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- Hiroko has Kōsei critique Nagi on her technique during her piano lessons. After Kaori surprises Kōsei with a shopping spree at a department store, he assumes that she left her backpack at the school since she was wearing her school uniform, but he realizes that she was lying about it. As Kōsei takes Kaori home on a bike, she tearfully thanks him for spending time with her. Nagi begins to plot revenge on Kōsei after he continues to point out all of her mistakes during her piano lessons. One evening, as Kōsei finds Nagi at a stairway to a shrine, Nagi admits that she looks up to her older brother, whereas Kōsei reveals that he looks up to a girl that he can never date. In the hospital again with her friends, Kaori becomes so upset that Kōsei is spending less and less time with her. Meanwhile, Nagi feels like she and Kōsei are two of a kind, chasing the one person that they cannot catch up with. Kaori proposes a double suicide with Kōsei. (en)
- Kōsei begins to fall apart in his performance, drawing buzz from the audience. He feels trapped in his mother's shadow, unable to escape from his trauma. He stops midway through, looking at Kaori in the audience and wondering why she played again during her performance before. This motivates him to keep playing, discreetly dedicating this set piece to Kaori. The music sounds differently this time, as if the stars are shining brightly in the night sky. He feels somehow connected to Kaori, sharing the same scenery of spring in a way, since it is because of her that gave him the ability to play again. When he finishes performing, the audience sit in silent awe before giving a scattered applause.
During the piano competition, Kōsei performs Chopin's "Wrong Note" Étude once again, but after falling apart and stopping midway through, he resumes his performance by focusing his attention on Kaori. (en)
- Kōsei and Nagi perform a set piece written for piano four hands. During the performance, Kōsei competes with Nagi to see if she can keep up with him. As Nagi believes that she understands Kōsei on a deeper level, this pushes her to perform with all her heart. After they end their set piece, the audience is blown away with their performance. While backstage, Kōsei is confronted by Takeshi, who is jealous that Kōsei teamed up with Nagi, otherwise known as his little sister. Takeshi demands Kōsei the chance to beat him in an upcoming piano competition. Kōsei visits Kaori on the roof of the hospital to find her passion for music awakened, since she listened to Kōsei and Nagi's performance from her phone. Kōsei challenges Kaori to perform one more duet with him.
During the school festival, Kōsei and Nagi perform Rachmaninoff's piano arrangement of the Waltz from Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty. This is unique because it is arranged for piano four hands, meaning two pianists play on a single piano. (en)
- A flashback explains that Emi threw away all of her ambitions in order to learn how to play the piano, after hearing Kōsei perform for the first time. After a resonating performance, Emi heads backstage to the hallway and attempts to confront Kōsei, but she finds herself bereft of words and just walks away. After another intermission of fifteen minutes, Kōsei comes onto the stage to play his set piece. As Kōsei approaches the piano and plays the set piece, he confronts his past. He first wanted to win every piano competition, believing that would cure Saki from her terminal illness. However, he wished for her to die since he could no longer handle her strict manner and abusive attitude, later feeling regretful for what he said after she died. That feeling comes back to haunt him as he feels trapped in an ocean again, not being able to hear the notes anymore.
During the piano competition, Kōsei performs Chopin's "Wrong Note" Étude again, and he starts out perfectly this time. However, he slowly begins to give in to the haunting memories of his mother, breaking focus from the set piece. (en)
- It is shown that Takeshi declined an invitation to an international piano competition because he believes that Kōsei will finally arise after an absence of two years. As Takeshi plays his set piece on stage, it is recalled that he worked tenaciously to improve his musical talent due to his aspiration to play like Kōsei. Takeshi receives a thunderous applause from the audience after he finishes his performance, and his hands shiver once he leaves the stage. After an intermission of fifteen minutes, Emi walks onto the stage to perform her set piece. Emi also vowed to become better at the piano after being in awe of Kōsei, but she lost her motivation to play when Kōsei vanished from the scene, unable to live up to her potential in her musical talent. Since Kōsei is finally back, she gives the performance of her life, expressing her emotions of anger and loneliness as she lets the music ring from within her. The audience gives a huge applause following her performance.
