[Golden String] Golden Tears

The author has something to say:

"Xiao Ling, do you know? The hands of musicians are actually much weaker than those of ordinary people.

Because even a small wound can affect the level of the entire performance!If the injury is a little bit more serious, maybe you will no longer be able to use the instrument smoothly!

So Xiao Ling, you must carefully protect your hands.They are not just your two hands, they are a gift from God and only you alone..."

……

"...Xiao Ling, Xiao Ling?" Hino Kahoko shook anxiously and leaned on the self-study table in the library. Ishikawa Rei seemed to be asleep-the deep and obvious creases between her eyebrows made her beautiful face His face was so gloomy that it was worrying.

Maybe, she was having a nightmare.

Hino Kahoko explained this in her heart.

So, she stretched out her hand to shake her awake, lest she continue to be troubled by nightmares, and show such a painful and sad expression.

"Well……"

Ishikawa Rei opened his eyes in a daze, raised his hand and rubbed gently.What came into view was Hino Kahoko's worried pupil.

She looked around, as if she didn't quite understand where she was.

"Xiao Ling, what's wrong with you? Did you have a nightmare?" Hino Kahoko asked with concern.

Ishikawa raised his head with zero eyesight and stared at Hino Kahoko for a while.

She didn't speak, but slightly frowned her slender eyebrows.

After a long time, she shook her head lightly.

The movement was unusually slow, as if a child who had just learned to walk was pacing slowly and carefully without the help of a walker, but because of too much hesitation, the whole movement seemed not smooth and coherent.

"Little Ling...you, are you okay..."

Seeing that Ishikawa Rei's reaction was very different from his usual indifferent but full of rationality and determination, Hino Kahoko couldn't help but ask again.Although she vaguely knew that this question was redundant - she would almost certainly get the same answer as before - but she still couldn't help asking.

Because at this moment, Ishikawa Rei looks so different from her usual one, no, it can be said that it is completely different—except that the melancholy contained in those jet-black pupils is still there, and her face at this moment is a little more disturbed And helplessness that is hard to ignore!And the sadness locked between the slightly folded eyebrows is so obvious at this moment, even Hino Kahoko who just witnessed all this can feel a kind of heart-piercing pain in a trance!

"……fine……"

Ishikawa Zero's clear voice disappeared, replaced by a fragmented hoarse voice.

Her right hand gently caressed her left arm, and every time she touched it, the expression on her face became heavier, as if she was doing something that caused her endless pain.

The hand moved more and more urgently, and the more it was pressed, the harder it was.

It seems that there is a kind of endless pain in her arm, and she needs to create another kind of pain to relieve the feeling of this endless pain...

"Little Zero..."

Ishikawa Ling's abnormal behavior showed that something must have happened to her, but she refused to mention a word. Hino Kahoko had nothing to do about it, she could only stay by her side with a worried face, waiting for her when she would like to speak out.

"By the way, how was your ensemble practice last week?"

But obviously, Ishikawa Zero didn't want to continue the topic just now.

After walking out of the library, she stopped moving her hand on her arm, turned to hold it firmly, and asked, turning her head sideways.

"Yeah?... Oh, not bad!" Without much effort, Hino Kahoko's attention was completely diverted to the ensemble practice of all the music competition contestants and the orchestra last weekend, with surprise, joy and I sighed intoxicatedly, "That piece of music is really good! I don't know who composed the piece, it's so exciting! Especially the second and third movements, about the subject of 'separation' and 'missing'. My God! Just Even I, who should focus on interpretation and performance, couldn't help but feel the urge to cry. It's so beautiful! That movement is so beautiful! It's a pity, I asked the contestants, and I heard that It was also the first time for them to see this set of music, and no one knew who composed it..."

At the end, I sighed regretfully.

After listening to Hino Kahoko's speech, Ishikawa Rei raised the corners of his lips slightly upwards, outlining a shallow arc; but his eyebrows were miraculously frowned, and his black pupils looked blankly into the distance, as if they were concentrating on watching What, it seems to be so dazed and meaningless.

"Maybe..." After a long time, she suddenly said, with a voice that was so ethereal that it was not like an ordinary person should, "It's the person who composed the music, and he has too much personal experience..."

As she spoke, she lowered her head again, staring blankly at her fingers in a daze.

