BLURB
On his way home from school, Kousei Arima runs into Kaori Miyazono, and he goes with her to a café as Ryota Watari's substitute. Kaori is thrilled with her plate of delicious waffles. There's an old upright piano in the café, and some kids are attempting to play Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star on it. Kaori orders Kousei to perform, and the sound of his playing soon resonates around the café. But then suddenly, he stops. Kousei begins to lose his ability to hear the sound of the piano once he starts concentrating. It is then that Kaori appoints Kousei to be her accompanist. By claiming the audience's nomination, Kaori is slated to compete in the second round of the preliminaries.
PLOT
Kaori and Kousei go to eat at a café, and the former is very overjoyed at the food there. They see two little girls at the piano, one playing Mozart's "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". Kaori forces Kousei to play it with them, as she sings. The piano is a "happy piano". Kousei continues to play another variation of the song, impressing the café-goers, until he stops playing midway. The little girls get disappointed, and Kaori and Kousei leave the café.
Kousei sees the Cat , and pets it, telling Kaori that he used to have a cat that looked a lot like it. Kaori questions him as to why he stopped playing the piano, to which Kousei replies that if he concentrates too much, he can't hear the notes. She decides to appoint him as her accompanist.
The next day, Kaori chases Kousei to school, trying to force him to be her accompanist. Kousei is safe in hiding for a while, but as he walks down the hallway, he hears Saint Saëns' "Rondo Capriccioso" - the piece that Kaori chose to perform for the competition. When he enters the music room, he is shocked to see the sheet music of the piece taped to every inch of the room! In class, Kousei opens his book, to find the sheet music taped to the pages. He later checks his phone, only to find that Tsubaki had changed his wallpaper to the sheet music.
A little later, Kaori and Kousei are on the rooftop, as Kaori explains to Kousei why she plays. She says she wants everyone to remember her, and that part of her will be in their hearts forever. Kousei still hasn't agreed to being her accompanist, and Kaori begins losing heart. Kaori starts crying, and after some thinking, Kousei agrees to be her accompanist. Meanwhile, Watari and Tsubaki are still trying to find Kousei to force him to be Kaori's accompanist, but once they find him on the rooftop, they ambush him, not knowing that he had already agreed to being Kaori's accompanist. The four of them rush to Towa Hall on bicycles, as Kousei frantically studies the sheet music.
QUOTES
"What a happy little piano." Kaori Miyazono
"I play the notes, but I can't hear them... How's that for irony." Kousei Arima
"I'm fine at first. I can hear everything but then it goes wrong. The more I concentrate, the more my performance begins to slowly consume me. The notes are pulled alloft. Like petals caught in spring wind. Before I know it... they're gone." Kousei Arima
"The only sound that doesn't register is my own playing. It's my curse." Kousei Arima
"Whether you're sad, you're hurt, or empty, you have to keep playing." Kaori Miyazono
"A life without music is death." Kaori Miyazono
"Is that why you sparkle the way you do?" Kaori Miyazono
"You exist within springtime. A flourish of life unlike anything I've ever known." Kousei Arima
"It's not that you can't play, it's that you won't." Kaori Miyazono
"Part of me will echo in their hearts forever." Kaori Miyazono
"I've always lived in this town... but it's never looked like this..." Kousei Arima
"You don't know how close I am to just losing heart." Kaori Miyazono
YOU ARE READING
Your Lie in April
RomanceA piano prodigy Kousei has been traumatized and unable to play ever since his mother's death. He has a momentous meeting with violinist Kaori.