During the piano competition, Takeshi performs Chopin's "Torrent" Étude, in which continuous sixteenth notes are played in perpetual motion. Emi performs Chopin's "Winter Wind" Étude, emphasizing two melodic lines to demonstrate right hand dexterity and left hand flexibility. Both of their performances reflect their idolization towards Kōsei. (en)
- Ryōta drags Kōsei to the hospital to visit Kaori, who continues to exhort Kōsei to keep practicing for the piano competition. During a rainstorm, Tsubaki knows that Kōsei loves Kaori, even though Kaori loves Ryōta. Tsubaki says that Kōsei should fall in love with her instead, only to kick him in the shin and run off in tears. The next day, Nao suspects something happened between Kōsei and Tsubaki, while Hiroko tries to tell Kōsei that he needs to concentrate on the piano competition finals. Kaori later contacts Kōsei to watch a late night flight in the starry sky. The following day, Kōsei admits to Ryōta that he likes Kaori, though Ryōta already figured as much. Kōsei and Ryōta walk towards Kaori's room, where nurses run in panic. They find out that her condition is drastically worsening as she seems to enter in cardiac arrest. Kōsei takes a dying kitten to a veterinary, but it is too late, seeing his hands covered in blood. He washes his hands and cries in agony. (en)
- Tsubaki cannot hide her feelings of confusion since Kōsei plans to move away. After Saitō later breaks up with Tsubaki, she tells Kōsei as he plays the piano to comfort her. Tsubaki is frustrated as she sees her friends moving forward, afraid that she might be left behind. She believes Kōsei to be a liar when he said that he would stay by her side. As Kōsei hesitates to visit Kaori in the hospital, he encounters a girl, who falls on top of him from a tree, and he takes her to see Hiroko. The girl is Nagi Aiza, an aspiring pianist and Takeshi's younger sister. She performs a little bit on the piano, and Hiroko agrees to be her piano teacher. Kōsei attempts to visit Kaori again, but he hears Ryōta from outside her room. Kaori calls Kōsei on the phone and tells him to bring some canelés for her the next day. As Kaori later walks weakly in the hospital hallway, she is unable to stand up after falling on the floor.
In the music room, Kōsei performs the Third Movement of Debussy's Suite bergamasque, famously known as "Clair de lune", in order to comfort Tsubaki after her breakup with Saitō. At Hiroko's house, Nagi performs Chopin's "Wrong Note" Étude in order to convince Hiroko to take her in as a student, but this hints that Nagi may be after Kōsei as an ulterior motive. (en)
- Kōsei, Kaori, Tsubaki and Ryōta rush to the concert hall on bikes, making it on time before the second round of the preliminaries begins. In the hallway of the venue, Kaori headbutts Kōsei to calm down his nerves and tells him not to worry, all before they are called up on stage and begin their musical journey together. Although they start off the set piece slowly and quietly, the tempo increases and the playing style intensifies. Kōsei begins to feel trapped at the bottom of an ocean, unable to hear the sound of the piano. His accompaniment eventually spins out of control, and he suddenly stops playing, stirring confusion from the audience. Kaori continues playing for a while, but she stops as well and says to him to do it again. She resumes playing the set piece, and he gains the confidence to start accompanying again, as he draws out his fears. As they finish performing, they get a standing ovation from the audience, but Kaori faints on the stage soon after.
During the second round of the violin competition, Kōsei and Kaori perform Saint-Saëns's Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, a piece that starts calmly and then becomes vigorous in tempo and dynamics. (en)
- When Kōsei and Kaori go to the café, they notice an upright piano, in which Kaori orders Kōsei to play "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". The sound soon resonates around the café as he begins to play a variation of the melody, but he abruptly stops and leaves in the middle of his performance. Kaori finds Kōsei at a park, where he reveals that he begins to lose his ability to hear the sound of the piano once he starts to concentrate, as if the flower petals are pulled upward and caught in the spring wind. Since Kaori was nominated by the audience to advance to the second round of the preliminaries, she tells him to get over his so-called curse and embrace his talent, appointing him as her new piano accompanist. Kōsei later tries to evade Tsubaki and Kaori, who post the chosen set piece all over school and home. Kaori eventually finds Kōsei on the school roof, and he continues to refuse her request. She reaches out to him after persistent begging, and he finally agrees.
