Rapszódia of Divine Ruin - Track 3

……

Nagi, what’s wrong? You’re just standing awkwardly in the doorway.

Oh, Renga. About that…

…! Raito-san’s taking some real good care of Kuguri. He’s pouring him wine, bringing him snacks… and he kinda looks really happy about it too.

Uhh, yeah. But actually, I think the conversation we should be having is whether or not we should be watching this.

Huh? What do you mean?

You call yourself my servant, but you can’t even do a pedicure properly? You missed a spot.

Oh! I’m sorry. I’ll fix it.

…! Hey! I told you not to touch that spot!

Sorry. You said it tickles, yes?

What? Don’t act like you understand me.

R-Raito-san…? Kuguri keeps kicking him… Is that okay?

I knew it. This is a forbidden secret garden. Should we wander any deeper, the sheer sweetness of it all might send us to heaven…

Renga, let’s go. We can’t keep watching this.

Huh?

Redo it. Now.

As you wish, milord.

I-I’m not so sure about this whole setup.

Ack! The high schoolers are coming! There’s no way we can let them see this, it’s way too spicy!

I’ll go buy us some time. Taotao, you go get those two outta here once the pedicure is done!

Y-You want me to… get between them? While they’re doing this…? Are you serious…?

Heh, what do you think? A fine job, if I do say so myself.

…The next thing for you to do is to take care of everything I asked you to do earlier. By the end of the day.

Catch up with six months’ worth of paperwork, create a list of all the gifts from your lambs, and buy all the white caviar, as well as high-quality massage oil! As you wish!

……

……～♪

Oi. The fuck’s goin’ on? Did Domeki dig up some dirt on you…?

Hm? Of course not! I’m quite happy Kuguri isn’t ignoring me, actually.

Have you finally lost it…?

Oh, right, you take one as well, Ryui. I’ve already given everyone in the Evening Group one, but if you’d like, do raise this one together with Toi.

What the hell’s this… There’s some… Domeki-lookin’ thing on the screen…

This is “Kugutama,” an AI game created by Nayuki. Isn’t it cute? We decided to have it manufactured by a toy company.

(Why the fuck…?)

Raito. Aren’t you supposed to be my servant? How long are you planning on wasting time?

Oh, yes! I’ll go deal with the paperwork first!

……

What are you staring at, plüss?

I cannot determine your true intentions, Kuguri. It is unclear whether this situation will advance the Ev3ns Friendship Initiative or lead to its collapse.

Who knows? A meaningless plan like that doesn’t concern me.

You just wanna stay in control, right? I get it.

…Ten. You were listening.

I saw the whole thing, actually. I definitely wouldn’t be complaining if someone took care of my paperwork too.

I’ll pass the word along to my servant if I feel like it.

(It’s been three days since Kuguri-san said he’d take Raito-san as his apprentice. The number of people witnessing Raito being worked to the bone to take care of Kuguri-san… Well… Continues to increase.)

(Just this morning, Akuta-kun…)

Hey Teach, this is just a bunch of mumbo jumbo I overheard from Ushio but, like…

Is it true that Raito-san and Kuguri-san are doing stuff that healthy young boys shouldn’t be looking at…?

(Sigh)… We were trying to keep it a secret, but the high schoolers are starting to get weird ideas too.

Wh– Did they ask you something too, Tao-kun?

Akuta and Nanaki did… And Ushio practically begged me to not let them do weird stuff in the dorm ‘cause it’s gross.

I mean, all Raitin’s doing is stuff like painting nails and giving massages, but… since Kugurin’s the one asking, it just ends up lookin’ kinda hot…

Tonya hasn’t gotten an eyeful of this yet, but I bet Ryuunya would be sooo mad if he did~

To maintain a peaceful dormitory environment, I will persuade them to conduct such activities in our room from now on.

Ugh… Please do, Kinari-kun.

(But still, Raito-san himself seems to be in a good mood… And Kuguri-san has been attending our meetings more often…)

Nayuki, what did you want to talk with us about? Has the date for our trip finally been decided?

There are more important things we need to settle first. You’re planning to participate in the competition, aren’t you?

