‘Well, we talked about why Tomura might have clients cancel on him or ask to change tuners,’ Mr Akino said.

‘I don’t think that Tomura’s made any major slip-ups. I remember bringing up the idea about the ten thousand hours,’ Miss Kitagawa said.

‘No one really accepts that notion,’ Mr Akino said.

Ah, so that’s it. The theory that people had no faith in me because I was young and inexperienced was simply offered as a consolation.

‘People who can do the work manage it even if they haven’t put in ten thousand hours. And those who can’t, can’t, even with countless hours under their belt.’

Mr Yanagi gazed up at the ceiling. ‘That’s a pretty blunt way of putting it.’

‘Everybody knows it, they just don’t say it. So it’s not worth thinking about ability or aptitude because it won’t get you anywhere if you do.’

A pause, then Mr Akino added, ‘You just do the work.’

That sent a chill up my spine. Was that true of Mr Akino too?

‘You can live without talent. But in our hearts we still believe that something we can’t quite grasp even after ten thousand hours will somehow, maybe, all fall into place after twenty thousand. Isn’t it more important to build up a higher, broader view than to try to see things too simplistically?’

‘Yes,’ I said, my voice hoarse. I didn’t want to agree so readily. I wasn’t sure if I really got it, but I did think that what he said was, for the most part, true. We’re not here and surviving because we have talent. Whether you have it or not, you keep on living. And I didn’t want to agonize over whether I had it or not. The only option was to do the work and discover with my own hands something substantial, something meaningful.

‘Hi, everyone, I’m back,’ rang a reassuring voice from the door. Mr Itadori was just coming back into the office.

Before I could say anything, Mr Yanagi asked, ‘Mr Itadori, what do you consider to be the single most important asset for a tuner?’

As he placed his tuning bag on the floor, he replied, in his gentle voice, ‘That would be the clients.’

I recalled the sublime tone Mr Itadori had created in the concert hall to support the performance of the top-flight pianist. Yet without a doubt it was the pianist himself – Mr Itadori’s client, in other words – who had succeeded in drawing that sound from the piano, with Mr Itadori’s assistance.