Light From Uncommon Stars

by Ryka Aoki

Lan nodded. “Sorry that it’s a little late to go to the park.” “That’s okay. I know where we can find even nicer ducks.” Lan followed Shizuka’s directions and parked her car. There, in the window, they were. Ducks. Dripping fat and hanging from stainless steel hooks.

This interpretation of "nicer" is disgusting.

“By the way, why aren’t you having the duck?” Shizuka said, looking away from the scrambler. The duck? Lan hesitated. They had just been feeding ducks at the park. Ducks that had been gliding like spaceships, fighting for her donuts as if they were the most delicious things in the world. Of course, they were not the same birds. But still … “Lan, how can music lovers be so hateful when they find a musician is transgender? How is the person eating waffles with her grandchildren the same one who calls me a Chink? Yehudi Menuhin plays Mendelssohn, and people smash his records and call him a Nazi sympathizer. The person fighting for racial justice believes ‘God hates Fags.’ Proud, happy parents change the moment the car door is closed.” Shizuka grabbed a golden piece of duck and held it in front of her. “Too many sections.” “Sections?” “One usually learns to play a piece a section at a time. Within each section, the musician will memorize passages, phrases, movements, until the sections reach from beginning to end.” Lan nodded. That made sense. Of course you would break a large task into smaller ones. “And so many live the same way. One becomes a good plumber, or mother, or Christian, or Dodger fan, or teenager. One lives section by section, one stage to the next. “But sometimes, sections change keys, tempos. They change moods. Timing … Some melodies don’t resolve in an expected way. Some don’t resolve at all. So people begin to fear playing beyond the sections they have played...

This is bullshit.

The message boards assumed the Queen of Hell was just being the Queen of Hell. But everything about Shizuka, her music, her appearance—even her love for ducks—had a meaning. The Shizuka she knew would not take souls without a reason.

It's unfortunate that the reason is self-gratification.

left-hand pizzicato and right-hand melody.

Hands are the wrong way around - should be LH melody, RH pizzicato.

“No one has ever matched you,” Astrid had told her. At the time, all she had said was that it was Katrina’s turn to shine. And yes, it was. But what about her? Had she really spent enough breakfasts with Astrid? Had she really spent enough lessons with Katrina? Had she really spent enough nights with Lan? Yes, it was time for her student to live, but … Oh, Satomi … how sad, how selfish, to feel that your song is ending just as you are remembering how to sing. Shizuka glanced around her room. It really was empty, wasn’t it? The Queen of Hell reached for her violin.

Weirdly, I don't feel at all sorry for a character who is so selfish that she has killed six people for her own ends.

Like the family they had become, they talked into the evening.

How did this sentence get past the editors?