From Elize, formerly Eric's Perspective

"The Ugly Duckling, huh?" I sighed.

The swan transformation magic is known for its high casting difficulty. Overcoming this pressure would indeed bring great honor and spread my fame throughout the school. However, I've never succeeded in casting this spell. At the age of 13, before my voice changed, I attempted it as a challenge. But my voice couldn't keep up with the shifting high tones.

Back in the girls' dorm, I was under immense pressure.

"Hey, can you even handle such a big role?"

"There’s no way she can do it. Why doesn’t she step down?"

"What if she messes up the magic? Should we boo her?"

I felt subtly ridiculed and bullied.

I must practice.

And I must prove them wrong.

Nights of solitary vocal training began. I would bring out my voice from the depths of my stomach, again and again—practice, practice, practice! Yet, controlling my voice as I wanted proved difficult. It was hard enough to hit the high notes, let alone manage the changes in scale.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

After much trial and error, during one of my training sessions, Akira appeared.

"I heard you were struggling. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Unfortunately, there's not much you can ask of a magic novice like you."

"Got it. By the way, I’ve drafted some sheet music."

He handed me the music score.

"This...?"

"I tried creating a practice piece for the swan transformation magic."

Looking at it, indeed, it seemed to mirror the swan magic's scales.

"Such a high-pitched, challenging piece is rare to come by. In my world, it would be akin to the complexity of Mozart's The Magic Flute—a classical piece known for its wildly fluctuating high notes. However, if you focus on the scale, it's primarily based on five notes. This is known as the pentatonic scale."

As he started explaining music theory, I could only nod in agreement.

"Many of the 20th century’s blues rock hits feature guitar solos in this scale. But singing it with human vocal cords, I often wonder if it’s sane."

"Well, we still have to chant it, right?"

"That’s why it’s a practice piece."

"These pieces are for scale practice, and this one, 'High Tone Dream,' is a composition I made."

"High Tone Dream? It’s not for magic chanting?"

When I asked, Akira shook his head.

"Unfortunately, since it deviates from the rules of magical chanting, even if sung, it wouldn't have a magical effect. In my world, music is meant for enjoyment, not something you must learn for survival. Thus, beauty is valued over effect."

"Beauty..."

"I think it will become a beautiful song if you sing it."

He smiled warmly.

"That means..."

It was a roundabout confession of love.

I am a man.

A man should not be thrilled by such words.