I grew up in a red-light district called "Forest's Edge"
as the son of a prostitute.
A piano was thrown away in that forest, and it became an irreplaceable friend to me.
Life was hard.
I had to be tough.
But I was always loved.
My friends,
and my dear mentor...
My path has always been riddled with obstacles,
but every time I looked around, I had people on my side.
I've always, always been surrounded by kind people.
They're the ones who got me here.
I want to play the piano.
I want to spread my sound all around the world!
Here comes the end.
Huh?
Normally the orchestra finishes alone,
but Kai finished off the piece together with them all.
Ajino.
Did he
already leave my side?
Ajino, did you listen to my performance?
I played right to the end!
Ajino, my mentor!
What is with this excitement?
Quiet down!
Szymanowski, from Poland, is coming up!
The next participant is Mr. Lech Szymanowski,
from Poland, number 54.
He will be playing on the Steinway, performing Piano Concerto in E minor, Op. 11...
Emilia... Emilia... Emilia...
Will you be playing for Emilia's sake?
Yes.
In that case, let's both dedicate this to her!
We'll do everything in our power to support our new, local star.
Now, Szymanowski,
let us deliver the grand finale this competition deserves!
Just like that, Warsaw Philharmonic.
Keep bringing out the best in him!
Emilia, Lech is playing.
Make sure you listen.
Beautiful...
How noble.
Emilia,
I'll play the best No. 1 of my life, just for you.
You're the one who was supposed to be here playing Piano Concerto No. 1!
Not a single day has passed since then that I haven't regretted what happened.
Hey.
Are you sure you don't want to go to Grandpa Dymitr's lesson?
All right, then I'll just go in your place.
Yeah, sure.
Don't blame me if I end up better than you.
Emilia took my place and ended up unable to play.
I can't believe it.
I had no idea Lech had it in him to play this well.
Did I ever truly believe in him?
I'm not lying!
Emilia really said so!
She said, "I'll definitely get better and wake up, so believe in me and wait."
You always lie about talking to birds and insects.
Now you're lying about Emilia, too.
I'm not lying! I'm telling the truth!
I believe him.
At least, I want to.
When will she wake up, then?
In her condition, she might as well be dead already.
Emilia, it's the second movement you love so much.
I remember when we played this together, on two pianos.
My awkward accompaniment was downright laughable.
Emilia,
I regret it every day.
That day...
If I'd only kept my promise to Grandpa Dymitr,
you would have been the one playing here now.
Emilia, I would sacrifice anything
to go back to that day.
This is our Poland!
Emilia,
I'm a liar.
I still pretend I can talk with you,
but I stopped being able to hear your voice a long time ago.
No,
maybe Dad was right,
and it was all just in my head from the beginning.
It's not just in your head.
Huh?
It's definitely not just in your head, Lech.
Emilia...
I've always been right here, talking to you.
Emilia!
Now come on, this is no time to be crying.
Emilia...
Emilia!
His playing is off!
Lech, stop crying!
You have to focus on playing.
Oh no, is he crying?
That's right.
This is no time to be crying.
Right now, I'm playing the piano in Emilia's place.
You're wrong, Lech.
No one can play in my stead.
You have to play for yourself, Lech.
So, please, stop worrying about the past.
He's isolating himself?
It's as if his antenna has lost its signal.
Lech, please!
Stop running away!
Look forward, and play your own way.
Play the greatest performance, with the greatest orchestra.
You said it yourself.
You promised to play your best ever No. 1 for me.
Don't try fighting on your own.
I've been a fool.
I have to start walking forward.
Thank heavens...
He got right back on his feet.
Forward... forward... forward!
Look forward.
Lech's performance since starting the third movement
can only be described as even more brilliant.
An enthusiastic performance that almost sounds as if it's dancing...
together with the whole audience...
...in a full-on Polish Krakowiak!
Yes! He did it!
I just played the best I ever have in my life.
The orchestra pulled the best performance out of me that I could have hoped for.
Thank you, philharmonic orchestra.
Thank you so much for supporting me.
Emilia, all the way until the end of the performance,
I was able to forget my regrets from that day and focus only on playing.
I've never experienced this before.
Thank you, Emilia.
Emilia...?
Where are you?
Lech?
Emilia, don't go!
Th-Thank god...
You're still alive.
I was so scared that you died.
Don't assume I'll die, just like that.
I told you, "I'll definitely wake up, so wait for me."
Right.
What? He's still not dead?
Then just rip out his IV and some tubes while no one's looking!
Hmph, stubborn bastard.
Hey, watch it.
Right back at you.
H-Hey, Wei.
Perfect timing.
Your performance was brilliant.
You're a real Chinese hero!
The win is as good as yours.
The judges should be finished soon.
I won't let them dawdle.
