Decision

The whole class watches without a sound, unable to process what Eleona just said. Fantasia? And a Beauty Contest? The mere thought seemed like a collision of fire and ice, a clash of contrasting worlds.

“You stupid bitch! I’m gonna shave your head!!! Do you actually think I would lose to HER?!”

Zinia’s rage builds up even more. Her green eyes glow with the fiery intensity of anger. She pushes Ravel aside, almost reaching Eleona, but is stopped at the last second by none other than Ares.

“Calm down, li’l gorilla. This is not like you.”

Ares' unwavering voice resonates, bringing a momentary halt to Zinia's fury.

“I’m going to borrow her. Scatter, all of you.”

Ares is a shadow leader of the class. His classmates have respect for him not only because of the status his family holds.

“A-Ares!” Fantasia’s eyes are filled with tears of relief. “Thank god!”

He takes Zinia outside and she follows without a word. He turns back to look at Fantasia with a blank expression one last time, which Ravel caught a glimpse of.

“Eeeh, I wanted to see what would happen next.” Yutaka didn’t hide his disappointment that the confrontation ended early.

“Fantasia has entered the Beauty Contest??”

Seko would have laughed if it wasn’t more tragic than funny, he thought.

“N-no! I never said I would enter!” Fantasia waves her hands in denial and turns her head to Eleona. “What do you mean, Eli?”

“Don’t you want to prove everybody that you are prettier than they think?” Eleona insists.

“I d-don’t really-“

“Stop it, Barbie. How could you do something so insensitive to Fantasia?” Ravel says with a faint sadness in his voice.

Realizing that there is nobody she could fight with anymore, he relaxes his posture.

“But I trust her… she’s my friend!”

Fantasia looks puzzled and then her eyes sink down the floor, not being able to say anything.

The school bell suddenly announces beginning of the next period.

“See you later, okay?” He passes Fantasia and rubs her arm gently. “Let’s go.” He nods toward the boys, urging them to leave.

***

As the school day drew to a close, Fantasia and Ravel found solace on a wooden bench in a nearby park. With their buses not scheduled to arrive for another half an hour, they seized this ideal opportunity to share a quiet moment together.

“So what are you going to do?”

Ravel asks while trying to grab something from inside of his backpack.

“I don’t know… I mean, I have no obligation to enter the contest just because Eli said I should, right?”

She sits down with her legs close to each other and straightened arms, touching her knees with the palms of her hands.

“That certainly shouldn’t be the reason but how do you feel about it?”

“Eh?” She seems to be stunned by that question.

“You’re still a girl. Why wouldn’t you want to try something like this while you’re still a teenager? It actually sounds fun.”

He was finally able to find the chocolate bar he was searching for. He starts unpacking it.

“You think so? But… I could have never imagined a girl like me participate in a beauty contest.”

“Why not?”

“What do you mean, why not?!” She rapidly turns her head to him. Now he pissed her off.

“You’re not unattractive. And I am sure many people would support you, like Eleona, me, or those three bastards acting as my friends.”

He cracks the chocolate and slides a piece of it into her mouth. He knew how to get rid of that pissed off look of hers.

“Your friends? Maybe Zhang and Yutaka but I doubt Seko would ever support me…”

She talks with her mouth full, trying to bite and form words at the same time. A tiny bit of melted chocolate comes out her mouth and covers her bottom lip.

“I knew it.”

Ravel puts his index finger on her lip and wipes off the chocolate before licking the chocolate from his finger.

“You knew what?”

“You’re actually thinking about it.”

“Huh??”

“The fact that we’re still discussing this and you didn’t just brush it off is all the proof I need. The question is… why?”

Ravel learnt how to read her emotions. But her intentions were still a mystery to him.

“… Uhm… You’re probably right. When Eleona blurted that nonsense in front of the whole class, it kinda… made me excited.”

She takes a piece of chocolate and slides it into Ravel’s mouth.

“I see.” Ravel tried to bite and not focus on talking.

Fantasia leaned to him and kissed him on the lips.

“W-what? Did I have chocolate there, too?”

“Nope.”

He blushes as he realizes that she just wanted to turn her desire into an action.

“A-Anyway… if you feel excited about it, then you should definitely do it!”

“It would be really nice. But I doubt the judges would be nice enough to me as to not make me cry by their low ratings, haha. And then there’s the voting by everybody from school… everybody knows me only under the Ugly Monkey codename.”

“Then I’ll become the judge!” he suddenly gets all hyped up. “There’s an open application for that still, right?”

“Haha, you’re so cute. But would it actually feel earned if you were to hand me out perfect scores each round?”

“I guess not…”

“Let’s face it. I am not cut out for a competition like this. If it was a contest of fixing water pipes, then I’d sure win, haha!”

“I now kinda want to see that.”

“The plumber competition?”

“No. You in that Beauty Queen Contest or whatever it’s called!”

“Impossible… I-“

“Aren’t you a hyena?!”

“W-what..?”

“Oh, sorry, it came off as an insult!”

“Bwaaagahahah!” She starts laughing out loud, hitting him on the back. “Now you’ve done it, you jerk! Ahahaha!”

“Hey, stop laughing! I wanted to make you feel fired up!”

“I know, I know, sorry!” She still can’t stop herself from laughing at what he just said.

“So, erm, back to the main topic. You do wanna be a strong female leading the human clan, right?”

“That’s not how I would word it…”

“You do wanna show all those bastards calling you names that your worth reaches far beyond what they’ll ever be able to see, right?!”

“I don’t really care that much-“

“YOU DO WANNA MAKE ME PROUD, RIGHT?!”

He stands up from the bench and shouts it into the air. People around give him weird glares.

“Hey, calm down, where’s this coming from??” She embarrassingly looks around, hoping nobody recognizes her.

That’s right. I almost forgot why I started spending so much time with her.

“Then I’ve decided.”

“Huh?”

I promised I would make the world treat her better. But that’s a big piece I’m eating.

“I will enter the contest, too! From now on, we are beauty rivals!”

First step: I’m gonna make her the whole school acknowledge her.

“What did you-… did Zinia infect you with something when she scratched your hand?”

“Nowhere in the rules does it state that the contest is exclusively for girls! So I will enter it as well!”

Fantasia stares at him but she knows what that childish look on his face means. He entered the stubborn mode.

“…you’re serious, right?”

“I am!”

“You do realize that many people will make fun of you, right…?”

“Let them! I am not afraid to go up against much stronger, or in this case, much prettier opponents!”

In that moment, Fantasia’s eyes opened. She understood where he’s coming from. He wants to prove that she also has nothing to fear just because the chances of succeeding are slim.

“You truly are an idiot…” she smiles warmly at him. “I guess that as a hyena, I cannot let a weak male come out on the top. I’ll crush you in that contest!”

Fantasia and Ravel lock their eyes, giving each other a fist bump.

“Shit! We missed our buses!!” He panics as he notices the time on the public park clock.

“I guess you’re stuck with me for another hour, hihi.”

CHAPTER 9: END