“Brother, look. It's her,” Colton said, tapping Ian, who had dozed off beside him. “What's it?” Ian groaned, annoyed at being woken from his nap. “Look up there.” Colton pointed forward at the virtual letters floating up in the air. “It's the girl you turned down her confession back then. She's selected as one of the participants chosen to participate in the singing competition. Do you think she's going to win? You know, it's a singing contest and not a fight-based match.” “She has a name, and it's Sylvia. Stop calling her the girl I rejected.” Ian scowled at Colton in warning, before looking upward at where he was pointing at. 'Hermes Academy: Sylvia Austen.' The virtual golden texts in the air were clear for all to see. As he shifted his gaze away from the text, he subconsciously caught sight of the familiar figure walking backstage. “So, what do you think about it, brother?” Colton's voice came to his ear. “Do you think she can sing?” “Hmm. I believe she will win the contest.” Ian didn't realize he had spoken his thoughts aloud. Colton, on the other side, seems surprised by his given answer. “Why did you say so?” Ian finally registered what he had just said. Still, he gave his answer. “Because she's a hard nut to crack.” Hearing his next reply, Colton's brain became even more confused. What do you mean by a hard nut to crack? This is a singing competition. It requires a talent to sing, and not just some brutal force. But suddenly realizing something, his eyes went wide in astonishment. “Ahh.” He seemed quite pleased with whatever discoveries he had just made. “You know, there's no harm in sharing the secret with me. It's not like I'm going to inform everyone what you told me. I'm a pretty tight-lipped person. I even kept that stuff I found about you hidden.” Ian glanced at him, wondering what delusion he had arrived at again. “I know it.” Colton had a knowing look on his face. Seeing Ian's doubting face on him, he immediately moved closer and explained in a whisper. “Sylvia is the CEO of Creamery Creamer. Moreover, she also has the Federation's backing behind her. Sir Vashti must have felt the need to get closer to her due to her connection with the organization. Hence, he selected her as one of the participants in the singing contest. Even if her performance was poor, he could just manipulate the results, giving her the championship title. With such a huge favor, how could Sylvia bear to turn him down? Like that, the relationship between them is a done deal. Wow, I can't believe I'm so smart to realize all this in just a single thought.” Looking at the other person, who seemed to be pleased with his nonsensical words, Ian didn't know whether to laugh or cry in such a situation. His friend was really the perfect definition of dumb and stupid. Ian shook his head disappointedly. He could only ensure to build a protective shield between him and the latter so that he wouldn't be influenced by his stupidity. … Sylvia arrived backstage, where the other 49 participants were gathered. Since she was the last to be called, she was the final person to arrive. Surprisingly, Charvi was among the 50 participants chosen to participate in the singing contest. Sighting Sylvia walking in from the corner of her eyes, Charvi's conversations with the girls in front of her halted. The girls were quick to notice Charvi's sudden pause. Sensing her looking elsewhere, they all followed her gaze, their eyes landing on Sylvia, who was standing all alone by herself. The coldness emanating from her body seems to have formed an invisible barrier around her, preventing anyone from approaching her. By now, Sylvia was already a popular topic on the net, so everyone in the room instantly recognized who she was. “What do you think I should do, Miss Charvi?” The soft voice of a girl broke the sudden silence in the atmosphere. “I'm terrified of facing the crowd.” There was a hint of fear in her tone as she spoke. “Do not be afraid, Euphrasia.” Charvi turned around, facing the girl who had spoken. Euphrasia is a student from a low-rank academy. She has a very particular eye-catching red hair that can be sighted from afar. Her long hair bangs covered almost half of her face, preventing anyone from seeing what her full appearance was really like. Well, that's because Euphrasia is a completely socially anxious person. Her being chosen to participate in the singing contest is like a death sentence to her. Noticing Charvi being close to everyone, she couldn't help but relate her troubles to her. “Everything will be over before you know it. Just take a deep breath, okay.” Charvi put on a smile, trying to appear friendly. “O-okay.” Euphrasia nodded. “Miss Charvi.” A male student, among those who were selected called. “You're such a nice person. I've always thought that people from the top academy are unapproachable and arrogant. But from your manners so far, it looks like I'm the one who's in the wrong.” “He-he.” Charvi chuckled as she brushed her hair backward. “Of course. Those are just malicious rumors spread out by some students. Which academy are you from, may I ask?” “I'm from Dunes Academy.” The male student replied. Seeing the space around her becoming lively, Euphrasia began to feel uncomfortable. She couldn't help but find her body moving backward until she was finally standing closer to where Sylvia was staying.