Movement X Secret X Sea of Flowers

"...Gulp, gulp."

Qi Zhou had bought juice and takoyaki with the 500 Jenny he had received as change for his admission ticket, leaving both hands full. He squatted contentedly in a corner of the recreation area, drank the last of his juice, and bit into the last octopus ball. Satisfied, he stood up and threw the trash in his hands into a bin.

Now that he had eaten, it was time to get back to business.

He looked at the pianist sitting beside the grand piano, but the man wasn't playing the piece he had first heard. He was playing other piano pieces instead.

Qi Zhou frowned.

Could he have been wrong? Was there another way to select "special visitors"?

As he pondered this, the hand in his pocket once again felt a movement from The Imaginary Pianist.

This time, Qi Zhou had deliberately bought an opaque cloth bag. Using it as a cover, he took out the book and found a new movement after Sonata of Darkness-once again, many measures were missing.

"Could it be..."

Qi Zhou went to the stall where he had bought the takoyaki and asked the vendor, "Excuse me, what time is it?"

The vendor was sweating from how busy he was and gave him a perfunctory answer. "Past two thirty, I think. Ah, who has time to check?"

A customer in line kindly answered his question. "It's two forty-seven in the afternoon."

"Thank you."

Qi Zhou thanked him and sat down off to the side.

When he had come back to buy the octopus balls, the pianist hadn't started yet. He had only begun playing after Qi Zhou had been eating for a while-but Qi Zhou had the feeling that the piece had lasted more than five minutes.

First, he would assume that the pianist played every ten minutes on the dot.

Qi Zhou squatted quietly where he was and counted the seconds in silence. When he reached around a hundred and forty, the pianist began to play again-this time, it was one of the four pieces he had already heard.

It looked like his guess had been right. The visitor hadn't given him the seconds, so adding the seconds he had counted, it was now about two fifty.

Qi Zhou took out the book and compared it with the music-as the final note fell, another missing measure was filled in on the last page of the score.

Understanding dawned in Qi Zhou's eyes. He more or less understood now.

The six pianists in the six rest areas each played a passage of music at the six ten-minute marks of every hour. Assuming the pianists in each area were represented by A, B, C, D, E, and F, he would tentatively suppose there were six movements in total, numbered 1 through 6.

Taking the pianist in area A as the starting point, he would play movement 4 at forty minutes past the hour, and the movement he played would itself contain one of the missing measures.

If that deduction was correct, he could hear all six movements from a single pianist, and each movement would include a measure that might be missing elsewhere.

In other words, to collect every part of one movement, he had to visit all six places. To collect all six complete movements, he had to listen to the piano for an hour in each rest area.

"Isn't this test a bit too hard? Other people don't have what I do, something that can transcribe the piano music they hear directly into a score-even the missing parts." Qi Zhou complained helplessly, but complaints aside, the work still had to be done. He could only sit obediently where he was, resting his chin in his hand as he listened to the piano, then trudge to the next place and sit down with his chin in his hand to listen again.

Then something happened that would drive anyone with obsessive-compulsive tendencies mad-by the time Qi Zhou reached the yellow-green rest area, it was already past five in the afternoon. A staff member informed him that the rest-area staff had finished work for the day, and that if he wanted to continue his visit, he could come back tomorrow.

Qi Zhou: "..."

Seeing that he was a child on his own, the staff member asked another question. "Where are your parents, kid?"

"Ah..." Qi Zhou discreetly wiped away a drop of cold sweat. "I came by myself."

"If you're staying the night, you'll need to hurry. During the visiting season, the manor's hotel is fully booked by six in the evening at the latest," the staff member said. "The sun is setting, too. There are no buses at night, and it's not safe to go back to town then."

Qi Zhou hadn't thought about booking a hotel at all. He hesitated over what to do, but didn't forget to thank the staff member. "I understand. Thank you."

"What's the matter?" a voice called out.

Qi Zhou looked up and found that it was the man he had met that morning.

The staff member looked surprised to see him and bowed. "Mr. Wood."

The staff member explained, "This child came here alone. I was worried he hadn't made preparations for his visit, so I reminded him to book a room as soon as possible, or return to town early while the buses were still running."

Qi Zhou heard the man's name: Wood. As luck would have it, in the handbook he had read yesterday, the owner of Whale Manor was also named Wood. His full name was Arens Wood.

Could it really be such a coincidence?

Even if it was, would the owner of a manor personally come over to ask what was wrong just because he saw a child visiting alone who seemed to be in trouble?

"Have you booked a hotel room, kid?" Arens Wood asked with a gentle smile as he looked at Qi Zhou.

Now on his guard, Qi Zhou shook his head. "No, but it's fine. I'll catch a ride back in a bit."

"Haha, that's an option," Arens Wood said with a smile. "But if you want to come back tomorrow, why not stay here tonight? It'll save you the time going back and forth."

Qi Zhou fell silent for a moment. "...I don't have the money to book a room."

