Performance
"Yerna? What's the matter? You went and called first and everything."
"Ah, Serena. Do you have a moment right now?"
"It's fine. Go ahead."
Once Serena gave her permission, Yerna spoke with a quiet sense of relief.
"It's about Luke."
"Ah. Come to think of it, I heard Luke was granted free attendance. I'm sorry—I never imagined the child would have such a hard time adjusting to school…"
"No, no. That's not what this is about."
Yerna knew Serena couldn't see her over the voice call, but she waved her hands in reflexive denial all the same.
"The truth is…"
What Yerna told Serena was a simple question: Luke wanted to learn an instrument, and did she know of any good academies?
She had figured Serena would know that sort of information. Among the people around Yerna, Serena was the only one raising a child of similar age. And Serena, of course, would have the refinement for it.
"Oh. Luke wants to try learning an instrument? Then that's perfect. Joining the music club would do the trick."
Serena's voice brightened, light and cheerful.
"The music club?"
"Yes. Teag Academy's clubs are really quite well run, you know? Better than most music academies. Even if not, the music room is always open. And it's free. Doesn't that sound good no matter how you look at it?"
"Ah…"
Well, Teag Academy was a prestigious school whose facilities had almost no equal in the area. The claim that it outclassed ordinary music academies was almost certainly no exaggeration.
Seeing Yerna hesitate, Serena pressed on.
"Unless Luke truly hates the academy, just trying the club doesn't seem like a bad idea. What do you think?"
"…I'll think about it. Thank you for the advice."
And so.
Luke was once again dressed in the school uniform, sitting on the bus with the bag hugged close, muttering under breath.
"Heh. I seem to be ending up at the academy more often than I expected. Don't you think?"
-…!
Pai seemed to agree, giving a little nod while shooting Luke a sidelong look—an expression that all but said, See? You actually like it.
Luke turned toward the window to escape that gaze and thought it over.
Well, it isn't that I dislike the academy itself.
What had been unbearable were the looks that treated a former archmage like a child, the lessons that never matched the level, and the generational gulf with the other kids.
Everything else about the academy, on the other hand…
…was proving quite helpful. For the time being, at least.
Luke glanced up at the sky and said offhandedly,
"Hmm. Looks like rain tomorrow, I'd say."
-…
Pai immediately jabbed at the air around Luke's shoulder with sharp little pokes and a pointed noise, as if to say, Are you changing the subject?
"…"
Well, a spirit that was nature itself would hardly fail to know tomorrow's weather. The deflection had failed.
In any case, once at the academy Luke strode up and knocked firmly on the music room door.
It was after school; there would be no class in session.
"Oh, come in."
At the voice from inside, Luke slid the door open with a soft rumble.
Within sat the music teacher—Luke's homeroom teacher—tuning instruments.
"My, if it isn't Luke."
She set down the string instrument she had been tuning and offered a greeting. Luke nodded in return.
"Emma. Good to see you."
"I heard. You want to try learning an instrument? That's a wonderful idea."
She had been carrying the quiet conviction that Luke's failure to settle into the class was somehow her own responsibility, so the fact that Luke had come to learn an instrument felt genuinely welcome. Perhaps the school hadn't been quite so hated after all.
"You said school was hard, and yet here you are joining a club… I have to admit, your teacher is a little moved…"
"Haha… No need to go that far."
School had been hard simply because it had failed to hold any interest. Dull lessons, awkward "friendships," uncomfortable stares…
Without those, it would have been fine enough.
Still, the fact that Luke had chosen the club freely seemed to have touched her; Emma lifted her glasses slightly and pressed at the corners of her eyes. As if tears had been threatening to well up.
"Is there anything in particular you'd like to learn?"
"Well…"
Luke couldn't answer easily. There was no way of knowing what instruments even existed in this era.
The ancient ones—drums, flutes, lyres, trumpets, xylophones—were familiar enough. But the relatively modern ones like piano, violin, guitar, or flute were a complete blank.
"Then would you like to try them one by one? We have plenty of instruments."
"That would be best."
"All right. Touch them one at a time, and if something catches your fancy, tell me. I'll just step out for a moment to fetch the club application forms."
"I'll do that. Truly, thank you."
Once Emma left, Luke and Pai found themselves a little overwhelmed by the sheer number of instruments neatly arranged throughout the spacious music room.
"Ah. There are the ones those street performers were using the other day."
Violin, piano, guitar—Luke didn't know the names, but recognized them all the same.
Among them, the violin that had left a particularly strong impression was lifted carefully, and Luke gave a small murmur of admiration.
"Shapes like these… every last one looks less like an instrument and more like a work of art. Don't you think?"
Pai nodded at the words. Then, still looking at the violin, the spirit mimicked its tones as if urging Luke to try playing it.
"You want me to give it a go? Hmm…"
Drawing on recent memory, Luke set the violin on one shoulder and tried to pin it in place with the chin…
"Hmm. The horns are in the way. This won't do."
