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Chapter 1: The audition
January
Mitsuba was pacing back and forth in the cafeteria. She felt her hands sweat as she kept cracking the joints in her fingers. She clenched her fists before picking up the sheet music she’d placed on the table next to her. Looking at them a few more times before the audition wouldn’t hurt, right?
Practice, Mitsuba thought. I should practice.
She remembered what the staff said when she checked in for her audition: all practice rooms with a piano has a small black diamond on the door. Finding a room should be easy. In theory. But Mitsuba wasn’t the only person trying to find a room to practice in before her audition. She still had about one and a half hour before her set time, and they would call her name in the speakers when she was to go to the stage.
All rooms on the first floor were occupied. Most students wanted to be as close to the stage and cafeteria as possible before their set time, so they all tried to find a room on the first floor. Mitsuba walked past all the locked doors on the first floor before giving up and moving on to the second floor.
The second floor was more quiet and less crowded than the first floor.
Well duh, Mitsuba thought as she rolled her eyes. There’s nothing here but practice rooms.
Despite it looking fairly empty, almost all practice rooms were occupied. After walking through the maze of corridors, she finally found it. The door with the small black diamond was not locked, meaning it was not occupied.
“Yes!” Mitsuba quickly threw up her hand to cover her mouth, hoping that no one heard her little exclamation of joy.
But when she pulled down the handle and opened the door, the room wasn’t empty. Inside was a petite girl, holding her violin in one hand and the bow in the other. Her purple hair was pulled up in a neat hairdo, and her calm brown eyes looked straight at Mitsuba.
“Oh,” the girl reacted. Her eyebrows rose, when Mitsuba opened the door, but her face quickly returned to neutral. “Hello there. Can I help you?”
Mitsuba’s heart was beating quickly, her happy face turning into a frown. The girl in front of her not only decided to not lock the door, but also didn’t even need to use the piano. She was a violinist, of course she didn’t need it.
Mitsuba took a loud and deep breath, before responding. “Yes. I need to use that piano. It is the only one available at the moment.”
The girl glanced at the piano before turning back to Mitsuba and saying, “Okay. Too bad.”
“What the hell do you mean too bad?”
“I am here right now,” the girl said as she shrugged. When she put the violin on her collarbone and started tuning the violin, Mitsuba felt her body temperature rise once again, her fists almost shaking out of anger. She’d never wanted to punch someone in the face so badly as now. But punching someone in the face would hurt her hands, and she needed her hands to be in top shape during the audition. And when you don’t fight with fists, you do it with words.
“Do you think you own this place or what?” Mitsuba pointed out.
The girl opened her mouth to respond with a sassy comment, but stopped herself before mentioning something she shouldn’t. Instead she said, “I was here first. Find another room.”
She’d finished tuning her violin and started playing a violin piece unknown to Mitsuba. In this moment, she couldn’t do anything. She stormed out, slamming the door shut. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down before slowly walking away from the room. The lovely sound from the violin playing was fading, until Mitsuba no longer could hear it.
***
She’d found an empty seat in the cafeteria where she could at least sit down before it was time. Even though she didn’t have a room to practice in, she could still read the sheet music as she listened to the piece while she also practiced the fingering.
Suddenly, all students looked up from whatever they were doing. Through her earphones, Mitsuba could hear her name. It was time for her audition.
There was a quiet gloomy aura in the corridor leading towards the stage. Mitsuba felt as if she could hear everything. Her own footsteps were too loud. A door was shut a few meters behind her. Someone just stood up. Every little sound was amplified, and it annoyed her. She found a bench a few meters away from the metal door leading to the stage.
“Sanguu,” a man in a black suit called out. “Mitsuba Sanguu.”
He was standing next to the metal door, one hand on the door handle and the other holding a list of names.
“Present,” Mitsuba responded as she quickly stood up.
Backstage was as dark as always. The only light available was coming from the stage. Mitsuba could hear the judges talking, criticizing the previous students. The air was heavy to breathe in, and her palms felt sweaty once again.
She places the sheet music she’d been carrying on a wooden table. This was an audition to one of the most prestigious music schools in the country: the Hiiragi Music School. Meaning no sheet music allowed during audition.
Mitsuba was luckier than most students auditioning. Her sister was studying at the best music university in the country after all. She wouldn’t be surprised if she was sitting among the judges, as she was one of the best performing advanced students and had connections to the Hiiragi family. Mitsuba had to perform well, otherwise she would be a shame to the entire Sanguu family.