The thin platinum ring reflects the dazzling incandescence of the sun.

"By the way, Xiao Ling..."

Hino Kahoko just opened her mouth to ask something more, but was cut off by a hearty greeting.

"Ah! Hino ちゃん!" Kazuki Kazuki ran over from the atrium outside the library, and Kahoko Asahino ran over while waving her hands, "Oh——! And... that, um, Ishikawa ちゃん! Right? Good day! "He showed a smile warmer than the sun.

"...Yes." Ishikawa zero nodded, leaned slightly and bowed slightly, "Senior Huohara, good day."

"Ah! Senior Huohara came just in time. Xiaoling and I just happened to talk about our ensemble practice last weekend. Speaking of which, what does Senior Huohara think of the piece we are going to play at the concert?" Hino Kahoko also expressed her warmth He responded with a smile and asked.

Huoyuan Heshu suppressed his smile slightly, looked at the sky and thought for a while.

"Well... how should I put it, it's a beautiful suite, but... it always gives people a sad feeling!" He grinned again.

"Right! I think so too! The 'encounter' in the first movement is not bad, especially in the second two movements, I feel like crying when I play it!"

Hino Kahoko nodded vigorously in agreement.

"That's right, and the last part... It's the first time for me to play such a sad piece! It's kind of... a very stressful feeling!" He grinned wider, scratching his hair, very Look embarrassed.

"Yeah? Me too!" Hino Kahoko nodded again.

While listening to the conversation between the two, Ishikawa Ling lowered his head, locked his eyes on his hand again, and was stunned.

"However, I am very happy to have the opportunity to play such a great piece!" Kazuki Huohara showed a happy and satisfied expression.

"Yes, yes!" Hino Kahoko thought so too.

Suddenly, Kazuki Hihara turned to ask Rei Ishikawa who was running:

"So, Ishikawa-chan seems to be the pianist for this concert?!"

Rei Ishikawa, who was asked suddenly, paused for a long time before slowly recovering.

Raising his head, he answered in a flat voice without any ups and downs: "Yes."

"That's amazing! Then, when did Ishikawa-chan start learning the piano?" Kazuki Hihara asked excitedly.

With a twinkle in her eyes, she looked aside: "Well...about when I was in middle school."

"That's right! Ah——what a pity! I couldn't hear Ishikawa-chan's performance last weekend!" Kazuki Huohara sighed with regret.

"I've heard it! Zero plays the piano very well!" Kahoko Hino raised her hand as if answering a question in class, and said in a good mood.

"Ah—I want to hear it too!" Kazuki Hiohara showed an even more regretful expression, "By the way, Lao Jin said that last time Ishikawa ちゃん couldn't come to the ensemble practice because of something at home..." He remembered something again, Expressing kind concern, "Ishikawa ちゃん, you should be fine now?"

"..." Rei Ishikawa hesitated for a moment, then nodded hesitantly, "Yes..."

"Yeah! That...does it mean that I can hear Ishikawa ちゃん's performance during the ensemble practice on this golden day?!" He excitedly approached Ishikawa Rei, and happy bubbles kept appearing and popping around him , Diffuse.

"Uh..." Rei Ishikawa was shocked by his sudden approach and took a big step back, without answering with certainty, "Maybe..."

But Huoyuan Kazuki directly took her uncertain words as affirmation, and his smile became even more dazzling.

"Yeah! I'm really looking forward to the golden day!" Without thinking, he happily took Ishikawa Rei's hand and shook it.

Ishikawa Zero didn't know how to react to the overly enthusiastic senior in front of him, so he could only let him pull and shake him in a daze.

Hino Kahoko on the side also smiled.

Originally, she also wanted to take this opportunity to ask Rei Ishikawa two questions that had been buried in her heart for a long time: about her ring, and the phone call that day in an unknown language that made her seem extremely nervous.

But now it seems that today is definitely impossible to ask.

Well, forget it.

Anyway, there is still a chance in the future.

……

after school.

When Ryotaro Tsuchiura walked into the practice room, he happened to see Rei Ishikawa who was closing the door and walking out.

"Y, Ishikawa." He greeted her aloud.

"... Tsuchiura-kun." Ishikawa Ling was stunned for a moment, probably not expecting to see him at this time and this place.

Tsuchiura Ryotaro pointed to the practice room where she came out of: "Practice?"

