Tuning accomplished on whose behalf? Who was it I wanted to make happy?

Kazune, of course.

I loved her playing, and I’d tried to ensure this piano gave full voice to the beauty of her performance. In that moment, I had had neither Mr Yanagi nor the wedding guests in mind. All I had thought of was Kazune’s playing.

Which I now realized was a mistake – I should have thought of the guests as well, considered the size of the room and the height of the ceiling. The front seats, the seats at the back, the middle seats, near the door – how many people would be there, and where. I should have imagined in advance how the sound would project, so that it would reach each and every one of them in equal measure.

Up until now I’d only tuned pianos in people’s homes. And that wouldn’t do if I wanted to tune Kazune’s piano. I finally understood that. I’d been so sure I wasn’t going to aim at being a concert piano tuner, and it had been a mistake to think in that way.

‘It’d be good to check that the dampers are all coming down as one.’ Mr Itadori’s voice was cool, yet his words were firm. I’d adjusted the pedals so the dampers would all lift together, but hadn’t thought about the way they’d come down.

‘You need to assist Kazune in bringing out the very best qualities in her performance,’ he added.

‘You’re absolutely right.’

When she had played the piano in our little auditorium at the showroom, the chords she had produced were exquisite. My conjecture had been that she had enhanced the sound through her pedal technique. And I was right.

I trembled at the thought that I had learned something new. (One truly can tremble with excitement, it turns out.) I’d adjusted the pedals so they would be a touch more sensitive. Any more and they’d be too responsive. Yet Mr Itadori was telling me to make them even more precise.

‘I think you should trust Kazune more.’

‘I know.’

He trusted Kazune, and at this moment I felt as though he trusted me, too.

‘That’s part of our job as tuners, too, to nurture pianists.’

Later, when she took a break from playing, I’d adjust the pedals for maximum sensitivity. I’d been told how humiliating it was to retune a piano in the middle of a performance, but I didn’t care. All I cared about was helping Kazune produce the most beautiful, memorable sound she could.

‘I wonder if maybe …’ Mr Akino began. ‘If maybe someone like Tomura might actually get there.’

Someone like Tomura? What kind of person did he mean? And get where?