Chapter 27
“Principal… is this some kind of special performance?” asked the visiting principal from the exchange program.
“Nooo, I haven’t heard anything about that…” answered our school’s principal, sounding confused.
“But… that’s strange. What’s with that piano? Is it an electric piano?”
“Hmm, yes. But it seems one of the girls was playing it…” Our principal looked around, hoping someone would offer an explanation.
Overhearing their conversation, the music department head from the exchange school told the principals, “I was also somehow drawn in and don’t really understand what happened, but it seems that was Class 3’s chorus performance…”
The visiting principal looked slightly flustered… “So, it wasn’t a special performance? Then, what about that piano?”
“It appears not.”
“Teacher, my apologies. Unforgivably, I wasn’t really listening. About how many points should we give it?”
“I’m also troubled… I don’t think there were any mistakes, but…” Such a conversation was taking place at the judges’ table.
As Reiko hurried to the stage wing, she found Manami already away from the piano, waiting for her. Manami then held out her palm towards Reiko. Reiko lightly slapped it with her own.
“We did it…”
Manami whispered, gazing into Reiko’s eyes.
“……”
Reiko was speechless.
But Manami understood Reiko’s feelings perfectly.
As Manami followed Reiko out from the wing, a girl from their class, tears in her eyes, ran up to Manami.
“Ami, that was mean! Changing the song all of a sudden…”
“Ahh, sorry. Last night during practice, I suddenly felt like playing ‘Friendship Hymn’…”
“No—it was good! When I heard that on stage, I started crying, and it was so hard to hold back the tears…”
“Me too…”
Other girls from the class who were nearby also gathered around Manami.
“Sorry, sorry…”
“It’s fine—I know, I understand…”
The girls also had no further words.
Watching this, Reiko felt tears welling up for a different reason than theirs.
“I have to thank Masami. Wait, where is Masami…?”
Reiko noticed that Masami, who would usually be the first to come running, wasn’t there and looked around.
Then she saw Masami coming slowly from the back of the class, supported by several girls, rubbing her eyes.
“Masami, what are you doing?!”
Even before Reiko called out, Masami was a crying mess.
Since Masami couldn’t speak through her sobs, one of the girls supporting her said…
“She was crouched down by the stairs earlier and couldn’t move, so we brought her here by force.”
“I couldn’t help it! I suddenly lost all my strength…” Masami said, still crying, as she tried to shake off the supporting girls’ hands and walk on her own.
But, thrown off balance by the effort, she stumbled, clung to Reiko, and crumpled down again.
“Masami…”
Reiko pulled Masami into a firm hug.
“Rei… It was good. It was the best!”
Saying this, Masami started crying again, tears streaming down.
“Masami, it’s thanks to you. Thank you…”
“No, no, I didn’t do anything…”
“That’s not true. Without your plan, today’s chorus wouldn’t have happened. It’s because you worked hard to unite the class that we made it this far!”
“No, it wasn’t me. It’s thanks to everyone… thanks to everyone…”
“You’re right, Masami, it was everyone’s strength!”
Masami choked up and cried again.
Seeing this, the two girls from before took hold of Masami’s sides again.
“Masami, alright—we get it, we need to get back to our seats soon…”
“Masami, pull yourself together!”
Reiko took the place of one girl and supported Masami on one side.
Finally, after all classes had finished their choruses, the first-year music teacher who was MCing gave overall comments, and it was time for the results.
“Now, first, the runner-up is… Class 1…”
“Next, the winning class is… Class 3!”
The moment it was announced, a scream from Class 3 echoed through the hall.
Most students stood up, patting the shoulders of those next to them; some even hugged each other, which was quite out of character.
In the midst of this, Masami, unable to stand from her chair, broke down crying again.
Only Reiko and Manami looked bewildered by the sheer intensity of their class’s joy.
“Quiet!”
The teacher MCing immediately called for order.
“Quiet…”
Reiko also hurriedly raised her voice to calm the class.
Then, representing the judges, our school’s third-year music teacher gave overall comments and an explanation of the results.
“All classes showed ingenuity and performed very well. Among them, the winning class had excellent arrangement and composition, which I think slightly surpassed the other classes. Regarding the chorus itself, there was almost no difference between the classes, and it’s clear everyone practiced hard. It was a truly wonderful chorus from all of you. You all worked very hard…”
Manami was dissatisfied with this comment.
“That’s not right. Our class was far ahead. The other classes were just singing, weren’t they? The quality of our chorus was different!” Manami whispered into Reiko’s ear.
“It’s fine. At this level, passing just means your voices reached the judges’ table!”
“Eh? It’s that simple…”
Despite having practiced so hard, Manami was disappointed by the overly simplistic evaluation.
Then, it was time for the award ceremony.
“Class Rep, go up as our representative!”
Reiko called for Masami.
“Rei, Masami can’t. She’s crying…”
“Good grief. Someone else go instead!”
Reiko looked around.
“Rei, you’re the conductor, so you go!” a boy called from the back.
“Rei, you should go…” Manami also encouraged her.
“Good grief…”
Reiko reluctantly went up on stage.
During the award presentation, the principal spoke to Reiko.
“That student who played the piano in your class… is she someone special?”
“Principal, you have no idea. She’s not just special—she’s the best pianist in the world!”
When Reiko said this, the principal beamed, looking utterly delighted.
