The sound of the piano from that night still echoes in my ears.
Though I don't want to have this waking dream at all—...

(Takashi is sitting at the piano. He finishes a song.)

Takashi
...sigh.

Grandmother
Well, that's a rare sight.
It's been a long time since you played, hasn't it?

Takashi
Grandmother.

Grandmother
You played the piano until senior high school and chose some other subject at the university, right?
You had the gift for it—it was such a waste for you to stop.

Takashi
—That's not true.
It hurt me so much to hear those words time and again.
The dark thoughts rising from words of negation swallowed countless times before I could say them, coiled within my heart—
I could only vent them at Shou, then.
And now, I can do nothing but swallow my own medicine—...

Grandmother
—Anyway, Takashi, listen.

Takashi
Eh?

Grandmother
Well, I was wondering if you would play at the engagement party.

Takashi
Engagement party?

Grandmother
For you and Suzuna-chan.

Takashi
Wh...
Why haven't I heard anything about this?!

Grandmother
What are you talking about?
You should certainly also know that we are discussing a merger with their company right now!
We have to take this opportunity to deepen the ties between our two families!
—Or is there already someone else that you like?

(For a moment Takashi stares at her speechlessly.)

Grandmother
—...
You can't have...!

Takashi
...No, there isn't.
—Of course there isn't.

Grandmother
Of—of course.
Aah, I'm very glad of that.

Takashi
And even if there were, I would never be able to tell her about—...

Grandmother
I don't know what I'd do if you were to repeat your father's failures...!

Takashi
—My father's?

Grandmother
That's right.
That child...!
It's been almost 30 years ago now...one day out of the blue, he suddenly said that he wanted to be together with our maid, Toshiko-san.
Of course I thought that he should pick a girl from a nice family.
It's not my place to say anything about those who are no longer with us, but...
Though I thought I could finally breathe easy when he married your mother,
He still went and married Toshiko-san later—...
That's why, you see
Before you got caught up with some strange woman, I wanted you to marry a girl from a proper family—...

(Takashi stares at his grandmother, his eyes wide.)

Takashi
—What...did she just say—...?

Grandmother
Takashi?
Takashi, wait! I'm not done....

(Takashi runs off.)

Takashi
Father and Toshiko-san were originally...?
—Then that means
It was my mother and I who stole Father from Shou's mother?
—Why
If that was true, then why did he marry my mother at all?
How could he so coolly remarry the woman he had once abandoned?
Why did Father—...

(He ruffles through his father's study, and papers fly all over the room. He picks up a photograph of a smiling Toshiko and a young, laughing Shou from the floor.)

—If he never loved anyone but Toshiko-san
Then he should have said so.
But then why—...

(He begins to cry.)

...
...—Were you trying to atone?
You were the one who introduced Shou's sponsor
—Father.

(His father enters the room.)

When I heard that from Shou, everything clicked into place. That it was probably you.
You borrowed the names of our affiliate companies and clients—...
It doesn't make up for anything.
You should know that too, shouldn't you?

(His father sighs, smiling a little sadly.)

Father
Yes. If Shou knew that I was helping him, he would probably refuse.
When you were tractable children
I didn't give you enough of my attention.
...No, I should be completely frank.
You'll probably laugh at me for it now, but—...
I wanted to do one fatherly thing.
...If just once, something to show that I am his father—...

Takashi
—...

—I
Don't know what happened 30 years ago.
But there is one thing I do know.
It was because of you that everyone was unhappy.
—...Isn't that true, Father?
—I...
I'm not the same as you...!
I don't want to repeat the same mistakes you made...!
I—...
I will never betray the one I love...!

Father
Takashi!

(Takashi runs out of the room. His father looks down at the photograph of Toshiko and Shou.)

Father
—...Takashi...
Takashi...
I can't help what you say about me now.
—But I didn't know.
I was so young, then.
I didn't recognize the fact that Toshiko was pulling away from me.

(Takashi is driving.)

Takashi
Shou...
Shou's probably going to return to Germany soon.
With him...
Is that person so important to him?

Reichelt, flashback
Shou and I have been together for six years. Did you think that there would be nothing between us?

