Chapter 34: Competition Begins (Soon)!

"Let's go!"

Standing in front of Towa Hall in its full glory, it felt pretty amazing. This was where our location for the competition was being held, and would also be my first public performance.

Sometimes I play the piano for some school events, but none ever showcased my piano skills to the general public. After all, why would anyone come to an elementary school just to hear an elementary student play the piano?

But this time, since this was a pretty famous competition, in my opinion, that is, I would get to showcase my skills, and hopefully get more money for the family.

Our family was doing a lot better now that Shouko's mother also helped us with our financial problems. Still, two people working overseas and only returning once in a while wouldn't be able to support five people very well. We do get our basic three meals and some new clothes every once in a while, but we have no savings!!

How can an adult have no savings!?

Thus, it's my turn to help save some money for the family.

"Umu!" Kaori enthusiastically spoke as she started walking briskly into the building. Although she seemed very confident from her external appearance and behavior, the nervous shaking of her legs and her slightly sweaty palms when she pulled my hand told me otherwise.

Like me, this was her first performance as well. If she wasn't even nervous at all, it would be weird.

"Relax, Kaori-chan~." I say to her as I lightly squeeze her hand, attracting her attention, "Don't be too nervous. You'll do just fine."

Maybe after hearing my words, Kaori really calmed down a lot, and her legs stopped shaking.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

As Kaori and I walked into the building, we passed by many other people who were early. Well, most of them were elementary students who were being accompanied by their parents. I assume that the older kids would arrive just on time since I know that none of them would come early to mingle with elementary students.

Well, at least, that was what I would do if I was in their shoes.

The parents present were surprised that Kaori and I were alone with no parent supervision, but they didn't have the time to bother us since their own children wanted their parents' attention.

Walking hand in hand down the hallway, we finally reached the security area.

"Children? Where are your parents?" A security guard spoke kindly. He had short brown hair, beady eyes, and thin lips. He looked what a villain would look like, but judging from what I assume was his 'kind' smile and look, he wasn't anyone terrible. Plus, he was a security guard.

Deciding not to judge people based on their looks alone in the future, I replied to him, "Good morning! We're here for the competition!"

The guard looked amused and bent down to our heights and said, "I know that, but I need to know where your parents are in case you get lost or something."

"We came alone, and our parents would arrive later on when the competition starts."

The guard looked visibly surprised at my words. I guess it's rare for two twelve-year-olds to arrive alone, huh?

"I see. If your parents would be arriving later, I assume that they know that the both of you are currently here?"

Kaori and I nodded, and the guard sighed.

"Fine. Come on in, and don't wander around too much. If you get lost, it's my responsibility."

We went through the gate, and the guard spoke once more, "Take care of yourselves, y'all hear me?"

What a kind guard. Guess finding arrogant people in this world is pretty rare. Good, cause I don't want any people with 'young master syndrome' to arrive in front of my face.

"We will! Thank you!" Waving at the kind guard, we quickly thanked him before making our way to our waiting area.

The junior category is from 11am to 12.30pm, while the intermediate category is from 12.45pm to 2.45pm with a 15-minute break in between.

After that was lunch break, which would be until 3.30pm.

Apparently, I had gotten my information wrong. I didn't read the information correctly, leading to this error. However, it wasn't that big of a deal since it doesn't concern me in any way.

Those taking part in the senior and artist categories didn't need to report by 10.30am; that timing was only for junior and intermediate categories. Instead, they are required to report by 3pm.

Now, that made more sense.

The senior category starts from 3.30pm, and it would last until 4.45pm, while the artist category would last from 5pm to 6.45pm.

Would we be staying until 6.45 pm to watch the entire thing? Most probably. It would be a good show for Kaori to learn more about the violin and learn more about duets.

Everything we had learned about duets was from the internet, so we had no idea what a real duet would really sound like. This opportunity to improve on our duets would be a god-send, especially since I don't have a teacher, not that anybody could just teach me anyways.

In the intermediate category's waiting room, parents were not allowed inside since we were all deemed 'old' enough to take care of ourselves for the next few hours. Of course, since the piano accompanists that those violinists had brought themselves were present, they dared not mess around.

The waiting room was humungous and fitted ten grand pianos and still have space left over for us to walk.

