Chapter 58: Preliminaries (I)

"Welcome, all competitors, inviters, invitees, judges, and supporters! My name is Okura Saki, and I'll be your main judge for the next month."

The person who spoke enthusiastically was a woman in her late twenties to her early thirties. She might seem old, but it was nothing compared to the other eight judges that sat on either side of her.

The nine judges were sitting a few rows from the front, with all the rows directly below them banned from anyone sitting. Just by blocking five or so rows that could have housed an additional 60 people, it showed the prestigiousness of the nine judges.

While the main judge, Okura, seemed to have a pleasant smile on her face as she turned around to face the rest of the audience, not every judge seemed to share her enthusiasm.

Most had an indifferent and stern expression on their face, while the rest had a slight smile that was barely noticeable by anyone.

"As all of you are aware, two years have passed by in a blur, and it was time to host the International Ettore Pozzoli Piano Competition once again! However, the younger generations have been getting more talented as each generation goes. From the once measly 5 competitors when the competition was first held, hundreds of pianists are now eligible for this competition! Oh, how far we have come since then..." Giving a dramatic sigh, the entire venue remained silent as they patiently waited for Okura to continue.

She might look the youngest amongst the nine judges, but she wasn't any less respected. Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to claim the main judge's seat without anyone complaining.

Okura was a prodigy in the music world, but not in any instrument, singing, dancing, or anything like that. Actually, one could barely consider her an intermediate in any of those. In fact, she was actually having infamous for her ridiculously unbalanced talent.

No, what she was famous for was her ability to listen, see, and judge. It was ironic that someone could listen to someone else playing and judge without herself knowing anything about what someone else was doing.

It was like a total newbie judging a pianist playing a Beethoven piece and giving the pianist advice. It defied all common sense; how could one have such talent in judging but have none in doing what she judged?

While it did cause some controversial news, Okura proved herself time and time again, and with time, more and more recognized experts gave her their approval to judge others without being able to play anything herself. And now, at her prime age of late twenties, she currently stood as one of the best judges, if not the best judge in the Asia continent.

The International Ettore Pozzoli Piano Competition is the grandest piano competition worldwide, and it might have only just started the preliminary rounds, but the popularity was high as expected.

"Now, I will reveal what the International Ettore Pozzoli Piano Competition's rules for this year are. One! There would be no limit as to how many people will be able to move on to the nationals!"

As soon as Okura said rule one, the audience burst into a frenzied state. And it was for a good reason as well.

Usually, the International Ettore Pozzoli Piano Competition only allowed a maximum of fifty pianists worldwide to participate in the finals, causing the competition to be fierce. But now, there was no limit to the number able to enter the finals? That was a god-send to everyone, knowing that the person they are supporting would have a higher chance of entering the finals.

Okura did not comment on anything and merely smiled, waited patiently for the noise to die down.

After a minute, Okura continued, hearing silence in the hall, "Since we do not want any talent to be lost during the screening process, rule number was passed. But to ensure the quality of the competition would remain high, rule number two was also added."

Giving a devilish smile, Okura dropped a bomb.

"To advance through the preliminaries, it is simple: play your best, and it would be up to us nine judges here to decide whether or not you move on to play. However, it is only during the finals of the preliminaries where rule number two comes in.

Eighteen judges, including the nine here and nine others overseas, must give unanimous consent for the contestant to enter the international stage. The eleven judges would be selected at random for each candidate, but if the contestant can't even pass our evaluation here, there is no need for them to think of anything anymore."

Once more, the audience let out shock gasps as they processed the information that Okura delivered. Anyone who could be a judge for the grandest piano competition in the world was someone of high stature. In the past, since there was a limit, they took the best out of the competitors, meaning that the competitors only had to play better than other competitors.

But now, they not only needed to play better than other competitors, but they also had to please eighteen well-known judges from all over the world.

Now, the audience knows the reason why rule one was passed.

But they were excited. As much as the audiences wanted to see everyone pass, they too wanted to see people fail. After all, this was why competitions exist and why it has been popular even during the Sumerian civilization, the oldest civilization known to mankind.

Do you think humans are good living organisms who care for their kind?

[A/N: Btw, I'm just saying, if humans were to go extinct, the only thing I'll do is celebrate.]

Besides those two rules, there were a few more that Okura delivered, but they were all the standard rules for any piano competition, and none delivered as much of an impact as the first two.

"And so, let the competition begin!"

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

I am currently in the waiting room with both Suzuki and Maruno. There were a few other people as well, and all of them appear to be older than Maruno.

It seems like what Suzuki said was true; people who got scouted at the college/university level could be considered rare and prodigious, and Maruno was considered one of them.

But while Maruno, Suzuki, and I were calm and waited patiently in the waiting room, the others weren't nearly as calm as us, especially when their gazes reach my delicate body and pop out in shock.

I mean, I know I am handsome, but you don't have to stare at me so intensely, you know~?

Ok, I'm just joking. The people around us weren't staring intensely at me because I'm handsome, though it might be part of the reason, because of my age, I suppose.

"Suzuki-san, right? Suzuki Heizō-san, famous master level pianist." While the room was shrouded entirely in uncomfortable silence, a person stood up with a friendly smile on his face as he walked towards Suzuki.

Suzuki seemed surprised that someone called him out, but he nodded nonetheless to his question.

"Yes, but I don't think we've met before, right?"

