Forty - First ranking competition

After everyone was sure Stacey had gotten herself back under control, they helped her down to breakfast. After breakfast, she worked hard with her team to master her part of the performance.

"I'm sorry I'm holding you guys back," Stacey apologised when rehearsal was over and they had to go and get dressed for the competition.

It would be livecast so that the public could vote for their favourite contestants and have them ranked. This week was only voting for them to be ranked but the next major competition would be for entering the various streams of performing arts. Thankfully with the upcoming battle, the streaming exams and elimination round would be pushed back.

"Don't worry," Ken told her. "You'll do fine. We won't end up last anyway. Frankly I'm amazed that you managed to get yourself back together after all of yesterday's mishaps. I heard the local beastman leader nearly kidnapped you. Don't worry. I would have expected anyone who was nearly kidnapped to be in a worse condition than you are now. I'm sure the public will take that into some consideration."

"You're doing pretty well on the polls," Flail told her. "Public opinion of you is good. Me and Endo on the other hand… we're not so sure. We've barely been noticed besides being associated with you."

"I'm glad I could be in the same group as you guys at least for this round," Endo said, giving them all a fist bump. "I respect all of you guys so much. I hope we all get along with our next groups as well as we get along with each other. Let's all stay friends after this, ok? Even if we don't all manage to get into the same group again."

"Yes. Let's do that," Flail agreed. "Friends."

"Friends."

"Friends."

All four piled their hands together and raised a cheer.

During the concert, the four watched the other groups closely and enjoyed their performances. As their turn drew closer, Stacey felt the butterflies in her stomach flutter harder.

"I'll bet she trips over and makes a mess," she heard one girl mutter to her neighbour.

"After having such a bad day yesterday, I wonder if she'll be up to it today," a boy said. "I hope she's feeling better."

"Did you hear that she almost got taken by a beastman?"

"The beastman should have just carried her away and given us one less competitor."

"I hope the scare makes her completely flop so she can get a low ranking and be voted off the show. We don't need fake attention seekers like her here."

"Shh. Don't say mean things like that. Who knows if anyone is listening or a camera is rolling somewhere. See, there's a cameraman there."

"I hope she'll be ok."

Stacey tried to ignore all the comments. Her team patted her shoulders or held her hands in silent support.

"Come here, everyone," Ken pulled all their heads together before they entered the stage. "No matter what happens, remember. We're friends. Just do your best. No complaints. No being upset no matter the result. Stacey, you've got this."

"Yeah. You've got this," Endo and Flail echoed.

They piled their hands together.

"Friends," they all promised each other and turned to enter the stage.

The cameraman gave Stacey a thumbs up and a smile. She nodded in reply, adjusting her emotions.

Taking a deep breath, the team took their positions while they and their performance was announced. The music began and Endo was the first to rise and sing.

He sang of spring blooming and seeing a beautiful woman beneath a tree dressed in white. That was Stacey's cue to dance and sing a wordless accompaniment to Endo's ballad. Stacey's voice cracked on a high note but she quickly recovered and kept going.

A murmur swept through the audience.

While Stacey and Endo sang, Ken entered the frame to watch from a distance harmonising with Endo, while he watched with dreamy, longing eyes. Then along came Flail to break the sweet ballad with the contrast of a rap. Stacey, acting out her part, ran away from him and there began a long chase with two men fighting with each other through melody, countermelody and the occasional rapping accompaniment. In the meantime, Ken continued a wordless accompaniment to Stacey's sections, hesitating to meet her but secretly stepping in to help her escape from the attentions of the other two men. Eventually Ken sacrificed himself to stop Flail's character from capturing her. Ken fell to the ground, disappearing from view, while all Stacey saw was Endo's character looking like her rescuer. From his spot on the floor, Ken's character sang the final line of blessing to the loving couple while they left him there to die.

