‘The maestro depends on Mr Itadori so much, he calls him simply Itadori – I imagine he can’t relax at all during the performance.’

‘Is Mr Itadori that close to the pianist?’

‘Didn’t you know?’ Another dramatic raising of the eyebrows. ‘Whenever he comes to Japan he calls for Itadori as his tuner. He developed a fondness for him back when Mr Itadori was training in Europe. He also accompanied him on concert tours of Europe, but unfortunately Mr Itadori hates flying. Once he had returned to Japan, he would only travel by land. He waits in this unremarkable, out-of-the-way town for the pianists to come to him.’

‘Isn’t that a bit of a waste?’ I couldn’t help but say. ‘Wouldn’t he be able to put his skills to better use in a larger city, where he could tune pianos so that more people could hear them?’

‘You really think so?’ As we walked through the foyer the MD chuckled. ‘I’m surprised you think that way, Tomura-kun. Would a big city really be good for Mr Itadori? It’s a stroke of luck for us and our community that Mr Itadori chooses to stay. And for you, too, of course.’ He glanced at me, his eyes narrowing and serious now. ‘There’s such wonderful music in the world. And even people in this far-off town can enjoy it. I think it’s better that people from the big cities fly here to enjoy listening to Mr Itadori’s piano.’

He was quite right, and it challenged the way I’d been thinking for so long. City or town. Urban or rural. Large or small. Before the penny dropped, I’d been captive to a standard that had nothing to do with value.

I’m going to do my work right here, I decided, and I was determined to be proud of that.

‘It’s just that the concert was so wonderful I thought it’d be great if more people could hear it,’ I said in a small and slightly defensive voice, trying to justify myself.

‘I know.’ The boss nodded, smiling once more.

It Needs to Sound Lively

Back in tuning school, whenever I thought I’d got all the notes in tune, my instructor would sound each and every note. He’d mark an X in chalk on each key that wasn’t in tune. And it would be a row of X, X, X, X, X, X – a whole never-ending line of them. Not a single one was in tune. During the two years of training, through constant practice, gradually the number of Xs decreased, and somehow I was able to get rid of the lot by the end of the course. Finally, I was on the starting line.