Tuesday, 8 May 2012

16:45 Local Time

Third Person Perspective

~~~

It had been a trainwreck for Shizuka the past few days. Her intention to retake the musical course that she happened to come across last Sunday, had been met with scepticism from herself.

She really wanted it to be her next (and hopefully first) successful start to achieve one of her life goals, to perform in an orchestra in front of her grandmother. She doubted that her father would even listen to her plea, but, even then, she knew that she had to do it, before it was too late.

Today though, it was her birthday. A birthday party that was held for almost the entirety of her birthdays since she was 5 years old was, of course, being held that afternoon. It was also the first time Nonko and Suzume had attended their new best friend's birthday party.

The party went along normally, with nothing out of ordinary happening at the party itself. Shizuka was happy that her friends managed to pay her a visit despite just finishing their classes earlier. The fact that it happened right after school, however, meant that most of the visitors of the Minamoto household still had their school uniforms on.

Towards the end of the party though, it has become quite clear that Shizuka had other plans in mind for her birthday. Something a bit more...musical.

After waving goodbye to all her friends and thanking them for visiting, she quickly returned to her room, changing into a pink-collared shirt and a casual blue skirt.

From there, she waited for some time for her father to take a rest after returning to work.

After around a half-hour, she headed downstairs, carrying with her the music school pamphlet that Nobita had given to her last Sunday.

"Oh, Shizuka... What's up?" Her father asked, glancing away from his evening news on the TV.

She didn't say much, she just handed out one folded pamphlet from her hand. Her father was curious as to what caught his daughter's attention.

After he opened it though, it became quite clear that her father was not amused at the pamphlet.

"Dad, can I?" Shizuka asked, sitting right next to him.

"Shizuka, I thought I had made it clear that I will not allow you to join any more courses, because you had failed to fulfil your promises 2 years ago." He said, folding back the pamphlet and putting it on the coffee table, as if he had seen enough.

"I know, but I thought of giving it another go." Shizuka said in defence, "I think I didn't do too well before, and after some consideration, I know I can do it in serious way."

"That's what you said the past 5 years."

"But please, dad... I don't know where to properly start if you won't help me join any lessons."

"Shizuka, I..." Her dad tried to say, but then abruptly interrupted by Shizuka yet again.

"I promise, dad.... This is going to be the time-"

"Shizuka, listen!! Stop giving me empty promises like what you've given me for the last 5 years!" His dad said with a stoic tone. "I have given you many chances to improve your skills, and what do I get in return? I'm sorry, but I've enough to say it's a waste of time and money if you are not taking these lessons seriously."

"B-but dad, I took this seriously."

"'Seriously'? You're only insisting the way you play the violin the whole time the teacher tried to correct you. You were not even tried to listen to what the instructor said the whole time!" Her dad said.

"B-but dad, I'm a different girl now, I've grown up since then!"

Her dad scratched his temple after taking off his reading glasses. "At this point, it is hard to believe a word that you are trying to say to me after you 'promised' me for that long."

"But dad, please..."

"No, Shizuka! I don't want to hear about it again!"

Feeling defeated, Shizuka trembled before slowly backing off from where she was sitting. She stood up and slowly headed out the room, before running the rest of the way heading towards the main door that led her to the outside.

All her father saw was his daughter's figure disappear from his seat, with only the sounds of her sobs heard. After she left the house, he leaned back on his seat, sighed as he was thinking on what the best course of action to take to remedy the situation.

But the fact is, he was the only one who hadn't given her any birthday present.... Yet.

Meanwhile, Shizuka ran away from her home feeling utterly devastated, confused, anxious, and saddened at what her father said and his distrust toward her promises. So many things ran through her head at that moment, including the thought that she might not have the chance to fulfil her wishes.

She stopped a while later to catch her breath, while letting out some of her mental burden in a burst of cries. She couldn't comprehend what her father were saying, and she thought that what he said was quite harsh.

