The sound filled the room, the notes spinning and swirling. I had no idea what they were playing with such focus and energy, but the twins had come alive, the life force flowing from their dark, sparkling eyes, from their flushed cheeks, from the very ends of the hair that fell to their shoulders. They were reading from a score, but the story they told through the music was utterly their own, and in those moments it felt as if the performance they offered up was for me alone.

‘Bravo!’ I clapped loudly. It was an inadequate response, and I felt ashamed that it was all I could muster. ‘Thank you so very much,’ I added for good measure.

The girls smiled with pleasure and bowed. ‘No one has ever appreciated our playing so much,’ Yuni said.

‘Really?’ I was unsure how to respond.

‘Yes, really,’ Kazune confirmed.

How could that be? I wondered. That couldn’t be right, at all. They were just being modest.

‘It makes us glow, doesn’t it?’ Yuni said, nudging her sister.

‘Yep.’

Yuni was holding both hands to her cheeks, while Kazune shyly scratched her head. Somehow it was now more obvious to me which twin was which.

‘Well then, I’d best be off,’ I said.

As I made to leave, one of the girls placed a hand on my arm. ‘Wait a moment. It does feel like the whole pitch is higher. Maybe because it’s so dry outside?’

‘It’s a little bit awkward,’ both girls said at once, and I admit it slightly concerned me too. But the sound wasn’t particularly off. It’d be fine without serious adjustment. If someone were to adjust it, it would need to be Mr Yanagi.

But I was so tempted to try. I could have a go, couldn’t I? So the twins could enjoy the piano the way they really wanted.

I should have known.

Each piano is different, and this was my first solo tuning appointment. The room was very dry. It wasn’t hot but still I was sweating. I shouldn’t have been nervous, but my fingers were trembling. I should have turned the pins slightly but I overdid it. I tried to turn them back, and my fingers slipped. Something I usually found so simple was taking for ever. Just a touch, just a touch, I thought, but found the sounds shifting in directions I didn’t want them to go. The tone became totally uneven. The more I fussed over it, the worse it got, and the more flustered I became, the further the vibrations of sound slipped out of control. Time passed and I was covered in sweat. Everything I’d learned, all the nights of practice I’d put in at the showroom, flew right out of the window.