Ace in the Sleeve

Ravel and Fantasia enjoy their lunches in a school cafeteria. Sitting just the two of them at a table for 6 people, they each give a taste of their meals to one another.

“Yummy~! You always have a lucky hand at choosing your lunch!” Fantasia enjoys the savor of Ravel’s spicy fried chicken.

“Look, it’s that boy who entered the contest, has he no shame? Hihihi,” a group of girls passing by their table make fun of Ravel, trying to tone down their voices. “I knew that only a guy with a screw loose could date that thing.”

“Your pork cutlet is excellent, too!” he paid no attention to the disparaging comments.

“Did they always cook so well in here? I rarely eat lunch from the cafeteria.”

“No…” Ravel gulped the pork cutlet and continued with a serious face. “But apparently, the meal is much tastier when you enjoy it with someone you like.”

“Huh?” Fantasia was too busy stuffing her face with her food, missing the cheesy line Ravel just uttered.

“You’re unbelievable! I was trying to be romantic!”

“Why? Right now we should just enjoy the feast!”

Ravel looked slightly annoyed but then admitted that she was right and just kept on eating.

“Hey princess, shouldn’t you be mindful of your weight? How representative do you think you are going to look if you eat that stuff before the Beauty Contest?”

Seko teased with a forced thin voice, taking the seat next to Ravel with his own food, while Zhang takes his other side and Yutaka the vacant seat next to Fantasia.

“Stop teasing her!” Ravel snorted, annoyed.

“I was talking to you.”

Zhang and Yutaka struggle to hide their laughs, turning their backs to the ongoing banter.

“Heheh, that was a good one, Seko! How are you boys?”

“Bad. And you?” Zhang and Yutaka waste no time.

“Eeww, she tries to talk to me.” Seko looks disgusted but Fantasia laughs it off, amused by his reaction.

“Anyway, do you even know how the Beauty Contest works?” Yutaka asks the pertinent question.

“Come to think of it, no idea. You just go there, make some moves for about ten seconds and then leave and wait for the rating and voting, right?”

“Nahh, you really are hopeless.”

A feminine voice from behind Ravel’s back surprisingly joins the conversation.

“Eli!” Fantasia exclaims in delight. “Come sit here next to me!”

“Where is your Barbie dress, Barbie?”

Ravel teases her, knowing well it was ripped by Zinia during their confrontation. It was quite unusual to see her wearing a normal school uniform, after all. Especially since she wore a long-sleeve shirt unlike the other female students.

“I either tell you this or I educate you about the Beauty Contest, what do you choose?”

“Dress.”

“Dress.”

“Dress.”

“Dress.”

The boys had their priorities straight.

“Fantasia, how can you handle this?!” Eleona asked frustrated.

Fantasia had her face almost buried in her plate, making sure she doesn’t miss a piece of her meal. After the question from Eleona, she lifts her head and responds.

“Dress.”

“She’s been infected!!” Eleona looks pissed but relaxes soon after that. “Geez... whatever… So. The Beauty Contest...”

Eleona truly wanted to help her friend in the first place but she didn’t mind enlightening Ravel too.

“The first round is just a bunch of questions. This is the part where you say you wish for a world peace and nobody believes you.”

The trio just kept eating but Ravel and Fantasia were paying close attention and nodded.

“The second round is about showing some kind of a skill. This can be anything: sports, singing, dancing, acting, a magic trick…”

“Oh damn, now I have no chance of winning.” Ravel sighs in defeat.

“You never had one.” Eleona quickly fires at Ravel.

“Buuuuuuuurn!” Zhang is impressed by the insult. He looks Eleona into eyes and blushes, looking away.

“And finally, the third round, the most important one. This is where you can obviously get the most points from the judges. It’s about how you advertise yourself. Your beauty. Girls usually wear some kind of a dress they would otherwise save for a special occasion.”

