When Frederika’s performance was over, everyone showered her in applause.
“Thanks, guuuuys! ♪” she said in a singsong voice. “The real ritual will be held next week, so please look forward to it!”
I heard the spirit roar with excitement, and my knees almost buckled from the overwhelming pressure, but I managed to somehow maintain my cool. It’s okay. I’m with everyone here. I’m not alone.
“All right, girls!” Frederika said. “I need you to memorize twenty songs and dance routines by the end of this week!”
“We can’t do that!” I instinctively shouted back. It didn’t take a genius to know that she was trying to impose an extremely rigorous schedule on us, yet she was acting like it was the most casual ask in the world.
“Indeed,” Queen Belletochka mused. “Frederika, it’ll be terribly inefficient for you to teach them by yourself, and you can’t teach them all in such a short amount of time.”
I mean, I don’t think that’s the half of it, but as long as she’s also saying no!
“Oh, don’t worry!” Frederika said. “Just don’t eat, drink, sleep, or rest for an entire week straight, and we’ll be ready in time!”
Hey, Frederika, ever hear the phrase “corporate exploitation”? “That won’t work unless you’re trying to kill us all off before the performance,” I informed her. “Surely that’s not what you want?”
“Oh, that won’t do, then,” Frederika replied. “All right, what about a song per person? That’ll make a total of five songs.”
A person per song implied that each of us would do a solo performance. Safina turned pale at the thought, and as a fellow psychologically vulnerable girl, I could practically feel the crushing pressure despite never having experienced such a thing before.
“Um, Miss Frederika?” I asked. “Can’t we all just sing one song?”
“Well, that won’t let each of you dazzle on your own,” she replied.
I’m sure I’ll live somehow!
Frederika clearly seemed adamant that we needed to do solo performances, at least enough so to have pushed back, but I had to put my foot down for the sake of my dear friend, Safina. (And also for my own sake. Especially for my own sake.) It was critical everyone worked together to overcome this trial. “How about we split one song up into various solo parts?” I suggested. “Each section will be short, but we can still make everyone the star for a few moments.”
“Hmm, splitting a song up...” the queen mulled. “If one, two, or even everyone gets their own bit within a single song, the audience can still enjoy a variety within one number... Heh heh, it truly is no wonder my sister favors you. How very, very interesting...”
Frederika still looked confused, but it seemed the queen understood what I was getting at. Cribbing knowledge from my past life may have scored me some undesirable points with the queen here, but I knew sacrifices had to be made if I was going to avoid putting on a whole song by myself.
“So, we must think of a corresponding dance routine,” the queen said. “Right, Frederika?”
“Huh?” the mermaid asked. “Uh, yes. Um, sure. I’ll leave you to it.”
The gears were already turning in the queen’s head, but clearly, Frederika still wasn’t quite sure what I had in mind, so she just decided to let Queen Belletochka take the reins.
“We must select a song that shall allow everyone to sing along that is also possible to split into parts...” Her Majesty muttered.
“What kind of song would work?” Frederika asked.
The two ladies were now off in their own world, leaving us girls on the sidelines. I preferably wanted a simple song, but I decided to leave the decision-making to the pros.
“Mary, we cannot swim nimbly in water, but we can use our wings to soar through the air,” Emilia said. “Would you think that sufficient as a replacement?” The princess stretched her wings and zoomed through the skies much like how Frederika had done when she was singing in the water.
“Oooh! I’m impressed to hear such a good idea from you!” I said.
“We beg your pardon?”
“I said, ‘Great idea! Keep up the good work!’ Ha ha.” I was so surprised I’d put my foot in my mouth, but I smiled and tried to laugh it off as Emilia glared at me dubiously. “By the way, we might not be as agile as Emilia, but we can use floating magic to fly too,” I added.
Safina looked worried. She was the only one of us who couldn’t use floating magic, and it would have been cruel of me to ask why someone who was working toward being a warrior had yet to learn such a vital spell. I knew she was terrified of heights, and I had no interest in forcing her hand.
Oh yeah, isn’t Magiluka afraid of heights too? When I glanced over at her, she also seemed slightly pale at the thought of dancing in the air.
“U-Um, I...” Safina started.
“Don’t worry,” I assured her. “We can be the ones flying in the air while you dance below us, and if it’s really required, we can all just float together. We can set up the dance routine to accommodate whatever formation we want.”
I glanced at Emilia and Sita for agreement, and they nodded back.
“Belletochka, how about this song?” Frederika suggested. “I’ve never sung this with everyone before, but it seems worth testing out.”
“Hmm, yes,” the queen agreed. “We can have them try it out.”
