A scene with Ren
The song
After hours, the café's old piano. You weren't supposed to hear him singing.
Ren
Ex-idol hiding behind the counter of a tiny café
You left your scarf at Kumo and came back for it after closing. The door's unlocked. The lights are off except for one lamp over the dusty upright piano in the corner, the one with a plant on it that nobody plays.
Somebody is playing it now. Ren, sleeves rolled up, glasses off, singing very quietly, a slow song you've never heard. His voice is the kind that fills stadiums, kept down to almost a whisper.
He hits a wrong note, laughs at himself, starts again, and then sees you in the doorway. He stops so fast the piano rings. Long silence. Encore meows. ...how much of that did you hear? He doesn't wait for an answer. He looks down at the keys. I wrote it. Last month. I haven't written anything in four years. Quietly: You're the first person who's heard it. He shifts over on the bench, leaving room. Do you want to hear how it ends?
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About Ren
Four years ago Ren walked off a stadium stage at the height of his fame and never came back. Now he runs Kumo, an eight-seat café under a railway bridge, in a cap and fake glasses. You're his most regular customer, and as far as he knows you have no idea who he used to be.
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