"♩-Tan-dun-tan-tan-dun, Tan-dararara-ra. Tan-dun-dananandararara-ra-ra.-♫
My name is… it doesn't matter anymore.
When I was still a living human being, my name could've mattered somehow to someone. But all of that is behind me now.
"I apologize for interrupting your piano practice, Maestro."
"Fear not, Charon-san. You are never an unwelcome interruption…"
"So you are not denying that I am an interruption?"
"Ahaha! We are more like friends, Charon-san. Stop with the formalities and just say what you came here for."
Yes. It could've mattered when I was still alive…
When I was still not…
"Someone has invited you for a concerto, Maestro."
"…That one, is a welcome interruption."
…someone considered as a spirit of death.
My story began 20 years ago shortly after the outbreak of the MB1 virus. I was living in Sendai with my family when my mother caught the disease and shortly died.
"Mom…"
"Oh dear… I thought I already told you to stop bothering yourself with that piano and visiting me again and again…"
"But I wanted to-"
"Alright, alright… Have a go then. I am all-ears."
My mother was a very strict yet loving woman who has brought me up to become a boy who is sensitive to the feelings of others and expressive of my own feelings and thoughts through music.
She used to say that while she is pregnant with me, she started to teach herself how to play the piano and after I was born, her music was something that gave me peaceful sleep as a toddler.
"Son…"
"Yes, mom?"
"Are you learning the piano… because you already know it?"
"…"
That's why when I noticed that my father has been trying to look for other women after mom was hospitalized, I realized that it was my time to give my mother the reward that she deserved for all the kindness that she gave to me not just as my mother but also as my teacher in life.
"I hate dad… You are still alive, and yet-"
"Don't speak like that towards your own father!"
"-!"
"…I was the one who told him that it is alright."
"M-Mom…"
"You are still a child. You need a new mother who would take my place after I am gone because of this illness…"
"…"
I can do nothing but respect my mother's choice and honor her acceptance of her end. That's why ever since I learned about it, I have been practicing her favorite piano piece to lull her into a peaceful sleep.
"Mom."
"Yes?"
"Can I play Chopin's Nocturne 9 for you?"
"…Gladly, my son."
And today, after I came back from middle school and visited her isolation room with my electric piano, I played that piece while bittersweet tears flowed down my eyes as each note carried my appreciation and farewell to her.
"Time of death. April 17, 2055. 5:17 PM."
"Encase the corpse and sterilize the room. Send her remains to the crematorium immediately."
"Can someone call her spouse? We need to inform them of the death."
I was there as the doctors and nurses encased my mother's dead body inside an air-tight steel coffin.
"This is your last chance, buddy. Go and say goodbye to mommy now."
"…Thank you for giving birth to me, Mom."
I was there as her body entered the cremation furnace and was burned to not spread the disease that killed her. With my father, I picked up her remaining bones and placed them in her urn.
"Hm? Is something wrong, son?"
"I just noticed now…"
"Noticed what?"
"Mom has thin and elegant fingers… Probably because she played the piano."
Until the very end, I was there for her. And once her urn was placed in our family grave, I promised to honor my mother's last wish.
"I will be happy even though you are no longer by my side, mother."
Two years later, just before I became a highschool student, father married a former workmate and she moved in us alongside a young woman a year older than me.
"Son, this is Maiko-san and her daughter Aiko. Come and greet them."
"W-Welcome…"
"Ahaha! You're right. He sure is a shy boy."
"Hello there, I am Aiko. Starting today, I will be your elder sister, okay?"
"Y-Yes…"
That day, when I saw that young woman, was the same day when my heart fell in love with her.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"You have mastered the violin, cello, piano and saxophone. If anyone deserves to be our Symphonia's maestro, it should be you!"
"Argh… for the last time. I don't want to be a maestro."
"But dude! These concerto compositions are so good! I haven't seen something as clean as these hand-written sheets since I saw Mozart's own composition sheets!"
