Sound of Your Heart

04: I'LL HELP YOU FISH FOR EXPERIENCE

CHAPTER 04:

I'LL HELP YOU 'FISH' FOR EXPERIENCE

VIOLET WAS a bit surprised, truth to be told. Before she came to the big city, everyone in the village told her to not trust anyone and that people will try to sweet-talk to her in order to trap her for all kind of censored reasons - she's no even joking. Most of the residents over there are elderly and for some reason they all thought that shell end up being kidnapped and sold or something.

So they told her to not talk with anyone unknown nor get close to someone who is really nice towards her. Once again, she had her knowledge from all the books and such, but one must know that all she reads are violent fantasy books with blood and gore. She doesn't believe that she'll get kidnapped by a dragon or get tricked by witches and such, so her knowledge on this matter was quite... Crooked, so to say.

She half ignored and half believed their words, but she was originally meant to come and start a campus life as a good university student, ah! Even if a stranger wanted to make her follow him, she wouldn't follow because she'll have everything she wants over there! Moreover, since she had a habit of losing everything except for her violin and phone, her grandma decided to not leave any money nor credit cards in her hands, but rather have her use a safer approach - mobile banking.

Now, for someone who only cared about her phone and violin, m- banking was a perfect choice for Violet.

But. That's. Only. If. She. Had. Her. Phone!

However, few hours ago, it ended up so broken from her collision with Daniel that she couldn't even use it to see time, forget about m-banking!

She was currently walking with that guy towards his home she'll be staying at, yet she realized that she still didn't know his name.

"So, uh... What is your name, again?" She argued and cursed and talked with this guy all this time, but she had no idea what his name was. Actually, it's an old habit of hers. The only people she actively talked to were her friends from games, but they all had names above their heads so she never had to ask. And rarely would anyone ask for real names in games.

So she got used to it and felt like it wasn't necessary to know this guy's identity (she originally planned to leave immediately anyway), but now that he showed her another way, it was perhaps the time to become acquainted with him.

"...Daniel." On the other hand, he's never been approached by someone who didn't know his name so far, or always had others introduce him to someone. Although it was in the past, he was still someone famous. Who didn't know of him in the world of skating? And he was never interested in events not related to skating, so how could he possibly have any more propriety in conversation than her?

Ah wait, now that he recalls, he doesn't know her name either.

No, wait, it's not right to just give away his name like that either.

So he reluctantly added: "...yours?"

"Violet." As of to why wasn't she panicky around him nor suspect him of doing something indecent, it was actually quite simple. They warned her not to trust anyone who's too good to her, but every interaction between her and Daniel was more disastrous than previous that she simply didn't think he would bother with her.

"Alright, so what are your plans for tomorrow?" He didn't live far from his workplace, because he wasn't fond of cars and motorbikes. He preferred place that was close enough to reach after few minutes of walk and long enough for jogging around few times a day, without busy crowd.

The place was also relatively safe from the crowds, so it wasn't that bad. His grandparents were just an hour away by ride from here too, while his parents traveled the world and never stayed in the same place longer than a week, giving him peace and solitude he needed.

"I don't know, I should have started my classes tomorrow if everything went well, I didn't have a plan B in mind when I came here," she admitted sheepishly.

"..."

He didn't have in mind this scenario either, but since he already decided that he needed her tomorrow and told her that he'll help her, Daniel would naturally take responsibility for her until the end.

According to his daily routine, he'd just play games for hours before it's time to go and work, but his phone right now...

"How about we go early in morning to take out phones to the service?" How is he supposed to play games on it now!

"Ah, right," she took out his phone she mistook for hers earlier. Even if he wanted to kill her now, she had no means to contact the police, "...here."

He took it before sighing in relief. It seems like it also only had some screen damage. His songs were safe and sound.

"Want me to keep yours too until tomorrow or?" He asked, maybe she'd want to go around the city or something, so he could take both of them to the service.

"It's fine, I don't have money to pay for it at the moment anyway," she sighed, "I'll return you once I get my phone in one piece, though."

"Alright," she staggered. Hm, this isn't how she read in books. Aren't man all macho who would pay everything and be too proud to accept the lady giving them her money or something? She calculated that she'd be losing 30 or so USD just for repairs, and that amount could've been used for many hot-dogs or something.

"What will we do after that? You said you wanted me to play a violin for you?" She asked walking next to him when he suddenly stopped, making her almost crash into him again.

