136 Past’s Melody

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Unaware of another plot that involved him, Kazuya's pocket vibrated with a report coming from Ika. He had just entered the music room along with the students of class 2-B.

"[I don't know if it is relevant but Kurogane Tenma was looking into the whereabouts of Stockton Jonson]"

"(Stockton Jonson?)" Kazuya pondered. He didn't know why Kurogane Tenma wanted to know such a thing. His advances towards Stockton International was rejected by them multiple times so it was strange for him to make a move now.

"[Kurogane Shishio also booked a reservation for the same restaurant tonight]" an additional message was sent. Since Kazuya had Ika monitor what the two were up to, this was the first update he got. The Kuroganes were confident in their private network so they made use of this to get in touch with their shady contacts. Kazuya's infiltration of this private network was what led him to discover the hidden cards that the Kuroganes had inside the Kouzuki Corporation.

As Kazuya was lost in thought, he failed to notice Hikaru who was silently observing him from the teacher's stand. The bad impression she had on him was increasing further. She was relatively a new teacher in the academy still so she didn't know about Kazuya until he arrived in her classroom.

After asking a few of her colleagues who were more than happy to tell her the tales of such a legendary student, she felt that he had a reputation that was too perfect. She couldn't believe it when the other faculty members showered him with praises while she on the other hand thought that he was like a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Perhaps the only shortcoming that they told Hikaru about Kazuya was that he didn't pay attention to any of the lessons. He would read different kinds of books concerning various topics. Each teacher said a different book when she asked what he was reading about. Law, Forensics, architecture, technology and various other books that gave no specific pattern.

Though he acted as such in class, what surprised Hikaru the most was when they said that Kazuya had the right to do so because he was only attending class because of his mother's wishes. The boy actually had intellect that already surpassed his various levels when he was first admitted to the academy. He was only attending school now because he lacked empathy and social skills.

"(Hmm?)" Kazuya felt a strange gaze looking at him and found that it had been coming from his teacher. She already noticed him fiddling with his cellphone which he believed annoyed her.

"[Right, I want you to send me information about a person. Her name is Hamasaki Hikaru, a new teacher in the Sacred Forest Academy middle school department]" Kazuya sent another message to Ika. He was curious to find out why this person's fate had changed in this life.

"[Is she a babe?]" it was almost an immediate reply.

"[What does it have to do with anything?]" Kazuya frowned. Ika was trustworthy and capable but he tended to babble on about mundane things.

"[Does the lady boss know that you're looking into another woman?]" another prompt reply that made Kazuya even more annoyed.

"[Just do it. You'll find out whether she is a babe or not after you look her up wouldn't you? Stop spouting nonsense and just do the work I told you to!]" he replied.

"[So domineering! You're definitely hiding something! Perhaps this person will lead me closer to your mysterious identity!]"

"Student Kouzuki! Would you care to share some of your skills with instruments with the class? I heard from the other teachers that you have many hidden talents" Hikaru was quite bothered with Kazuya's lack of attention and wanted to see for herself if this student was indeed as talented as he was advertised.

Kazuya on the other hand was quite annoyed. Hikaru had let it slip that she had asked about him from the other staff members. He wondered if it had anything to do with why she was paying more attention to him specifically.

"(Is she perhaps making trouble for me?)" he thought as he stood up and stepped in front of the class. He had still been concerned about what Tenma and Shishio were up to since Kurumi didn't show up for classes after he had rejected her. Meeting into those two devious men wouldn't be very good for her or him.

"Is there a specific piece and instrument you would like me to play sensei?" Kazuya came up with an idea. He wondered what her reaction would be if he played a song that this person wrote from his previous life.

"Since this is your first time attending my class, I won't make it hard for you and will see how your abilities are" Hikaru gave him free reign as she couldn't wait to pick out any mistake he would eventually make.

"I see…" Kazuya moved towards the grand piano on the end of the platform. "Then I will play a piece that I believe was entitled 'My Love from Another World'."

Hikaru only instructed him to play so he didn't use his voice to sing the lyrics that was on his mind. This song was composed and performed by this beautiful teacher of his from his previous life so he hoped to get some sort of reaction from her.

This song was used as one of the songs in a story that revolved around a protagonist that had gone to a new world and found love. Though he believed that the Hamasaki Hikaru didn't make it for such a thing, he always wondered why she had written such a song. Kazuya hadn't grown attached to this song when he first listened to it but after he went to Edea, he had used this specific song to make an impression towards one of his companions.

Kazuya felt a glare behind his back which meant that he had gained some kind of reaction from Hikaru after playing this song. What Kazuya didn't realize until he had finished his performance was that it wasn't only Hikaru who showed a reaction. His classmates were also looking at him in a strange way.

"Huh? Why is everyone looking at me this way?" Kazuya couldn't help but ask. Even Takaya was giving him the same look. The only ones who had different reactions were the usual expressionless Tomoyo and the somewhat upset glare from his teacher.

"Where did you learn this song from?" Hikaru finally broke the silence and asked.

"It was a piece that was composed by a person I look up to" Kazuya replied without hesitation. This made Hikaru's glare grow sharper.

"A person you look up to? Are you kidding me?" Hikaru tried to control her temper. "Are you playing dumb or do you really don't know why your classmates are looking at you in a strange way?"

"I really don't understand. Can someone please enlighten me?" he looked towards Takaya who was usually the person who wasn't afraid of speaking up.