She finally calmed down a while later, just as she could hear the soft playing of a nearby guitar. It was a calming and relaxing melody of one of the songs that she liked the most.

She glanced around to find the source of the sound to get close to it and perhaps listen to whoever played this beautiful guitar performance. By then, she noticed that she was just a few steps away from the empty lot and she was standing in front of the Kaminari residence right under the shade of his Bonsai plant that he hung up front.

Knowing that she had dodged a bullet, she decided to check upon the empty lot.

A figure sitting on the concrete pipes sporting a round glasses and a yellow shirt can be seen strumming his acoustic guitar on that very place. His crimson eyes closed as he was enjoying every bit of the strum that he did with his guitar.

"Nobita-san?" She muttered.

Shizuka was just standing there, admiring the spectacle that just unfolded before her very eyes. Enjoying the song that he was currently playing and playfully gestured her hands to every beat of the song.

Nobita didn't realize the presence of another soul in that area, until he accidentally hit the wrong melody and it cracked his focus up.

"Ah, dammit!" He swore after he strummed the wrong melody.

"Umm, hey Nobita-san!" Shizuka called out as she approached the bespectacled boy who was sitting on the concrete pipe with his acoustic guitar.

The bespectacled boy looked up towards the source of the voice. He was met with Shizuka's intrigued face. "Oh Shizuka-chan! What's up?"

"Wow, I'm surprised that it was you playing." She remarked, taking a seat right next to the boy, albeit with a very small distance. "That's a very good performance you know!"

"Thanks, too bad that I did that one note wrong."

Shizuka chuckled. "Haha, I know that your attempt won't always be so perfect."

"Yeah..." Nobita replied. "While you're here, should I play something for you?" He asked.

Shizuka turned her head towards the bespectacled boy, quite a surprised look appeared on her face. "Ah, I'm not quite sure what song I want to hear now."

"I mean, what song do you want to sing? Don't make the song too obscure though, I need to find the chords and the tabs so I can play it."

Shizuka started thinking. "I've a song in mind; and it's actually my all-time favourite."

"Do you have the chords of the song?"

"Hang on, I think I have it saved in my phone. Let me double check." She replied, taking out her flip phone and scrolled through her image gallery. "Oh yeah, here it is."

She handed over the phone to the bespectacled boy to see, and he immediately recognized this song as it was a song that he used to practice. "Oh this? I'm pretty familiar with the song." He said while getting his guitar into its place and making some minor tuning adjustments. "Alright, shall I start?"

Shizuka nodded with a beautiful smile on her face, knowing that she would be able to sing her favourite song in front of Nobita.

As Nobita started to strum his guitar, Shizuka waited for the vocals to start. And it marked the start of their impromptu performance.

Asu e No Tobira ~ Shizuka Minamoto Guitar Solo Ver.

Original song by I WiSH

明日への扉 - 源静香（CV：東山奈央）

Hikaru ase, tiishatsu, deatta koi

(Shining sweat, a t-shirt, a love that I found)

Dare yori mo kagayaku kimi o mite

(Watching you, more radiant than anyone)

Hajimete no kimochi o mitsuketa yo

(I found feelings that I never experienced before)

Arata na tabi ga hajimaru

(A new voyage will begin)

Ameagari, kimagure, aoi kaze

(After the rain, fickle feelings, a blue wind, a strong sunshine)

Tsuyoi hizashi itsuka oikoshite

(Someday, passing them all)

Kore kara egaite'ku koi no iro

(The color of love that I'll start painting)

Hajimari no peeji irodoru yo

(I'll color the first page)

Uranai zasshi, Futatsu no hoshi ni,

(A fortune telling magazine)

Futari no mirai o, Kasanete miru no.

(On both of our stars, I put both of our futures together)

Kasabuta darake, Torenai kokoro,

(Full of scabs, the heart that won't come off)

Anata no yasashisa de fusagaru,

(All becomes closed up by your kindness)

[In the ref, Nobita voluntarily sung the song along with Shizuka.]

Itsu no ma ni ka sukima aita

(Before I knew, the void inside my heart)

Kokoro ga mitasarete'ku

(Becomes full again)

Futo shita shunkan no sarigenai shigusa

(The moment it experienced your nonchalant, carefree self)

Itsu no hi ni ka yume o kataru

(When we talk about our dreams someday)

Anata no kao o zutto mitsumete itai

(I want to keep looking at your face)

Hohoende itai

(Smiling right by your side)

~~~

Nobita chuckled a little as he finished play. "Woohoo, your voice is really good, Shizuka-chan!" he commented, "I can't really sing as good as you can."

