If I may impart some advice to you all,
don't overthink it.
Just give number one to the performance you enjoyed most.
That's right.
So why am I hesitating?
The most enjoyable performance...
As long as you face the contestants' playing earnestly,
the answer shall reveal itself to you.
We've compiled the results.
This is...!
Kai Ichinose!
It's Ichinose!
Ladies and gentleman, thank you for waiting.
We will now announce the final results.
We'll begin with recipients of the individual awards.
The polonaise award: Wei Pang.
The mazurka award:
Kai Ichinose.
Ichinose is the first ever Japanese recipient of the mazurka award!
Concerto award:
Kai Ichinose.
Sonata award: Kai Ichinose.
Just what... in the world... is happening?
Our very own Kai just won three awards!
We will now announce the six who weren't selected for an award
but who are nonetheless among the honorable finalists.
Nobody wants their name called now.
Chang Soo An, Chang Woo An,
Evgenii Dmitriev,
Daniel Hunt,
Satoru Mukai,
Olesya Yushchenko.
Wait, did he just say Yushchenko?
Aubrey, I'm sorry.
It seems I won't be joining you on that world tour.
Olesya...
Ichinose is one of the top six!
Perhaps he might even...!
Time will tell.
And now for the prize winners.
Sixth place: Sophie Ormesson.
Fifth place: Aubrey Theiss.
Fourth place: nobody.
Third place:
Allegra Granados,
along with Lech Szymanowski.
Sosuke...
I know...
Kai...
Yeah.
Kai!
Yeah!
Second place:
Wei Pang.
Winner:
Kai Ichinose!
You did it!
Kai, you did it!
Talk about jumping for joy.
He's acting as if he won himself.
I never thought this could actually happen.
To whom should I be thankful for this?
I thank all of mankind.
I thank Poland,
the god of music,
Chopin,
the forest,
the forest piano.
I'm grateful that I met Kai,
that I noticed the glimmer in Kai,
that I had the time to do everything in my power for him,
that I was able to shine this one-of-a-kind light onto the world,
that I'm alive –
alive and here right now.
Thank you, Kai.
Stop your crying already, champion!
Congratulations.
My hat's off to you.
Thank you so much!
What's with that face? Are you a kid or what?
It's President Buzek.
Hello.
What is this?!
Explain yourself!
Szymanowski was the obvious choice for first place,
yet the youngest participant from Japan gets it?!
And how could you give an award as important as the mazurka to some Japanese kid?!
The mazurka is the heart of Poland!
If I may say something, President Buzek,
if you could just give Ichinose's mazurka a listen—
Quiet!
Szymanowski's mazurka was splendid as well!
I'm sure you could have massaged the numbers a bit!
Massaged the numbers...
Absolutely unthinkable!
I will never betray music again.
Well said, Piotr.
The audience award.
What a perfect fit.
I'm so happy for you, Adamski.
Congratulations.
Once again, this competition
has been blessed by brilliant performers who made it a resounding success.
However, no matter how prestigious the competition,
if it cannot so much as birth a star,
its prestige will fade with time.
That's why
we want those upon whom we have bestowed awards to thrive going forward.
Some among them cannot shoulder the responsibility and will disappear with this as their peak.
But you, Ichinose... don't you dare disappear!
For we have cast aside our old ways of thinking...
and renewed our vows to the god of music...
just to choose you.
Dr. Nakao, when are you going to get in touch with Ichinose?
Well, he can't pick up the phone at the moment.
Kai, you won't believe this!
Dr. Nakao is in this hall!
He came all the way to Warsaw?
I doubt Kai has heard.
If we can't get a hold of Ichinose, we'll just go directly to his teacher.
Wait, hang on a minute.
Mr. Ajino might not know about this yet.
He'll find out one way or another, so it hardly matters.
I only have so much time, you know.
No doubt about it, that's Dr. Nakao.
He's come to fulfill his promise to Kai.
I have to let Kai know as soon as possible.
Anyway, let's get a move on.
Sosuke Ajino, I presume?
Yes, that's correct.
"Musician hand doctor"...
Might you be the one who took care of Ichinose before?
That would be the man to my right.
A pleasure.
Thank you for your hard work.
This is bad.
This is really bad.
Kai hasn't told Sosuke yet.
If you don't mind, I'd like to take a moment to speak with you.
It's something that concerns the future of
the Chopin competition's first Japanese champion.
Huh?
I went to get you as soon as I could.
The doctors are with Sosuke right now, waiting for you.
I didn't think they'd take action first.
Kai, are you all right?
Will you be able to talk to Sosuke?
Yeah, I'll tell him everything.
Something wrong with Kai's hand?
No, I would have noticed if that were the case.
Then, could it be an illness that will flare up later in life?
If I may ask,
what might be the problem with Ichinose's hand?
What could have gotten a doctor of your caliber involved?
Is it serious?
I'll explain everything from the start.
Wait, Doctor, shouldn't Ichinose get here before we give more concrete details?
He should arrive momentarily anyway.
He said he'd do anything if it meant fixing it.
I agreed on one condition:
he had to win the Chopin competition.
He would need the prize money to pay for the operation.
A-Are you serious?
I can't believe him.
But still, we must get him to look at Kai's hand as soon as possible.
Is it a difficult operation?
There's no such thing as simple surgery.
However, 20 years ago—
Actually, 25 years ago, wasn't it?
When the accident happened.
Huh?
This surgery was not possible back then.
Now, however, it is, Mr. Ajino.
The surgery isn't for Ichinose.