At the café, Kōsei performs the melody of Mozart's theme and first variation form of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", in which one girl accompanies him while another girl listens in amazement. (en)
- Kōsei disagrees with the set piece that Kaori has chosen for the gala concert. Hiroko wants Kōsei to focus on being a pianist and to not focus so much on his dead mother. At night, Kōsei and Kaori sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" before arriving at Kaori's house, where her parents work in a family-owned pastry shop. The next day, Kōsei and Kaori struggle to be in sync during their practice. To relax a bit, Kōsei, Kaori, Tsubaki, Ryōta and Nao play with fireworks by the school swimming pool. Tsubaki accidentally pushes Kōsei in the swimming pool, where Kōsei recalls Hiroko telling him to hear the music from his heart and not from his ears. He wakes up to his friends, in which Ryōta saved him from drowning. On the day of the gala concert, Kōsei worries when Kaori has not arrived yet.
During a few practice sessions, Kōsei and Kaori perform Love's Sorrow, the second of three short pieces from Kreisler's Old Viennese Melodies. Kaori tried her best to get Kōsei to play with feeling rather than with structure, which is possibly why she chose this particular piece. (en)
- Set years before the events of the first episode, Kōsei is seen performing at his first piano recital, with Emi and Takeshi in the audience. As Emi listens to the recital, she cried during the performance and decided on that day to become a pianist, soon developing feelings for Kōsei. At the next performance, Emi sits next to Kōsei to gain his attention, but he ignores her entirely and focuses on his sheet music. Takeshi then joins them, revealing that he decided to play piano in order to receive a toy robot hero. However, Takeshi admired Kōsei as a hero after listening to his performance. At the next piano competition, Kōsei wins first place, though he chooses to ignore the results. Emi and Takeshi develop a rivalry with Kōsei since he has always been placed first in every piano competition thus far. Emi and Takeshi are seen discussing their future before the following piano competition, moments before Kōsei comes and sits on the same bench with them. (en)
- Kaori reveals that she not only recorded Kōsei poorly practicing a set piece for the upcoming piano competition, but she also already submitted his entry of participation, much to his shock. However, she encourages him to imagine how he wants to play this piece. Tsubaki realizes how close Kōsei and Kaori are becoming and feels left out, so she contacts Saitō and asks him to be her boyfriend. After Kaori coaches Kōsei through the set piece, they witness Tsubaki playing in the softball regional tournament. While running around the bases, Tsubaki breaks focus and injures her foot before sliding into the home plate, costing her team the game. As Tsubaki suffers from this devastating incident, Kōsei gives her a piggyback ride on their way home.
As the recording plays, Kōsei performed Chopin's "Wrong Note" Étude, characterized with having dissonant semitones in succession in the minor key main theme and consonant melodic lines in the parallel major key second theme. In the recording, Kōsei was pressing the piano keys too hard due to his inability to hear the piano, resulting in a very ugly performance. (en)
- At the hospital, Kaori opts for a risky surgery all for the sake of having the chance to perform with Kōsei one more time. Kōsei meets with Kaori's parents, and they all watch as Kaori is undergoing rehabilitation. At the school library, Nao tells Tsubaki that Kōsei has been practicing nonstop for the upcoming piano competition. Tsubaki later hides her feelings of jealousy towards Kaori while giving Kōsei a haircut. On the day of the piano competition, Kōsei shares an egg sandwich with Emi and Takeshi, bringing them on good terms with him. Takeshi takes the stage and plays his set piece, as he contemplates his former rivalry with Kōsei, always wanting to be the better one. After his performance, Takeshi realizes that Kōsei is more like his hero in a way.
