Part 1 

It was the morning after, and I was laying down on my bed having just woke up. 

Under the sheets was Charlotte, who was snuggling onto me. While I wore nothing but a pair of boxers in bed, Charlotte seemed to wear nothing but an oversized T-shirt that belonged to me and was around my size. 

I could feel her warm body and breasts squish onto me as she hugged me harder. 

Her hands were on my chest and beside her hands was her head, also on my chest, her legs wrapped around my groin.

I feel like... A body pillow. 

"Arthur... Hehehehe~" 

She seemed to be having a great dream, muttering something like that. 

"Maybe I'll sleep in for a bit more." 

I sighed as I tilted my head, looking at the sleepy Charlotte. 

I kissed her forehead and wrapped my arms around her. 

"Wait no! I gotta practise!" 

I immediately sat up, reminded of so many things that I forgot about and left due. 

Along with my sudden sitting up, Charlotte who was on top of me was pushed up before falling back onto the bed. 

Surprised by this sudden movement, Charlotte moaned, refusing to open her eyes from the tiredness of the morning. 

"Uwahh... Arthur? It's so early, let me sleep for a bit more..." 

"Charlotte! I gotta practise for both rehearsal today and then we have to practise for the Mountain Concerto Competition, do you remember?!" 

"Shut up... Come here, Arthur." 

Charlotte listlessly came closer toward me and hugged my waist sluggishly. 

"You can stay asleep, but I need you to-uh, turn into your piano-self." 

"That's the same thing as getting up though... The way it works is that I have two forms, human and piano. If I summon my piano-self and stay human, then my consciousness is shared through both but I'm not 'human' anymore, so I won't feel the satisfaction of sleep. If there's no piano summoned and I'm in my human form solely, then I'm fully human and can feel human things, such as the satisfaction of sleep. So I don't wanna turn myself into... piano..." 

Charlotte dozed off at the end there. 

"It's 11pm, you should get used to waking up earlier, Charlotte." 

I usually woke up at 6am, but it seems like Charlotte was a slacker in that aspect. 

"Sigh... I'll just dress up and practise a street piano then-" 

"-No, you can't!" 

Addressed with the notion of me playing on a random street piano, Charlotte immediately stood up on the bed, screaming at me. Any signs of tiredness on her face had disappeared, replaced with pure jealousy and irritation. 

"-Don't you dare play on another piano that's not me!"

With that said, Charlotte clicked her thumb. 

"-There, my piano-self should be out where it usually is, outside your room in the living room. Go practise or whatever." 

Charlotte stomped out of the room with an annoyed expression. 

She seemed mad at the fact that I suggested playing on another piano. 

Part 2 

Charlotte sat on the couch pretty stiffly, and she didn't look too happy. 

Ah shit... What do I do. 

As an emotionally and relationship-deprived person, Arthur had no idea how to react to Charlotte's clear signals of anger.

I shouldn't have said that I would've played on a street piano... She doesn't seem to like that.

Although the piano-self of Charlotte was summoned into its usual spot, I didn't feel like sitting on the stool and practising while Charlotte looked like this. 

Her eyebrows were knitted with her arms crossed, she oozed the very feeling of anger.

"Are you angry, Charlotte?"

"No, I'm not!" 

Charlotte turned her head away from me, looking away. 

She's definitely angry. What the hell do I do about this? I feel like if I apologised, she'd get even more angry. 

"Charlotte..." 

I sat beside Charlotte and reached my hand out. 

"..."

But she stood up and walked into my room, and locked herself in the toilet joined to my room. 

"Aw man..." 

I pulled out my phone and went through my contacts: 

After scrolling for a while, I came across a name.

It was Ariel. 

Ariel used to be my senior classmate in university, she kinda took care of me until I finished my studies. She was the one who signed me up for the Mountain Concerto Competition me and Charlotte were gonna compete in as the receptionist. 

And I was relying on her to help me with this Charlotte situation, a very angry Charlotte. 

"[Arthur? Woah, you usually never call. What's up? I'm at work right now.]" 

I heard Ariel's voice on the other side of the phone. 

Keeping my voice as low and quiet as possible, I spoke: 

"[I... I'm having a bit of trouble, Charlotte's really mad at me, and I don't know what to do. Can you help?]" 

"[Ooooooo- Hahahaahahahaha! You're kidding me!" 

"[This isn't something to laugh at, Ariel, I need help.]" 

I took the pillow Charlotte was sitting on and put it on my lap as I leaned forward. 

"[Puahahahahaaha!]" 

I've never felt so tempted to press the "End" button on a call before, the veins on my forehead began to pop in exasperation. 

"-[Pffft, I'm sorry I'm sorry. What's the fight about?]" 

Ariel inquired after calming herself down. 

Oh right, I can't tell her that Charlotte got mad at me for talking about playing on street pianos, that won't make sense to someone who doesn't know that Charlotte can turn into a piano. 

What do I tell Ariel? 

"[Um... She's just really jealous, and got mad at me. Now she won't talk to me, what do I do?]"

I told Ariel the situation in a roundabout way. 

"[You didn't cheat on her, did you? Also, I thought you told me she wasn't your girlfriend. Why would she be jealous?]"

"[I didn't cheat on her]." 

I only commented on the first section of what she said. 

"[You better have not. Well, just give her time to calm down then apologise if you were in the wrong. The rest is up to her.]."
"[Who the hell are you talking to, I need the Mountain Concerto performer reports done by today!]"
"[Aaah! I'm sorry!]"  

It seemed like someone had interrupted Ariel over the phone, she ended the call abruptly. Must have been her manager or boss. 

