Gate Guardian - Tale of the Blazing Heart

Phase 11: The Summer Pageant

Phase 11: The Summer Pageant

[Heightsburg Campus - Heightsburg City]

[4:32 PM]

"Here's your free ticket for my pageant!~"

Erylle flashed a cute smile when she gave out tickets for me and Asumi. Correct me if I'm wrong, but she's rather happy in joining the pageant.

"Thank you, Miss Fontaine!" Asumi returned the smile. "We'll give you full support, right, Yohan?"

"Mmm...Yeah..."

"Hey Yohan... About your treat..." She whispered at me.

"Yes, yes. I know."

Then she started to cast me off for a while. She'll talk to Asumi, she said. Some urgent business. I'm not sure what is it all about, but I have an idea. Maybe she's asking her about our relationship or something like that. It doesn't matter. What I've told her is the truth. We're just friends.

Our classes just ended, and we won't be hunting Eidolons this week, so this is my free time. How sweet! I can now play games! Or not. Maybe I'll walk around for a bit and see if there are other interesting booths here in the school. Besides, Summer Festival is only one week per year.

I had my stomach stuffed with some baby hotcakes, bacon cheeseburgers and a cookies and cream shake. After that, I returned to the booth where I left Asumi and Erylle.

Asumi and I decided to go home together again, but before that, Erylle gave me a book. She said that it was made by Mia for "starters". I had a sneak peak of the book, and pictures of some kind of monsters and maps. I was pretty sure that it is for Gate Guardians. I can't afford to reveal that to Asumi, so I immediately closed the book.

<>

When we were making our way towards home, Asumi piped up, curious about the book.

"What's with that book?"

"It's my notes about my calculus subject." I smiled with nervousness. "Did Erylle ask you anything?"

"Ummm...Yes. But it's a secret. Don't worry; it doesn't have anything to do with you."

I finally had the chance to read the book when I was alone in my dormitory. It is some spell guide. It teaches here how to do basic <Protection Barrier> and <Healing Touch> spells. It's a waste that none of the pages of this book teaches Destruction Spells. Even so, this might help me a lot. Also, there is a map of the Heightsburg City, the blueprints of almost all buildings in it, and some pictures of Eidolons.

According to this book, there are two types of spells. Chant and Instant. Chant Spells are the ones you shout out loud for its spell name to cast, and all of these spells are powerful. Instant Spells are mostly support type spells like <Protection Barrier> and <Healing Touch> spells. Since the Chant Spells requires a weapon and I don't have one, my only choice is to study the Instant Spells.

There are also some kind of passive spells, like <MultiWield> that makes you able to use two Weapon Gems at a time, and <Spellfuse>, which makes you able to combine two or more spells to a more powerful one. Those passive spells takes year to practice.

I studied the whole night reading how to cast the barrier and healing spells. I even managed to memorize an extra spell that might be handy.

<>

The next day is the Summer Pageant. Before the show started, I got myself in the dressing room, supporting Erylle by myself. She looks elegant with her white dress. I can't even talk to her when she's like this. She kept asking questions like "Am I beautiful?", "Is my face okay?" etcetera. But I'm just there sitting, unable to say a word.

But then Zenaida appeared, and started to provoke Erylle.

"You have some guts to show your face here." She laughed maliciously.

"Of course I do! I'm going to trample your goat-face full of concoctions." Erylle started to smile.

"How dare you loser speak like that!"

Then Zenaida left. She certainly lost her cool there. The make-up artist watched them and forgot to keep his jaw up. That was quite a punchline!

My heart raced faster when the summer pageant started.

"We are now here to open the Summer Pageant of the Heightsburg Campus!"

Then all the pretty ladies on our school came walking in the platform with their unique gowns. Twenty-four beautiful girls are competing in this pageant.

Zenaida is wearing a red velvet gown that emphasizes her measurements. Of course, make-ups. Those make-ups covered his goaty jaws and wrinkled face.

Erylle, on the other hand, is wearing a white gown with daisy ornaments on her hair. When she finally had a stage time, the crowd shouted in surprise. The champion, who was last seen on a pageant two years ago, have finally made reappearance on the stage, standing out effortlessly with her pure charisma.

Other models made a good fight, but I'm pretty much sure that this is a battle against Zenaida and Erylle.

And now, the talent portion. Erylle has her songs, so I'm pretty confident about her winning. She sang a ballad-ish love song. It felt good on my ears and my heart, having a delusion that she's singing it for me. Nice work, brain.

I don't need to describe Zenaida. She's dancing, and she's not really a dancer. She just wants to attract guys in the school. I would vote for her if she do a little tailspin but she didn't.

"And the second runner up is..." the emcee shouted.

Then there was a long drumroll. My teeth chattered in nervousness.

There are only three of them left in the stage. Erylle, Zenaida and a girl named Alice Remeina. They are standing nervously, gazing on the massive audiences with a smile on their face. Except Zenaida, she seems confident that she'll be the champion.

"Zenaida Emynyte!"

Her jaws dropped, her face became blue, and her eyes created a tear, slightly erasing the make-up on her face. Honestly, seeing this face of her is priceless. I don't feel any pity for her at all.

Zenaida left the stage outrageously walking, and never showed her face to Erylle again.

Erylle finally saw me in the crowd of audiences. She waved her hand at me and smiled gracefully like a princess. Seeing her in that state is too much for me. My face is now all red, fever going high...Call the ambulance! I'm having a seizure!

There was a long drum roll again. Audiences shout in excitement to witness the Summer Pageant's victor.

"The Miss Heightsburg for this Summer Pageant is......."