During the piano competition preliminaries, Takeshi performs Chopin's "Revolutionary" Étude, played with relentless sixteenth notes in the left hand and cross-rhythms in the right hand. Takeshi used this piece to express how Kōsei is his hero rather than his rival. (en)
- Tsubaki tells Kōsei that Kaori was sent to the hospital after collapsing in her home. This is the second time that Kōsei, Tsubaki and Ryōta visit Kaori in the hospital, in which Kaori tries to act cheerful even though she is obviously not well. Nao notes that Tsubaki may have romantic feelings for Kōsei instead of Saitō, but Tsubaki only sees Kōsei as a brother. Kōsei visits Kaori again, explaining that he decided to play the set piece by himself instead of just going home, and he realizes that she chose the set piece because of him. Nao continues to worry about Tsubaki being with Saitō, while Kōsei ponders which high school to attend next year. Later on, Kōsei and Tsubaki walk barefoot on the beach, reliving past moments. However, Tsubaki runs away in tears when Kōsei reveals that he will be moving away to attend an early college high school of music. (en)
- Kōsei performs his set piece, knowing that he is never alone. He finds himself floating in the clouds and sees an illusion of Kaori playing the violin alongside him. Kaori gradually disappears as lights rush from the sky to take her away, with Kōsei begging her not to leave him, in which he realizes that the surgery was unsuccessful. When he completes his performance, tears run down his face as he says his final farewell to her. Later, Kōsei receives a letter from Kaori through her parents at the funeral. As spring approaches, Kōsei reads the letter, which reveals that Kaori also admired him as a child and was influenced to play the violin with him someday. She was overjoyed to be in the same junior high school as him, but she could not find the confidence to speak with him. She explains that she told Tsubaki that she was in love with Ryōta in a bid to get close to Kōsei, the lie in April. She notes all the good times that she spent with Kōsei before confessing that she loves him. The letter also contains a picture of them when they were younger.
During the piano competition finals, Kōsei performs Chopin's First Ballade, featuring two themes with variations as well as a thundering coda. Kōsei plays this piece to reach out to Kaori, even though the surgery was unsuccessful, as it represents a farewell gesture to the one who he truly loves. After the concert, Tsubaki reaches out to Kōsei and tells him that he will never be alone and makes peace with him. Although they are saddened by their loss, these words of encouragement ease the pain and raise their spirits. The group of friends strives to be happy from here onward for the sake of the one now watching them in Heaven. The end credits roll with a touching and colorful montage of Kaori. (en)
- Hiroko visits Kōsei at his house, seeing him cooped up in his bedroom. He claims that he cannot play the piano anymore, seeing as he is reliving the trauma of two years ago. Kōsei returns to school and finds a note in his desk from Ryōta, and the familiar stationary inside reads, "I want canelés." Kōsei visits Kaori in her hospital room, where she came back from the intensive care unit. He carries her to the roof of the hospital as it begins to snow. He tells her that he has given up playing the piano, having the fear of losing the ones he cares about. She then tells him that she will be undergoing a risky surgery. She stands up and pretends to hold her violin again, but shortly collapses and falls in his arms. The surgery takes place on the same day as the piano competition finals. Kōsei has his head down in the hallway, which concerns both Takeshi and Emi. As it is his turn to take the stage, Kōsei begins to break down. When he hears Tsubaki sneeze from the audience, this reminds him that he has friends who support him in every way. (en)
- Kōsei, Kaori, Tsubaki and Ryōta make it to the concert hall, where the second annual junior high division violin competition is being held, ten minutes before it begins. When Kōsei, Tsubaki and Ryōta enter the auditorium, Kōsei breathes in the nostalgic scent, and some people recognize him as a former piano prodigy. As the first round of the preliminaries starts, each contestant plays the same set piece with a piano accompanist. Kaori is the fourth contestant to come onto the stage and play the set piece, but she plays it in a unique manner, wowing the audience. After the competition, Kōsei observes from the sidelines as Kaori runs towards Ryōta, almost like a scene from a romance movie. Because of this, Kōsei feels like he is playing the role of "Friend A", pondering his newfound mixed emotions for Kaori. The next day, since Ryōta has soccer practice after school, Kaori offers Kōsei to stand in for Ryōta in the meantime.