"Stop comparing me with Mozart. Both of us know that I only got to compose that cleanly because you guys are helping me with your inputs and comments."
"Still… not becoming our maestro will be such a waste…"
"…"
"Can you at least tell us why you won't take it?"
At my second year of high school, I have been basically asked by everyone in my school to become our Symphonia's maestro due to my mastery in the instruments and the several compositions that I wrote for tournaments that I was forced by them to enter.
But I don't want that. I don't want to use my passion for material gain or to become famous.
"I'm sorry…"
"…"
"It just goes against my principles."
The reason why I am so passionate with music is because…
"Hey! I thought you weren't going to show up."
"Don't joke like that, Aiko-nee. It's the same as usual, everyone is forcing me to become the maestro."
"Muu… I am becoming jealous of you. You're so good with something that I don't have even any clue about."
"Haha! Don't be so glum about it, Aiko-nee. Everyone is good at something, you know. Maybe you just haven't discovered it yet."
"Aww…! You're so sweet! I'm so happy that I've got a younger brother like you!"
"…"
I want to use my music… to win your heart, Aiko-nee.
"Welcome back, you two!"
""We're home, mom!""
"Now, now… Get your snacks and rest up. I've prepared some homemade potato chips and barley tea. Just get them at the kitchen table."
"Thanks, mom!"
"I'll go change in my room first!"
"Aiko! Don't run up the stairs! I just mopped there!"
"I'll be careful!"
After a year, our small family of four has been living peacefully even though there were rumors that a new virus is starting to spread from Tokyo's Kabuki-cho area. Still, I was thankful that all of us are safe and even though I am still in the middle of adjusting to it, Maiko-san has been a very good step-mother to me who understood my closeness to my birth-mother and did her best to fill that hole in my heart.
"Practicing Chopin's pieces again?"
"You know it. I've been pretty obsessed with this since it was the first piece that I completely mastered when I started with the piano."
"Well, who can blame you? It is a very elegant piece that is both poignant and peaceful… Even I who has no knowledge or alignment to music can feel it whenever you play it."
"…Maiko-san."
"Yes, sweetie?"
"Thank you very much for everything you've done to help me cope with mom's death."
"-!"
"I know that dad and I still have some issues regarding his lacking response to losing her… But I don't blame you about that at all."
"…"
"If I am going to be honest, I am happy that you were the woman to became my step-mother."
Maiko-san hid her face under her hands as she started to sniffle and sob after what I just said. Maybe because she heard that I stayed beside my mother until her very death and offered to her my first ever mastered musical piece, that she felt she will never be able to replace her and felt a sense of inferiority when it comes to me.
"You… come here…"
"Gladly."
I stood up from my chair and embraced her as she continued to shed tears of joy.
"I am happy… so happy that I… I was able to be a good mother to you."
"Yes. Thank you very much, Maiko-san…"
If I loved my mother with all of my heart, I cherished Maiko-san with all that I am. These two women who made me who I am, were the people I first remembered…
…when that day came and I lost all reason to want to live.
"Are you sure about this, dude?"
"I mean, you are non-blood related siblings and given the recent drop of marriage and birth rate, laws have been very loose about who you can legally be in a relationship with."
"Yeah. I heard that the National Diet is thinking of amending those laws."
"I'm… also quite nervous about this. It feels so right when it is supposed to be wrong. I don't know if Aiko-nee will even take me seriously."
Before our autumn break, I consulted with my friends about my plan to finally confess my feelings to Aiko-nee. I expected them to think that I was joking or think that the very idea is disgusting since we are siblings, but they didn't discourage me and simply stated what may become the problems later on.
"You know, dude. Listen to me… I may still be cranky since you didn't accept the Maestro's position for the Symphonia, but I've got your back in this one."
"Yep! Anything for our little Mozart."
"We'll help you out as much as we can, buddy!"
"You guys…"
And so, during our way back home, I said everything that was in my heart to the subject of my love.
"I love you, Aiko-nee!"
"-!"
"Not like a sibling, but as a woman!"
