♪♪♪
COINCIDENTALLY, Miss Ayumi’s old piano mentor was going to be serving on the competition’s judging panel.
Thanks to the information he shared with Miss Ayumi, I was able to throw myself into piano practice without having to worry about the small details. Miss Ayumi even asked her mentor about the judging criteria when I told her of my desire to play Chopin’s “12 Etudes Op.10” for the quarterfinals.
Her mentor came back and asked if I was capable of accurately adhering to and expressing the composer’s tempo and dynamic markings. Precisely because this song is suitable for measuring the musical technique of performers, the judges were looking for a performance that emphasized accurate touch and the beauty of the tone over free musical expression. Practicing a piece became significantly easier when I knew exactly what the judging panel was looking for beforehand.
And then came summer break.
Midori contacted me when she arrived in Japan just as she’d promised, so Kon and I went to hang out at Maestro Noboru’s house for the first time in a long while.
The quarterfinals were just around the corner after summer break. A piece of me honestly worried whether now was really the time for me to be hanging out with my friends. I hated the part of myself that always had a habit of thinking, “Ugh! If only I hadn’t made plans, I could be practicing right now!”
I kept repeating the advice I’d received from Miss Ayumi about broadening my horizons and was mumbling to myself in the back of Kon’s car. “This counts as broadening my horizons. Everything in life is experience!”
Kon looked freaked out by my muttering. “Mashiro… What weird thoughts are possessing you this time?”
“I plan to broaden my horizons through trial and error.”
“Broaden your horizons how?”
“I’ve heard that even the things I think aren’t worth doing could actually help my music if I try doing them.”
“Hey!” Kon scolded me, frowning. Whoops, my real thoughts on this outing slipped out. “Haven’t you been completely absorbed in nothing but the piano lately, Mashiro? Both Midori and I are worried about you. You have a bad habit of becoming like this.”
Kon put her hands on both sides of my face, to which I forced a smile and admitted, “You think so too? Sorry. I’m not really sure why, but I feel panicked when I’m not practicing the piano.”
“You’re way too stoic! Well, that’s just like you, Ri—” Kon gasped and bit her lower lip. Pretending not to notice, I directed my gaze out the window. “That habit is just like you, Mashiro.”
Rika. Kon, who was about to call me by that name, manifested a remarkable force of will to work past that hiccup and continue speaking as if it’d never happened.
“Yeah, I’ll try to be more conscious of it.”
Never again could we bring up our past. I made sure to keep my end of the promise we’d made on that snowy day.
Midori flew out the door the second we rang Maestro Noboru’s doorbell. “Long time no see! I’ve been dying to see you both!”
I stood bolt upright as she welcomed me with a bear hug and a kiss on the cheek before letting us inside. She’d become completely steeped in overseas’ customs from her long stay abroad. I couldn’t fathom the possibility of her turning into a normal Japanese high school girl like in the game.
Should I tell her that it’s not okay to casually touch people in Japan?
“Where’s Maestro Noboru?” I asked, curious as to why Midori was the only one at home.
Her lips curled into a Cheshire cat grin. “He said he has a date with Ayumi today.”
“You’re kidding?!” Kon and I both blurted at the same time.
“Right? It’s a complete shocker, isn’t it?!” She nodded along with us. “I’ve already pinned down exactly where they’re having lunch. Say, why don’t we go spy on them?”
Oh no, here it comes! Midori’s brother complex in full gear!
Midori loved and adored her older brother to the point that she even admitted to wanting to marry someone like him in the future. She wanted to marry a genius pianist not attached to the things of this world (while being from a rich family). Finding another person out there like that was going to be quite the feat.
“You shouldn’t ruin their date,” Kon chided with an exasperated expression as she stuck her straw in the iced tea Midori served us.
“But I’m so curious! Wouldn’t you be curious if Kou said he was going on a date with a girl, Kon?”
“Not one bit. Kou goes on dates with different girls more than he changes his shirt,” Kon remarked calmly.
“Sugar!” Midori cussed.
I bet she wanted to say shit there, I mused as I watched over their conversation, keeping out of it.
That’s when Midori’s eyes flashed, and she turned the conversation on me. “What about you Mashiro?”
“What about me?”
“Are you okay with Kou flittering between girls?”
“…Hmm. I feel bad for him and the girls to be honest. I understand how he feels since he’s trying to do whatever he can to secure Kon’s safety. It’s not really a matter an outsider like me has any right to comment on,” I answered truthfully.
“If you say so. That’s the extent of your feelings for him, eh? Then Sou still has a chance. You know, you should just forget about an unfaithful player like Kou and go with Sou instead. He’s like scary loyal to you. Like scary, scary, loyal. Any woman aside from you, Mashiro, is less than trash in his eyes.”
Midori’s constant use of the word scary made it questionable whether she was honestly recommending him to me. Besides, it’s not like I wanted to be with someone who treated people like trash either. I was starting to pity her because her hatred for her engagement to Sou was so great she’d endorse me getting together with him every time she saw me.
“Midori, you know what happened between us already, don’t you? I treated Sou so horribly it’s amazing he was ever willing to speak to me again, you know? Nothing can happen between us now.”
“…Mashiro, are you actually this cruel?” Midori asked me, her tone serious, eyes narrowed in on me.
Huh. I feel like Kou said the same thing to me before.
“Cruel…huh?”
“I love how cut and dry you are, Mashiro, but you’re so matter-of-fact and detached from things. Don’t most people worry and lose their way while they’re young?”
“If worrying and being lost would help me find the answers, I’d do that, but it can only get you so far. Isn’t it a shame to waste time worrying?”
Midori exchanged looks with Kon and sighed. “Both Kou and Sou have lost epically to the piano.”
“That’s the biggest problem right there. The piano dominates Mashiro’s top ten priority list. There’s no room for love to wiggle its way into her life.”
“You’re absolutely right. I don’t have the time or energy for such things,” I huffed, puffing out my cheeks at my friends who seemed to be on the same wavelength.