Just leave it to us, and—
Don't even think about pulling anything.
Understand?
Keep out of my business.
I want nothing from you!
Who do you think you're talking to?
I don't mind handing you over to the police, you know.
You're the boss of an organization that abducted and imprisoned someone.
I'm glad they unbanned you from going in.
I had a little chat with Jasinski himself by ambushing him at his hotel.
Not bad.
I felt like it was my fault that you got thrown out.
You think I did it for you? Please.
I just wanted justice.
So, Karol, do you think the final evaluation will be conducted fairly?
Yes, I trust it will be.
You're not bitter about the first stage anymore?
I'm not. What do you want me to say?
Nothing in particular.
I just want to set things straight.
Huh?
Let's just say, I've made preparations.
Don't worry, I'm not after revenge for you. I just want a fair and impartial evaluation.
Hey, Szymon,
what exactly are you planning?
There's something I think you should see, Chairman Jasinski.
What's this?
I asked seven renowned pianists to score the performances from this competition.
Such well-known pianists went through all this trouble?
It just goes to show how high-profile this competition is.
I believe several of them are dissatisfied with the evaluations so far.
I gave them recordings of the 30 people who passed the first stage, along with that of Karol Adamski.
To ensure fairness, I removed all contestant names
and showed only their numbers.
Incidentally, Karol Adamski is number 12.
As you can see, all seven gave number 12 a high score.
He would have been ranked among the top ten.
And yet, Adamski failed.
This has the makings of an interesting article.
And likewise with the final—
Hausner.
What exactly are you getting at?
We have compared the results from these seven pianists against your evaluation results
and are considering writing an article on the discrepancy.
As such, we are asking you to publish each judge's scores in our paper.
We would greatly appreciate a copy of the scores.
I decline.
It seems everyone is here.
We should start.
Yes, you're right.
Wh-What is this?
It's not unheard of around this stage.
They are requesting to publish all of our scores in their paper.
I swear, who do they take us for?!
Whether we oblige or not,
I'm sure they'll find some way to spin the results,
so we needn't pay it any mind.
Of course not.
Who would even care?
However, for this year's competition,
I'm thinking it may be for the best to publish the scores.
I have complete faith in our evaluations,
so I don't foresee any issues.
We will make the judges' names public,
along with how they scored each contestant.
Ridiculous!
I trust there's no problem?
After all, we should all be confident in our integrity.
Now, I have one more suggestion for the final evaluation.
We will consider all three stages of the competition,
and simply rank contestants from first to last.
This should simplify making it public,
since we won't have to explain much.
Between this method and how we've always done it,
please decide which you think is better.
I-I can't believe they'd make the scores public.
Minor scoring mistakes during the first two stages
could grow into fully-fledged stains on my career.
I must object to this at all costs.
Excuse me, Chairman.
If we're also taking the first two stages into consideration,
does that mean we can avoid making scores from the first two stages public?
Yes, I suppose so.
That sounds fine to me.
Let us take a short break, then commence voting in ten minutes.
Make it public, obviously.
That will be perfect for revealing the Polish judges' bias for Szymanowski.
Wei Pang will be taking this home.
You wouldn't want to get on our bad side.
B-But, Mr. Kong!
Piotr.
O-Oh, Andrzej, don't scare me like that.
It's still not decided that the scores will be made public,
so don't go around leaking that info.
B-But...
If Szymanowski doesn't manage first place—
You will have failed Karol Adamski in vain?
O-Of course not!
I don't score with ulterior motives like that!
Really? I'm glad to hear that.
I needn't lose faith in you, then.
D-Do you take me for that kind of person?
No.
I trust that, just as you are an outstanding musician,
you are also one of the few mentors who can provide a path forward to young, upcoming musicians.
An so, the evaluation method was settled on unanimously.
Initially, I was excited for the opportunity to decide on my own ranked roster,
but it's proving perhaps more painful than liberating.
And if the ranking is made public,
won't my sense as a musician be put into question?
I'm really overthinking this.
If I may impart some advice to you all,
don't overthink it.
Just give number one to the performance you enjoyed most.
Though I suppose I'm stating the obvious.
Don't talk as though it's that simple!
If the scores are made public,
I could very well lose the entire career I've built as a musician.
Hm?
I wonder how things will turn out.
I know what you're thinking.
That Kai doesn't stand a chance of winning, right?
Oh, no...
But, you know...
If you take "the pianist Kai Ichinose" in Japanese
and shuffle the order around a bit,
Hm?
...it means "the best pianist in the world."
Did you know that?
Come on, you don't need to act that surprised.
I-I had no idea!
Isn't it neat?
Hey, Amamiya.
Let's come back here again.
In five years, I'll have my first attempt,
and you'll have your revenge match.
Well? What do you think?
Promise me.
It's Ichinose! Ichinose is here!