Sayonara Piano Sonata Chapter 9

"If Ebisawa dislikes the guitar, why does she still play it?"

Chiaki had plugged her portable music player into a set of mini-speakers, and was listening to the sarabande of . She asked that question as she tapped her fingers on her knees, rapping to the rhythm of the tune.

"She's really good at the piano. And even when she does play the guitar, all she plays are piano pieces, right?"

"Well, they may not be all she knows on the guitar."

Kagurazaka-senpai had laid out a huge number of scores on the concrete floor, and was carefully perusing all of them as she answered Chiaki.

Since the Folk Music Research Club wasn't an officially recognized club, activities were conducted mainly on the roof. Even though I wasn't a member of the club, Senpai still asked me to head to the roof daily after school—I'm not sure if her plan is to slowly rope me into the club. Because we were holding a team meeting, Chiaki was also present.

"So, what are your thoughts after listening to Mafuyu's CDs?"

Yesterday, which was the fifth day since I started practicing according to Senpai's instructions, Senpai said to me,

"Gather all the pieces Mafuyu has played, as well as their scores, and bring them to school tomorrow. Since you live with a music critic, you should have the entire collection properly kept in your house, right?"

I definitely have the scores and CDs in my house, but locating them was another matter altogether. I spent almost the entire night searching for the scores in Tetsurou's messy library and, as a result, was almost late for school this morning. Senpai seemed rather happy as she looked, one by one, through the scores I brought. I knew Senpai was scanning the scores as she listened to Mafuyu's music on the piano.

"So the pieces Ebisawa Mafuyu plays are centered on Bach; but there's no way for her to play the fugue with the guitar—it's technically impossible, right?"

"Probably?" I shrugged.

Fugue is derived from the term "flee" in Italian. This style of composition began during the early days of modern music—in the Baroque era—and was pushed to perfection by Bach. It's a style that utilizes various voices entering at different times, voices that chase the initial melody—therefore, some call it the "fleeing tune" as well. [TLNote: Refer to Note 1 at the end.]

This means that, because the guitar can basically only play a single melody, it's extremely difficult for Mafuyu to reproduce the fugue.

"Therefore, if you are to challenge her, you'll have to do it through the fugue huh......"

"I see...... Eh? What did you say?"

My hand stopped strumming the ba.s.s.

"The so-called team meeting was for this?"

"What did you think it was for?" Senpai said in shock. "Young man, I think it's about time you are aware of this, but the difference in skill between you and Ebisawa Mafuyu is akin to the difference between a white ant and a blue whale. It's impossible for you to win if we do not come up with a strategy."

"I already know that, but please be more gentle with your a.n.a.logies, would you?"

"Then how about an apple against the Earth?" Chiaki joined in.

That's even worse!

"However, you can't challenge her with Bach. There will be no chance of victory if you do that," Senpai resumed the topic.

"Eh, wait a second, I'm gonna play cla.s.sical music?"

Senpai lifted her sight from the scores and looked even more shocked now.

"But of course? How else do you plan to 'teach her a proper lesson'?"

"...... Urm, well......" To be honest, I had never thought of that before.

"I have nothing concrete in mind, but I guess something along the lines of me playing some rock for her to listen to, so she can be slightly impressed with me?"

"Do you think someone who possesses such sublime guitar technique would be shaken by what you have to offer under these circ.u.mstances? Remember—it'd be really troublesome for me if you've forgotten this—I want to welcome Ebisawa Mafuyu into the Folk Music Research Club as my comrade. Which means, I want to welcome her as a member of the band."

"Eh?"

And so?

"So we must be able to play the pieces together with Ebisawa, right?" As she flipped through the scores on the floor, Chiaki continued, "Meaning, they must be pieces Ebisawa knows."

Kagurazaka-senpai patted Chiaki's head lovingly. I see, so that's the reason we'll be using the fugue huh. The pieces Mafuyu loves, but can't play by herself.

My ba.s.s was carefully modified to match the timbre of Mafuyu's guitar, which means...... Is that what she's implying? But wait...... eh? That means me joining the club is part of Senpai's plans as well? So that's already a given in Senpai's mind? I did tell her clearly that all I wanted was that room, and that I wouldn't be joining the club.

"However, she may not fall for our ploy, even if we were to carefully select one of Bach's fugues...... Moreover, even if we successfully instigate the battle, the last-minute skills of this young man would probably be incomparable to hers, and things might just end with that." Senpai bit her lower lip and tossed the scores away. "Well, we may still have a chance if the young man stays by my side and undergoes a year of my training, but that'll take too much time."

