Ever since registration opened for Eden's Good Voice, Richie had developed a new routine.
He slept through class, then went to the classroom building during lunch break to "run into" Ann Grandelle. They played piano together, exchanged ideas, compared their skills, and admired each other's playing.
Richie kept this routine up for several days, until the Eden's Good Voice preliminaries began.
The preliminaries were held across the entire grade, with each class selecting its own entrants.
Henry decided to choose five of the thirteen children who had signed up in Class Three to enter the grade-wide preliminaries.
During one lesson, Henry invited several fair, impartial, and respected music teachers from Eden Academy to serve as judges.
The children who had decided to compete volunteered to go up to the front and perform in turn.
Anya was brimming with confidence. Even though she knew she definitely wouldn't pass the first round, she still swept her hand out and sprang up from her seat:
"Anya wants to go first!!!"
With that declaration, Anya marched proudly toward the front of the classroom.
Seeing how brave Anya was, Henry couldn't help marveling, "As expected of the Forger family's daughter. Daring to lead the way-truly elegant."
At the judges' table, Henry's elegant mustache quivered wildly.
Seeing Anya's confidence, everyone assumed she had extraordinary musical talent and watched her expectantly.
Anya went with brute force, squatting on the piano bench and pounding out a chaotic jumble of notes, thoroughly enjoying herself and getting lost in her performance.
The students and teachers below were the ones who suffered. Even Henry broke into a cold sweat as he listened:
"This playing really isn't very elegant at all..."
Every child and teacher wanted to cover their ears and have Anya end this demonic racket as soon as possible.
Only