"Yes. You can use it, I've finished practicing."

"Oh……"

After finishing speaking, the two people who were supposed to go their own way did not move, and they were still standing in place.He didn't make a sound, and the atmosphere was gloomy and silent.

Until Ishikawa Rei took the initiative to speak:

"By the way, Tsuchiura-kun...thank you last weekend."

She lowered her head, her eyes were fixed on the ground, and her muffled voice seemed to come from above her head.

Tsuchiura Ryotaro was stunned for a moment before realizing that she was thanking her for last week's ensemble practice. Then he raised his hand to smooth his hair, and shook his head embarrassedly:

"ああ, ま... nothing."

"Well, then I'll go first."

Ishikawa Zero nodded to signal, and Qibu planned to leave.

"Ah... wait a minute, Ishikawa." Just a few steps away, Tsuchiura Ryotaro called her again, "I have a question for you."

"Huh? What is it?" So Ishikawa Zero stopped and looked back at him.

"You..." As if looking for the right words, Tsuchiura Ryotaro hesitated for a while before saying, "Isn't your left arm... injured?"

The black eyes widened in surprise.

Ishikawa stared at the wheat-colored face on the opposite side with puzzled eyes for a long time, and then replied softly: "Mmm..."

Still don't understand Tsuchiura Ryotaro's intention to bring up this question again, she thought, he already knew about it a long time ago? !

"Then why did you agree to participate in this concert?" After another affirmative answer, Tsuchiura Ryotaro's tone became much more excited, "Do you know that after a concert, too much load may It will aggravate your hand injury, and even... maybe you will never be able to play the piano again?!"

There was more surprise in the deep pupils.

The two pairs of eyes looked at each other for a while.

No one said anything, just looked at each other quietly and calmly.

Finally, Ishikawa Rei exhaled lightly, very lightly, almost imperceptibly.

"……I know."

This time it was Tsuchiura Ryotaro's turn to widen his eyes in surprise and stare at her in disbelief: "Since you know, why do you still..."

He didn't finish his sentence, because Ishikawa Ling stopped looking at him as if avoiding it.

Silence swept over again.

Quietly.

Only the vague sounds of various musical instruments came from the cracks in the doors of other practice rooms.

The black pupils closed, took a deep breath, and opened them again.

She turned around and walked out along the corridor of the practice room.

When she came to the door and stopped, she turned her head and didn't look at him, as if she was saying to the wall on the left:

"Because this concert is very important to me. Even if..." She paused for a moment, "...Even if my hands never...be able to touch any musical instrument in the future, I must make this concert a success! "

The voice was as soft as a feather floating in the air, containing almost inaudible sobs.

After saying that, she left without looking back.

Behind her, Tsuchiura Ryotaro, who was stunned by her words, was left behind, watching her disappear behind the door.

"Even...even if my hands don't touch any musical instruments in the future, I must make this concert a success..."

These words echoed in his ears over and over again.

Then, what kind of attachment is it? !

Can a musician even give up her most important hand? !

He doesn't understand.

What is so important about this concert that Rei Ishikawa will do whatever it takes to complete it? !

"what are you doing here?"

Just when Tsuchiura Ryotaro was still in his own thoughts, Tsukimori Ren walked into the practice room, just in time to see him standing in the corridor leading to each practice room with a dull expression, closing the corridor door without blinking .

So Yue Senlian couldn't help but asked aloud.

Unexpectedly, Tsuchiura Ryotaro, who usually sees him either with cynicism or hot sarcasm, and who can quarrel within three sentences, seems to be a different person today, and he behaves as if he doesn't even realize who is appearing. He is average.

"Oh...it's Tsukimori." Tsuchiura Ryotaro mechanically turned his head, nodded at Tsukimori Ren, turned and walked to one of the practice rooms.

Yue Senlian's eyes widened in surprise: Today Tsuchiura Ryotaro gave him a feeling that he didn't know him at all.

He followed up involuntarily, and when Tsuchiura Ryotaro opened the door of a practice room, he vaguely heard him muttering to himself:

"Why on earth...Ishikawa, that guy is so desperate for this concert?!..."

Hearing this, Yue Senlian froze in place.

Ishikawa...?

Ishikawa Zero? !

She, desperate for this concert? !

What the hell... is this all about? !

……