Hino goes to the school garden to return the violin to Lili. Lili appears hesitantly, saying that he couldn’t face her, after the pain he brought her because of the violin he gave. As Hino was about to return the violin, she remembers Tsukimori’s words and hesitates for a few seconds… and then Kana-yan’s cat appears in front of Hino, and started running after Lili ^^;;;;

Fuyuumi sees Hino who just walked out of the garden, and asks if she has started practicing again. Hino tells her it wasn’t so, since she decided to quit playing the violin. Fuyuumi asks her not to say such things, since she likes Hino’s violin and it gives her a sense of strength or courage. Hino thinks that her violin isn’t that great… then just tells Fuyuumi to do her best in the next competition, and leaves…

Hino goes to the classroom, where Mio and Nao sees her carrying her violin case. They asked if she started practicing again, and Hino tells her she just brought the violin because she’s letting go of it. She also told them that she’s quitting the concours, which leaves both Mio and Nao in disbelief. Hino tells them it was really impossible right from the start, and that she’s just going back to how she was before she started the violin. They told her, “We won’t be able to go back to the way we were. We have come to like how Kaho-chan plays the violin, and because of that, our feelings won’t go back to the way it was when you still weren’t playing the violin.”

The partcipants of the competition were gathered by Kana-yan for a brief meeting… telling them the news about Yunoki and Hino leaving the competition. Tsuchiura, Tsukimori, Fuyuumi and Shimizu leave the room with a sad look on their faces. Fuyuumi says that it was because of Hino that she was able to get this far…

Hihara-sempai stays in the room and asks Kana-yan why he didn’t stop Hino from quitting. Kana-yan tells him that this isn’t the time for Hihara to be worrying about other people, since the performance he showed in the 3rd concours wasn’t like him… “The next competition will be the last, so I hope you would give your best and have a performance that’s full of life (like you used to).

After class, Shimizu-kun goes to Hino’s classroom, looking for her. Mio and Nao sees him and tells him that she went home already, and Shimizu-kun lets out a sigh in sadness….

Fuyuumi talks to Amou, together with Hino’s and Fuyuumi’s accompanist about Hino leaving the competition. Hino’s accompanist says that it must have been such a shock for Hino… Fuyuumi wonders about what she has to do, and Amou-san tells her that they can’t do anything else but to silently watch over her.

Hino spends some time alone by the bayside, asking why is it that everyone wants her to play the violin, when in fact she doesn’t have to right to do so. “I don’t want to lie to everyone anymore”, she says… Shimizu sees her, and approaches without her noticing his presence, until he calls out her name (then smiles~ ^^). Shimizu plays the cello, while thinking “I have to hit all the right notes, as it is written in the music sheet. With this, I will be able to come close to achieving the ideal music. But whenever I think about Hino-sempai’s music, I can feel as though there’s some music/sound that didn’t use to be there. I wonder what this is… I feel great. Could this be…?”

Then, Shimizu tells her exactly what he feels regarding his longing to hear her play. “Please let me hear you play, sempai… Whenever I hear sempai playing, I feel as if I’m holding on to something… something really precious. Please sempai… I need sempai’s music” is what he told her, a pure and innocent wish he had… Hino thinks “Despite [my music] being a fake…” Then remembers the words of Fuyuumi, Tsuchiura and Tsukimori… She becomes filled with guilt and couldn’t say anything to Shimizu but words of apology, saying that she doesn’t have the right to be valued that much by them. She tells Shimizu-kun that she can’t play the violin, then leaves…
Hino runs into Ousaki-sempai, who invites her to go someplace as he sees her in a puzzled state. They went to ride the ferris wheel, and Ousaki wondered if Hino was afraid of heights because she was unusually silent. Ousaki-sempai looks outside the window and tells her “Being able to look at the entire city like this, one would feel their puny existence in this place. But contrary to that, looking at this scene makes me feel all excited as I am able to see how wide the world is.” Hino wonders about this, and asks “Makes you excited…?”. Ousaki-sempai replies, “Indeed. To think that there’s a countless number of people living in this world, which means that there’s also countless number of them who can play music… makes me feel great.” Then, Ousaki-sempai tells Hino about the kids they taught violin before. “The kids have been doing their best, and looking at them makes me feel that music isn’t really something special.” Hino wonders what he means by this, and Ousaki-sempai explains “Especially classical music, there are ones which would require greater skill to be able to play them. But I believe that it’s no different from what we do in our everyday lives - talking to each other, laughing and playing together. You seem really down and worried about something, but I’m sure you’ll find out the answer someday (naturally), so you don’t have to hurry and force yourself”