Stacey thankfully hadn't made any more big mistakes after her original cracked note. She felt she had succeeded in pulling off some of her trickier dance moves to a satisfying degree. The applause was neither loud nor soft. Neither long nor short. It indicated a mediocre performance.

"A much more technical piece compared to your initial performance, with a lovely story and acting," Beryl said after the applause. "There was a cracked note, some off tune bits and a few mistimed steps and turns by Stacey, but considering she has only just started learning to dance and to speak Tadpole this week, I'm surprised at how well she did this performance. Her Tadpole accent needs work. The people watching us tonight may not know, but Stacey has been working extremely hard this week."

"We have been watching her and she has barely slept two or three hours a day this week in order to study hard and train. She creeps out of the room long before the sun has risen and goes to bed long past midnight every night," Melesse said.

"We have all been amazed by the amount of hard work, sweat and tears she has been putting into this," Telea said. "And despite yesterday's hiccup of a day where she was unwell and hadn't been able to finalise her performance with her team…"

"In spite of still feeling unwell this morning," Beryl added.

"She nevertheless managed to give us a passable performance," Telea finished.

"Stacey, I'm glad you tried to perform a more difficult dance today," Phineas said. "I'm looking forward to your continued improvement and progress. Keep fighting. I'm cheering for you."

"I thought you were just an attention seeker at the start," Orlan confessed. "I'd like to apologise to you for my attitude. After seeing how hard you've worked despite all the things people have been saying and especially after what happened the other night, I'm glad to see that you've managed to pull yourself together and persevere. I'm cheering for you now."

"Stacey, have you seen or heard anything about what people have been saying about you online?" Beryl asked.

Stacey shook her head. She didn't have a smartphone or a laptop computer like most of the other trainees. Even if she did, she didn't know how to use them. While she recognised what the items were, they were quite different to what she was familiar with. The keyboards all used Tadpole cuneiform too.

"That's good," Telea said. "It's better not to look at online comments anyway. We all know what a rollercoaster comments can be like to our emotions."

"No need for me to say anything further," Hugh said. "I've been rooting for you from the very beginning. Keep up the hard work, Stacey. You other boys have also done a great job at supporting Stacey. You've all given us the very example of perfect teamwork. A solid performance by you three. I couldn't find anything to criticise about your parts in the performance."

"Ken, you did an excellent job at acting as the distant and silent lover. It was a lovely twist on this old ballad that everyone knows. I want to know whose idea the story progression was?" Phineas asked.

"It was all of our combined ideas," Ken said.

"It was mostly Ken's idea," Stacey shook her head and used a Tadpole proverb. "We have to give praise where praise is due."

"Stacey!" Endo leapt up and punched Stacey in the shoulder.

"What? Did I say it wrong?" Stacey said nervously.

"For going from knowing absolutely no Tadpole to using a proverb in the right context within one week," Beryl shook her head, speaking in Tadpole, "with perfect pronunciation no less, Stacey, you've amazed us all."

"I can only speak and understand a little bit now," Stacey replied in hesitant Tadpole, being careful to get her intonations and accent correct. "Anyway, I wanted to say that the whole story was Ken's idea."

"You can even converse in Tadpole now. Your tutors need a pay rise," Hugh whistled.

"The silent lover was your idea though," Ken elbowed Stacey.

"But you choreographed the entire performance," Endo elbowed Ken. "Me and Flail only added bits and pieces."

"The rap and rhythm changes were all you and Flail," Ken said.

"And Stacey worked out the countermelodies," Flail put in.

"Alright. Alright," Hugh held up his hands. "We all get it. You guys are a great team and have wonderful teamwork. You've all worked very smoothly with each other. You all realise your team will have to break up after this? It may not be so easy to work with another team."

"It's alright," Endo declared. "No matter what teams we end up in or how we compete against each other, we'll still be friends."

"Well said," Orlan agreed. "The voting to the public is now open for Endo, Flail, Ken and Stacey. Please place your votes to support them."