"Thanks! I'm not really into singing though. I just happened to sing a lot when I take a bath." She replied. "You're not too bad either."

"Thank you, although if you notice, there is some hiccups in the start and at the end..."

"It's fine, you'll get it right once you practice a lot." Shizuka said.

Then a slight downcast can be seen on her face, which surely caught the attention of the bespectacled boy who sat right next to her that afternoon. "Shizuka-chan? Is everything fine?" He asked.

Shizuka looked up and replied to his question. "O-oh, yeah. I'm completely fine."

"You sure? You didn't seem to be fine just a moment ago." He asked, "Just talk to me about it, I will try to help you if I can." He offered, although he knew well that he wouldn't be doing a really great job on any form of 'help' that she might be requesting.

Shizuka returned her gaze to the ground in front of her. "Well, I've talked to my dad about the thing that we happen to come across last Sunday."

"What did he say?"

"You might be able to guess what he said to me judging from my expressions."

"He disagreed?"

"Yeah, not only that... he also said that I'm not trustworthy enough for him to take my promises seriously."

"Ah, you've made promises in the past, am I right?"

Shizuka nodded in agreement.

"And you couldn't fulfil the promise that you've made with your dad, right?" He asked.

Without saying anything, Shizuka nodded again.

"Well, I can now understand why your father would lose some form of trust in you." He spoke.

"Well yeah, I can understand why he was angry towards me. However, I just... You know, I lost my hopes after he said that I will not be attending any music schools anytime soon." Shizuka said, "You know, my mind is overwhelmed by so many things at the moment."

Nobita kept his ears open for his friend right beside him.

"I'm also really scared that I won't be able to fulfil my grandfather's wish, either." she added.

"You can just do it by yourself, right?"

"No!" Shizuka exclaimed, her head turned towards the bespectacled boy almost immediately. "I mean, it just feels a little wrong if I did it myself!"

A short silence imbues the atmosphere in between them, before Shizuka continued again.

"I mean, I don't know what to say right now... I just want to really get my dreams going but it keeps crashing before my eyes. I don't want to do it alone; it just feels wrong and difficult in so many ways."

Nobita kept his mouth shut, mainly because he wanted to give Shizuka some room and because he doesn't know what else to say. But one thing is for sure, Nobita knew that her father wouldn't easily let her down just like that.

Multiple instances of event happened in the past that supported the thought that he has. He always delivers what he had promised her daughter and had never made any form of rejection to her considerate requests.

"Shizuka-san..."

"Yeah?"

"Give it a few hours or even 24 hours, I think you'll get what you want."

Shizuka glanced to the bespectacled boy, bemused at what he has just said to her. "What do you mean by that?" She asked.

Nobita smiled a little, "Wait until you see it for yourself."

Shizuka slowly returned her gaze to the patch of grass in front of her, still puzzled.

From the left of the area, two young teens appeared. It was Suneo and Gian who has apparently returned from their supposed baseball match. However, instead of being happy go lucky, they were utterly disappointed at something.

"Ah hey, Gian! Suneo!" Nobita greeted his friends. "Why do you seem so disappointed? How's the match?"

"Gah! They didn't turn up at the time of our match." Gian replied, fuming. "The audacity!"

Nobita chuckled, hearing his friend's rant about their team's opponent not turning up at all at the day of their supposed match. "Hey, at least you've got one day off, Gian."

