The story follows a piano prodigy named Kōsei Arima, who had become famous as a child musician after dominating many competitions.

For the first eleven episodes and the original video animation, the opening theme is "Hikaru Nara" (光るなら, lit.

Kōsei explains that he used to be a pianist to fulfill Saki's dream up until her death, yet he still clings to the piano because that is all he has left.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Takeshi receives a thunderous applause from the audience after he finishes his performance, and his hands shiver once he leaves the stage.

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.

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.

To relax a bit, Kōsei, Kaori, Tsubaki, Ryōta and Nao play with fireworks by the school swimming pool.

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.

At the school library, Nao tells Tsubaki that Kōsei has been practicing nonstop for the upcoming piano competition.

On the day of the piano competition, Kōsei shares an egg sandwich with Emi and Takeshi, bringing them on good terms with him.

[35] In 2020, Aniplex compiled the nine volumes and the OVA episode into a complete box set, scheduling the release for April 1, 2020.