In one corner of the old town, where the narrow alleys crossed like the veins of a city long dead, a lonely piano stood in a forgotten square.

No one approached it. No one even dared to look at it for too long. Its wood was cracked from the cold, and its keys had lost their whiteness years ago—but its scent still carried something… something like sorrow.Twenty years ago, old Salem used to sit there every evening, playing for the wind, for the children, and for memories that would never return. He had no family, no home, but he had the piano—and a voice that knew how to touch the heart.One evening, he played a melody no one had ever heard before. It sounded strange… beautiful and terrifying at once.

And as soon as he finished, the ground beneath the town shook. Houses burned, people went mad, and the city crumbled into ruin within hours.They said Salem had opened the devil’s gate with his tune. They arrested him and burned the piano—or so they thought. But it remained, as did the accusation that weighed on the shoulders of an innocent man. He didn’t defend himself. He simply said,“I wasn’t alone that night… I was playing for him.

”Then he fell silent.Since that day, no one touched the piano.And no one forgot his name.Years later, on a rainy night, a small boy approached the square. No one knew who he was. He sat on the worn wooden bench and wiped the dust off the keys. He placed his little hand and pressed the first note.The square lit up with a strange glow.A young man appeared before him, with features that didn’t belong to this world. His eyes were wide, and his voice soft like water.

He said,“I used to sit with him every night… I’d ask him to play for me, because his sound gave me hope.”The boy asked,“Who are you?”He replied,“I’m not human. I’m a jinn, once imprisoned in this land. One evening, Salem mistakenly played the melody we had long sought—the one that would free me… But it was cursed. He didn’t know. I didn’t know that the king of my world had hidden a curse within it.”

The jinn sat on the edge of the piano and sighed.

“I caused everything that happened, not Salem. But he died before anyone could hear him… because people don’t listen to the truth, only to what is told.”The boy said nothing, then played the melody again.

This time, the earth did not burn. Instead, a strange warmth spread through the square. And the jinn vanished into the light.

On the wall behind the piano, the shadow of old Salem appeared—smiling for the first time since his death.

By morning, there was no piano, no trace of the boy, and no shadow on the wall.But everyone who passed through the square felt something stir within them.

Something like a memory… or forgiveness.

LAYAL 7☆7

You’ve now read the whole story.It bears no name, no title just as Salem lived, and as he departed.But perhaps… you are the one who can give him justice with a name.

What title would you give this story?

LAYAL 7☆7