If you had to choose between a silent place and a lively place, which would you prefer?

A silent place when you want to read a book or study?

A lively place when you want to hang out with friends or eat something?

Depending on your purpose, your preference might change.

But even if it suits your purpose, a place that is too silent will make you uneasy and a place that is too lively will annoy you.

Be it silence or liveliness, it's all a matter of degree.

That said, of the two, I happen to prefer silence a bit more - most likely because I am used to quiet places.

What I am getting at is:

The Tsuk.u.modo Antique Shop is as dead silent as ever.

One might compare it to the soft slumber of being in the womb.

While I was giving myself over to a silence that bundled me up in a blanket of cozy warmth, a bubble slowly rose beside me.

I touched it.

It burst into a "Re".

Another bubble came floating upwards.

I touched it.

It burst into a "Fa" this time.

One after another, the bubbles rose around me.

One, two, three—no, more. A hundred, two hundred, three hundred, more. More, more.

At last, the notes started to burst from the bubbles without my touch; they burst into notes of music. And these countless notes eventually grew into a melody.

This was the womb of a mother of music.

And I was one of the few permitted to step into this realm.

My duty was to gather those notes as they were born and bring them to the world outside.

Here, nothing existed but me and the notes.

There were no other humans, nor any other noises.

It was just me and the newborn notes.

"———"

There was an intrusion from outside.

It felt like being inside a water balloon as it is popped by a needle.

In the resultant destruction everything was scattered.

The slumber I had indulged in and the silence—everything—crumbled away.

The newborn sounds streamed away. They seeped away through my fingers.

I was forced back to consciousness.

I was in the same room as always.

The sheets of music on the table before me were filled with notes.

When I was in the world of sounds, my hand would automatically write down the notes of the sounds I gathered.

That was how I composed. A method that only I could employ, requiring no instruments of any kind.

But the music on the score stopped halfway. The notes were distorted and broken—because of the noise that had intruded. Because of the disruption, the notes I had gathered had died aborning.

The room I was in was soundproofed from the ceiling to the floor. Not, however, to keep sounds from escaping. I lived in a deserted ghost town. There were no inhabited houses near mine.

The purpose of my soundproofing was to keep any sound from getting in.

It was all for the sake of composing without interruption.

However, the insulation could only dampen sound, not erase it completely.

Just as in this case, outside noise could break into this room—the womb of music—and cause pollution.

As soon as that pollution scattered my visualization, it was all over. The notes around me would fly away and leave the composition dead.

I had been so close...

Seized by anger, I threw open the door and headed upstairs to the living room on the ground floor.

Upon my arrival, I found my helper, Mei, asleep leaned over the table. On the floor was a tea cup. I didn't know whether the sound I had heard just now was the banging of her head against the table or her knocking the tea cup to the floor, but the thought that such a trivial thing had just killed my sounds was just unbearable.

Normally, such soft noises wouldn't be heard in that soundproofed room, but my ears are so sensitive that they pick up even such tiny sounds. And that's why I would always caution Mei to avoid making any noise.

"Hey!" I roared.

Mei's eyes flicked open.

As she recognized me with her frowsy eyes, she quickly sat up and asked,

"Have you already completed your work?"

"You ruined it."

Mei noticed the tea cup she had accidentally dropped on the floor and its spilled contents. She paled.

Probably realizing what she had done, she hung her head in shame.

"I'm in a bad mood. I'm going out for a while."

Leaving her to her own devices, I left the house.

My name is Eiji Kadokura. I'm 32 years old. I compose music. I have composed a considerable number of pieces so far and pride myself on being fairly popular and well-known.

My usual genre is soothing musicfor which I commonly accept a.s.signments. But my most famous composition is most likely a cla.s.sical piece I had written for a certain renowned violinist, which became a million-seller in spite of its genre, thanks to the recent cla.s.sical music boom.

Today, I had also been working on a music piece for an a.s.signment that was due in a week. Well, I had been until I was disturbed by my helper.

Once a piece of music has been dispersed, it is forever lost to me.

While traces of it remain in my head, it feels like a cheap copy if I finish the song with those remnants.

It resembles the feeling when the toy bricks you piled up in play start to shake, and even though you manage to regain balance, your tower eventually falls apart after a few more bricks are added.

Or maybe it's also similar to sewing a garment: your thread runs out and you have to tie in a different one—a knot remains and makes the garment look shabby.

Either way, a ruined piece of music can't be mended.

I couldn't stand a patched-together song.

I had to start all over again.

Even though there was not much time left before the deadline.

I got in my car and drove to a café I frequented.

Located in a calm bas.e.m.e.nt, it was usually a much-appreciated haven of tranquility for me. But on that day of all days, I found the café unable to soothe me.

A group of ten-odd tourists or the like had gathered there. Their mere presence was enough to bother me, but on top of that, they seemed to treat the venue like a bar and made h.e.l.lish amounts of noise.

Upon noticing me, the keeper of the café bowed his head apologetically.

I took it as an apology and an invitation to leave for today.

Suppressing the urge to give the rude customers a good dressing-down, I nodded to the keeper and left.

Because I was now even more irritated, the street noise I could usually tolerate annoyed me horribly.

Be it the engine noise of the cars and their piercing horns, the loud voices of strolling students and their vulgar laughs, the yells of salesmen who unsuccessfully tried to attract customers, or cheap music.

They all annoyed me.

Why was there so much noise and racket in the world?

As I wasn't at work, I wasn't asking for perfect silence, but living amidst so much noise and racket was unendurable. I couldn't understand how other people tolerated it.

While fighting the urge to roar at the noisemakers to shut up, I backed away into a narrow side street.

After I got some distance from the main street, the noise grew somewhat more bearable. While it hadn't faded out entirely, I could endure it from afar. I decided to walk among these back streets for the time being.

"Now if only there were another café somewhere, I'd be satisfied for the time being..."

The very moment I thought so, I spotted a small, quaint, antiquated shop before my eyes.