It's for you.
I'm talking about your left hand that was damaged in an accident.
M-My...
hand?
Ichinose seems convinced that your comeback as a pianist
is vital to his career going forward.
That's what he told me when he requested that I fix your hand.
Ah, it seems my client has arrived.
Hi, over here!
Sorry we're so late.
Oh, Mr. Ajino.
Hey, Kai.
Took you a while.
I understand what you're saying.
However, right now I don't know how to respond.
Please give me time to think.
Kai, thank you.
And I'm really sorry for making you spend your time on this.
Wait, Ajino.
We should talk this out more.
I agree, but another day.
A-Are you angry?
No, what is there to make me angry?
In truth, I'm actually furious.
With myself.
Ajino...
Kai really is something else.
Jean.
Kai was feeling down because you won't pick up the phone.
He went off to rehearsal like that, the poor lad.
I'm surprised you were able to find me.
Are you upset, Sosuke?
Well, yes, it's fair to say I'm angry, especially with that doctor.
Oh, you mean his condition? Yeah, that was callous of him.
Kai's no better for accepting it.
It's Kai we're talking about.
You think he would shy away from a challenge?
That's exactly what's upsetting me.
I understand!
But I hear he's a world-class surgeon.
I can appreciate you're angry, but this is separate.
Not to mention, you were fooling me too.
Well...
Kai made me promise, so please go easy on me.
You seem awfully pleased.
Of course I'm pleased!
Your hand is going to get better!
In fact, now that I think about it, I've been waiting on this for 25 years!
I bet you have, too!
Not at all.
I never dared to imagine this.
I'd already given up all hope.
That sounds about right.
Sorry, Sosuke, but the truth is, I had too.
Before Kai brought it up to me, it never even crossed my mind.
Kai really is amazing.
So, please, forgive him.
Stop it...
There's nothing to forgive.
The person I'm struggling to forgive is myself.
I can't believe I made Kai go through all that, and I didn't even know.
Sosuke, I understand how you feel,
but did Kai not tell you?
This whole affair isn't for your sake,
but for Kai himself.
That's how I heard it.
I can't forgive myself.
I've been feeling pathetic and upset,
and I didn't sleep a wink last night.
I thought I gave up on this a long time ago.
But I think, deep down, I may have been wishing for this.
Kai must have sensed that and gone to all this trouble in response.
I made him shoulder such a heavy responsibility,
and I alone was in the dark when it mattered most.
What a fool I've been.
Just tell me one thing.
Why is my hand's recovery essential to your career as a pianist?
Well, I basically just realized that I need you in my life.
Kai,
it's time for you to leave my side and take the next step.
Yeah, I know that.
My teacher doesn't have to be you, and I've accepted leaving your side.
You're free now,
which is why I decided,
instead of being my mentor, I want you to be my lifelong rival.
Wha—?
Are you serious?
I mean, why not?
You're the origin of my playing.
No matter how good someone else's performance is,
the person I'll always look up to and wish to surpass
is you, and no one else.
Ajino,
this is where I started!
Kai.
This is...
Little Brown Jug
This piece...
Long after I let go of the forest piano,
I finally found it again and wanted once more to be close to it.
That's when I decided to teach music at that elementary school.
I wanted to give my own style of lesson, and this is the first piece for which I made my own arrangement.
And the first time I heard Kai play in that forest,
he was playing this piece.
Sosuke,
it's not just in Japan – boys worldwide feel they need to surpass their fathers to be recognized as full-on men.
And now you have become the great barrier that Kai must surmount.
"Hey Jean, how's Japan?"
"How are Ajino and everyone else doing?"
"The world tour is in New York starting today."
"Thanks a ton for being with Ajino when he had his surgery."
"I'm pretty sure my playing in Frankfurt was my best ever because I knew you were there with him."
"We're touring ten places here in the U.S. on a strict schedule,"
"but I'll be sure to work just as hard as Ajino is working for his rehab."
Jean...
The rehab isn't going well?
You mean his hand has gotten worse or something?
His hand is fine.
The surgery went off without a hitch, and his hand is better than it's ever been.
What's the problem, then?
He's gotten to the point where his hand works well and gives him no trouble in daily life,
but, for some reason, his piano playing seems stuck where it was before the operation.
What is it that I'm afraid of?
Why can't I steel my resolve?
Why can't I...?
Ajino...
Kai,
what's the meaning of this?
Aren't you in the middle of your tour?
Do you realize what you're doing, being here?
Of course I do.
I don't need to do the tour, and I already talked it out with the others.
Right now, I have to do what I know I need to do most.
But right now, there's nothing you need to do more than play the piano.
Yup,
and that's why I'm here.
I came back to play piano with you.
You shouldn't concern yourself with me!
You should only be worrying about yourself!
Of course you concern me!
You getting better is a hundred times more important to me!
Idiot!
You do the most foolish things.
So, let's practice.
Of course it wouldn't go well to start with.
Your left hand is still a newborn.
You know how the forest is special to me?
You must have something that's special to you.
Just try closing your eyes and imagining that!
That's something my teacher told me when I first started out with the piano,
and it helped a lot, you know.
In my...
In my case...
I want to reclaim that glittering sound.
It means more to me than life itself.
I want it back.
Let's start with Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.
But I suppose there's no need to rush.
Let's take it slow.
My left hand just started breathing again.
I just need to start anew from that special place of mine.
Ajino,
I've dreamt of this day for so long.
I never even dared dream of it.
I devote this playing to all mankind.