Renka in the Rain

Kazuki gazed out the window of the community center room as he waited for Renka to fill out her portion of the song festival application. The once bright blue sky had grown dark with threatening-looking clouds. Luckily, he’d brought an umbrella with him, countless days of walking home from high school in the rain, drenched because he had been too stubborn to heed his mother’s warnings about the weather, a stark reminder that it was better to be safe than sorry. He pondered the memory, wondering if there were some way to incorporate something like that into their song. A nice rhythm inspired by rain falling on the roof sounded nice.

He started plucking the strings of his guitar, finding the notes that he thought resonated the most with the idea of rain. He strummed a G chord, then C, back to G followed by an A minor chord. He continued playing, changing the order of the chords and his plucking style. He closed his eyes as he played, picturing droplets of water falling from the sky, each string vibrating in time with one reaching the ground, the soundwaves resonating out like ripples in the puddles that formed as the rain pattered against the pavement. No, not pavement. Cobblestones? Grassy fields? Tiled roofs?

He stopped playing and opened his eyes to find Renka watching him, her chin resting on one hand as she did so. Kazuki suddenly felt quite embarrassed. This was the first time someone had seen or heard his process for creating music, and he’d done it without even thinking about Renka being in the room with him. Now, he felt so exposed, like he’d accidentally told a secret he had sworn to take with him to his grave. He sheepishly set aside his guitar.

“Sorry, I was just thinking about—”

“Rain?” Renka asked.

Kazuki gave her a quizzical, somewhat shocked look.

“It sounded like rain—the way you plucked the strings. It was very nice.” She brushed a strand of her hair away from her face and behind her ear. Kazuki noticed she wore her hair down today.

“Well, you’re right. I thought a rhythm reflecting rain might be nice, so I tried it out. Sorry if it wasn’t the best; I was just experimenting.”

Renka shook her head. “No! No, it was lovely! You don’t have anything to apologize for, Magaribuchi-san. I know it’s a process to create music. You should see how many times I’ve tried writing a song and torn up the paper. Besides,” she sat up straight, her eyes sparkling, “we’re a team. We’ll be going through this together, so it’s good to know how we both think when we’re writing a piece.”

She had a point. Kazuki relaxed a bit, his initial embarrassment fading. One way or another, Renka would need to see his process, and the sooner the better. Then they could focus on playing to each other’s strengths and weaknesses when composing a piece.

“Yeah.” He looked at the paperwork in front of Renka. “Did you finish filling out your part of the application?”

Renka flipped the pages to face him, handing him the pen. “Yep! Now, you just need to fill out your contact details, and we can send it off to the festival committee for approval.”

Kazuki briefly looked over the information Renka had filled out already about preliminary stage equipment requirements, whether they would need to apply for outside funding, if their song was already released or not. He filled in his name and address on the form then neatly gathered the pages and handed them to Renka along with the pen.

“Thanks!” She grinned. “I’ll double-check everything then send it in the post tomorrow!”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Renka glanced out the window, and her bright expression quickly turned to one of consternation. “Oh no!” She exclaimed.

Kazuki quickly followed her gaze out the window to find that the ominous clouds from before had completely filled the sky and from them fell a torrential rain. Kazuki watched in awe as the normally crowded streets outside became completely devoid of people, those who had once been walking outside ducking into shops and cafes for respite from the downpour. It seemed like not everyone had remembered to bring their umbrellas today.

“I forgot my umbrella…” Renka sighed.

Kazuki turned to her. “We can stay here for a bit and wait for the rain to stop. We still have the room booked for a while longer, right?”

Renka put the application in her bag. “Yes. We should have another half hour to use the room.”

“If the rain doesn’t stop by then, you can take my umbrella.”

“I don’t want you to have to walk home in the rain! I live close enough I can just run home.” Renka replied, exasperated.

“If you live close, then I can just walk you home. Then no one has to walk in the rain. Plus, we don’t want the application to get ruined from the rain, and I don’t want your nice outfit to get ruined either.” Kazuki insisted.

Renka’s cheeks grew pink, matching the small flowers that dotted her green dress. “Thank you, Magaribuchi-san. That would be very nice.”

“Oh, and since we’ll be working together so closely, you can just call me Kazuki. There’s no need to be so formal with me.” Kazuki smiled at her.

“Alright… Kazuki.” Renka returned his warm expression. “The same goes for you. No more formalities. Just call me Renka from now on.”

“Well, Renka,” Kazuki started, “I noticed you aren’t wearing a ribbon in your hair today. Is it a special occasion or?”

Renka ran her fingers through her hair shyly. “Oh. To be honest, I don’t have a ribbon that I thought matched this outfit. I’ve been looking for one, but nothing seems like the right fit for it. I don’t want something too plain, but I haven’t been able to find something that matches the pattern well either.”

“I see.” Kazuki looked at her outfit more closely. She wore a pretty blouse with tiny pink flowers against green leaves. From a distance, they looked like dots on a pastel green shirt, but they were rather detailed the more he looked at them. “Where did you get that shirt? Maybe you can ask them if they have ribbons with a similar fabric?”

Renka looked down. “I would love to be able to do that, but this was made by my grandmother. It was the last thing she made for me before she passed. I tried finding the fabric she used, but I couldn’t.”

“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that.” Kazuki scratched the back of his head. “I hope I didn’t upset you.”

“It’s alright. Please, don’t feel bad. I know she’d be happy to see that I’ve made a great friend like you here. And that I’m able to pursue my passion of making music. She’s the one who supported me the most, telling me to never quit and never give up. I want to make her proud.” Renka ran her fingers through her hair. “There’s nothing to be sad about.”

Kazuki wanted to believe her last statement, but he could see the sorrow in her eyes. It clearly still affected her, even if she acted like everything was fine.

Renka looked out the window once more. “It looks like the rain isn’t going to let up any time soon…”

“Guess not. Let’s head out then?” Kazuki suggested.

“Are you sure you don’t mind walking me home?” Renka asked.

“I don’t mind at all.” Kazuki reassured her. He placed his guitar in its case and slung it over his shoulder.

They walked out of the community center, Kazuki holding the umbrella over Renka as they walked. The sound of rain splashing down filled the air as they walked. They continued on in silence for some time before Renka spoke up.

“You know, my grandmother would have really liked you. I think the two of you would have gotten along very well.”

Kazuki chuckled. “I’m happy to hear that. She sounds like she was a great person. And a great music teacher too. Your compositions are lovely.”

Renka adjusted her bag on her shoulder. “You’re too kind. Thank you for everything.”

“You can thank me after we win at the song festival.” He said with a thumbs up.

Renka giggled. “We need to get our application approved first, but I’ll definitely keep that in mind.” She stopped in front of a tall apartment building. “Well, this is my place. I’ll see you again soon?”

“Of course. I’ll keep working on practicing your other pieces to get more of a feel for your style. I’ll play them perfectly by the next time we meet.”

“I’ll look forward to hearing them.” Renka beamed. “Have a good evening, Kazuki.”

“You too.”

Renka waved as she walked inside the building. Kazuki stood outside for a moment before making his way to the nearest train station and back to his own apartment. The melody of the rain played in his head, intermixing with pieces of Renka’s songs the entire train ride. The second he walked through the door of his apartment, he unpacked his guitar and started playing once more. Something in him motivated him more than ever to make this collaboration a success, and he didn’t plan on letting Renka down.