Indeed! Speaking of, I believe registration is about to open. I also have to begin practicing.

…You’ll be competing in the amateur category, of course.

The amateur bracket is limited to players with five years or less of cumulative piano experience, with no age restriction. There is no preliminary round, and competitors will choose from a selection of pieces to complete only in a final round. As a result, the number of competitors is capped.

Normally, priority would be given to individuals with more experience playing the piano. However, because of the collaboration, Raito will be given the right to participate so long as he is “Domeki Kuguri’s apprentice”.

Oh, so you’ve already negotiated this? Quick as always, Nayuki!

No matter how much you practice, winning is practically impossible. It seems, however, that if you win the Audience Award, they will lend you their newly released piano…

Given how difficult winning an award is to begin with… I believe this is the most realistic outcome to aim for.

Tell them that’s what we’ll do. I’m aiming for the gold, though. That’s what I promised Kuguri I’ll do.

……

You heard him. Do you have anything to add, Domeki-san?

Plüss. Go and have a seat at the piano.

…? Alright.

(Huh? Kuguri-san’s putting earphones on Kinari… What’s he planning?)

Raito. I’ve picked out a piece for you to play. Consider it a gift of sorts for your arrogance.

You’ve got some piano playing software installed, don’t you, plüss? Play exactly what you hear.

…! Understood.

……

(Woah! What the heck is this?! It sounds crazy hard!)

(Isn’t the way Kinari’s fingers are moving kinda crazy?)

(This can’t possibly be something an amateur can learn in such a short period of time…)

“Widmung”, I see… This is Lizst’s piano arrangement of Schumann’s song.

This is a rather difficult piece for a beginner. I don’t believe Raito will be able to play it, let alone play it well.

Is that so? I, for one, think it’s perfect for His Majesty over there. It’s a piece Schumann wrote to express his love for his fiancée. I supposed I’d be doing a favor by letting him experience romance at least through the piano.

I see. Haha! If you want me to play this, Kuguri, then I’d be happy to.

……

You’re not imagining it clearly enough! That’s why you can’t play it perfectly. You need to imagine it perfectly… and then you play it perfectly.

Imagine even more…!

While I do have piano playing software in my program… I was unable to reproduce the recording perfectly. It seems this is the kind of performance that cannot be achieved through information alone.

No, you did copy it perfectly. 100% perfectly, even. It was flawlessly accurate, like perfection incarnate.

Raito. I’ll give you this recording, but you’ll have to get the sheet music yourself.

…! Thank you! Is there a trick to playing this?

Just read the score and move your fingers. Simple.

Got it. I’ll give it a try.

Good luck with that.

(Uh? Huh? Kuguri-san left without teaching him the song! Is he planning to make Raito-san play it without giving him any instructions…? That’s impossible…)

So this is the sheet music… Let me play the audio file he sent…

……

(This melody is…!)

Kuguri.

What? You keep trailing behind me like a baby duckling.

…What are you plotting? Even with Raito’s abilities taken into account, that piece cannot be mastered with ease. Statistically, there is a 99.8 percent chance he will fail.

Ufufu. Is that so? That infuriating man might just be able to pull it off with that 0.2%.

……

…It’s just a lesson in hubris.

That king is arrogant enough to believe he can have anything he wants. That hubris will one day break him the same way it plunged Icarus into the depths. Isn’t it merciful if I’m just speeding up the inevitable?

…Are you trying to make Raito experience failure?

All I’m going to do is peacefully break that ridiculously inflated self-confidence of his.

That would hinder the Ev3ns Friendship initiative I am executing. I recommend changing the assigned piece to one of lower difficulty.

Aha. Is that an order? You’re not my Master or a god, so I won’t obey.

So who would you obey, Kuguri?

……

…No one.

Since… I’ll be killing the only God I have left soon enough.

In other words, I’ll be free.

……?

By all means, go help Icarus and tenderly strap on his wings. Make sure there are plenty of people there to support him.

If he fails after wasting so many people’s time, then that might just leave a scar on him.

Kuguri…

Later, puppet.

(I am no longer a puppet… but you refuse to acknowledge that…)