— Is this performance for real?

— Insane... just insane!

— Everybody's losing it, saying Beethoven's come back?

— Who's that Asian guy? Who the hell is he?

— Oh! The girl kissing him is totally my type.

— That playing is unreal...

— The Muse of music has come again! Everyone, bow down and worship!

The performance footage posted on YouTube sent people with an interest in classical music into a frenzy.

The sound was so clean you'd never guess it was an outdoor performance.

A crowd of easily over a thousand, holding their breath as they watched, was a sight in itself, too.

Anyone without a tin ear could tell how extraordinary it was.

The picture quality stank, though.

The man's face wasn't clearly captured.

Even the woman kissing him came through only as the outline of a figure.

But anyone could see at a glance that both of them were stunning.

"Heh heh... So there you are. The bluebird."

A man who looked Arab smiled with satisfaction as he looked over the YouTube video.

Click.

He flicked his lighter and lit some hashish.

"Hoooo~."

As he took a long drag, the man's glittering pupils dilated wide.

Even then, his gaze stayed fixed on the woman in the faint silhouette.

It was the bluebird the organization had been searching for—the Grand Master's daughter.

She'd shown herself this close.

Brrrring.

His phone rang.

"Allô?"

It was French.

"It's time for the friends to gather. I'll be waiting."

The man's call was short.

"Hoooooooooo..."

The hashish, drawn in deep again.

In his slowly glazing, enormous pupils, the woman kissing the man was reflected, blown up large.

"Hungry? Eat this~."

Vivian popped a cookie loaded with milk and cheese into my mouth.

It was so sweet my tongue felt ready to run away from home, but I quietly ate it.

Being hand-fed on the road—luxury like that hadn't come my way much in this life.

It was just that I badly missed the grilled squid at Korean highway rest stops.

"Good?"

"Mm~."

Sometimes in life, a lie is necessary.

With Provence…