Chapter 59

[Marco: "Alright, alright, let's settle down now."]

[Danya: "Stop acting like such an old ancestor, you're barely two years older."]

[Charlie: "It's okay guys, you're not that old yet."]

[Marco: "Thank you. At least we have a respectful person in this call. Kaz and Danya could learn from you."]

[Kaz: "Alright, yeah, of course. Let's get on with the content creating."]

[Danya: "I don't even know what we're doing yet…"]

[Kaz: "Haha, oops. Okay so I'll be sending you guys the fans playing their pieces through chat and you'll give your thoughts on it. In the end, there'll also be some that were composed by the fans themselves and we will give our own suggestions and thoughts about the piece."]

Danya showed a smile and thumbs up,

[Danya: "Okay."]

[Kaz: "So, we start with a classic! I'm pretty sure everyone knows and has played this song before."]

I stayed quiet, knowing I do not know a single piano piece in this world.

Ah, was it a bad idea signing up for this?

Rather, I'm not sure how I'm going to judge the correctness of the piece.

Kaz sent the video in the group chat he had set up for us four and gave us the go to watch it.

The clip was around a minute long since Kaz had many fan submissions and the judging would take even longer.

[Piano has gained 5 points.]

[Danya: "All done?"]

[Kaz: "Yea."]

[Marco: "Yup."]

[Charlie: "...yeah…"]

I'm a little nervous as I've never done something like this but the piano skill achieved from the system has given me some discerning eyes and ears for the piano.

I feel like a certain Copy-Cat Shinobi, except for the piano instead of ninja skills.

Well, it's to be expected with my level 61 piano skill. In the past, I wasn't that strong with theory and pinpointing technical errors but the piano skill has raised all of these aspects.

[Kaz: "So positives first. I liked the playing and your interpretation was great. I thought it exuded the type of mood you want to set with this song. Obviously, there were some note mistakes but apart from that, it sounded very good."]

Marco and Danya nodded and I nodded to their flow. Though I don't know the pieces, with my trained ear it's easy to spot some mistakes that shouldn't be there.

[Marco: "Same. One of the nicer interpretations of this song I've heard thousands of times already. The volume was decent and the notes were clear. My main points were already given by Kaz."]

[Danya: "Yeah, though this song is overplayed it still has that certain charm and always sounds good to hear. I liked the way you played it, especially the bright arpeggios connecting to the chorus."]

[Kaz: "How about you, Charlie?"]

[Charlie: "...I'll be honest, I've never heard this song before."]

[Danya: "Forreal?!"]

[Charlie: "Yeah, but I could tell this song is intense and moderately technically difficult. The beginning was very bright and instantly caught my attention. As Danya noted, the arpeggios played at second 24 were decently played and the tremolo connecting directly raised my hairs. Right at the chorus, the sound was very sonorous and powerful. It was pleasant to the ears and ignoring the mistakes it flowed nicely. When making mistakes, you should keep on playing. If you pause and attempt to play it again correctly it'll ruin the mood of the song while continuing after a mistake will just slightly stand out but will not ruin the atmosphere. At second 50—"]

[Danya: "Damn..."]

Danya's voice spooked me out of my verbose and vacuous state of mind.

I had been completely rambling and noting everything I had noticed with the newly improved piano sense and completely forgot about the setting we were in.

Visibly in the camera, my frame shook and I looked up confusedly at the camera.

[Charlie: "Uh, I'm sorry I just started rambling."]

In the face call, they were staring straight at the camera—presumably me.

[Kaz: "No it's fine, continue."]

[Danya: "Sorry, I just got a little spooked. Please continue though."]

[Marco: "You're 16-years-old, right?"]

[Charlie: "Yeah…"]

…

After my initial rambling, I cut my judging short but precise. I went straight to the main points and spent a few words on the smaller details.

For each clip, we would say the positives first and then list some things that could be improved. It seems I also shocked them a little silly in that aspect as with the thing I now call piano sense I managed to see and hear hidden things.

Their judging started to get a little shorter every time to hear my input of the playing.

For the final pieces which were composed by the fans themselves, I gave numerous tips to the point where the three of them just let me take over their time.

This whole thing quickly turned awkward and uncomfortable for me, as all four of us were supposed to do the judging but now I was taking the spotlight.

Instead, they were focused on my words and nodded at everything I noted almost like students to their teachers.

In fact, I also gained skill points for my 'Teaching' skill and my 'Piano' skill too was improving after being stuck due to not having a piano available.

I felt a little bad as it felt a little presumptuous of me to blatantly stand out like this with my young experience while stifling their years and years of experience.

Finally finished, we cut out the recording.

[Kaz: "Charlie, thank you. I finally have better ideas to make my arrangements better."]

[Danya: "I didn't expect you to be so amazing and talented. Even though you're young I can tell you've got a bright future."]

[Marco: "He's four years younger and you're acting like an old man."]

[Danya: "Argh! Shut up Marco!"]

We laughed and Marco too showed his appreciation:

[Marco: "Don't tell anyone, but I was composing a new song and was slightly stuck but I've gotten inspiration from studying your analysis of every piece played. It's still shocking to me that someone as young as you has such depth in piano practicality. How old were you when you started playing?"]

