Of Cats and Crows (Sugawara Koushi)

Pressure

Dr. Ito decided to do a professor swap for one masterclass. He took in Dr. Tanaguchi's students, his wife took him, and Dr. Tanaguchi switched with his wife. The purpose of this was so that everyone could get some different feedback on their work. It had been a while since he had done one of these.

Mitsumi, Mei, and Hironori stood outside of Dr. Ito's office door. They were silently staring each other down. None of them wanted to knock. For the three of them, this was the last way they wanted to die. Hironori refused to knock just because he was 'too close to graduation to die.' A viable excuse, but not good enough.

The door suddenly swung open. The looming awkward figure was a bit startled to see his students there. "I was just about to see if you all were upstairs. Come have a seat."

He had set up a few chairs to surround the grand piano. Everyone took a seat silently and handed what they would be playing to their professor. Dr. Ito quickly took attendance and cleared his throat. "Congratulations, Hironori." He said in relation to the competition. "Mei and Mitsumi, your performances were well done as well. Who is going first?"

Everyone gave a polite smile and nodded. Mitsumi raised her hand and stood up. It was better to rip the band-aid off quickly. "I will! I'll be playing Beethoven's Appassionata." She announced and took a seat on the bench. It took some effort to hold back her incoming yawn.

Mitsumi cracked her knuckles before jumping right into the piece. She decided to drown out what she sounded like. She knew she could never satisfy the head professor. So, she was going to drown out his comments too. She had gotten good sleep the night before. But because she had cried her eyes out, she was still exhausted.

Her playing was riddled with mistakes and missed notes. Mitsumi's subconscious was aware of that and was already tearing her apart. Once the piece was over, she sighed heavily.

"Are you using this for the recital?" Dr. Ito questioned as he glanced up from the score.

Mitsumi slowly nodded, "I am planning on it. There's a lot of cleaning up to do."

Hironori opened his eyes. He had a habit of listening with his eyes closed. "I enjoy the direction you are taking this sonata. The flow didn't break, even with the missed notes."

"Once the loose ends are tied up, I'm sure this will be a wonderful piece." Mei gave an encouraging thumbs-up. They were all holding each other up right now.

The professor sighed, "One thing I highly suggest is that you stop playing with your wrists and that you play with your whole arm." Well, that critique wasn't harsh at all. Mitsumi's ear perked up at the sound of that. "You will have more power in those large chords and more control over your hands."

"I will make sure to do that." Mitsumi returned to her seat completely stunned as she clutched onto her music. This was the first time his comments hadn't felt degrading. But, the emotion was short-lived and she pushed it aside. It was one time out of many.

Mitsumi always had high praise for her classmates. She always gave a detailed synopsis of what she enjoyed and what would make it better. Giving compliments was much easier than receiving them.

It was now a bright Thursday afternoon. Mei and Hironori were relieved that the masterclass had gone way better than anyone had imagined.

"What are you guys doing right now?" Hironori ran a hand through his hair.

"I was going to find some lunch before going to Ajinomoto." Mitsumi yawned, "And some caffeine."

Mei chuckled, "Of course you are. I am headed to the deli by the train station if anyone wants to get some yummy orange chicken with me." She licked her lips at the thought of her favorite food. It had been a while since she had gone to the deli at the supermarket for a plate lunch.