The horns kept knocking against the instrument with an awkward clatter. Afraid of scratching it, Luke carefully set it back down.
Well, there were still plenty of other instruments.
As Luke's gaze moved on, Pai darted ahead along the same line of sight.
The guitar—another instrument the street performers had handled.
After examining it from every angle, Pai finally rubbed up against it.
-Twang—
-…!
"Pai?"
Could a spirit actually manipulate objects that existed in the material world?
Well, they weren't entirely without influence over the material plane, but to affect an instrument like that…
"Ah. No, that isn't it."
Checked through Mana Sight, it was simply a matter of raising the mana density around the body, hardening the surface mana barrier, and plucking the string with that. Nothing more than a basic application of mana.
-Twang, twing, ting—
"Hmm."
Excited at being able to affect the instrument, Pai went on freely plucking the guitar strings. And yet, true to being a spirit, even the casual plucking didn't sound half bad.
Luke found it fascinating and offered a small round of applause.
"Pai, you're rather good at that, aren't you?"
-…
Caught off guard by the praise, Pai drifted back to Luke's side with a bashful little expression that seemed to say, Hehe, you think so?
"Then, can you manage this as well?"
Pai looked where Luke's finger pointed and nodded.
There sat a piano.
The piano's shape was quite different from the one the street performers had used. That had been a magitech device that imitated similar tones and playing methods through mana circuits—modern magic. This one was a classical piano that truly struck strings when the keys were pressed.
Seated on the bench, Luke tapped a single key with one finger.
A low dong spread through the quiet music room.
Pai pressed a key with a body as well. This time a high ting— rang out.
Luke and Pai looked at each other and shared a small smile.
"This one has a rather satisfying press to it."
-Luke…?
Pai beamed and produced another brand-new sound—something like a little tube filled with tiny beads being rolled about. Luke understood the meaning at once this time.
Probably asking whether this was fun.
"Yes. It is fun."
Luke pressed keys as they came to mind. Composition was a complete unknown, yet somehow—perhaps thanks to the spirit's guidance—the sounds that emerged were quite pleasant to hear.
There had never been any formal study of harmony, but it became clear very quickly which combinations produced uncomfortable notes. The moment a dissonance appeared, Pai would immediately scold and offer corrections, as if determined to set it right.
Thanks to that, after only a few presses of the keys, Luke had already grasped the basics of harmony.
Hah. Now I understand why spirit mages were always so overflowing with musical talent.
Simply following a spirit's lead seemed enough to produce decent music. Even when spirits spoke in what seemed like ordinary language, that language could become music to human ears.
Luke played slowly, pressing only the places Pai indicated with points of mana light. Even that alone produced something that sounded like real music, and it was surprisingly enjoyable.
"Like this, then?"
As the playing continued, Pai joined in and stretched the melody further. What emerged was a new piece that neither Luke nor anyone of this era had ever heard.
Whatever it meant among spirits, to the ear it was thoroughly bright and delightful. Light and fresh, so much like the ever-bubbling Pai that Luke couldn't help a little snort of laughter.
"Haha. Pai, is this something like your self-introduction?"
-Fun!
"I feel the same. Quite enjoyable indeed."
The performance continued for a while longer. Then Emma opened the music room door with a startled expression.
"That playing just now—was that you, Luke?"
"W-well, yes, but…?"
I've never heard that piece in my life… Don't tell me it was composed on the spot…?
If it was composition, that was even more shocking.
"The piece you just played—do you have the sheet music?"
"I don't. I wasn't really playing anything in particular. I was only pressing keys."
No—it seemed to have been composed just now. And with no sheet music, it must have been improvisation…
"That's…?"
Luke stepped down from the piano bench and said,
"Still, it was fun. The sound was good, too. What is that instrument called?"
"…A p-piano…"
"Piano! A rather interesting instrument."
Pressing keys to strike strings—what a curious idea, wasn't it?
The bards of the past had always needed to carry their instruments with them, so they could never have made one so large. Only in the modern age, when music had become pure refinement, could such a massive instrument have been conceived.
"However, this instrument isn't quite suited for me."
At that remark, Emma murmured in disbelief.
"What do you mean? After playing like that just now…?"
Luke shook head and answered,
"I prefer a portable instrument I can play anytime, anywhere. That one is fun to press, but far too inconvenient to carry about."
What Luke intended was not mere instrumental performance, but research and experiment into how the bards of old had once communed with spirits. The piano held little appeal for that purpose.
"…I-is that so…?"
A child who hadn't even known the name of the piano until moments ago, handling a first-touched instrument like that—did that make any sense?
Was this the reincarnation of some genius pianist?
And then to simply cast aside such talent… Emma could make neither heads nor tails of the child called Luke. She could only remove her glasses and wipe the cold sweat from her brow with a handkerchief.