Chapter 76: Advancing to the Finals

The following two days passed quickly, and it was finally time.

Shirokusa Kachi gathered all of us at the main hall where we first met each other. But we weren't the only people present.

There was plenty of other people already present, including the perverted old man Akira, the main judge of my preliminary rounds, Okura, and plenty of other people who seemed to be judges as well. I don't know many judges since I wasn't really too interested in dealing with them, but

I'm guessing that they would be the final judges? Damn, now I'm getting nervous again.

"Good morning everyone, I hope all of you have had a good two days break."

Receiving some dead and half-hearted replies, Shirokusa remained unfazed and continued with her speech.

"Today, we are gathered to release the results for the finals, where only ten people were chosen to participate in the final round. In this list, the names are sorted not only by abilities shown during the party. It also includes your attitude, your potential, and how much the judges, especially judge Yamamoto, love you."

I don't know, man...that sounds creepy as hell. I don't usually mind old people loving me, but this old person is a pervert. His type might be a girl with long legs and a big ass, but you never know.

Anyway, as soon as Shirokusa finished, a list of names was flashed on the screen in front of everyone. And like bees to honey, everyone's eyes instantly flashed towards the screen, searching for their names in the top ten.

1. Thiago Furukawa Lucas

2. Sturgill Simpson

3. Vilen Miltiades

4. Leandra Victorino

.

.

.

10. Uesugi Fuutarou

11. Fujiwara Chika

12. Murano Yoichi

.

.

.

30. Bai Ru

Number 10...that was a closer shave than I thought it would be. Fortunately for me, I managed to get into the next round, but...

Turning to look at Maruno, I found him smiling with a small smile.

"So this is where my journey ends this year, huh? It's a lot better than last year's results..." Maruno didn't seem too saddened by the fact that he was eliminated.

"What?" Maruno asked when he saw me look at him, "Did you think I would be all depressed like Suzuki-san at the hotel?"

"I wonder if he sneezed just now...but yes. I thought you would recover in one day with the help of spirytus, but you didn't even need a second."

"Hey! I'm not some heartless robot who doesn't feel sadness, you know?"

"You don't seem to display much sadness for someone who says that. Still, I'm glad I don't have to spend my time consoling a college dude."

"Tch, you were cuter when we first met."

"I don't have to be cute in front of guys like you."

The friendly banter continued for a while before Maruno eventually patted my back with a genuine smile, "Still, good job. I'm proud of you. Even though it hurts my pride that a child just above half my age would be better than me..."

"Welp, just have to get used to it." Maruno continued before I even got the chance to reply. I really need to learn his technique of throwing the sadness away in a few milliseconds. It's too damn helpful to pass upon.

"I believe that 5 minutes was sufficient to read thirty names. Now that everyone knows who the top ten are and attending the finals, let's proceed to the next phase. The second phase includes two parts. The first part will be the dance party, or you might know it as a social party. The second part will consist of a formal performance. More details would be sent to your email by tonight, and you will have the next three days to clarify anything you might be unsure of.

For now, the first part would commence on Sunday. You may remain here for some refreshments."

Saying finish her speech, Shirokusa walked down from the stage, going towards the judges and doing whatever she needed.

But no one cared what she was talking about at the moment; everyone was having different reactions to their rankings currently.

Some, like me, who were in the top ten, had a satisfied smile and an eager urge to continue practicing for the last and final round to determine who would genuinely be the best in the world.

Some, like Maruno, had a neutral reaction to their own ranking. It was either because they had results better than expected or had gotten the results they had expected of themselves. So while the latter group had a resigned expression, Maruno, who belonged to the former, had an expression of relief.

Others included those so depressingly sad that they left the room to do their depressing stuff or just sat down and stared blankly into space. The number 30 dude, Bai Ru, a Chinese adult in his mid to late thirties, fell into the latter category. I don't know him that well, nor do I really care much about him, so let's skip the details.

I looked around me and found Chika, who was acting really...weirdly. Worried that she might be depressed to the point of destroying her brain, I walked up to her and initiated the conversation.

"Fujiwara...san? Are you okay?"

"Hm?" Chika snapped out of her reverie and noticed that I was talking to her, quickly replying with a smile, "Uesugi-kun! Good morning! Congratulations on making the top ten! You're officially the number ten pianist in the world! Do you know what an honor that is? Do you? Do you?"

Wow, she's really chatty. Was she always like this?

"Yes, I know that. But I'm not the only one who is talented. Look at the other kid our age who made it into the top five." Both of us looked at the blond boy who was happily conversing with the people around him, "That's what you call a true talent and frightening genius."

Honestly, that guy probably frightened me the most in this entire room. Rather than Akira, who was an old veteran in the art of making tons of money and changing how we look at Japanese films and anime, that boy is much frightening.

At the same age as me, without a system, he managed to surpass 99.99999993% of the world's population in terms of piano skills.

Being in the top 0.00000007% of the world was a huge honor for anyone. But getting there wasn't easy at all, even with the help of a system.

Sigh...talents everywhere...

Still, that doesn't mean I'm going to give up. This was just a temporary ranking, and anything temporary could be changed. For my last stage, I need to plan and do everything to make it to the top.

Talent? Hard work?

Nothing matters more than luck when both talents and hard work are equal to your competitors. I can't actively control my luck, but I can do is make more opportunities available for me. By practicing every topic or theme imaginable that might come up in the finals, I would have a better chance of winning.

