Chapter: 01
Movement 1. 《Sudden Shower》
“Extra! Extra!”
Early in the morning, Aurelia, who was on her way to the Zerphium Conservatory, handed a coin to a child who looked to be barely seven years old and tucked one copy of the newspaper between the sheet music she was carrying.
In truth, she was not particularly interested in things that were likely to make the newspaper. But she was not the sort of person who could simply walk past a child who had been out since before dawn, running around distributing extra editions, with sweat beading on his forehead.
“You don’t need to give me any change. Buy yourself some candy or something with it on your way home.”
“Thank you!”
The child ran toward the people who were rubbing their sleepy eyes and coming out of their houses after hearing the cry of “Extra!” Watching his retreating figure, a smile spread across Aurelia’s lips.
She turned her steps toward the city center, where the Zerphium Conservatory was located, but after only a few steps, she stopped.
“Lily!”
It was Maria, one of her classmates.
“Hi, Maria. You’re early today.”
“Yeah. Since today’s the practical exam, I thought it would be good to get there early and at least pretend to practice. Of course, there’s no way I can get a better grade than you, who comes at this hour every day to practice.”
Aurelia let out a small laugh at Maria’s joking tone.
Perhaps because the practical exam was approaching, there were unusually many students heading to the Zerphium Conservatory so early in the morning.
“By the way, Lily. I heard you’re taking the exam with Professor Schneider too. Didn’t you originally draw another professor’s sheet music?”
“Yeah. They asked me to switch.”
Aurelia didn’t know how other conservatories conducted their exams, but at the Zerphium Conservatory, the practical examination was arranged so that every student chose one of five pieces of sheet music, and only after everyone had made their choice were the professors assigned to each piece announced.
For this practical exam, Aurelia had managed to draw the sheet music of a professor who was relatively well regarded among the students and famous for being kind.
“Aurelia, please, I’m begging you. You can play any piece well anyway. If I have to take another exam with Professor Schneider, I might fail. He even threw the sheet music at me during the last exam.”
Aurelia had agreed to the request of a classmate whose face she barely even knew out of sheer arrogance. Just as her classmate had said, Aurelia was confident that she could play any piece perfectly.
“Anyway, I’m jealous. You’ll probably come in first again this time.”
“You never know. Maybe someone else who practiced so hard that I wouldn’t even be able to compete with them will come in first.”
“No way. Everyone at the Zerphium Conservatory knows, don’t they? Who arrives at the practice rooms earliest and practices until the latest.”
Maria was right.
Aurelia always devoted herself to practicing from early morning until late evening. Then, after finishing her day at the conservatory, she helped out at her father’s workshop, where the lights stayed on until late at night.
The problem was that she became so absorbed in the piano every time that she would only leave the practice room when the time she had promised to meet her father was almost up. As a result, Aurelia spent every day running nonstop from the conservatory to the workshop.
“Isn’t it tiring, spending the whole day clutching nothing but a piano and sheet music?”
At Maria’s question, Aurelia gave her brightest smile yet.
It was as though merely thinking of the black and white piano keys made her happy.
“Not at all. I love the piano so much. Even if the world were going to end tomorrow, I’d still play the piano.”
“Aren’t you basically doing that already?”
At those words, Aurelia burst out laughing.
“The piano is always honest. The keys I press always produce the same sound, and they express exactly what I want to say.”
As she climbed the stairs toward the practice rooms, Aurelia remembered the first time in her life that she had pressed a piano key.
The moment Aurelia first experienced the clear, crystalline melody of the piano throughout her entire body, she realized it.
I can’t live without the piano.
If every person had a path and a destiny they were meant to follow, then she was certain that the destiny given to her was to become a pianist.
She had felt that way when she first learned the piano, and she still felt the same now.
“Ouch.”
“Sorry!”
“Lily! Are you okay?”
“Ah, yeah.”
While Aurelia had been lost in thought, she collided with a student who was hurrying along to rent a practice room.
The sheet music she had been carrying fell to the floor, but it was nothing worth getting annoyed over.
“I’ll help you pick them up.”
“Thanks.”
As Aurelia bent down to gather the sheet music scattered across the floor, Maria also bent down beside her and began picking up the sheets one by one.
Among the scattered sheets, Maria picked up the newspaper. As she stood, she unfolded its front page.
