Kindly click on the green button above and contribute to filling the green bar if you’re interested in having another LN from the request page translated.
Yuki, Kasumi, and Tiffy didn’t just go to the same school, they also went to the same cram school and piano lessons. Originally, Tiffy went to piano lessons and Yuki went to cram school, but somehow they ended up sharing each other’s lessons while hanging out together. Their parents exchanging information was also a major factor. Although both were unsettled and acted freely, leading to being treated as problem students wherever they went, the three eccentric girls stuck together, enjoying each other’s company.
The gifted but friendless three didn’t seem particularly troubled, spending their days without anguish.
On a day when thick clouds covered the sky. With the hot summer sun blocked by the clouds, it was slightly dark and dim outside. In the cool breezy weather, the three were taking piano lessons.
“Mm, Tiffy-chan arranges the song too much!”
In the white room was one large black piano. The piano with its powerful presence dominated the room, its keys played by Tiffy as she performed the song.
A man with a unique way of talking, as if he had a bit of stubble, was instructing Tiffy, pursing his lips and scolding her with hands on hips, shuffling around.
“But Teacher, I think it’s more fun and interesting this way,” said Tiffy.
“It may be fun and interesting, but arranging the song is not good for the competition, hmm?” said the piano teacher.
“I’m not interested in competitions anyway, so it’s fine,” dismissed Tiffy.
“Ohh, this girl!” said the teacher, twisting his body a little and speaking in a strained, squeezed out voice. Despite his sturdy, well-built frame, he moved his body in an unmanly way.
“Changing the sheet music is against the rules for competitions, hmm? It means you don’t understand the composer’s intentions. Do you understand?”
“But I think the composer is happy in heaven listening to me play it this way too,” insisted Tiffy.
“My my, arrogant,” said the piano teacher, roughly patting Tiffy’s head with his big, rough hands.
“A troublesome girl.”
“Hmph.”
“That wasn’t praise, you know?”
Tiffy deliberately snorted loudly, then turned back to face the piano again. Tiffy’s white fingers tapped the keys. The piano spread the sound, the sound turned to melody, coloring this unadorned white room with music. Like the piano apparatus was discerning Tiffy’s will, it sang as if expressing her heart, the music sounded joyfully. Careful not to disturb her performance even with the rustling sound of his clothes, the teacher listened to her play with arms folded.
Before long, the performance ended. The final note of the song lingered regretfully in the room, and Tiffy let out a small breath, stopping her fingers. The teacher clapped loudly, applauding slowly.
“…That was wonderful, Tiffy-chan.”
The teacher nodded several times with emphasis, and Tiffy had a satisfied look as if she had accomplished something. But oddly, although the teacher had praised her, the corners of his mouth were twisted in a perplexed expression directed at Tiffy.
“But can I ask you one thing?”
“What?”
“What song was that?”
With a hand on his forehead, the teacher perplexedly posed this simple question to Tiffy. The song Tiffy had just played was not a practice piece or competition assignment, but a song the teacher didn’t recognize at all.
“That was the opening theme song for the new anime ‘Magical Girl Apricot’ that just started, right Tiffy!?”
“Correct, Yuki.”
“Fufun!”
In the corner of this room, Yuki and Kasumi were sitting quietly like members of the audience. After their own lessons ended, they had snuck into Tiffy’s lesson room. It was an ordinary sight by now for the teacher.
Guessing the name of the song she played, Yuki and Tiffy thumbs-upped and high-fived.
“You girls are close, hmm?” said the piano teacher, shrugging his shoulders in exasperation. As it happened, the end of the lesson time came just as the anime song wrapped things up.
“Be sure to practice the lesson pieces and assignment pieces properly at home too, all right?”
“Yeah, yeah,” said Tiffy.
There was no doubt these three were troublemakers.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
It was when the lessons had ended and the three had finished getting ready to leave in the lobby.
“Oh dear, what to do. It looks like it might rain,” said the teacher, who had come to see the three off and was looking up at the sky. The thick clouds covering the sky had blocked the sun’s heat, making the temperature relatively comfortable outside, but those clouds were tinged slightly darker, and the sky looked like it could start pouring rain any minute.
The teacher looked at the three students, but none of them seemed to have umbrellas.
“Do you girls have foldable umbrellas or anything?”
“Nope, didn’t bring any,” said Yuki.
“Let’s see, the chance of rain today is…uh oh, 40%. Whether it’ll rain or not is iffy,” said the teacher, fiddling with his smartphone and checking the weather forecast. Just as he was about to go check the office to see if there were any spare umbrellas left, Kasumi stopped him.
