Kawaii princess's Arc

Chapter 30 of 54

By midmorning the square filled with a new shadow. Her rival's embroidered banner stood planted near the final stage, blue cloth and gold star catching every eye. A reinforced pole drove deep into the snow. The rival had arrived prepared. Above the square, the tall stone signal tower turned its mirror in the sun, flashing across two blank placards where her final songs should be named. The crowd looked up, then at her empty side of the stage. She walked past the banner without slowing and shut herself inside a small log cabin at the square's edge. One wall held a tall mirror. Soft lamps glowed. She had hours. She had no songs. She faced the glass and tried to hum, but her throat was still raw from the booth, and nothing new came. The placards above kept flashing empty in the tower's turning mirror. She stopped trying to write. She picked up a stick of chalk and wrote two words on the mirror instead: HER NAME. Then beneath it, her own. She opened the cabin door and called the scout runner waiting outside. "Tell the panel my final two slots are a duel," she said. "Her song against mine. Same stage. Same bell. Let the city choose." The runner wrote and ran. The tower mirror turned again. One placard filled with her rival's name. The other filled with hers. The slots were no longer blank. She had kept her place — but now she had committed to a head-to-head she had not written a single note for.