Basically we have Kei participating in a competition in Japan to meet JJ Serrault(world famous composer)- an old friend of Ajino's. The goal was to have JJ write a reccomendation letter for Kei to participate a world piano competition in Poland and of course to have Kei show his mad skillz. This actually surprised Shuhei's dad because he went to see JJ about whether Shuhei should apply for the competition. Shuhei was surprised as well because he though Kei might do it in 5 years but not next year (when the competition is). So Shuhei decides to compete as well and we fast forward to preliminaries next year with ~300 contestants.
So we see many pianists from different worlds there and Kei almost failed the preliminaries because of nervousness but was saved by Shuhei's coughing. Kei also met Lech who is seen as a weak person who got sick easily and had to push his playing time (kei's first guess was Lech's faking it...). While others stayed in hotel/mansions Kei made home in a bar in poland during the competition - the bar owner is a friend of JJ. The competition begins and throughout the competition the theme is "poland" so music selection more "polish" and there's also emphasize on "feeling like polish" in some scores. So we go to first round where some "important chars" were shown playing like Sophie (french model), shuhei, WeiPong(chinese who idolizes Ajino and is seen as a "copu" of him), Lech(polish), carl(polish), korean brothers (provides some comedic relief) and Kei who had the most face time. Then the judges score - basically there are 19 judges with 8 from Poland and the score is by a "yes/no" tally then if there's a tie there will be points tally. A "yes" grade will give at least 70 points. There is one judge who gave Kei a "no" because he sees Kei as a threat to Lech - the only polish Pianist after carl is out of competition. We get down from 80 to 30 after the first stage with carl not getting in and we proceed to 2nd stage.
second stage is going from 30 cut to 12. Kei and Lech has become closer friends - lech also loves nature and showed kei around the park areas... Screentime given to WeiPong who plays while reminiscing his background where he was a homeless kid and bullied but he had a knack for piano and some old guy "bought" him and made him play the piano and beating him when he wasn't playing well. Then we have Shuhei and Lech play in vol 18 (not scanned on the site...). But Lech seems to be the crowd/judges favorite after he finished playing in vol 19. Shuhei's dad basically thought to himself that either WeiPong or Lech will win out. Kei comes after Lech which is seen at a huge disadvantage because people were still riled up after Lech's performance (same day). Kei blows the audience and judges away and one judge thought to himself how Kei showed the emotion of the Polish in his music and not even japanese pianists who studied in poland can display that skill. So Kei finishes and the "evil" judge gave him a No again and a lady judge saw him doing it. Some other folks play then we get to the judges room scoring.
Basically there are 8 who got perfect 19 yeses with 8th 18, 9th 17, 10th 16th and 4 14s. So the dillema is the 4 14s and we get to see the points comparison - and Shuhei is in the 4 who are tied. Then the judges discuss what they should do about it with some back and forth about points etc. Then the evil judge asks how many japanese pianist there are and there are 3 and then he said they should get rid of one of them but the head judge said they should judge on skills not nationality. Late the evil judge said that he assumes Kei to be 8-10th since he gave him a NO and they should disqualify him and let Shuhei stay. He said because of Kei's unorthodox playing style he should be disqualified (recall 1st competition?) and also Kei doesnt have the prestige Shuhei has and he didn't even go to any piano competitions(i guess well known). The evil judge said that to try to rile up the other 7 polish judges to agree with him so he can get rid of Kei who he sees is the obstacle to Lech. ANyway the head judge said the competition committee has abolished the old rules 5 years ago on competition restrictions etc. and Kei is the first one since then who made into 2nd rd and the judges here are to pick the best pianist not who's from what prestigous family etc. So they go onto further deliberation.
So we reach the results - pretty much the people with face time all got in with Shuhei out of competition. His dad was trying to ask the judge who is also Shuhei's instructor how Shuhei didnt get in etc. and he was also annoyed the judge didn't apologize etc. Shuhei makes a quick exit out of the building... And here we come to the part where i think will be Kei's downfall in the 3rd (final?) round. Kei went to congratulate Lech but he wasn't sure if he got in because he heard the last 3 names (he did) and Lech said congratulations but thinking to himself (it is unfortunate kei got through...) then they see Shuhei walking out and Lech suggested Kei to "congratulate" Shuhei. Kei didn't know better so went to face Shuhei with a smiling face and Shuhei got pissed at kei and Kei was like "huh" and Shuhei went back to his hotel crying.
So i guess Lech is really decious afterall - he is seen as a "weakling" in the beginning to go under the radar by faking illness and then comes to the main competition strong. But i am still not sure if he is really "evil" though...
I think there are 2 ways to end this competiton - Kei loses next rd because of emotional conflicts (his new friend Lech betraying him and shuhei pissed at him). Second end which i think prob will happen is Kei, Weipong and Lech get into the finals and the evil judge screws Kei over again and Lech wins it all with "honorable mention" of Kei. I think Kei winning his first world competition is a bit too much of a growth spurt no?
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Originally Posted by baboysai
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Thanks for the assurance that you're not dropping it! 
~igotthegoods