“Teacher, teacher.”
“…What is it, Kasumi-chan?”
“It ain’t gonna rain today.”
“…?”
The teacher tilted his head quizzically. When the internet weather forecast didn’t give a definitive answer, Kasumi stated matter-of-factly that it wouldn’t rain, as if it were obvious. The teacher was puzzled by this and asked:
“How do you know that?”
“I divined it.”
“Divination?”
The teacher blinked in surprise.
“Did you divine it by tossing your sandals or something? That’d be bad if they got rained on, so let me go find some umbrellas just in case.”
“Teacher, teacher.”
This time Tiffy stopped the teacher when he didn’t believe what Kasumi said.
“Kasumi’s fortune-telling is legit.”
“…Huh?”
“It’s painful if you take Kasumi’s fortune-telling lightly.”
Tiffy said this with a straight face. Seeing Tiffy look serious instead of joking around, the teacher was a little confused, and Kasumi shyly put her hand to her cheek, giggling and saying it wasn’t anything special.
“You’re good at fortune-telling, Kasumi-chan?”
“It ain’t nothin’ much.”
“Teacher, you shouldn’t underestimate Kasumi’s fortune-telling. The other day, she told me to watch out for banana peels, but I forgot and slipped on one and hit my head!”
“Oh my, you slipped on a banana peel at your age, Yuki-chan?”
The teacher swallowed the words that would make him look like more of a fool with adult reason.
“Should I have you divine something for me too, Kasumi-chan?”
“Oh, scary.”
Saying that, the teacher sat across from Kasumi at the reception lobby’s table.
“Let’s see…how about you divine my love fortune or something?”
“Um…I think it’d be impossible for you even without divining, Teacher…”
“Let it be?”
The well-built teacher with the slightest stubble sprouting since that morning smiled and suppressed Kasumi’s opinion. Sensing a glimpse of the teacher’s tragic life from that smile, Kasumi was troubled and also a little frightened.
“Ah…love fortune? Let me get set up, ‘kay? Gimme a sec.”
Kasumi took out a file folder from her bag. She removed a single small folded piece of paper from inside and spread it out on the table. Drawn on it was a large magical circle. A circle covering almost the entire large sheet of paper the size of the table was drawn, with various designs inside it. It was clearly hand-drawn with oil-based markers – she must have copied it while looking at some occult book or something, it must have been quite an effort to reproduce these detailed designs, the teacher thought to himself.
Furthermore, Kasumi took aroma candles out of her bag and placed them at the four corners of the paper. Finally, she took out tarot cards and laid them out over the magical circle.
“…Quite elaborate.”
“This is simplified, y’know.”
Then she flipped over the tarot cards she had laid out.
“Come, destined one!”
“How harsh…”
With just that one line, Kasumi declared the cruel fortune-telling result. It was too reasonable of a result. With those cold words, Kasumi’s love fortune-telling ended.
Instead of rain falling outside, a drizzle had started falling in the teacher’s heart.
While they were doing that, a girl entered the lobby.
“Excuse me, pardon the intrusion.”
The girl greeted them in a composed, dignified voice. Since a student of his had arrived, the teacher stood up from his chair and went to welcome the girl.
“Touri-chan, welcome. You’re early.”
“I was thinking of getting some practice in if the piano is free.”
“Diligent as always.”
The teacher closed his eyes and nodded many times admiringly.
The name of the girl who had come to the piano lesson was Touri. She had long red hair swaying as she moved with composed manners, bowing to her teacher. Her attire and hair were neatly styled, a serious girl who took good care of her appearance.
“Also Teacher, I summarized some personal focal points about the assignment piece – could you check it later?”
“Mm, Touri-chan, you’re a little too excellent. It’s okay to relax your shoulders a bit more, you know?”
“No, it’s because I love the piano.”
Touri was the top student at this piano school. She was in 6th grade elementary like Tiffy and the others, and had won gold medals multiple times at local piano competitions. She also had experience participating in larger national-scale competitions, where she had produced good results.
“Yo, Touri,” called out Tiffy.
“Oh, Tiffy…ugh, the terrible trio.”
“Hi Touri!” said Yuki.
“Good day, Touri-han,” greeted Kasumi.
Seeing the three, Touri’s face clearly twisted in discomfort. Her composed demeanor crumbled.
Please consider joining my Ko-Fi membership. By becoming a member, you’ll also gain access to 3-10+ additional chapters of all of the novels from this site translated into English. Last but not least your support will also assist me in upholding the translation quality and speed. For more information, please follow the link.
Donation for faster release is always welcome
Additionally, I am now accepting translation requests.