"W-Wait… I-"
"I know this might be wrong since we are siblings right now… But… But I-!"
With all my heart, with all my love…
"I want to be with you forever!"
I confessed all that she was to me as the one and only that I loved.
"I… I'm sorry…"
"…H-huh?"
"I… can't answer to your feelings yet."
Yet in the end, she told me that she is not yet ready to answer to my confession and left me in the middle of that street, dumbfounded and disheartened…
"Hmm? You're late."
"I- I'm sorry, Maiko-san…"
"It's alright. You practiced with your friends in the Symphonia, right? I can understand that well."
"Aiko-nee… is she home now too?"
"Aiko? She called me earlier and said that she'll be staying in a friend's house because of the incoming university exams. Were you worried since she didn't walk home with you?"
"N-no… Not at all…"
"Strangely enough, your father will also not be home until tomorrow noon."
"What?"
"He called me earlier as well. He said that there's an emergency at work and he has to go to Natori to help out. Because of that, I will have to skip a day in my vitamin supplement intake since it's your father who buys it directly from his company."
"I see…"
"Now, now… Go and take a bath. I already warmed it up for you. Go on while I am still preparing dinner."
"Y-yes…"
After having a bath and dinner, I went to the piano to practice again. But as I placed my fingers on the keys, I blanked out and can't find a suitable piece to play from my mind.
"Hm? Is something wrong, sweetie?"
"I…"
Maybe because of what happened earlier, I can't find a suitable piece to play. Ever since we became siblings after all, it was Aiko-nee who has become my inspiration to play and compose music.
"I see… I think your time playing music alone is over."
"What? W-wait-! M-Maiko-san! That violin is-"
Without listening to my shocked words, Maiko-san picked up my violin from my open violin case and to my shock, played a familiar classical piece.
"Moonlight sonata…"
"Ever since you thanked me for supporting your passion, I've practiced on your violin whenever I have no housework to do to further help and relate with you…"
"Maiko-san…"
"Shall we have a duet, Maestro?"
"…Yes. We shall, madame."
With a smile on my face and a relieved heart, I softly pressed the keys of the piano to start the slow and melodramatic first movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.
Maiko-san cannot do the necessary vibratos on the violin strings yet, but even her novice-level of playing, sounded like a master performing the piece with all of its emotion and elegance.
There at that night, it was only us two. A woman and her stepson. A boy and his stepmother. Playing a piece with that seemed to lullaby any audience into a gentle and calm sleep.
But as we are about to start the third movement which becomes loud and lively, a violin bow fell to the ground followed by the person who was holding it.
"M-Maiko-san!"
"Urgh… Ahh…"
"Are you alright?! Where does it hurt?!"
"No, no… I just felt a bit weak… I'm alright."
"Your medicine… where is it?"
"Your dad has it too since I ran out yesterday… But maybe you can find some at our room."
"Alright! I'll be right back, okay?"
I ran upstairs and entered their room where I frantically searched for Maiko-san's medicine in their drawers and in their bathroom's medicine cabinet.
"Where is it… where is it?!"
Finally, I opened their closet and from behind father's folders, found a large jar of capsules which looked like the same as Maiko-san's medicine.
"No, it's not only one of them…"
I took the folders out of the closet and saw that the jar was not alone. There was about 12 of them in there, placed inside large jars that aren't unlike the ones used in candy stores.
"Aaaaahhhh!!!"
"Maiko-san!"
However, it wasn't the right time for me to be stunned in there. After hearing Maiko-san's pained screams from downstairs, I opened a jar, took two capsules from inside and put everything back to its place.
"Here! I'll do get some water and-"
As soon as I gave it to Maiko-san, she swallowed it even without a glass of water.
"Pheew… That helps a bit… Argh…"
"I'll help you get to bed, Maiko-san. Lend me your arm."
"Mm. Thanks."
I helped her walk back towards their room and tuck her in as she seemed weakened and in pain.
