Part 1

After class ended, Charlotte and I began walking out toward town. 

We were silent. 

Charlotte had her arms crossed with knitted eyebrows, seemingly irritated with a pouty face. 

Whenever I tried to make eye contact with her, she would look away. 

It was all silent until we reached a cafe. 

"...Um, it's very bold of you to show up here after what happened yesterday." 

The female employee I saw from when I and Charlotte got physical stood outside the cafe nervously, greeting us with a forced smile. 

"...I'm sorry for what happened then." 

"N-N-No, it's okay. Please, come in." 

Charlotte and I walked in, sitting in a two-seater table. 

Charlotte still avoided eye contact with me for some reason, I don't really understand. Yeah, I played the piece a little bit louder and drowned out your humming, is that the issue?

"Um... Charlotte." 

I reach out to her with my voice, wanting to talk about the situation. 

"-You've never been that rough with me." 

She muttered under her breath, snorting with a frustrated tone. 

Huh? 

"What-" 

"I said that you've never been that rough with me! What was that performance? You spanked the keys like you were teaching her a harsh, kinky lesson!"

Her ears went red as she unleashed what she had been holding back since the performance, I felt the table shake as she shouted into my face. 

"W-Wait-" 

"Why don't you ever teach me a good hard lesson like that, huh?! Why can't you make me cry to your demands, make me Mezzo Forte and Crescendo in harmony! Finger my in tune keys, making me squeal out an orchestral symphony! Why can't you Glissando my hammers until they are screaming out in Fortississimo?! Treat me like a street piano!"

"..."

With recalcitrant rage, Charlotte banged her fists against the cafe table, erupting beside her loud Fortississmo-level-noise lewd-like speech. 

"Why can't you hit my G Major scale like that. Awwwaaargggh, just watching you give her that exciting rough play makes me so jealous, aaaah! I'm so envious!"

I didn't have to look around to see the weird gazes and expressions stabbing at me by others in the cafe. 

The female employee that previously chatted with me frowned, but her face went red in embarrassment. 

I'm sure she now thinks of me as a lewd playboy. 

As I watched Charlotte bawl in frustration, she ultimately bumped her forehead on the table, resting. 

For some reason, a smile etched on my face. 

I felt good. 

It felt like something in my heart was restoring. The negative emotions that I let out like a heat generator were slowly dissipating into thin air, replaced by giddiness and a huge warm smile. 

And then, I felt a force in my throat, waiting to be let out. 

"Haha..." 

"Hm?" 

Charlotte cluelessly looked up. 

This force grew stronger. 

"Hahaha.... Puahahahahah! Aaah! Hahahahah!" 

My stomach contracted as my body was forced forward by the vigour of the sudden eruption of laughter, my face went hot and I felt the muscles in my face loosening up. 

I don't know why I was laughing, but I felt it. 

For some reason, watching Charlotte bawl over me made me feel this way. 

Watching someone act as if they cared... about me.

After thinking that thought, I felt a wetness in my eyes. 

Seeing me laugh like a maniac for some reason made Charlotte giddy too, her frown was wiped from her face, replaced by a victorious smirk as she sat up straight her attitude taking an entire 360 degrees, laughing with me. 

"Puahahahaha!" 

"Puahahahaha!" 

This laughter was warming my cold heart, the heart that's been cold for a while.

And for some reason, it felt like what she had said earlier was orchestrated to make me feel this way, to make me feel good, to make me forget about the negative emotions I released like an explosion in the classroom. 

The calamitous tornado that was brooding, destructing and raging within my heart was tamed by her words, it completely dissipated. Replaced by the warm sunshine, small winds blowing the long grass.

Feeling as if, as I sat beside a tree, lonely and empty in an overcast day, the clouds disappearing as the sunshine appeared, soothing and lightening my skin, smiling down at me with a motherly look. 

It feels like, she cares about me.

...She cares about me?

...

...

...

Part 2 

"Aaaah, they kicked us out again! What horrible service! The customer is always king, you know!"

"Well, yeah, we were laughing like idiots." 

Charlotte stretched out her arms as she complained into the air, although the words inferred that she was complaining, the tone of her voice and her bright and playful expression made it look ironic and sarcastic.

It was about midday, the sun was shining down with little but fluffy clouds in the sky. 

We were aimlessly walking around town, past the cafe we were kicked out of and just looking at small shops and other restaurants around. We were also near the train station, so it was quite busy with people chatting on their phones, kids and teenagers laughing and playing around and just a a general happy vibe. 

"Well, if Arthur is happy again, then I don't mind." 

She tilted her head, looking up at me.  

"If I'm happy? Does that mean you did it on purpose?" 

"Nope~ I was really really jealous." 

Charlotte looked away and said that. 

