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Kuroki had barely stepped out the door of his changing room, when Tanya launched herself at him, hugging tightly. So much so that Kuroki had a striking thought she would strangle him to death this minute. He faintly got her shouting out something he could not understand – was it in Russian, maybe? Sounded pretty much like “Yatta!” to him. He was eternally grateful she didn’t kiss him again. That would have knocked him out of his senses most surely. He still felt as if walking on air having placed first in such a prestigious contest.
“Now let’s go celebrate!” Tanya suggested.
Oh well, she wanted to go drinking ever since they boarded a train to Munich.
“Uh-huh,” Kuroki managed, when she finally released him.
Tanya danced away along the corridor, humming something incomprehensible. Kuroki wouldn’t have told so even under torture, but he enjoyed watching her in high spirits like now. Though he still failed to understand her mood swings.
***
After the first glass Tanya got acquainted with a group of international students from the University of Music and Performing Arts.
After the second one she convinced some of the contest participants sitting at a corner table to join the party.
After the fifth one the whole bar became a large company of musicians from all over the world. They drank, they sang songs in three languages at once, they mimicked the sound of their instruments trying to create an orchestra and nearly fought in the process.
It was their tenth glass of beer when Kuroki got a sinking suspicion he was about to make the worst mistake in his life if he didn’t do so half an hour ago. Tanya suggested the craziest game Kuroki ever played. Every player had to tape a bottle of beer to each of their hands, to down both of them, and then the one who managed to untape the empty bottles first won.
After this everything went blurry for Kuroki, all the sounds came to him as if from underwater, as if he was drifting on his back, allowing the sea waves to rock his body. Thus he abandoned all attempts to keep control and readily took part in another game.
***
He opened his eyes to bright midday light filtering through a gap between the curtains. His suit coat was put askew around the back of a chair. His oboe case lay farther away, to the right of the doorway. And just before his eyes there stood a small suitcase of violent pink which could only belong to one person.
It was then that Kuroki felt someone’s arm thrown around him, hugging familiarly tightly.
Had even a feeble attempt to sit up not resulted in a severe headache he would have been out of the door already. Even if it meant standing in the hallway naked.
Then Kuroki realized he was still dressed, his dress shirt and slacks on, and let out a sigh of relief. A low hum reached his ears, the arm tightened, pressing him closer to something soft and warm. Kuroki froze, feeling his whole body about to combust. Why was he in Tanya’s room, not in his own? What happened after the party? Given he fell asleep fully dressed, what could have passed between them?
First thing to pop up in his mind when he tried to recall yesterday night was how he opened his eyes to her “Wake up, we are getting off here” and found himself lying on Tanya’s breast. Oh yes, he decided to see her to the hotel and fell asleep while they were riding a bus. How did they even manage to catch one so late? But Kuroki was sure he could not have done more than lay his head on her shoulder. Was it just by accident then? How unbearably embarrassing.
He tried to recollect what came next, but all his mind supplied him with was an image of the green carpet on the floor swaying as if he was trying to walk on water. On water of a stormy ocean, no less. After that all was dark and pleasantly soft.
Well, not as bad as he suspected. Excluding the fact that now Tanya was hugging him in her sleep, humming something unintelligible, and somewhere deep in his mind there lingered a thought he would very much like to wake up like this for the rest of his life.
Terrified, Kuroki reminded himself that Tanya had spelled out she did not like him from the start. What’s more, she repeatedly asked him not to misunderstand anything. That was not an ordinary task, because he could not understand a thing in the first place.
What was he to think exactly, when he broke the ice and offered her to stay at his place if she needed, and Tanya just told him they were not dating (which he was perfectly aware of), called him an idiot and ran away? What was he to think if she first told him straight she didn’t see him as a love interest but then kissed him out of the blue? What to think now that she put him to bed and assumingly enjoyed sleeping beside him? Considering he really fell asleep as soon as they got into the room, she had to rid him of his suit jacket, take his shoes off and pull his body onto her bed which couldn’t have been easy.
But what really puzzled Kuroki and what he resented the most was her never ending obsession with marrying into wealth. The moment she started talking about how she should find a suitable man he felt something like a cold hand clenching his gut and mercilessly twisting, sending unpleasant shiver up his spine as if a bunch of tiny newly hatched spiders crawled along his back. Not that he actually harboured any feelings for Tanya, but nonetheless Kuroki had no desire to be a pit stop for healing a broken heart. Thank you very much, he’d rather prefer the company of his oboe.
On the other hand, oboe couldn’t hug him so that he felt absolutely at home. Strangely, Kuroki now wanted to hold her close too. Surely nothing bad would happen if he turned? Torn between these alternatives, he stayed in his place, but then an idea popped up in his head. If yesterday Tanya was sober enough to put him to bed, maybe she went to rest properly afterwards. That meant he had a chance to see her without her usual makeup. And certainly without her persona which he suspected to be totally different from her real personality. When he caught a glimpse of it that one time they ferreted her from her room together with Chiaki, Kuroki actually found it more attractive. Thus he edged and inch by inch carefully turned to face the girl.
Well, he actually was right. She had been conscious enough to go to bed properly. Now her face held no traces of excessive airiness or of the desire to be liked. It looked soft, somehow a little sad, and dreamy. Kuroki ran a hand through her blonde hair. Yes, he certainly liked her better like this. And if Nodame was a lily-of-the-valley, sweet and modest, than Tanya was a prickly wild rose – he couldn't recall any poet to mention it, but it was beautiful in its simplicity. And very hard to reach among all those thorns.
Tanya’s lashes fluttered. She opened her eyes, blinked, trying to comprehend the situation, and buried her face in Kuroki’s chest.
“Don’t look.”
He flushed bright red. What now? He couldn’t just say he liked her that way, it would be improper, impolite, impossible! Kuroki looked down, trying to find a suitable reply, and noticed the tip of her ear growing red.
Adorable.
Also, he felt avenged. Up to this moment he didn’t know he could make her blush too.
“Why hug me then?” Kuroki said at last, making no movement to pull away, however.
That was becoming quite amusing, unexpectedly.
“S-sorry.”
She sank deeper into the blanket, apparently unaware she was still clutching his shirt.
Positively, he should catch her unguarded more often. And he would need to think of as many ways to do so as possible.