Kawaii princess's Arc

Chapter 34 of 54

At dawn Kawaii Princess returned to the bare ice stage. A new marker stood at center ice — a tall carved stone listing the duel's rounds, with one notch for her and one for her rival. The final notch waited blank. Across the divide, fresh frost-covered steps had been built around the crystal microphone, a tiered podium that lifted it higher than yesterday. The crowd already leaned toward that glow. She walked the snow walls behind her stage, searching for anything to throw her voice. In a supply shed she found broken practice boards, brass fittings from an old bell stand, and a coil of wire. Her throat was still raw. She could not out-sing the crystal mic with breath alone. She worked fast. She bent the boards into a cone, lashed them with wire, and fixed the brass mouthpiece at the narrow end. By the time the bell rang, she carried a rough wooden megaphone onto the ice. The rival's supporters laughed at the frosted slats and crude brass. Kawaii Princess set her mouth to the brass and sang one steady note. The cone caught it, shaped it, and pushed it clean across the arena, over the crystal mic, into the back rows. The laughter stopped. The head scout lifted the bell but did not ring it. Her rival stepped to the crystal podium and opened her mouth — and the crowd was already turning to listen to the wooden cone instead.