Kawaii princess's Arc

Chapter 22 of 54

By morning, the wooden stage stood empty and groaning under a crust of new frost. Kawaii Princess walked back to it alone. The torn scraps along the railing had been picked clean by the wind. Her throat felt scraped raw, and the painted ORIGIN letters had bled down the arch in a slow blue smear. She crossed the lot to the storehouse where she kept her supplies. The big doors hung open. The shelves inside were stripped bare — ribbons gone, gowns gone, even the last spool of gauze handed out to the twelve. Boards covered the windows. Her steps echoed on the concrete floor and answered nothing back. She sat on the empty floor and pulled the one thing she had not given away from her bag. A frosted metal bottle, still cold, still full. She unscrewed the cap and drank slowly. The water eased her throat enough to hum one quiet note. It cracked. She drank again. The bottle emptied. Kawaii Princess set the empty bottle on the concrete and stood up. Her voice would not hold a rehearsal today. Her supplies would not return by dusk. She walked out past the weathered stage one more time and made herself a single promise — whatever she sang next would have to be built from nothing but breath.