“Oh damn, now I have no chance of winning.” Fantasia sighs in defeat.

“You never had o-“ Seko replies but before finishing the sentence, Ravel smacks him to the back of his head.

“Wait but I am confused,” Yutaka interjected. “What are the students’ votes for when there are judging handing out points or ratings?”

A clever question that Ravel didn’t even consider.

“It’s simple, the rating or points that the three judges give out are equal to the votes. If a judge gives you 8/10, it’s 8 votes for you in addition to all the votes from students.”

“I see…” Ravel seems immersed in his thoughts.

“The maximum amount of points you can get in the first two rounds is 5 per a round, and ten in the third round. Meaning, you can get up to 20 votes. The judges’ points round up or down, awarding you the average points in the each round” Eleona continued with the explanation.

“Nice~.” Zhang chimed in needlessly.

When did Zhang become so interested in this? Everybody thought the same.

But Yutaka recognized his real intentions.

“Should I be jelly, li’l Joe?” he asked, feigning puppy eyes.

“Looks like we have some work to do, right, Fantasia?” Ravel looks at his almost girlfriend with determination.

“Not so fast,” Zhang suddenly spoke at the moment nobody expected it. “You’re forgetting something.”

“That’s right. There’s still a possibility that none of us will be even chosen into the final top 8.”

What? Nobody understood what Eleona was saying.

“Before the grand finale, the student council, as tradition dictates, will choose the 8 finalists. Otherwise, the event would be too overwhelming since a lot of applications from the students come every year.”

“Really? But that means I am not making it to the three main rounds! Since I am so ug-,” she stops herself in the middle of a sentence as she looks at Ravel and corrects herself: “Since I am not as pretty as you are…”

“But of course you’re not going to make it, monkey!!”

Zinia of all people comes forward accompanied by Ares, holding hands.

“It’s the Big Ears!” Seko opens his mouth just to offend somebody again.

“Watch your language, macho. Nobody talks to my girl like that.” Ares warns him with a cold look.

Ravel recalls the situation in the classroom 1.B when Ares was able to calm Zinia down effortlessly. Now it makes all sense, he thought, realizing they had been dating.

“It’s pretty obvious that out of you three, only Eleona is somewhat a threat to me! But I’m going to win this year and then every other year for the rest of our high school days! Then I will take break from University just to come back and kick your asses again, ahahah!”

“So petty.” Seko concluded, earning himself another warning gaze from Ares.

“But we will have already moved on by then, unlike you.” Eleona retaliates with another sharp comeback.

“Hmph!” She turns on her heel and walks away along with Ares, who glanced back with a sinister look.

Yutaka couldn’t help but admire Zinia’s beauty, disregarding her attitude: “Face it, none of you have a chance against Big Ears. Despite her foul mouth, she is so elegant and ladylike.”

He was right. The way she walked as if on bouncy clouds, the way she used her facial expressions and the tone of her voice. Everything about her screamed she was preparing to be an actress. This was way different than when she was fighting with Eleona, where she naturally showed her darker side.

“No, she’s just a bitch!” Eleona disagreed vehemently with Yutaka.

“When I see her… I just feel sadness and insecurity from her eyes…” Fantasia spoke with a tinge of melancholy in her voice.

Ravel is taken aback. Fantasia yet again managed to observe something that everybody else was missing. The question is: what.

“Wait a second! Did you say that student council was in charge of putting the list of 8 finalists together?!”

Ravel wasn’t allowed to think properly before since Zinia disturbed their conversation but now he sees a glimmer of hope.

“Yup.” Eleona replies.

“But that means… Zhang! You’re a member of the student council!”

“You are?!” Eleona is shocked. “Then you can be our ace in the sleeve! There is always one judge from the student council! Are you going to be one?!”

“…If I’m about to come, I shall appear there.”

Enigmatic as ever, Zhang weirdly structures the sentence with a straight face.

CHAPTER 10: END