“Yerna? What’s going on? Please contact everyone first.”
“Ah, Serena. Are you free right now?”
“It’s okay, go ahead.”
Once Serena gave her permission, Yerna sighed in relief and spoke.
“It’s about Luke.”
“Oh, I heard that Luke has been granted self-attendance. I’m sorry, I didn’t think he would have such a hard time adapting to school…”
“No, no. It’s not that kind of story.”
Yerna, knowing that Serena couldn’t see her, reflexively waved her hands and said.
“The thing is…”
What Yerna wanted to ask Serena was if she knew a good academy for Luke to learn an instrument.
She thought Serena might have such information.
In Yerna’s circle, Serena was the only one who was raising a child of a similar age.
And she would have some cultural knowledge as well.
“Oh, Luke wants to learn an instrument? That’s great! He can join the music club.”
Serena said brightly with enthusiasm.
“The music club?”
“Yes! Tig Academy has quite a well-organized set of clubs. It’s probably better than most music academies. Not to mention, the music room is always open. Plus, it’s free! Doesn’t it sound great?”
“Ah…”
Indeed, Tig Academy was a prestigious institution where almost no nearby academy could compete with its facilities.
Saying that it had better facilities than most music academies was certainly not an exaggeration.
Seeing Yerna deep in thought, Serena continued.
“If Luke doesn’t hate the academy too much, trying out the club might not be a bad idea. What do you think?”
“…I’ll think about it. Thank you for your advice.”
———–
So.
Luke was dressed in his school uniform, sitting on the bus, hugging his bag, and muttering to himself.
“Wow. It looks like I’m going to the academy more often than I thought. Right?”
-…!
It seemed Py was thinking the same thing, nodding slightly and casting a glance at Luke.
Looking as if to say, ‘See? It’s not so bad, is it?’
To avoid Py’s gaze, Luke looked out the window and thought.
“Well, I don’t hate the academy itself.”
What he truly disliked were the looks that treated him like a child, classes that didn’t match his level, and the generational gap with the other kids that he found unbearable.
Rather, in every other aspect, the academy was…
Being quite helpful at the moment.
Luke glanced up at the sky and casually said.
“Hmm, it seems like it might rain tomorrow.”
-…
At that, Py poked around Luke’s shoulder, making sharp noises as if to say, ‘Are you dodging the question?’
“……”
Well, it was natural for a spirit, which is part of nature, to know the weather for tomorrow.
Luke’s attempt at deflection had failed.
——
Anyway, upon arriving at the academy, Luke confidently knocked on the door of the music room.
Since it was after school hours, there shouldn’t be any classes.
“Oh, come in.”
Hearing a voice from inside, Luke slid the door open.
Inside, the music teacher, who was also Luke’s homeroom teacher, was tuning some instruments.
“Oh my, is that you, Luke?”
She set down the string instrument she was tuning and greeted him.
Luke nodded his head.
“Emma, nice to see you.”
“I heard you want to learn an instrument? That’s a good idea.”
She was quite thankful that Luke had come to learn an instrument, as she thought it was her responsibility that he had struggled to adapt to the class.
Perhaps it meant that Luke didn’t hate school so much.
“Knowing that school was hard for you, it makes me a bit emotional to see you endeavoring to join a club…”
“Haha… That’s not necessary.”
The struggle at school stemmed from being unable to engage Luke’s interest.
Boring lectures, complicated friendships, uncomfortable stares…
If those things didn’t exist, it would be different.
Yet, perhaps because of Luke’s own decision to join a club, Emma adjusted her glasses and pressed around her eyes.
Were tears wanting to come out?
“Is there anything specific you want to learn?”
“Well…”
Luke found it hard to answer quickly.
He didn’t know what instruments existed in this era.
He had a rough idea about the origins of basic instruments like drums, flutes, lyres, trumpets, and xylophones, but he was ignorant about more modern instruments like pianos, violins, guitars, and flutes.
“How about trying out a few? There are plenty of instruments.”
“That sounds good.”
“Then let’s check them out one by one. If you find something you like, let me know. I’ll just quickly go grab the club application form.”
“Sure, thank you very much.”
Once Emma left the room, Luke and Py looked around the spacious music room filled with many neatly arranged instruments, feeling a bit overwhelmed.
“Oh, there are those instruments the performers used last time.”
Violins, pianos, guitars. Luke didn’t know their names but…
He picked up a violin that had made quite an impression on him before and couldn’t help but admire it slightly.
“Such shapes! They’re not just instruments; they seem like artworks, don’t you think?”
Py nodded in agreement with Luke’s words.
Then, as Py observed the violin, he imitated its melodies, as if suggesting Luke should play it.
“Are you saying I should try playing it? Hmm…”
Luke rifled through his memories and positioned the violin on his shoulder, trying to secure it with his chin, but…
“Hmm. My horn is getting in the way. This won’t work.”
