After passing the regional competition, the band is now ready to prepare for nationals. It seems that there is a mysterious woman who can play a piano-like instrument that issued Naoko a challenge. I wonder who she is.
From the looks of it, a mysterious woman named Yamanobe Makoto has suddenly appeared dressed like Snufkin. She challenges Naoko to have a musical competition. While both of them sounded good, it seems that Makoto won by default because people were intrigued by her instrument. Not to mention, one of the female members obsessed over her and eventually asked about Moominvalley given the type of clothes Makoto wears.
While its funny that Naoko now considers Chika as her friend, it’s not surprising considering that Chika helped her aunt and received private lessons. It seems that in the end, Chika had to buy a bun for Makoto. Not so surprising considering that she got more from Naoko and its now time for her to pay for her fair share. Still, it’s funny that Haruta and Chika is upset that Makoto might be dating their instructor, Shinjiro. When Haruta, Chika and Naoko spied on them, it’s not the case at all.
From the looks of it, it seems that Makoto and Shinjiro was talking about the piano that her grandfather left her which is worth a lot of money, but missing the keys to unlock it. She complained how her grandfather didn’t allow her to touch it while Shinjiro could play on it. She still feels bitter about it given the problems she had to deal with her grandfather such as dissatisfied students suing him along with unpaid performance fees. I don’t blame her.
While it’s easy to feel bad for her considering the trouble she has to do with, she also has health problems. Despite managing to fix her sweating problem with her hands, her vision is apparently going. It’s unfortunate since it’s difficult to read music without being able to see. In a sense, she could relate to Naoko given that she is losing her hearing, but still dreams of playing music professionally. Considering that her grandfather and Shinjiro didn’t want Makoto to continue perusing music professionally, there is no wonder why she is upset.
So, what does this have to do with the mystery over the key? It’s quite obvious that her grandfather felt sorry for her given the things he said to her and hearing her complain about favoritism for Shinjiro. Given that the keys on her melodica discolors and she complains about it, it’s quite obvious that the keys were changed. After reading the message on the instrument that her grandfather lost the keys, it is revealed that the melodica’s keys were ivory and the piano’s key were converted with ceramic keys. Yep, Naoko may be disappointed to find that out, but it’s a nice gesture for Makoto’s grandfather to do that in order to make it up for her.
Aside from that, it seems that everything went well in the end. From the looks of it, it seems that Naoko is not going completely deaf, but actually her hearing in one of her ears is improving. Is it because of Chika that she was able to hear again? Most likely given that Chika is now very close to her and abandoned poor Miyoko. Still, I wonder what Shinjiro is hiding given that Makoto mentioned his suddenly disappearance and leaving his position as conductor for the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. We’ll find out in the last episode the reason why he did it as the band competes in nationals.
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