An introduction: Doctor Meets Hero.

Takeru himself was playing at suzie Q that day, lost in his own piano music...
Lately, he had been feeling more and more surged and amped up, and as such, in an incredibly good mood.
Even his persona noticed it.
"Takeru... I can feel it. Something about your music... it's invigorating me. Not quite enough to really affect battle, but i'm certainly becoming pumped." Twelve remarked.
At that moment, Takeru began to play the Largo Movement of The New World Symphony By Antonin Dvorak.
His focus would not cease until he had finally finished.
"Any requests?" He said habitually.

Judai stifled a jaw cracking yawn as he wandered down the street. He had a few hours to burn until he needed to be home and wandering around seemed like a good idea as any. The Suzie Q district came into view and Judai passed by a bunch of different performances, barely giving them a passing glance.

"Hmm, where should I go?" Judai yawned as he looked around. Nothing seemed to catch his attention today. It seemed like everyone was just playing the same music today or dancing the same stuff that he had seen on net. "Geez, I'm starting to sound depressing." The thought quirked a smile onto his face as Judai tried to imagine himself as depressing complete with hovering dark cloud and weird make up.

It was just after he had tried to imagine himself dressed up in all black that he caught wind of something else. In the midst of all the pop, rock, and electronic blaring around him, he could hear piano. Not a keyboard, but an old fashion piano, playing classical if he wasn't wrong. Not that he could name the piece, but it was something different.

When the requests for requests came up, Judai couldn't help but remember his brother learning the piano. "How about Moonlight Sonata?" Judai asked with a small grin on his face. He had always like that one. It was also the only piece of piano music who's name he could recall.

"Sure." Takeru said, not really caring that moment as he began to play. He let the music flow over him, not ceasing until it was done.
"There! See, I felt it again!" Twelve said.
"Really? Huh... wonder why? "Takeru mentally wondered as he turned back to face his new guest.
"So... how was that? By the way... I'm Takeru Kagemaru. " He asked him.

Judai hummed appreciatively as the guy switched to playing Moonlight Sonata. It was a little grating that the guy hadn't even acknowledged him, but he guessed that he was just so into the music that he didn't really care about his audience. Some people were just like that, he guessed.

Enjoying the music, Judai gave the pianist a quick look over. The guy was short. Way shorter than Judai, like a full head shorter. In fact, now that he was actually looking at the guy, it looked like middle schooler was playing the piano.

"Huh, I guess street performers are getting younger all the time." Judai mused. There were all those videos of kids playing complicated music pieces when they were young and Judai's older brother was about the same age when he first played this piece for him.

When the player finished, Judai gave him a bit of applause to be polite. "Pretty good. It's nice to meet you, Takeru."

Judai gave a little wave as he introduced himself. "I'm Judai. Nice to meet'cha."

"The pleasure is mine." Takeru said.
"Huh. Is it just me or... no. Never mind. Must be a coincidence. "Twelve said.
"What do you mean?" Takeru asked, but twelve would only respond with silence.
"So.... what brought you here, Judai?" Takeru asked him.

"What brought me here?" Judai parroted back with a tilt of his head. "Wait, you mean here or Suzie Q?"

He shook his head before shooting Takeru a grin. "No wait, it doesn't really matter. They're both pretty much the same thing."

"I was bored." Judai slide his hands into his pockets and shrugged his shoulder. "I had some time to burn and I just kind of let my feet take me somewhere."

"As for why you're little classical concert." The teen looked back behind him where if he could almost hear the sounds of some popular song, though he was sure it was just in his head. The stages were pretty far apart. "None of the pop stuff seemed to fit my mood today. All the upbeat music was starting to get on my nerves a little."

"All the upbeat music in the world was just making me down, while that downer bit at the beginning of Moonlight Sonata cheered me up." Judai chuckled at the thought. "Kind of ironic, isn't it?"

"Yes. It is." Takeru said, laughing.
"Frankly, I hate that popular stuff. Not quite up to my tastes." He said.
"So Judai... where did you hear that before? I didn't think most people in my generation knew what that was..." He asked him.