"We're here," he nodded. He originally intended to have her play for him after the training, since there were many events for the game he had to participate in during the day, but since he couldn't even play tomorrow, he could only resign to his fate. Whatever, one or two days of absence won't bring any changes his rank right now.

The place he lived was a building. To say that he lived in an apartment would be wrong, since he bought the entire tree-story building and took down the walls to free up the space.

First floor was for the guests, second was full of training equipment while third was his bedroom and bathroom. It also had a guest room which was surprisingly occupied often. One would be amazed how many skaters he had as friends that decided to crash at his place whenever they came.

"Welcome to my humble abode," he was rich. Filthy rich. Actually, even if you excluded his parents and grandparents, he was still considered to be fairly rich. Sponsors are no joke, they invested a lot of money when you're famous. Seeing as he didn't travel nor waste his money, he still had a big part of his savings left.

Violet was surprised by the spacious room she saw the moment she entered. She expected to see a normal building, buy this place seemed like a castle room that spanned for tens and tens of meters. The walls were nicely decorated and gray, there were only two doors in th hallway and one stairs. On her right, she saw that the doors were opened and led to what seemed as a living room, but the ones to her left were closed so she could only ask about it.

"Depends what you want it to be," he opened the doors to her question and it revealed a dark room without a window with a huge PS4 in one and even bigger TV on the other side.

Well, technically, he doesn't waste his money. This room had an interesting past, it wasn't even him who made it. As he mention before, he had a lot of friends coming over, and quite often at that. Among many skaters, few were eccentric figures that one cannot understand. So while he was renovating this place and wondered what to do with this floor, he had a certain person pay him a visit. Complaining that this place was a bit boring, Daniel told him to do what he wanted and went to teach kids as usual, only to see this room when he came back. He paid nothing, the other guy was a pest that visited once every month and did nothing but lock himself inside for hours, so he just let it be.

"It has both cinema and some a PS4, so do as you wish if you're bored. If you turn on the lights, you can even use it to practice on your violin," he pointed to the middle of the room where a single black piano stood.

He often came here to compose music for kid's programs when they had a competition.

"Feel free to use anything in this place, food is somewhere in the fridge or microwave in the living room across," he pointed to the doors on their right before continuing to the stairs.

"We'll return here to talk while dinning later, let's settle you down for now," he grabbed her suitcase before climbing up while she could only nod and follow after him.

"This floor is for the workout," he explain as she curiously observed the training equipment, "I assume you'll be staying in this city for a while since you have an ambition, you can use my place if you want. It will save you a lot of money too."

She could only nod again. Although she was raised in a village, the concept of money wasn't anything unknown to her. She spent riches on her games and she only held back recently because she was saving some for the college, but—

Hold on!

She was saving her money for college she won't enter now!

That means...

"Kekeke," imitating a creepy laugh she heard from many BOSSES*, she couldn't get any happier. That God from her game, with all this money available to spend as she wanted, she could buy many rate materials now get closer to beating him. Yes, if nothing else, her BR* should soar to the heavens.

It's not like PvP* is the only thing in the game, she had to clear some dungeons too for good items and materials, but was too weak to do so before.

"Your laugh is ugly, please refrain form it," a comment to the side completely destroyed her perfect vision as she turned to glare at him, "You sound like the Hitler's reincarnation that found out about nukes or that Kim dude from Korea who's about to do a joint operation with Trump to nuke the entire world."

"..." Brother, you have a wild imagination.

"You think exaggerating, don't you? Even Grinch has a more innocent laugh than you," he sighed as he continued to the third floor.

"Who is Grinch?" She frowned, she never heard about that name before. She knew who Hitler and Trump were, and as of that Kim guy, wasn't he president of North Korea or something who really seemed fond of war and wanted to bomb other countries. She never remembered his name though.

He paused for a second before coming next to her and patted her shoulder.

"I see, I pity you, sister," he wasn't joking, his eyes seriously had pity in them as he eyes her making her have indescribable need to punch him in his face.

"Why do I feel like you're mocking me?" She asked.

"I'm not, this is called a pity, sister Violet," he added and she frowned.

"I'm a single child."

"So am I, but that was not an excuse to waste my childhood. A pity, truly a pity, my fallen comrade," he moved away and she parted her lips to say something, but found herself unable to do so.

"Hmph, just you wait and see if I don't find out who—" ah, she didn't have her phone, she couldn't Google him up.

Daniel really wasn't joking. Violet seemed to be around twenty, but she haven't heard of Mr. Grinch?! If that's not a waste of childhood, he really didn't know what was. It's like not knowing about Disney of Sponge Bob and such.

