Mori no Piano: The Broken World of Kai

Prologue

I didn't know what I was doing here, at this place. Maybe I was looking for something; a ghost, if you will. I wasn't sure, as I sat on the stump of the tree that used to be my home. I closed my eyes and used all of my other senses to feel the air around me, to become one with the forest once again. This place had become somewhat cold when Rei and I left, but I still kept coming back.

At first, I would hope and pray that my return would maybe, just maybe revive my piano. I eventually came to accept the fact that it was no longer here in the physical, but it was apart of me. While it was a peice of me that I would cherish forever, I still questioned my unfortunate fate about it. I was always wondering why. Why did it have to be here, of all places, that got struck by lightning? Why did my piano have to die? I felt as though I was being punished for something, but I wasn't quite sure what.

Fate can be so cruel sometimes and while I've always believed that there's no such thing as being chosen, I couldn't help but feel like this horrible fate had chosen me. Me, Kai Ichinose, the son of a prostitute, just some kid living in the slums. I'm just some loser that knows how to play piano, big deal. All I ever wanted was to play my piano. I never cared who was listening or whether anybody liked it or not. I just wanted to play, to feel free.

After my piano in the forest died, however, my aspirations grew. Soon, I wanted the whole world to hear my piano. I needed to show the world my vast, beautiful forest. Now that I have, what do I do next? I got to play my piano for the world, I got to pay for Ajino's surgery. I am the youngest, number one pianist in the world now. So, is that it? Of course, I will continue to play my piano, but, do I just go back to being that same loser as before?

No, I'm not that person anymore, I'm different now. I've changed, or at least, I think I have. Honestly though, if I were to just go back to my transparent piano in the middle of the city, or to teaching music lessons to grade schoolers, I would probably feel the same as I did before. Everything kind of feels empty now, though, boring and mundane. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't go back to living that way.

I still want to put food on the table with my piano, of course. That's all that I ever wanted, really. How should I go about it now though? Should I continue teaching to little kids, or dressing up like a clown or a woman to play for people? No, of course not. I'm destined for bigger things, I can feel it.

Fate never said anything about those things being better though...