"That's not what I want, but sure." He replied,

"By the way, didn't expect you two to be here this afternoon." Suneo remarked,

"Well, I just want a breath of fresh air with my trusty new guitar." Nobita replied, "Shizuka-chan is here too!"

"Yeah..." Shizuka added,

Suneo and Gian glanced towards the twin pigtailed girl that sat right next to the bespectacled boy. Her downcast seemed to make them uncomfortable too.

"What happened, Shizuka-chan?" Suneo asked,

"Nothing..."

Suneo awkwardly looked to Gian and Nobita, in which Nobita responded to the question despite it was not meant for him. "She got into a bit of trouble with her dad, that's all."

"Ah okay," Suneo replied. "I won't get too deep into that."

"I think you really shouldn't Suneo." Nobita responded. "Anyways, what do we want to do?"

"Why don't we invite Dora-chan over?" Shizuka said,

"He's not available now, you know. He said that he is going to have a 'medical' check-up back in the future."

"It is quite hilarious that he calls it 'medical' check-up, despite it being for robots." Shizuka chuckled, "Anyways, do you have any ideas on what we should do to while away the time?"

"That's my question, and I think Gian would think the same." Suneo said, sitting down on the bottom pipes.

They have no idea what to do, and as a result, they sat down in that area doing whatever they can to waste time and not look awkward.

Nobita is playing with his guitar, Shizuka was on her phone, and Suneo was throwing rocks on the ground. Gian was also doing his own thing, as he was practicing his baseball serves.

A while later, an unexpected figure came into the empty lot. Not just one, but two of them came had arrived, surprising the gang quite a bit.

It was Nonko and Suzume, who were coincidentally taking an evening jog around the neighbourhood and were completely unaware of the gang's presence in that area.

"Oi, Suzy-chan!" Nobita called out.

Suzume caught glimpse of the gang and stopped soon after her figure appeared from the corner of the empty lot. "Oh, Nobi-kun!"

Nonko appeared a few moments later, greeting them all in the process.

"Non-chan is here too?"

"Yeah! We were having an afternoon jog when we came across the empty lot." Nonko replied, "Wow, I'm actually taken aback at how little this place's changed after 6 years or so." She remarked.

"Well, what are you guys doing here at the moment? Doing some karaoke?" Suzume asked. "I noticed that Nobi-kun brought an accoustic guitar."

"Ah, well, I was the first person to be here before Shizuka-chan, Suneo and Gian joined later." Nobita replied. "We aren't doing any singing here, but if you wished me to do it then I'd love to do it."

"Ah no, I'm not in the mood of singing any song now. But can I borrow that guitar?" Suzume asked.

"Sure!" Nobita exclaimed, handing over his acoustic guitar to the blonde-haired girl. Suzume then proceeded to sit next to Nobita and playfully played a song that she knew the most.

Her guitar skills certainly impressed most of the teens present in the lot at that time.

"Wow, I never knew that you could play guitar, Suzume-san!" Shizuka applauded.

Suzume chuckled while brushing the back of her head, "It's nothing really, Shizuka-san! I've been doing this ever since I was little." She said, "But thanks you!"

"Maybe we should form a band someday..." Nonko suggested, in which her friends replied with a chuckle.

"Yeah, that would be the best thing to do this summer. Sounds like a bunch of fun!" Gian replied.

The word summer echoed through their minds, with their own thoughts about the summer that was just around the corner. Of course, the boys would think that 'summer' means fun. That was not the case for the girls though.

"Summer..." Nonko murmured. "Reminds me of an assignment that was given to us in the summer."

Suzume and Shizuka weren't as disappointed as the boys were, however.

"Oh no, the summer assignment..." Nobita said as his grin slowly fading away.

"I keep reminding myself why the heck are we choosing to observe the stars, out of many easier assignments that the teacher had presented to us." Shizuka said.

It was around two days when the summer assignments were announced by their homeroom teacher. To do the project, each student had to form into groups of 5 to 6 students.

The gang decided that they would group into one, before mistakenly choosing Nobita as their team leader (At first, Suneo was just trying to mess around with him but ended up going a little too far).

