Musical Chairs, Part One: Meeting at The Tavern(Hiroe/Yuzuru)

Business was booming at this particular evening at the Tavern by the Bend, as it was known as by the locals of this particular district of the Rukongai, and with very good reason was business picking up. News of a talented young musician taking up employ there had spread like wild fire and much unlike the majority of rumors being spread it was completing true. A talented young musician did indeed work at Tavern by the Bend and he was indeed drawing crowds almost every evening that he was there with his ability to play multiple instruments and step into different genres at a moment's notice. The news had spread so much by word from mouth that the owner had to spend almost nothing advertising the ability of the young talent he had signed and it was partially to blame for Hiroe not knowing who that musician was this very evening. Indeed, the young lady was in for quite the surprise this night as people scurried around to take orders and deliver food and beverage to tables filled with patrons.

"Packed house again. Yuzuru, you have been a life saver."

The owner said to Yuzuru Satoshi, who had his back turned to the crowd, and was currently crouching over his guitar at that very moment doing some last minute maintenance on it before he intended to start that night. He gave the owner a quite nod, hearing the sound of people behind him eating, and enjoying their evening and knowing that in a few short minutes that he would silence them brought a smile to his face. It was the joy of every musician to leave his audience silent through a performance, to allow his skills to awe and mystify them to the point of absolute enthrallment, and Yuzuru was no different. He wanted to enjoy what he did and he wanted people to be captivated by his skills as this was the only time in his life that his stern looks and almost unapproachable presence didn't matter in the least. It was when he began to strum a tune and sing the songs he knew that none of that mattered.

It was in those moments that Yuzuru was just himself and the facades all simply faded away.

"Knock them dead."

The owner said with a grin, slapping Yuzuru on the shoulder and then walking off stage as Yuzuru stood up to his full height, and took a deep breath as he held his guitar in his hands. He looked at it, as he began to search for the right song to play for the crowd in attendance, and in a matter of seconds, the guitar seemed to begin to play him. He turned around with his eyes closed, as he usually did when he played with every intention to just allow the music to flow out of him unabated, and without concern for reaction. To worry about the crowd reaction now would sully his performance, no, the only thing that that mattered was his playing, and his singing. He began to play "Simple Man", a song that resonated so beautifully with him that every syllable that exited his mouth was dripped with emotion as if he was living the song and that he was telling the story of his life.

The crowd went silent, the desired effect, and even the waiters paused for only a moment to stare at the man playing his heart out on the stage. Some people in attendance were surprised that such a stern looking man could display such emotion through song, but to those that had been here before they were not nearly as surprised. But regardless of the emotions of the audience, they simply watched in silence, and allowed the young man to play his song without interruption.

As the song completed and Yuzuru opened his eyes to the sounds of applause and cheers, his eyes scanned the room for anyone who had not enjoyed the song. He usually did this to see just what sort of song he should play next as he wanted to make sure that everyone would get their money's worth with every performance he undertook. His eyes drifted until finally, like a million warning bells going off, he found his eyes catching Hiroe in the audience. He began to panic, uncharacteristically of himself when he was on stage for certain, and began to fidget a bit with a minor blush on his face. He remembered what he had said to her a while back and how he had ran off in embarrassment at having spoken to her in such a way. He had wanted her to value herself more and not be caught up with a guy like him with a certain reputation, but looking back he had basically said some very, well, some very emotional things to her.

Just thinking about those things caused his face to turn an even deeper shade of red and made him fidget even more than he already had been. He took a deep breath and cleared his throat again, trying his best to fight through to let the performance go on, but as soon as he tried to do his normal routine of letting the music play through him, he found himself drawing a blank. He looked confusedly at his guitar for guidance, but found nothing, instead he looked over to the tavern owner, and did a hand gesture that they had practiced for signaling he wanted a break. Confusedly the shop owner glanced at him and then shrugged his shoulders, it was clear he thought it was too early for a break, but at that moment Yuzuru needed a breather. He scampered off stage, putting the guitar down on a nearby stand, and glanced back at the upset looking Hiroe.

