argoflower

About the Great Composer

My great uncle, Nanamegi Nanakuma, was a great composer.

He died young, when I was still a small child. Even though we were relatives, he wasn’t the type to show his face so I barely remember what he looks like. But at that time, when I listened to music composed by him on his analog records in my parents’ room– I got goosebumps.

“This is…amazing…!”

I couldn’t think of anything else to say. It was my only thought– this was really amazing. I couldn’t believe that there was someone in the world who could write a song like this, and that that person was my great uncle.

“I want to be able to compose songs like that too…”

Both of my parents and my brother were all musicians, so I’ve been playing instruments since I was a child. But after I listened to this, it might’ve been the first time I felt such a strong desire to compose music.

It had such a strong impact on me, and was a cathartic experience. From that day on, my great uncle became my role model. I wanted to become a composer like him and create many songs that people will fall in love with after listening for the first time.

On that day, even though I was still just a child– I felt like I was reborn.

I decided to start composing music immediately after. I started by listening to all of the songs my great uncle made.

“You’re really just too amazing, great uncle…”

As I listened to his songs over and over again, I started to wonder what kind of person he was. After all, it was only natural to want to know everything about the person you respect and admire.

“I think Nanakuma-san was a bit of a weird person, wasn’t he~?”

“He bought a big house and lived there by himself. The garden wasn’t taken care of at all and it looked a little like a haunted house.”

“I heard he refused all media appearances. There are probably private photos, but I don’t think there’s any video footage.”

“He was pretty wealthy, but I heard he donated all his money to a charity before he died.”

…but he ended up being quite mysterious. Even after asking all my relatives, I couldn’t find out anything more about him. The things that were important to him, what he disliked, what he was thinking…I couldn’t find out any of that. I only found an old photo at my relative’s house where he was looking at the camera with a troubled expression on his face.

But I didn’t give up. I kept searching for information little by little, because surely the whole story about my great uncle would become clear…is what I thought.

Well, all of my hopes quickly went away when I realized that there really wasn’t anything else that could come out of my search.

A little bit before that happened

“...what is this?”

I found a floppy disk in the attic of my parents’ house. There was sheet music data inside, but there was no title. Then what about the sheet music itself?

“This is…my great uncle’s?”

I could tell it was his at a glance. This was left behind by him. I definitely wasn’t wrong. I knew him better than anyone else in the family at the time, after all.

“An unreleased song?”

In my excitement, I showed the sheet music to my brother to which he replied:

“Yeah!”

—

“I see…I don’t know him very well after all. By the way Nanaki, your face is bright red you know.”

“Of course it’s red! This song is really amazing! Listen to it properly!”

“Okay, okay.”

My brother was laughing, but to me, this wasn’t something I could laugh about. All of my great uncle’s songs were amazing and definitely the best, but this song was on another level. It can’t just be described as something great. Not at all.

Even if you gathered a hundred of the world’s best composers and asked them to make a song, they still wouldn’t even come close to this one. And it was a short, fleeting song, so its value was…it was something a child couldn’t even imagine..

“No, this is really amazing isn’t it? It’s a song that makes you want to hear more.”

“...huh?”

At that moment, when I heard my brother’s words, I suddenly realized something. This song had a continuation, didn’t it?

Now that I thought about it more, it really seemed like it. I wonder why I didn’t notice it before. I thought the score was already complete before, but somehow I understood that it wasn’t.

This is probably the first movement. Then the second movement…and there’s probably more after. I truly believed in that. Because if it were me, I definitely wouldn’t let it end here.

“There was only the first movement at home, why?”

“Who knows. Let’s ask mom and dad about it.”

And after that

When my parents had a rare day off at home, I learned more about my great uncle and the floppy disk.

First: Before he passed away, he completed his final song.

Second: It seems like he donated all of his assets, including his house, to someone else while he was still alive. However, he had the sheet music of his last work separated into parts and told his lawyer to “sell them at charity auctions.” I don’t know the reason why.

Third: My father bought the first movement of his song as a memento.

Fourth: Other than the first movement, my parents know that there’s a second, third and fourth part, but they don’t know anything else about them.

Fifth: Now, collectors from all over the world are searching for that sheet music.

…that’s the information I have up to now.

As if I were being told to do so by fate itself, I decided to collect all the parts of my great uncle’s song.

“...”

Then the night of the appointment came.

It was my first time negotiating with someone like this, so I was a little nervous as I waited for the other person in the lobby.

“Hello, I’m Adolf Nguyen Abdul.”

The avatar that resembled a bear from a cartoon held out its hand in a frank manner.

Novel Chapters: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5