Kawaii princess's Arc

Chapter 36 of 54

The cheers had not faded before her rival dragged a heavy stone to the center of the arena. It was ice-blue granite, carved with her rival's mark and runes, and it landed with a crack on the floor. A protest. The rival pointed at the wooden megaphone still steaming on its stand and called it an illegal device. If the challenge stood, the round would be stricken. The head scout raised a hand and the bell stilled. He carried out the old rules tablet, its deep grooves packed white with snow, and set it beside the challenge stone. Kawaii Princess could not speak — her throat was gone — so she walked to the tablet and pressed her finger into the grooves, tracing the line that named only crystal mics and bone podiums as official gear. Nothing forbade wood. She lifted the megaphone onto a tall display board at the arena's edge. Icicles already laced its rim. She let the crowd see it plain: practice boards, brass fittings, wire. A tool, not a trick. The head scout read the tablet aloud, then struck the protest down. The round stood. The win stood. Her rival's stone was dragged away in pieces. Kawaii Princess kept the win, but the marker on the board now carried her name beside a device the whole of Jadeice had watched her build. Tomorrow's final round was hers to enter — voiceless, exposed, and famous for a megaphone instead of a song.