‘I knew I could try to hold on, but once the wind picked up it was all over. The last time I had that dream—’ He stopped and looked down, as if pondering something. ‘I remember it really well, even now. At the end I was standing on the ridge of a high mountain. I realized this was the same dream as always, and even before the wind and rain came along I hurled myself down all on my own.’ Mr Akino swept his index finger through the air in an arc from his eyes down to his desk. ‘When I woke up that time I wasn’t sweating at all. I thought – so that’s what giving up means.’

‘You mean giving up in the dream?’

‘It’s fairly easy to figure out, I imagine. The day I leapt down of my own accord was the day I decided to become a piano tuner.’ He stood up. ‘OK, time to go to work.’

I watched his thin back recede as he exited the office, and then remembered something and dashed after him. Mr Akino was already walking down the stairs, and at the sound of my footsteps he halted and turned around. I hurried down.

‘How long did it take until you jumped down?’ I asked.

‘Four years,’ he said without hesitation.

‘Four years,’ I repeated to myself in a low voice. That was a bit of a shock. Would Yuni, too, spend her days scared she would fall for the next four years? But then end up jumping by herself?

I remembered how Mr Akino had passed us the day when Yuni came to the shop and wept. He must have heard what was going on. In his own way, he was telling me it would probably take her a long time to give up on the piano.

I wanted to ask Mr Akino if he’d been afraid when he finally jumped, but I wasn’t brave enough. Compared to the terror and despair you went through before you fell, jumping had to be the better option. For all I knew, his face may have been wreathed in the kind of smile he’d shown me earlier when he finally pushed off from the ledge. At least I hoped so.

I knew that Mr Akino had been hoping to be a pianist himself. And I knew a profession like that depended on how long and hard you tried and how passionate you were about it. Age mattered, too, and of course there was the issue of one’s personality. But still, I resolved to do whatever lay in my power to help release Yuni from the clutches of some horrible nightmare she’d have for the next four years.

I followed Mr Akino as he left, and out in the car park I gritted my teeth and asked, ‘Why did you give up on being a pianist?’