Chapter Sixteen:
A Piece from the Heart

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"I'll do it... For both of you..."

Tsukishima chuckled, gently patting her head. "That's better. Come on," he muttered, pulling her along. Y/n smiled, wiping whatever was left of her tears as she let Tsukishima take the lead.

They eventually arrived at Y/n's house. Tsukishima walked her up to her porch, squeezing her hand before letting go. "I'll see you tomorrow," He muttered, turning around and waving as he walked away.

She opened her door, immediately shutting it when she got inside. She leaned on the door, placing her hands over where her heart was supposed to be. She let out a breath, loud enough to make it sound like a groan.

She slid down, sitting on the ground. "What was that?! Why did that one moment feel so different?!" She questioned, burying her face in her hands.

"There were so many times that something similar happened... But that one felt so different..." She trailed, pulling her hands away from her face. She continued staring at her shoes, feeling her heart thumping against her chest.

"What do I do..?"

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

She ran her hands through her hair, staring at the almost blank music sheet in front of her. She clicked her tongue, stuffing the music sheet into her bag, pulling out an empty sheet.

"Hmm... You seem out of ideas..." Tsukishima trailed, watching as Y/n began improvising to find a melody for the piece she'd play at the talent show.

Y/n groaned. "I know. I told you I should've just performed something else," Y/n said. "There are plus points for an original composition. You can just use one of the pieces you composed already," Tsukishima suggested.

Y/n frowned. "I know... But part of me is saying that something will come if I compose a new one," Y/n said. Tsukishima raised an eyebrow. "Is that some sort of thing for geniuses?" Tsukishima questioned.

"Nevermind. You don't follow your instincts so you won't understand," Y/n said. Tsukishima hummed. "How do you feel?" Tsukishima asked.

Y/n's eyes widened. "A little stressed..." Y/n muttered, still a little surprised. 'That's the first time he directly checked on someone's condition...' Y/n thought to herself.

"Good morning!" Yamaguchi exclaimed, sliding the door open. Both of them turned around, watching Yamaguchi walk in.

Y/n smiled. "Good morning Yamaguchi-kun," Y/n greeted. "Morning," Tsukishima greeted. Yamaguchi smiled. "How's the piece going?" He asked, setting his bag down and sitting next to Tsukishima.

"Terribly. I have no idea what to write," Y/n said. "Ah, sorry I've been a bit nosy lately, but I heard what Tsukki asked you, and I think I understand what he means," Yamaguchi said.

Y/n raised an eyebrow, signaling for him to continue. "I think what Tsukki was trying to say was... Has there ever been anything you felt that you couldn't express, but wanted to express it anyway?" Yamaguchi asked.

Y/n's eyes widened. She turned to Tsukishima, who only nodded. She smiled, gently laying her keys on the piano. Taking a deep breath, she began to improvise, trying to find the melody she was looking for.

She smiled, humming along to the melody she had just improvised. "Oh! That sounds really innocent!" Yamaguchi commented.

"It's supposed to be. But what's a story without conflict?" Y/n questioned, a mischievous glint in her eyes. Yamaguchi tilted his head in confusion, while Tsukishima let out a breathy chuckle.

"She's back..."

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

She glanced to the side, seeing Tsukishima staring out the window, barely paying attention to the lecture. Her cheeks reddened as their eyes met. He smirked a little, uncharacteristically winking at her.

Her cheeks reddened even more. She looked away, covering her cheeks as she tried to pay attention to the lecture.

'Something I wanna express but never got the chance to... That's easy...' Y/n thought, looking down at the music sheet she had with her.

Grabbing her pencil, she continued humming, writing down what she thought was nice. "Miss L/n," her teacher called. "Yes, Ono-sensei?" She asked. "Those notes don't seem to be the notes I want you to take," she said.

"If you were paying attention, do tell me, what does cacophony mean?" She asked, emphasizing the English word. "Cacophony is any loud or unpleasant sound. It can be anything from howling dogs to car horns," Y/n started bluntly.

Miss Ono furrowed her eyebrows. "How about non-sequitur?" Miss Ono asked, making everyone's eyes widen. 'That's out of level!' The class thought in unison.

Tsukishima was the first to recover from his initial shock. 'Well, be it a word for second years or third years, Y/n will definitely get this.' Tsukishima noted. He watched as Y/n smiled.

'English is something she's good at, after all.' He noted. "Non-sequitur is when a subject in a conversation is changed without a warning. It is a nicer way of saying 'have you been listening to me?'. In Latin, its literal translation is 'it does not follow'." Y/n stated, making everyone's eyes widen (except Tsukishima's, of course).

Miss Ono sighed. "I'll carry on with the lesson then. But please do take notes related to my subject," she said, turning back to the board. "I will, Ono-sensei," Y/n muttered, pulling her English notebook out.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

She hummed in satisfaction, finally finished with the B-theme. "Now all that's left is to add a variation of the A-theme..." Y/n muttered. She looked at the music sheet, scanning the section of the A-theme.

"The A-theme is really soft... So I might go for a stronger variation to express the change..." Y/n muttered, subconsciously tapping on the keys, creating a slightly stronger variation of the A-theme.

Yamaguchi smiled. "It seems like what Tsukki said helped you out a lot," Yamaguchi noted. "Well, you helped out a lot too since you were the one who made me realize what he meant," Y/n said subconsciously, scribbling notes onto the music sheet. 

Yamaguchi perked up. "Well, I'm glad I was able to help!" Yamaguchi exclaimed happily, watching as Y/n scribbled down a few more notes, before setting her pencil down. 

She gently laid her fingers on the keys, then began playing what she wrote. Tsukishima chuckled. "Looks like you're almost finished," Tsukishima muttered.

Y/n nodded happily. "Just a few more chords..." She muttered, scribbling down the final notes. Yamaguchi smiled. "That reminds me, what would you call this piece?" He asked her. Y/n took her eyes off the music sheet, turning to Yamaguchi.

"I was thinking of calling it... 'First kiss'..."

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Progress report

Tsukishima

Like: 120% - Max

Love: 70%

Y/n

Like: 120% - Max

Love: 60%

Today's winner: Y/n L/n

note: developing a crush on someone is obviously different from falling in love. Since the like meter is maxed out, they both have developed a crush on each other. But the goal of the game is to fall in love, so it isn't over. The max percentage of the love meter is 200, because like mentioned earlier, falling in love takes more time. The game is 7 months in. 3-4 months left before the game is over.

Also, the piece "First kiss" is a beautiful piece composed by Lionel Yu. The video will be included in the next chapter. The citation will also be there (but you can't copy-paste from Wattpad so I'll include the exact title as well).