Sayonara Piano Sonata Chapter 20

The June without Mafuyu was about to be over.

The unique characteristic of my classmates in the Third Class of First Year, was that their interest in things typically didn't last very long. Even so, there were still some people who came to me asking about things related to Mafuyu (the incident of us running away from home together had already spread throughout the entire school, which made me seriously consider just transferring to another school). Some of them, who seemed to know nothing about classical music, had even borrowed some of Mafuyu's CDs from me.

Perhaps it was because the seat next to me was always empty.

But I had a horrible personality, so I didn't treat the newbies with any leniency at all, and decided to lend them pieces composed by the Russian composers Scriabin and Prokofiev first. Despite that, the classmates who borrowed the CDs still looked really happy.

"This is great! The photo on the cover looks really impressive!"

Go back and listen to the CD!

"There's actually two private guards at Ebisawa's house! Even I was quite surprised by that."

We decided to take a break during our practice on the roof. Kagurazaka-senpai said that to me with a gleeful expression.

"I originally thought there wouldn't be a lot people at her house, since it's huge, so I thought it'd be a piece of cake for me to slip onto the premises—but that was a naive thought. Luckily for me, she had gone to see the doctor that day."

So Senpai really was the one who secretly slipped that CD with the map into Mafuyu's bag.

"Why did you do that?"

Senpai was cleaning the neck of the guitar, which had had all its strings removed. She tilted her head and said,

"Plenty of reasons! I thought something might've happened if I did that, yeah? Well, doing that may not have been good for Ebisawa Mafuyu and you. Of course, there was also the possibility that nothing might've happened as well. However, one doesn't have to gather a huge group of people to start a revolution! If us humans want to accomplish something, we have to first plant the seeds that may not bloom, in the land of the wilderness."

For a person like me, who isn't poetic at all, that sounded like "Oh, it felt like something interesting might happen, so I decided to create an opportunity for that to happen." Therefore, I was not grateful to her at all.

As for Chiaki, after performing the armlock and camel clutch on me, she followed with a cobra twist.

"It hurts, it really hurts! Those aren't moves from Judo, right!?"

"I called you so many times, and yet, you didn't even message me a reply!"

"I'm sorry! Owwwwww!" I repeatedly tapped on Chiaki's arm to beg for her forgiveness, but she had no intention of letting me off the hook.

"So you said you met Ebichiri? Did you tell him that you're my son?"

Tetsurou asked me that rather unhappily while I was preparing dinner in the kitchen.

"He always complains to me. Since he's the one who pays for the international call, I always deliberately go on and on. Keke!"

"I think he probably overhead it when someone asked my name?"

I'm not quite happy saying this, but most of the people in the music industry know the name of Hikawa Tetsurou's son, so Ebichiri probably knew as well. I decided to just go with that, because it would've been disturbing if he had said something like "I recognize you just from your looks alone." But according to Tetsurou, I should take after my mother more, yeah?

"However, it's not quite like my son to be chased back home after only two days! You should've just disappeared like that! Though it would've been quite inconvenient without anyone to do the housework, I could've seen the face of that stupid-papa Ebichiri close to tears!"

So the worth of my existence is connected to something as stupid as that? I should just consider running away from home for real next time......

"Ah, sorry, I'm just joking. I'd be really troubled if Nao weren't at home. I don't even dare go to the toilet by myself at night......"

"Then just wet your bed instead!"

"Oh right, was there any sort of development between the two of you during the two nights? I'm not asking where you guys went, yeah? Come on, say it...... Tell me the details, since I'm your father......"

I threw an empty can at Tetsurou, and that shut him up.

June went by just like that.

That practice room was still left untouched as it was, as the owner of the padlock hadn't returned yet. I wouldn't have any problems picking the lock open, but Kagurazaka-senpai said, "That's a violation of the rules." Since I didn't manage to get Mafuyu to sign the application form for the club, the ownership of that room didn't belong to me yet; moreover, I didn't intend to use that room alone anyway.

I had no idea why, but the people around me no longer asked me about things related to Mafuyu, and no one told me where she went either. The only thing I could do was practice on the roof daily to brush up on my techniques. I had even learned a few new songs.

It was said that Mafuyu ended up following her father to America, though it was a few days later than what was planned. I saw that information in a magazine though, and had no idea how trustworthy that article was.

Did she accept the checkups? Did she decide to go on with the operation somewhere?

It was obvious, even to me, how much Ebichiri doted on his daughter. Should he get tired of Mafuyu constantly running away, he might even decide to permanently reside in America.

Perhaps I may never get the chance to see Mafuyu ever again.

Ebichiri's performance in Chicago was broadcasted in Japan via satellite—one of the pieces performed in the concert was Rachmaninov's