During the first round of the violin competition, Kaori performs the First Movement of Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata, but she played it in a totally different style compared to the original score. (en)
- Kōsei feels down in the dumps at school due to what Kaori had asked him, even though she assures him that she was not being serious about it. In the school gymnasium, Nao worries about Tsubaki for her obvious feelings for Kōsei. At her house, Hiroko notices Kōsei having distracted thoughts, cutting the piano lesson early. Nagi follows him and tries to cheer him up at the park. Later on, Ryōta eventually convinces Kōsei to visit Kaori in the hospital, but Kōsei does not have much to say when he sees her. He storms out of the hospital room when she tells him to forget about her. Kōsei asks Nagi if he can perform with her at the upcoming school festival. Nagi experiences performance anxiety in the days leading up to the school festival, feeling as if twilight surrounds her, but Hiroko soothes her with words of wisdom. On the day of the school festival, Kōsei and Nagi have a brief moment to bond before they take the stage. (en)
- After the performance, Kōsei runs into Hiroko Seto, a world-renowned pianist and Saki's close friend, along with her cheerful daughter Koharu Seto. Hiroko is aware that Kōsei was emitting love during his performance, but Kōsei really was showing gratitude instead. As the results of the piano competition are posted, it is no surprise that Kōsei did not make the cut. Both Takeshi and Emi are struck by how he has changed and matured, but they do not understand how he has felt for so long. The next day, Hiroko visits Kōsei, who fell asleep from playing the piano all night long. It is shown that Kaori was selected to participate in a gala concert at the concert hall, and she invited Kōsei to accompany her again. Hiroko offers to be Kōsei's piano teacher, to which he accepts. At night, Kōsei and Kaori enter into a field of fireflies, and Kaori comments that the light of a firefly is also its own life. Kōsei admits that Kaori was his inspiration during his performance in the piano competition. (en)
- Kōsei, Tsubaki and Ryōta visit Kaori in her hospital room. Kōsei feels responsible for disqualifying Kaori from advancing to the final round of the preliminaries due to stopping in the middle of their performance, yet she has not said a word of reproach to him. He feels out of place since this is not something he can easily forget. Tsubaki has not been herself either, shown when she is not focused during softball practice, as if her eyes are cloudy. She seeks advice from her good friend Nao Kashiwagi. Tsubaki later encounters Saitō, the former captain of the softball team of whom she used to admire. When Kaori is discharged from the hospital and comes back to school, Kōsei hesitates to speak to her until Ryōta approaches by her side. After school, Kōsei finds Kaori playing hopscotch at a bridge, where she implores him to enter a piano competition. Kaori dives into the river below, which motivates Kōsei to do the same. (en)
- During the soccer regional tournament, Ryōta misses the soccer goal on his last kick, also costing his team the game. With the day of the piano competition approaching, a troubled Kōsei collapses from exhaustion during physical education class and is carted to the infirmary. Kaori later walks with Kōsei to the park, where he says that he is trapped in Saki's shadow. However, Kaori believes that Kōsei is himself, giving him comfort and support. On the day of the piano competition, Kōsei enters the concert hall and walks past a boy and a girl awaiting his arrival. A flashback reveals that Takeshi Aiza and Emi Igawa were piano prodigies who were jealous of Kōsei since he always bested them in every piano competition during their childhood. As the piano competition begins, Kōsei sits in the hallway, scared out of his mind. As Takeshi is called up onto the stage, Kōsei recalls Kaori telling him to be confident in himself. (en)
- Since Kaori is a no-show, Kōsei takes the stage alone, much to the audience's surprise. Kōsei plays a piano transcription of the set piece, which was originally composed for violin and piano. Following Hiroko's advice, Kōsei plays with a gentle touch, hearing the notes through his heart and not through his ears. As he uses this opportunity to prove himself as a pianist, he internally comes to terms with memories of and connection to Saki. Once he finishes, he hears a light applause, and the ghost of Saki no longer haunts him. He walks into the hallway and cries on Hiroko's shoulder, finally happy to let go of his sorrowful remorse. After seeing Kōsei with a smile on his face, Tsubaki begins to have tears, but she is torn between relief and regret.
During the gala concert, Kōsei performs Rachmaninoff's piano transcription of Love's Sorrow from Kreisler's Old Viennese Melodies. This is a surprise because the gala concert was to honor the top performers from the violin competition. (en)
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