Kawaii princess's Arc

Chapter 59 of 74

The cracked locket swung dead against the wooden podium, its ringing gone. Kawaii Princess set it down on the pale frosted board and stepped back. Across the field, her rival's carved stone pedestal glowed with a tall blue crystal at its crown, fully outfitted, ready. The cameras swung between them, hungry for her next note. She scanned the empty shelves and bare floor. Near the pavilion's edge lay a jagged shard of bone wrapped in a thin shell of frost, dropped from some earlier token war. She crouched fast and picked it up. The ice coating made it ring when her nail flicked it. Kawaii Princess returned to the podium. She struck the shard against the glass shelf where her locket had failed. A higher, colder note rang out — sharper than the chime before. She struck again, four times, then a fifth, the secret one. The crowd inside the pavilion gasped and answered. The broadcast caught it all. The head scout raised his hand and marked the song complete. But the bone shard split along its frost seam, and a fresh placard slid down beside her stage: one more song required before the bell.