"You can watch it downstairs if you want," that cinema down there finally had some use, "As I said earlier, feel free to get used to living her comfortably. There's also no need to worry about disturbing the neighbors while you practice, the walls inside are soundproof," he had no idea what means his friend used to remodel the entire room like that in the spawn of few hours.

"I have a bedroom here you can use," if someone pays a visit, they can either sleep down there in cinema or rent a room in the hotel like normal humans anyway, he pushed the doors open to reveal a neat bedroom before putting her suitcase down.

"Bathroom is downstairs... No wait, you have one on every floor, this used to be a proper living building in the past, so the design is somewhat similar, I just remodeled most of it."

It could be bothersome to move up and down when you needed to go to the bathroom, so he just left them be. He might have actually been a bit lazy too, he wasn't sure what went through his head when he brought the entire building to live alone in.

"We can order Chinese or something else or cook what's on out hand. There's usually always food in the fridge," after being a pro for years, some habits were hard to shake off, especially his meals and workout sessions. Although he lazed off here and then, he followed his old principle most of the times.

And seeing as he lived alone, he was naturally responsible for his own meals.

"Can you cook? Doesn't matter, I'll do it if you can't," for now, she was no different than his other students, except she wasn't here for skating.

Even if it was a pure coincidence that he couldn't freely skate today, he did say that he'll introduce her to a person or two and help her pave a way to the pro industry.

"In any case, as matters stand, I can't just let you meet people like this. And you said that you wanted to rely on your own talent to prove your worth, so we can do something that satisfy both our intentions," he could check some classes and teaching methods for violinists and see if he can put her in some program. Charity events were countless in their circle of entertainment, and talented musicians are always welcome. She won't earn anything from them, but she'll probably catch some big-shots eyes. Deans of art schools or important people with connections to them are often present there, so unless they're completely blind, they should notice her talent.

But she still need to be trained a bit and her personality... A violinist, no matter how eccentric, should always be graceful, alright! She doesn't have an ounce of gracefulness!

To bring her to a gathering like that, she needs to have a decent backbone, but as far as he could see, this girl is simply just another NEET*!

He had a feeling that if someone came just to shake her hands, she's going to hit them with a violin and call them molester too! For that kind of a gatherings, it would be a synonym for disaster. Even if she later got recommend for a college, no one would dare accept her if she offended an important person.

But other than that, he only heard her casually play something while he was high on ecstasy as he skated, he doesn't really know her limits. What if she could only play based on intuition and had no idea what a score is? That wouldn't even be a disaster anymore, they'd just be looking for humiliation.

Therefore, she isn't presentable at all and needs to shed off that NEET aura and become a true butterfly.

But how to do so?

The only people he knew were worse than things and even more shameless than politicians. Sure, once one is on stage, they show performance and aura that will make people kneel before them, but only someone who's already even in the pro circle like him knew just how despicable those fellas are. Even he wasn't perfect, the amount of money he spent on playing games made him even worse than a NEET, but that's something only his manager and coach knew. Even his parents weren't aware of it - since they traveled a lot and such, nor his grandparents - but even if he destroyed a country, he'd still be perfect in their eyes so it didn't really matter.

He doubted that any of them had any decent connections either, too.

He glanced at Violet again, perhaps saying things in the heat of the moment wasn't a right thing to do after all. Although he was a coach himself now, it's not like he needed some overly important connections. f**k, his name alone is a huge connection so he never had a need of any.

When it came to himself, his entire schedule has been directed by that old geezer-

"Oh, right, how did I forget about him?" he frowned, but then his frown turned into an insidious grin, but then he frowned again. Could he really throw this girl with him and take her all the way to Russia? It's not like they've been friends for long and there was absolutely no reason for her to trust him.

Therefore, he could only drag the old geezer here instead.

No, he couldn't. The guy's busier than country's president himself.

As his expressions changed one after another, Violet who stood on side and couldn't figure out his thoughts could only assume that he went crazy or something.

"Will I be fine if I stay by this psychopath like this?"

"That's it!"

"Eh, what, you're really mental?"

"Your sister's mental, but you're not quite wrong. Helping you grind for experience is already a mental act itself coming from me."

"..."

Why did she feel like he really sounded like someone she knew? And like a seriously deranged psychopath at that?

"Better sleep like you won't see tomorrow because you seriously won't survive to see another day if you can't catch up with my plan."

"..."

Grandma, it seems that city folks aren't as dangerous as you've told me. They just seem to have a pit in their brains.