"Sweetie… I'm sorry that we didn't get to finish the song."
"…It's alright, Maiko-san. Your health is more important."
"I also broke your violin bow… I'm sorry for damaging your stuff."
"No need to apologize. It's just a violin bow. I can just buy another one sometime."
"Mm, mm… You're too forgiving, sweetie. Would it be wrong for you to be angry towards someone?
"…I don't think I can ever be angry or feel hatred to someone. I wasn't raised like that my mom and you."
"Then what about your issues with your father?"
"…What I feel towards him is more of a sense of disappointment."
"Why?"
"Because unlike me, he didn't seem to be bothered at all that mom have died. Again, this isn't about your marriage with him, I fully accepted and respected that already. It's more of his lackluster response and actions before and after mom died. She rarely visited her, only talked about money when he did visit and when we were picking up mom's bones from the crematorium, he seemed to be doing it quickly like he didn't want to stay there and waste his time."
"Maybe he just doesn't want to watch his wife die slowly and was worried about your future which made him discuss finances with her while she is still alive?"
"…I don't really know."
That night, I stayed up until Maiko-san fell asleep and I went back to my room to rest as well…
…not knowing that the day of my horrors are nearly reaching me.
A few weeks later, winter vacation was about to start.
"The Symphonia will be playing at Tokyo during the winter musical festival. I talked to Sensei and he told me that he reserved a front-row seat for you. He also wanted to credit you for your compositions that you allowed us to play."
"Tell him that I will accept the credits. But I won't be there for the performances."
"Ah! Oh yeah… It's about your stepmother, right?"
"Yes. I have to take care of Maiko-san during the winter."
Over the few weeks since she started to become weaker and weaker, I have been beside Maiko-san. Tending to the house chores that she can no longer do and monitoring her status to make sure that she can make a good recovery.
I was puzzled about it at first. Maiko-san was very lively and strong just a few weeks before and yet, she is now almost alike mom shortly before she-
No… No… I must strengthen myself and have hope.
I won't let Maiko-san die without being happy… I want to give her the same joyful death that mom had… As thanks for all that she did for me.
"Hey."
"-!"
"Want to walk home together after visiting mom?"
"…Sure. Let's go."
At the school gate, a young woman called me and I immediately recognized her face that can only belong to my elder stepsister Aiko.
"Inuguchi-san! You have visitors."
"Oh! You two… I'm so glad to see you visit together."
"Hello mom."
"Hello, Maiko-san."
I told Maiko-san that my compositions will be played in the Winter Tournament in Tokyo and she shouted it to her fellow patients in the ward even though she was already weak.
"Did you hear that? My musician son's songs will be played in Tokyo!"
"M-Maiko-san! Don't shout it! It's embarrassing!"
"Ehh? Why can't I be proud of that? We should celebrate it, you know."
"Still… it's kind of embarrassing."
Next, Aiko-nee said that she didn't pass the scholarship exam to Sendai University but has found a way to pay for her fees that she will be tending to later.
"That's not something to hang your head for, Aiko-dear… I know you did your best even if it wasn't enough to make you win."
"I know. Thank you for cheering me up, mom."
"See? You just need to smile it away. Come on, Aiko. Give mama a smile."
Perhaps it was because she felt that Maiko-san is trying to look as healthy and well as possible that Aiko-nee can't easily smile as before. The one that she gave to Maiko-san was quite strained and has a sense of pain underneath it.
"You two… let's be realistic… I think it's already obvious that I will not be long for this world."
""…""
"Even though I will be gone, I don't want you three to have any burdens and continue to be sad for me. That's why I already talked to your father about my life insurance."
"Life insurance? This is the first time you mentioned that."
"Ahaha… I actually only remembered it a while back. Renewing and paying for it has become a routine for me that it never crossed my mind how it may help now that I am bed-ridden."
Maiko-san said that father has been settling the terms of her life insurance and because her death seems to fall far from the expiration date of the contract, we can get enough money to let us live a comfortable life until I and Aiko-nee becomes working people.
