The best day of my life has got to be the day I stumbled across Perry's lair, for it triggered everything which came next. It was like unlocking a door to a brand new world.

Though I gotta admit that I can't remember how it went now; I could recall smelling that sandwich with sardine fillings and felling through the tube into the flying chair, and I remember ending up "fighting" a man with a weird accent, German accent, I suppose. But how that chair flew me to his place is beyond me. I only know it flew me there because I remember seeing the streets, the cars, and the buildings down below is a hundred times smaller, and I'm thus able to infer that I must have flown in that chair.

Sitting at the table, I take out the notebook and wrote about my days in the agency and my crush on Nyx. I suppose it's love at first sight; back in Canberra, Robin told me about his relationship with Alicia, and he used that phrase to describe their relationship. I'm aware that I'm acting quite intimidated here, especially when I'm facing something that brings back my dreadful memories, in which case I would look really pathetic.

Hey, where's that music coming from?

I wander back and forth for a while before finally figuring out the answer. Someone is playing the piano in this room, and it's beautiful. I wonder who it is.

I know that because it sounds almost just the same as that gigantic thingy I found on the pavement when I escaped from Danville Zoo for the first time three months ago. I made the similar sounds when I stepped on the black and white blocks. It stunned me at first as it was a bit too loud and that those blocks would sink when I stepped on it and pop back up as soon as it was released.

I remember getting people staring at me, and it wasn't very enjoyable. As I've told Perry, I don't like attention in the best of times. Among the crowd, there was one guy who yelled, "get that platypus off the piano!", which made me much more nervous, so I jumped off the piano- yes, that's how I learned it was called a piano.

By the way, I'm thankful he didn't call me a beaver duck, a mutant duck, or whatever. I don't know why, but humans have a tendency to misperceive us platypuses unless they're in a zoo and they could read the sign to be informed of that. It was laughable to me at first, but it has gotten increasingly irritating over time. Although in reality, we platypuses do have this inside joke of calling one another "beaver duck".

I walked over to the door. But admittedly, I'm kind of nervous. What if it's someone I don't wanna see? What if it's someone who doesn't want to see me?

The music is so lively and yet so delicate. It's also rather sentimental and passionate. Back in Canberra, there was that zookeeper whose name I couldn't recall, and he would play us platypuses some music on a strange black box. However, I don't remember hearing this song ever before.

I let my curiosity get the best of me and knock on the door. Though I'm not certain if that someone inside could hear my faint knock over the sound of the piano.

"Come on in." The music came to a halt. I recognized the voice in an instant. It is Perry who was playing the piano. Apparently, he had heard me.

"Hello, Aus." I see that he's sitting at a piano and smiling at me.

"Eh, hi, Perry. I really love your playing. You play the piano really well," I'm acting shy again; I simply couldn't help it.

"Thank you," says Perry. He surprisingly doesn't question why I know it's a piano.

"What's that song you were playing?"

"Oh, that? Nah, it's not even a song. I was just improvising over the B flat major II-V-I progression."

"What's improvising?"

"It means I was playing the piano as I like at the moment without any preparation; in other words, I hadn't known what I was going to play until I started playing. I just played whatever came to me. The term also applies to other musical instruments as well as other things."

"But it sounded like you were playing a piece which you had memorised in advance. It was quite impressive."

"Have you ever sung before?" asked Perry.

I was startled by the sudden ask. It took me a little while to get into the right mind and give a response. "No, I have never done that. I have listened to some music in Australia, and they sing a lot here in Danville, but not me. I guess it's because I don't know any song. I could try if you want me to."

"Well, there's a song I heard recently: How to Save A Life. It's a song by The Fray, a band that originated here in Danville. Maybe you could try that; I'll sing the whole song first."

"But I don't know the lyrics!" I can hear my voice going up.

"Don't worry. I'll look it up on the laptop for you in advance, so you could look at the words as you sing." Perry assured me before taking off his fedora.

It took him one good minute to dig through the hat and pull the laptop out. All of his stuff is scattered on the floor by then. He said with an apologetic and slightly embarrassed smile, "sorry I made this mess. I'll clean it up."

The things on the floor are back in Perry's fedora surprisingly fast. He puts on his fedora and turns on the laptop.

He begins to play the intro on the piano after handing me the laptop with the lyrics onscreen.

Perry becomes a totally different person- I mean, platypus- when he starts singing. His body is moving back and forth, his head is swinging lightly, and he'd close his eyes sometimes.

When Perry finished singing, I'm completely immersed in the music I was listening to. It is absolutely amazing.

The music starts over. I realise it is my turn. Perry gives me a sign to start singing, and I'm a little nervous. However, I notice that I feel more and more relaxed as I sing. When I sing the chorus for the last time, I unintentionally sing a slightly deviated tune for some reason. Perry likes the change, apparently, as he gives me a pat on the shoulder.