76: The Master of the First Music Room

At Chisato's school, Houjou University Attached High School, there are three music rooms in total.

The second music room is located in the main school building and is usually used for music classes. After school, it's often borrowed by music clubs that need the space.

The third music room is reserved for special music scholarship students. 

It's situated on the top floor of the main building, right next to the special music class, so regular students don't usually go near it unless they have a reason to.

And then there's the first music room.

It's located on the top floor of the club building. 

After the second music room was newly established, all the musical equipment, desks, and chairs were moved there because it was newer and closer to the classrooms. 

As a result, the first music room became an unused space.

Logically, the school should have repurposed this empty room for use by other clubs.

However, due to certain circumstances, this room became the exclusive domain of a particular person about a year ago.

Only a few people, including some teachers, know the real story behind this.

From time to time, music would drift out from this room, sometimes gentle and melodic, other times powerful and passionate.

But whenever a student, drawn by the sound, climbed to the top floor of the club building and stood in front of the long-abandoned room, the music would suddenly stop, and they would find the door locked.

Over time, curious students started to spread rumors that the "abandoned music room is haunted by a vengeful spirit."

Like the "spirit with a creepy laugh in the stairwell," this tale became one of Houjou University Attached High School's Seven Mysteries.

Kazusa knew nothing of this. 

She had always been a loner, and her first year in the special music class had been a particularly unpleasant experience for her.

So, she's completely uninterested in what others at school are talking about, or what kind of music and TV shows are trending lately.

Except for... that person.

Today, for the first time since the new semester started, she's stepping into her secret hideout.

Feeling inexplicably irritated, she finds herself wanting to glance at that guy repeatedly, feeling a strong urge to do something to distract herself and calm down.

She climbs the stairs, and the voices from various clubrooms gradually fade away.

On the top floor, only the steady sound of one person's footsteps can be heard.

Maybe it's because the assigned staff are slacking off, but the continuous foot traffic has stirred up a lot of dust. 

The sunlight streaming through the windows illuminates the floating dust particles.

Kazusa glances at the cardboard boxes, festival props, and a bunch of random handmade items, jars, and doll costumes wrapped in transparent plastic bags piled in the corridor.

She thought that the place would be cleaned up with the start of the new semester, but instead, the stuff seemed to be accumulating.

Perhaps because the top floor of the club building is rarely used, most clubs just dumped their things here, considering it a natural storage room for items that are too bulky but not worth much.

Kazusa feels somewhat dissatisfied, but it's within her tolerance. As long as she closes the door, she won't have to see the pile of annoying junk.

She reaches the end of the corridor, takes out her key, and opens the first music room, then naturally locks the door behind her.

Soon after she enters, a boy steps out from the staircase at the top floor of the club building, a place rarely visited by anyone.

He stares at the door of the first music room, his originally calm expression gradually turning sinister.

————

"Even with the windows closed, it's still dusty…"

Kazusa mutters to herself.

She carefully removes the cover from the piano and uses a tissue from her pocket to wipe off a thin layer of dust from the piano bench.

The stuffy, unventilated room feels a bit oppressive, so she opens all the windows, letting in the fresh air.

After doing all that, she sits at the piano, her slender fingers resting on the black and white keys, but she doesn't press down.

She squints her eyes and thinks again about that arrogant and unreasonable guy.

Even though she repeatedly said she didn't need it, he still had the nerve to take over a thousand yen from her, claiming he borrowed it and would pay it back.

Seriously, who needs you to return the money? 

You're the type who looks so happy just eating pork chop rice, and you got outsmarted by someone in a long-distance run...

If you have time to worry about others' bodies, you should take care of yourself first. Eating only cheap bread and rice balls from school every day, how could you not be weak? 

Eat properly!

"Thud!"

Her open hands clenched into fists and slammed down on the piano keys, making a dull sound.

At this moment, an unnatural sound from outside the window interrupts Kazusa's thoughts, which had been focused on her own irritation.

It's cotton candy... No, it's the sound of an electric guitar being played without an amplifier, and the performer has solid skills.

Kazusa, who inherited her mother's world-class musical talent, quickly deduces this.

The guitar melody drifting in with the wind helps calm her irritated mood a bit. She follows the sound to the window and looks down.

She sees the performer, a girl with pink hair whose fashion style Kazusa finds a bit confusing.

Why is she wearing long pants under her skirt? Is it hot or cold?

The girl playing the guitar has a single audience member sitting in front of her. 

Due to the angle, Kazusa can't see his face, but she can tell from his uniform that he's a boy.

So, once again, it's those idiotic couples playing house behind the club building?

Kazusa has seen this kind of scene countless times over the past year.

Her curiosity, piqued by the performer's solid technique, quickly fades away.

She leans against the windowsill, closes her eyes in silence, and waits for the performance to end before returning to the piano.

When she places her hands on the keys again, her keen ears catch the conversation between the two downstairs.

The girl's voice doesn't move her, but the familiar voice of the boy disrupts her hard-earned calm.

She runs back to the window, carefully sticking her head out.

That's definitely the guy she knows all too well.

She doesn't notice that her expression grows even colder when she sees him hugging the pink-haired girl.

The row of cypress trees planted behind the club building, with black crows perched on their branches, watch the girl by the window with their dark, unmoving eyes.

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