“Well then—” Meruru winked at her younger sister. “Seina should have already told everyone about the next segment, right?”
Seina took half a step forward. A stream of tiny, shimmering musical notes popped off her bowstring, lining up in mid-air above the stage to form a row of glowing words.
Someone in the audience read it aloud: “Interactive Segment—Sing with Meruru!”
The venue erupted in cheers once again.
People in the back rows stood up, raising their hands as high as they could, while a few in the front rows had already begun playfully nudging each other.
“We're not raising hands,” Meruru said, gently wagging a finger. She pulled her phone from her pocket with her other hand, waving the screen toward the audience.
“Today, we'll be using this—a random selection mini-program. As long as you're in your seats, the program can detect your location. When the time comes, a spotlight will shine down on the person selected. Please don't panic, and don't run away.”
A wave of laughter rippled through the gymnasium, followed immediately by excited whispering.
Some looked down to check their seat numbers, others prayed to be chosen, and a few even set their phones to silent, terrified of interfering with the signal.
Night Sakura woke up to find herself leaning against Lightweaver's shoulder, with a small, suspicious damp patch on Lightweaver's clothes.
She reached up to touch the corner of her mouth, realizing her lip gloss was smudged. Quickly wiping it twice with the back of her hand, she lowered her arm and pretended as if nothing had happened.
“Seat number? Seat number... What's my seat number?” Night Sakura looked down, her hands rummaging through all her pockets. She pulled a crumpled ticket stub from her pants pocket. “Row 12, Section E—wait, no, this is the queue ticket for the afternoon tea restaurant.”
Kohinata had already given up searching. She stretched her legs out, swinging her feet back and forth in the air. “Anyway, we're sitting so far out of the way, there's no way we'll get picked. Besides, this is an interaction for the regular audience. We're part of the performance staff, so they wouldn't pick us, right?”
“Though it'd be great if Lightweaver got picked—” Halfway through her sentence, she suddenly covered her mouth. Her eyes darted over to Lightweaver. Seeing the look Lightweaver was giving her, she quickly swallowed the rest of her words.
“I won't be picked either,” Lightweaver said, averting her gaze from Kohinata's face, her voice devoid of emotion. “I'm sitting very far out of the way, and I don't have anything to sing.”
Wait... this interactive segment.
It was a “random selection,” but would she really leave such a thing to actual randomness?
Lightweaver reached into her pocket and touched the keychain again. The little toy cat on it was glowing faintly.
Surely... Surely it wasn't made just to do something like this?
Calm down, Qiluo Tian Gong.
But... what was with this faint, uneasy premonition?
She looked up, and through the dim lighting of the gymnasium, her eyes locked right onto Meruru's.
Meruru stood in the center of the stage, her smile flawless.
Lightweaver's brow furrowed slightly.
Meruru immediately looked away, turning in another direction and even waving her hand over there. Her smile widened a bit more, making it look like she was just interacting with the audience.
“Everyone get ready! I'm about to press the selection button~”
The entire gymnasium was enveloped in the tension of the impending reveal.
Yet Lightweaver wanted to escape this clamor.
She leaned down and whispered to Misa Tachibana, “Store Owner, that friend in the nurse's office is still lying there. I need to go check on her. The performance was wonderful; please let the others know for me.”
“Go ahead,” Misa Tachibana didn't ask any questions, only gently patting the back of Lightweaver's hand resting on the armrest. “Be careful on your way.”
Lightweaver nodded, turned, and walked hunched over toward the side exit. It had been a long time since she felt such an urgent desire to run away.
Time to slip away~
On stage, Meruru was counting down, her voice sweet and mischievous, as the audience joined in to shout the final number.
The side exit was right in front of her, only a few meters away, the door handle almost within reach.
“Let's see—oh? Dear audience member, why are you standing up? Are you a bit too excited?”
Lightweaver froze in her tracks. Hunching her shoulders, she quickly pulled the hood of her jacket over her head.
She pulled the keychain from her pocket and pointedly held it up, shaking it.
She pointed the keychain at Meruru, then pointed at the floor beneath her feet, conveying that she had found the thing but really had something to do today. She wanted them to let her go and she would play with them another day—ideally, never.
Meruru also raised her hand and waved, making an “OK” gesture.
Lightweaver let out a sigh of relief and turned back to push the handle of the side exit.
Then, she heard a crisp snap of fingers through the microphone.
“Beep,” Meruru mimicked the sound of the mini-program locking onto its target with her lips.
At that exact moment, a beam of warm white light descended from above, cutting through the entire gymnasium and enveloping her with pinpoint accuracy.
The venue fell silent for a brief second before erupting into ecstatic cheers.
“It looks like the program has selected an audience member who was just about to slip out the side door. Our lucky winner seems a little shy.”
“Seina, shouldn't we invite this audience member onto the stage?”
Qiluo had never found Meruru's voice so grating. She instantly took back her earlier praise of her singing.
Meruru, just you wait!
Lightweaver looked around; everyone was staring at her.
That rascal Meruru was even waving at her. Fine, they were officially enemies now.
She wasn't sure what she would do the next time she caught Meruru alone, but right now, she had to leave.
Lightweaver pulled her hood down further, turned, and pushed open the side door. With one foot already stepped outside, the green glow of the hallway's emergency light shone on her face. Freedom was right before her eyes.
But.
Two figures shot forward like arrows from the stage, Seina clutching her bow closely behind Meruru.
The two landed almost simultaneously, blocking her only path of retreat.
“Out of my way.”
Seina instinctively shrank back toward her older sister.
Meruru didn't budge. Her voice echoed throughout the entire gymnasium through her still-active microphone: “Our lucky chosen audience member, did you forget something? The stage is over here, not in the hallway.”
The audience burst into laughter, and Lightweaver could hear people shouting:
“Lightweaver?” “Is that actually Lightweaver?”
She took a deep breath, lowering her voice to a volume only the three of them could hear. “Did you do this on purpose?”
“Yes,” Meruru whispered back, her face still wearing that flawless smile. “You've fallen right into my hands this time, Miss Lightweaver.”
“Childish.”
“No, you!” Meruru tilted her head. “Either way, don't even think about running today. See that program?” She nudged her chin toward the stage, where the large screen still displayed the selection results.
“Thousands of eyes are watching. If you run away now, Lightweaver's fans will be heartbroken. Are you sure you want that? And besides, I'll be very sad too~”
Meruru put on a mock crying face, her voice even taking on a slight sob.
“You have two choices right now: go on stage and be my lucky audience member, or keep running and have me chase you. Either way, I can chase you all the way to the school gates today, until you agree to get on stage.”
Rate on N.U.
