The Extra of The Lunerra

Chapter 463 - 96: End of Year Speech

~-eep!

"Ugh..."

My eyes slowly opened, and the first thing that caught my eye was the white color of the ceiling.

~beeep!

I had woken up normally.

There were no birds chirping or any sunlight hitting my face.

There was just...

~beeep! ~beeep!

The relentless alarm of my watch.

I stretched slightly, then silenced the alarm and sat up, leaning against the headboard of my bed.

The first thing I did... was to look to my left.

And what I saw was... nothing.

I stared at the empty space on my bed for a few seconds, then took a deep breath.

Gone, huh...

I slowly turned sideways, then stood up.

After a shower that lasted about half an hour, I went into the kitchen.

And... I found exactly what I expected.

A breakfast table set for me with a note on the wall.

Enjoy your meal.

"..."

I sat quietly at the table. But I didn’t start eating right away.

I just... thought.

I didn’t do anything wrong... right?

Or did I?

I glanced at the table in front of me, then back at the note on the wall.

If I’d done something wrong, she probably wouldn’t have bothered doing this.

I mean, logically, she wouldn’t.

"Haaah..."

I rolled my eyes, picked up a spoon, and pulled the first plate in front of me.

And that’s when I realized something.

"Huh..."

Celine... has been cooking for me for months. Not every day without exception, of course. I mean, she has her own work, and she’s not my personal chef. But... the times she did, it was usually average. Not bad, yes, but not too good either. Her cooking skills were about the same as mine.

But now...

It was beautiful.

No, it wasn’t something that changed overnight. I ate almost every two or three days from her hands, so I didn’t notice the change... but lately, every table she prepared was better than the previous one.

She’s improving.

After a short while, breakfast was over.

My day began.

And, well... it became one of my routine days. An ordinary day, discussing the potion business with Ulka and Alexander, working on the information network we are starting to build with the Virhen and Bealy Families, preparing for what I have planned for when the second year ends.

And in the evening... my door opened by itself.

The person I had expected to see appeared at the door of the hall.

She glanced at the screens in front of me.

"Were you working?"

"Yes."

"Okay then."

She left her bag by the door and hung her coat on the hanger.

Then... she simply smiled.

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"Is there anything you want?"

Actually... I was going to give my usual answer of ’nope’, but then I hesitated.

"There’s some cauliflower in the refrigerator."

And she immediately understood what I meant.

"Leave it to me!"

"She was someone many of you had probably heard of but didn’t know who she was. But for me, at that point in my life, out of everyone I knew, she was the person I cared about the most."

I was just talking.

"Olivia Sue Gemma."

There was... nothing else I could do.

"And I lost her."

Taking a deep breath, I lifted my head and turned my eyes back to the crowd.

I was silent for a short while. But then... I continued.

"Sue... had a hobby, something she practiced and worked on before she passed away."

And I reached for my ring again, this time for something else.

A guitar appeared in my lap.

An old guitar that looked like it had been used for a long time.

"She was composing a short, wordless song with this guitar. She didn’t expect to become a singer, she didn’t plan to impress others with the guitar she was learning to play. It was just... a hobby for her. But she didn’t even finish her first composition."

I put my fingers in place.

"I... wanted to finish what she didn’t finish. I learned how to play the guitar, I studied how to compose, and I managed to come up with something of my own. And here... I want you to listen to it. I want everyone to see and hear the only trace Sue could leave behind. So... I’m just going to ask you to listen. And then, I’m done on this stage."

I didn’t wait for any confirmation, I didn’t turn my eyes to the crowd again, I just... focused on the guitar in my hand.

The sound of the guitar was going to be clearly transmitted to the whole crowd, thanks to the runes I asked Melany for.

The beginning of Sue’s composition was... simple.

It started calmly. Slow tempo, low tones. At the same time, it repeated a certain rhythm and followed it for a certain amount of time.

And that’s exactly what I played.

Then, though... it changed.

The rhythm slowly broke down, without the audience fully realizing it... almost by getting used to it. The melody gradually accelerated, the chords hardened.

The timbre became harsher, sharper. High-toned single notes were now interspersed.

But here she would stop again.

As if someone who was angry and confused was calming down. Slowing down, softening... settling into a certain rhythm again. But the quieting and slowing down never stopped. It continued until there was no more sound from the guitar.

That was the end of Sue’s composition.

And in fact, because of this, it might not have been seen as an ’incomplete’ composition.

But it always felt that way to me. Because... every time, I felt like there should be more.

That’s why I was sure that it was incomplete, that it was only the beginning of the real composition.

Sue... had composed it according to her state of mind. It reflected the calm tones of her ordinary life, her confusion and anger after what happened with her brother... and then her calming down with me.

But there was more.

Because she hadn’t just ’calmed down’.

She had found a new purpose after Paul’s death. She wanted to get stronger, she wanted to be useful. She started training, pushing herself every day.

And... I think that’s what was missing.

So, rather than simply slowing it down to the end... I prolonged it.

I deliberately strengthened and accentuated the chord progressions when I wanted to make it sound like it was coming to an end, but I never broke the rhythm, never reflected the anger, like in the middle of the original composition.

I just kept the rhythm going and modified it little by little. I made the timbres more determined and louder. I increased the tempo, gradually hardening the notes... as if I could see with my own eyes that Sue was getting stronger and stronger.

Toward the end... the gradual accumulation of changes made the composition unrecognizable from the beginning.

Whereas the initial composition conveyed sadness and anger... this one completely took the ’failure’ out of it and conveyed determination and effort, ’success’. So much so... that after a while, the chords reached a climax with the rising melody.

It was... a song of victory.

And that’s how it ended. Not abruptly, but as if the notes representing this achievement would remain in the air forever; as if a victory had been won, and that climax turned into an echo.

This echo must have had exactly the effect I wanted, because the crowd in front of me had to wait for a while to realize that the composition was over.

Only after a very short time did they realize it was over.

Silence enveloped everyone, no one made a sound. There was only... the gentle howling of the wind.

After a quite short while, though, there was a single round of applause. A single one, barely audible in the silence.

Then a few others joined in. Soon... everyone in front and even behind the stage was clapping.

I... simply stood up, my cane appearing as the guitar and the chair I was sitting on went back into my ring.

I bowed slightly toward them. But before I stepped back, I said one thing.

"It’s just a continuation of Sue’s composition. Please, if you share it anywhere, don’t forget to add her name. In fact, make her name the foremost one."

And that was it.

Once I was upright again, I turned around and simply walked next to Alexander, the academic top of the ranking, who had attended the ceremony with me.

The rest of the ceremony... went on and ended quite simply.

The composition I played on stage went viral even for a short while.

And, thus... the summer vacation of 2045 began.

The beginning of the time when I would strike the next blow against Saligia.