♪♪♪
IT was the day of the culture festival.
My piano performance was sandwiched between the choral competition and the announcement of the winners. I couldn’t help feeling like I was only there to fill in an empty timeslot for the school. Less than satisfied with my slot, I ascended the steps onto the stage. The teachers had moved the Shiroyama piano from the corner of the stage to the center after the choral competition. Confused chatter could be heard from the students in the audience.
“What’s going on? Is something gonna start?”
“Hey, isn’t she that girl? Y’know, the one who got to ditch club activities for the piano?”
“Oh yeah, she’s the girl who was the new student representative and the top of her class.”
The vice principal briefly announced over the microphone why I was performing here today. Once he finished his introduction, I bowed to the audience and sat in front of the piano.
This was the same piano I’d played on during the choral competition, so I already had a good idea of what it sounded like. The tuning could use some work, but I could make do with it.
Slowly placing my hands on the keyboard, I added the primary melody with a trill to the simple fifth chord progression and strung together a sequence of arpeggios that clearly outlined the chord changes. What made this piece of music interesting were the introduction of basic themes and the offerings of variations in rhythm, harmony, and texture, which I was giving a jazz spin. Then I made lots of syncopations, interspersed with open and closed voices based on the third and seventh chords to make the arranged melody stand out.
Giving it a jazz rhythm changed the most famous phrases to sound like mature, sweet whispers, while the popular tune remained recognizable throughout.
“Oh, I know this song!”
“Isn’t it ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’?”
“Sounds much cooler than I remember it!”
Delighted cries rose from the students in the audience. Happy to hear that, I increased the tempo, letting it take off as the decorated melody was featured in my right hand with my left hand playing the fast running notes. My right hand made full use of the sixteenth notes and the chromatic scale. I sprinkled my ad-libbed take throughout. Skillfully making use of the opening rest notes made it sound even more like a jazzy performance.
I increased the number of notes and played the exciting finale that switches from duple time to triple time with more pizazz. Applause and cheers exploded from our spacious gym at the end of my performance.
That was so much fun!
Extremely satisfied, I tried to withdraw from the stage when, believe it or not, calls for an encore erupted from the audience. The group of delinquent third-year students who stood out from the crowd were whistling through their fingers. The teachers and school staff were going around trying to keep the students in check, but their efforts did nothing to quiet the roaring applause.
Uh, how do I handle this? Searching for help, I looked to where the teachers sat and my eyes made contact with Tomoi’s.
A small smile turned up his lips and he mouthed, “Play more for them,” while giving me the thumbs-up.
Oh my gosh! What is with that adorable gesture?! Here I was about to leave the stage, but now I want to play more for Tomoi!
The applause finally ceased when I sat in front of the piano again. Anticipation filled the gym.
After a moment of indecision, I settled on playing “When You Wish Upon a Star”. I had close to zero confidence in my ability to play this piece. It was a song I played by ear, arranging it to match my preferences as a breather between practice pieces. But the melody was a famous one, making it a good fit as an encore piece.
First, I played the basic melody with an unaffected chord progression.
Cries of “I know that song!” rose mostly from the female students.
The loud clamor and chatter instantly settled down as students listened, making my piano the only sound resounding throughout the gymnasium. After playing true to the melody all the way through once, I rearranged the melody and changed it to sound completely different. It didn’t sound too off as long as I stuck to the original song melody and chord progression. I inserted A7 and G7 after the C and D minor part, added grace notes to the melody, and interposed rhythmical rests.
One of the most fun things about jazz music was that it allowed me to add notes and play around however I liked. Key changes could be made to sound very fluid by using a common chord through diatonic common chord modulation.
It was a soft and graceful song that everyone quietly listened to, giving me the opportunity to end my performance on a peaceful note.
In the end, I went way over my allotted performance time.
Is the principal mad? I worried as I exited the stage.
My fears were put at ease when he praised me, saying, “I wish I could knock back a few drinks during your performance, Miss Shimao.”
That was meant to be a compliment, right?
When I returned to class, a hyper Rei jumped on me and bubbled, “Amazing! You’re so amazing!”
My other classmates all called out to me, saying, “It was really good!”
Hearing they enjoyed it filled me with genuine happiness.
It was worth worrying over my song choice. I have to send Kou a thank-you text. The image of him appeasing the rich girl from Seio who lent us the sheet music flashed through my mind, and I slapped my hands together in a grateful prayer for his much-appreciated sacrifice.
Regrettably, our school only won second place during the choral competition, but it still turned out to be a culture festival to remember.
✦ ✦ ✦
♪♪♪
DECEMBER came next. I scored almost all hundreds on my second-quarter finals, holding my place as the top student at school and winning the bet I had with Tomo, Rin, and Majima. Now they had to treat me to a cake set.
We decided to get together when school got out early on Wednesday. Our school forbade students from taking detours on the way home, so we each went home first and met up again at the café in front of the train station. I traded in my school uniform for jeans, a black knitted turtle neck, duffle coat, and scarf. Tomo and Eri went the complete opposite direction from my comfortable look with their adorable dresses. The motivation to dress up sure changed when boyfriends were involved.
“Is it really okay for me to tag along when I wasn’t a part of the bet?” Eri shrunk down uncomfortably in her seat after we sat in the back of the café. She looked searchingly from me to Majima.
“Why wouldn’t it be okay? I’m perfectly okay with you being here. I mean, coming to a place like this with Majima but not you would be outta the question.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” Majima, having matured even more since becoming a middle schooler, gazed affectionately at Eri through his glasses.
“Ehehe. Glad to hear it.” Eri broke into a relieved smile.
S-She’s too cute!
Watching Tomo and Eri made me honestly think I wanted to try out falling in love too. The second the thought crossed my mind, Kou and Sou’s all-too-handsome faces flashed before my eyes.
Uh, no thanks. I don’t need a boyfriend with such high specs. It’s too much for me to handle a love that goes hand in hand with tragic bad ends if I make the wrong move. I’d be happier with a normal love. Falling naturally in love and being fallen naturally in love with, where both sides cherish each other equally is the best… Why does that have to be so out of my reach?
“Okay, let’s get this party started. I can order whatever I want, right, guys?” I flashed a wicked grin, which earned two displeased nods from the boys.
Only Tomo smiled. “I was so confident I would win this time, too.”
“M’kay then, I’ll have the apple pie, chocolate fondant, caramel pudding, and—”
“Y-You can eat that much, Mashiro?” Rin interrupted my order, looking completely put off.
I gave a heavy nod. “Of course I can. I calculated my calorie intake and went on a diet over the last three days just for this day. I passed on breakfast and lunch so I can eat until my stomach explodes!”
“Who the heck prepares so much for cake?!” Rin banged his head on the table and left it there for Tomo to pat him comfortingly.
See, this is why I prepared! The only thing a single girl like me can do when faced with friends in lovey-dovey relationships is pig out on lots and lots of cake! Bring on the cake!