It was hard to tell from its exterior what kind of shop it was. Willing to linger if it turned out to be a café, I pushed open the door.

The pleasant sound of a bell announced the arrival of a customer.

Much to my regret, however, the shop was not a café. Various things were lined up on the shelves in a disorderly fas.h.i.+on. There were jars and plates and other ceramic ware, and dolls of j.a.panese and Western origin and one lone tinplate robot. There was even a camera. I a.s.sumed it was some kind of antique or second-hand shop.

Curious, I took a look around.

"Welcome," someone said to me.

Behind the counter sat a charming woman clad in black. She looked a little younger than I did, but her languorous air gave her a somewhat mature and mysterious aura.

"Are you looking for something specific?"

What I was looking for was someplace silent. The shop fit the bill perfectly, but saying so would have been admitting up front that I didn't intend to buy anything.

"I was just wondering if I might find something curious."

I made up an answer and looked at the shelves as though I were very interested.

"But there is something you seek, is there not?" she said, as though she had read my heart. "Tell me. Perhaps you might obtain the object of your desire?"

"As I said, something curious..."

"You don't want 'something.' You want 'some thing.'"

"Huh?"

"If you don't know what you want, you will always walk away empty-handed. You ought to be specific."

Perhaps she was teasing me with word play, or perhaps she had seen through my intention of not buying anything and wanted to chase me out. I was already feeling fairly irritable, so even this slight provocation managed to annoy me.

"If you really have what I want, I'd be more than willing to buy it."

"Yes, what is it?"

"Complete silence."

She gave me a slightly troubled glance. I was ashamed of acting so childish. I should have named some article she was likely to have or just left.

"I'm very sorry, but I'm afraid that you will not find it here."

"Certainly. I'm sorry, too. You wouldn't—"

"You will have to go to our sister shop."

I doubted my ears—but was angry an instant later.

She was playing with me? "Not here"? Don't make me laugh.

"It can be mine if I go to that sister shop? Then please, by all means, tell me where it is. If I can really find complete silence there, that is."

"A Relic that can create a room of complete silence by warding off all sound...That is...the Mirror of Serenity."

"Relic? The Mirror of Serenity?"

"Note that by 'Relic' I don't mean antiques or art objects . 'Relic' is the word we use for tools with special capabilities created by mighty ancients or magicians, or for objects that have absorbed their owner's grudge or natural spiritual powers."

"A relic is something like a stone that brings ill luck, or a cursed voodoo doll or a triple mirror that shows how you are going to die. You've probably heard of many of them, and the Mirror of Serenity is one. But we don't currently have it here!"

I had no idea what she was talking about. While I had indeed heard of a superst.i.tion claiming that objects may gain a soul after a long time[1], hearing about it just then rubbed me the wrong way.

"Don't make a fool of me. Sure, I admit that I didn't enter this shop because I expected to buy something. But you have no right to mock me because of that. 'Relic', you say? 'Mirror of Serenity'? Stop ridiculing me by making up such mysterious names!"

"You don't believe me?"

"Of course I don't. Complete silence does not exist. I have perfect soundproofing in my house, but I can still hear sounds from the outside."

"Because it's soundproofing. The Mirror of Serenity works differently. It wards off sound."

"Don't get so carried away..."

"This place is similar!"

It was then that I finally noticed.

There was not a sound in this shop.

Indeed, the woman and I were having a conversation, so there was sound. However, there was no noise from outside. I could not hear the distant noise that had tormented me until I'd entered the shop, not the slightest bit.

I perked up my ears and listened carefully for outside noise.

But I didn't hear a thing.

No matter what kind of soundproofing this shop had, there was no way it could block out every sound from my ears.

As long as we didn't speak, it was the complete silence I had been longing for.

"...but what does this mean?"

"It means that this place is special as well. But it doesn't create complete silence— noise from outside doesn't come here merely because of a side effect. However, the Mirror of Serenity will create complete silence for you."

"You said it can be had in your sister shop, right?"

My heart was pounding in my chest, and at that moment, I felt that the loudest sound in the world was the beating of my own heart.

"If I go there, will I get my hands on the Mirror of Serenity?"

"I can't say for certain. You must ask the shop's owner. But I'm sure you will be able to obtain it if you wish. Relics naturally find their way to appropriate owners."

I left after receiving a note with the address and store hours of the sister shop.

"———"

At that instant, noise returned.

All the sounds that had previously vanished returned as soon as I left the shop.

It was as if I had been dreaming.

Suddenly, my cell phone rang. It was a call from my a.s.sistant, Mei. She told me that a client who had requested a composition had stopped by the house.

We had scheduled a meeting for today, but it had completely slipped my mind.

I replied that I'd be back within the hour and headed to the parking lot.

Before hanging up, she said something I found unsettling.

She asked me to keep my cell phone turned on.

Apparently, she had tried several times to reach me without success. However, my phone had never been turned off. That shop hadn't been underground, either, so I should have been within communication range.

A cold s.h.i.+ver ran down my spine and I thought about looking back at the shop, but my body wouldn't let me. I quickly left the area.

When I got home, Mei asked me where I had been.

I found myself unable to answer. I did remember the shop, but for some reason I couldn't remember where it was and what kind of person the shop a.s.sistant had been.

Only the paper with the address and store hours in my hands a.s.sured me that it had not been a dream.

Drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

"Shut up already!!" the shopowner roared.

Towako Setsusu's roar resounded through the building, but was drowned out by an even greater noise from outside, causing her roar to lose most of its impact.

Usually, her appearance was characterized by clear-cut eyebrows, self-confident eyes, and l.u.s.trous black hair that hung straight down to her waist. Today, however, her brows were wrinkled, her eyes were narrowed in a displeased fas.h.i.+on and her hair was a mess because she had been constantly mussing it up.

"Yelling at them won't get you anywhere!" I—Tokiya Kurusu—replied while leaning on the counter.

Towako-san made a theatrical gesture of putting her hand behind her ear and asked, "What did you say?"

