With a confirmation nod, Liz started playing while I was with her. I've never been a person who accompanied a lot of classical music. I just knew the classics and some of the most famous songs, so giving a layman's opinion, this song we were playing wasn't bad.

I couldn't tell if it was a hard and hard song, I was just playing the score while feeling like I was in Guitar Hero. It was like I was used to playing the songs in the medium difficulty until last week, and this week I finally decided to venture into songs of the difficult difficulty. I could play, but I didn't play all the notes in perfect as I played the songs in the medium difficulty.

I underestimated 50 points of piano mastery. Since in CS, when I was 50 points high I had been stuck in the platinum ranking, I thought that on the piano I wouldn't be so good. But now while playing I started to pay attention, people in the platinum ranking are part of 20% of the people with the highest ranking on the server. If I'm among the 20% on the piano with 50 points too, it'll be very good.

Liz, on the other hand, was playing very well, I didn't know much about the cello, but listening to her play along with my piano was soft. Our timing really impressed me.

And it looks like it didn't just impress me, I realized when I looked quickly at the judges.

"This girl played the song very well, not to mention that such a beautiful appearance gave her a great stage presence. Did you see that this was the only performance that the whole audience was silent and didn't talk about while the musicians were playing?" One of the judges commented when we finished presenting.

"Yeah, I figured that out, too. During the other performances there were always people talking in the audience, but when these two started playing everyone was captivated by the atmosphere." Said an older judge.

"But there was something that intrigued me..." Said a man with a big beard.

"What is it, Victor?" The older judge asked.

"This escort of hers. We cannot deny that his presence was decisive. From what we've seen, he's no older than 20 and he already plays the piano so well. Why wasn't he taking part in the piano competition earlier? Gary will be enraged when he hears about this boy." Said the man named Victor.

"You're right, just like the Elizabeth girl, he also has a very dominant stage presence. And for a young boy like him to play the piano so well, winning a regional competition wouldn't be a challenge." Said the old lady.

"These two together have a very good synergy. Did you realize that the pianist was always worried about not superimposing himself on the cellist? Sometimes when she made a mistake and I thought the escort would overpower her, he would always find a way to lower the tone of his ringtone so that the girl's mistake wouldn't be noticed by the audience." Said the bearded man.

"Yes. Ever since these two went on stage together, the competition was already destined to become unfair to others. I think the outcome of this regional competition will be unanimous, right?" Victor asked.

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

"Okay, I can see in your old eyes that you want to get in touch with this kid as much as I do. I'll try to find out about him and when the next stage is over, we'll be able to make our move, how's that?" Victor suggested.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Listening to his suggestion, the other two judges agreed with the head happy with the result.

...

"Uff, that was very tiring!" I sighed as I took off my jacket before I even entered the dressing room due to the heat it was making.

Liz didn't even complain about anything and asked me directly. "Why didn't you tell me you played so well? I was worried sick!"

When I heard what she said I didn't know what to say, after all I didn't even know I could play well myself. Only apparently, I played better than I was imagining. "I don't know, I guess I didn't play that well. I missed the time of at least 8 notes."

When Liz heard what I said, she breathed a long sigh. "Did you miss the eight-note time?!? The music was over 200 notes... Talking to you is exhausting... I'm tired of wasting my neurons." She said as she sat down.

Listening to what she said I was even more surprised by the 50 piano points. Looks like I'd underestimated that again. Apparently the scoring parameter for each skill is not proportionally the same from one skill to another.

"Well, do you think you're going to pass the stage?" I asked as I took my shirt off my tuxedo and wore my own.

Liz got a little lost in her thoughts as she looked at my 6-pack that showed up for a few seconds before I put on the other shirt and replied. "I have no doubt about that, but change that sentence, it wasn't I who went through, it was us who went through. You are officially hired to replace Jeff from now on and help me get the national award." She answered with a serious look.

"Ohh, sounds like fun. But if I'm hired, what will my pay be?" I asked with an inquisitive look.

"Being in my presence isn't more than enough?" She looked at me with a challenging look.

I stared seriously until we both started to laugh and I answered. "Of course, milady. Just breathing the same oxygen that passed through your mouth is more than an honor for me."

When she heard what I said she got lost in words and just shook her head in denial.

"Anyway, we have to celebrate!" I said cheerfully.

"True! Do you know what time it is?" She asked as she got up excited.

"Pizza time!" x2

After Liz returned the tuxedo to the lender I took her cello and we started to walk towards the car. On the way three elderly people waved at us and I politely waved back with a smile and continued walking, when I looked to the side, Liz was in shock with a smile on her face. "What is it?" I asked.

"What is it? Didn't you see who those were?" She asked cheerfully.

"A trio of old friends?" I said what I thought they were.

"A trio of old friends?! They were the judges! Three of the most renowned composers and conductors of classical music in our country... and they waved at us!"! Liz started jumping with happiness while walking.

I didn't care much, since I wasn't the person who was competing, but I was happy for Liz, it seems they recognized her talent!

After we saved everything, Liz was so excited that she connected her cell phone to the car radio and put some pop songs to sing while we went to buy some pizzas.

I saw that the songs they were playing were pretty dull. Looks like something was missing... something was missing! I guess that's what Liz's dad wanted to say with very commercial music and no passion.

We got home while I was carrying the cello and she was carrying the pizza boxes.

"Looks like somebody did good on the presentation, huh?" Her mother commented when she saw our expression of happiness and the pizzas.

"Yeah, Mom, you had to see, Jeff hurt his hand and couldn't go, when I didn't think I'd be able to perform Zy anymore, he told me he played the piano, and you don't know how well he plays! The judges even waved at us when we were leaving." Liz said with a smile as she put the pizzas on the table.

"Wow, it seems that besides being beautiful, having good musical taste, being humble, our neighbor also plays the piano. Is there something you don't do, boy?" Her father showed up with a smile as he passed his arms over my shoulder.

Before I could answer, I saw a figure that looked like a zombie coming down the stairs towards us.

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Note: 4 advanced chapters at the moment I am posting this chapter and I intend to reach the 28 advanced ones by next weekend!