Chapter 8 — The Audition Room
Friday arrived faster than they expected.
The air inside Lyric Academy felt heavier — like every sound was waiting to be judged.
Ren adjusted his cuffs, fingers trembling just slightly. He hated showing nerves, but this was different.
This wasn't a classroom. This was the academy's Auditorium Room A, the place where legends were discovered.
Kai stood beside him, violin case pressed against his chest.
"You okay?" he whispered.
Ren forced a small smile. "No. You?"
Kai laughed softly. "No, but that's what makes it real."
Their names were called.
They stepped inside.
The judges' table was long and gleaming, with three people seated — Professor Reva, the academy director, and a woman in a sleek black dress holding a clipboard. Her expression unreadable.
Ren recognized her from music magazines: Celeste Aragon, the youngest international composer ever to graduate from Lyric Academy.
She looked up. "You're the duet everyone's talking about?"
Kai bowed slightly. "We didn't mean for anyone to—"
Celeste raised a hand. "Don't apologize. If a song reaches me from behind closed doors, that means it's alive. Play it."
Ren and Kai exchanged glances.
This was it.
Ren sat at the grand piano, taking a deep breath as Kai lifted his violin. The first notes trembled — hesitant, fragile. But as they played, their rhythm began to sync.
The sound filled the auditorium — violin and piano weaving through each other like sunlight through rain.
Halfway through, Kai's bow slipped.
A single wrong note echoed — sharp, imperfect.
Ren looked up instantly, their eyes locking.
Kai froze.
Ren smiled softly, almost imperceptibly.
"Keep going," he mouthed.
And Kai did.
He closed his eyes and played, not for perfection, but for feeling. Ren followed, his fingers dancing to match the honesty of it.
When the last note faded, silence stretched long and deep.
Celeste stood.
Her heels clicked softly against the floor as she approached the stage.
"That," she said, "was flawed."
Kai's stomach dropped.
Then she smiled.
"But it was human. And that's rarer than talent."
Ren's breath hitched.
Celeste turned to Professor Reva. "Approve them for the Composer's Program. I want to see what they create next."
Ren and Kai looked at each other — disbelief melting into quiet joy.
Outside the hall, when the doors finally closed behind them, Kai laughed breathlessly. "We did it."
Ren smiled. "No. You did it. You didn't give up after that wrong note."
Kai shook his head. "We both didn't."
The two stood there, the echo of their music still lingering in the corridor — a sound that would follow them long after the applause was gone.