I brought my face close to her ears and shouted, "Yelling at them won't get you anywhere!"

"Can it! Don't shout like that!"

"You can't hear me otherwise, can you!?"

"Be quiet, both of you - I can't concentrate on my book," my co-worker Saki Maino complained indifferently.

Her pale hair reached the middle of her back and shone silver in the light, and her complexion was clear and pale. She was clad entirely in black: a frilly black s.h.i.+rt, long black skirt and black boots.

She was about a head shorter than I (an average male student), and so slender that she seemed she could be broken by a single embrace. She was sixteen and thus a year younger than I. She did look her age, but because of her demeanor, she seemed a little more mature. A smile as radiant as a blooming flower (as suggested by the meaning of her name) utterly failed to adorn her face; instead, she was completely expressionless as if to refute the saying "nomen est omen."[2]

That said, even Saki appeared a bit annoyed today.

But Saki, don't take it out on us!

The noise from a construction site nearby was to blame for her irritation, as that cacophony had plagued our ears for some time.

We had been informed beforehand that the construction work would start today and last for a week, but we hadn't expected the repairs to be so deafening.

It was quite the opposite of the silence that had been present up until yesterday, when we might as well have been surrounded with gusts of wind and tumbleweeds.

This shop, the Tsuk.u.modo Antique Shop (FAKE), handled, as the name suggests, fake Relics.

Not antiques or objects of art, but tools with special abilities created by mighty ancients or magicians, or objects that have absorbed their owner's grudge or natural spiritual powers.

In tales and legends, there are often artifacts that possess special powers.

For example, a stone that brings good luck, a doll whose hair grows night after night, a mirror that shows your future appearance, a sword that brings ruin to anyone who draws it.

Everybody has most likely heard of such things.

But people consider them mere fantasies because they have never seen one; even if an artifact were right before them, it remains unnoticed; even if a mysterious event were to occur, it is dismissed as coincidence.

Some people are unconcerned, while others are certain that such things do not exist.

However, Relics are real, and more common than people think.

I'd recently dealt with a number of Relics: a pendulum that called forth coincidences, a statue that stimulated one's life force, a notebook that made one remember everything written in it, and a wallet that made me lose all my earnings unless they were spent on the day received.

However, such Relics were not for sale in the shop. As I mentioned earlier, we only sold fakes. The articles on the shelves were fakes that the shop owner had purchased under the incorrect impression that they were real.

Of course, the customers who visit us have no idea what Relics are. And so they feel that the uncommon pendants, uncanny dolls, unmoving clocks and the uninteresting stones we offer are a waste of time, then leave while regretting the mistake of dropping by in the first place.

Well, if they come in in the first place. Days when we don't have a single customer are hardly uncommon.

"Wouldn't you rather just close the shop for a week?" I suggested.

"But that would put a stop to our sales."

"We wouldn't get any customers anyway."

"What?"

"We wouldn't get any customers anyway!"

"Yeah, no one would care anyway!"

"You don't deny it!?"

"Now won't you keep quiet already? I can't concentrate on my book."

Now don't you get that it's not our fault? And didn't we go through this already?

Apparently, even Saki was annoyed because of the noise, though her annoyance barely showed on her face.

"Man, now my head's starting to hurt. h.e.l.l, can't we do something about it for crying out loud? Towako-san, isn't there a Relic that can switch off that noise?"

"Come on, don't ask for the... possible?"

"Possible?"

Towako-san walked out of the room with a reflective look on her face, and Saki put aside her book and came up to me.

"That's it!"

With those words, Towako-san returned from the storeroom with a mirror in her hands. The looking gla.s.s was covered with a purple cloth. The wooden frame surrounding it s.h.i.+ned like lacquer and rested on a stand.

"That's a Relic that wipes out noise?"

"Well, have a look."

She pulled away the cloth.

Suddenly, the noise vanished.

The heavy noise from the building site vanished.

It hadn't become unhearable; rather, it had vanished. In addition, all the other sounds around me — the people and traffic outside, the television in the living room, and so on —had also vanished.

"                     "

I tried to ask, What's going on? but my voice could not be heard.

I tried once more to give voice to my confusion, only to fail again. Not only was Towako-san unable to hear me, I couldn't even hear myself speaking. No, that's not exactly right. It's closer to say that there was no voice to be heard in the first place.

Towako-san realized this as well and yelled something at me, which—of course—I couldn't hear.

Instead, I tried to express myself with mouth movements.

By provocatively putting her hand behind her ear, Towako-san indicated that she couldn't hear anything.

This time I tried to tell her to cover the mirror again, but because of the sudden change in my mouth movements, she got confused and wrinkled her brow.

I pointed repeatedly at the mirror and formed the words, "cover it!" with my lips.

With a—possibly—loud angry voice, she put the cloth on the mirror.

Instantly, the lost sounds returned.

The noise from the building site, the traffic noise from further away, the approaching steps of Towako-san, and...

"For the love of G.o.d, why don't you get it? I can't hear you!"

...the sound of a fist.

In truth, I wanted to defend myself—to tell her that I couldn't hear her either—but the pain whirling around my head kept me from saying anything for a few moments.

"...That thing really shuts out all sound, huh?"

"That's what I've been telling you. Everything that is reflected in this mirror turns entirely soundless; the sounds from outside the reflected area are deflected and the sounds from inside can't be produced to begin with. In short, it creates a zone of complete silence."

"But you can't do anything in such a place!"

I hadn't thought that it would be so hard to make oneself understood without a voice.

"Just communicate via pen and paper."

"Huh... But somehow it was so silent that it bothered me more than when it was noisy."

The noise of the building site had now settled down to a level where it became possible to talk normally, which made the unnatural silence of a few moments ago seem much worse.

"Besides, we can't attend to our customers like that!"

"We wouldn't get any customers anyway, right?"

"You two..."

"Are you still holding that against me?"

"Why, no? I'm used to it."

"You two..."

"Well, I do think that there won't be any."

"Can't you show at least some consideration?"