"This is a song sound very similar to Kuronuma Ayame's song 'Feelings from faraway'" Takaya commented. "Though the tempo is much slower compared to her song, the melody is very similar to it" Kazuya wasn't a person who would usually make such a mistake or listen to such songs so Takaya could only share his honest opinion about it.

"A song by Kuronuma Ayame?" Kazuya couldn't help but glance at the person who was supposed to have performed this song in his previous life."(Did that naïve girl steal the song from sensei?)" he didn't believe that that prideful girl would do such a lowly thing because of her pride.

What bothered him the most was the strange reaction Hikaru showed. This was confirmation that Hikaru had indeed been familiar with the piece he just finished playing. All of Hamasaki Hikaru's songs were composed and written by her in his past life after all.

Kuronuma Ayame had recently just joined the music scene with her rising popularity. Kazuya was aware that she had already released an album and even had a copy that was given to him personally by the naïve girl, but he never glanced at it after he had put it on the shelf of his room on the day he received it.

"Where did you hear the song you played?" Hikaru looked at him suspiciously. "Don't tell me you composed it?"

"I'm not a composer nor a songwriter, I just heard it a long time ago" his reply made her all the more suspicious.

"A long time ago? That doesn't sound convincing at all" Hikaru scoffed at his excuse. "That song came out not too long ago and the original composer of that song never got the chance to name it" she found Kazuya's words absurd and couldn't help but berate him. She was the original composer of the song before it got changed a lot before its release after all.

From her reaction, Kazuya was sure that something indeed happen which made the song she composed land on Kuronuma Ayame's hands. He was not sure what the changes were that led to this kind of development in this timeline but, although Kazuya wasn't completely convinced that it was his presence alone that changed something unrelated to him, he found no other explanation for what caused Hamasaki Hikaru's predicament.

Though whatever happened to her may have been his fault, Kazuya still felt a bit annoyed because she was scolding him for something that he might have triggered but was not part of. Whatever happened to her, he was not the actual person that did her any wrong so he felt that he was being wronged because her frustrations were directed towards him.

"I say sensei, are you accusing me of plagiarizing?" Kazuya didn't hide the annoyance in his expression.

"You claim to have heard this piece before and even had a title for it while I know the composer of the song, what do you think?" Hikaru didn't stand down. In her mind, she had already labeled this boy as a bad apple so him showing some attitude towards her only made her more hostile.

"You should get a dictionary and look-up the meaning of plagiarism" Kazuya grinned. She fell for his trap because of her impulsiveness to answer back. "I neither claimed ownership of the song nor gained any profit from performing in front of class. I simply said that I heard this song a long time ago, if you compare it with writing, almost all the material today has some sort of source material or something that inspired them to write something"

"You…" Hikaru was speechless.

"Besides, are you the one who wrote the song? The one who composed the song has the right to complain but not to me but whoever I heard it from. I shouldn't be blamed for something I performed from memory for your request. By your reasoning, any person who misspeaks a title of something before singing at a karaoke place is plagiarizing?" it had been a while since someone had been on the receiving end of Kazuya's famous tongue lashing. It had been quite a popular discussion among students whenever it happened because he had not lost before. No one expected the target this time would be the new and popular teacher that everyone had no complaints about and rather liked.

*tug tug* Kazuya turned to see that Tomoyo had already been beside him before he opened his mouth again. She shook her head to say that he had already said enough as their teacher was already trying hard to stop tears from forming in her eyes.

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"*sigh* (Did I go too far?)" Kazuya nodded to Tomoyo and made her go back to her seat. He thought of something and approached the grand piano once more. The curious classmates' eyes were all on his and watched as he breathed in deeply and played a slow melodic tune.

"(This…)" Hikaru who was trying to get ahold of her emotions immediately turned to the boy who started playing a tune that was similar to her own style yet something that she hadn't heard of before. It strangely attracted her interest as she could somehow predict what note he would strike next for some unknown reason.

"There are words I want to say yet cannot say~

I have questions that contradict your and my way~

We have been together for years,

And come to understand each other's fears.

Yet a simple rule that was set

Has continue to haunt me when we first met"

No one expected Kazuya to open his mouth as soon as he closed his eyes. A voice that shook everyone came from the boy that continued to play as if the crowd had not existed. This was a song that Kazuya Knew Hamasaki Hikaru hadn't written yet. It was from the album that had been released before he was summoned to Edea.

According to the interviews with her in his previous life, this was a song that wasn't supposed to be included in her album because it was somewhat of a personal song that she wrote to discriminate herself. It was only released because she had hoped that it would reach the person she had criticized herself for which solidified her image as a pure girl who used raw emotions to compose her songs.

"(This guy…)" Takaya was frowning. His mom had taken over responsibility over Kazuno Kaguya's matters once suggested Kaguya to collaborate with Kuronuma Ayame's music career. He declined saying that he had no musical talent yet here he was causing even a veteran in the entertainment industry by now to have goosebumps after hearing the powerful voice that hadn't been supported by a microphone.

Kazuya's voice, the melody and the lyrics made a lot of these students unable to hold back their tears. This struck them as they were in the age where they were developing feelings that were both complicated and new to them. Though they were considered the sports class, they were still students that had some kind of status which was why the song hit them harder than normal people would.

After the final note echoed throughout the silent room, sounds of sobbing reached Kazuya's ears. He knew that he had accomplished his goal. He secretly glanced towards Hikaru who didn't have any reason to hold back her tears as she now had a valid excuse to let them out. He felt that he had done his part and walked back to his seat.

"Kouzuki Kazuya" Hikaru broke the silence in the room after she had wiped off her tears. "I want you to see me after school"

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