Reincarnated Into Anime World

From what I and everybody else have heard, my piece could be considered one of the shorter pieces, lasting about three minutes and fifteen seconds.

However, it was indeed one of my better pieces yet. I might be on a grandmaster level and love playing the piano, but playing classical pieces all day long just bores me, especially in competitions, where there are so many rules and instructions to follow. Otherwise, we would have gotten disqualified from the get-go for not playing the classical pieces the "correct way".

This party was a chance to finally let loose after a long period of practicing just classical pieces. There were no other rules apart from "entertaining the guests", and that? I can do perfectly well.

Hell, if needed, I could even construct an entire script to go along with my piece to make it even more entertaining. But for now, let's just kick back, relax, and play.

But even if my attitude was pretty laid-back, it didn't mean that I wasn't focusing. It might be an improvised piece, but I didn't make it any easier for myself to play..

After all, I needed to impress and entertain the guests, and to do that, I needed to make it harder and much more interesting than the original.

It was a short performance, but it was an excellent performance. How did I come to that conclusion?

The applause for my performance was more than just perfunctory politeness. I could see the genuine interest and happiness in everyone's eyes.

After my piece, I stood up and bowed slightly once more before leaving the stage. The following person to perform came up, and the performance continued.

After my play, my job was over. With the five minutes or so break in between each player, dinner was already long over. The party was almost at its end. As soon as Akira gives his final speech, the party was officially finished.

"Good job, Uesugi. You played an amazing piece." Maruno came up to me with a glass of red wine and spoke.

I didn't care much about the alcohol he was drinking. He might as well be drinking plain water with that low alcohol content compared to his usual drink.

"Thanks, you played well too."

"Was that an original piece?"

"Yeah, I've tried experimenting during the morning and yesterday. This is a party, after all. Why play somber music at a birthday party?"

"You make a lot of sense!" Maruno laughed as he continued chugging down the red wine without grace nor etiquette, "Luckily, I played some fun song as well. Otherwise, the mood of this party would be destroyed."

You might think Maruno was just exaggerating, but the mood of the music often dictates the party's mood. In fact, before I played, one person actually played such a sad and slow song that I felt like I would cry.

I mean, it was good and all, but it certainly wasn't suitable for a party. Maybe a funeral or some depression gathering would be more suited.

Anyway! The last nine players slowly reduced in number as they went up the platform and performed their piece.

Now, I'm no expert on how a formal birthday party usually ends, but I'm pretty sure that they don't include getting so drunk that passing out became a normal thing to witness.

By the time everyone was done, I could see the sight of the top people in the world being drunk and passed out, with all their servants carrying their masters to the car to bring them home.

"Good job, everyone." Kachi Shirokusa praised, though her facial expression was as blank as ever, "Now, your results would be announced in at most two days later. So, for the time being, all of you can go back to rooms now. All of you will have free time until we call all of you down."

"Hey, hey! Hold on! What results are you talking about?" A man spoke up with a confused expression just as Kachi Shirokusa was about to walk away.

She titled her head, and it would have looked much cuter and soul-stealing if not for her blank expression, and asked, "What other results are there apart from the international stage of The International Ettore Pozzoli Piano Competition? That is what all of you are here for, right? You have just finished your first round. Depending on the numbers who passed, there might be a second and third round."

"EHHHHH?"

∞

Yep, so! Anyway, that was what happened last night after the party. Kachi Shirokusa just dropped a massive, gigantic bomb on top of our heads and walked away.

While her face might not reveal any expression, I could feel that she was having fun toying with our poor, delicate feelings.

So, apparently, this party was meant to be something of an "orientation" for the international stage, and the judges were the ones posing as the guests, pretending to be some wealthy businessmen when they were just rich judges.

And the primary judge of Akira himself. That explains why he chose to sit near the piano throughout the whole party while people flocked towards his table.

Now I'm really just sweating in my boots. I randomly improvised the classical piece by myself and performed it, and it was for the freaking competition?!

Well...I'm so screwed.

"You're so screwed."

"Don't go around reading my mind like that!" Still saddened by the fact that I'm so screwed, I listlessly spoke to Maruno beside me.

"I also heard. But it was just an unfortunate incident. The guest enjoyed your performance plenty; maybe that would help with the evaluation?" Suzuki added on the phone.

We were currently in my room, and Maruno just brought another bottle of pure alcohol and started drinking.

"I can only hope so." I lamented, "Sigh...at least Maruno didn't try to improvise by himself. You can probably enter the next round."

"Perhaps, but it wouldn't be certain until the results come out for sure." Suzuki's voice rang, "Cheer up, will you? It isn't like you to be so depressed."

Come to think of it, this was probably the second time I was so sad, with the first time at my mother's bedside watching her die. I really have a lot of happy moments, don't I?

"Well, you're right. I'm going to take a walk around, clear my head a bit."

"Alright, cheer up."

"Whenever you're bored, just return here. I'll be here drinking till lunch."

First off, this was my room. Second, how lonely can you be if you're drinking by yourself until lunch?