They were presented with many options that they could choose as the main theme of their project Creating a rubbish bin out of disposed water bottles, cardboard houses, or even something related to science like making homemade bars of soap.

However, Nobita, as the wisest leader, choose the option that he deemed "easy". It was the project to make a map of the night sky on one night, to much of his teammate's disapproval. Nobita kept his stance while trying to lobby his teammates into accepting his decision, something that had apparently worked (though moreso out of pity than a change of mind).

"I-I'm sorry..." Nobita apologised.

"I mean, do you know anything about star constellations, let alone their lore?" Suneo asked. "Do you even know where they are in the night sky?"

"He's right though, you need to know where it precisely is in the night sky and place it accordingly using the spherical coordinates." Nonko added. "You know, something like 36 degrees, 12 seconds, and 32 arcseconds or something like that."

"I-I can handle those... Don't you worry."

That reply surely surprised them all, because it was hard for them to believe that Nobita would understand the details of something like that. He couldn't even do any multiplication problems beyond multiplying by 5!

"Putting that aside though, where will we even do this assignment?" Shizuka asked.

"Ah yeah, Shizuka-san is true... Where can we go?" Suzume asked, "We won't be able to do it in the middle of this bustling city, right?"

"Yeah, we have to find a place that is far away from the city, preferably a high altitude, open area that we can safely observe the night sky." Nonko said, "Do you guys have any ideas that fit those criteria?"

The whole gang started to think of a place that would suit the requirements that Nonko had said. A camp ground? A national park? Or a popular hiking spot? There were so many places that they could think of but couldn't decide whether it was perfect or not.

Then, the rich boy broke the silence with own brilliant idea, "Why don't we go to my father's acquaintance's ski resort?"

The word 'ski resort' felt like a left-field suggestion to the rest of the gang. They were bemused at why Suneo's mind went to ski resorts as a place for them to do their starwatching.

"Oh boy, his tiny brain's acting up again..." Suzume mocked, which the gang responded with a grin.

Of course, Suneo wasn't having any of her insults. "What are you saying about me?!"

With the chances of another brutal battle happening between them started to skyrocket, Shizuka tried to cool off the heat between them, much to her extreme displeasure.

"Hey, you two, why're you always fighting?" She asked the two belligerents. "It's like it won't be a normal day without you two fighting over so many unnecessary things."

Both turned their head towards the pigtail haired girl, one is bemused, and one is half flustered for some apparent reason.

"W-well... He's the idiot who who started it all!" Suzume pointed the oddly headed kid across the group.

"S-S-Started it??" Suneo countered. "Well, if you hadn't invited me into a room full of hungry snakes, we wouldn't be fighting in the first place, sweetheart!"

In response, Nobita and Gian (The first two people who heard the story) were having trouble keeping their laughter in.

"T-that's..." Suzume said, brushing the back of her head before returning the fire towards Suneo. "You hadn't even properly introduced yourself!"

"What do you mean by 'haven't introduced yourself clearly' huh?"

"Your head was tucked into those massive bouquets while you're introducing yourself. So, I couldn't hear everything clearly!!" Suzume exclaimed.

"Geez, keep yourself together... Suzume-san..." Nonko commented, but after seeing Suneo's rigorous nod, she added with "You aren't flying under my radar too, Suneo..."

Gian spoke up. "Y'know, it might be that you two have a crush on ea-"

They replied almost immediately with "No!"

With a nervous smile, Gian slowly backed down, fearing further resistance from Suzume that might cost him his dignity as the strongest kid in the neighbourhood.

"B-Back to our initial topic!" Shizuka exclaimed.

"Alright um, after a second thought... A snowless ski resort will provide us with a big open area for us to sit on and gaze upon the sky." Nonko explained. "Not only that, because if the place that we're going to use is a place far away from the civilization... We're going to be free from light pollution!"

"She's got a point too... it is better to do it in a snowless resort, rather than to travel across the national parks which were not always a safe thing for us to stroll around the forest in the middle of the night." Shizuka said, much to Suzume's extreme displeasure knowing that she wanted to show her friends her survival skills.