I wasn't complaining, and most of the competitors here were all in middle school. I haven't seen one that was my age yet. Most of the people here were girls, and they were all giving us curious looks.

One reason was probably because of my gender, and the other was perhaps about Kaori and I being a duo. Kaori was young, so her taking part in the intermediate category was already a surprise to them. But her piano accompanist, which was me, was also young? That was probably the reason why they were surprised.

Not that I cared much about them. Everything's fair in love and war, so if they beat us, it just meant that we were too overconfident and getting a little too complacent.

I observed the people around us and didn't see anyone that I was familiar with.

Most of them were just observing each other, while some went around making friends. As for Kaori and me? We just sat down at the corner closest to the door and just waited patiently for the time to pass.

We weren't too interested in anyone younger than us. Not because they were going to be bad or anything, but mainly because our songs were different, and whatever they were able to do, we could also do it.

Thus, we had nothing to learn from them.

Time ticked by slowly, and until 11am has finally arrived, everyone who was going to take part in the intermediate category was present. About 15 children took part in this competition, and only 4 were males, including myself.

As for those who were playing the violin? There were only three boys, and they were all in their second or third year of middle school (~ 14 to 15 years old).

Since this was the first time I heard other violinists, not counting those professionals I hear on the internet, I was kinda excited to see how our age group would fare.

I wonder how good they are compared to Kaori.

Our waiting room was the closest towards the stage, thus although muffled, we were able to hear the violinists play their pieces.

Kaori's ears were also perked up as she started leaning very close to the wall in an attempt to hear even better.

While the piano accompanist closed their eyes and rested their minds, the younger children also followed Kaori's example and tried listening against the wall. The older ones just shook their heads and followed the adults' example instead, and just closed their eyes to rest their minds, preparing for their own competition.

The junior category's set-piece was another song from Brian Cains, Time Forgotten. It was a pretty simple piece, in my opinion. Nothing too hard for a bunch of elementary students.

Time slowly ticked by as each competitor went up the stage one by one to play their piece. Most of them played the song the exact same way, with little to no variation. Only one or two was 'unique' enough for me to remember, but other than those, I was sure that the others had no chance of winning.

One of them even messed up the piece, which made Kaori tremble a little. Perhaps she was also afraid of messing up on stage?

Noticing that, I held her hand to calm her down once more. In the end, Kaori just sat down beside me and leaned against me. I was already used to Shouko leaning on me, so this was no big deal.

However, in front of the eyes of the other girls and boys, what we were doing seemed like a public display of affection.

I wanted to laugh at their envy and jealousy but held my laughter back. They weren't ugly or anything like that, but compared to Kaori and my looks, they just couldn't compare.

Hmm...I think I was being a little too narcissistic back there. I need to tone it down a little...

"How are you so calm? Aren't you worried?" Kaori's voice suddenly rang out beside me. She was asking softly, so no one else managed to hear it except for me.

"Do you think I'm very calm?"

"Are you not? Your tone is confident, your steps are stable, and your palms are completely dry of sweat. In what way did you ever show that you're worried?" Kaori replied back.

"I'm just like you, you know? This is my first competition as well. How could I not be worried?"

"Then why do you look so calm?"

"Because I know and have seen how much work we have put into this. I know that we have thoroughly prepared for this. And I know that we can win this competition."

I wasn't lying. I was also worried about playing in this competition.

My past life was utterly mediocre. Don't talk about winning an award; I haven't even stepped on the stage to perform anything. Thus, this would be my first time stepping on the stage to perform and compete in both lifetimes.

However, in this lifetime, I have the support of friends, loved ones, and my family. I, no, we have practiced hard for this. We have practiced as much as we could for this.

So rather than becoming insecure about the future, why not become more confident so that we would be able to play with no regrets?

"But-"

"No 'buts'." Interrupting Kaori's words, I looked into her eyes and spoke, "Look, if you don't trust yourself, then at least place your trust in me, alright? Do you trust that I would be able to cover your mistakes?"

Kaori slowly nodded, and I smiled at her reply.

"Good. And I'll place my trust in you too. If I mess up, I would be counting on you, alright?"

Hearing my words, Kaori let out a small smile.

"You can count on me!"

