The story opens with a description of the Cantona International Music Competition, an annual competition held in Paris. The competition is divided into three divisions: piano, violin, and cello. The first round of competition is for amateurs. The second round is for professionals. The third round is the final round. The winner of each division is announced at the end of the competition. In this case, the winner is the person who performs the most difficult piece. The narrator tells us that the first violinist to perform this difficult piece is a famous musician named nishioka. The other two violinists are also famous, but they are not the first to perform the piece. In fact, they are the second and third to perform it, respectively.