Her boss was talking about the Mountain Concerto, the Competition I'm entering, Ariel seemed to be the one in charge of hushing out the details. 

With her advice taken in stride, I sat on the couch for around 30 minutes.

Part 3 

30 minutes had passed, and I decided to go check up on Charlotte. 

"Hey. " 

I put my hand on the bathroom door and called out to Charlotte. 

"..."

There was no response. 

"Charlotte, I'm sorry. If I knew you would react like this, I would have never said that."

"-So if I didn't act like this, you'd still say that you'd play with other pianos?" 

Charlotte's voice was heard through the door. 

"I wouldn't have played on the street pianos regardless." 

"-But you're perfectly fine with grand pianos?" 

Charlotte retorted with another problem. 

"Charlote..." 

Despite being in a completely different room, I lowered my head as if Charlotte were in front of me. 

"You don't need to comfort me, I know grand pianos are way better than me, a normal upright piano. Their dynamics are insane, and when you press on the soft pedal, all the keys on the Grand shift very coolly, something that I can't do." 

Charlotte spurted out, insecure with herself. 

"-They're much bigger, they're louder, control is easier: They're better than everything than me when it comes to being a quality piano..." 

The fight started off with Charlotte being mad about street pianos, but it turned into a rant about Grand Pianos. 

From other side of the door, I could hear sobbing. 

We had this conversation before, Charlotte told me about her insecurities regarding this. 

I thought it was resolved because it ended well. 

But it seems like simply telling her that she was better didn't seem to hit it. 

"Charlotte-" 

I was careful with my words. 

What she stated were facts, Grand Pianos are much better in quality than upright pianos, Charlotte being an upright piano. But that doesn't mean I liked the Grands more than I did Charlotte, she means more to me than simple notions of quality. 

There was so much more to her than that. 

For fucks sakes, she can turn into a human! 

I don't even care about piano quality. 

Despite her cheeky demeanour, she seemed to have insecurities such as this. 

"You're not normal. You mean so much to me, Charlotte. I can't look at any instrument the same way that I do when I look at you. You're so much better than any piano." 

"Stop lying, Arthur." 

Charlotte snorted from the other side of the door. 

"I'm not lying, you really are the best. There's no need to feel like you're lesser just because you're not a grand." 

"-But... Don't you feel like you're missing out?" 

Charlotte, with more calmer voice asked. 

"I feel like many pianists are missing out on you. You're amazing. You can turn into a human and speak! What else could I ask for?! Even if you were a simple 66-key keyboard, I would feel no regret becoming a Keyboardist for you." 

I put my hand against the door. 

"...Really?" 

"Really." 

The door began to creak as the knob turned, opening the door. 

Charlotte peeked her head out. 

...This reminds me of that one time...

When I was in my father's office at my home, and a little girl peeked her head into the office. It was Charlotte, though she disappeared right after. 

Seeing her peeking head coming from the toilet made me think of back then. 

"You're so adorable." 

I said subconsciously as I pat Charlotte's head. 

She opened the door completely and hugged me tightly. 

"..."

"Don't worry about such small things, okay, Charlotte?"

"I won't..."

Charlotte snugged her face into my chest.

"It doesn't seem like you still believe me. I would pick you over any Grand Piano anytime, anywhere, any place." 

"I believe you!" 

Charlotte looked up, her tears dried and her smile returned. 

I embraced Charlotte, hugging her tight. 

Part 4 

After that situation was dealt with, my phone began to ring. 

"Who is it?" 

Charlotte asked as she leaned onto my side. 

We were both sitting on the couch, relaxing after what had just happened. 

"It's an unknown number." 

My gut feeling didn't like this, but I picked up the phone regardless. 

"[Good morning, Son.]" 

Hearing the all too familiar voice, all the muscles within my body tensed up. 

"[...Mother.]" 

I muttered under my breath, with a hint of hate. 

"[It wasn't nice what you did to Lukyus and I at the phone store, and how you kicked Lukyus out from the Competition like that.]" 

She was talking about our last encounter, Charlotte and I were shopping for a phone for Charlotte and when I saw my mother, I exploded into a fit of rage before barging out of the store with Charlotte leaving mother and Lukyus behind. 

After that, I kicked Lukyus out as a partner for the Competition. 

Mother seemed to be calling me about that. 

"[You stole my happiness, mother. You took away my childhood. You, and father.]" 

How dare she contact me after what she's done to me. 

Gritting my teeth, I muttered lowly, trying my best to keep the overflowing rage in check. 

"[Pfft. Yeah anyways, I told Lukyus to enter the Competition again. Since you were so rude as to kick him out, let him win, okay? I'll be watching the competition, he has more potential than you, so it does't matter if you lose.]" 

My body twitched hearing the casual tone of mother, and how she just simply said "Pfft. Yeah anyways" in response to her ruining my life. 

Hearing the rest of her words made my adam's apple jolt, my stomach began to hurt. I began to feel sick, barely holding back the desire to gulp from the nauseating feeling of vomiting. 

My phone made a crackling sound, crushed from the pure raging grip from my hand holding it. 

My face was distorted into pure rage. 

Let him win? Let. Him. Win?! More Potential than me?! You fucking- 

"[Go fuck yourself!]"

Leaning forward, my entire body shuddered as I aggressively shouted into the phone. I stood up, preparing to throw the phone against the wall as hard as I could. 

But before I could throw it: 

"Arthur!" 

Charlotte jumped onto me, hugging me. 

"-Don't give her the reaction she wants!" 

Charlotte took the phone call, noticing that mother was still on the line and quickly ended the call. 

"We'll win the Concerto! Your mother will be watching, we'll win, and we're gonna forget all about her, okay?" 

"Yes."