"Thanks." I reached out my hand to pat her head, and she let out a blissful expression.

I didn't stop my actions since she didn't seem to mind it, and time continued passing.

Soon, the time was 12.25pm.

Everyone had performed already, and the judges were now deciding who gets to win in the junior category.

"Let's get changed."

Kaori agreed, and following the other competitors, we went to the changing rooms.

Following the other three boys into the male changing room, I started changing.

The boys' changing room was unnaturally quiet, and the pin-drop silence even allowed us to hear the noise produced at the other changing room right next to us.

One of them had black hair and glasses. He looked very intelligent and strict in his behavior, and his facial expression never changed throughout the entire time.

The next boy had blue hair and a small smile on his face. He seemed cheerful, but he too kept his silence.

The last boy had brown hair and a very solemn expression, as though he didn't want to be here at all.

All of us focused on changing, not bothering to talk as well. Or perhaps they were too nervous? I couldn't really see it, though.

The silence was pretty awkward for me. I have often been surrounded by loud people throughout my life, so seeing people that were so quiet made me feel...weird?

Fortunately, it didn't take us long to change. Within 5 minutes, we all managed to change to our competition attire.

"Good luck out there!" The first sentence that was spoken was by the blue-haired boy. Not waiting for our replies, he waved his hand and went out of the changing room.

I was surprised and couldn't react to his greetings. Well, I would be able to see him later anyway. I'll just talk to him later.

Now that someone had initiated the conversation, albeit short, the silence wasn't as awkward anymore.

"Yes. Good luck to you guys as well. I hope we have a good fight." The strict-looking black-haired boy pushed up his glasses and said before leaving as well.

"Urgh...I don't even want to be here..." The brown-haired boy grumbled as he shuffled out of the changing room, "You guys can win for all I care..."

It seems like my assumption was correct. Though, I wonder who was the one who forced him to come.

"Still, good luck to you," I said to the grumbling boy. I stayed behind to wait for Kaori to come out of the changing room.

The brown-haired boy looked back over his shoulders and raised an eyebrow, "Pretty confident, aren't you? Hope that you win then, I guess..."

Wow. There are so many kind people in this world! I actually thought for a moment that he would start spewing things like 'You're young! So don't get cocky!' or something like that.

Or maybe he just doesn't have any desire to win, so he didn't really care too much about me.

Another five minutes ticked past, and Kaori finally came out of the changing room.

I don't even know why changing into a simple dress took them so long. I mean, I had a blazer, an inner collared shirt, and pants to wear. And that didn't even include the socks and shoes, yet I only took 5 minutes to change.

But the girls all wore one-piece dresses and slip-on shoes as well. It wouldn't even take them a minute to put on a one-piece dress...

But the sight of Kaori in her dress made me feel that the wait was worth it.

Dressed in a simple, pure white one-piece dress, Kaori looked absolutely stunning. Her hair was that reached her shoulders was completely let down, giving the impression of her being a very free-spirited girl.

"You look amazing, Kaori-chan!"

The words came out of my mouth almost immediately, earning me the sight of a blush on Kaori's face.

"T-Thank you! You look handsome too..." Kaori muttered shyly, but I managed to hear it, and so did all the girls behind her.

I saw all of them nod at her praise and agreeing with it, and let out a wry smile.

"Well, let's go then!"

Going back to the waiting room to put down our casual clothes, Kaori took out her violin and brought it along as we were ushered towards backstage.

Huge curtains separated the backstage from the stage as Kaori, and I waited patiently.

The violinists started warming up and tuning their instruments softly, while the piano accompanists began warming up their fingers as well.

This whole place was air-conditioned, so if we didn't warm up our fingers, they would be stiff and make it harder for us to play our respective instruments. By some freak coincidence, we were placed as the last performance of this category, so we had plenty of time till we performed.

Since we had the smallest bodies and stayed at the end of the stage, we had the opportunity to peep outside through the curtains.

Shifting the curtains ever so slightly, Kaori and I looked at the growing number of audiences coming in. Towa Hall could house just somewhat less than two thousand people, and about a quarter of them had already been occupied.

Not a lot of people when you see the number of empty seats, but it was enough.

Since the audience area was pretty dark and we were located at the back of the stage, I couldn't really see anyone specific, only knowing that they were people.