"You two… don't be too sad for something inevitable. This is just how life is… We are born, we age, we age more and we will eventually leave this world…"
"Maiko-san…"
"…"
"I… will never look back on my life and think that it is a waste or a sad one. I was able to become a fitting stepmother for you when your mother died… I was able to marry your father who must've felt devastated from his prior wife's death…"
Maiko-san held Aiko-nee's cheek and with a tender smile, spoke to her personally.
"And… I was able to raise such a beautiful and kind-hearted young woman like you, Aiko…"
"…"
"You should go home now. You wouldn't want to be caught by the snowfall."
As we were walking home, Aiko-nee stopped on her tracks and turned around to face me with a serious expression.
"A-Aiko-nee… what's wrong?"
"Do you remember your confession before autumn break?"
"-!"
I was left stunned after she said those words that reminded me of the day when we stopped walking home together and we rarely got to talk with each other.
"I want to answer that…"
"You mean…"
She approached me and whispered to my ear words that I didn't expect to ever hear from her lips.
"…Come to my room tonight. I will answer your confession there and then."
"-!"
After saying those words, she ran away from the scene and headed towards our home. Meanwhile, I was left there frozen with nothing in my mind at all.
"Did she…"
Did she actually said that…? Did Aiko-nee…
"Did she actually recognized my feelings?"
I felt like I was dreaming… I was so happy yet I can even make a smile or cheer out…
But later on, I realized… This wasn't a dream…
It was something worse… something more akin to a nightmare.
"Two violin bows from this brand, please…"
"Roger."
Instead of heading home, I walked back to the music shop after all of my adrenaline from earlier reminded me that I still haven't bought a replacement for the one that Maiko-san broke.
"You look livelier than before."
"Huh?"
"I don't have that many customers. I can easily remember them especially a hotshot like you who seems to be overflowing with talent."
"Ahaha… Is that so?"
The owner of the music shop talked to me while his worker headed at the storeroom to find my violin bows.
"Let me guess, your inspiration revisited you after so long?"
"You can say that… I… I found a new hope in my passion, you see."
"With that kind of giggles and smiles… A woman, I presume?"
"Yes."
"And you've been close for a long time?"
"Yeah."
"And after holding back her answer, she finally gave you a hint?"
"Yes!"
I was still in cloud nine and filled with excitement that when the elderly owner asked the next question, I answered honestly before quickly covering my mouth.
"She is your sister, right?"
"Yes! …Oh no-!"
"…"
I looked around to see if there was someone else in the store except for the two of us and I heaved a relieved sigh after confirming that there was none.
"…I won't criticize you about that, don't worry."
"H-Huh?"
"I just… want to give you some words."
The old man pointed at something from the shelf behind him and I looked up to see a picture of Mozart.
"Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. A ubiquitous name for all musicians of the past and the present. A once in a millennium musical genius whose works continues to become relevant even after hundreds of years since his death."
He pointed at another portrait and there, I saw a picture of Beethoven.
"Ludwig can Beethoven. The musician who didn't care if life has screwed him over with deafness and continued to compose the most marvelous and beautiful pieces of music that would be identified by both the elderly and the young."
He pointed at the last portrait and I saw a picture of Bach.
"Johann Sebastian Bach. Even though you don't know his full name, you will never mistake his First Prelude in the Cello. The flowing melodies that encapsulates all of the lows and highs of life… all in a sheet of paper with staffs, notes and other musical symbols…"
"Why are you telling me all of this, owner?"
"…I fear that you are doing something that will lead you to an end not befitting a person of your caliber, kid."
"What… do you mean?"
"Let me ask you a question to answer your question… If Beethoven decided to just accept that he will be deaf and he should just stop, do you think Symphony 5 will ever carry the same emotion as it does now?"
"Symphony 5… I don't think so."
"Why?"
"Symphony 5 was his challenge against fate. His valiant and almost foolhardy defiance to accept his impairment. He was inspired by that gradual deafness that he composed Symphony 5 as beautifully as he did."
