#1 - Everyone

Chapter #1

Yamazaki Yuuichi stood up from his chair, exhaling in relief before turning to face his judges. Bowing, he swiftly left the hauntingly quiet concert hall. I did it, he told himself mentally in the backstage, gripping his black suit with overly sweaty hands. I hope I didn't stain the piano with my sweat. 

There were still other pianists who had yet to take their turn. They were either sticking their heads onto the wall, hugging their knees or staring intently at their music score. Of course they would act like that, it's the annual piano competition after all. A distinguished one, at that. Everyone would be tensed up, internally breaking down with pressure.

But all that didn't seem to matter anymore to Yuuichi. He had already completed his piece flawlessly, all according to the score. As he stepped lightly out of the concert hall's lobby, he held his head high, taking in the fresh air outside, smiling slightly. 

He was certain he could clinch the grand prize.

Yet, I don't feel satisfied. I need to achieve even more.

*****
Shizuha Rinichi finally dropped her 2B pencil after an hour of sketching. She turned her right hand to the right. As expected, black stains of the pencil's graphite were stuck onto the left side of her right hand. Quickly, she ran to her sink and washed it clean. Then she came back, sat down on a comfortable sofa, took her artwork and admired for a few minutes the pencil strokes, the tone, light and shadow... It was an artwork of a structure made out of stationery due to her boredom.

After that, she ran to Tranquil Cafe, which Yuuichi's family has owned ever since she could remember. She opened the door and a tiny bell tinkled.

"Ah, Rin-chan!" Mrs. Yamazaki called out, in the process of putting her newly-baked chocolate cake into the showcasing tray. Despite being a mother, with sufficient makeup and proper clothing, she appeared to be always young and lovely. Today, she tied her hair into a side ponytail. Usually her hair would be let down.

"Hello," Rinichi greeted, bowing politely. "Your hair looks great! Oh yeah, I just completed an artwork! Would you like to see it?" She asked, showing her artwork to Mrs. Yamazaki.

"Oh, sure! I always love seeing budding artists' works!" Mrs. Yamazaki chirped with a smile, untying her apron and quickly taking Rinichi's artwork for a quick look. Then, her eyes widened slightly, her mouth slowly opening. It could be better with more experience, but it was realistic enough for her to be surprised. "Rin-chan, how did you draw this?!"

"I..." Rinichi looked at her hands, almost like they were magical. "I don't know. I just did it?"

Mrs. Yamazaki froze for a while.

"...I have an idea." She observed Rinichi carefully.

*****
Toragi Kagari stared at her violin case as she laid down on her bed, both hands behind her head. It's been a year since she had participated in a violin competition. Closing her eyes, she imagined herself in a long, black, elegant dress, standing in heels on the stage, resting her violin under her chin and in her fingers was her bow. Then within her imagination, she imagined that the audience---instead of her judges, it would be Sekiya sitting there, smiling at her. She smiled. As she proceeded to move the bow to the violin's strings, a voice interrupted her train of thoughts.

" 'Gari-neechan! Mom says she's signing you up for a violin competition," Kagame, her little sister, burst the door open and announced.

"Stop calling me that! And don't come in without knocking!" scolded Kagari, facepalming. "Tell Mom that I don't want to enter any competitions!"

"... She will cut all your meals' amount by half..."

"..." Kagari wasn't budging. 

"...no, 90%, she said this time." Kagame chuckled evilly.

"...Okay, FINE."

*****
Kamika Sekiya pushed two fingers gently at the side of his sculpture, creating a shallow indent. He was in school, working hard to finish his holiday assignment, along with some other schoolmates. Then he spun the blue, clay-dirty spinning platform---it was similar to the spinning wheel used in pottery, just that this one was smaller and you needed to spin it by hand. His sculpture was cylindrical-like, and at the top was a hand-like, abstract-ish design.

"Working hard, huh," Takayama-sensei, the art teacher at his school, commented, looking at his sculpture. "Keep it up," he then walked away, monitoring other students.

Sekiya nodded. He looked at his hands, almost fully covered in dry clay. Smiling, he took a break for a while and admired his sculpture. 

"Hahaha..." Some random schoolmate walked past the art room. "Those lousy art students won't accomplish anything..."

Sekiya's ears picked it up, and so did others who were sculpting. They frowned bitterly at the guy's words, nevertheless, continued working. Takayama-sensei assured everyone that they weren't "lousy" and would someday accomplish something.

Then again, Sekiya couldn't stand this anymore. He had bottled all the anger inside him since the start of middle school, and now it was almost full. Normal stream students despised Arts stream students, simply because being in the Arts was seen as "weak", "unable to achieve anything in life" and other hateful comments. The teachers did their best, yet, without the principal's actual support, all of their efforts would be in vain.

He realised that he needed to change this situation for him and for everyone. How would he do that? Which students had the most power in the school?

Entering the student council might help persuade the comittee that we aren't weak. We can definitely achieve something!

~End of Chapter #1~