Aoi drew her bow across her violin, the final note of Caprice 24 ringing in her ears for the fifth time that day. A round of applause broke out in the room, yet when Aoi looked up from her scores, no one had been clapping at all. The other soloists were preoccupied with tuning their instruments, or practicing their fingering techniques, or simply just lounging around in the plush seats of the auditorium, and a frowning Miss Sugiyama was engaged in a phone call.

That wasss beautiful, would you like to play it again?

Aoi clenched her teeth, packing away her bow and violin as if she hadn't heard a thing. The spirit had been harassing her since she'd stepped foot into the school that morning, whispering random thoughts and giving unwanted commentary to whatever happened around her. To make matters worse, Erika had again insisted to accompany her into the school, cutting her off from meeting Noriko until the break.

"Just practice," Aoi muttered to herself, zipping up her violin case. She strapped it over her shoulder as she bowed to Miss Sugiyama before exiting the music room.

Yesss, yesss, just practissse, the spirit purred in her ear, I'll be here lissstening.

"Aoi." Erika stood outside the door, her arms folded primly across her endowed chest and her expression ice-cold.

Aoi stared straight into her mother's eyes, resisting the urge to look at the storage room across the building. "Yes, okaasan?"

Erika's gaze went over Aoi's head, an eyebrow quirking as she noticed the other students preparing to leave the auditorium as well. "We need to talk."

Ooo, what ssshall we ssspeak of? Do you have any clue, little violin girl?

Erika shifted further down the corridor, out of earshot, and Aoi followed suit.

Her mother crossed and uncrossed her arms, unsettled by Aoi's unmoving stare. "I've... asked around, and I've been hearing some strange things."

Oh, finally, sssomeone noticesss me.

Aoi kept her mouth shut. At that moment, the sound of shrill fue notes began seeping out of the classroom in the opposite building, Aoi flinching at its strange pitchiness. 

Ah, do you hear that, little violin girl?  The spirit mimicked a yawn. My favourite melody, don't you think ssso?

"Like what?" Aoi blurted out, eyes focused intensely on Erika's.

Erika blinked, as if unsure of how to pursue the conversation. "They say your pupils turned white, and all of a sudden you screamed in the middle of the dining hall."

"Oh," Aoi swallowed, "that."

Sssuch concern, sssuch care, this mother of yoursss. The lassst time I ssshowed sssomeone sssuch affectionsss, I died.

Aoi continued staring hard at her mother's face, even as she paled at the spirit's words. "W-what about it, okaasan?"

Erika reached out to touch Aoi's face, but the girl flinched. The singer then drew back her hand, tucking it under a crossed arm. "Are you- are you okay, Aoi-chan? Are you... overstressed?"

"No," Aoi shook her head, her hands linking with her mother's as the triplets' song neared the chorus. "Kaasan, I'm hungry, let's go get lu-"

Trying to run, are you now?

Erika placed an arm on Aoi's shoulder. "Aoi-chan, this is serious. A performer cannot showcase their talent if they're too stressed. Push your limits, yes, but not to self-destruction. No one will look twice at a performer who is sick."

Ooh, yesss, very ssseriousss. I like her, little violin girl. Do you think ssshe would be willing to help me inssstead?

"No!" Aoi's eyes bulged, her voice coming out sharper than she'd intended. She cleared her throat, pinning her eyes to the ground and avoiding Erika's shocked look. Her hands fisted at her sides, suppressing the urge to shield her ears from the song as Wuji's bridge began playing. "I'm just... tired, okaasan. I'll rest when we reach home, I should be fi-"

Erika didn't respond, her attention shifted elsewhere. "Those notes-"

Aoi looked up, eyes widened. Erika was staring across the balcony corridor, straight in the direction of the storage room.

Aoi gasped, shaking her mother's arm, trying to shake her out of it. "Okaasan!"

Now, little violin girl, what will you choossse?

"What do you want?" Aoi spat, reaching up and grasping Erika's chin, attempting to tug her mother's gaze away from the room to no avail.

You know what I want.

"If I free you," Aoi bit out, "will you stop?"

Of courssse, little violin girl. I keep my promisssesss, unlike othersss I have known.

"How do I know you're not lying?" Aoi demanded, only for Erika to lurch forward and lean over the balcony, eyes glassy and entranced as the song went on. The girl gasped out loud and yanked at her mother's clothes. 

I guess you'll jussst have to trussst me, little violin girl.

