Tick-Tick-Tick-Tick
In a dark room, Lina sat at a coffee table inside the living room. The lights of the street light were the only thing to heighten the room's atmosphere.
Tick-Tick-Tick-Tick
It was the unremitting sound of ticking coming from the metronome.
Lina closed her eyes and engulfed herself in this sound. Mozart's Twelve Variations on "Ah Vous Dirai-Je, Maman" Lina didn't know why she struggled so much on a piece she had mastered. Although it didn't look like it, inside her mind, she was still playing the piano.
Using the metronome, she tried her best to correct her tempo, but alas, she wasn't able to do so right out of the bat. But she didn't let this disturb her. After all, this was just a process.
An hour later.
"Argh! I can't get it right!" Lina shouted, finally standing up in frustration. "I keep fixing the mistakes, but why does it sound off?!"
Knock! Knock!
The sound of wood knocking resounded throughout the living room, causing Lina to snap out of her thoughts and rush towards the door.
"Yes?" She said as she peeked out the door.
"Piano ######## ### Lina?" The guy spoke, but Lina had no idea what he was saying. But seeing the person's uniform, she was sure these guys were from Larry's store.
Lina just simply nodded her head.
The delivery guy then showed Lina a clipboard with a single sheet of paper with a black-inked pen.
"#### #########."
Lina knew he was asking for her signature, so she simply wrote Lina in English letters.
The delivery nodded his head and left. After he had left, Lina rushed to the window and peeked outside to see a moving truck with people unloading an upright piano.
"It's here," Lina spoke with a giant smile that she couldn't wipe off. Even while the delivery men set up the piano in her apartment, she couldn't help but smile. It was like receiving a brand-new toy.
Lina set off the delivery men with a wave and finally shut the door, and everything went silent.
"Fuu..." Lina let out a breath of air, staring at the piano before her. Lina didn't waste any time as she hopped onto her leather bench and immediately began playing.
But the more she played, the more intense the frown on her face became.
It wasn't just Mozart's Twelve Variations on "Ah Vous Dirai-Je, Maman" that suffered a performance loss. It was every other piece she knew. They all sounded like shit!
Lina tried her best to fix these pieces by a small margin, but nothing changed. "Fuck...! What the hell is going on!" Lina shouted in an outburst of anger. "It's been three hours, but why has nothing changed?!"
Tick-Tick-Tick
The metronome continued to tick without pause.
"Haaaa..." Lina sighed again while pulling on her face. Then, resting her finger for a minute, she immediately began to play again.
From scales to complex pieces, there always seemed to be something wrong. In her past life, things like these weren't a problem, but now she was suffering.
Lina had been playing for hours, so she was now used to this new body, but it didn't show any signs of improvement.
"Ah!" Lina suddenly pulled her fingers away from the keyboard as she felt a sudden sharp pain on her finger.
Although Lina had gotten used to this body, this body wasn't used to Lina pounding against keys that hard.
It was beginning to hurt, but there was no way Lina could stop, not when her playing was like this!
Tick-Tick-Tick-Tick-Tick
"Ah! C'mon! Fuck!" Lina cursed out loud as she struggled to play a long trill and match it with the metronome. 'Faster! Faster! Faster!'
It was then a wave of pain hit the tip of Lina's finger.
"Ah, shit!" Lina shouted with vexation and stood up. However, Lina didn't stop there; she swung her hand at the metronome and sent it hurling toward the wooden floor.
Clang!
The metronome crashed and created a rush of loud noises. But despite Lina's outburst of emotions, the metronome continued to tick, even while lying on the ground.
Tick-Tick-Tick-Tick
'What is wrong with me?!' Lina thought, clutching her aching head with her throbbing fingers. 'Can't I at least get one part right?!'
Drip!
Lina felt a wet sensation drip down her head, prompting her to examine her right hand.
Upon a closer look, Lina frowned as she noticed her middle finger was torn up and bleeding.
Finally, after six hours, Lina left the piano to look for a first aid kit which she found under her bed. And that was it. The moment she gave herself some bandages, she immediately got back onto her chair and began to play. Unbothered by the pain coming from her fingers. She just wasn't in a position to be complaining about pain.
The entirety of Lina's room was filled with the sound of piano reverbing; even the faint piano sound was heard throughout the hallways of Lina's apartment.
It was a 4 o'clock meeting into the night, and that was when the sound of the piano came to an erupting stop.
"I can't move my fingers…." Lina muttered as her trembling fingers hovered over the piano keys. There was no pain; her finger was just numb.
"Argh..." Lina groaned while getting up from her leather seat. "This body isn't used to playing the piano at all."
Although Lina wanted to play the piano more, she couldn't. Her hand was numb, which also meant she didn't feel any sensation from her fingers. Like this, she wasn't able to play.
"I'll study some German," Lina spoke as she walked into her bedroom and took out her phone that was stashed in her pocket.
She then pulled up a video on basic German.
Then also pulled out a notebook and sat on the white desk in her room.
But even while learning a new language, the thought of piano never left Lina's mind.
"Abababa.... need to play faster here..." Lina tiredly muttered, her head swaying left and right as she fought off the urge to fall asleep. But eventually, her head finally slammed down onto the notebook she was writing, and off she went to dreamland.