"You two..."

"Didn't you admit it yourself?"

"But you mustn't. Even if I do admit it myself."

Suddenly, our heads were grabbed from behind and forcibly turned toward the entrance.

"We have customers."

In the direction she indicated stood a man and woman.

"It's still 'no'."

"Can't we come to an arrangement?"

"No."

"You can have as much as you want."

"I'll refuse any offer."

The man and Towako-san had been going back and forth in this manner for some time. The customer was in his thirties, wore an expensive suit, and might have witnessed what had just happened with the mirror. He seemed to have a strong interest in it. At first he had stood stone-still in the entrance, but once he had gotten over his surprise, he started pressing Towako-san to sell him the mirror.

Towako-san repeatedly refused. Her will seemed firm, as she had just told him it wasn't a matter of money.

In fact, Towako-san had never sold a Relic to anyone. We only sold fakes and not actual Relics. She preferred that others did not obtain Relics.

"Why does he want the mirror so badly, anyway?"

The man was obviously wealthy - he had offered a remarkable sum.

"That man..." Saki muttered as she went to the living room.

She returned with the book she had been reading in her hands.

"I thought so."

There was a photograph of the man in the book. The accompanying profile said that his name was Eiji Kadokura and that he was a composer.

I see. It would make sense that he'd want a silent environment if he's a composer.

"But why do you have a book like that anyway?"

"I think that commerce and composition have a lot in common."

"Indeed, they sound similar."

"I'm being serious!"

"So tell me what you actually meant."

"Providing the music someone desires and providing the goods someone desires is very similar, isn't it?"

Saki just doesn't tell jokes. She's always very serious about her work and spares neither trouble nor expense to improve her customer service.

Of course, it was forbidden to disagree with her and tell her that her book, Composing made easy!, had nothing to do with customer service. I didn't agree with her statement about commerce and composition, either.

"Anyway, I'm not selling it to you. And I have no business with you," Towako-san said point-blank and took the mirror with her to the living area.

"Please wait!"

"I am afraid I must ask you to stop here."

The building that housed the shop also served as the home of Towako-san and her freeloading boarder Saki. Because the customer was about to follow them out of the shop into their private living s.p.a.ce, I had to block his way.

"I have nothing to discuss with a part-timer."

I couldn't help taking offense at his att.i.tude.

"We have nothing to discuss with you, either! Please leave if you don't intend to buy anything."

"That's what I'm here for."

"Please leave if you don't intend to buy an article that's actually for sale. Just because this is a shop, doesn't mean that we are obliged to sell things that aren't for sale."

Kadokura-san had just opened his mouth to continue complaining when the ringing of his cell phone resounded through the shop. He grudgingly took his phone out and flicked his tongue after reading the display.

"...a business related call. Looks like I have no choice."

"We don't hope that you will visit our store again!"

"I will!"

"Please don't."

The bothersome customer squared his shoulders and left the store.

"He's gone for now," I shouted toward the living room where Towako-san was hiding.

She muttered "okay" with a displeased look.

"Why didn't you just sell it to him? For such a pretty penny..." I asked and was glared at.

At the risk of repeating myself: Towako-san is against giving out Relics. Partly because of her collecting pa.s.sion, but mostly because she knew of many people whose lives had been ruined by Relics.

Should I be proud of the fact that having received a Relic from her, I seem to have earned her trust?

"Excuse me..." a woman said as Saki led her over.

It was Kadokura-san's companion.

"Please let me apologize for Kadokura's rudeness."

I wondered if she was his manager or something. She didn't look that much older than I, but her air was that of a genuine business woman.

"Please call this number should you change your mind."

She held out a business card with the name "Eiji Kadokura" and his contact information.

Towako-san, however, showed no sign of wanting to accept the card. Losing to her helpless gaze, I accepted the card instead, and was glared at even harder.

Apparently, Towako-san did not approve of my action. She should have told me so before I accepted.

"It's been a pleasure," Kadokura-san's companion said with a bow and left the shop.

"Now throw that card away."

"But that would be kinda..." I muttered as I began to turn and glanced in the direction in which Kadokura-san's companion had left.

It was then that a painful noise rang inside my head——

It was a place I had never seen before.

I saw a room.

My field of vision encompa.s.sed a wall—and a shut door.

Scuffed with countless longish lines, the door gave off a bizarre impression.

My vision moved downward, bringing the lower part of the scene into focus.

A woman had collapsed on the floor.

She was wearing a frilly dress and curled up into a ball, and was completely still..

It was—

"What's wrong?"

Towako-san's voice brought me back. She looked quizzically at me.

"Did you have a vision?" Saki hit the nail on the head, having guessed from my appearance.

The scene I had witnessed after that painful noise was an image of the future, revealed to me by my Relic.

My right eye is artificial. It has been replaced by a Relic named "Vision" that I received from Towako-san.

"Vision" sometimes shows me events from the immediate future.

When it happens, a pain runs through my head, much like static on a TV, followed by a cut-scene of the future.

However, "Vision" won't show me the entire future: I can't foresee the winning number of a lottery, or the winner of a sports match. I can't even predict the weather, nor can I choose to see a particular future event.

But there is one type of future that "Vision" shows me without fail: the potential moment of my death or that of someone I'm acquainted with.

What I had just seen was the impending death of a certain person.

"That woman... is going to die."

"s.h.i.+t!"

I crumpled up a blank sheet of music and threw it at the wall, just to lean back powerlessly immediately afterwards. Unable to hold my weight, the chair I was sitting in fell over and left me staring at the ceiling.

It wasn't one of Mei's mistakes that had brought me back from my creative reverie today. I was simply having trouble concentrating.

My concentration had been better in the morning, and it was a shame that it hadn't lasted. Because of... No, that doesn't matter. When I'm in the zone, I wouldn't lose my concentration over something so trivial.

I was in a slump. Despite the imminent deadline, I didn't even have an image. When was I last in such a terrible slump?

...Right, the time when I had just left home.