The man who stood up smiled wryly, "Of course. Ever since you had your debut, I've been a fan of yours ever since. My name is Chinen Yori, and please, just call me Yori. It's a pleasure to finally meet you face to face. I've entered this competition two years ago in hopes of meeting you face to face, but alas..." The man shook Suzuki's hand enthusiastically while Suzuki returned the handshake with a well-practiced smile.

It seemed that Suzuki was already used to this type of situation happening.

"No, no. The pleasure is all mine. Can I know who..."

"Who brought me here? No one. I've just gotten recognition about being a master-level pianist two years ago, and this is actually my first time attending with my two invitees." Yori looked slightly younger than Suzuki, in his mid to late thirties, and standing behind him were two adults aged in their late twenties, one female and one male.

"Master-level pianist, huh?" Suzuki seemed surprised, "You must be good. Still, it's rare to find someone younger than me to be a fan of mine. Most of the time, my music is usually aimed at older audiences. After all, although I did receive the title of master-level pianist, I actually just barely made the criteria, and there are plenty of other pianists from my generation that way better than me..."

"You underestimate yourself too much, Suzuki-san. You might not be the best pianist even in just Japan, no offense," Yori smiled and said, "But your music has helped me countless times during my tough times. And for that, I have to thank you."

"I'm just doing my part as a pianist." Suzuki gave a humble reply typical of Japanese modesty and humility.

"While I am excited to meet my favorite pianist, I can't help but feel curious about the two invitees of yours standing behind you." Yori's gaze shifted from Suzuki to us.

"My name is Uesugi Fuutarou. It is nice to meet you!"

"Murano Yoichi. Nice to meet you!"

"You seem like a college student, which means you probably have excellent talent, which I guess is the reason why Suzuki-san invited you." Yori said as he looked at the tanned young man with an appreciating smile, "It's always nice to see the younger generation being more and more talented as time pass."

"Haha, thank you for your praise!"

"And I might say that I love seeing talented younger generation, but you..." Turning towards me next, Yori put on an indescribable expression, "You are still in high school?"

I really wanted to retort with 'Do you know any high schoolers this short?!', but being the good boy I am, I chose not to.

"No. I'm still in my first year of junior high school."

"13 years old, huh? I wonder how good you really are for Suzuki-san to invite you. I don't mean to look down on you, but..."

"It's okay. Unless age suddenly became a criterion in this competition, I won't lose!"

"Bold words, huh? I want to see what a junior high schooler can really do." The male standing behind Yori opened his mouth and spoke. Although his tone was neutral, it was apparent that he didn't like the fact that a kid like me is entering the competition on the same level as him, an adult.

"Don't worry. I'll not disappoint you."

"Tch..."

I think he must be really trying to keep himself in check because no matter how angry he was, he wasn't going that low to hit a kid.

At least, I hope so.

"I'm sorry for his behavior. He just hates talented people who think everything would go their way just because they're talented." The female beside the male spoke.

"No worries. I don't think it's just him." I noticed that he wasn't the only one feeling envy at my presence here. Seems like attending this competition at my age is a bigger deal than I thought; I didn't expect such reactions. Plus, that was only in this waiting room. Imagine how many people would bore animosity towards me once more people start to notice me.

The head judge had already addressed us beforehand, so we all knew what we needed to do.

We were waiting in room number five, which contains the competitors who would be performing somewhere in the middle of the first day.

The number of contestants was no joke, and it would take one whole week just for the first round of the preliminaries to end.

Should I be glad that our trio was assigned to be performing on the first day?

The door to the room opened without warning, and a man walked in. With a stern expression on his face, he showed that he wasn't here to play around.

"Room number 5. Are all thirty of you present?"

Everybody instinctively began to silently count the people around them, but before I even got to ten, the man who walked in nodded.

"Good. The time now is 10 am. You have at most 2 hours before it's your turn to perform. I'm just here to ensure that everybody is present." The man said as he started walking out, "And to those who are not feeling well and wish to quit, please inform me now. Otherwise, unless you're in a coma or a life or death situation, you're going to perform up on stage in your current condition. I don't want to waste any time in this competition. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes!"

"Good. So, anyone feeling unwell?"

The room remained silent as we all looked at one another.

"If no one is feeling unwell, I expect you all to be here again by 11.45 am. You can go out for some food and join the audience, but ensure you bring your identification when you leave. You'll not be entertained if you lose yours."

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

A/N: It's finally this fanfic's first anniversary lol. One year with 58 chapters...even I feel ashamed of myself. There is a maximum of three chapters of preliminaries before we return to a more interesting arc which, obviously, will include meeting more waifus.

By the way, I'm planning to focus on this fanfic first. I realized my mind and body cannot take writing 6 stories at once, so I'm gonna slow down the release dates for the others. This would be the last day for a while where I release four fanfics in one go.

I also plan to write as much as I can to stockpile chapters for this fanfic. So (at least until I finish writing this entire fanfic), I'll be able to release one chapter per week. After I finish writing this entire thing, I'll release a chapter daily, with a power stone challenge to release extra chapters (I always wanted to try it). But then again, this wouldn't happen until I write finish, or come close to finishing this fanfic. For more information, please go to my patréon and see the notice that is open to the public.

If you want to support me or/and want chapters in advance, link:

https://www.patréon.com/spirits_everywhere.