During lunch break, Kurosawa Hikaru and Miyazaki Yuta came to the central cafeteria.
However, this time they chose a more secluded and quiet place to sit down as usual.
"By the way, I heard that Zero Hour will be performing at the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan tonight. Are you going to see it?" Yuta Miyazaki asked while eating when he vaguely heard everyone's conversation.
"No, I have an exam tomorrow and I have to prepare for it. How can I have time to watch a show?"
Kurosawa Mitsuru shook his head, knowing that he wanted to drag him along, and just said it directly.
"Although that's the case, going to watch a performance and relaxing your body and mind is also one of the ways to prepare for the exam."
Miyazaki Yuta disagrees with this.
"Why do you want to see it so much?" From his tone and attitude, Kurosawa Mitsuru felt that he was determined to go, and couldn't help feeling curious.
"Have you paid attention to the events of Zero Hour since then?"
"No, I just watched the video that day." Kurosawa Mitsuru shook his head.
He was extremely busy last week, with all kinds of things happening, and had no time to pay attention to anything happening online.
"Tsk tsk, it's such a shame that you didn't pay attention, especially these past two days, there was a huge quarrel online about the Zero Hour incident."
Realizing that he wasn't paying attention, Miyazaki Yuta couldn't help but feel sorry for him.
"Fighting? What are they fighting about?" Kurosawa Mitsuru asked while eating.
Seeing that he was willing to listen, Miyazaki Yuta thought about it for a while, considered his words, and explained them to him:
“Didn’t Zero Hour become famous overnight with that war-torn song, Croatian Rhapsody
As for Zero Hour, after his video went viral, the group was divided into two factions, which you can understand as supporters and opponents.
The supporters, that is, Zero Hour's fans, all think that his piano skills are extremely high and the piano music he plays is superb, and some even tout him as the No. 1 pianist in Japan.
The opposition, that is, people who learn piano, pianists, and musicians, think that Ling Shi's piano level is just so-so, and that the "Croatian Rhapsody" he composed is too simple, and the difficulty of playing it is at most the eighth level of piano, which can be played by elementary school students.
The conflict between these two factions began after the video became popular.
And just the day before yesterday, which was Saturday afternoon, at midnight, he suddenly announced on his Twitter and YouTube accounts that he would be the special guest closing performance at the performance stage of the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, which is the final of the Kawai Piano Music Competition, Neon Division Youth Group.
As soon as this incident came out, the Internet exploded.
Supporters, including fans, youtubers, and internet celebrities, all forwarded the message to show their support after seeing it, and expressed their desire to go to the scene. They were very enthusiastic.
After all, their favorite YouTubers and idols will be making their debut so soon, and on such a big stage, so they are all very happy.
However, those on the opposition side were so furious about this incident that they started cursing and criticizing.
Because the Asian Piano Competition is of high quality, it always adheres to standardization, high-endness and professionalism, focuses on creating an international and diversified world event, and is committed to creating a model for Asian piano competitions.
Although it is not the Asian finals, but only the youth group finals of the Neon Division, the organizers have invited well-known pianists from all over the world to serve as judges, making it a very professional stage.
Moreover, this competition has always used various professional classic pieces to determine the rankings.
On such a stage, Lingshi, a piano performer who became famous overnight, had little experience or background, and whose real appearance was unknown, and was famous for his pop piano, was invited to close the show as a special guest.
Therefore, the opposition was very angry and began to question whether the organizers were crazy. They even began to question the value of the competition. Some people threatened that if the decision was not revoked, they would not participate in the competition or serve as judges.
And guess what? When the Zero Hour supporters saw them like this, they got angry and started swearing at them.
This speech is very long, but Miyazaki Yuta was very excited when he spoke. He was so happy surfing the Internet these days.
"Is it so noisy?"
After listening to this long speech, Kurosawa Mitsuru couldn't help but be a little surprised.
Although he had known from Miss Runa that many people on the Internet were dissatisfied with him, he did not expect the topic and controversy behind this matter to be so intense.
"Tonight's performance will definitely be great, and there should be all kinds of celebrities there. I've already made a reservation, and I want to see what the result will be."
Miyazaki Yuta nodded, very excited and expectant.
He could feel that the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan was absolutely bustling tonight.
To be honest, he was looking forward to the piano competition much more than the archery competition that Kurosawa was going to participate in.
After all, the intensity of this piano competition, both on and off the field, can be described as a war.
"… "
Suddenly aware of the struggle outside the field, Kurosawa Hikaru fell into deep thought.
In fact, because of his knowledge of music theory and experience in master-level piano, he knew better than anyone that the Croatian Rhapsody was not difficult to play. It would be an exaggeration to say that even an elementary school student could play it, but it was not too difficult either.
However, just because a piano piece is difficult to play doesn’t necessarily mean it will sound good.
He chose this song originally simply because "Croatian Rhapsody" is very nice to listen to and, to outsiders, has great appeal and charm, making it very suitable as a debut song.
"How about it? Do you want to go and have a look? There should be a lot of stars and celebrities coming tonight."
