The Black Cat of Misfortune
Chapter 3
Ikuto's POV
It was too early in the morning if you asked me. I yawned tiredly whilst holding a clipboard up right. The papers that were placed within the clipboard were identical to all of the other musicians who were within the group.
My eyes drifted slowly towards the empty stage. Today was the day of the auditions, and to be honest, no one seemed to really care about it. Looking back up at the stage, Mr Kadaya walked on with a grin on his face before his started his announcement.
"Now today is a big day as you know! Today we will be holding auditions for aspiring artist such as you to join this orchestra. I expect ALL OF YOU to be on your best behaviour and to pay attention to ALL of these participants! As you have noticed, the papers that are within those clipboards are for you to write your thoughts about these participants and I want your most honest thoughts BUT it has to be solely on their musical ability and not their appearance."
"Yes sir"
Was the reply that he was given at the same moment. Our voices were in sync though it was obvious that none of us wanted to be here at all.
"Now the candidates will be here in a matter of minutes and once they arrive, judging will begin. I want you all to make sure you pay close attention to these candidates, after all there are more than one hundred musicians coming today and we don't want to miss out on any musically talented musicians."
Groaning, most of the other musicians within the orchestra began to grumble incoherently to themselves and to the others around them, most likely about why this orchestra needed more members and probably why Mr Kadaya allowed that many people to audition. Once the people started coming through the doors, I started to zone out but kept an ear open for any good music with Yoru sleeping on my shoulder just snoozing away.
"State your name, age and musical instrument"
Mr Kadaya repeated once again. This was probably the fifty something candidate and so far no one had seemed to catch the major attention of any of us in the orchestra. There were moments which we thought was going to become good, but in the end it just became a bit too dull and too safe for our liking.
Looking down at the next paper in the MASSIVE pile of audition papers, I sigh again and write my name down as the viewer and look back up towards the stage as someone walks on.
"LeRoy Uchiwa, Seventeen years old, I will be playing the violin."
Another violinist…let's hope that he's good at least. If he made it through these auditions he would be one of the four violinists within this group and to be honest with you, three of us are more than enough.
Listening to his composition for a couple of minutes, I pick up on some of the small newbie mistakes before dismissing him from my thoughts. He was good but only been well doesn't mean that he'll be good enough to join this orchestra. Our standards are high and there was no way we would lower our standards for alike of just one person.
"Thank you LeRoy, please proceed towards the waiting hall until you are called back into the auditorium please"
Nodding, the blonde haired, brown haired teenager walked towards the steel doors back into the waiting hall where various symphonies of different instruments were flooded within.
Looking back down to the paper, I sigh before continuing with his review
Candidate Name: LeRoy Uchiwa
Age: 17
Type of Performer: Violinist
Performance – Satisfactory, though improvements may need to be undertook
Appearance – Satisfactory
Attitude – Satisfactory though further research needs to be done to confirm this
Sighing as I dropped my pen on the table before passing my paper along with the others who were behind me towards the front of the auditorium where Kadaya was checking over the comments. His face was surprisingly calm for somehow who seemed to be under lots of pressure to select only the best out of this big lot.
He started ticking and crossing boxes that he had on his own piece of paper before sighing and running his fingers through his hair. He must've tired of all this already, I know I would, but then again I'm not exactly the most patient person out there. Kadaya then asked the next candidate to come onto stage.
Now to say that I was left breathless by this girl was a major understatement. There, in the middle of a stage, was a girl about five foot four, her petite body nervously twitching and slightly swaying under the eyes of her spectators. Her lustrous purple hair swayed from the oncoming breeze that came through the side windows, her green AND blue eyes nervously avoiding the eyes of the others within the room.
Snapping out of small daze, I looked around the room and noticed that I wasn't the only one who was in awe of her appearance. The other males held a steady gaze with her, some trailing up and down her body, the others just simply gazing as if she was a piece of meat. The girls looked envious and seemed to be questioning their appearance compared to hers. I mean who wouldn't be intimidated by this new comer?
Whispers then started emerging from the other musicians as the girl looked down to her feet nervously waiting for Kadaya's call for her to begin. Once Kadaya was done with LeRoy's audition paper he looked towards the mysterious girl, his eyes scanning her just like everyone had down beforehand. After a good half a minute of just gazing, he snapped out of his gaze and smiled towards the small structured girl.
"Please state your name, age and musical instrument. "
Everyone looked towards her as her small lips moved to open
"My name is Elise Benoit, sixteen years old and I shall be playing the harp"
It was an eerie silence as everyone's eyes darted towards the girl as she sat on a stool, her fingers slightly gazing against the strings of her golden harp that had been placed on the stage by another bigger musician. Nodding to Kadaya, she started plucking and playing the harps strings, a melodic harmony starting to form and flow through the air and into our ears.
The composition started off at a steady pace before increasing in speed. It was music that seemed to come from within a fairy tale. It started off with a happy upbeat pace before slowly inclining to dramatical notes that seem to result in a climax stage of the story before coming back down to the same happy upbeat music in the beginning which I assumed was the ending of her musical story.
It was truly amazing…
As she finished off the last notes, she closed her eyes, quite content and happy with what she had done and unaware of the gaping mouths that had open from her performance. Closing their gaping mouths, her eyes opened to be greeted to the sounds of clapping and cheers from the other performers.
"Thank you Miss Benoit, you may go back to the waiting rooms"
And without another word, she politely bowed and stalked back into the waiting room, her harp underneath her arms. Once she left the room, the shuffles of papers were once again heard and everyone started marking their opinions on Elise.
Candidate Name: Elise Benoit
Age: 15
Type of Performer: Harp Player
Performance – Extraordinary
Appearance – Amazing
Attitude – Satisfactory though further research needs to be done to confirm this
"Well now, things are getting interesting. Let's hope there are more players like her that still have to audition."
Mr Kadaya said with a smirk playing onto his lips.
I had to agree. Things were just getting good. Elise Benoit…let's see how far you can get.