Kawaii princess's Arc

Chapter 16 of 54

She stepped off the crystal stage and heard it at once — her four notes, drifting back to her from the dark. A scout runner stood near a tall wooden watchtower at the edge of the grounds, humming the melody into a small ice-carved music box. The crystal tuning fork inside caught each note and held it. The runner smiled, climbed the ladder, and rang the bell at the top to call the other runners in. Kawaii Princess followed at a distance. She watched the runner cross into the first district and stop at a tall stone marker with four fresh notches carved down its face. The runner pressed the music box to the stone and let the notes ring out. People paused. A child repeated them. By the next street, another notched monument stood waiting, and the song was already moving without her. She caught the runner at the third monument, before the box could open again. She did not shout. She sang — the four notes, but slower, with a fifth note bent low at the end that she had never let anyone hear. The runner froze. The crowd turned toward Kawaii Princess instead. The copied notes in the box were suddenly only half a song. The runner closed the lid and stepped back. Kawaii Princess walked past her toward the watchtower, the new fifth note still hanging in the cold air. The stolen melody was loose in the districts now — but it was no longer the whole thing, and only she knew the rest.