The horn kept hitting the instrument, producing an awkward clattering sound.
Worried it might get scratched, Luke carefully set it back down.
Well, there were still plenty of other instruments.
As Luke redirected his gaze to another instrument, Py approached it first, following Luke’s sight.
A guitar! That was also an instrument the performers used on the street.
As Py examined the guitar up close, he eventually turned himself to the instrument.
– Tingling…
– ……!
“Py?”
Could the spirit handle objects that exist in the material plane?
Well, it couldn’t completely affect the material world, but could it affect an instrument?
“Oh, wait, that’s not it.”
After checking with magic sight, it turned out that he merely heightened the mana concentration in his body and plucked the strings by hardening the magical barrier on the surface.
It was just a simple utilization of mana, it seemed.
– Tingling, ting, ting–.
“Hmm.”
Seemingly excited that he could influence the instrument, Py freely plucked the guitar strings.
And yet, perhaps due to being a spirit, even though he was just randomly plucking the strings, it didn’t sound bad at all.
Luke was curious about Py and clapped lightly in admiration.
“Py, aren’t you pretty good at this?”
-……
Caught off guard by the compliment, Py flew back to Luke’s side with an expression that seemed to say “Hehe, is that so?”
“Then how about this too?”
Py nodded as he looked at where Luke pointed with his finger.
There was a piano.
——-
The piano looked significantly different from the one the street performers used before. That time, it was a magic device that mimicked sounds and playing techniques using magical circuits, while this piano was a classic piano that physically struck the strings when keys were pressed.
Luke sat on the chair and lightly tapped the piano keys with his fingers.
A deep sound resonated through the quiet music room.
Py also pushed down a key using his body.
This time a high-pitched tone rang out.
Luke and Py exchanged glances and smiled softly.
“This is quite satisfying to play.”
– Luke…?
With a bright smile, Py produced a sound he hadn’t heard before, resembling rolling a small container filled with little beads.
This time, Luke immediately understood what it meant.
It was most likely asking if he was enjoying it.
“Yeah. It’s fun.”
On a whim, Luke began pressing the keys without any knowledge of composition.
Thanks to Py’s guidance, quite pleasing sounds emerged.
While he hadn’t studied harmony rules, he quickly figured out how to avoid dissonant notes.
Whenever discordant sounds came out, Py would immediately seem to scold Luke as if correcting him.
Thanks to that, without pressing the keys too many times, Luke learned about basic harmonies.
“Huh, now I see why spirits possess such musical talent.”
It seemed that simply following the spirit’s lead allowed one to play decent music.
Though spirits seem to speak normally, their language could be entirely musical to human ears.
Slowly, Luke pressed the notes that Py indicated with his glowing mana.
He found it quite enjoyable to create music simply by pressing those keys.
“Is this how I should press them?”
As Luke continued, Py jumped in, enhancing the notes further.
The piece being played was unknown to Luke and anyone in this era.
Despite being something with unknown meaning among spirits, it played very pleasantly.
The upbeat and fresh feel mirrored Py’s lively character, causing Luke to chuckle.
“Haha, Py. Is this like your self-introduction?”
– Fun!
“I feel the same. It’s quite enjoyable.”
As the performance continued, a while later, Emma suddenly opened the door to the music room with a startled expression.
“Was that you playing, Luke?”
“Y-Yeah, it was…”
‘Was that a piece I have never heard before in my life…? Could it be an original composition…?’
The prospect of it being an original composition was even more shocking.
“Do you have sheet music for what you just played?”
“Um, no… I didn’t really play anything in particular, just pressed the keys.”
Actually, it seemed he had just composed it.
It sounded like an impromptu performance since there was no sheet music…
“What do you mean…?”
As Luke got off the piano bench, he said.
“Nonetheless, it was fun. The sounds were nice. What’s the name of that instrument?”
“…Pi, piano…”
“Piano! It was quite an intriguing instrument.”
Striking strings by pressing keys—wasn’t that a fascinating concept?
Bards of the past always had to carry instruments, so they couldn’t afford to create something so large.
It was only with music becoming a pure refinement in modernity that such massive instruments could be devised.
“But that instrument isn’t really suitable for me.”
Emma was left in shock by his comment.
“What do you mean by that? You just played so well…”
Luke shook his head and replied.
“I prefer portable instruments that I can play anytime, anywhere. That one might be fun to press, but it’s too inconvenient to carry around.”
What Luke was after wasn’t playing an instrument; it was research and experiments regarding how bards communicated with spirits in the past.
Therefore, the piano didn’t attract him much.
“…Uh, really?”
Was it believable that a child who didn’t even know the name of the piano could handle an instrument he was touching for the first time in such a manner?
Was he perhaps the reincarnation of some genius pianist?
Moreover, to dismiss such talent so casually left Emma bewildered, who could only remove her glasses and wipe the cold sweat with a handkerchief.
