Chapter 1
RISING ARTISTS SHOWCASE
“Your Sound. Your Moment.”
Take the stage and sing your original songs live for a chance to break into the music industry with top producers.
Solo acts, bands, and duos welcome.
Early in the morning, a new poster was put up on the bulletin board in the music building hallway. Compared to the many other posters, it was quite small, and one could easily tell the design wasn’t made with much care. If it hadn’t been put up on the school bulletin board, anyone would have easily thought it was fake. Yet, such a poster attracted the attention of many, with students gathered in front of it at every moment. Ronen was one of them. He normally didn’t even take a glance at the posters, since his main focus was to perfect his musical abilities at the prestigious Aurelia University, from which many artists and musicians graduate. Out of curiosity, he took a peek—and ended up staring intently.
“Wow, a chance to join the music industry? A dream come true, huh?” said Evan, approaching his deep-in-thought friend. Indeed, this would be a dream come true—especially for Ronen. He had loved singing since he was a child, and had been taught by the best vocal coaches and piano instructors. This was the opportunity of a lifetime for him. He didn’t want to end up as a teacher or a concert musician like his parents, but to share his voice with the world.
But something like this wouldn’t be easy. The whole school would be competing, with only one winner. It would take a great amount of courage for one who had never even performed in front of more than thirty people to even decide to enter.
Ronen’s fists were clenching as he struggled to make words come out of his mouth.
“T-there’s no way I’m letting this chance slip away.”
Evan playfully jabbed his arm. “Go for it, then. You definitely have the talent to win.”
His hands shaking, Ronen took out his phone to scan the entry form code on the poster. As he backed away a few steps to get a clear shot, he bumped into someone. “Ow...” A faint voice came from behind, and he quickly turned around. “I’m so sorry. I wasn’t lookin—” He stopped short when he saw who it was. The same short figure with big round glasses. It was Mira, his high school classmate. He was about to say hi, but words were stuck in his throat as he suddenly remembered his first encounter with her.
It was a normal day after school, Ronen chatting with his friends as usual. “Hey, Ronen, wanna go to a karaoke place?” “Sure, I’ll invite more people. The more the merrier, right?”
Ronen looked around to see who hadn’t left yet. “Mira!” he called out.
Mira, from the far side of the classroom, kept writing in her notebook as if she couldn’t hear him at all.
“Mira!” Ronen yelled a few more times until she finally looked up from her notebook at him. Then she looked around frantically, as if making sure there was no other “Mira” in the classroom.
“We’re going to a karaoke place later. Wanna join?”
Mira stared at him blankly for a solid two seconds, then quickly shifted her attention back to her notebook, her pen moving faster than before. “Huh?” Ronen was clearly taken aback by her reaction. “Give up on her, Ronen.” said one of his friends. “She never interacts with anyone. Writes in that notebook all day.” “I wonder what she’s writing,” said another.
Ronen never invited Mira or even talked to her since, convinced that she simply didn’t want to interact with anyone, and would rather write in her notebook all day. “If she couldn’t even respond back then, how is she supposed to connect with people through music now?” he thought. “Ronen? What’s wrong? Why are you zoning out?” Evan waved his hand in front of Ronen’s face, but Ronen still looked as if he saw a ghost.
“R-Ronen?”
Ronen snapped back to reality upon hearing Mira’s voice and realized she had been staring at him.
“Oh, M-Mira!” he blurted out. “It’s been a while.”
He looked around anxiously, his eyes catching the half-filled entry form on her phone.
“Wait, you’re participating, too?”
“Well, I...”
Mira looked away nervously, reminding Ronen of that day. As he struggled with the overwhelming pressure of the competition and the frustration of running into someone he despised, something inside him snapped.
“People like you don’t belong here. You don’t even try to interact with anyone. How are you supposed to sing when singing is about connecting with people? Can you even look at your audience in the eye?”
Mira’s eyes widened, then her gaze dropped. Before he could say anything more, she hurried past him, clutching her books tightly against her chest.
Evan put an elbow on Ronen’s shoulder. “What’s this? You have a grudge against her?”
“No, it’s just...” Ronen’s eyes drifted to the side, avoiding his friend’s gaze. “Still, that was pretty harsh. You might wanna apologize to her later,” Evan said, gently patting him on the back.