Back then I was living in a tumbledown apartment that was dozens of years old. Because I wanted to avoid noise of all forms, I had chosen a remote place far away from the city. I hadn't been as nervous back then, but under the stress generated by the anxiousness of living on my own and the change of environment, I had found myself completely unable to write a single piece of music.

How did I manage to overcome the slump back then...?

I didn't remember. The slump had been over before I knew it. Well, most likely, I hadn't even considered it a slump at the time.

But that's right. This isn't a slump, either.

I'm just having some trouble concentrating.

If I manage to concentrate, I'll be able to compose again.

I calmed myself down by closing my eyes and taking deep breaths.

Imagine it. Imagine the world of sound...

—Clank—

I heard the very soft sound of something falling to the ground upstairs.

My image vanished and my concentration disintegrated into thin air.

Again...? Yet again...?

"s.h.i.+T!"

Why do I have to hear it? Why can't I just ignore that sound...

A few moments later, a knocking at the door invaded the room with its sound and vibration. I paid it no heed, but the knocking didn't stop. Hadn't I told Mei not to knock more than five times...?

"Silence!"

I thrust open the door. With a short shriek, Mei fell on her bottom. However, I didn't feel any guilt.

"What is it?"

"Ah, yes. I have a work related call on the line for you."

"Tell them I'll call back later."

"But... it seems to be rather urgent..."

"I said later!" I yelled as I slammed the door shut with deliberate vigor, only to end up getting annoyed at the noise I produced.

I was craving complete silence.

I was sure I could write music if I possessed it.

The "Mirror of Serenity" crossed my mind.

"Welcome!"

While absorbed in admiring the almost palatial residence before our eyes, we were greeted by the woman who had accompanied the composer Eiji Kadokura.

Her name was Mei Oohas.h.i.+ and she took care of the composer. As proof—or perhaps not—she was dressed as a maid. The business-woman-ish aura she had given off in the shop was completely gone, and to be honest, she was even standing out a little now.

Using the directions that Mei-san had given us, Saki, Towako-san and I had travelled to the residence-c.u.m-workplace of Eiji Kadokura.

His house was located in a suburb far away from the center of the city. The suburb was a district that had become a ghost town because its development had faltered. Even though there were lots of apartment buildings, there were no shops or people at the train station. As his residence was a fair distance from the station, we had to take one of the rare taxis to get there. It turned out to be quite a wearying journey. In all honesty, I wouldn't have expected a famous music composer to live in such a place.

I suspected he had deliberately chosen this location because he wanted to escape the noise of the city.

"This way, please."

Guided by Mei, we walked through a garden of dimensions that would have been unimaginable in the city, pa.s.sed through a pointlessly large entrance and finally arrived at a living room, but only after traveling down a lengthy corridor. Mei told us to make ourselves comfortable on the sofas and disappeared into the kitchen to prepare some tea.

The moment she was gone, however, Kadokura-san appeared.

"h.e.l.lo and welcome. I've been waiting for you!"

He welcomed us with open arms, though, truth be told, we clearly were not the true target of his eagerness.

"Have you brought it with you?"

With a scowl on her face, Towako-san showed him the cloth-wrapped mirror in her bag.

A contented smile appeared on his face.

The reason we had come here was not to leave the Mirror of Serenity with him.

Rather, it was to prevent the future that "Vision" had shown me—in other words, Mei-san's death.

Saki had stopped me from going to Mei-san and directly instructing her to watch out because she was going to die. It was definitely a bad idea to thoughtlessly inform her. After all, we had no clue as to the circ.u.mstances of her death. Therefore, we decided that our best option would be to approach and watch over her.

So in order to get closer to Mei-san, we submitted the following proposal to Kadokura-san:

While we would not sell the mirror, we would be willing to lend it to him for a few days - but only if the mirror remained in our presence at all times.

Kadokura-san had agreed to these conditions. He probably thought that we wanted to a free stay at a famous composer's residence in return for lending the mirror to him.

However, we had no interest in any of that. We had to find and eliminate the cause of Mei-san's death before the lending period came to a close.

In truth, Towako-san was against this operation because our actions might themselves become the cause of Mei-san's death. It was, however, just as plausible that her death would occur because of our inaction. If so, we couldn't simply sit back and take a "wait and see" approach.

Fortunately, I had a holiday on Friday because it happened to be my school's anniversary, giving us a total of three days time. Because "Vision" is unable to see very far into the future, I was sure to find some hints to ward off Mei-san's demise.

"Thank you for waiting," Mei-san said as she returned with a tray of tea. The rich aroma of black tea permeated the room.

Once the wonderful smell tickled her nose, instead of widening her eyes or raising her voice, Saki allowed her eyebrows to move a wee bit. Her gaze became fixed on the tea set. She was as expressionless as ever, but I could tell that she was extremely surprised. Had Mei-san brought us an extra-expensive kind of tea?

Without noticing Saki's astonishment, Mei-san placed a teapot on the table, followed by a tea cup in front of each of us. The tea set was a high-end brand that even I had heard of.

Just as it crossed my mind that replacing a single cup would cost a fortune, Mei-san dropped a cup on the table.

With a clank, the handle of the cup broke off.

There was an awkward silence.

"Oh my!" Mei-san exclaimed, "E-Excuse me! Excuse me! I'll bring a new teacup right away!"

She picked up the teacup and the broken handle and smacked Kadokura-san's head—no, accidentally hit his head—with the tray while turning around.

"Ughn..."

"Gyaa! Excuse me, excuse me!"

"J-Just go and bring a new one already," Kadokura-san calmly ordered. He had obviously become accustomed to her behavior, since he wasn’t at all worked up in response to Mei-san's panic. "Let me apologize for her, she's a little... clumsy..."

"Gyaa!"

Mei-san's scream emanated from the kitchen, followed by the sound of something falling to the floor. Well... at least there was no shattering sound.

"I'm sorry about the fuss."

...Perhaps one of the reasons that Kadokura-san was after the silence-imposing Mirror of Serenity was Mei-san herself.

