scheduled post the wrong chapter, sorry. here are the chapter 1 part 5, 6 and 7
Somewhere, Tiffy’s piano teacher was probably thinking the same thing as Touri. Relief that Tiffy was playing properly, and exasperation that she could do it normally if she tried.
“What an idiot…” Touri had always thought. Tiffy had talent. An innate power to her music that charmed people.
And it surpassed Touri’s own. If she came at me head-on, I might not be a match for her. Touri always harbored that doubt.
Her grandmother had said it, supposedly. ‘Having no talent if you can’t win competitions.’ ‘Quit piano if you don’t win this time.’
That was an entirely groundless opinion. It had only pointlessly provoked Tiffy’s rebellious spirit, waking a sleeping lion. Her foundations were plenty thick and broad.
“She really is an idiot…”
The music shimmered. Her music raged. It seeped into people’s hearts. Despite having something that incredible, most people didn’t know her and were caught off guard by her. It was amazing…no, it seemed unfair at heart.
She finished the first song. Next she played a slow, dark, heavy song. Unlike her usual casual, easygoing self, it was like the opposite kind of song, but she skillfully played even the heavy song. It was a song that made your gut sink heavily and painfully, deeply permeating. She expressed it wonderfully.
When she finished playing that song, the hall was wrapped in thunderous applause. Unlike the ceremonial applause when she first appeared, it was excited applause brimming with passion.
As she applauded, Touri heaved a sigh.
Touri was sitting on a bench in an empty hallway.
Tiffy’s performance had safely finished, and it was around the time for the next performer after her, or the one after that, to be playing. Touri and the others had gone to pick up Tiffy, and given her words of praise. Yuki and Kasumi were singing Tiffy’s praises, clapping and celebrating. Receiving that, Tiffy had looked quite boastful, snorting away.
Touri had also celebrated. She praised her with thanks, good performance. But her voice had been just a little glum. Oblivious to that tone, Tiffy had simply laughed and said you’re welcome. Eventually the piano teacher had also come and sung praises, but told her if you can do it properly, then do it properly from the start! and then ruffled Tiffy’s hair.
And so Touri had stepped away. She had wanted to be alone for a bit.
She sighed alone in the deserted hallway. Although this was inside the music hall venue, it was a section not being used for today’s competition, so there was absolutely no foot traffic. Touri leaned back against the wall there, a little spaced out.
After hearing Tiffy’s performance, there was something on Touri’s mind. But this feeling was something she could tell almost nobody. Irritation welled up in her chest.
At that time, someone appeared from around the corner.
“Oh, you were in a place like this?”
Hearing the voice of an adult man, Touri was startled and turned around. There was a familiar figure there.
“Yo, Touri-kun. Hello.”
“S-Zeke-sensei…Hello…”
It was Yuki’s father, Zeke. Touri awkwardly bowed to him.
“No, I was looking around a bit. I wanted to thank you today.”
“…Thank me?”
“My daughters caused you a lot of trouble today. I’ll be sure to scold them properly later.”
A full-grown adult was politely bowing to an elementary schooler. Touri smiled wryly.
As soon as Zeke and Kostas learned that Yuki and the others had gone alone to the competition deceiving their parents, they had raced around looking for their daughters. They contacted the venue, but the girls hadn’t arrived yet. They tried phoning the children’s cell phones, but there was no response. All they could do was search likely places by car. It was when Touri contacted them that she “captured” Yuki and the others. If not for that notice from her, they might still have been searching around. She was a reliable child who could make necessary contact.
Zeke said it would be a lecture festival once they got home, though not here in public. Touri wearily told him to scold them thoroughly please. Zeke scratched his cheek with a finger.
“Want a drink?”
“Um…thank you.”
Zeke bought two drinks from a nearby vending machine and handed them to Touri. They were black coffees, which Touri started drinking without hesitation. Zeke sat down next to Touri. The two of them drank black coffee side by side.
“…Did you hear Tiffy’s performance, Zeke-sensei?”
“Yeah, I made it in time.”
Touri called Zeke “sensei.” That was because Zeke was Touri’s homeroom teacher at school. Touri went to a public school, where Zeke taught. Yuki and the others attended private school. So Touri had the slightly odd relationship of being classmates at piano lessons with the father of her school teacher.
And the two had one other thing in common.
“…Geniuses are kind of unfair, aren’t they?”
“They really are.”
Zeke nodded slightly at Touri’s mutter.
There was something about Tiffy’s playing that struck people’s hearts. Calling that simply “talent” might be rude. Tiffy was particular about her way of expressing things day-to-day, thought seriously, noticed things, repeated anguished pondering, and honed her weapon. So one could say that striking something in Tiffy’s heart had been won through Tiffy’s own efforts.
But certainly, it was an ability beyond what an ordinary person could readily possess. In that sense, Tiffy was precisely a genius.
