A few days later, the four walk into the cafeteria with a groan. "Myah, I'm starvin'!" Grim exclaims as they stand in line. "It feels like we gotta wait YEARS for lunchtime to roll around on days with morning P.E."
"What's P.E. got to do with anything?" Ace says as he gets his food. "You're always hungry." Grim rolls his eyes at the statement. "...Hm?" Ace hums as he looks at a group of students.
"Huh," Deuce says as his eyes follow his eyesight, seeing the group as a well. "There's a crowd gathering near that wall," he says as he heads towards the group with the others following him, seeing a flyer placed on the wall. "Let's see," he says as he reads the flyer. "'Song & Dance Championship...'" He starts. "...Now accepting auditions?" He reads. "Oh, that's the music showcase event at the culture fair."
"I see it on TV every year," Ace says. "Never knew the competitors on there had to audition, though." He looks to the flyer. "'Dancers! Singers! Come one, come all! This is your shot at the big time! Outshine the rest and be a star! If the team representing your school makes it to the final round...Each member will receive a share of the fifty thousand thaumark prize.'"
The three hesitates for a moment. "FIFTY THOUSAND THAUMARKS?!" They collectively exclaim, making Angel cover her ears at how loud it was.
"That's right! Isn't it just a fabulous prize?!" Crowley happily says, scaring the four.
"GAH! You scared me!" The three collectively exclaim again.
"I know it's a running gag at this point, but could you PLEASE stop popping up out of nowhere, headmage?!" Ace pleads.
Crowley look at the four, seeing that they were shaken up by his appearance. "Oh, I beg your pardon. I never meant to frighten you." I feel like that's a lie... "There's a reason this Song & Dance Championship has such a tantalizing pot up for grabs," he explains. "There are a number of businesses sponsoring it, you see. SDC is nothing like the Pop Music Club contests you're used to. The finalists get swamped with offers from all manner of entertainment agencies and labels. It's entirely possible to rocket from obscurity to the ranks of the top artists in the land. This isn't merely a matter of school pride- it's a high-stakes music battle with the entrant's future success or failure riding on the outcome, and if we want to attract more elites, we need a sufficiently enticing prize."
"Ah, I get you," Ace crosses his arms. "If the sponsors can net a star that lets them basically print money...Fifty thousand thaumarks is a small price to pay."
"With fifty grand, I could load up on fancy three-thaumark canned tuna!" Grim happily says while Angel sweat drops. We have the money for our basic living and them some... She thinks, thinking about the card she still got from Crewel with more than 950 thousand thaumarks on it, maybe even more. Maybe when she heads back home, she can return it to him. She hasn't told Grim about for this specific reason and rather to keep it that way.
"Hold on," Deuce speaks. "It says that the prize is split amongst the team. So if there was a four-member group, each member would get...uhhh..." Deuce counts on his fingers. "Fifty divided by four...Ten...Thirteen..."
"It'd be 12,500 thaumarks," Ace answers and Angel nods at the calculation. "Which would net you over four thousand cans of premium tuna."
"Daaaaaaang!" Grim cheers. "Four thousand! Ooh, ooh! Angel!" Grim calls out. "I want in on this competition!"
Angel giggles at him. "You'll have to make it through auditions first."
"Whaddaya mean 'me'?" Grim says with a smirk. "You're join-"
"No," Angel sternly says with a smile, shocking him at how quick the response was.
"Some schools select representatives from their Choral and Pop Music Clubs, but here at Night Raven College, we scout talent from the entire student body via audition," Crowley says.
"So you gotta duke it out and climb your way to the top!" Deuce smirks, thinking about the competition.
"Of course, the most serious students have been preparing for this since last year...But as I see it, everyone always has the right to dream of stardom. Well? What do you think? Aren't I so very kind?" Crowley smiles. "Anyone has the right to audition, as long as they are currently enrolled here," he hopefully eyes Angel, and she looks away, avoiding his gaze. "I, for one, simply cannot wait to see who will represent us this year!" He happily says as he walks off, leaving the four behind.
A/N: Good news everyone! This week I actually have some downtime enough to write more chapters! Well...if you consider 10 quizzes to do during the week, along with a presentation, with studying time for my exam next Monday (don't worry it's manageable I've checked my schedule!) so I can still focus on the schedule! Based on what I have so far, I can probably write about 10 chapters this week so look forwards to it! (2/17/24)
Let's go Team Saturday!