"S-Sorry for the wait!"

She returned with a new teacup, and I began to feel uneasy.

Due to her excess momentum, Mei-san ended up banging her knee against the table while trying to set down the teacup. The jolt caused the teapot to tilt, but just as I was sure that it would fall over, Saki grabbed it. I had never seen her move that quickly before. Perhaps Saki's dexterity increases in proportion to the price of the black tea at stake?

"E-Excuse me, excuse me."

Mei-san kept bowing her head and gratefully grabbed the hand Saki was holding the teapot in.

"Stop that and get us a wash cloth."

Only a bit of tea had been spilled, but upon receiving that order, she hurried back to the kitchen for a washcloth.

Even without taking her maid outfit into account at all, her "professional business woman" aura had gone up in smoke for good.

"Again, let me apologize for her, she just can't sit still." Kadokura-san lowered his head in her place and looked at Saki with a wry smile. "I wish she were as composed as you."

I glanced at Saki, who was sitting next to me.

"Have you burned yourself?"

"It's no big deal," she said dismissively, but she was rubbing her hands under the table.

As there was still some time left until dinner, I decided to take a walk through the Kadokura residence by myself - not simply to look around, of course, but for investigative purposes.

The door I had seen in my vision of Mei-san's death was very peculiar, as it was marked with a strange pattern of lines.

I thought that by locating that door, I could make sure Mei-san wouldn't get anywhere near it, or else I would remove all dangerous objects near it- and thus save her from dying.

The ground floor of the Kadokura residence held a large living room, a kitchen and so on, whereas the bedrooms for Kadokura-san, Mei-san, and guests were upstairs.

Furthermore, there was also an underground room fully equipped with soundproofing that served as Kadokura-san's studio. According to him, he would always compose in the underground room.

I was about to investigate that very room.

I had already thoroughly explored the ground floor and upstairs rooms, but there was no trace of the door that "Vision" had shown me. Only the bas.e.m.e.nt was left.

The stairway leading to the bas.e.m.e.nt was longer than I had expected and wound back and forth, which showed me just how deep underground the room was. Most likely, Kadokura-san wanted to get as far away from external noises as possible. I couldn't hear my own footsteps because even the stairway itself had been carpeted.

The door to the workroom appeared before me.

However—

"...Off the mark, huh."

At first glance, it had looked like the door in my vision - the shapes were certainly similar. However, there were no lines on the door, so it was not the door "Vision" had shown me. This was the only underground door.

"Perhaps it's not even in this house?"

In that case, we would be forced to keep an eye on Mei-san herself. As far as I knew, Saki was with her at the moment and helping with the ch.o.r.es.

I decided to watch over Mei-san as well, and turned around towards the stairway.

"Whoa!"

"Kyaa!"

Mei-san was standing right there, causing me to scream in surprise. In response to my scream, Mei-san lost her balance and fell down the stairs.

I reflexively supported her, but because I hadn't been prepared, I was dragged down with her.

"A-Are you all right? Excuse me, excuse me!"

"N-No, I was the one who surprised you..."

Mei-san apologized yet again while still on top of me. I wondered - how many times had I already seen her like this?

"What are you doing in the dark?"

Saki looked down at me from above with a cold expression—well, the same expression as always.

"N-Nothing! You've been watching, so you know that, right?"

"That's not what I mean. I meant to ask what you've been doing down here alone, but as I see that you are making excuses, I suppose you did that intentionally?"

"E-Excuse me, Maino-san. I didn't mean to cling to your boyfriend! It was an accident, so please don't get angry with him!"

After falling silent for a while, Saki replied without changing her expression by saying "he's not my boyfriend."

Mei-san turned around to face me.

"Eh? You're not? I was sure you were because she got angry."

"Nope. We are not in a relations.h.i.+p, nor is she angry. She's always like that."

"Really?"

Unconvinced, Mei-san stared at Saki's face. It was no surprise that Mei-san couldn't understand Saki's deadpan expression.

"Yes, as Tokiya said: I'm expressionless, emotionless and blunt. So please don't mind it," Saki said bluntly.

But... was it just me or did she somehow seem a little angry? I had thought that I'd learned to read the feelings behind her poker face, but apparently, that wasn't the case.

"Anyway, we'd better carry it in."

"What's that?"

"Ah, this is the sparkling water Eiji-sama likes to drink while working. We were going to bring in supplies," Mei-san explained while pointing at the small cardboard boxes that she and Saki were holding.

However, that was not what I was asking.

"Your outfit."

"...Mei-san made me wear this."

In a rare turn of events, Saki, who loved black clothes more than anything, wore a pure-white ap.r.o.n like a maid. Most likely, she had been talked into wearing this outfit when she offered to help Mei-san. The fact that she was still wearing her black dress underneath was probably her version of a compromise.

"You look adorable in it, Saki-san! Now, this way," urged Mei-san as she opened the door and beckoned Saki over.

Saki climbed down the stairs and trod on my feet as she walked past.

"Ouch!"

"Oh? I'm sorry," she said indifferently and entered the room.

She was angry after all! Mei-san was right. Although I had no idea what had made her upset.

For the sake of continuing the surveillance of Mei-san, I followed her into the room.

The room measured several square meters. While I didn't see any instruments, piles of sheet music were scattered about on the table and the floor. It really felt like the workroom of someone in the music business. There was also a laptop, so perhaps Kadokura-san was using it as an alternative to real instruments when composing.

"Saki-san, please put it in there," ordered Mei-san while pointing at a small fridge in a corner.

Mei-san picked up the scattered sheets and put them in order, after which she started to collect the partially finished bottles and empty the trash. The incident with the tea had given me pause, but she was working rather efficiently this time.

Leaving them to their respective jobs of tidying up and replenis.h.i.+ng the stock of sparkling water, I closed the door. The room literally felt as though it had become isolated from the outside world.

While I could hear the two girls working, the sounds from outside were shut out. Well, not only was there n.o.body there, but we were also underground, so there was no noise anyway, but that was the impression I got. Probably because of the sound-proofing.