Hino arrives home, then sees the violin case on the floor. She thinks about Ousaki-sempai’s words, and thinks that she really does like the violin and wants to play it, but doesn’t have the confidence that she can play an ordinary violin. Seeming to have disappointed Ousaki-sempai, she says “I’m sorry, Ousaki-sempai. I’m afraid to face my own feelings”

Shimizu-kun bumps into Tsukimori, then asks Tsukimori whether he mas made a girl cry before (thinking out why Hino cried that day), then Tsukimori thinks about that incident with Hino. “What is it that’s tormenting you…?”

Scene changes to Hihara, who was still in a daze. Yunoki talks to him, and asks what was up with him as he’s been down lately. Hihara asks him why he started playing the flute, which Yunoki avoids to answer. Yunoki lies and tells him that it’s difficult for him to answer such a sudden question. Hihara tells him that it’s alright now, he has become more relieved knowing that there’s something that Yunoki also can’t answer. “Well, because I’m human too” As Yunoki leaves the rooftop, he thinks about the answer to Hihara’s question “I started playing the flute because my brothers are already playing the piano. I was not allowed to surpass them in any way…” Then, tells himself that lying to oneself is more painful / difficult that lying to someone else.

Tsuchiura also takes some time on the rooftop, thinking about the time when Hino told him she’s quitting the competition… “How could you easily quit like that?” “That day at the piano competition, I felt a deep sense of despair towards music. After that, I stopped playing the piano in front of anyone. When I entered the soccer club, I continued playing the piano alone at home. I wasn’t able to fully give up on music, yet I wasn’t able to commit my entire time to sports as well” He remembers the words of the soccer captain (about being halfhearted), and thinks that perhaps he really is that kind of person. He suddenly hears someone playing Ave Maria, and thinks for a second that it’s Hino… then realized that it wasn’t (sounded different).

He sees that it was Tsukimori playing, tells him “Ave Maria, eh? This was also played in the music camp”, then leaves… “What the heck am I saying?” Tsuchiura thinks, as he was also bewildered by what he just told Tsukimori. Tsukimori recalls that time in the camp, and thinks that he was indeed relaxed when he played it there. “That Ave Maria” he thinks… then starts to play it like that time.

Hino once again goes to the garden, and this time, leaves the violin case there without telling Lili. She walks away but then hesitates and stops halfway… She tries to convince herself to continue and leave, saying that “If I turn back now…” (she will end up changing her mind). Just then, she hears Tsukimori’s ‘Ave Maria’, which enlightened her and made her realize how she truly feels about playing the violin. It made her remember all the happy memories she had when she was playing the violin, and thought “It was because of my encounter with the magic violin, that I was able to have this much beautiful memories. All because of that violin, I…” She remembers the words of Ousaki-sempai “…you’ll find out the answer someday…” Then comes to realize the fact that she doesn’t want to part with the violin. She asks for the violin’s forgiveness, for what she has done (and tried to do to it). “Despite all that, I want to play [you]. Will you forgive me, and allow me to play [you] again?” Lili was delighted by the fact that Hino didn’t hate the violin (was filled with tears of joy)… then tells Hino that he can fix the violin but it won’t have the magic that it used to have. Hino says it’s ok even if it becomes an ordinary violin, but she wants to play using that violin. Lili also tells her “The strings may have been broken, but there’s still an [unbreakable] ‘bond’ that has been formed between you and the violin.” “Kizuna (bond)?”, Hino asks…. Lili replied, “Did you know, Hino Kahoko.. the Italian word for chord / string is ‘Corda’, which also means ‘bond’!”.

Hino hugs the violin as she has come to terms with her own feelings… “Corda… Bond…” she says, remembering those last words from Lili