Before I could respond, I felt a buzz in my pocket, my phone was ringing. 

After seeing the name of the person calling, I picked up. 

"Hey, Chad-" 

"[Oi oi oi, my dude! Where have you been? We've been waiting for about half an hour now?!]" 

Oh. 

I forgot I was supposed to meet up with my friends from the Orchestra I played and practiced at, and the person calling now was Chad, a Brass player. We planned this. a few days ago after we had finished rehearsal, I guess I forgot. 

"Um, sorry man, I've been sick so I can't get out of the hous-" 

"There you are!" 

I felt a hand go on my shoulder, it was a firm, rough grip. I knew exactly who it was. 

"...Hey, Chad." 

Chad, still on the phone with me was suddenly behind me. 

He ended the call, which prompted my phone call to end too. 

I forgot, the meeting place was at the big tree in town. 

Charlotte and I were standing on a street across the big tree in town. 

Chad was an outgoing and social person who was quite big in stature being 6ft, as tall as me but with the addition of bulging yet cool looking muscles. It was clear that he juggled working out between being a Brass musician full-time. Being from one of the pacific islands, his skin looked a little bit tanned. 

"You're sick and in bed, huh?" 

He gave me a suspicious gaze. 

"Uh..." 

As I scratched the back of my head, I noticed that another Orchestra buddy was here too. 

It was a girl, her name was Lucy. A woodwind player at my Orchestra, we met and became friends along with Chad and some others. 

They both looked to the person beside me, and looked back at me with an annoying grin. 

"Oh, so that's why. You didn't have to lie, you know? Your girlfriend can hang out with us." 

Chad went to greet Charlotte with a firm handshake. 

"Hi~ Yes, this is Arthur's girlfriend~" 

Charlotte teasingly, in a girly voice, said that. 

"No she's not, she's another friend of mine." 

I looked away, crossing my arms as I denied it. 

"Arthur's such a, what they call it? Tsundere." 

I was reminded of that one phase of my life where I watched anime and read manga all day. 

"Tsundere?" 

Chad looked confused, a normie wouldn't know what that is. 

"Tsundere: is a Japanese term for a character development process that depicts a character with a personality who is initially cold, temperamental, hotheaded (and sometimes even hostile) before gradually showing a warmer, friendlier side over time." 

From behind Chad, the clear and direct high-pitched voice came from Lucy, who recited google with a neutral expression on her face. 

Yes, that's her personality, an information hoarder. 

She's the type to know everything and think about things very deeply, though at the cost of her self-esteem. But at least because of that, during practice, her ability to play an entire piece through memory is amazing. 

You know, 'that' person. 

"Huh? I see, that's cool. Anyways, let's go, bring your girlfriend with us." 

Before Chad could turn around, I grabbed his shoulder I asked him. 

"Wait, where are we going?" 

He looked back, and replied as if he had already told me. 

"Hm? The amusement park, obviously." 

...

...

...

My head hit the top of the seat as the bus did its bumpy thing. 

We were sitting in a bus in the back seats like the cool kids, Chad and I sat together while Charlotte and Lucy were chatting about something. 

Beside us four, there were only about a few others in the bus as we waited for our next stop. 

"...Chad, why did you invite me out?" 

I had that question because while I consider Chad and Lucy my friends, we weren't the closest of friends at all. In fact, within the Orchestra, Chad was the social centre of the entire place, so he had many other friends that he talked to continuously, not including his friends from outside the Orchestra. 

It wasn't like he was in my friend group or anything... Not that I had a friend group... Sure, I had friends, but I didn't connect to any bubbles as the others did. 

Lucy... We were sort of close, but she too was a loner like me. 

Chad was a person I've spoken to about 5 or 6 times max, he usually spent his time during breaks in rehearsal hanging out in the centre of everyone else. 

So it was weird for Chad to reach out to a loner like me, who went home as soon as Orchestra Rehearsal ended. 

After hearing my question, Chad looked at me for a few seconds before cracking up into a light smile replying. 

"Huuh? It's because you have this dead empty look in your eyes with no life every time I see you... ... ... So I planned to hook you up with the equally dead Lucy, but you have a girlfriend... Haaah."

He stretched out his arms, resting them behind the heads of the seats and pressed his back against the seat. 

As he replied, he muttered something else under his breath. So I couldn't hear what he had said at the end. 

"Dead look?" 

I repeated his words as I looked straight into his eyes. 

He looked at me back, and his smile grew even wider. 

"I was just kidding my man! I only did it for the fun of it, don't think about it too much. I happened to have spare time on my hands." 

He broke out into laughter as he tapped my shoulder heavily. 

And so, we continued chatting about mundane topics until we reached our destination. 

An amusement park.

...Why an amusement park?