I thought that with a room like this, Kadokura-san would hardly need the Mirror of Serenity.

"Are you finished tidying up?"

The door was opened again and Kadokura-san came in.

In his hands was the Mirror of Serenity. It looked like he had taken it from Towako-san and wanted to try it out as soon as possible.

"Almost."

"It doesn't have to be perfect," he said absent-mindedly, and looked around the room. Apparently, he was considering where to put the mirror.

"I'm fascinated! Isn't the soundproofing of this room perfect?" I asked.

Kadokura-san answered with a wry smile, "Indeed, I have spent a lot of money on outfitting this room. But it's not perfect. I can still hear outside noise even when I close the door."

"Really?"

I had no idea how well soundproofing worked, but I figured it would take one h.e.l.l of a noise to reach the room down here.

"Yeah. For example when Mei breaks a teacup upstairs," he said, which discouraged Mei-san and set off her apologies yet again.

"You can hear something like that? Does that mean that there’s a crack in the soundproofing?"

"That's what I told the manufacturers at first, too. But it seems like normal people don't hear certain things that I can. And I'm not just imagining things!"

"As a matter of fact, one time when Eiji-sama was in this room with the manufacturers, he told them that he heard me break a teacup. Apparently, no one else heard anything, but when they went to the living room to check..."

"Mei had knocked a teacup off the table, just as I had said. The manufacturers were at their wit's end."

So he has special ears?

"It's not that I hear everything, but for some reason I don't miss any of her slip-ups."

"Nasty ears."

"Did you say something, Mei?"

"No, never mind."

To be honest, I was more concerned with their relations.h.i.+p than with the story I had just heard.

At first, I had thought they were in a purely business relations.h.i.+p of employer and a.s.sistant, but they interacted far too casually. In addition he neither fired her despite her numerous mistakes, nor did he really get angry about her clumsiness.

"Well then, we won't disturb you any longer. Good luck with work. Let's go, Kurusu-san, Maino-san."

Upon bowing to Kadokura-san, she left the room holding a garbage bag. We followed her, and Kadokura-san started composing.

The heavy door closed with a whomp and separated him from us.

On the way back to the ground floor, Saki posed a question to Mei-san,

"How did you get to know Kadokura-san?"

"Eh?"

"Because somehow you don't seem like employer and a.s.sistant."

Apparently, Saki had gotten the same impression of their relations.h.i.+p that I had.

"I used to be an employee at the Kadokura's."

"An employee?"

"Eiji-sama comes from a long line of doctors and his family owns a hospital. I happened to be employed at their mansion. That's where I met Eiji-sama."

"Coming from that background, it's quite surprising that he chose to become a composer."

"Yes, it's as you say. His father strictly disapproved of his chosen career. It was only natural, as Eiji-sama had already enrolled at a medical university when he decided to switch to composing. In the end, he left home, and followed the path of a composer with a firm and unbending will."

"Does that mean that you followed him?"

"Yes. As you can see, I am clumsy and always making mistakes. There's no way I could have stayed employed at the mansion without Eiji-sama’s a.s.sistance. I don't know how many times I was about to get dismissed, but he came to my rescue every time."

I was a bit surprised. No, I was very surprised. Because of his forceful attempts to get his hands on the Mirror of Serenity, my impression of Kadokura-san wasn't exactly positive. I thought that like most successful people, he was conceited, but apparently I had been wrong.

"He tends to be misunderstood because of his stubborn nature, but he's actually a very kind person!" Mei-san added, perhaps because she had guessed at my thoughts. "Lately, he has been in a slump and having trouble composing, but I'm sure he only needs a push to get past it, since he did just fine without any soundproofing in the past. I'm positive that the mirror will become that push. Thank you so much for lending it to him."

Mei-san stopped and bowed down deeply.

"I will prepare dinner now. Please make yourself comfortable in the living room."

While gazing after Mei-san, I said to Saki,

"I really want to save her."

"That's what we're here for, right?" she replied and slapped me on the back.

I was floating in an all-encompa.s.sing, cozy silence.

Even though it was the same thing, it was clearly different.

This time, I had slid into the world of sound within the complete silence of the Mirror of Serenity.

That was all that had changed, yet everything looked completely different.

As though a slightly unbalanced sphere had become perfectly round.

As though a slightly rough surface had become polished and smooth.

As though a cup of slightly polluted water had become clean and pure.

In other words, it had become perfect.

It was the perfection I had been longing for.

What kind of sounds will be born here?

I'll give it a try right away. I need a pen and a sheet...

"Uwa!!"

After I opened my eyes, I saw someone in the periphery of my vision, causing me to fall from my chair in surprise.

It was Settsu-san. I hadn't noticed her entrance at all.

She approached the mirror and quietly turned it over.

At once, the world around me underwent a sudden change. Sound suddenly returned as if a switch had been flipped,

"Am I interrupting?"

"No, I haven't started composing yet."

"Quite the enthusiast, aren't you? You even forgot to lock the door."

As it seemed, I had been so impatient that I had forgotten to lock the door. I had not noticed her intrusion- I was amazed that it was so hard to notice someone without sound, and felt great respect for the mirror and its power.

So far, no soundproofing had succeeded in completely shutting out all sound.

Of course I had always heard Mei's knocks, and I had even heard what she was doing upstairs. The soundproofing manufacturers were left in disbelief, but as a matter of fact, my ears could hear such sounds.

My ears are superior to others', and no matter whom I would ask, no one was able to provide me with a setup that would give my ears complete silence.

I had almost given up. Had I not learned about the Mirror of Serenity by chance, I would have given up. I could only think of the mirror as a gift from above.

Without looking at me, Settsu-san asked "What's your first impression of the mirror?" At the same time, she was tracing the border of the face-down mirror with her finger.

"It's fantastic! I can't believe it's possible to shut out useless noise to such an extent. If I have this mirror, I can dive smoothly into my world of sound."