Seeing him lowering his eyes in thought, Miyazaki Yuta thought he was moved and hesitating, so he continued to encourage him.
Going to see a piano performance alone is actually a very sad thing, just like going to the movies alone, so he was eager to drag Kurosawa Hikaru to watch it together.
Moreover, when two people experience the same thing, they can talk about their feelings afterwards and have more topics to talk about.
"No."
However, no matter how much he talked, it was impossible for Kurosawa Hikaru to accompany him.
"All right."
His attitude was very firm, and Miyazaki Yuta realized that he really didn't want to go, so he had to give up.
"Where did they quarrel?"
After firmly refusing, Kurosawa Mitsuru thought for a while, took out his cell phone and asked.
"Twitter topic, zero hour."
When hearing this question, Yuta Miyazaki also answered.
"Are you going or not?"
Although he couldn't see the images on the phone screen because of the privacy screen, Miyazaki Yuta felt that he wanted to check what happened at midnight, and a little hope was ignited in his heart.
"No, I just want to watch the fun."
Kurosawa Hikaru shook his head and then started looking at Twitter.
It is worth mentioning that his Twitter account is still his own, not the Zero Hour account.
Because all of Zero Hour’s social media accounts were handed over to Igarashi Runa to handle and operate, as the first step of the agency’s business.
Seeing that he still didn't agree, Miyazaki Yuta shrugged and said no more.
Holding the mobile phone, Kurosawa Hikaru was very skilled in this regard and successfully found the Twitter topic.
These tweets all contain temporary keywords and topics.
The most popular post with the highest number of likes and comments was posted by a Twitter user named Shizuka Kitajima.
Looking at the profile picture, this is a beautiful internet celebrity. She forwarded the promotional news of Zero Hour with the caption:
"Master Zero Hour will be giving the closing performance at the Kawai Piano Competition. Everyone, please remember to come and watch. I will also be there. See you there."
This post was extremely popular and topped the topic.
After seeing this post, Kurosawa Mitsuru clicked on the comments and took a look. Several heartwarming comments caught his eye.
"Goddess, let's meet again."
"I'm going too."
But then, a comment that shocked him and made his veins jump appeared:
"Master of Zero Hour? Is he worthy of being called a master with his level? You are indeed birds of a feather. You rubbish who rely on selling your body to attract attention and playing the piano should stop coming out to disgust others."
"!"
At the same time, Yuta Miyazaki, who was sitting next to him eating, saw his gloomy expression and was so scared that he trembled all over.
What a scary expression... After knowing each other for more than a year, this was the first time he saw Kurosawa Hikaru angry.
…
The afternoon classes were the same as the morning ones. As the final exams were approaching, the teachers were very busy. Instead of giving lectures, they asked everyone to focus on the key points of the exam and to be well prepared and take the exam seriously.
At 5 o'clock in the evening, Kurosawa Hikaru walked out of the school with a shoulder bag and saw Igarashi Runa's car.
Perhaps because Lingshi became famous, she no longer stood outside the car and shouted, but sat inside and waited.
The car started. Although the piano competition is now in progress, the midnight hour is after 8 pm and before 9 pm. There is still plenty of time, so we go to the office first.
Along the way, the car was very dull. Apart from the greetings when getting on the car, there was no topic or communication.
"Tonight is the performance. Why do you seem to be in a bad mood? Did someone make you angry?"
Igarashi Runa, who was driving, turned her head to look at his face, hesitated for a long time, and finally spoke.
If it were the usual Kurosawa Hikaru, with his elegant and gentle temperament, there would always be a faint smile on his handsome face, which was very kind and peaceful.
But today, Kurosawa Hikaru looked indifferent and calm, as if he was a wild beast suppressing some emotion, and looked a little scary.
"It's okay, just drive first and we'll talk about it when we get to the office."
Kurosawa Hikaru noticed her concern and worry, shook his head slightly, and forced a smile.
"… "
Realizing that he really had something on his mind but just didn't want to talk about it in the car, Igarashi Runa nodded and concentrated on driving.
Because it was peak time, it was already 5:23 when they arrived at the office.
"The performance will be tonight, let's eat something to fill our stomachs beforehand."
After arriving at the office, Igarashi Runa unbuckled her seat belt and got out of the car, also explaining the action plan.
For an important performance, it is best to prepare a few hours in advance, fill your stomach, and adjust your physical condition, because eating before the game will more or less affect your condition.
In addition, getting a stomach upset or getting sick during the performance is also something that must be avoided.
“I heard there was a lot of noise online.”
Following her out of the garage and into the corridor, Kurosawa Hikaru finally spoke.
"It's okay. You don't have to care about what those people say online. Just perform well. You are very good, and the piano music you play is beautiful."
Igarashi Runa, who was walking in front, stiffened when she heard this question, then turned around with a smile, raised one arm and pressed it to comfort her.
Obviously, even though she had been talking about good news in the group chat yesterday and intentionally covered up the negative news, Kurosawa Hikaru still noticed the movement on the Internet.