“A newspaper?”
“Yeah. A kid was running around shouting ‘Extra!’ since early this morning.”
Maria seemed to read the newspaper for a moment before shrugging and handing it back to Aurelia.
“I was wondering why things had been so quiet lately.”
“I know.”
Aurelia glanced at the headline of the newspaper Maria handed her.
‘Revolutionary Army Officer Attacked and Injured… Pursuit of Suspect Underway.’
She too shrugged her shoulders like Maria.
It was unfortunate, but that was all it was. People said the world was changing day by day, but there was little that reached ordinary citizens like Aurelia. Aside from noticing that there seemed to be more extra editions being distributed, she didn’t feel much of a difference.
“Oh, did you hear about Leonard Deimus?”
“Leonard Deimus?”
“Yeah. If he hadn’t been attacked, Leonard Deimus probably would have been on the front page of the newspaper. Apparently, he arrived in Zerphium a few days ago. I heard he’s going to hold a recital at Symphony Hall soon.”
There was no one who didn’t know Leonard Deimus, the greatest violinist of the current era who also played music.
Naturally, Aurelia already knew about his visit to Zerphium. She had also been thinking that she would like to attend one of his performances.
“They say he’s handsome. Everyone’s going crazy over him, saying he’s got the talent of a devil and the face of an angel. Apparently, he’s much better-looking in person than in photographs. Want me to try to get tickets?”
“Do you think you can? It’s Leonard Deimus, of all people.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
Leonard Deimus’s recital tickets weren’t something one could simply obtain by wanting them.
Whenever promising musicians visited Zerphium and held concerts, one of the greatest advantages of attending the Zerphium Conservatory was that the school would obtain tickets and distribute them to its students.
But considering that the conservatory still hadn’t distributed tickets to his recital, it seemed that even the Zerphium Conservatory had been unable to obtain any.
“We’re already here. Anyway, I’ll go ahead. See you at the practical exam.”
Only after picking up all the sheet music did Aurelia finally arrive at the corridor where the practice rooms were gathered. Among the many rooms, she stopped in front of the one bearing a nameplate that read Aurelia Bernhard and said goodbye to Maria.
All students at the Zerphium Conservatory were allowed to rent practice rooms, but in reality, they could only find an empty room, write their names in the access log, and rent it for a few hours. Even then, they could only rent one if there happened to be an available room.
I’m glad I didn’t lose the top spot last year, either.
The top and second-place students at the Zerphium Conservatory received the privilege of being provided with their own private practice rooms the following year. Since enrolling at the conservatory, Aurelia had never once lost first place, so she had been assigned a private practice room again this year.
Considering how few practice rooms there were compared to the number of students, it was an enormous stroke of luck. She had neither a private practice room nor a personal piano of her own.
“I’ll be counting on you again today.”
Aurelia murmured as she gently stroked the piano.
An instrument was nothing more than an object, yet it was influenced by the person who played it.
The reason Aurelia loved this practice room was that while the piano gradually became accustomed to her, she also loved the process of becoming accustomed to the piano in this room.
She placed the numerous sheets of music on the side table, then naturally set the piece she needed to perform for today’s practical exam on the music stand.
After warming up her hands by clenching and unclenching her fists several times, Aurelia’s lips curved into a beautiful smile.
“* * *”
“Aurelia, you’re up.”
“Yes.”
The assistant who was checking the order called Aurelia’s name.
Her hand tightened around the sheet music, which was so densely covered with markings that there was hardly any blank space left.
Aurelia took a deep breath in and slowly exhaled before rising from her chair.
I can do this. I just have to play the way I practiced.
The thin sheet of paper crumpled slightly in her grip, but Aurelia paid no attention to it.
Even though she told herself she could do it, she couldn’t shake her nervousness. The male student who had gone immediately before her had come down to the waiting room behind the stage without even finishing half of his piece.
“What did the professor say?”
“What do you think? Same as always. He said that was good enough.”
“Well, what’s the point of doing well, anyway? First place is already decided this time, too.”
“Honestly, I don’t understand why Ryan is supposedly worse than Aurelia. They’re about the same level, but Aurelia comes in first every time. Don’t you think there’s something going on between her and the professor?”
“I can hear you.”
