Prologue - Encounter “Although this time I was already very confident...” “Although I practiced a lot, but...why?” “Again that guy came in first...even though he didn’t practice much.” “Otou-san said that if I couldn’t get first place, it would have all been for nothing... I’ve had enough. I just want to quit....” He had heard phrases like that for a long time. Masachika began to clearly realize this fact after he was sent to live with his grandparents from the Kuze family. “Is the winner that boy again? I think sensei is favoring him a lot.” “I heard that he comes from a very old and prestigious family. I’m sure sensei is just feeling pressured.” “Why wasn’t my son selected? Is there a problem with his score?!” “Look at the kid. Shouldn’t that kid be nominated into the Hall of Fame or something? I mean, so we can give the other students a chance...” The pain of people who were unappreciated swirled around him. Self-directed hostility and exile. Masachika, who up to that point was preoccupied with his family issues, ironically was able to become more aware of this problem after leaving the Suou family. “Haaah, being a genius isn’t fair, is it?” Those were the words once said to him by one of the contestants when Masachika won a piano competition. That it’s not fair... It’s true. Every time he did something he had been taught, within a certain small period of time, Masachika could always achieve progressively better results than before. There was never