The Eight Finalists

Zhang strides down the hall in a formal fancy jacket, exuding confidence with each tap of his shoes. His destination? The student council meeting room.

“I should have known you would be waiting for me here,” Zhang stops in front of a familiar figure and tries to maintain a serious tone as if he was facing his greatest adversary in an action movie. After a brief pause, he continues, “Ravel,” both of them try acting like the cool characters from their favorite fiction.

The boys lock eyes while Ravel is casually leaning against the double wing door, blocking Zhang’s path.

“I want to ask you a favor, my old friend.” Ravel matches Zhang’s solemn tone.

“Let me guess. You want me to pick Fantasia and convince the others to choose her to be one of the eight finalists. Consider it done.”

Zhang tries to get past Ravel and get to the door but Ravel’s response freezes his legs.

“No. Quite the opposite. I want you to refrain from voting there.” Ravel says calmly without looking at Zhang’s face.

“Why?”

“Do you think this is what Fantasia would have wanted? Advancing just because of the help of my friends?”

“I guess not. I shall grant you your wish, then.”

Zhang and Ravel nod their heads, showing a sign of respect to each other.

“Oh by the way!” Ravel breaks character and goes back to his usual tone of speaking. “We are going for some burgers after school, we’ll wait for you until you are done with the student council work!”

“Fuck yeah!” Zhang screams enthusiastically, burying the last remnants of the mysterious atmosphere they had built up.

Ravel’s classes have already ended for the day, so he decides to head for Fantasia’s classroom and wait for her until her final period of the day is done. As he stands with his back facing 1.B’s door and looks out the window at the schoolyard where a football match of school teams is being held, three female students laugh and giggle as they pass him by.

“It’s the classroom of that monkey, Fantasia, ahahah!” One of them says.

“Does she really think she looks good enough to enter the Beauty Contest?” The second girl’s laughter makes Ravel grit his teeth.

“Maybe this year they announce a special category for primates, hihi!”

“That’d be fun! But she has no chance against Zinia! Everybody talks about her as the hot candidate for the new Beauty Queen!”

Ravel closes his eyes, taking a deep breath. He could have intervened, asking them why they say all such cruel things about Fantasia behind her back. He could have yelled at them. He could have proclaimed that Fantasia is going to win. And that they just fail to notice her true beauty.

But he chooses silence.

What good would it do? His goal is not to persuade anybody with words. You cannot make people like somebody just because you say ‘but she is pretty’.

He is aware of that.

His goal goes far beyond mere words. He is determined to make Fantasia shine in her own way.

When he asked Zhang not to interfere with the voting of the whole student council, he made the right decision. But what should be the next step? Is he going to just watch how she handles it herself? No, that line of thinking is a song of tomorrow. First, she needs to be chosen among the eight finalists.

“Your princess is waiting for you, lord Unique~.”

He’s heard that annoying voice before. He turns around and finds him there.

Ares.

Ravel tenses up and instinctively adopts a defensive stance upon seeing him.

“I’m gonna be really pissed off if you manage to defeat my girl in that contest, you know?”

Ares walks past him and waves his hand in the air, as if bidding farewell.

Ravel still couldn’t understand what his problem was but he felt like Ares was not a genuine person.

“Ravel!”

Fantasia runs from her classroom to embrace him from behind.

“I’ve missed you…” She says with a touch of relief in her voice.

Ravel’s tense muscles gradually relax and he feels like she is recharging his batteries after the previous two encounters.

She releases him from her hug, allowing him to turn and face her. With her hands delicately tucked behind her back, she gazes up at him with anticipation. Despite their noticeable height difference of nearly 18 centimeters, her eyes meet his with unwavering enthusiasm. A radiant smile graces her face, stretching from ear to ear and revealing a glint of dental braces. Ravel’s eyes go wide at the sight. She is so cute!

Two male students witnessing the scene from afar are visibly disgusted at the sight. One of them pretends to throw up.

Those fuckers think I can’t see them peripherally.

“Uhm… did I ever say that those braces add a touch of youthful charm to your face?” Ravel suppresses his negative emotions that the people around tried to instill in him and focuses on the girl he likes.

“You know I used to get bullied because of these, right?” Fantasia says playfully as if she didn’t just say something very awful.

Zinia and Eleona step out of the classroom as well, bickering about something.

“We shall see tomorrow! I can’t wait to see your stupid face crying in a corner when you are not even picked among the eight finalists!”

Zinia spits fire as always.

“You know what? I would love to see you standing next to me on the stage. That’s how the people will see the humongous gap between our levels!” Eleona returns the ball.

“Hmph!” Getting all huffy, she quickly leaves the side of her rival, blabbering for herself. “I cannot believe I used to be best friends with such a bitch!”

Ravel and Fantasia observe the scene.

“Barbie, you used to be friends with her?? How come you are so antagonistic towards each other?” He doesn’t hide his curiosity.

“It was before high school. We’re no more friends and she says it’s my fault! But I didn’t do anything to her??”

Eleona is clearly upset about the situation.

***

The following morning, student council will make their decision about the final eight contestants public. During the break after the first period, masses of students gather in a hallway in front of a big board which usually holds news and actual information regarding any school activities.

Ravel, Fantasia, Eleona, Zhang, Seko and Yutaka stand in front of the board among other curious students, eagerly awaiting the results.

“I hope I’m not gonna make it… please don’t let me make it…” Fantasia nervously bites her nails.

“What is this? Having second thoughts about the participation?” Yutaka’s eyes give off the impression that he doesn’t know whether he should still take her seriously.

“Make way!” A rather energetic, tall girl pushes through the crowd.

Yutaka catches a whiff of her long silver hair as she passes by, reminding him of a garden filled with blooming flowers.

“An angel… Silveria of the 4.A, the student council president. She’s the only reason I envy your work, Zhang.” Yutaka is almost unrecognizable when he is infatuated by a perfect, 10/10 woman.

“Listen up, you good-for-nothings! Her Majesty, Queen Silveria, is speaking to you! I have the results you’ve been all waiting for!”Silveria showcases her strong presence with even stronger words.

“Her personality is awful!!” Ravel snaps at Yutaka, wondering how an intelligent boy like him could be attracted to a girl like that.

“Had she participated, none of you would have stood a chance. She won the Beauty Contest three times in a row but didn’t participate this year because she had accepted the role of a student council president.” Yutaka is still smitten with her.

Silveria pins the paper with results on the big board and then faces the crowd which formed a circle around her. “The student council has decided the ranking of our finalists. As you know, each of the finalists is awarded starting points based on the ranking. The ranking number 1 gets 8 starting points and ranking number 8 gets 1 starting point. Now, avert your gaze as the Queen departs for her castle!” She walks away, leaving the crowd to read the results for themselves.

The students start impatiently pushing. The gang finally manages to squeeze through to read the names.

Everybody instantly froze on their feet.

“Damn it! She got ahead of me!” Eleona laments as she sees herself at number 4, while Zinia, who didn’t even bother to show up, placed at number 3.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” Ravel’s face turns pale as he finds out that he placed second, allowing him to participate on stage with six other pretty girls, and…

“No way, this world is turned upside down…” Seko is horrified by the result; all heads turn toward Fantasia.

Rank 1 - Swan Fantasia – earning 8 starting points.

CHAPTER 11: END