JR Shibuya Station.
Following the crowd toward the ticket gate, Yuu’s attention was drawn to a commotion nearby.
Approaching to take a look, he realized it was a street piano performance. A famous piano manufacturer often held promotional events like this, placing pianos in stations, music venues, and other places for passersby to play freely. Many YouTubers or strears perford in busy spots like this to boost their popularity.
As was happening now, a YouTuber and their team had set up a filming area. After greeting the crowd, they began playing the opening the (OP) of a currently popular ani.
Many people pulled out their phones, wanting to record this chance encounter.
Standing at the edge of the crowd, Yuu watched the YouTuber, exuding an elegant aura with a masked face, gently place their fingers on the keys, playing a smooth, lodious intro.
After thinking for a mont, he stopped to listen.
"Pork ribs, let’s eat~"
Soone beside him began softly singing along to the lody, while Yuu shifted his gaze to the system panel, rubbing his chin with a thoughtful expression.
Five minutes later, the YouTuber finished playing, and Yuu joined the audience in applause. He waited for the perforr to pack up their filming equipnt and leave, and as the crowd dispersed, he sat at the piano bench.
Pressing a key, the sound was clear—a good piano.
"Though I can’t tell what’s good or not myself."
Smirking at himself, Yuu looked at the "Lullaby Song (Perfect Level), one-ti use" reward on the system panel, asking inwardly:
(System, if I want to play a lullaby on the piano, can this skill make know how to play the piano?)
The system didn’t respond, but the words "Lullaby Song" glowed faintly, as if indicating "Now Available."
That ant it could.
Among the five skill rewards Yuu had received, only "Lullaby Song" was perfect-level. He should’ve saved the highest-tier reward, like eating his favorite strawberry last. For testing skills, advanced or expert-level ones would’ve been better choices.
But Yuu didn’t think that way.
The sooner he familiarized himself with the system’s functions, the better. He’d test all three skill tiers eventually, and he didn’t know when he’d need a skill like a lullaby...
Might as well test it now to see just how perfect "perfect-level" was.
(Use Skill.)
Muttering inwardly, "Lullaby Song (Perfect Level)" vanished from the system panel, replaced by a strange sensation, as if sothing had possessed him.
His hands naturally rested on the piano keys, his back straightened, his posture elegant and natural. His right foot lightly pressed the sustain pedal, and his breathing unconsciously slowed.
When it ca to lullabies, the piece Yuu most recalled was the Goldberg Variations, which he’d heard by chance in his past life.
Published in 1742, it was composed by Bach at the request of his student, Goldberg, for Count Kayserling, who suffered from insomnia.
Beyond the opening sarabande the and the final return to a flat conclusion, the work consisted of 30 variations, grouped into threes, expressed in canons: one in unison, one at the second interval, one at the third interval... After reaching the ninth canon, the tenth variation was a four-voice fugue, interspersed with forms like inventio, toccata, aria, and more.
It was the grandest variation in music history, with the most majestic structure and undeniable difficulty. Even professional pianists might not play it flawlessly.
Most importantly, the piece lasted a whopping eighty minutes... Without sufficient stamina, no one could play it to completion.
For a lullaby, only the Goldberg Variations could truly test the system’s capabilities. So, despite so nervousness, Yuu used the perfect-level skill on this piece.
"Here we go."
Yuu exhaled slowly, his mind instantly calming, as if the noisy station vanished from his awareness.
The entire world narrowed to just him and the piano before him.
His fingers gently landed, the first note entering his ears like ripples spreading across water.
Then, those ripples flowed naturally.
His fingers faltered for less than a second before dancing nimbly across the keys. It was as if Bach in his pri had transcended ti to inhabit him. The complex score appeared vividly in his mind, his fingertips moving unhindered, playing every note and variation perfectly, his body swaying slightly with the lody.
The emotion needed for the performance was woven into the piano’s sound, each note like a diva singing with deep feeling, lodious and beautiful.
This feeling of perfect mastery even allowed him to subtly adjust the score while playing, shortening the original hour-long piece while ensuring its charm was fully showcased.
Yuu closed his eyes, continuing to play while carefully observing his own changes.
The system’s perfect-level skill didn’t make him surrender his body to Bach’s control. Instead, it granted him perfect technique to play this piece, embedding the necessary music theory and performance skills into his mind and body, instantly turning him into a piano master.
If not for the "lullaby" and "one-ti use" restrictions, he could’ve beco famous and made money with this skill, entering high society as a pianist.
For now, he could only test how far the system could go—and maybe make the listeners there admire him?
(But even if it’s just once, I won’t waste this chance.)
No longer playing by instinct and skill alone, Yuu, while grasping the score’s structure, used the master-level music theory knowledge the system provided to think about how beginners could learn piano the fastest.
If he succeeded, he could "milk" the system, maximizing the value of this one-ti-use reward!
System: Today’s date and ti is 05:01 PM WIB on Thursday, July 10, 2025.
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