting her blonde hair down. That only meant she went to class today. However, Kousei didn't get why she bothered to go to Osaka to meet them up. Before he even got to open his mouth to ask her, her shoe was already on his face.

"What's taking you so long to come back?! And I really had to drag you from all the way here, huh? Dummy..", she exclaimed relentlessly while she picked her shoe up and sat down to wear it again.

"How many times do I have to tell you that it's dangerous to throw things at people?! And nobody told you to pick me up here!..", Kousei shot back at her while holding his most probably bleeding nose.

"You heartless beast! That's the kind of gratitude I get after all the time and energy I spent just to get you?!..", she countered straight away right before she punched Kousei on the chin. "This isn't good for me, y'know.. this can worsen my condition if I keep exerting excessively.. they only let me out a few times.. and this. You're a meanie.."

Kousei thought to himself she actually puts so much more energy throwing things at him and yelling at him than coming here just to fetch him. "But fine.. I never did like seeing her crying."

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. I just got carried away with all that.. shoe..", Kousei apologized lousily.

"No you're not..", she said coldly and glared at him with some obviously fake teary eyes.

"Yes I am. I'm really sorry."

"I need some more sincerity here."

Kousei rolled his eyes. "Okay.. I'm sorry for being a jerk. No excuses there. Stupid me for being a heartless beast. Sorry.."

"You're really sorry?..", she asked.

"Yes."

"Then would you do anything for me?"

"Anything."

"Yay!! Hear that everyone? He's going to do anything for me because he's sorry for being a jerk..", she exclaimed in happiness while she hugged Kousei tightly, giggling non stop. Kousei flustered a little, but he actually knew it and just gave in. Those were fake tears.

"You ready for what I'm going to make you do?..", she asked once again, this time with a devious smile.

"Not sure..", answered Kousei reluctantly.

"Oh, come on! You already said yes..", she replied, then she pouted after.

"So.. what is it?"

She made an eye closing smile as if the world around her gave her the most delicious chocolate bar before she spoke again.

"Please stop trying so hard to forget me.. 'kay?"

Translation Notes:

Shinkansen - also known as the bullet train in English owned by the Japan Railways group. Originally constructed to connect distant places of Japan to the capital Tokyo to aid economic growth. Up to this day, it is used by the public as a means of transportation covering great distances. In this light novel, Kousei and Watari boarded this train in a fictional place, which is farther south of Osaka, where Okutsu Music Academy is.

Featured Music:

Chopin's Nocturne No. 2 in G major, Op. 37 - The Nocturnes, Op. 37 are a set of two nocturnes written and published by Frédéric Chopin in 1840, though it is thought that the Nocturne in G major, Op. 37, No. 2 was composed in 1839 around the time of his stay with author George Sand in Majorca. Unusually, neither piece carries a dedication.