ONE DAY, WHILE SHE WAS practising, the mirror near the front door of their flat started to shine.
And she landed up at the castle, and met everyone …
When she went to her own room, it too had a piano. She pressed a couple of keys to test the sound; the next moment she banged the keys down hard with both palms.
I don’t need a piano here, she thought.
‘Summer school starts tomorrow so I won’t be able to come over to the castle for a while.’
That’s the line Fuka gave them, but actually she was having piano lessons in Kyoto in preparation for a summer competition.
The student who had a lesson before Fuka sounded so much better than she did, she thought, and it made her want to plug her ears. She’d practised way too much to even know if she herself was any good any more.
In the competition, Fuka’s mark in the first round placed her out of the running. Anyone ranked thirty or below was automatically eliminated.
Even though she’d been told the competition was on a much smaller scale than the previous one she’d played in.
When Fuka saw the results posted on a noticeboard in the hallway, she went weak at the knees, as though her whole body, along with the piano, were sinking fast into an icy sea.
The summer competition over, she returned to Tokyo, and when she went over to the castle, she was given a box of sweets by Kokoro.
‘A birthday present,’ she said.
Eating a whole box of sweets wasn’t something that anyone did very often in her house. She relished them, savouring the taste, one by one.
Before the competition, Aki had also given her a birthday present.
And Ureshino had told her he really liked her.
His romantic focus flitted from one girl to the next and Fuka had reacted with a predictable shriek when he said this, but the thought that a boy who’d fancied girls like Aki and Kokoro now said he liked her honestly made her happy, even though she had looked grumpy about it.
Masamune had let her play some of his video games.
She’d always thought that boys only let the pretty girls touch any of their gadgets.
Subaru added the intimate chan, calling her Fuka-chan. She liked how gentlemanly he was.
Even Rion, the sort of boy who stood out in a crowd, treated her as one of his friends, and called her simply Fuka.
Whenever he did so, she was happy to be her, to be just ‘Fuka’.
Whether I have any talent or not – none of that makes any difference here. They’re all happy to know me.
✦ ✦ ✦
‘HELLO. HAVE WE … MET before?’
‘Hello.’
As they exchanged greetings, Fuka thought: So this is Ms Kitajima. I’m finally able to meet her.
The others had apparently all gone to the Classroom for the Heart alternative School with their mothers, but Fuka went alone; it was her secret.
The others had talked often about this Ms Kitajima, how she was someone they relied on for support. She found herself wanting to meet her as well.
Ms Kitajima often stopped by Yukishina No. 5 Junior High, and had already heard about Fuka, an eighth-grader who’d had several absences from school. ‘I’m so happy you’ve come,’ she said.
Little by little, in a broken, rambling way, Fuka opened up to her.
After the results of the competition were announced and Fuka had been eliminated, Fuka’s mother began to lose heart. She no longer urged Fuka to practise like she used to. It didn’t seem to matter to her whether Fuka went to her piano lessons or to school. Fuka pretended she was going to school, but actually she was spending her time at the alternative School and at the castle.
She knew she wasn’t about to go back to school. And she wondered what her mother really wanted her to do.
How much longer is Fuka planning to play? Her grandfather’s words were like a curse she heard ringing out from the depths of her being.
As she talked over things with Ms Kitajima, she realized how very depressed and anxious she’d been.
‘I can’t go back now,’ she said. ‘I can’t keep up with schoolwork. I don’t know if I should go on playing the piano.’
‘OK, then – let’s start to study,’ Ms Kitajima said cheerfully. ‘I’ll help you. It sounds to me,’ she went on, ‘as if you feel you’ve become involved in a high-stakes activity.’
‘High stakes?’
‘You’ve been working towards a single goal for years, and worried about what might happen if you can’t win competitions or become a pianist. With that in mind, studying – schoolwork – might be a much lower risk activity for you. If you try hard, you’ll always see results, and it will never be wasted, no matter what you end up doing in life.
‘So let’s do both,’ Ms Kitajima said with a smile. ‘I totally understand how much the piano means to you, Fuka-chan. But let’s do our schoolwork too, not just agonize over the piano.’
‘Will you … be my teacher?’
‘Um,’ Ms Kitajima responded, tilting her head. Her eyes looked pleased. ‘Of course. This is a school, after all. I’ll help you with your schoolwork.’
✦ ✦ ✦
HOLED UP IN HER ROOM in the castle, Fuka opened a textbook, and got down to the homework Ms Kitajima had set her. She was sure she could catch up with the next grade’s level of work pretty soon.
Without her mother or anyone else around, she could concentrate on her studies in peace and quiet.
Not once did she touch the piano in her room in the castle again.
Until February – the last day of the month.
When she got to the castle, no one else was there. Hers was the only mirror shining, and Fuka suddenly wondered, Was it today that the castle was going to close for ever?
‘Wolf Queen!’ she called out, uneasy, but the Wolf Queen didn’t appear. This was a first.
She walked along the hallway to her room, where she had a sudden urge to play the piano.
She opened the lid, rested her fingers on the keys, and began to play. The notes rang out beautifully, and she knew the piano had been perfectly tuned.
Feeling the keys under her fingers, she became totally immersed.
She could concentrate and listen to the sounds she was making.
She loved the stillness. This feels so good, she thought.
She didn’t notice, until she had stopped, that someone was standing in the doorway listening.
The door was open, and there stood Aki.
‘You startled me.’
Aki’s eyes were wide. ‘Sorry to come in without asking. But Fuka – you’re so good!’
‘Um. Yeah. Well—’
‘You’re a musical genius, aren’t you?’
‘Not exactly.’
The term should have stabbed at her, but when Aki said it, she gave a wry smile.
‘Hey!’ Aki said. ‘What’s this? A textbook? I thought you were staying cooped up in your room a lot. Have you been studying?’
‘Yeah …’ Fuka glanced at the pens lined up on her desk. ‘Studying is low-risk.’
Why’s that?’
‘Instead of investing everything in one talent, this is a slow and steady way to grow, the most certain way.’ She hoped it didn’t sound false. ‘Someone told me if I do it, it will never turn out to be a waste.’
Aki was usually irritable, edgy, but with just the two of them in the castle today, Fuka felt strangely more relaxed with her.
She told her the whole story – about the competitions, about schoolwork, about her mother and about Ms Kitajima. And how they all led her to pick up her studies again.
‘Maybe I’ll try that, too … studying,’ Aki murmured.
Fuka nodded. ‘You should. Let’s do it together.’
✦ ✦ ✦
I NEVER WANT TO FORGET what happened here.
I never want to forget the time I spent with everyone.
I made my own decision. I stopped feeling anxious.
I’m so happy to have met them all: Kokoro, Aki, Subaru, Ureshino, Masamune and Rion.
✦ ✦ ✦
‘AKI!’
Fuka was standing in front of the glowing mirror, calling out for Aki.
‘Let’s go home now, Aki-chan!’
But Aki didn’t appear.
She stood in front of Kokoro’s mirror, and pleaded. I don’t want to forget any of it. If someone’s wish comes true, I’ll forget everything.
She was so angry at Aki’s selfishness she could hardly speak.
‘Please, Kokoro, the wish …’
Aki, whom she’d spent so much time with – she couldn’t just vanish for ever.
Not now, when we’ve promised to do our studying together – I just can’t bear it.
Make a wish come true.
Find the key.
She begged this, from the bottom of her heart.