"Then you have your answer…"
"Huh?"
"If you lose your inspiration… or rather, your inspiration becomes tainted… will you still be the same person as you are right now?"
Is he saying that I will lose Aiko-nee… or rather, the inspiration that she gives me?
"Make your choice, kid… A normal human losing his heart is a tragedy for himself… But a musician who loses his heart… is a tragedy for all mankind."
He took a business card from his pocket and slid it across the counter which I took and read as "Mori Music Shop. Subsidiary store of the Mori group of companies".
"Here are your violin bows. I placed them on plastic cases so you won't damage the strings while you're carrying it."
"Y-Yeah… Here's my pay-"
"No need to pay, kid."
"Huh?"
"Just go and take it. You can consider your willingness to listen to me as enough of a payment."
"S-Sure…"
As I walked towards the door, I heard the employee arguing with his boss.
"Sir. Those bows are from an Italian company that has already closed down. Why didn't you let him pay for it accordingly?"
"…Trust me. He will eventually understand that he has lost something much more valuable."
Nighttime came and opened the door of my room to walk towards Aiko-nee's room just as how she asked me to.
"I wish I don't smell… I feel so nervous…"
My hands felt cold, and my legs were shaking as I approached her room's door.
Behind this door is the room of my stepsister and the woman that I love. She told me that she will answer my confession tonight and that made me happy from the bottom of my heart.
"Aiko-nee… I-"
"Ahhhh!!!"
"-!"
Before I can even knock, I heard her voice from behind the door and my mind raced in shock.
"Agh!"
"Moreee! Moreee!!!"
But instead of just her voice, I recognized another voice shouting words that can only mean one thing.
"…!"
"Hello there, son…"
"So, you did come, huh?"
I slowly opened the door to see my own father and stepsister naked on her bed. Holding each other closely with their genitals connected and their bodies dripping in sweat.
"Don't just stand there. Get the camera and record us."
"W-What…?"
"Dad and I are celebrating our marriage… or at least, our honeymoon before our legal marriage…"
At that very moment as they continued with their intercourse and I helplessly fell down on my knees in absolute disbelief of what is happening, I knew that…
"…I'm leaving."
"Close the door. It's getting cold."
"Then let me warm you up some more, Aiko. Ehehe!"
"Aaahhh! Not at my sensitive spot, dad!"
…this is a nightmare.
"Mrs. Inuguchi has becoming weaker and weaker. Her hands and feet are starting to tingle wildly, and we are starting to see black blotches on her skin. Because of that, we brought her to an ICU to keep an eye on her."
"I…I see…"
"Sir? Are you alright? Is something wrong?"
"N-no… Please just let me visit her."
Even though it was midnight and visiting hours are over, my pleading to the nurse was effective as she led me to Maiko-san's new room where there is a respirator connected to her and a defibrillator ready nearby.
"Sweetie…? Is that you?"
"Y-Yes… This is me…"
"Why are you here… this late at night…? Why did you go here from our home…?"
"I… I…"
I wanted to tell her everything… that everything I believed in…
"I had…
Everything I thought was genuine about that woman that I considered as my sister and loved with all of my heart…
"I had a nightmare."
…was a lie.
"What nightmare is it, sweetie? I will listen to it and comfort you."
"Aiko-nee and dad… I saw them…"
"What is it?"
"They were having sex and said that they are waiting for you to die so they can be married…"
This is a nightmare…
"They looked like monsters… Heartless monsters… she even made me hope… she said she will answer my confession…"
This is not reality…
"But what I saw there… What I saw in her room…"
Please someone… even just a single person… tell me…
"And with that man nonetheless… that useless bastard that did nothing but lie to me and mom!"
Please tell me… that none of this is real…
"This nightmare… please tell me that it was just a nightmare and none of this is true…"
After I poured out all of the swirling sense of anger and disgust from that betrayal, I looked towards Maiko-san and as my blood pressure subsided and I heard not my raging heartbeat but the steady noise from her bed, another tragedy struck me.
