"You really didn't write it...?"
Shitara Renki gave an embarrassed laugh. "Sorry... I'm usually so forgetful... I guess I really did forget."
"It's not a major problem. We just need to find the client."
Fujino mentally labeled the violinist before him a scatterbrained girl, then looked at the violin in her hands. "You were playing Pechtold's Minuet, weren't you?"
"That's right... but I was playing Bach's arrangement."
"Mm, there was indeed a slight difference." Fujino stepped forward, glanced at the sheet music, picked it up, and pointed with a finger. "Going by your score, from when I came in until now, this part was lowered by about a quarter tone."
"Huh?" Shitara Renki looked slightly surprised. "Detective Fujino, you know music too?"
"A little." Fujino recalled how his former cheap parents had often taken him to the opera house to listen to choruses. "I used to go listen to ensembles with my parents a lot. After hearing enough, I picked up on it."
"You can tell all that just by listening to music..."
Shitara Renki looked confused at first, then astonished. "Detective Fujino, don't tell me you have Absolute Pitch?"
"I wouldn't know about that."
"That's normal. If you've never been exposed to music, most people wouldn't know whether they have a good ear." Shitara Renki turned to look behind her. "My uncle has Absolute Pitch too, actually. I think you two could talk!"
Fujino followed her gaze and saw a man sitting on the windowsill. He had stubble and looked barely thirty, holding a phone as he spoke into it about something.
Fujino's ears twitched as music drifted from the other end of the call.
"Hey, Renki, don't tell me you're slacking off again?"
A gruff male voice came from behind him. Fujino turned and saw a square-faced man