"You didn't notice that I entered the room, right?"

"Yes, I heard not a..."

"You didn't even sense my presence, right?"

"Uh? Yes, indeed."

"Don't you think it's unnatural not to notice when someone enters the room?"

"That just proves how well I could concentrate on my work."

"You're in the wrong: it's all because of the Mirror of Serenity. It doesn't only shut out the sound from outside, you know? It shuts out the entire outside world, so to speak."

"?"

"Not only does it disrupt sound, but also all similar things like the presence of others or electric waves. That's why you don't notice someone right by your side. Not only does it silence loud voices, you also don't receive any calls on your cell. That being said, it's not like it physically blocks off the room, so it's still possible to enter from outside."

"I see. In other words, if I had locked the door and you hadn't been able to enter, I may have pulled an all-nighter without even noticing?"

Settsu-san smirked at my joke, but it wasn't at all a favorable smile.

"I do hope it wouldn't get graver than that."

"Eh?"

"Do yourself a favor and refrain from using it too often. I am loaning it to you of necessity, but that's all. This item is beyond your ability."

With those words, she left the room.

The next morning.

In the end, we had come away empty-handed on the first day and badly needed to find a clue today.

When I left the room that I had been given, I was greeted by one h.e.l.l of a noise.

The sound had come from the kitchen, where, for some reason, Mei-san was lying p.r.o.ne on the floor. Not that the reason was actually hard to figure out.

Neither Kadokura-san nor Saki seemed to really mind. Kadokura-san remained seated in the living room, and Saki picked up the spoons and forks Mei-san had dropped. After a little bit, Mei-san suddenly stood up and apologized repeatedly with a pale face.

"Good morning."

"Ah, morning," said Kadokura-san as he raised his face from the newspaper he was reading. His eyes were bloodshot.

"Did you not sleep well?"

"I was absorbed in work, you know. Before I knew it, it was morning. I haven't been able to concentrate that well in ages! It's all thanks to that mirror. I couldn't even hear any of Mei's accidents."

I couldn't deny myself a wry smile when I heard that Kadokura-san hadn't even considered the possibility that Mei-san had made no mistakes.

"Not to sound rude, but why did you hire her?" I asked in a low voice so that Mei-san couldn't hear me. "Kadokura-san, are you actually quite caring? From what I heard, you've always been such a person."

"Always? Did Mei tell you anything?"

"Mm, yes. A few things."

"Ah, she’s being a blabbermouth again. But well, it's not that I'm especially kind or anything like that. You already know that I come from a long line of doctors and that she was employed at the family mansion?"

"Yes."

"She was my very first fan." He put down the newspaper and gazed into the distance. "My father, you see, frowned on my even composing music as a pastime—telling me that I should use that time for studying. Thus, the mansion staff were constantly observing me and reported to him when they saw me composing. Mei, however, was the only one who didn't join in. Why, she even liked my music and asked me to play for her! She would even stand up for me when I had an argument with my father, and when I made the decision to move out, she insisted on following me because she feared that I couldn't do my own housework. I wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for her," he said and added jokingly, "although I never told her that."

He quickly changed the subject. "By the way, where's Settsu-san?"

"Still asleep, I guess? She's not a morning person."

"I'm awake!"

Speaking of the devil. Towako-san responded while walking down the stairs.

"Did you sleep well?"

"The bed was wonderfully soft. Quite different from how I usually sleep."

"I'm pleased to hear that."

"Yeah, but now my back's aching. I miss my own bed! So are you making progress? Seems like you've been up until late at night from the looks of it," she pointed out as she noticed his red eyes. All in all, including her not-so-subtle suggestions that she wanted to go home, her att.i.tude was hardly friendly.

"Sorry, but this isn't something you can complete simply by spending extra time. It's still going to take some effort."

"I see. Tell me once you're done. We can't stay too long."

"Do you really have to be in such a rush?"

"Sorry, but my shop's closed right now. I can't leave it like that forever, now can I?"

"If that's your concern, why don't you just leave the mirror here? Rest a.s.sured that I will return it when..."

Towako-san's eyes glinted angrily.

"I-I'm joking! Of course I'll give it back to you when you leave!"

"Of course you do. Once again, I have no intention whatsoever to let go of that mirror. But I do intend to go home tomorrow. Get your piece done by then."

"I understand. I'm going downstairs for another round!"

After telling Mei-san to bring his breakfast to his workroom, he went downstairs.

"What?" asked Towako-san with sleepy eyes upon noticing my gaze.

"I just thought you're pretty grouchy today."

"Of course I am. I'm not here voluntarily, nor do I want him to use a Relic, but let's not go into that. Anyway, did you make any progress?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Then get your a.s.s in gear. As I said before, I don't plan on staying here much longer."

I closed the door to the bas.e.m.e.nt behind me and made sure I was alone.

"f.u.c.k! That stupid cow!" I blurted out, unable to suppress my true feelings.

The sheet music on my desk caught my eye. The leaves were covered with various music notes.

In reality, I was already done.

Never before had I ever completed a piece so quickly.

My slump had been blown away. I never imagined that pure concentration could speed up composition so much. In addition, the final results were of high quality.

I gazed at the toppled Mirror of Serenity.

Without a doubt, that mirror was responsible for my remarkable progress.

However, Settsu-san planned on retrieving the mirror once I was done.

I knew all too well that the mirror wasn't mine. I had merely borrowed it from the staff of that antique store.

Nevertheless, I couldn't imagine letting go of that mirror anymore.

It was their fault for lending it to me.

It was their fault for rubbing my nose in how splendid that mirror was.

There was no way I could let go of it so easily, now that I'd experienced its wonders.

They weren't able to take full advantage of it anyway, and would only use it for trivial matters - like erasing construction noise.

It was downright outrageous. The mirror wasn't meant to be used by such ignoramuses.

It was meant to be used by someone who could fully appreciate its potential - someone like me.

In my hands, it would enable me to craft superior pieces of music for everyone, at a greater speed than ever before