I don't want that sort of training either! It feels like my life would never be the same again if I underwent that sort of training.

"...... Hey, Nao. Didn't Ebisawa say she would disappear by June?"

After hearing that from Chiaki, I looked into the sky and began recounting her words. Actually, Mafuyu did say that in front of the whole cla.s.s on the day she transferred to our school. As she did lots of unpleasant things after that, I had completely forgotten about it.

Those words—what exactly did they mean?

Senpai asked again, "Disappearing in June? She said nothing else aside from that?" Chiaki pressed her finger against her lower lip and thought for a moment, before shaking her head.

"I'll be gone in June, so please forget about me." That's all she said. What did she mean? Is she transferring to another school? Could she be going to study in the high school affiliated with the College of Music?"

"That's bad then." Senpai crossed her arms and said, "If we can get her into the club, I can still tie her down by mesmerizing her with my charms. However, it'll be troublesome if she disappears before that."

"Senpai, there's the Immorality Act, so you know you can't do anything that's overly crazy, right?"

"No worries. If it's me, I can charm her without stripping, so I won't be infringing the Immorality Act."

What's with that eager look of yours?

"So...... young man, if you do not have the resolve to die for my romance and revolution...... Oh!"

Senpai suddenly switched off her discman.

"...... What's wrong?"

"Ebisawa Mafuyu's here."

I looked downwards through the fence and managed to see her back, with that long maroon hair, vanishing into the cla.s.sroom of the old music building. I'm sure Senpai didn't see that, so how did she know Mafuyu was here? Is she a wild beast?

We laid our bodies low, and quietly waited for a while. Soon, we could hear the sounds of the guitar. Eh? What's this tune? I've heard it somewhere before, but I can't remember. There's a hint of Liszt in its style.

"—It's Paganini."

Senpai said into my ears. I remembered.

Niccolò Paganini, a violinist who was known as the Devil, due to his overly impressive techniques. He was a very talented composer too, but due to his distrusting nature, he hated releasing the scores of his compositions. Because of that, nearly all of his works are lost.

His violin concerto and capriccio—along with the piano etudes composed by Franz Liszt based on his capriccio—are probably the only works of his left in modern times.

What Mafuyu was playing was the etude composed by Liszt.

It felt like the bones in my body would creak from those intense vibratos if I listened any longer. Chiaki was cringing as well. What an irritable performance.

"...... I see...... Paganini huh."

Senpai was muttering to herself again. I turned around to take a look, and saw her digging through Mafuyu's CDs with a serious expression; her left hand was also sifting through the scores. What's going on?

Finally, Senpai found a CD and a score.

"Found it."

"What's with those things?"

"Young man, can you lend me these?"

"Well, I'm fine with it......"

"Then I'll be heading home first. I have a song to compose."

"That song?"

"That's right, young man—Paganini. We'll do exactly what Paganini did. We can win with this."

Senpai's face was overflowing with some sort of energy, but I was completely confused. What does she mean? What Senpai is holding in her hands is not Paganini at all—

"Of course. The only person who can teach Beethoven a lesson is Beethoven. Right?"

Senpai flashed a cute wink before walking towards the school building with the score and the CD. She's still the same as ever, saying things no one can understand. The same thing Paganini did?

There's no way I could understand it, no matter how hard I tried; so I placed my ba.s.s back onto my thigh.

"Senpai looks really happy—"

Chiaki was sending Senpai off with her gaze and murmuring to herself. Well, that person looks happy all the time anyway.

"I never knew Senpai liked Nao that much."

"The one she likes is Mafuyu, not me. I'm just the bridge that connects them."

Chiaki narrowed her eyes and stared at me, as though she was dissatisfied with something.

"...... What?"

"Mmm— nothing."

Chiaki suddenly stood up and sat down right behind me, pressing her back against mine. I moved slightly forward in shock, but since she leaned on me again, I could move no further.
 

Note 1: Oh joy, tl;dr time. K, the j.a.ps actually do the term fugue as フーガ (Fuuga). Wiki said that the English term "is derived from either the French word fugue or the Italian fuga", so that's where the derivation comes in. 遁走曲 (literally means fleeing tune) is another form of the term fugue in j.a.pan, though it is hardly used in the book.