Eyes on Kazune, I moved away from the piano, slowly edging towards the first table. Making my way around the staff members, I moved to the next table, and then the next. The sound wandered, disordered and confused, bounced off the moving waiting staff and was absorbed by the spread-out tablecloths. I could feel this in my very skin. Suddenly I recalled how, in the twins’ music room, it had seemed such a waste that the sound was deadened by the heavy cloth curtains.

I’d been careless and had barely considered the surroundings. I’d only worked with pianos in domestic homes and my inexperience showed. But this wasn’t the time for regret and there was no time for introspection. I had to retune it. Oh, but how could I? There’d be more tablecloths, and the place would be full of guests, each of them reflecting or absorbing the sound. The ceaseless activity of staff bringing in and taking out food, the clatter of silverware against plates, people whispering to each other fond memories of the bride and groom … I needed to imagine all of this in order to adjust the sound. Would there be enough time? There had to be.

‘Kazune, please let me adjust the piano a bit.’

She nodded, accommodating as ever.

‘Kazune will be fine. She can play any piano anywhere,’ Yuni said with a mischievous smile. I hated how tactless I was being.

‘My apologies,’ I said, bowing to the girls. I remembered how I’d bowed in apology to them before. How, while still a beginner, I’d thought I could tune their piano by myself but ended up unable to. Since then, nothing had changed. The only thing I had now was a little more technique, a little more experience and the determination to get things right at all costs.

‘This might take a while, so why don’t you find a corner to take a break and relax?’ I bowed to them once more. I had no idea how long it would take, and more worryingly, there was no guarantee I’d even be able to do it.

‘Mr Tomura,’ Yuni said cheerfully, ‘it’ll be OK. I’ll sit over there and you can transmit the sound in my direction.’

Transmit? Unable to fathom what she was saying, I must have looked perplexed. As Yuni walked to the back of the hall she said it in a different way.

‘Umm, it’d be good to draw the sound out all the way over to here. That sound you’re getting right now. Draw out – is that the right expression? Umm – lift the sound all the way over here!’

I couldn’t help chuckling as she struggled to come up with the right word. ‘Thank you.’

Transmit, draw out, lift. I knew what Yuni was trying to express. The question was how to produce it.