"As long as we have a nice and cosy place to stay, then I'm up for it." Nobita stated, which gained a nod from Gian.

Suzume sighed, knowing that she has lost already. "Alright then, tell me what is going to be your plan, Suneku-kun..." She said, crossing her arms.

Suneo, getting a little used to his nickname (despite the annoyance) replied, "We are going to visit the resort, stay in the hotel for 1-2 nights and go home. That's all. About when we are going to go there... I don't know."

"What about the prices?" Nonko asked.

"There won't be no charges, trust me! Don't ask me about the details but that's all you have to know."

"Alright, it was decided then... As it seems that all of us excluding Suzume accepted the location proposal that Suneo had presented to us." Nobita said.

"Any objections about the location?" Shizuka added, participating in the discussion together with Nobita. Helping him doing the tasks that he might have ignored while taking the role as a team leader.

Suzume seemed to accept the proposal, albeit with a heavy heart.

"We are going to observe the stars at the summit of the mountain in the resort, it will give us a full unobscured view of the sky." Suneo said.

"That sounds perfect!" Nonko remarked. "Now we should set the date on when we should go there."

"Hmm, how about a week after the holiday starts?" Suzume proposed.

"I won't be here around that time... I will be in France for the first week of the summer holiday." Suneo said.

"Yeah, my cousin is going to pay me a visit on the first of July." Nobita said. "How about two weeks after the holiday starts?"

"At what date?"

"Around 7th of July?"

"I mean I could, but I won't be going together with you guys if you were to do it at that date." Suzume said.

"Why?"

"I have a hiking activity with my friends on the 6th until the 7th. So, I will perhaps catch up with you guys in the resort instead." Suzume said. "Our hiking place shouldn't be that far though, so I'm fine."

"Sounds like a plan! However, we must see what the others think about this date." Nonko said.

"Yeah, I agree with the date." Shizuka said, followed by a nod from Suneo and thumbs up from Gian.

"Well, it has been decided then..." Nobita said, "I will let Dorae-"

Shizuka cut him off before he could finish his words. "No, Nobita-san!" She exclaimed, which caught the bespectacled boy completely off guard. "We're middle schoolers now... You shouldn't really depend on Dora-chan as much as you had been doing in Elementary school."

Nobita was not amused by Shizuka's words, but rather than accepting what she had said, he argued back with arguably the most unnecessary kind of counterargument. "Huh? What is your problem with that? We can save hours of travel and condense it in just a mere second of teleportation with Doraemon's Anywhere Door!"

Suneo, Gian, and basically the whole gang looked at each other. They chuckled after seeing how Nobita acted himself right in front of their eyes just now.

"Look at this guy, he never understands the enjoyment of riding in public transport in exchange for an instantaneous form of transportation." Suneo remarked, clearly ridiculed Nobita.

"Yeah, imagine in the future if he's about to get a job, he just asked Doraemon for a gadget that forces the interviewer to do something in his own favour." Gian added, shortly returning to his old past self.

"Wait, Gian... You're assuming that he will be able to find any jobs in the future!?" Suneo continued, also returning to his old self too.

Nonko initially laughed to their mockeries together with Shizuka and Suzume, but she then placed the plug in, "That's enough you two... Look at Nobita-kun's face!"

Nobita was having none of it, that's for sure.

But then, as the sun slid deeper into the horizon, the gang spread themselves out. Gian and Suneo decided to return home to do their homework, while Suzume planned to go with Nonko and visit her home, following a phone call from Nonko's parents.

It was now just Shizuka and Nobita, sitting on the ever so darkening view of the empty lot under the faint shines of streetlight and reddish sky above them.

"...I'm still not sure on how I should face my dad after I left the house..." Shizuka said, while absentmindedly playing with her feet.

"Well, just face with the reality as for now that your dad will never accept your proposal." Nobita replied, "I even think that your father wouldn't be thinking about it anymore. He should have been moved on ever since you left the house."

