The glimmering purple keyboard is just as you left it.

The glimmering purple keyboard is just as you left it.

Examine the keyboard.

The brand plate identifies this as a Kagami 7X60.

Look closer! This is the 'Kagami 7X60 'REIGNbow' - Ultra Violeta Signature Edition'.

A ceremonial blade for the high-priestess of electro-pop.

MAY SHE FALL ON IT. WARD AGAINST THE SPELL OF THE NEW. REJECT YOUTH CULTURE.

How does one go about getting their own signature keyboard?

Achieve something worth commemorating in keyboard-form.

Like some really good spying!

The Kagami 0000-CASCADE...

Sold with defects, prone to malfunctioning.

And yet... The one they all covet, valuable not despite its flaws, but because of them.

Limited run. Collector's Edition. Sold OUT on pre-order before it hits the shelves.

I will spy way harder if there's a merch line on the table.

Spies do not get signature keyboards. Or any other branded merchandise.

Yet.

Like slabbing the fück out of the Grand Lich?

You should run this by Melita when you have a moment. Maybe the Opera can send you through some early concepts.

Whistle.

One of the undertheorised appeals of Luzian Electro-Pop: the quality of modern Luzian instruments, mixing desks, even their cabling, is unmatched.

OBSESSION WITH FOREIGN IMPORTS. SELF-CRITIQUE IMMEDIATELY.

"I know it's kind of embarrassing this thing has my name on it... but it was all I could manage to take with me. It makes music, at least. That's all I need it to do for now."

The tool doesn't matter. Only the work you do with it.

Some tools make the work feel cooler, though. Some tools are limited edition.

A tool has no intrinsic value. This includes, but is not limited to: instruments, weapons, and people.

Lucrative tie-in we've got here, I'm guessing.

It's sold for three times the price of the original, despite there being no difference to the internal components.

And just think... You've only been hearing it through its internal speaker so far...

This is the bleeding edge of keyboards. All others must bow before it.

In terms of sheer sale numbers -- and people buying it who will never actually play it -- they already do.

Luz's infamous soft power made manifest. A rising economy supports creative and technological risk-taking, art and science intertwined like a caduceus.

"Write any hits on this?"

"Many. I take it on tour and have it set up in the hotel room. I basically wrote all of 'Flower on the Precipice' on this, during the 'Missing Glance' tour in 94."

"'Holding Hands with Strangers' was the big single from that album. Number one for eighteen weeks. Far outselling Dia Domino and her limp attempts at meaningful music." She presses a single key lightly.

"That was one of Yana's favourite songs, actually. She told me that the first day we met." A glance away. "She was so excited."

"You mean a lot to her."

"I know."

"She was very young. You know. Back then."

"A different person, yes. And nowhere near as inadequate as she thought... Sad, isn't it? That she'd just... give herself away."

"Sucking up, as usual."

"She's not at the moment. We've barely talked since you got here..."

"'Flower on the Precipice' has 'Holding Hands with Strangers' on it. That's one of V's biggest songs."

And Yana's favourite.

"I'll have to listen out for it."

"Has a nice line in it, actually, in the bridge... 'Could you fall to the very bottom of yourself and stand up in one piece?'"

"Thank you, Yana." A small smile. "I like that one too."

"And? Could you?"

"I'll let you know when I hit it. Bracing for fucking impact."

"Falling forever, through infinite distance... It might not even feel like you were falling at all."

"And? Could you?" (Turn to V.)

"Like any of us... I could try."

"Harder than you think."

"Typical overwritten lyric, signifying little."

"I'm sorry it didn't resonate. For many other people, it did."

"It's a great song, Hersh. You're out of touch here."

"In the spirit of earnest collab... I have notes."

"Well... Unfortunately, the song's already been recorded... It came out last year. Also a lot of people like it."

"Hersh, this collab thing... you should really just drop it."

Ignore the jealous teen. This collab is already in the works.

"Wow, okay, Yana, we get it, you're a fan."

"No need to get cunty, Hersh."

"Yes, please don't get cunty, Hersh. This is a small room, the only one I have. I'd like to be delicate with its atmosphere."

"Where's the 'melancholy' dial, I don't see it."

"Very funny, Hersh." She smiles. "That one's in the head of the listener. I let the music turn it."

It's not a dial. More like a self-destruct button.

Play a note.

