But the classroom was empty.
Richie gazed at the piano before him, almost seeing a boy sitting on the bench, eyes half closed, his expression enraptured as he played all the beauty in the world.
Music that lingered in the rafters for three days-surely that described this piece!
Richie had come full of excitement, only to leave disappointed, walking slowly out of the classroom building.
At noon the next day, Richie waited in the same spot as yesterday, hoping the music would sound again.
This time, he started searching for the pianist before the music ended.
He searched classroom after classroom, eventually returning to the same place as yesterday.
His heart racing with excitement, Richie pushed open the classroom door with a slightly trembling hand. To his surprise, the room was still empty.
It was as though the pianist could sense him coming and ran away whenever Richie approached.
After failing to find the pianist twice in a row, Richie decided to stop being so passive and take the initiative.
At noon on the third day, Richie arrived early at the classroom next to the one where the music had come from.
His plan was to draw that person over with music of his own.
Looking at the piano before him, an instrument he had not played in a long time, Richie could not help feeling a pang of bittersweet emotion.
He closed his eyes and sat on the slightly too-high bench, his little legs dangling in midair.
Richie's hands really were tiny; they could not even span an octave.
The music began, its restless prelude speaking of the unease he had felt when he first arrived in this world.
Gradually, he had found people close to him: a loving father, a gentle mother, and an adorable little sister.
The