บท 28: Chapter 28
**POV Jadelyn West**
....
Ending the day, I collapsed exhausted onto the bed. My throat is a bit sore from all the rehearsing I've been doing. When Alex told me about the choir, I'll admit I thought it was a stupid idea.
Why would I want to share the stage with more than 30 people? Not to mention the dozens of music instrument fanatics Grandpa Albert gathered. No matter how you look at it, it seems like it's going to be a big mess.
But with some training from Grandpa Albert and Grandma Maria, everyone quickly began to get in sync. The first few days were really bad, but as time went on, both the singers and the instrumentalists became more and more in harmony.
I can't even describe the feeling of seeing everyone slowly improving, watching a group of people who had never met before grow closer and support each other to make the best music possible.
Many of the people Grandpa Albert called were passionate about what they did but hadn't succeeded. Some weren't charismatic enough, not pretty enough, or their voice wasn't good enough. Some didn't have good enough music to captivate the audience, but here in the orchestra, none of that mattered.
As Alex said, "Only talent and effort can make you stand out." Now, seeing how the orchestra works, I can only agree with him. Without talent, there's a limit to what you can achieve in any area. Imparting knowledge, practicing endlessly, won't guarantee that you'll become a master at something.
At the same time, just having talent but not honing it through practice will only make you stagnate. In the orchestra, everything depends on talent and effort, whether singing or playing an instrument.
"Hehe… damn, even tired, I couldn't sleep. Maybe I should practice a little more?"
Even lying in bed, I kept turning from side to side. This feeling of improving is making me smile and not letting me sleep. I sat up in bed and looked at the sheet music and song lyrics. Closing my eyes, I can hear each instrument playing clearly, each choir voice. Slowly, I began to sing.
This is such a good feeling. Now when I sing, I have a completely different sensation from before. I can perfectly remember the day I wished to become a music star. I was seven years old, and my grandmother said she would show me the biggest star in the universe.
At that time, I thought she was going to teach me universal geography, but quite the opposite. She took me to her virtual area and then started playing a virtual show. It was the first time I saw Amethyst Moon, or Grandma Maria.
We were in a dome in space. Amethyst Moon was beautiful, in a long blue dress, her long black hair reaching her heels. She was floating above the stage while singing. Her voice was so beautiful that I get goosebumps just remembering it.
At that time, she was at her peak, be it her fame, her beauty, her fans; she was at the top of the universe, and this show was proof of that, a proof that Amethyst Moon, Maria Belmont, had achieved perfection in music, and her most popular song would be marked in history.
It was calculated so that when Amethyst Moon began to sing the last song, a dwarf star behind the dome would explode. This is an extremely rare and dangerous event, but with the correct preparations, the death of this star created the greatest show humanity had ever seen.
When she sang the chorus of the song, the star exploded, creating a perfect harmony between the lyrics and the star's death. This was such an incredible feat that it's almost impossible to reproduce.
This show is a landmark for music and humanity as a whole. This show was watched by 350 quadrillion people live. To this day, no singer has even come close to this feat. It was seeing this show that I decided to become a singer like her.
This was Grandma Maria's greatest and last show. After that, she retired and never performed again. It can be said that the whole universe mourned this decision, but today, I think I can understand her a little.
When I saw Alex playing the guitar in the shop, I felt my heart pounding. I felt like I had found a different path to follow, a path where I could use music to touch people's hearts without having to talk about war and the deaths of soldiers.
Now, working with the orchestra, singing with the choir, seeing how these people love what they are doing, I began to like music more and more. I am falling more and more in love with this art. If in the beginning, I wanted to be a star to be like Amethyst Moon, today, I can say that I am following this path because I truly love music.
Grandma Maria must have retired because she realized she couldn't surpass her music in that show. Maybe that's why she's helping Alex with the orchestra? I really don't know, but after the experiences I've had in recent days, I don't just want to reach Grandma Maria. I want to surpass her with my own music.
Opening my eyes, I took Alex's guitar from the head of the bed, walked to my desk, opened my notebook, and started strumming the strings slowly. I feel my mind wandering in the sound of the guitar, and then I started humming softly. It's time to create my own songs.
.......
I have no idea how long I stayed there, but when I stopped, I had already made several notes. It may take a while, but I will slowly achieve what I want.
Sighing contentedly, I took a shower and ordered something to eat. Today I'm alone; Grandma had some work to do, and Aunt Cath called Monica to kill a monster or something like that.
"It's been a while since I've been alone like this… maybe I should go play with Alex? No, it's a bit late already, but I'm not sleepy… I haven't watched a stream in a long time. Maybe there's something interesting."
I threw myself onto the couch and started looking for something interesting. While I was just browsing randomly to see who was streaming, I saw a girl playing *Detroit: Become Human*. I immediately sat up on the couch.
I knew the competition had started, but I've been so busy with the orchestra that I didn't have time to test the game.
"But why is someone streaming it? Did the game get popular so fast? I need to see this."
I opened the live stream and saw that the girl had just started. She chatted a little with the chat before opening the game, and a beautiful blonde woman appeared with a smile.
"Welcome back… I'm sorry… but I couldn't find your save."
"WHAT????"
The girl widened her eyes, and even I was surprised. Alex let such a severe bug slip through. This could ruin his chance of winning.
"Damn, I need to call him to fix this."
But before I could call him, the android started laughing.
"Haha, I'm just kidding, you can start."
"....."
The girl was shocked to see the android laughing at her, and the chat started to laugh.
"Hahaha"
"Haha, I think her heart almost stopped."
"Lol"
"Haha, look at that expression."
"My Alice looks cute even like this."