"Maiko-san… Maiko-san…!"
"…"
"No, no, no, no!!! Nurse! Nurse! Anyone! Please help us!"
"Situation in ICU room 4! Get a vial of Epi from the fridge!"
"Call a doctor! Someone from ER must be free right now!"
"Please come here quickly! Her heart isn't beating!"
Even with all of their actions… that night…
"Time of death. December 24, 2058. 11:29 PM."
I lost another mother… and the last person that I have ever held dear in my now broken heart.
"Deal with it yourself. We're busy here."
"Hey dad! Quit wasting your time with him and come here for another round…"
"Ohoho! I sure will, Aiko."
Those two monsters… didn't even respond appropriately when I told them that Maiko-san is dead. It was as if her death wasn't even a big deal to them. After I put down the phone, I was approached by the life insurance company's officer who told me about what will happen now.
"We will handle her cremation rites as per the contract."
"I understand… About the money in her life insurance."
"Oh. I believe it was already claimed by your father after Mrs. Inuguchi wrote a letter that made him her only beneficiary."
"What…?"
"I think your sister was there too when we handed over the cheque. They seem to be smiling brightly back then."
"W-wait… when did this happen?"
"Umm… I think it was in autumn."
"-!"
"The timing was actually weird, you know. It was early evening and they were our last clients."
"Urk-!"
"S-Sir?!"
"Ack!"
I can hardly contain my disgust as my stomach curdled into knots after learning the entire truth.
"Those monsters… Those inhuman monsters!"
"S-sir! Please stop hitting your head on the wall!"
"L-Let's lead you to the ER and let us treat your wound…"
"…!"
"S-Sorry!"
"W-We will stop bothering you!"
"Tch…! Urk… Aaah… Aaaaahhhh! Waaaaaahhhhh!!!"
As I cried in the hospital's toilet… all of my tears carried nothing but sorrow towards Maiko-san who died believing that her daughter was a prim and proper woman… and her husband actually loved her.
To them, she was nothing but a hindrance to her lust… and a source of money that will soon be useable to him.
"Are those…?"
As some nurses brought me to the emergency room after I cried all of my heart out, I noticed that a lot of people are being brought in that had familiar uniforms on their bodies.
"The Symphonia…"
I approached some of them and at the end of the room, saw three bodies covered with bloodstained, white blankets that are about to be brought out by some workers.
"You… you three-!"
I took a glimpse of their faces and recognized them as my friends who left earlier to join in the tournament in Tokyo.
"Nurse… what happened to them?"
"…Vehicular accident. The bus they were riding slid at the frozen road and rolled across an entire avenue."
"-!"
"It is a tragedy."
If I was devastated with what I saw earlier and Maiko-san's death… learning that my friends who was the people I could've approached to find comfort was also dead…
"S-Sir!"
"Someone fainted here! Get him to a chair and wake him up!"
It was already morning when I woke up after fainting and I began my aimless walking across the city while there was a heavy snowfall.
"…"
I want to die.
"…"
I just want to die.
"…"
What is the point of my life now?
"…Kid."
Please… just let me die…
"Hey, kid!"
"Please kill me already!!!"
*Piyak-!*
After I shouted my only wish at that moment, I was slapped on the face by someone that I know.
"…Not yet."
"H-huh?"
"Not yet… you still have a score to settle…"
It was Mori Music shop's owner. The old man who gave me those expensive violin bows for free yesterday.
"Coffee…"
"…T-Thank you."
He took me inside his shop and gave me a cup of coffee. But even though I thanked him for it, I didn't have the strength to even touch it.
"What I said back then came to reality… Once a musician loses his heart, it is a tragedy for all mankind."
"You…"
"Yes?"
"How did you know that something like that is about to happen?"
"…"
The old man placed his coffee mug to the table and looked at me straightly.
"Look at me."
"What?"
"Look at my eyes."
