A month later, Richie's ribs had more or less healed.
Aside from the occasional pain when he accidentally strained the injury, he was fine.
That day, Anya and Richie went to school.
At school, the two children heard some big news. One month into the school year, Eden Academy was going to hold a music competition: "Eden's Good Voice."
The student who won "Eden's Good Voice" would receive a star.
"Eden's Good Voice" was open to the entire school. Students from both the upper and lower grades could enter and compete on the same stage.
The competition consisted of preliminaries, an opening round, a qualifying round, and a final.
The preliminaries would select the top ten students in each grade, the opening round would narrow them down to the top three, and the qualifying round would choose each grade's winner. In the final, the winners from each grade would compose a piece within a time limit and perform it on the spot, with all the school's teachers and students scoring them.
The contestant with the most votes would be awarded a star by the headmaster himself.
Twilight heard about it before Richie and Anya had even finished school.
Anya had no musical talent whatsoever, but Richie did.
Twilight was instantly filled with confidence. He was another step closer to completing his mission.
To ensure Richie could practice any instrument whenever he wanted, Twilight made major changes at home, clearing out the storage room and turning it into a music room for Richie.
Besides the dazzling piano that immediately caught the eye upon entering, there were violins, cellos, guitars, saxophones, flutes, harps...
The instruments occupied every corner, filling out the room.
The sun sank, leaving patches of radiance across the sky.
"Father, Mother, Richie/Anya is home!" Two clear voices rang out