The chat quickly started sending gifs of her face, and seeing this, even I had to laugh.
"That idiot really made a joke like that… Puff hahaha, that's so typical, I guess I should play this later."
When the shock passed, Alice started playing. I must say that I became very interested in everything. I saw Connor interrogating a deviant, then Markus coming out of an android cemetery, and Kara hiding with the child and looking for shelter.
All the characters were being developed, but the character that caught my attention the most was Markus. Seeing him rise from the "graveyard" to find Jericho and see how instead of finding freedom, he only finds androids waiting to die.
Watching Markus slowly become a leader really excited me. After stealing parts from CyberLife and returning to Jericho, everyone is surprised and happy to have supplies, but Markus doesn't seem satisfied.
"I came to Jericho because… here androids are free… free to hide and hope no one finds us. Free to die in silence waiting for a change that never comes…but I don't want that freedom. And I won't beg for the right to smile, or love, or stand tall…I don't know about you, but there's something inside me that knows, that I am more than what they say. I am alive, and I won't let anyone take that from me. Our days of slavery are over, what humans don't want to hear, we'll tell them, what they don't want to give, we'll take. We are a people, we are alive…WE ARE FREE."
"Yesss"
"That's right"
"We are free"
Seeing this whole scene really excited me. Being able to watch the leader of a revolution being born is simply incredible. While I was excited, I looked at the time. It's almost midnight.
"... Damn it, damn Alex, after seeing this, I won't be able to sleep."
.......
**Third Person POV**
.......
After playing Detroit for quite some time, Débora finished the game, but after the ending, she immediately started it all over again. Detroit makes it clear to players that there are more than 30 different endings, twenty of which are unique, and the other ten are just minor changes.
Starting the game again, Débora had red eyes. Of all the protagonists, Kara was the one who resonated with her the most. Seeing the relationship Kara created with Alice made her relate a lot.
The whole story moved her, the way the androids were portrayed, the way they slowly gained feelings, and especially the way reality was exposed.
When you're in Jericho, you can talk to all the androids there. Each one will tell you about their story and what led them to become a deviant. Some were beaten, others faced all kinds of humiliation, and even one of the most destroyed androids there tells how he was tied to a car and then dragged along the road.
The game constantly makes you think about your actions. These androids are technically just objects, but now that they have feelings, what will your choice be? Would you accept them as equals, or would you destroy them out of fear of being replaced?
Débora played for hours without stopping. As soon as morning came, she quickly got ready. She had already made a decision; this game needs to be publicized. Whether androids or humans, Débora believes everyone can learn something from it.
As soon as she arrived at the office, she immediately sent a message to all the leaders of the android protection council. They were all people she personally chose to help her keep track of all android problems, and today Débora would show them Detroit.
"I want to see the expression they'll make when they see this game."
......
While all this was happening, Mark had another problem.
"Damn, I wasted my scented candles last night."
When Mark saw that Catharina was excited about the game, he immediately got happy and made various preparations for the night. But what he didn't expect was that Catharina would call Monica, and the two would spend the whole night playing. She didn't even come near the room. Sighing, Mark arrived at the kitchen only to see Catharina and Monica talking animatedly.
Catharina was beautiful, her skin glowing, wearing a simple black shirt that accentuated her breasts, tight pants highlighting her curves, her hair loose and damp from the shower, her eyes shining with excitement.
"That damn maze really surprised me, some of the puzzles Alex made make me wonder how his mind works."
"Yes, but what I liked most was the story. This God stuff is quite interesting. Besides, I did some research and didn't find anything like those monsters. Your son's mind is as scary as yours."
"Haha, say what you want, my son is amazing, not that you, a single woman with no husband or boyfriend, know anything about kids, hahaha."
"You…"
Mark entered the kitchen while the two women were chatting amicably. As soon as Catharina saw him, she smiled beautifully.
"My handsome husband, come have your coffee."
Catharina ran to him and pulled him to a chair, lovingly serving a cup of coffee, only to then look at Monica.
"Humph, I'm going home; I have work to do."
Mark just shook his head at the antics of the two women when his bracelet suddenly lit up with a message. Looking at it, he noticed he had received a transfer of 5.3 billion credits. Catharina, who was behind him, just raised her eyebrows.
"Are you still doing that?"
"Yes, it's better if I keep this credit."
"How has he not figured this out yet?"
"Alex can be very smart about some things, but for others, he... I don't even know what to say."
"Haha, true, but it will be funny when he finds out."
"Hehe, yes… but I'll give him these credits when he's 40 or 50 years old. He keeps talking about starting a company; these credits will be his foundation. I'm sure if I give him everything now, considering how he spends, he could burn through it all in less than a week."
When Alex made his first movie, Totoro, he just randomly uploaded it using Mark's ID. As the movie became successful, his channel was monetized, and all the films and animations produced later were generating income.
Mark received a notification about this. At first, he planned to leave the money with the boy, but as time went on, Mark realized Alex was a natural spender. He could burn millions of credits in the blink of an eye and still say he didn't get the best market options.
So Mark decided he would give Alex part of the money to spend as he saw fit but would save most of it for the boy to use when he was older.
...….
*Note: This chapter was more about setting up for the future than anything else. In the next two chapters, I'll finish with Detroit and talk a little about its impact, then there will be a time jump.*
*It's been a while since I wrote about Jade, and I enjoyed writing from her perspective. What do you think of the character? I wanted to develop her a little, but I don't want to spend entire chapters on that.*
*Just a side note, the last boss of the Elden Ring DLC is simply absurd. I bet Miyazaki was messing around when he made it.*
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