Kawaii princess's Arc

Chapter 45 of 54

The blue flames still roared overhead, painting the crowd in cold light. The split monument stood half-claimed, half-burning above. Kawaii Princess saw the problem clearly: a list on stone could not answer a tower of fire. She needed a stage of her own, and she needed it now. She pointed past the names to a frosted glass dome standing dark at the field's edge. Its wooden platform sat empty under curved panes. She walked to it, climbed the small steps, and lit a lantern inside. The dome glowed. Every frosted pane caught the lantern and threw soft white light back into the square. Heads turned from the tower of flame to the soft new shape on the ground. She dragged a heart-shaped pillar of ice and pink crystal to the steps of the dome. She set blank tokens around its base and pressed a chisel into the first girl's hand. One by one, her followers carved their names into the pink crystal, building a second monument that belonged only to her. The granite pillar behind them now showed two clear halves: the rival's old list above, her growing list below, polished smooth where new hands kept working. The head scout crossed the field and stood inside the lit dome. He counted the carved hearts aloud and raised one hand toward Kawaii Princess. The blue flames still burned, but no one was watching them. The tower had lost the square. She had her own stage now, and a roster carved in crystal to fill it.