Great Mangaka

A group of people entered the classroom. This one was very large, with more than a dozen rows of desks and chairs, two pianos at the front, and some electronic equipment.

"First, let me give you a test."

Hirano-sensei sat in front of a piano: "Pay attention."

He extended his hand and played a slow, elegant melody. After playing for a minute, he stopped.

"Was the melody just now good?"

he asked Takumi, and Takumi nodded: "It wasn't bad."

He didn't know how to evaluate the excellence of a piano piece, but it sounded good.

Hirano-sensei stood up: "Okay, then sit down and play the melody again."

"Hirano-sensei, aren't you going a bit too far?!" Watanabe stepped forward, his face somewhat displeased, and asked, "How can you expect someone with no musical education to remember such a long melody?"

He was a little angry. 'It was evident that Hirano-sensei was looking for another way to reject Takumi.'

"I said I don't teach people without musical training." Hirano-sensei, full of arrogance, didn't believe the Dean of Academic Affairs' version: "He's already sixteen. If he doesn't have talent, why should I give him private lessons? I only give a backdoor to talented children. If he wants to learn from me, he must demonstrate his ability."

"But...", he snorted and explained: "I don't expect him to do it 100%. As long as he almost plays it, I'll agree."

"How can he almost play it?"

Watanabe got even angrier. 'The musical piece lasted a full minute. After listening to it, he only remembered the general melody. Takumi didn't even know the corresponding notes on the piano keyboard. It was simply a fantasy to play it again.'

Alice was also a little embarrassed: "Hirano-sensei, can you play it two more times? It's too embarrassing."

She knew that Takumi had a very good memory, but Hirano-sensei hadn't explained it in advance. 'Who would pay attention to his gestures? If he could play it twice more, perhaps Takumi could almost repeat it.'

"..."

Hirano-sensei thought about it and blamed himself for not having made it clear: "Okay, I'll play it again. This time, you must have your eyes and ears open."

He sat down and was about to play when Takumi suddenly spoke.

"No, I can play it again."

The three of them were stunned, wondering if they had misheard.

"What did you say?" Watanabe's eyes widened: "Takumi, don't be brave, how can you do this!"

"I'm not trying to be brave; I can play it again." Takumi looked at Hirano-sensei, and Hirano-sensei scoffed to himself, 'like a child who didn't know how high the sky was.' But he was so happy that he stood up: "Then you play it."

"Takumi..."

Alice was a little worried.

"It's okay."

Takumi comforted her, sat down, and placed his hands on the piano keyboard.

"Huh?"

Hirano-sensei was a little startled. He found that Takumi's posture was very correct, exactly the same as he had started. 'It turned out that the child was carefully observing his gestures.'

But Takumi placed his hands there, but he didn't move. He closed his eyes and frowned slightly, as if recalling the order of Hirano-sensei's movements.

Watanabe and Alice were worried, while Hirano-sensei shook his head inwardly. 'The melody he played wasn't fast, but its one-minute duration was enough to dizzy beginners. Even children with basic knowledge had to be taught several times before learning it. The more Takumi tried to remember it, the more complicated it seemed.'

However, after half a minute, Takumi opened his eyes, and his face became confident.

In fact, at first he didn't precisely remember Hirano-sensei's movements, but he did remember what he saw. Now he had extracted Hirano-sensei's hand movements in his mind and deciphered the order of the keys.

However, understanding it clearly was the big problem: 'whether he could play it.'

Those who have never played the piano would be clumsy even if they were aligned with the sheet music, and they would find it difficult to use their hands well. Takumi could only cheat and use the "air mass" in his brain.

Slowly, he transferred the "air mass" to his hands, and soon he felt that his fingers were more flexible than usual. In this way, he could do things he wouldn't normally do. Of course, the "air mass" was constantly disappearing, and Takumi had to hurry.

"Ding!"

The piano played the first note under his hand, followed by the second and third. From initial stiffness, it gradually became smooth. Takumi didn't know how to adjust the volume. The noisy sound made people uncomfortable, but the melody was the same as Hirano-sensei's.

After about two minutes, Takumi stopped playing and finished the last note. Silence fell in the classroom.

"Success?"

Watanabe was stunned. 'Could Takumi be a musical genius?'

"Uh..."

Alice breathed a sigh of relief. Although she was surprised, she had been with Takumi for so long and was mentally prepared for such a situation.

Only Hirano-sensei shouted in his heart that it was impossible! 'Of course it was impossible. A person who claimed to have never learned music played a piano piece they had only heard once. This kind of talent is rare in the world. Hirano-sensei believes that the best musicians in Japan could not do it when they were learning to play the piano.'

"How did you do it!"

Hirano-sensei approached and grabbed Takumi's shoulders: "Have you heard this piece before? Or have you played the piano somewhere?"

After saying this, Hirano-sensei was stunned. He suddenly remembered that this musical piece was his own creation and that no one would know it in advance.

'Then, could the child in front of me be... an unprecedented musical genius?'

Takumi felt a pain in his shoulder and frowned slightly: "Don't pressure me, I said I've never played the piano. If you don't believe me, forget it, I'll find someone else to learn from."

'He just wanted to take it easy, to have an excuse to remember the songs from his previous life in the future, no matter what teacher he had. And Hirano-sensei was particularly rude,' Takumi wanted to pull his hands away.

But before he could do anything, Hirano-sensei took the initiative to pull them away: "I'm sorry, I didn't hurt you!"

The middle-aged musician's eyes suddenly lit up, his face flushed, and his attitude changed drastically.

"Is your name Takumi... Takumi?" he cautiously asked: "No problem, I'll teach you piano. No, I should say, please, let me teach you!"

"You are definitely a musical genius; how could ordinary teachers teach you? Let me do it!"

Hirano-sensei turned excitedly and took Alice's hand: "Alice-san, I will teach this child, and the tuition is free."

Then he looked at Watanabe and said: "Watanabe-san, did you just say that this child is among the top three in the class? Oh, don't let him study! It's a waste of musical talent to leave him with those ordinary children. Put him with me; I can teach him to be an elite pianist in two years."

"..."

Watanabe's mind couldn't keep up with the changes in the situation. 'What had happened? Had Takumi suddenly become an object of desire?'

But Hirano-sensei's expression was too excited, which made Takumi frown slightly and he had to interrupt: "I'm sorry, Hirano-sensei, I can't study for too long."

He calmly said: "Besides, I'm only free on Wednesdays."

His main business is manga, music is only secondary, and Takumi found that learning piano was not difficult for him; perhaps he could play it in a short time.