Time to decide

“Well, I only have one thing to say,” Victor said when finishing watching the recording that Cara had made of Eloy and Genta’s performance that day. “Congratulations, you two. You did an amazing job.”

Eloy’s eyes and mouth opened wide while staring at the screen of his laptop. “Wait, does that mean that we have it?”

Victor smiled at the camera and nodded. “Yes, you definitely do. It’s true that you sounded a bit off in the third verse of the second part of the song, and Genta entered a bit too fast during the duet, but asides from that–”

“Wait, I’ve heard my name. What did he say?” Genta said with worry, shaking Eloy’s arm a little frantically. “Didn’t he like the last change I made in the lyrics? Damn, I knew that should have left it as it was–”

Eloy switched rapidly to Japanese to reassure Genta, translating what Victor had just said. They kept talking for a couple of more minutes - this time without Eloy forgetting to translate - before they said their goodbyes, with Victor making them promise that they would contact him as soon as they knew the result of the contest.

“Damn, I can’t believe we have the final version,” Genta exhaled after the video call finished, “I think I was more nervous waiting for his verdict than for the judges’.”

Eloy laughed. “Yes, Victor can be very strict. But I’m glad he agreed to help.”

“Oh, yeah, he did us a huge favor. He’s a great guy.” Genta crossed his arms and tilted his head to look at Eloy with curiosity. “Honestly, I’m surprised that you didn't fall for him when he was your teacher–” Eloy would swear that he hadn’t moved a muscle, but the way Genta interrupted himself told him he had betrayed himself otherwise. “No way, so you really fell for him!”

“I-I wouldn’t say that. It was more like a teenage crush, that’s all.”

“The piano teacher, the flirty and sexy idol…Damn, for sure you like clichés, huh?”

“Well, that would explain why I have ended up with the grumpy bad boy with a heart of gold–”

“Shut up, you idiot.”

Eloy burst out laughing when his description caused Genta to blush with embarrassment. Teasing Genta was slowly becoming one of his favorite things to do.

They spent the following hour working on the staging of the performance - which was looking quite good by then but it required a lot of work - before Genta announced that he had to leave.

“Today you finish at 11 PM. right?” Eloy asked, still typing on his computer while Genta prepared his backpack.

“Yeah, but seriously, you don’t need to come pick me up–”

“I will,” Eloy cut Genta off, causing this one to snort softly, even if a happy smile was in his face.

“Stubborn,” Genta said. He wrapped his arms around Eloy from behind and leaned his chin on the top of Eloy’s head. “By the way, we don’t have any more events until the challenge, right?”

“No, last Saturday's streaming was the last.”

Of course Pink Candy had been the one proposing creating an online event where judges and contestants participated in several cooperative and competitive games while answering the viewer’s questions in the live chat.

The pair composed of King and Mr. Shin was rather hilarious due to their opposite personalities, with Mr. Shin losing his calm every time that ‘the game failed to respond to him’. Shiratori and Pink Candy, conversely, coordinated rather well. The Novas - aka Masako and Daisuke - ended up forgetting about needing to be perfect 24/7 and became quite motivated while pairing up with Ren and Fuka, a member of the Biwa Girls, the second pair who had passed to the finals. Eloy and Ayaka also made a rather balanced group due to their easy going personalities, unlike Ryo and Genta, who couldn’t be more competitive even when they needed to cooperate. In fact, seeing them getting all hysterical while playing Overcooked as their kitchen caught on fire was a sight to witness. And needless to say, Kota ended up being the absolute winner of the night while paired up with Aiko, the other member of the Biwa Girls.

It turned out to be a really funny experience.

“Cool. I’ll think about something to do for the weekend and I’ll text you, ‘kay?”

Genta was about to kiss Eloy in the cheek, but Eloy turned his head at the last second, redirecting the trajectory of the kiss to capture Genta’s lips. The kiss ended up lasting more than intended, and they still shared another - long - one before Genta reluctantly pulled back.

“Text me when you arrive,” Eloy asked when Genta was at the door.

“Will do,” Genta winked at him and finally exited the room, leaving Eloy with a goofy smile on his face.

Certainly Cara had a solid reason for teasing them, saying that they were in the honeymoon phase. Not that Eloy minded in the least.

It was 9 PM when Eloy finally raised his hands from his laptop and stretched his arms over his head. He had taken a quick break to eat, although he knew he'd probably have a late dinner with Genta later. He remembered that he had to pack his pajamas, since the last time Genta had needed to lend him one.

Eloy was about to stand up to prepare his bag when his phone rang: Cristina had just texted him, asking if they could have an urgent video call.

He sighed. The last time they talked was when he hung up on her, so he wasn’t looking forward to what would surely be an awkward conversation. However, Eloy didn’t want to be on bad terms with her, so he answered with a short ‘yes, I can talk now’.

Eloy turned his laptop on again and joined the meeting link that Cristina had sent him, not too worried about the urgency of the meeting, since for her, all the meetings were urgent. Besides, he had a rough idea about the motive of the call.

“Hi, Cristina,” he greeted when Cristina appeared on the camera. “Listen, I know that I didn’t make all the changes you asked for, but I really think it’s better if I leave the introduction as it is in order to–”

“I’ll be straight to the point, Eloy.” Eloy’s eyes opened more, realizing that he had seemingly missed the objective of the call. “You know very well that your involvement with that music contest has worried me from the beginning, especially because your participation has always been in a gray area."

Eloy frowned as uneasiness settled in.

He had a really bad feeling about this.

“It turns out that the PhD programme learned about your participation in the contest, and I'm afraid that they contacted organizers of the scholarship.” Cristina took a drag of her cigarette, exhaled the smoke, and let out one of her signature dramatic sighs. “And, predictably, they became quite concerned that you aren’t fulfilling your academic duties, and wasting some precious time of your stay by participating in such a contest.”

“But wait, wait a moment, Cristina,” Eloy managed to say in cold sweat. “I-I don’t understand: my participation in ‘Tune it Up’ isn’t affecting my performance at all, and I’m still sending periodic reports with my advances, and–”

“Of course I mentioned that to them,” Cristina reassured him, causing Eloy to feel a ray of hope that his fear wouldn’t become a reality. “I defended your case, and I convinced them to have a meeting with them so that we could explain the situation. I'm confident that this meeting will erase any doubts they have about the work you’re doing.”

Eloy closed his eyes and exhaled a deep sigh. “Great. Thank you, Cristina. When will the meeting be?”

“On September 1st, at 1 PM.”

The relief that had washed over Eloy disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, replaced by a tight pressure in his chest.

“1 PM in Spain?” Cristina nodded, making Eloy’s heart sink. “But…But the final challenge is on that day, at exactly that time. Can’t we try to reschedule the meeting?”

Cristina pursed her lips in an apologetic expression before shaking her head.

“That’s not possible, Eloy. I really had to convince them to have that meeting. In fact, if it wasn’t for my intervention, you would have already lost the scholarship.”

The tightness in Eloy’s chest worsened.

Had he heard it right? Could he actually lose the scholarship because of the contest?

“So, at this point, there are only two options: you can continue with that music contest of yours, which would inevitably lead to losing the scholarship that you've worked so hard for; or you forsake that competition, have that meeting, and prove to everyone where your priorities are. The decision, Eloy, is yours.”