It was true. Stingy Chrollo had only given him 5,000 Jenny for expenses: the ticket was 4,500 Jenny, the juice 188, the octopus balls 288, and the opaque cloth bag 22-down from its original price of 25 Jenny.

At this point, Qi Zhou truly had nothing but integrity to his name, and not a penny in his pockets.

Arens Wood was taken aback. He seemed to think of something, and a hint of doubt entered his gaze as he looked at Qi Zhou, though he composed himself again in an instant.

"That's all right." Arens Wood turned to the staff member. "You can get back to work."

After the staff member left, he looked back at Qi Zhou, gently raised a finger, and smiled. "If you can see what's on my hand, I'll arrange a room for you free of charge."

Qi Zhou: "..."

Just as I thought! That's why he noticed me.

Gyo could be used to see Ten, and besides, when he had first arrived here today, he hadn't thought to conceal his Nen at all.

His Nen had already been discovered, and even if he denied being able to see it, it wouldn't help. Besides... if he wanted to get inside the manor, he would end up revealing that he knew Nen anyway.

There was nothing to hesitate about, then.

Qi Zhou focused his Nen in his eyes, then spoke two syllables. "Do, mi."

On Arens Wood's finger was a musical staff formed from Nen, complete with notes and a key signature.

"It looks like you know a little about music too," Arens Wood said with a smile.

"It's nothing. Just the basics." Qi Zhou smiled back.

"Hahaha, what an interesting kid." Arens Wood withdrew his Nen and said to Qi Zhou, "Come with me."

He led Qi Zhou back to the main road, where a car was parked. A person dressed as a butler opened the door for them.

Qi Zhou got into the car and looked around, curious about the vehicles in this world. Finding nothing different except that the driver's seat was on the right, as it was in some countries in his previous world, he looked away.

The car stopped in front of a magnificent building. A band of sunstar flowers surrounded it, and a huge musical fountain stood before the main entrance. Many children and visitors were enjoying themselves there, while many people played different instruments in front of the building.

"If you're interested, there's a piano in the room. You can also call the front desk and have other instruments sent up," Arens Wood said after getting out of the car, as Qi Zhou took in the sights.

Qi Zhou said, "Okay, thank you."

Arens Wood took Qi Zhou to the hotel reception desk. After saying something to the staff, he turned back to Qi Zhou. "Would you mind showing me your ID?"

"Mm..." Qi Zhou took out his temporary ID and handed it to him.

After passing it to the person behind the counter, he said to Qi Zhou, "Everything's arranged, Noah. I hope you enjoy your stay here."

Before Qi Zhou could say anything, he saw the man give him a meaningful look and heard him say with a smile, "I hope to see you again inside the manor."

Qi Zhou: "..."

After watching the man leave, the staff member came out from behind the desk and handed Qi Zhou a card and his temporary ID with both hands. "Mr. Barton, we hope you enjoy your stay. Please call the front desk if you need anything. We'll be delighted to assist you~"

Qi Zhou took the card, feeling uncomfortable with the overly enthusiastic service. "Th-thank you..."

Card in hand, he went to a room on the hotel's top floor. When he opened the door, the enormous room-no, it should have been called a suite-was far beyond anything Qi Zhou had imagined. It was as luxurious as a presidential suite, with a private cinema, a music room, and a gym on the second floor, as well as a private outdoor pool on the roof. So this is how nobles live! Qi Zhou admitted he was jealous.

After washing up and lying down on the large bed, Qi Zhou opened the notepad by the bedside. It contained many phone numbers, including ones for unspeakable "special" services.

"Tsk."

Qi Zhou raised an eyebrow and tossed the notepad aside, then called to order the dinner included in the room rate. In less than ten minutes, a server wheeled up a cart full of delicious food, including an ice cream boat such as he had never even seen in either of his two lives.

Now that he had eaten and drunk his fill, he still had work to do.

Qi Zhou laid his book open and carefully examined each movement. Just as he had thought, there were six movements in total.

"According to the feedback the book gave me, 'something terrible will happen if the piece is heard or played.'"

Qi Zhou frowned in thought.

"The definition of 'heard' is awfully broad. Could there be more precise conditions? For example, the performer has to use Nen before playing; or the listener has to use Gyo to hear something in the movement besides the sound; or perhaps it only takes effect if it's played and heard in its entirety without a mistake, or if it's heard continuously for a certain amount of time?"

"The third possibility seems most likely. Because the parts all the pianists played had omissions, there hasn't been a single complete measure so far-but I'll have to wait until I've heard everything tomorrow before I can draw a conclusion."

"And if it really does have the power to bring disaster, the score must be extremely valuable, or dangerous. So the organizers only provided portions with omissions."

"Whatever! I'll find out what happens tomorrow anyway. I'll train for a bit and then go to sleep... I'm exhausted today."

Qi Zhou closed the book and flopped back onto the bed.