The person before her walked backstage with a traumatized face. She could see the tears start to ooze out from his eyes. It wasn’t tears of joy. But she knew how horribly the audition could be, especially if one didn’t know anyone from the school.
She was well prepared for the audition. She knew exactly how the test was formed. She had to pick two pieces herself to prepare. Then the judges would give her a piece to play a prima vista*. The final part of the test was to perform a piece that they had chosen a few weeks ago.
Her legs was like jelly when she walked out on the stage. The grand piano was in the center, the lid lifted up to its maximum. She turned to her right to see the judges sitting in the middle of the audience. Among them, she could spot the light hair hand purple eyes, much like her own. Her sister was there.
First came the two pieces she had picked herself: Beethoven’s Sonata no. 8, 3rd movement, and Chopin’s Etude Op. 25 No. 2. Then came the sight reading. It was a more difficult piece than Mitsuba had anticipated, and she did play some parts wrong. The final part was a piece the judges announced a few weeks ago. Erinnerung from Schumann’s “Album for the young”. It wasn’t a difficult piece, but it was not sight reading easy either.
After playing came the judgment. It was usually an indicator of whether or not she would be accepted. Mitsuba wanted to cry right then and there. She wanted to fall down on her knees or take a cold shower just to calm down and to stop her hands from shaking. But there was no judgement.
“Thank you, miss Sanguu,” one of the judges said as he was re-organizing his papers.
Mitsuba was speechless, she didn’t know what to do. She looked at her emotionless sister for answers, but didn’t receive any. So she quickly bowed and power walked backstage. On her way out, she grabbed the sheet music she’d left on the table and walked out through the open door.
***
Early March
“Dear miss Sanguu,
We are pleased to inform you that your audition was well perceived among the judges. We would like to welcome you to Hiiragi Music School and the program for Classical Piano. More information about the start of the academic year can be found on the brochure as well as on the website.
Thank you for choosing Hiiragi Music School, and see you in April.
Best regards,
Hiiragi Music School”
***
April
The cherry trees were blooming, a sign of the start of a new school year. Cherry blossoms were flying along with the light breeze, some getting stuck in Mitsuba’s hair.
In front of her was the entrance to the Hiiragi Music School. This is where she would spend the next three years of her life, hoping to get into a good musical university after. She did just get accepted into the most prestigious musical high schools after all.
Mitsuba pushed the heavy wooden door open ant entered the building. It was crowded with new students trying to find out where to go as well as old ones trying to figure out their new schedules. A few students were comparing their schedules, while others picked up theirs at the information desk.
I guess I should get my schedule, Mitsuba thought.
It wasn’t easy to find the classroom. The building was a maze, and the lack of signs did not help. Eventually, she managed to find it with a few minutes to go. She knew that the classes were small; only two other people had shown up.
“Alright everyone, feel free to take a seat wherever.” A man with messy dark hair and purple eyes entered the room. His tie was too loose and the top of his white shirt was unbuttoned. It was clear that he had just woken up.
The homeroom teacher, Mitsuba assumed.
“I see that you all managed to find this place, meaning you aren’t as stupid as you look. My name is Guren and I am your homeroom teacher. If you have a problem, ask me for help.” He pulled up a white piece of paper from his back pocket and skimmed through the text. “Right. Whatever. Feel free to do whatever you want until your next class.”
He sat down on the chair in the front of the room and put up his feet on the desk. Only a few seconds after he closed his eyes, he also started snoring.
The other two students shrugged and left the room. Mitsuba took a look at her schedule. The first class wasn’t a normal class at all. It was accompaniment, meaning she was going to be assigned another student playing another instrument to accompany. The problem was that the schedule didn’t specify with whom or where the “class” would take place.
“Excuse me, sir,” Mitsuba whispered, and to no surprise, Guren didn’t respond. “Excuse me?”
The teacher opened one eye, and snapped, “What.”
“My first class is accompaniment,” Mitsuba said.
“Name.”
“Mitsuba Sanguu.”
Guren took a deep breath as he realized that his nap had just been ruined. He stood up and walked towards the door as he told her, “Follow me.”
After walking through the maze of corridors, they finally stopped outside a practice room with a small black diamond on the door. It was a practice room with a piano.
“Meet your new music partner,” he said as he opened the door to the room.
Inside was a petite girl with purple hair and brown eyes. She stopped tuning her violin when she noticed Mitsuba.
“Oh, hi there,” she greeted and waved with her bow in her hand.
“You,” Mitsuba snarled.