I could imagine the discovery that followed the metronome. Something else that would help him calm down. That would help him endure even when Miss Hamano wasn’t around to rub his back for him. A tuning fork or drums, or perhaps it was the piano. As long as he had that one thing, he could look for the path ahead, even in the dirtiest of worlds. It wasn’t a tool to help him avoid any horrors; it was the power to deal with them. Through a series of discoveries Yanagi became the Mr Yanagi I knew. The emotions he felt when tuning a piano, creating sounds, sending these out into the world – that was what allowed him to forge ahead, head held high.

Had Mr Yanagi accepted this seemingly filthy world? Or had it accepted him?

Emerging from below ground, the town looked dazzling. The sky was bright and clear. A very pleasant April.

III

Not Quite Intermediate

Stick with the Menu

It only snows on warm days in Hokkaido. On extremely cold days the skies are a dazzling blue and clear as can be. It was May now and the unseasonal snow seemed to have lent the town a boisterous air.

‘Snow! In the middle of May!’ Mr Yanagi gazed ruefully up at the sky. ‘Weather like this will really play havoc with the trees.’ The buds on the cherry trees had only just started to swell, and now they were covered with a thin layer of snow. ‘I do hope they’ll still blossom.’

Of course, snow at this time of year was not at all unusual in the mountains. There would be snowfall after the Golden Week holidays in early May, and once that melted it marked the arrival – at long last – of spring. In March we’d be on the lookout for more snow, then we’d limp through April and at last we’d reach May. The last of the grimy slush would melt away and the cherries would finally blossom as everything started to warm up.

‘How it affects the spectacle of our beloved cherry blossom is one thing,’ he said, ‘but the snow also plays havoc with all the pianos we’ve gone to such infinite trouble to tune.’

In homes where the piano is in frequent use, it’s good to get it tuned every six months, but most homes can get by with a once-a-year tuning – ideally at around the same time, to ensure the temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure and so on remain constant.

Today Mr Yanagi and I were on our way to tune a piano. More precisely, the piano required a level of retuning. That was depressing enough, but to top it all, we now had to contend with the snow.

‘As ever, Mr Yanagi, your tuning is the best.’