Takashi
It's probably already too late
But—...

Shou, flashback
You haven't changed at all!

(Takashi's hands tighten on the steering wheel.)

Takashi
—...That's probably true.
Because even after six years these feelings haven't changed at all—...

(At the hotel, Shou takes off the band-aid from Reichelt's cheek.)

Reichelt
Ow...!

Shou
—That's a lot better, don't you think, Reichelt?

Reichelt
I'm so happy! If I'd gone back looking like that, I would've made all the girls in Germany cry!
A salesman's face is his life!

Shou
Hey, hey, that again....
...I'm sorry.
He's not a bad guy, but sometimes words aren't enough—...

Reichelt
...You always cover up for him, don't you?

Shou
Huh?

Reichelt
...I'm just a little

—It's nothing. I was in the wrong, too.

jealous.

Shou
But still, it surprised me! How well you played!

Reichelt
Well, I've worked hard at rehabilitation!
It's been a while, so I was pretty flustered, but playing for a short time for fun is not a problem.
—But I'll never be a pro. You know after performing with me, don't you?

Shou
...Reichelt.

Reichelt
—...
You know, Shou.
Come here.

(He holds out his arms. Shou leans down.)

Shou
?

Reichelt
No, not there.
—here.

(Reichelt points at his lap, and Shou reddens.)

Shou
...!
Wh—...

Reichelt
—Please?

Shou
—...
Reichelt.
...!

(Reichelt pulls him down so that he's sitting on Reichelt lap, facing him.)

Reichelt
Ahahah!
Heh...

Shou
Reichelt?

Reichelt
Sorry, sorry.
I was thinking that you're really nice to me when I talk about my arm...
It's like you care about it more than I do.

Though truly
I don't want
to bind you with that...

I told you before, didn't I?
That I hate being pitied.
But for a little while, just for now—...

But when I want to touch you, it means that you'll meekly allow my selfishness.

(Reichelt takes off Shou's glasses.)

So from time to time I—
Lose to it.

You can pity me—...

Shou
...!
Rei
Reichelt...

(Reichelt puts his arms around Shou.)

I don't like sitting like this.
Let me down.

Reichelt
Nope!

Shou
You bully...
Give me back my glasses too!

Reichelt
I'll let you go after you've listened to what I have to say.
—When we get back to Germany
—Will you live with me?
—Of course, we live together now, but
I want to leave the house and rent an apartment with you somewhere.

—This is me proposing.
'Let's live together, just the two of us."

—What do you think?

Shou
Reichelt...

Reichelt
Shou should understand what I mean, too.
—But
I want to hear him say it.

Shou
...I can't answer that just now.

Reichelt
—Then when we go back to Germany.

I want to hear him say that he chooses me.

Shou.

...I had confidence
until we came to Japan.

...You're not going to say that you're going to stay in Japan, right?

I had thought that you had already become a German.

Shou
Wh-what are you talking about, Reichelt!
Of course I wouldn't do that!

Reichelt
—But
Though you say that you don't have any good memories of it,
you really do love this country.

—But—

And then
There's Takashi—you still—...

(Shou's eyes widen. Out in the hall, Takashi stops in front of a door marked 3042.)

Takashi
Here...?

Shou...
If I don't tell him now, when would I next be able to speak to him?
—No.
If I don't tell him, then I'll never have another chance.
So if I don't say it now—...

(Takashi holds up his hand to knock but stops when he hears Shou's voice.)

Shou
That's not true.

Takashi
If I don't say it now...

Shou
...You're wrong about Takashi.
I don't think of him as anything but my brother.
I couldn't think of him as anything but my brother.

(Takashi freezes—and then his hand falls. He turns on his heels and walks back down the hall.)

Takashi
I no longer—...
Have the courage
—...to say anything...

(Back at the hotel, someone rings the doorbell.)

Shou
Coming!

Concierge
This is a letter for Amori-sama.

Shou
A letter?

Reichelt
What is it?

Shou
Mm—he said that it's a letter. Why would I get this?

Reichelt
What's the letter about?

(Shou holds up the card inside, stunned.)

Shou
—...It's an invitation.
—To an engagement ceremony.