Blades of Despair

-Chapter Thirteen-

The Ultimate Concert

The next couple of days passed fairly quickly and without interruption from the headmaster and his right-hand bear. I had spent most of my free time with the girls as the hour of the concert approached. We had all gone to the storeroom, and the girls who had explored it had been right; every shelf and box were filled with every kind of object you could imagine. We had even found some materials to make delicate and beautiful dresses, thanks to Uehara's and Saza's sewing skills. The boys, on the other hand, had an easier time as they had all packed suits when they came to the academy. I picked out an eggshell blue, ankle-length fabric for my dress, matching heels and an indigo, sparkling shawl. Ouji and Morihei had offered to style hair for the girls, and I happily took them up on that offer, as I despised styling my own hair. The other girls and I decided to keep our dresses a secret from the boys, despite telling them that formal dress was mandatory.

I had also had a chance to investigate the games room with Mina and Uehara, who spent practically all their time in there when they weren't rehearsing for the contest. However, their attention span was unbelievably fickle; we would play billiards, then quickly move onto darts, then air hockey. This process repeated several times over every hour, and after about three, I had understood why Morihei had looked so exhausted after the short time she had spent with Mina. It was so exhausting to look after those two that we established a rota for watching over them. Since I didn't have any rehearsing to do for the contest, I had extra shifts, which I truthfully didn't mind. Mina and Uehara had become like little sisters to the group, and a secret decision was made between the rest of us to take extra care of the pair. Since we had explored the second floor of the school, their moods had improved significantly, as though they had almost forgotten where we were, why we were there and what had happened to us. While I was still struggling to cope with our loss, it was nice to be able to partially forget about the atrocities of two days ago. Everybody else also seemed to busy themselves so they didn't spend all their hours in mourning.

Before long, the evening of the music contest had arrived. The girls and I had gotten dressed in Ouji's room because she had an abundance of hair products, makeup and jewellery. I knew nothing about presenting myself in an elegant and beautiful way; I had always settled for what felt comfortable, and not what necessarily made me look good. When I asked whether a pair of earrings were necessary, or whether I had too much makeup on, Ouji would simply shake her head and mutter not to bother a master at work. So, I sat patiently as Ouji did my makeover, and my nerves grew with every passing moment. Why was she taking so long? Was I really so ugly that she so much to cover up? The discomfort swelled and I felt myself flush from shame, but no sooner had I thought these things that Ouji told me she was done. She and Iowa then helped me into my dress, and then covered my eyes and led me to Ouji's bathroom.

"Okay, Ori, you can open your eyes! Ta-da!" I did as I was instructed and looked into the mirror and almost screamed in shock. The person looking back at me in my reflection, mirroring my movements and dumbfounded expression, was a beautiful, red-headed girl with shining eyes. Is that me? My hair had been sleeked upwards into a neat, spiraling bun, while some curled tendrils of hair delicately fell in front of my ears. Ouji had been kind enough to lend me some periwinkle earrings that swung from a thin, golden chain – they weren't proper earrings, as my ears had never been pierced, but Ouji said they should stay attached as long as I didn't move my head too suddenly. Ouji had also done my makeup ("you don't need a lot of makeup on your face to look beautiful," she had said when she saw my worried expression as I looked at her immense collection), and she had done an amazing job. The only noticeable changes she had made were plucking my eyebrows to make them more uniform and applying light pink lipstick. The overall effect, she had told me, was intended to be simple but elegant, and I believed she had achieved just that. In the storeroom, Uehara had found some jewels and ornaments from which she had, miraculously, somehow fashioned several necklaces and bracelets for us all to wear. She had given me a purple one, which she told me contained amethysts, but I struggled to believe she had found something so valuable in a school storeroom, but I let the thought go. This is a night for us to enjoy, not to worry about storeroom logistics.