Maestoso, pt. 1

Title: Maestoso, pt. 1
Pairing/Character(s): Sachiko/Yumi, Yumi/Tsutako, Sei/Shizuka, Sei/Shiori, Rei/Yoshino, with a dash of Suguru
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Maestoso: with dignity, majesty. Small fics written for 18coda.

Most of these are too short (more than one-liners, less than drabbles) for their own entries, so I figured I'd do the themes in sets of nine.


i. a cappella
one or more vocalists performing without an accompaniment

Shizuka liked singing in the school choir. She liked the feeling of losing her voice among others', of blending in; she liked knowing that even if all of the attention was on her, she had something to fall back on if her voice cracked or she hit a wrong note.

No matter how far she ran from Lillian, she never lost the habit of searching the audience for Sei.

*

ii. cadence
a sequence of chords that brings an end to a phrase, either in the middle or the end of a composition

"A-And you're gonna write me every day, okay?" she said between sobs. She'd done well not to cry during her farewell speech, so she figured she was allowed to break down in private. "And call me, and visit every weekend."

Rei smiled indulgently and took a handkerchief—hand embroidered, and all she could think was how much she loved all those little incongruities about her—out of her pocket to wipe away Yoshino's tears.

"I'm just moving across the street, Yoshino."

*

iii. canon
a musical form where the melody or tune is imitated by individual parts at regular intervals. the individual parts may enter at different measures and pitches. the tune may also be played at different speeds, backwards, or inverted

This is what did not happen: Sachiko saw Yumi, noticed that her tie wasn't straight, and kept walking. She was Cinderella in the school play, waited until her third year to take her cousin Touko as her soeur, married Suguru as soon as she was out of university, and did not pass go, collect $200, or get a happy ending.

This is what did not happen: Yumi went the rest of the day with an unstraightened tie, joined the photography club, and fell madly in love with Tsutako, who accepted her feelings. Together, they took the best Yamayurikai paparazzi photographs in Lillian history, with special focus on the Chinensis family. Yumi never got used to hiding in bushes and never stopped disapproving of it.

This is what did not happen:Yoshino went without the surgery and died in her first year of university. Rei never touched a practise sword again and sold the dojo as soon as it passed into her ownership.

This is what did not happen:Yamanobe ran far, far away from Eriko and regretted it for the rest of his life.

This is what did not happen: Sei and Shiori boarded that train together, leaving Lillian behind. And they made it just fine.

*

iv. dolce
sweet or sweetly

Sachiko tastes like candy, Yumi thought, leaning into the kiss. It was funny—she'd always imagined that Sachiko would taste refined, like expensive green tea or dark chocolate. Then again, Yumi did romanticise her sometimes, but when her onee-sama pushed her gently onto the bed, she lost the coherency required to romanticise anything.

*

v. fermata
hold or pause

Noriko was drowning in Shimako's smile, in her breath in the cold air as she laughed prettily at one of Sei's jokes. She had never seen Shimako so happy in front of Sei. She had never seen her so anything in front of Sei.

The whole day, she decided, had been surreal. That was the best word for it. They waited together to ring the bell, three generations of the Rosa Gigantea family brought together by one New Year's ritual.

*

vi. ostinato
indicates a part that repeats the same rhythm or melodic element

The first-years squealed with joy (because they were all secretly yuri fans) and envy (because it wasn't them) when they saw Sei fondling Yumi in the middle of the hallway, and Yumi's face flamed with embarrassment.

Sei found it adorable, especially when Sachiko rounded the corner and the two of them got all flustered over one another.

This never gets old, she thought, grinning away Sachiko's rage.

*

vii. grave
slow and serious

"Walking slowly is preferred here," the Yamayurikai member—Rosa Gigantea, was it?—said to the Hanadera boys. Her soeur, a long-haired girl with a distant expression, nodded solemnly in agreement. While he didn't subscribe to the idea that all Lillian girls were lesbians, this one certainly had that air about her. He would have found it attractive if he liked girls.

Suguru ran when they weren't looking.

*

viii. incidental music
background music for a play, movie or television show. it sets the mood and illustrates the action for a play

Fate had a sick, disturbing sense of humour: Suguru chose Gounoud's Ave Maria as their wedding song. "It's beautiful," he said, smiling as he listened to the CD. "Don't you think so, Sacchan?"

"I do," she must have replied, but in her mind, she was back in the music room in her second year of high school, her hands overlapping Yumi's on the piano keys. (The warmth of Yumi's back had seeped through the front of Sachiko's uniform. Listening to the music now, she didn't think she would ever be that warm again.)

*

ix. nocturne
a quiet, lyrical piece often with a pensive, dreamy mood

Upon re-reading Forest of Thorns, Yumi felt that Sei's life should be set to slow, sad jazz music.

For a while, she entertained fantasies of re-uniting Sei and Shiori, preferably in a smoky, half-lit bar where they would bump into each other and do whatever separated lovers (we'll always have Musashino) do when they meet again, but she knew that it could never happen.