"I'm not nearly as picky." Judai shrugged. He didn't mind the popular stuff. Heck, he listened to a lot of it when it caught his attention. Though it tended to avoid the trends and just go for what he enjoyed.

When asked about the song, Judai raised an eyebrow. "Moonlight Sonata? I mean, I don't think it's that uncommon." The song was a pretty well known song, wasn't it? Then again, most kids his age wouldn't have been exposed to it unless they played some sort of classic instrument or knew someone that played classical piano. "Well... maybe. As for when I heard it. My brother used to play it. It was his favorite, I guess. He played it all the time."

Judai gave a rather sheepish smile. "It's also the only classical piano song who's name I know. I don't listen to thethe classical stuff too often, really."

"Huh. Well, that's understandable. But if you don't mind me asking... what do you mean by "used to"? Why did he apparently stop playing? You don't have to answer if you don't want to, though." Takeru asked Judai.
"Um... are you sure you want to do that? That answer may be... extremely personal." Twelve said.
"It could be. Or it may not be. Either way... no harm in asking" Takeru said.

"Ah, well." Judai rubbed the back of his head. "It's nothing bad. He just moved on to other instruments. He never really liked the piano all that much, but our parents made him play it once they learned he had some talent for it."

Judai recalled sitting in on his brother's piano lessons. His brother listened and practiced them dutifully, but he never seemed to enjoy the lessons all that much. Judai had hated the lessons himself when his parents made him try out the piano. Though he had gotten lucky with the fact that he had no real talent for the piano, so his parents were all for not wasting money on his lack of musical talent.

"And even if he still played the piano, it's not like I can listen in anymore. He moved out for college." Judai gave a halfhearted shrug as the smile on his face dimmed for a moment. "I'm pretty sure he can't afford a keyboard let alone a piano on the shoestring budget he's on." The last bit was said in a joking matter to lighten the mood back up.

"Heh. I guess so. Those things are expensive, especially to maintain..." Takeru said, briefly lost in thought before he noticed the time.
"Look, I gotta go home. You wanna exchange numbers so that we can hang out again sometime?" He asked him.

"You have to maintain a piano?" Judai blinked as confusion spread over his face. It wasn't like he had that much experience with the instrument. He had stopped after less than a year and it was not like he recalled his parents doing much with the mini piano they had in their home.

Huh, it was something to ask about at home. No, wait, that was a bad idea. It might make his parents think he was interesting in playing the piano again. They would actually sign him up for piano lessons again.

"Oh, yeah. I'm probably gonna stick around here for a while longer." Judai looked up at the clock. The conversation had burned some time as had the music, but he still had some time before his parents would yell at him for being out too late. Maybe he'd find a snack cart or something before heading home.

"My number?" Judai blinked and rubbed the back of his head. It was kind of odd, they had just had one conversation and this guy wanted to exchange numbers? Oh well, not like there anything wrong with that. He listed out his numbers with a shrug. "I've got a weird work schedule, so don't feel bad if I can't answer the phone." It wasn't like he could predict when his dad would pull him in to teach a lesson.

"Ah. Got it. Here's mine." Takeru said as he wrote down his, and handed it to him.
"Let's meet again sometime. See ya." He said, waving cheerfully as he walked out of the concert hall.
Exit:
Mission Complete! Grade S: Codename: Contrast. Superb!

"Oh." Judai looked down at the sheet of paper that had Takeru's number on it in bemusement. He couldn't remember the last time someone wrote down their numbers. Usually someone just punched it into their phone. Something that Judai did quickly as he idly waved back to young pianist. "Sure, see you when I see you."

"Huh." Judai tilted his head as he looked at the name in his cell phone. Quirking a smile, he erased the name he had already punched in and replaced it with 'Tiny Pianist.'

"Well, that certainly burned some time." Judai grinned as he stretched and walked down, listening in for a new song to catch his attention.

[Exit]