"Should I bring this topic again?"

"I think not..." Nobita replied, right before they heard a phone ringing. Turns out, it was Shizuka's father calling.

She took her phone out and glanced towards the text for a short while before sighing and picked up the phone.

"What is it, dad?" She asked.

Her dad started saying things that Nobita couldn't hear clearly. But Shizuka always replied to his questions half-heartedly before hanging up. Nobita was quite curious what her dad was talking to her, but he kept it for himself to avoid bothering her much further.

"I think you should go home now..." Nobita said, "It's getting darker, you know. It's not good for a girl like you to be around at night alone."

Shizuka nodded and jumped down from where she was sitting. "I know that..." she muttered. "... you don't have to tell me that." She finished off, glancing away before heading out. "S-see you tomorrow."

Nobita waved his hands. "See you, Shizuka-chan!"

After a while, Shizuka had finally arrived at her home. Despite being warmly welcomed by her concerned mother (her father had left for his overnight shift), she still felt a mix of guilt, anger, and many things in her heart that she couldn't show as a proper emotion on her face. She went to bed, putting those thoughts to rest.

~~~

The next day went as normal as it could have been. Her father was also not around when she got up, but Shizuka still remembered the night before. She kept putting it aside as she tried to move on, eventually forgetting about it entirely as she focused on school (plus her friends kept reminding her of how great of a party they had the day before).

After returning home, her mother greeted her by the entrance.

"I'm home!" Shizuka exclaimed as she took off her shoes.

"Welcome home Shizuka. How was your day at school?" her mother replied.

"Pretty good, I think."

"That good. Your father's in the living room, by the way."

Shizuka was quite confused, as to why her mom suddenly told her about her father's whereabouts. It could actually be anything... He could have been still angry at her, or maybe he has something to say to her daughter, or it is possible that her mother was just trying to notify her about her father's whereabouts.

So, she replied to her mum, "Okay... Sure."

Michiko approached her daughter, tapped her back a little and said calmly, "You should see him now, he wanted to tell you something."

"Tell me something?"

Her mother replied with a smile, and Shizuka thought that she has just one thing to do. That is to go to her father and ask about what he wanted to tell to her.

As she entered her living room, she noticed that her father was sitting on the family couch, watching a comedy show on the TV. Nervously, she took the first step.

"Hi, dad..." She began.

Her father looked up from watching the TV. "Hey, Shizuka! Come take a seat."

She sat down next to him on the couch. The awkwardness between her and her father was very apparent, as Shizuka was anxious to ask about last night.

"Dad, about last n-"

Suddenly, her father got up from his seat. "Excuse me one second, Shizuka. I need to get something."

Now Shizuka was getting really anxious. Did she scare her father off? Was he really still mad? Why couldn't I say something different? Her thoughts raced as she tried to clam herself down. She tried watching the TV and even pulled out her phone to keep her mind off it, fidgeting with the device as she tried to make herself busy –

"Hey, look here Shizuka."

Hearing her father's voice in front of her, she looked up to see him holding a few moderately-sized books. Not just any kind of books, however – these were music books.

"Huh? Music books?" said a bewildered Shizuka.

"Yes."

"But I thought-"

"I know, I said some pretty harsh things last night about your proposal. I still don't fully trust you on your promises, but I know that you have passion for the violin. With that being said, it's just a matter of bringing out your talent from that passion, and that's why I've given you these books."

Grabbing the stack of books from her father's hands, Shizuka noticed something inside the top book. Upon opening it, she was shocked at what was there.

"Is this...?"

"Yes, that's your enrollment slip." Her father replied. "You've been enrolled into that violin school of yours-"

Before he could finish, he was instantly given the biggest, warmest hug his daughter had ever given him. It caught him off guard, but he embraced it.

"Thank you so much, Dad! I won't let you down!" said a teary-eyed Shizuka.

"I'm looking forward to it, Shizuka." He replied.

"...I love you, Dad."

"...I love you too, Shizuka."