"Uesugi-kun!" A sudden sharp broke my concentration and internal monologue as Chika spoke with a pouting face, "Did you listen to what I just said?"

"Huh?" I snapped out of my trance, "No?"

"Tsk...you really should be listening to people when they talk, you know, Uesugi-kun?"

"Yeah, but what were you saying again?"

"Sigh, I was saying that being recognized as the top ten pianists in the world is a grand honor."

Yeah, I know that already.

"And that you should really feel more proud about yourself."

Yeah, I also know that already. But I don't just want to be in the top ten. I'm really greedy when it comes to this type of thing, and I might not look like it, but I'm pretty competitive. It just wasn't clearly stated in previous chapters since there were not many people who could match me, but here? Everyone in the top ten was on the same level or even better than me, and I don't want to lose to anyone here.

As the old saying goes: When you reach for the stars, you might as well be reaching for the farthest thing out there.

"But you shouldn't be overconfident since arrogance can, and will be, everyone's downfall."

Yeah, I also know that already. But I don't think I am overconfident, am I? I'm just testing my limits and judging how far I can go against the other top ten - especially against the other boy my age in the top 5.

"You should also..."

Are you my mum? While Chika continued rambling on, the more and more she resembled a mum caring and giving advice for her children when they succeed in something.

Is this the part where she develops her maternal instincts for future needs? I hope Love is War's canon continues even with my presence here; their scenes are funny and entertaining after all. And since I don't remember everything, it would be nice to watch everything happen again in front of my eyes.

"Uesugi-kun!"

"Yep. I've heard you. Well, are you going back today, or are you going to stay for longer?"

Chika clearly didn't expect that I would use my "switch the conversation topic" technique and paused in her long-winded lecture.

"Um...I haven't decided yet. Though, I don't think I will stay. After all," Chika faced me and said with a bright smile, "I decided to quit playing the piano already."

...

"EH!?!?"

∞

Well, wasn't that a surprise? I never expected her to quit so unexpectedly. Perhaps after realizing that she didn't like the piano anymore after a while, but definitely not the very next day after Shinomiya told her to quit.

Currently, I'm in my room thinking about the future. In my schedule, I would be free for the next five days to prepare for the dance.

There is a class available for us to attend anytime during the next five days to prepare us for the dance party, including basic etiquette and dance. It is not compulsory for anyone, but we are recommended to attend if we didn't know anything about formal parties and did not want to shame ourselves during the party.

Still, I learn things fast, especially things related to memorizing, so I'm sure that the lessons that I will be attending would at most a day only, leaving me plenty of time to improve my piano skills as much as possible.

But then again, I have a system and some excess proficiency points to spare, so...

I really want to "cheat".

I am so tempted to just pour all my points into the piano proficiency to max out the grandmaster proficiency, but there is the so-called "pride" within me...

Bah, who on Earth would care about "pride"? Can it be eaten? Can it put food on the plate? Can it help you survive?

Despite everything I said, I know myself the best. I may have talent in playing the piano, but it isn't anything grand like everyone around me. Without the system, I can only say I'm the best at memorizing, but not at anything else.

And since I was never a genius, to begin with, there would be no "pride of the genius" in me.

"System! Put everything into the grandmaster piano proficiency!" Of course, I screamed internally. I'm not going to risk anyone thinking that I'm a mad man talking to myself in my own room in the middle of the night.

[Adding 100 proficiency points...adding 100 proficiency points...adding 71 proficiency points...error. Level of grandmaster is capped at 1000 proficiency points.]

"Excuse me? No one ever told me that?"

[The grandmaster realm isn't a realm just for that specific proficiency. For example, in this case, all your music-related proficiency has to be in the same realm such that they would be able to attain past 1000 proficiency points. Host, please do not forget this. The system might be a "cheat" for you, but you will need to have a firm foundation of your own as well. In this case, your theory in music is currently lacking for any further improvement.]

Really? Sigh...I guess it's not unreasonable. People do say that without a firm foundation, you would not be able to aim high.

Without much choice, I asked the system to place 200 points in advanced music proficiency to make it to grandmaster before placing the remaining points in piano proficiency.

[Master Music Proficiency (800/1,000) -> Grandmaster Music Proficiency (0/2,000)]

[Grandmaster Piano Proficiency (729/2,000) -> Grandmaster Piano Proficiency (1849/2,000)]

My original 1320 points have been completely spent. I can only hope it would be enough to win. That 2 million yen would allow our huge family to live a nicer life.

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

A/N: Guess what? Charlotte made a new fanfic, without completing any of his past books. Ten books now, but not a single completed one. Truly expected of my idol. Oh, how I aim to be like him. But first, I have to make it to ~130 chapters before actually dropping it.

Just kidding. For those who are complaining about the piano arc being boring, please leave lol. Don't drop random comments that just kill my motivation to write. For those who complained, but with a good reason/explanation as to why you find it boring, and how I could change to write without being rude, thank you for constructive criticism. We need more people like you guys.

If you have nothing good to say, you don't have to comment on anything. Leave, and no one would miss you from here. As for those who have patiently waited for a chapter every week, and continued staying with me despite the boring chapters, thank you.

This is slice-of-life fanfic, it's supposed to be a little boring when there are no girls.

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

https://www.patréon.com/spirits_everywhere. We are currently 7 chapters ahead~