Chapter 55: Scouted

"Hey, Uesugi-kun." A female teacher came up to me during lunch and suddenly spoke.

"Sensei?"

"Come to the staffroom after school."

Hearing the teacher's words, I wondered what was going on.

"Did I do anything wrong?"

"No. It's nothing bad. I just need to talk to you for a while."

"Okay then. I'll see you later, sensei."

Hearing me agree, the teacher smiled and left.

"What did you do now, Fuu-chan?"

"Urgh...for the nth time, stop calling me Fuu-chan, Haruma."

"And for the nth time, nope. It's fun. So, what did you do?"

What did I do? I'm trying to wonder about that myself. The teacher who called me out was the music teacher, and since she said it was nothing bad...

"I assume it should have something to do with music?"

"Do you think she is going to ask you to join a competition?"

"Damn...why didn't she call me as well?" Kaori muttered in frustration, and I patted her head to calm her down.

"Relax. It might not even be about competition. Maybe sensei just wants me to do something for her."

Hearing my words, Kaori nodded her head, "Fine..."

"Now, let's go back to class for our next lesson, shall we?"

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Knocking on the staff room, I called out after school, "Sensei?"

Almost immediately, the door opened, and the teacher appeared in front of me.

"Hello, Uesugi-kun. You're just in time."

Just in time for what? I don't even know what the teacher wanted from me.

"Being a music teacher, I do get a lot of free time, unlike many other teachers in this school. After all, music became an optional subject from middle school onwards." The teacher let out a small smile as she walked out of the air-conditioned staffroom and led me somewhere else, "I don't always get a lot of students in my classes, but surprisingly, the number of students this year had exceeded the usual amount."

I didn't know how to reply to her sudden monologue, so I kept quiet and waited for her to continue.

"I wanted to figure out why, so I asked some of my students why they joined the music class. Why don't you guess what they said?"

"Etto...because they love music?" I mean, I can't think of any other reason in this short time. So, the only possible explanation was because they loved music. Otherwise, why would they waste their own precious afterschool time to learn an optional subject?

"Hm...but do you know where they got their love from?"

I shook my head, and the teacher pointed at me and said, "You."

"Me? I didn't even recognize them until we met in the music room for our first-ever class."

"No, no." Shaking her head, the teacher continued, "It was way before that. It turns out that I wasn't the only one who attended the competition you got first place for."

"You were there?"

"It's not surprising to see me at a music competition. I'm a music teacher, after all. But I wasn't the only one there. Some of your classmates also attended with their parents, and I guessed their competitive spirits were brought out when they saw you competing on stage against the older kids.

We were sauntering towards the music room; I could now tell our destination since despite the few weeks I had been here, the corridor towards the music room on the first floor was one of my more frequented corridors.

"But out of all my students, you made me very curious and in awe of your talent. Achieving first place in your category despite being the youngest contestants. And even compared to the adults, you were one of the better ones as well, in my opinion."

"Thank you."

"I'm very curious. Who is your teacher?"

"No one. I am self-taught."

Hearing my words, I guess she must have gotten a shock since she suddenly paused in her steps and looked at me with widened eyes.

"R-Really? You're not lying, are you?"

"I'm not lying. You can ask my girlfriends or my parents if you want. But, unfortunately, we can't afford private piano lessons even if we wanted to."

"I see...Well, back to the topic. I wanted to see you after school today because I wanted to introduce you to someone that might just help out with the problems you just mentioned."

At this time, we already arrived in front of the music room, and we could already hear someone else playing the piano inside.

How strange. I wonder who is currently playing the piano.

"Let me introduce you, a former master pianist and a current judge for piano competitions, Suzuki Heizō."

"Suzuki-san? I don't think I know him?"

"Then I guess you might be surprised to see who he is then." Opening the door, the teacher smiled and entered. Sitting on the piano chair and playing the piano, I spotted a familiar person entering my sight.

Suzuki ended his song ended his piece just a few moments after we entered the room, and searching my memories, I finally found out where I saw him before.

"Ah! I recognize you! You're the judge from Chapter 37!"

"Chapter 37? What are you talking about? Anyway, it's good to see you again, Uesugi-san."

Suzuki stood up and walked towards me before shaking my hand like an enthusiastic fan.

"It's nothing, and it's nice to see you again, Suzuki-san. What brings you to my school and is so important that my teacher had to call me after school today?"

"Do you remember what I said to you the last time we met?"

"Yes. You said something about wanting to contact me in the future, and when I asked you what for, you said 'who knows?'."

"Haha, word for word, huh? But yes, I have come to invite you to another piano competition."

"Piano competition?"

"Yes."

"But I don't think it that such an event would warrant a master pianist like you to personally invite me, though."

"I had heard you play personally before, and I am sure that the other judges at that time would also agree that you are no doubt one of the best we have heard. So I'm here not as a judge but as a master pianist to personally give you an invitation to attend the world's grandest piano competition, the International Ettore Pozzoli Piano Competition."

The International Ettore Pozzoli Piano Competition? I have never heard of it before.