"You'd better not be, or I'll lock you back in myself." Aoi whirled around and ran for the stairs, shoving past other soloists as she made for the office downstairs, the spirit's cackle echoing in the back of her head. 

"Aoi-chan!" Noriko stood at the foot of the stairs, on her way up. "I was just coming to get you. Hiro's saved us a seat in the dining hall."

Aoi rushed down the remaining steps, though Noriko kept talking. 

"You know, apparently my dad used to go to this school. Said he had a crazy ex-girlfriend who was obsessed with geometry-"

"We'll talk later." Aoi brushed past the ballerina, one hand briefly landing on her friend's shoulder. 

The spirit shrieked in her head. 

I sssaid, mussstn't touch! Ssstupid girl!

Pushing open the door of the office, Aoi's eyes darted to the keyholder wall. Unlike in her dream, various keys now hung from the hooks, along with fancy keychains. She pinpointed the spot where she had taken the key before in her nightmare, and reached for the hexagonal key. 

"Tsukada-san, what are you doing here?" 

Aoi froze, the small key clutched tightly in her fist as she spun around to face Miss Sugiyama standing in the doorway. The tall woman smiled at her, one eyebrow quirking in question. 

"Borrowing. Something." Aoi dashed around her confused supervising teacher, bolting for the stairs on the opposite block before Miss Sugiyama could say anything else. She hurried up the stairs, the key poised between her fingers as she closed the distance towards the storage room. 

Jamming the key into the lock, she pulled the grate open, looking into the familiar semi-darkness of the room. 

Everything was the same as she had seen it four days ago: the little window at the end, the layer of thick cobwebs filtering the sunlight, the faint patterns on the floor. 

Except for a small box in the middle of the room. It was made of plain wood, unmarked with its hexagonal lid half-open. Aoi couldn't see what was inside, and had no desire to. She swiveled around to look across the block to the auditorium's corridor. 

Erika was gone. 

Aoi's eyes flared, and she made to close the grate. 

Not yet, little violin girl. Open the box. 

Aoi stepped into the room, glaring at the darkness. "Where is my mother?"

The box, the box, the box, the spirit sang. 

Aoi kicked open the lid of the box. Shrivelled dead spiders with their legs curled up in the air came tumbling out, along with something else. 

Tsk, tsk tsk. Hasssn't anyone ever taught you, kicking isss rude?

"And I said before, I'm not supposed to be talking to nameless spirits," Aoi snapped, glancing across the block again. "Now, where is my mother?"

Namelesssss ssspirit? Little violin girl, you break my heart. Not that it hasss never been broken before. 

"Answer me."

The thing on the floor caught Aoi's eye. It was an origami butterfly, meticulously folded in white and bundled by several layers of cobwebs. 

Pretty, isssn't it? Sssomebody made it, jussst for me. They didn't want me to essscape, no, they didn't want me to ssspoil their happinessss-

"My mother."

The cobwebs grew thicker and thicker around the butterfly, like a spider enveloping its prey. 

You needn't worry about your mother, sssilly little violin girl. I let her go, jussst like I promisssed. 

Aoi's gaze never left the butterfly, the paper scrunching at its ends as the webs bore down on it. "And you will leave me alone?"

Tell me, little violin girl, have you ever had a favourite melody? A sssong, that, whenever you hear it, remindsss you of a memory? A betrayal, a murder, and when it makesss you feel ssstrong enough, you can do anything?

"I'm not here for conversation," Aoi said, glowering into the darkness.

The spirit was silent, and only the sound of the faint breeze sifted through Aoi's ears.

Wuji had stopped playing. In fact, it had stopped playing some time ago.

Aoi's mouth dropped open in realisation. "The melody— your control comes from the melody."

A gust of wind whipped through the room, slamming the grate closed and trapping Aoi inside the storage room. The spirit's laugh rang all around Aoi.

I didn't expect you to be ssso ssslow, little violin girl. I thought you'd be sssmarter than that ssstupid girl.

"Noriko? What do you have against her?" Aoi backed herself into a corner, watching as the cobwebs crunched on the butterfly origami, cracks forming on its surface.

Have sssome pay-shensss, little violin girl. Of courssse you will get to know me, and my will ssshall be yoursss.

The butterfly tore open, and the spirit burst into a gleeful shriek.

The wind slammed into her, the spirit's cackles ringing in her ears, and the last thing Aoi remembered was the clink of the key hitting the floor.