But I didn't retort to Maruno's statement and just waved goodbye.

"I'll talk to you later, Suzuki-san. Goodbye."

"Okay, goodbye."

Hanging up the call, I proceeded to walk out to the familiar corridor.

∞

I had no destination in mind, only aimlessly wandering while trying to cheer myself up. If I fail at this stage, I won't be getting any money, making the whole point of this trip useless.

Sigh...

I walked out of...well, I don't really know how to describe the building I was in. It was a mix between a dormitory and a hotel, so I guess a high-class dormitory?

Regardless, it contained many facilities I already mentioned in the last chapter, so I'll leave it at that.

But what I didn't mention was that it also contained a garden. But it was pretty underwhelming. Almost no one was present since most of the others were at the pool. But since I had forgotten to bring my swimwear, and I'm not going to buy a brand new one just to have a dip, I wouldn't have the chance to get into the water.

The garden was about five as big as my house (in terms of floor area available), ensuring that the guests who arrive know about the richness present here.

But it really is too hot here...urgh, and I don't really want to spend any more time outside.

Entering the air-conditioned high-class dormitory, I made my way to the piano room. And in case you were wondering, yes. The entire dormitory is air-conditioned. That's why I said it was similar to a hotel.

Practicing the piano has been a stress-relief activity for me for quite some time. Probably because I can slam and smash the keys if I ever feel unpleasant, and it would still produce a beautiful melody.

It's an instinct for me; unless I really put my mind into producing horrible-sounding music, I would always unconsciously play something nice. It might be a piece I have played before or just a piece of random music that popped up in my head, but I would always play excellent music regardless of it.

And I'm really proud of it. It allows me to produce "background music" while chatting with and teaching Shouko and Kaori in school. It is not only comfortable and relaxing, but it also allows both my piano and teaching proficiencies to go up together.

Hitting three birds with one stone, how efficient!

Anyway, as I walked towards the piano room, I realized that I wasn't the only one who had the idea of practicing. I could hear music coming out from one of the rooms, albeit softly, and so naturally, I walked towards it.

It was weird to hear it as I know that the song was supposed to be happy, but the music played was sad. It was almost too depressing to listen, and my steps unconsciously sped up.

"Hm?" A look of surprise flashed on my face as I opened the door where the music was from, "It's you?"

In there was the last person that I had expected to see or play this sad song. The girl, who was just as surprised as I was, stopped playing the piano as her head lifted to face me.

"Uesugi-kun, am I right?"

"Yes, Fujiwara-san. That's my name."

The conversation stopped here as silence pervaded the air.

"Your music was nice."

"Excuse me?"

"At the party." Fujiwara clarified her words, "Your self-modified Beethoven Virus was inspiring. I'm now more interested in playing the piano than ever!"

Seeing Fujiwara smile brightly, one of my eyebrows lifted as I spoke, "Thank you. May I come in?"

"Sure!"

Entering the standard piano room, consisting of one piano and a few chairs by the side, I walked towards the chair and sat on it, looking at Fujiwara just sitting there staring at me.

"Your song is sad."

"Yes?" Fujiwara's confused expression appeared, and I continued my words, "I know all about you before this competition even started. Fujiwara Chika, the politician's daughter, niece of the minister of the right, and a diplomat as your mother. The genius girl who swept every competition she ever attended left and right, winning trophies after trophies."

"What are you trying to say?"

"I just want to say, we're similar. But we're also different. May I?" Pointing to the piano, I asked.

Chika nodded and left the seat, which I promptly occupied and started playing.

"You were just practicing Symphony no. 5, right? It is a minor key song, but the way you played it...it's way too sad."

"Why I say we're similar, it's because I'm dubbed the same title as you - a genius who can play the piano very well." I started playing the same thing Chika did, with the same exact sadness that she radiated while practicing.

I played that for about 1 minute before I raised my head to face her while I transitioned into different-sounding music, "But why I said we were also different..."

It was the same piece, but it was a lot happier.

[A/N: Search for "5 super sad songs turned happy" by Toms Mucenieks, 2:55]

"So you can turn songs in minor keys to major keys. I can do that too, so what are you trying to say?"

[A/N: Twosetviolin was reacting (roasting) to a movie and said this too.]

"You still don't get it, do you?" I smiled as I finished playing the "Funphony", dubbed and titled by yours truly, "It's not just about the piano and practice."

"It's about your attitude. And more than that," I pointed two index fingers to my face and turned my smile into a huge grin, "It's about your smile~."

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

A/N: Kaori's date has been written! Yay! You guys can look forward to it lol. I predict that this novel would end at about 300 chapters, give or take 50 chapters. (not including the alternate timeline). It isn't very long, but I think it should be somewhere there. But again, this all might be subjected to changes, so we'll let nature take its course.

I have updated the synopsis. Because the tags system got (unnecessarily) changed, I have placed the tags inside instead. For more details and tags about the novel and its future route, please check it out.

For as long as there is 10 active patrons, I'll post two chapters per week instead of one.

For highschool dxd fanfics, you can also go to *******~.