"The International Ettore Pozzoli Piano Competition, for tradition and amount of prize, is one of the oldest and most prestigious piano competitions globally, taking place in Seregno, Italy since 1959 and held every 2 years.

It is so prestigious that you would need to have a recognized master pianist or grandmaster pianist to personally hand you an invitation to even be able to attend this competition. Each master pianist in the world can give out three invitations to young and rising stars of the piano world, while grandmaster pianists can give out ten."

Wow. This just escalated way too quickly. I don't even know how to react to Suzuki's invitation.

"Um..."

"I know this is a lot to take in, but please, take this letter first and give it to your parents. Then, if you decide to accept the invitation, please call my number here, and I'll go to your house to discuss the details of it." He handed me a very fancy-looking letter that was gold in color near the edges and another business card.

"Thank you."

"Do you have any questions right now?"

"So you're basically scouting me?"

"Yes." Suzuki replied, "If the first place winner is someone that I recommended, then I will stand to gain as well."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. Not as a pianist, of course, but as someone who has a good eye for talent, my fame and honor would also increase."

"I see. I would have to go overseas to attend this competition, right?"

"Only if you pass the preliminary rounds, of course. This competition is open globally, and master pianists like me are a dime a dozen if you look overseas. So, to reduce the number of contestants and increase the standard, we have decided to host something like a knockout round, where only the better ones can advance and eventually reach the top."

"So, something like a knockout tournament?"

"Not exactly. It would be similar to the previous competition you had participated in. As for how many people would move on to the next round, more details will be revealed later on."

"Is there prize money? And will the trip be sponsored?"

Suzuki looked amused at my question, but I can't help it. If the overseas trip is not sponsored, then I wouldn't go. I don't want to burden my family's finances any more than needed.

"Yes. The number one pianist will receive 20 thousand Euros, which is about 2.6 million yen. Although the trip will be sponsored, it would only cover where you would be living and the travel expenses. As for food and drinks, it will have to be paid by yourself."

I think Suzuki continued to talk, but I wasn't sure. The moment the words "2.6 million yen" came out of his mouth, my mind went blank.

Fk! I never had that amount in one go before! Actually, I don't think my family had ever had that much money as well.

"I accept!"

"Haha, as much as I would like that, you don't have to rush your decision, Uesugi-san. You still need to ask your parents for permission first. Are there any other questions?"

"When will the competition start?"

"The preliminaries will start late May and will drag on all the way to late July. Then, if you make it to the main competition round, it would begin somewhere in mid-August and last around half a month."

"I see. One more question, will you be participating?"

"What do you think?"

"No?"

"Why no? Of course, I would be participating. It's an honor to be participating in this competition, and I would rather die than not take the chance to participate in it. But as you can probably tell, it would mean that other grandmaster pianists would also be participating alongside you. So I hope you would improve even further because you might be the best in your competition, but there are plenty of other grandmasters that are on par with you."

"I see. Thank you for answering my questions."

"No problem. If there are no other questions, I'll take my leave now. I look forward to your call."

"Thank you, Suzuki-san."

Both the teacher and I thanked him as he walked away.

There was a moment of silence in the music room as we started to digest the news that Suzuki had brought us.

"Uesugi-kun?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you give me an autograph now? It seems that your value is much, much higher than I had expected. I didn't think it would warrant the attention of a competition like The International Ettore Pozzoli Piano Competition."

"You know about it?"

"Barely. All I know is that everyone who ever made it onto the final stage would be basically set for life. The prize money isn't the most valuable thing you can get there - it's the honor and fame that would allow you to get hired as a performer to earn even more money."

Turning to face me, she patted my head and said, "Congratulations. But make sure that you don't fall behind on your schoolwork, you hear me?"

"Spoken like a true teacher. I won't, sensei!"

"Good. Now, go home and tell your parents the news."

"Hai!"

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

"Fuu-kun! Okaeri!" From the kitchen, a fragrant aroma wafted out as Shouko spoke.

"Tadaima. It smells nice, Shou-chan. What are you cooking? Do you need help?"

Yep. Shouko also learned how to cook, and while my parents are responsible for caring for our little sisters, Shouko helps out by cooking our meals.

"The usual meal. I don't need help, Fuu-kun."

"Alright then. Where's mum?"

"Putting the twins to sleep."

"Rai-chan?"

"Together with mum and Yuzu-chan."

"I see."

Going up to my room, I placed my bag on the floor and changed before going downstairs to the living room.

"What did the teacher call you for?"

Looking at her, I let out a smile, "Are you curious?"

"Yes."

"Well, she wanted me to meet the judge we saw before."

"The judge?"

"Yea, the one who wanted to contact my parents about something."

"I see. What did the judge want?"

"He wants me to participate in a piano competition."

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A/N: The competition is an actual competition in our world. Its price money is only 2k euro for first place, but I buffed it up since I made it the most prestigious piano competition in the world.

The next chapter should begin with the preliminaries if nothing goes wrong, and as for the overseas trip...later, I guess.