The four judges walked in and sat down at precisely 12.43pm, and within the next two minutes, they had prepared everything for the competition to start on time.

I actually felt pretty scared at their punctuality. None of the judges were late in any actions they did, and the competition really started at 12.45pm on the dot.

They each looked really stern and strict, and although they were far from where I was, I couldn't see any smiles at all.

Soon, the first person went on stage, and after the premeditated actions, they started the piece.

I'm not going to talk much about the other performance since they didn't really play the piece very well as far as I was concerned. Some of them even messed up the entire piece. Maybe it was the pressure from performing in front of people or the judges' strict and stern faces, but they couldn't play their best.

It was expected, but it didn't mean that it could be excused. Thus, unless everyone played at that standard, they had no chance of winning.

Some did well, of course. Those were the people who were unaffected by the pressure and did their very best. Those were the ones that sounded nice to me.

As more and more competitors went on stage to perform, time passed as well. One hour and forty minutes passed by quickly, and before I even realized it, Kaori and I were the only ones left backstage. The others had all returned to the corner to wait for the others and, subsequently, the results.

"Hoo...hah...hoo..hah..." Kaori breathed in and exhaled deeply, being quite apparent in her actions to ease her own nervousness.

"Kaori-chan...relax a little, will you? If you become so nervous, you wouldn't even be able to draw your bow across your violin." I spoke to her.

She didn't reply to me and proceeded to draw the kanji character for 'person' three times on her palm before pretending to eat it by putting her hand in front of their mouth.

This is a sort of Japanese Folk belief that doing this set of actions would ease their anxiety.

It wasn't tested scientifically, but seeing Kaori calmed down visibly, I guess it might work? But having studied some branches of psychology, I knew that this was some sort of placebo effect.

"Good, you have calmed down."

Kaori nodded at my statement, picked up her violin and string in one hand, and took my hand in another.

"Remember, we can rely on each other, so don't be afraid to make mistakes, alright?"

Kaori smiled brightly at my sentence/question and lightly squeezed my hand.

"Good. Now, let's go out there and rock the world!"

"Now, for the next participant. Miyazono Kaori and her piano accompanist, Uesugi Fuutarou."

The emcee/announcer briefly introduced us, and we looked at each other in the eye.

We were currently standing at the edge of the stage, just a step away from being in the spotlight. Nodding at each other at the same time, we took a step forward.

Then the next. And the next.

Soon, we reached the center of the stage, and our hands still connected, we bowed down together while facing the audience and judges.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see some surprise flash past the judges' eyes and smirked internally.

Time to show my skills.

I walked over to the piano prepared on the stage and adjusted the seat's height to my liking.

After that, I took my seat on the chair and placed my fingers over the keys.

I turned to face Kaori, who was also able to play her violin anytime I was ready.

She nodded her head, and that was the signal I was waiting to receive from her.

In this competition, I'm not the main character. This was, after all, mainly a violin competition, not a piano competition.

She was the lead, and I'm the one who would accompany her.

Both my hands were on the 'C', 'E flat', and 'G' key, only one octave apart.

I think the audience has waited long enough. It was time to perform.

Thus, I pressed down those keys and started playing.

*****************

A/N: Wow...I really dragged this long, didn't I? My first plan was to go for a 4k chapter to end both piano and duet competitions, but it wasn't enough. So, my second plan was to split up all the content into ~1.3k words per chapter, lasting about 6-8 more chapters, but I'm afraid of readers gonna bash me up if I only reveal the quintuplets in like 2-3 months, so my last decision was a compromise of both decisions.

So today, a 3.5k word chapter (not including my weekly rants, aka A/N) was born. Honestly, I don't even know how this chapter got to 3.5k words...

Hopefully, the next chapter will actually be the last of the competitions.

But knowing me, it would probably be about the violin competition, the aftermath, and the beginning of the piano competition, and then I'll need to put in another chapter for the actual piano competition and the aftermath for that. So, probably another month before quintuplets?

This fanfic is gonna be slow, so be patient and just relax. Don't brain your brains here when reading this, just let go all of your stress and read.

I guess that's it for this week! Enjoy this, cause it won't last for long. Life is a bitch, always remember that.