“Ah. He-he-hello.” The little girl stammered as she struggled to just say a word of greeting. “Hello,” Sylvia responded. Euphrasia thought that was the end of the conversation until the girl beside her spoke. “Just think of the people in the audience as corpses. Corpses are dead people, so you don't need to fear when performing in front of them.” Euphrasia blinked with a blank expression on her face. 'Is she telling me the way to overcome my anxiety? But… isn't thinking of the people in the audience as corpses a scary thing. Hmm… I don't know… but I think her idea seems great.' Opening her mouth, her low voice sounded. “O-okay. Tha- thank you. My-” Before she could introduce herself, two teachers walked in, informing them to pick their choice of music to perform as they would soon be called to the stage. This announcement suddenly caused some students to start panicking. Most began to screen through the songs they were good at. [Host.] Susu emerged from his hiding spot. [Do you need me to pick a top famous song on earth for you to perform on the stage?] 'You finally aren't hiding away from me anymore.' [I… I wasn't hiding from you, host. I just went to play some games with some friends.] There is no way the system would admit that he had hidden himself just to sulk alone in a corner. 'Friends? How come I'm unaware of these friends of yours?' [They…] A certain lying system suddenly felt as if he had set a trap for himself. [They are socially anxious, just like that girl.] Sylvia chuckled inwardly and didn't expose his weak lie. She decided to play along with him. 'Oh. It's so sad that I won't get to meet your friends. What a pity.'“Sylvia, everyone is done picking the song they would be performing on the stage. Why haven't you chosen yours yet?” Charvi's words were loud enough for everyone in the backstage to hear. The two teachers who heard this turned their gaze towards Sylvia. “Do you have any songs in mind you would like to perform?” One of the teachers asked. Sylvia shook her head in response. “No, but --” Not letting her complete her sentence, Charvi suddenly cut in, “Then you'd better make up your mind soon. The performance would soon commence. I'm sure you don't want to be booed by the whole crowd the moment you stepped onto the stage.” Sylvia's face scrunched up into a frown seeing her sentence being cut short. The teacher's reply also came after, “Charvi's right. I know this event was a random pick and most of you here don't have a talent for singing. However, not choosing to perform would definitely be an embarrassment to you. I'm sure you don't want that.” “I've never said that I wasn't going to perform,” Sylvia spoke out. “Then, what do you mean by your earlier response.” The other teacher questioned. “I won't be performing someone else's song, but my instead.” This time around, everyone in the room was surprised to hear Sylvia's answer. Did she just say performing her own song? “Ha-ha-ha.” Charvi's broke into laughter. “Stop joking, Sylvia. You're terrible at making one. How could you have a song of your own when you aren't a songwriter? Come on, enough of the lies.” Charvi let out a chuckle, thinking that Sylvia had said those words to save herself from embarrassment. “I'm not joking.” Sylvia's expression was filled with a deep sense of coldness. “Also stop using demotic terms with me. I don't think we are both familiar with dropping the honorifics when speaking to each other.” “I…” Charvi was astonished, not in the least expecting Sylvia to talk back at her. The two teachers could guess that there was some bad blood between the two girls. One of them soon spoke. “Okay. Since you said you will be performing your own song, I guess the matter is settled then. I wish you all a wonderful performance.” After taking notes on the songs chosen by the other students, the two teachers left backstage. “Pretense,” Charvi mumbled as she pressed her lips together. Being retorted at made her angry. All pretense! How can Sylvia write a song? She can't even sing and yet dares to say that she would be performing her own song. What a farce! [Host, should I bring up a list of songs for you to select from?] Susu asked, thinking that Sylvia was going to sing a song from Earth. 'No. I won't be singing that. Do you think I was lying about having a song written by myself?' Now, it was Susu's turn to be surprised. How come he didn't know when his host had a song written? When was it? Was it during my hibernation period? As if hearing his inner questions, Sylvia replied, 'It was before you met me.' [Ohh.] Susu's tone elongated. He was inserted into Sylvia's body during the post-apocalyptic era. Apart from the re-encountering Sylvia had told him about the doomsday, he couldn't fathom the kind of experience she had gone through during those dark times. Writing a song? Surely, Sylvia doesn't seem to be the kind of person that would write a song. What sort of experience must have triggered her to write one? I sincerely hope it's a happy one. Sylvia stood alone at the side, her eyes looking lost as a long-hidden memory resurfaced in her mind.