Shishido walked into his family's apartment, dumped his bag on the ground and kicked off his shoes. Reaching back with his hand, he rubbed his shoulder a bit, letting a sigh escape his mouth. It had been a long day- he was tired. Gods, no, he was going to die if he didn't go take a nap before dinner or something.

Rubbing at his eyes, he walked through the living room and towards his bedroom, where his dog- Akira-chan- was patiently waiting and wagging her tail at his doorframe, obviously ready for playtime. He looked at her with a sad face and said as he walked past, "Sorry girl, but I'm tired. I'll give you a treat when I wake up, 'kay?"

Shutting the door behind him, he took another few steps and fell face first onto his bed, his blue cap going flying, and making the bed let out a long creaking noise in response to the added weight. It was an old bed- he'd had it sense he was kid, and his brother had had it before that, but it was comfortable, and the moment his head had hit the pillow he was dead to the world- almost as if he was imitating Jirou.

Blinking his eyes open, Shishido yawned, and stretched his arms. It was dark, probably way past dinner and well into evening. If he wanted to get his homework done he should probably have started soon, but his stomach let out a loud growl, and he got up to go out into the kitchen and find some food.

He was in luck- his mom had left some leftovers from dinner for him in the microwave, not wanting to wake him probably. Grabbing it, he traveled back to his room, grabbing his bag that was by the door on the way, dragging it with his foot, considering his hands were full with a plate and glass.

He put the food down on his desk, and opened up his bag, looking to take out his mathematics homework, but on top of everything there, was a simple, kind of old and out-dated cassette player. He blinked, and picked it up, looking around it for a name of something. Had someone mistakenly put it in the wrong bag?

Curiosity catching his attention, he decided to push the 'play' button, and see what was on the tape that was inside. Music began to play, and Shishido cocked his head to the side, listening as the sweet, slow, flow of classical music flew around his room. He didn't particularly like classical music, didn't know anything about it really, but the playing on this tape was familiar somehow, he knew it from something or somewhere…

The slow sound became deep, and it gave something of a shock, leaping back up with changes in play, creating an image of lots of colors and sound in Shishido's head. Was it…? Could it be Choutarou's tape, maybe? It was so familiar, and everyone knew that Choutarou was a damn good violin player, but why would he have left it in Shishido's bag?

Figuring what-the-hell, Shishido let it keep playing as he started his homework, and before he knew it he was done- but the music was still going. It had stopped and changed songs of course, but music was still flowing out of that little tape. That was, at least, until the playing finally came to a long slow and deep ending, leaving a slight smile on Shishido's face.

Oh yeah, this tape was definitely Choutarou's. He'd heard him play that last song before, at a concert that Shishido had been graced with the ability to attend, to see his best friend in action with that violin he loved so much.

He listened closer to the tape as his thoughts were proven, and Choutarou's voice came through clearly, letting out a small group of words that Shishido grinned at, before shaking his head and turning off the cassette player, sticking it in his bag to give back to Choutarou the next day, shutting off the light and hopping back into bed.

Before nodding off, he said to himself, "Love ya' too, Choutarou."

The End

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