I smiled innocently.

How am I going to tell them that I have 4 years of experience but cheated with the system? Even worse, in this life, I have never played the piano and my family doesn't even realize I am able to play the piano.

[Charlie: "I started playing when I was very young and practiced a lot. My teacher was very talented at teaching." Cough, the system is my teacher, "The reason why I didn't recognize any of the piano pieces was because my teacher didn't expose me too much to them and instead relied on his own teaching regime."]

[Lying has gained 10 points.]

I mentally coughed in shame. With my points in charm, I was able to skip past the questions without being questioned at all— much to my relief.

[Kaz: "Just keep doing what you're doing dude. You're definitely a rising star. By the way, what'd you think of my Canon in D arrangement?"]

[Charlie: "I liked it very much. It was medium difficulty before but you added so much more profoundness and depth without raising its difficulty too much."]

[Marco: "Yeah, I really liked your arrangement. I can't decide if I like Charlie's simple and beautiful original piece or your version which is more active and jumpy."]

[Danya: "Same, I think it's just depending on the mood."]

[Kaz: "Yeah. I might do a re-do of the arrangement next year after fully taking in and analyzing Charlie's teachings."]

[Charlie: "Haha, it wasn't that much but I'll look forward to it."]

…

Knock knock.

I clicked the headphones button to mute myself and turned off the camera.

"Come in."

Charlotte opened the door and jumped in my room with a tray filled with cookies.

"Cookies? Where'd you get them from?"

She showed me a V-sign.

"I baked them," she smiled cheekily.

I ruffled her hair, "You did?"

"Yup yup. Try one!"

"They're sugar cookies?"

"Yah! Look, they're really soft and chewy."

She bit into one and smiled widely with the cookie in her mouth.

They tasted like any other sugar cookie. Simple, sweet, and a happy snack.

I gave her a thumbs-up,

"Where'd you learn to bake?"

"Science class!"

"You baked cookies in science class?"

"Yeah, but they only let us bake one, and I wanted to try more."

I tossed the final piece of the cookie into my mouth.

"They're delicious. Let's bake someday with mom and dad."

She smiled widely and left my room skipping.

Maybe Charlotte will bake for mom's future coffee shop.

I got back to my seat and put on my wired earphones.

I turned my camera back on and the others were laughing at the camera.

I stared at the screen with a dead-pan expression.

I turned my gaze towards the mute button and found I had clicked the headphones to deafen, instead of the microphone to mute.

I undeafened myself.

[Danya: "Charlie, are you a sis-con?"]

In shame, I turned off the camera and muted myself.

[Kaz: "Pffft— hahaha, it's fine Charlie!"]

[Marco: "Happens to the best of us."]

…

Days later...

"You're talented."

"Thank you," I smiled with a polite expression but rather than pride, I exuded a humbler mood.

I returned to the calm resting expression.

"You're handsome."

"Ah, really?" I scratched my head and smiled sheepishly with closed shoulders.

Once again, I went back to the resting face.

"You're a horrible pianist."

My face showed no difference as if I had heard nothing.

"Charlie! Let me have your kids!"

My streak finally died and my expression broke down into laughter.

"Blake, dude, that's cheating."

"Ah, calling your mentor a 'dude' now, huh? You wanna quack some more?"

My face turned serious, my chest stood staller and my arms rested at my sides.

"Sir."

He smiled,

"That's what I like to see."

My face almost cracked into a chuckle but I kept the stoic expression I had.

"Good job. You're getting better at this. However, when I insulted you by calling you a horrible pianist the mood you seemed to give off became a little more serious and your ears twitched a little. Remember to go on as if you hadn't heard anything. Remember, insults are air."

I nodded.

"Your piano skills could be improved."

I smiled politely and presented a gentle disposition,

"There's always things to improve."

"Oh, that was great. It seems your sweet spot is to counter provocations with softness. You did a good job. It seems you studied a little. By ignoring direct insults, there's no chance to have a scandal, and by countering provocations or criticism with softness then you become humble to the eyes of others, rather than arrogance if you were to ignore that as you ignored insults."

I nodded in agreement.

He tossed me a towel.

"That ends it all for today. Your quacks and duck-squatting is getting better. Your voice is becoming a little more powerful, though we still have to work on that voice stability. Your body control and hidden muscles are also a little decent now."

I wiped my sweat with the towel.

"I see, thank you."

"No problem. By the way, may I ask why your voice is that unstable? Normally, the people I train only need to work on voice volume but you're a flipped case. Your volume is quickly getting prominent and even before that, your voice was very attention-catching. However, your stability is weak and thin."

"It's nothing, it was just some matters in the past."

I replied obliquely and Blake respected my decision to remain vague.

He looked at me in concern and nodded,

"Okay. Good job today. You may head to the gym now."

I mentally groaned and nodded away to my suffering.

[Author Note:

Hope you enjoyed!

Song Recommendations:

Fight it - OUSE

Bury Me Low - 8 Graves