Tough Competition

Elric collapsed onto the sofa, his eyes dimly scanning over the rapidly scrolling feed on his phone.

"Everyone split up!"

"Management called the cops!"

"There's an exit to the side of the building, escape through there!"

A few pictures and short videos sent from The Boys attending Nulstaya's concert confirmed their success. After singing just one song, a hail of half-eaten fruit and random trash descended on the stage, forcing her to flee.

One of The Boys had even managed to snap a few pictures of her before she escaped into her car, then sent the image around to every tabloid he could find.

Given how the photographer had the 'Paparazzi Trash' tag on his account, Elric could guess that the number of tabloids wasn't small.

The photographs were also shared in the group chat, and Elric nearly chuckled when he saw them, despite his sour mood.

Nulstaya's dress was stained and filthy, and whatever the green dye was hadn't been cleaned off yet. She looked reminiscent of an ogre coming out from its swap for the first time in years.

The operation had gone perfectly, and Elric even managed to arrange for Lelhah88, the winner of their insulting contest, to meet up with Leo's younger sister.

That wasn't why his mood was so low.

Instead, it was because of some information he'd run into as soon as he opened up the Area Schools Performance Competition.

All of the participants had to be from the specific school that they were representing.

It meant that the Wagner bros wouldn't be able to join Ember in performing. While he could try sending her up to perform alone, it wouldn't really fit the theme of the competition, and she would likely be judged quite harshly.

He needed to find a new band for her to sing for.

Even with Elric having quite a number of friends, he didn't know any available bands.

Most of them would already be signed up, partnered with other singers, or bringing one of their own. With just a week left to apply, there wasn't much time for Elric to find people to play.

'I'd love to find another rock band to play with Ember, since we'd be able to have the Wager crew train them in before the qualifiers start. Unfortunately, I know if I can find the people for it… We'll probably have to just settle for whoever's available.'

Luckily they were in an entertainment-focused college, so there was hope of some people being skilled in instruments.

'I'll probably have to dedicate a lot of time to finding a proper team in the next few days… and Ember will need to get all of the arrangements figured out to fit with whoever I manage to find. I also agreed to go with Dargon to the race and to help him out with some other stuff at the track, too… urg.'

Elric's schedule went from empty to completely packed in the span of a single day. He'd been planning on spending more quality time with Ember and easing into the semester of classes, but it seemed he would have to stop on the gas right from the start.

'I'll hardly even have time to check out anyone else who will be competing in the competition… Heck, that's practically a full-time job on its own. There are 16 schools competing, and each with having their own qualifiers first. If I had infinite time, I'd make sure trashy singers get through so I don't even need to worry about it when Ember makes it to the main stage, but I doubt there's a shot at that now.'

-

-

At the same time Elric was stressing out, a young woman leaned against a wall, her left leg laying in the hospital bed before her.

She was sitting on the pillow, her fingers softly strumming the strings of a guitar, playing a catchy tune.

On her phone, sitting at her side, there was a news posting.

"Area Schools Performance Competition! Sign up today!"

Just as she was looking at it, a notification popped up at the top.

Jared: What a letdown. Grow up and give up on that stupid music stuff, you'll never make it. You haven't even spent any time with me recently.

Jared: Answer me.

Jared: Don't you care about your boyfriend?

Jared: Whatever, I only stayed with you because you were pretty, but you won't even do anything with me.

The girl reached down to her phone, opening up the profile of the number that was repeatedly texting her.

Her finger tapped on the block button, silencing the tirade that'd just started up, and she switched back to the news posting tab right afterward.

Unlike when she clicked the block button, her finger trembled a bit as it paused over the 'Sign Up' link.

'I need to do something to stand out… my manager hasn't even come by for the past couple of days.'

Resolving herself, she clicked on the link, then filled out some personal information. She quickly filled in the names of her bandmates as well, all being from the SAU, the third and most lacking college in the city.

That wasn't to say it couldn't compete- it just wasn't quite on the level of SSSU's entertainment sector or NSU's management department.

'We'll stomp everyone else from our college, none of them have seen any success before. The same goes for most of the high schools… There are a few that stand out, but I can still beat them.'

Her gaze drifted over to the list of past winners.

In the previous five years, SSSU won twice, NSU once, and two different high schools each won once.

There were no wins for SAU.

'Aside from Alha Nulstaya, there are no other performers around our age who can beat me, and she won't even be participating.'

The moment the girl thought that, she opened up her photographs app on her phone. Stored in it were countless screenshots of comments left on online postings of her songs.

"Uninspired."

"Dull."

"Boring."

"Decent at singing, but no personality."

'Even if I can crush everyone with technique… I've still got a lot more to improve on. Nulstaya? She's only going to be the queen of the new generation for so long. I'll keep going even after I pass her up, until no one can even try chasing after me.'

Angeline's fingers started picking at her guitar's strings once again, and her smooth, beautiful voice spread through the room. Every note was held perfectly, just the same as her fingers that plucked the strings with the perfect amount of force and impeccable timing.