The day after arriving in Fontaine, we chatted merrily over the meal Angelina had made for us.
"Us! What should we do for fun? I want to go outside and make new friends!"
Citra looked full of energy. It seemed this was her first time in the Court of Fontaine, so she was probably fascinated and wanted to look around.
"I want to go to the cake shop with Peruel! Peruel, do you know the place that sells the cake Avrora bought you for your birthday?"
"I do... Follow me later."
"Thanks, Peruel!"
Cravie looked genuinely happy. Was it because she had escaped the House of the Hearth? She looked happier than she ever had while she was there.
"Hey, you lot! You know you can’t go outside without Avrora’s permission!"
Sergei threw out a warning. Did he think he was their father or something?
The three children all turned to look at me. Sigh... They were getting their hopes up for nothing.
"Sergei, please look after the kids."
"Got it. You three! Make sure you stick together, all right?"
"Yes, sir!!"
Peruel nodded.
"We’ll be back!"
"Sergei! Take good care of them!"
"I said I got it!"
Once the four of them left, the house fell quiet. There was Angelina washing the dishes, and then...
"Hm? Avrora, do you want to play the piano?"
"Yes..."
There was a piano sitting all by itself to the right of the living-room fireplace, and I found myself wanting to learn how to play it.
Back in my previous world, I had been obsessed with rhythm games. Starting with Konami games, I’d played all sorts of mobile rhythm games too. Genshin Impact had great background music as well. A lot of my favorite songs among them were piano pieces. I had wanted to play rhythm-game songs on the piano, but I had only vaguely thought that I would learn someday before ending up here.
"Knowing how to play an instrument might come in handy someday. Unfortunately, I can’t play the piano."
"Then I’ll have to learn from someone."
"Are you going to find a private tutor? Do you even know anyone in Fontaine?"
"I don’t know anyone. Though there are probably plenty of people who dislike me..."
Because of The Steambird article, that was.
"Hmm... Learning an instrument as a way to relieve stress sounds nice. You’ve been under a lot of stress because of studying, haven’t you? Want me to look for someone?"
"No... I think I’ll be fine..."
"Really? That’s a shame. I can’t play instruments either. Killing people, though? I’m first-rate at that."
That was basically a standard Fatui stat. I thought it over carefully. Was there a Fontaine character who played the piano? Or someone involved in playing instruments... Ugh...
"What’s wrong, Avrora? Why are you making such a sour face?"
"Someone did come to mind, but I think I’ll have to go to them myself."
"You can’t invite them to our house? What kind of person are they?"
"There’s someone important involved... Someone extremely troublesome..."
"So that’s why you came looking for me? You came to exactly the right person~!"
"Be grateful my social circle is so small..."
I had been waiting aimlessly on the stairs of Palais Mermonia when an official who recognized me asked what I was doing there. I told him I had come to see Furina.
The official said, "Lady Furina? Her schedule is already completely booked. You’ll probably have to wait several months." So I decided I would just have to hope to run into her by chance on the street and turned to leave. As it happened, Furina was just coming out of Palais Mermonia. The moment she saw me, she brightened, told the official to cancel all of today’s theater-viewing appointments, and dragged me away.
At a café, I told her that I had become independent from the House of the Hearth and explained that I wanted to learn the piano. Furina being absolutely delighted afterward had led to the current situation...
"Great! I, the superstar of the theatrical world, shall personally teach you the piano!"
"What does theater have to do with piano?"
"You seem to think all I do onstage is act, but I can play instruments too, you know?! The flute, the piano, anything!"
"Not the recorder?"
"Again!! You’re treating me like a child again! Anyway! Starting tomorrow, come to Palais Mermonia! I’ll tell the official downstairs to make you an entry pass!"
"Wait... We’re practicing every day?"
"Of course! If you’re a beginner, you have to practice every single day, don’t you?"
"Of course, that means I can be with Avrora every day too~ I like that even better~"
"How about moving into Palais Mermonia while you’re at it? Just for you, especially~"
"Unfortunately, I have younger siblings to take care of. That won’t work."
"Younger siblings? Don’t tell me... that child came out too?!"
"Obviously. Do you think I would have come here and left Peruel behind?"
Fear fell over Furina’s face. She must have remembered Peruel nearly trying to kill her last time, when Furina had bragged about kissing me.
"And you know I’m taking the third examination in two weeks, right? I won’t be able to come very often until then. I have to study."
"Come to think of it, I heard you placed second in the second examination? At that rate, won’t you just pass the third one?"
"What are you talking about? The third one is the hardest. It’s essay-based, so my arm is going to fall off from writing."
The third examination was essay-based. There were seven subjects in all: Constitutional Law, Civil Law, Criminal Law, Administrative Law, Civil Procedure, Criminal Procedure, and one elective. You had to answer one question in sixty minutes, and the examination took place over two days. And I was supposed to take an exam like that without studying? Was she insane?
"Since I’m a god, I can see the questions ahead of time, and they didn’t seem all that difficult."
"That’s by your standards. Other people are dying from headaches over it."
"Anyway! Come in front of Palais Mermonia tomorrow morning! You have to come alone, all right? You can’t bring anyone else? Please?"
Furina clasped both my hands and pleaded.
She was probably thinking of Peruel. If I told Peruel, "I’m going to study piano," she would immediately ask, "Who are you learning from?" And if I said I was learning from Furina, she would absolutely come along to beat Furina to a pulp.
"Peruel won’t object to me learning piano. Of course, she’ll be concerned about who’s tutoring me."
"Eek!"
Furina got scared. Wasn’t there a better option? If I said I was going to Palais Mermonia every day, the two Fatui would definitely become suspicious. Palais Mermonia was not a music academy, and going there every day would obviously look strange.
"Furina, do you know anyone whose house has a piano?"
"A house with a piano? There is one, but... why?"
"Who goes into Palais Mermonia as casually as they eat meals? Think before you speak."
"I do think, you know?! What’s wrong with it being just the two of us!"
"So that was what this was about after all."
"Anyway! One of my subordinates has a piano in their house. We can go there."
A subordinate? Who on earth could that be?
The next morning, I told Angelina that I had found a piano tutor. Angelina sent me off, telling me to learn well. Peruel watched me from where she was hiding behind me, but she would not follow. She was a child who could only come out with my permission. I waited for Furina at the Fontaine plaza, and when she met me, Furina bounced around, saying she could finally be with me. Then I followed Furina toward a house somewhere in the Court of Fontaine.
Knock knock.
"Who is it?"
"It’s me."
The door opened, and I was stunned by the all-too-familiar figure before me.
"Lady Furina. What brings you here? And who is the child beside you?"
"My lo... ahem... We merely know each other. This child said he wanted to learn the piano, so I came to borrow the piano in your house."
"Pardon? Wouldn’t the piano at Palais Mermonia be better?"
"There are circumstances, you see. We’ll be coming in, then?"
"Clorinde?"
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