You press your finger into the nearest key. A light, airy tone glistens across the room.

Middle A -- good start.

"Hersh... what are you doing?"

"What, I'm not doing anything." (Play another A.)

"Hersh. Stop."

"Sorry. I'm done." (Stop.)

"Please step back. I don't even let my tech engineer play notes unless he has to."

"You're a spy, not a fucking sound engineer. Step away from V's keyboard."

"Okay. Stopping right now." (Play another note.)

Alternative wording

"Jump in any time, V." (Play a B.)

"Please actually stop. This isn't even music."

This little weirdo thinks she owns music now?

"That wasn't me." (Play a D.)

"I just watched you do it."

"Okay, okay, done now."

"Are you?"

"Yep."

"Good."

Fold your hands in front of yourself and actually stop.

"Thank you. That's a calming hand position."

"Got you good!" (Play an E and an F# in rapid succession while cackling to yourself.)

"I would like to dismount this ride now." The girl looks at the ceiling, a pained expression on her face.

"Is this a mid-life crisis?"

"Age comes for us all, V."

She was expecting you to play another note.

A metric tonne of silence falls between the two of you.

"That was really disturbing."

"Nice job, Hersh. You disturbed V."

They were expecting you to play another note.

A metric tonne of silence falls between the three of you.

"Maybe, maybe." (Play F#, B, D.)

"I don't know what to do in these situations... should I call Yana?"

The melody you've been unconsciously constructing suddenly unfurls itself in your mind. Two notes to stick the landing...

"It's called music theory, listen and learn!" (Hammer a clump of keys with your fist.)

"It's okay, Hersh. Everything's going to be okay."

"Hersh. You're done now. It's okay. You're done."

Say nothing, just play B then A. (Complete your composition.)

"That wasn't bad, actually." The popstar cocks her head. "You had something there."

She softly hums your notes back to you, then nods once.

"Yeah. Nice."

"'Least it's over."

Play any old shit and wrap this up.

"Time to bring her in for a landing..." (Play C then A#.)

The discordant notes echo out into silence. It is painfully clear that whatever you've landed is a smouldering wreck on the tarmac, beset by emergency vehicles.

"Good job, Hersh." She smiles at you, but it doesn't reach her eyes.

The smile of a girl visiting her grandmother on the dementia ward.

"Thank you for sharing."

"Now step the fuck away from the keyboard."

"V, we might have to get physical here..."

"Yana..." The popstar looks at her friend. "Is this a mid-life crisis?"

"This is an everything crisis. Mental, creative, communist. She's snapped."

"Great."

"No." (Play an E and an F# in rapid succession, as you intended to do all along.)

"Okay, that one was me." (Play an E and an F# in rapid succession.)

"We're watching you do it."

"You're not in charge of music, tiny fascist." (Play a D.)

"I never said I was..."

"You've have had your little jackboot on music for too long. This one's for the proletariat." (Play an E and an F# in rapid succession.)

"Hersh, are you having some kind of breakdown?"

"They've have had their jackboot on music for too long, Yana. This one's for the proletariat." (Play an E and an F# in rapid succession.)

"Getting this collab going. You in, V?" (Play another A.)

"Single notes, no chords... very minimal..." She looks for help but there's no one around.

"Just going to kick some stuff around here, keep it loose..." (Play another note.)

"Okay. Fine. V, we'll catch up later."

"Uh... Cool. Yeah. Later."

"Single notes, no chords... very minimal..." She looks at Yana with urgency.

"Hersh. Step away from V's keyboard and stop being a prick."

"Sorry, my bad." (Back off.)

"It's alright. Thank you for understanding."

You're just going to give up? Once again, this is the Kagami 7X60 REIGNbow.

"I'm sure you would have played something nice."

"I like the sound it makes, get off my dick." (Back off but with attitude.)

"Then please get off the keyboard first. It's clear you don't know how to play."

"Then get off the keyboard, you clown."

"Seriously, please get off. It's clear you don't know how to play."

"Hersh, what are you doing?"

Play that note once more.

A crisp middle-A fills the room.

"Please don't start this again..."

"Are we really playing this game again?"

Better leave this alone. [Leave.]

The young popstar untenses as you step back from her instrument.

Purple plastic shimmers as you approach the keyboard. Tacked to the side is a worn black sticker: 'UV: TOUR ONLY'.

Could it... could it be...