Dear god, she probably hated him, and after listening to him perform and seeing him again, perhaps she was looking for an opportunity to let him have it. To give him a verbal lashing that he soon wouldn't forget. He wondered if he escaped out the back just what level of trouble he would get into, he supposed it couldn't be any worse than having to deal with the backlash of the things he said not too long ago.

"What's wrong, Yuzuru? Sick or something?"

The owner said, causing him to jump in surprise as he had not taken his eyes off of Hiroe this whole time, and nearly had a heart attack the moment the owner had began to speak to him. Tracing Yuzuru's eyes over to Hiroe, he gave him a sly grin, and clearly misunderstanding the situation elbowed him in the side.

"Girlfriend?"

"What!? No!"

The owner chuckled and began to walk toward Hiroe, clearly not understanding the landmine he was about to step on. Yuzuru caught him before he could close the distance and tried his best to form a coherent sentence, but clearly was failing in all respects. He was nervous, more nervous than he had ever been before, and he couldn't really put his finger on why at that moment.

"Ah, I get it. You don't want to mix your personal life with your professional one, I understand, but still the star of my tavern's girlfriend should be treated like royalty."

Before he could say a word, the owner had called over the server for her table, and had in a matter of seconds comped her meal and drinks for the night without a second guess.

"Now go enjoy her company. Life is too short to be working all the time!"

As he said this he began to push Yuzuru over to the table, struggle as Yuzuru might the owner of the tavern, a former strong man, was much too physically gifted for him to fight back against at that moment, and before he knew it he was seated at Hiroe's table. A look of fear and embarrassment passed over his face as the owner walked off laughing the whole time, leaving him to deal with the explosive situation in front of him.

"Hiroe...let me explain..."

He tried to get more words out, but he stumbled over himself verbally, and his mind was clearly against him every step of the way. His face a shade of red and his hands shook nervously as he wondered if the whole room was staring at him and her.

He felt like there was a very heavy negative vibe coming off from Hiroe at that moment, not that he didn't deserve the amount of aggression he was getting at the moment. He had left her in a hurry after saying what he had said to her and though he had meant every word that she should value herself higher and that she should spend her time flirting with someone she actually loved, his level of shyness had forced him to flee. If anything this was his just deserts for being a coward and he had been kicking himself in the rear repeatedly over the last few days for doing so. It, however, wasn't like he hadn't tried to approach her, and make things right, but every time he had gotten close to doing so, he had rushed off in the opposite direction. His heart beating a thousand times a minute and his face a deep crimson, he couldn't dare get close.

Now, however he didn't have much of a choice. The owner of the tavern had forced this confrontation and now he was trying his best to finding the proper wording to give her that wouldn't make her hate him more than she probably already did. He folded his hands on the table and let out a deep sigh before he tried to speak, but before he could utter a single word, she was speaking. Instead of cutting her off, he let her vent, and then after she complimented his ability to keep a tune his face turned an even brighter shade of red. Every word he was going to say and every ounce of courage he had mustered up, something that had taken him a few moments to accomplish, washed away. He looked away nervously and began to twiddle his thumbs a bit.

Still, she deserved an apology, and after a few more seconds he managed to gather his courage once again and looked her dead in the eyes.

"I am sorry... I got nervous and ran away. I didn't know how to react to your flirting as...I'm not very good when it comes to dealing with people. Especially beautiful people. Most of the time people like you would merely gaze at me from afar and keep your distance out of fear of some kind of rumors spreading about you. In a way it was a nice bubble to protect myself from having bad interactions with superficial people who care only about my looks or about being the one to claim me as some kind of "trophy". But in more ways than one it also didn't really help me when it came to making bonds with classmates or building the necessary mechanisms to hold meaningful conversations. If anything it made me a coward..."

Yuzuru looked down, his face no longer red, but filled with anger at himself for being such an idiot. Though he supposed it wasn't entirely his fault that he was like this, no, most of the blame went toward his family for keeping him locked away in the compound for so many years. They were majorly to blame for his lack of social graces or speaking skills and right now he felt like crap for not ever really trying to improve that aspect of himself when he entered the academy. He just hoped it wasn't too late to fix that part of himself and make things better. If only so he could hold a conversation properly as to avoid making someone upset again, after all he had hurt Hiroe, at least in his head he had, and he was completely running himself through for it.