"...to make them understand why I was looking for him."
The old man's memories gradually grew clearer.
That was right.
There were even several households where he hadn't given any reason at all.
He had simply asked them whether they'd heard the sound of a pipa...
I see...
The old woman nodded blankly.
But if that was the case...
"How would that person know you were the only one who'd heard the pipa?"
That was just too strange.
How could the other person know something so trivial and yet so deeply private?
"How did he know..."
The old man smiled bitterly.
"Because..."
"His friend is the person I've been looking for—the one who plays the pipa."
Huh?
"What!?"
The old woman was astonished.
That young man's friend was the one?!
She suddenly remembered what the old man had just told her...
The young man she'd seen with the old man had come to look for him on behalf of a friend.
So...
That young man's friend was the pipa player...
The "culprit" behind the pipa music the old man had heard.
The old woman looked enlightened.
Wait!
The old woman realized something didn't add up.
"That's not right."
"Even if that young man's friend is the person playing the pipa you heard..."
"How did he know you were looking for him?"
"Did he know his playing was disturbing you?"
"Shouldn't he have come to find you sooner?"
"Did he only just find out?"
"That doesn't make sense."
"You haven't been going out onto the balcony for some time."
"And you haven't heard the pipa, either."
The old woman rubbed her forehead.
"And besides..."
"Even if he heard you and knew you were against his playing..."
"Knew you didn't like the pipa..."
"How did he know you