Moment of Truth

“I don’t understand, Silveria. What do you mean they bullied you because of you being ugly? I think you were very beautiful!! Especially that cute little gap between your teeth~!” Fantasia is captivated by the younger version of Silveria.

“Of course you would find her cute, heh,” Ravel giggles, thinking back to all those times she found the beauty in places where nobody else could.

“I know right?! I loved that gap! But it was corrected through a dental treatment…” Silveria says with a sense of disappointment in her voice.

“Dammit! I wanted to have leverage over her with that secret that she was actually very ugly! Now she can irritate me freely and I won’t have any ace up my sleeve!” Liko watches the scene unfold, muttering to herself, feigning tears.

“When I first won the Beauty Contest, I knew I got back at those bullies by proving myself I was the most beautiful girl around. And, to be honest, I kinda got too into it and my side personality emerged, hehe.” Silveria tilts her head downwards in embarrassment.

“Aaaah, I knew there was something about her! Old love never dies~!” Yutaka enters his fanboy love mode.

“You’re creeping me out, dude,” Seko tries to ground him.

“As a judge, I don’t want to say anything about who you should be voting for. But don’t forget that even an ugly duckling like me can transform into a beautiful swan. And we have our own Swan who deserves to be looked at with kind eyes. Liko, your turn now…” Silveria reassumes her seat as a judge.

Liko has always been jealous of Silveria. Despite being quite unattractive for the majority of the elementary school, Silveria still had far more friends than her. Perhaps, they were drawn to her because of her dynamic personality and not appearance, Liko finally admits.

Knowing this might not be the best time, Ravel leans forward to Eleona and whispers something that evidently shocks her, as she stares at him in disbelief.

“Alright, let’s get rid of that pic on the big screen and we can finally reveal our rankings before the voting!” Liko moves the contest forward. “All contestants, please get on the stage once more!”

Each participant takes their place, forming a line. Violet stands on the left side of the stage, closest to the judges. Kanade next to her right, farther from the judges' desk. Ravel, who wanted to stand next to Fantasia, but Leanna claimed her left hand, while Eleona held her right, with Zinia at the end of the line.

“Let’s see your scores before we ask our students to vote!”

Liko prepares to reveal the rankings on the big screen behind them. The scores are displayed gradually, starting from the last rank to the first:

Rank 8 - Lucy of 2.C – 1 point (disqualified)

Rank 6 – Violet of 3.B and Leanna of 2.C – 13 points (tied)

Rank 5 – Ravel of 2.A – 14 points

Rank 4 – Eleona of 1.B – 20 points

Rank 3 – Kanade of 4.A – 21 points

Rank 2 – Zinia of 1.B – 23 points

Rank 1 – Fantasia of 1.B – 26 points

“Fantasia is still in the lead, but the hot candidates Big Ears and that Kanade girl have closed the gap significantly,” Seko points out.

“Yeah, Eleona as well. But still, the judge’s points may not make any difference in the end if there are almost 500 students here casting their votes. But it can come into play in case of a tie or something,” Yutaka explains.

“Do you think Silveria’s interference will actually help Fantasia?”

“Hmmm, I don’t know. Looks like she still has bad memories about the bullying she experienced when she wasn’t that pretty. That must be the reason why she pushed Fantasia among the top 8 finalists, it’s like Silveria wants to see her past self win this.”

“So you think Silveria’s reasoning that Zhang explained, making the contest more entertaining for people, is not actually true?” Seko leans forward, waiting for Yutaka's response.

“Well, it could be still true to some extent, but I think it was just an excuse she came up with to persuade the other Student Council members, because she didn’t want to reveal her real intentions with Fantasia, being as unpopular as Fantasia is,” Yutaka looks around throughout the vestibule, finding excited and smiling faces. “Or as she used to be.”

“Doesn’t matter what the President did, my favorite is still going to win,” Ares’ eyes are fixated on the stage, not even blinking while he watches the show.

Though Yutaka and Seko frown at Ares' statement, they choose not to respond verbally.

In the meantime, the volunteers distributed to each of the three judges a sash – the ceremonial ribbon that is worn diagonally from one shoulder to the opposite hip which serves as a symbol of contestant’s achievement and status. Each judge will present the sash to a particular contestant.

“Alright, my dear audience! It’s finally the time. Please open our app on your smartphones and click ‘present’ on the home screen!”

The students pull out their phones and follow Liko’s instructions. For a few tens of seconds, the big screen gets updated with a number of students who had presented themselves. The count settled at 466.

“I’m gonna beat you!” Eleona makes a small step back so she can see Zinia more clearly, whispering to her loud enough for Zinia to catch the mocking.

“Yeah, keep dreaming, loser!” Zinia responds a little louder than she intended to. She hides her mouth behind hands after realizing that.

Ravel silently watches all the contestants around him. This is the moment everything he has done led to. Should he have done something more? Could he have done something more? What did he even do? He gave Fantasia the confidence she needed and decided to stand on this platform beside her, but nothing is in his hands now. He can only hope for the best.

“Is there anybody who hasn’t clicked the ‘present’ button yet?”

‘Come on, we wanna vote already!’

‘Silveria, I love you!!!’

The students can’t wait to finally express their opinion, while the others use any situation to show affection to their Queen.

“E-ehm, very well, there are 466 eligible voters! Are you all ready now?”

The contestants eagerly wait for the climax of the event. Who is going to be the next Miss Bratislava High School? Who is going to be the next Vice Miss? Only a few minutes left for the moment of truth.

Please let Fantasia win at least the Judge prize, please don’t make her ranked last, Ravel is praying in his mind with closed eyes but his prayers are interrupted by a loud voice.

“Excuse me! I have something to say!” Fantasia raises her hand, asking for a microphone.

“Huh?” Ravel opens his eyes quickly in a shock. All the other contestants look at her incomprehensibly, too.

“Now really is not the time, Fantasia, can this wait?“ Liko attempts to dismiss her.

“No! I should have done this earlier but it’s not like it’s going to make any difference, heheh,”

Liko reluctantly agrees and hands her the microphone.

“I’m withdrawing from the contest!” Fantasia proudly declares, wearing a broad smile on her face.

CHAPTER 26: END