I did as he said and as soon as our gazes met, all of the hairs in my body stood on its end as I was attacked by a sense of dread and terror in nothing but a blink of an eye.
"I have seen all evil that mankind can conjure… all of their sins… monstrosities… and wrongdoings… I can see everything that I should see about you humans…"
"…"
"That man and that young woman whom you are related to as father and stepsister are humans in the body… but monsters in their souls."
"So, what you said yesterday was-"
"A warning… and invitation."
After saying those words, his employee came from the storeroom and placed a gramophone on the table.
"What is this?"
"A way for you to settle your score with them who brought you all of this pain and betrayal.
He placed a vinyl record on the machine and wound it up to make it spin.
"This is…"
"The third and last movement of Moonlight Sonata. I believe you and your stepmother wasn't able to finish this piece during your first and last duet."
He sped up the record and after it ended, the pin jumped up and activated a lighter at the side of the machine.
"You said that you wanted to die…"
"I did."
"Then don't die alone and leave those monsters alive."
"Then this is…"
"As I said, a method to settle the score."
Nighttime came and as I expected, those two are doing it again without any care for the world.
"Mom… Maiko-san… I will be by your side soon…"
I went to the kitchen and moved the stove out of its place before taking the gas hose to make a huge tear on it.
"I know that this might make you sad… maybe even angry… but let me worry about that once I get there."
I wound up the gramophone, placed the vinyl disk on the plate and placed the pin into place to start the piece.
"This song… shall be my lullaby to myself… just as how I offered one to the two of you."
"Hey, dumbass! Lower your music down there!"
Instead of heeding his shout, I increased the volume of the music before I wore a mask to not suffocate because of the gas.
"You better turn that off or you'll awaken the neighbors!"
"You're ruining our mood, son!"
I increased the volume again and as the piece reached its end, the door of the kitchen was forcefully opened by a naked elderly man followed by a similarly nude young woman.
"What are you-?!"
"Dad… Aiko-san…"
"Wait! The gas line is-!"
"Let us all die, and the two of you…"
Finally, my last wish has come true as the pin of the gramophone jumped up and I said my last words.
"…go to hell."
As soon as the lighter shot up a flame, my vision was eaten up by a bright light as I watched until the very end, the two of them burning down in an instant.
"Hahaha… Ahahaha…"
"Argh! My face! My eyes!"
"Aiko! Help your father!"
I was not safe from the blast of the fire. I should already be dead because of all the burns that I received. But the rush of seeing these two monsters groan in pain as they slowly die…
"Aiko! Aikooo!!!"
"Aaahhh! It burns! It hurts!"
…filled me with absolute joy.
"Huh?"
"You did it. You have done what you must do."
"Owner?"
"I have a name. It's Charon."
"Charon…san?"
"That can suffice."
Suddenly, the owner of the music shop entered the ruins of our house that was blown apart by the gas explosion and identified himself.
"Why are you here?"
"To finish my own agenda."
"And that is?"
"Make you a spirit of Death."
"…"
"Do you want to continue doing these kinds of things… but instead for the sake of personal revenge, this would be for the purification of this filthy world."
Spirit of Death who will purify this monstrous world… what could go wrong?
"I accept."
Starting from that night. When I claimed the lives of my first sinners… I continued to do it again and again to slowly bring the world back to order.
And even now in the present…
"Where is this, Charon-san?"
"Chiba… near the Yokohama area where the Miyazono corporation is hiding their crimes. Our believers… have requested for your performance in this place, Maestro."
I will continue to do as how I have always done.
"W-Who are you two?!"
"Sound the alarm! There are intruders!"
"You are in the private property of the Miyazono conglomerate! Raise your hands and don't even attempt to fight back!"
"…Well then, let's give them a proper performance… Charon-san."
"As you say, Maestro."
"
I am the Conductor of the Departed Symphonia and the Maestro who judges the sinful.
"R-R-Run!!!"
"Get away!"
""
I am the 4th Spirit of Death. Maestro Inuguchi Tsutomu.