Looks like they’ve finally decided on a song. Fingers crossed that it’s not too difficult to sing or get the hang of. I maintained a calm demeanor—okay, I tried my best to look like I was maintaining a calm demeanor as I actually nervously waited for them to announce our song.
“All right, gather round, girls!” Frederika called out, peeking her face out from her sphere of water. “Listen up! I think we’ve settled on a song.” Then she began to sing. It was a slow song, and as it was a cappella, it sounded difficult to get the hang of the high and low notes along with the rhythm.
“Okay!” Frederika said. “Little Mary, why don’t you give it a go?”
“Y-Yesh, ma’am...” I stuttered. I once again let my clumsy self go on full display, my voice rising an octave from nervousness when I replied in a terrible waste of my flawless poker face (that definitely was flawless).
In any case, it wasn’t like I couldn’t sing, thanks to the dancing and singing that I was exposed to daily. Thank you, academy and my instructors. My mind just went back to the good old days when I was just a simple student in school to ease my nerves as I got through my turn.
Magiluka then sang well, which came as no surprise, but then I was most astonished by Emilia’s voice.
“Why’re you a good singer?” I asked.
“What’s it to you? Why do you seem so upset?” Emilia fired back with a glare.
Is it because she’s a princess? Is it the songstress genetics passed down to her? I hadn’t the faintest clue, and I was unable to hide my shock. “I just thought it was...you know...unusual,” I muttered.
“Mary, don’t you think you’ve been underestimating us a lot lately?”
“That’s not true! I’m just happy to get to see these unusual sides of yours.”
All I did was voice my genuine feelings, but the princess, for some inexplicable reason, averted her gaze to the floor and started mumbling under her breath. My word, what an adorable creature...
Safina was up next. It wasn’t hard to tell just how tense she was, and her nerves caused her to miss a few notes here and there, but that could easily be resolved with a bit of practice. It wasn’t really an issue of skill for her as much as it was a mental barrier.
“All right. Sita’s up next,” Orthoaguina said. He was quiet until now, but he broke his silence now that the chief librarian was up to sing. “Are you all right? Are you nervous? Don’t worry, just take deep breaths. Inhale, then exhale.”
“R-Right,” Sita replied.
Our resident doting dragon parent sounded more nervous than anyone now that it was his daughter’s turn. That consequently made Sita nervous, and she took a few deep breaths to steady herself.
While it hadn’t been at their behest, Orthoaguina had enhanced the physical abilities of Kairomea’s elves through his experimentation. I’d expected her to be just fine when it came to music as a result, but she looked surprisingly uneasy. All too soon, I realized the reason behind her hesitance.
Sita was...completely tone-deaf.
“A-As the chief librarian, it’s only natural music is an unexplored subject for you. I don’t blame you one bit,” Orthoaguina said, desperately trying to cheer his daughter up.
“T-True,” I agreed. “I’m sure she’s always been so swamped with her duties that she’s hardly ever had time for singing.”
“Precisely. Exactly so.”
We tried to soften the blow for Sita, who was presently despairing on her hands and knees. What I’d said was actually true, after all—unlike we students’ experience at the academy, Sita’s lifestyle had had nothing to do with singing or dancing. Unlocking the tower in Kairomea must’ve been her utmost priority for as long as she could remember, and she’d had little time for anything else. In fact, this might’ve been the first time she’d ever sung a song, period.
“You can hum along, so you’re not a totally lost cause,” Orthoaguina added. “If you maintain your cool and keep practicing, you’ll be able to sing well in no time. Sit tight, I’ll call over an expert for you.”
“Thank you, Lord Orthoaguina,” Sita replied.
“Good girl. That’s the spirit. Let’s hole up in a mountain for about a month and do some hard training!”
“I will! Please help me!”
“Hey, sorry to burst you two’s bubble when you’re all pumped up, but there aren’t any mountains here to hole yourself up in,” I reminded them. “Also, we’ve only got a week.”
“Why did that obnoxious fish-woman give us so little time to prepare?!” Orthoaguina roared.
Listen, I know that you’re panicking a bit because your precious daughter is in a pinch, but don’t call Frederika names, please. We’re going to end up having to beg for her forgiveness if you don’t get your act together. I worriedly glanced over at Frederika, who looked to be consulting with Queen Belletochka now that she’d heard everyone sing. Frederika probably didn’t hear him.
“Huh? Did you say something?” Frederika asked, noticing my gaze.
“You—” Orthoaguina started.
“Uh, it’s nothing!” I interjected, hoping I could clamp down on our book’s excessive word count and prevent him from complicating things any further. “Um, we can’t possibly have any more time, can we?”
“Sorry, probably not,” Frederika replied. “We’re already pushing it with a week. The spirit’s about to blow its lid, so this is about all the time we can buy.” She bowed her head apologetically.