My Stepsister in Kyoto

After all the members of the concert band club took a break from their activity due to the exam, all of them returned once again and returned and talked about the most important event that would happen for the concert band club soon. 

All of them sat tightly on their seats while accepting a copy of the schedule prepared by Taki. 

As usual, Mizuto sat by Mizuro's side, but unlike him, who was curious about the content of Taki's announcement, Mizore was more interested in spending her time with him. Moreover, as if it were natural, she moved her chair closer so their bodies could stick against each other. 

"Aren't you a little too close to him, Mizore?" Yuuko Yoshikawa, Mizore's friend, a cute girl with shoulder-length dirty-blond hair that was evenly cut square bangs, light-bluish-green eyes, and a pale-yellow bow headband, looked at Mizore with doubt since this girl was too bold, right? 

Did Mizore not see the eyes of every girl who emitted such intense jealousy?

"It's fine." However, Mizore was calm. "He told me that he had a doubt on oboe, so he asked me to explain. I am helping him." 

"..."

Mizuto was speechless by Mizore's words since this girl had learned to lie. Frankly, while it was true that he only learned oboe later than Mizore, his skill had become much better than her, and she also knew that, but it didn't matter since she only wanted to be with him instead of being good with oboe. However, an oboe was their connection, and Mizuto told her she had a talent for this musical instrument, so she worked hard to be better for him. 

Watching how Mizore stuck to his side, and many often glanced at them, Mizuto pretended that he didn't notice anything and checked the training schedule for the upcoming given by Taki, which made him helpless. 

'As expected, the training is spartan.' 

The training would be held every day for a single week. 

On weekdays, they would train after school, which was four in the afternoon until seven in the evening. On the weekend, it was even harsher since they had to train from nine in the morning to seven in the evening. 

While there were some breaks due to school activities and others, for the upcoming competition in the summer, their days would be spent on the training. 

If his body wasn't strong enough, he was afraid that he would crumble when he faced all of his women. 

Still, the Concert Band Competition is to concert band as Koshien to baseball. It's the biggest competition for a school band concert. 

In their area, Kyoto, they had a system where a school was chosen to represent their prefecture and then to represent the Kansai region to the Nationals.

However, for the past ten years, their high school, Rakurou Private High, had never gotten past the prefectural and did not even win a higher prize than a bronze. 

While he read the schedule, wondering how to manage his schedule, Taki suddenly said, "Here is the most important part. This year, I would like to hold auditions." 

At that moment, everyone, especially the upperclassmen, lost their calm and was shocked by Taki's decision. 

"Audition?" 

Mizuto, who noticed several gazes on him, then looked at Reina, who was looking at him. He smiled at her, which also made her smile. As for Kumiko, who was also looking at him, he decided to ignore her. Still, he glanced at Asuka Tanaka and Mizore, who had a relationship with him, and they didn't seem unperturbed by Taki's announcement. Yet, this was normal since Mizore didn't care much about the competition, and Asuka believed that her skill in euphonium was better than anyone. 

As for those who lost their calm, it was clear that they didn't have confidence in their abilities. 

"Yes." 

Taki nodded and looked at everyone with a gentle expression. "I will listen to each of you play and then choose the members and instrumentation for the competition." 

"EHHH?!" 

Everyone was shocked, yet Taki made his decision, and no one could change it. 

Still, if one asked why everyone couldn't play together and why everyone was shocked, Mizuto would explain it. 

Everyone will be competing in Category A for this concert band competition. In this category, they all have to play one piece of a required set and another of their choice in a group of fifty-five members at most. If there are more members, then some can't compete. 

In this school, the seniors always had priority. 

In other words, beginners and the first year were usually excluded. Such a system had always been natural for everyone. The seniors would be given a chance to play no matter how bad their play was, yet now, this system has changed, which startled many. 

There was some opposition, but Taki said, "It isn't as complicated as you might think. If the third year is better than the first year, then it's all well. Of course, if you are a senior who isn't as good as the first year, and you still want to compete, things are different." 

At that moment, even if the seniors wanted to say something, they couldn't since it meant that they would admit their skills were much worse than the first year. Even if they didn't have confidence in their skills, to admit such a thing was a shameful thing, especially when they had spent more years in training than the first years. 

So, at this moment, the audition had been decided, and everyone would hold an audition to choose the main members that would be chosen for the Concert Band Competition. 

Mizuto, who was confident in his ability, didn't care much about the thoughts of others. 

"Are you going to compete with your senior?" Kumiko somehow sneaked on him, and asked curiously while thinking how Mizore was so sticky to this guy. 

"Aren't you going to your section?" Mizuto asked speechlessly. He was just about to go back to the Double Reeds Section room, but he was stopped by Kumiko. 

"It's fine. I am more curious about your thoughts about this audition first." 

Mizuto looked at Kumiko and asked, "You don't have a good memory of the audition?" 

"....." Kumiko.

"Let me guess. Your euphonium skill was better, and you were chosen as the main member, so the senior who wasn't chosen was jealous of you and got angry at you." 

"...." 

Kumiko looked at Mizuto speechlessly, wondering whether this guy could read her mind, but that was the truth since her experience with the audition wasn't good. During middle school, she was chosen as the main member, and the senior who wasn't chosen got angry at her and even threw her euphonium. While her euphonium was okay, the shock that came from that confrontation still lingered in her mind. She was afraid of something similar to happiness again, but then she stopped thinking when she felt something on her head. 

"...." 

Kumiko looked at Mizuto, who casually touched her wavy auburn hair, rubbing it gently. While she admitted that it felt good, was this something that could be done casually? 

"You are a good girl. Tell me, if you are bullied, I will help you, but are you so confident that you can do well in the competition? I think that you are too overconfident that you can do better than the seniors." 

"...." 

While Kumiko had to admit that his words moved her, his following words annoyed her! 

"My skill in euphonium is also great! Don't underestimate me! I will do well on the audition!" 

"Let's do well together then." 

Leaving those words, Mizuto returned to the classroom where all the members of the Double Reeds Section Leader were present. 

Only Kumiko watched his back, feeling her heart beating so fast and her face flushed red, but—

"No! No! No!" 

Kumiko quickly woke up as she leaned on the wall. She definitely couldn't be swayed by this scumbag! 

Definitely!