“A person’s auditory sense gets hard to develop if you don’t train it when young…”
“Yeah, seems that way.”
Touri spoke while gazing at the ceiling.
They said auditory ability is largely set by around age 7. Around then, the structure of the ear is almost complete, and after that, senses like pitch become harder to develop compared to in early childhood.
So it was said that musical training in childhood has a major influence on the development of that ability. In other words, those who haven’t built up musical training by that point end up with a difficult to bridge gap compared to those who have done music since early childhood.
And Touri knew that.
“So I thought it would go very, very well. That I had more than ordinary people…”
“…………”
“But Tiffy…even so, has something I don’t have. No, Tiffy has also done music since she was small, trained her ear, and stands on the same foundation as me. And on top of that, she has something I don’t have.”
Touri muttered softly.
“It was beautiful.”
If she closed her eyes, Tiffy’s music from earlier floated into her mind. A flood of shimmering melodies. Each note she played became powerful music, rampaging freely as if to swallow people up. Just remembering it made Touri feel her own blood pulsing.
“Zeke-sensei, it seems you were right.”
“…Hm?”
“That reincarnators aren’t necessarily geniuses.”
“…………”
There was one major thing Touri and Zeke had in common.
─Touri was a reincarnator.
“You mean…the ability to play like that…is called talent?”
Much of a person’s auditory sense developed in early childhood – that was a major advantage for reincarnators. Able to be self-aware of what they wanted to do from early childhood and vocalize it on their own initiative, reincarnators could freely choose childhood training, be aware of its efficiency, and devote time to it. That was a major benefit for reincarnators.
Normally, childhood was a time when what you wanted to do wasn’t clear. For the most part you did the lessons your parents chose and completed the homework assigned at school. Finding your own path was something that generally happened much, much later.
But reincarnators were different. Touri begged her parents to let her do piano, and started taking lessons. And she correctly understood the period when her hearing ability would dramatically improve, and actively conducted efficient training. Ordinary children who weren’t reincarnators were in their playful prime around that age.
Touri had made full use of the benefits of being a reincarnator.
“But…”
What came to mind was Tiffy’s performance from earlier. She had listened enraptured to her music at that time. Touri watched intently with admiration as Tiffy skillfully played something she loved so much. And that happened over and over every time she heard Tiffy’s music.
“A genius is…unfair.”
Touri said.
“That girl jerks me and all kinds of people around, causes trouble, makes me angry…yet with just one performance, I want to forgive it all.”
“…………”
“Just one performance completely erases everything and covers up her other faults, inevitably making me think it can’t be helped, inevitably making me admire her.”
As if swallowing down the irritation in her chest, Touri quickly drank down the black coffee she held.
“She really is unfair…”
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
That small mutter disappeared down the deserted hallway. Touri dangled her legs like a child, gazing upwards. Zeke watched her sidelong face closely.
Zeke felt déjà vu. He too had a talented girl beside him when he was young, and he was the human defeated by that talent. When he learned one of his students at school was a reincarnator and she was getting a bit cocky, he talked about his experience and lightly admonished her.
‘Reincarnators aren’t necessarily geniuses.’
That saying seemed to have struck Touri deeply.
The outdoor sunshine was strong and intense. The brightness of the sunlight, the contrast of light and shadow, the people walking while sweating. Seeing all that through the large window, although they were supposed to be inside a cool building, it felt like that summer heat was transmitted to them.
“…Don’t think about it too deeply, okay?”
After a short silence, Zeke called out to her. Touri turned to face Zeke.
“Just like reincarnators aren’t necessarily geniuses, not being extraordinary doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t succeed.”
“…………”
“In the first place, there’s no clear dividing line between effort and talent. No one knows which parts of a genius are talent and which parts are the result of effort.”
Zeke started to pat the head around the same height as his daughter’s, then stopped. Though the one in front of him was a small girl, what was inside should be a proper adult.
“It’s still much too early for you to give up on anything.”
Well, I’m someone who lost to talent, but…muttering that, Zeke said.
“The future and happiness are things no one knows about. They’re things no one knows.”
“…………”
“You still have a looong future ahead, you know?”
Saying that, Zeke drank the bitter black coffee. It tasted like life itself. Though Touri was a reincarnator, she was still just an elementary schooler. It was too early to close off her path. Hearing Zeke’s words, Touri blanked for a moment in surprise, then quickly understood them and smiled brightly.
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.
Also, every donation is being used to purchase the source material and to fund more English translations.
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.
Is this part 8 or 5?
On NU, there is a jump from part 4 to part 8 but from the looks of it, you put the parts after part 4 behind a paywall. Iirc, you should only release the free parts on NU and the one behind the paywall are for the reader to decide.
It’s part 8, scheduled post the wrong chapter, sorry. I’ll post the the part 5 in several hours from now