Finally, the day had arrived, and excited, Hani woke up early in the morning. The school festival started at 9 am and ended at 9 pm, so she had plenty of time to do other things, like go into the cosplay cafe Emma had meticulously planned for when she was not helping Hani.
Getting ready, she got a text from Emma saying that she was already outside and waiting for Hani. Making last-minute checks as she decided to wear combat-appropriate clothes, something all the students got at orientation, but she had never qualified for those classes. Her dagger was strapped up on her thigh, and she made sure she brought her card so she could enjoy the whole festival to the fullest. She had been saving up as much as she could from her salary.
Hani went downstairs to meet up with Emma. The day was somewhat sunny, a perfect day to have fun outside. Emma wore her hair up today, a simple dress and no makeup.
"Hi Emma, I was expecting you to be dressed up for the festival right now," Hani said with disappointment in her voice.
Emma rolled her eyes, "It's too early, and our cafe does not even open till noon. I will get changed around that time and it will be warmer too, cause the costume is not warm. Let's go now, there are a lot of things to see!"
Hand in hand, the two girls went to school. It was only 8am, but everyone was already making last-minute preparations for the festival to start. Some venues were open at 9am, and some opened around 12 noon. Hani and Emma separated ways as they had their own classes to prep for.
Making her way to the arena, there were people walking up and down the garden path carrying boxes of items. Some people recognised Hani and whispered to each other as she walked by. Hani was used to this, so without caring, she kept on going.
As she got to the arena, she had to check in and get her badge for the tournament. Her fight was scheduled to take place around 4pm. There were multiple students in groups who had all come to check in for the competition. Everyone was sizing each other up, checking out their opponents.
"Hani!" A sweet cheery voice called out for her, everyone's eyes flickered towards the spot where Hani was awkwardly standing. Stella dressed up in a beautiful white dress with hair and makeup done.
Is that an angel? Every person collectively thought as Stella ran towards Hani. As she reached towards Hani's location, she tripped on her heels but was promptly grabbed by Hani.
"Stella! Are you ok?" Hani once again had Stella in her arms and could smell the citrus scent she had on today. Her heart pounded as Stella stood up and tucked her hair behind her ear.
"My knight in shining armour! It seems like you are always the one saving me from a fall, Hani!" Her face shimmered, and for a second, Hani thought she saw a light emanating from Stella.
Hani was mesmerised by Stella at this moment as she gulped loudly and blushed, " Oh, no problem, Stella. I... just happened to be the closest. Haha." She laughed awkwardly as Stella's admirers exuded a murderous aura from looking at the scene.
"Anyway, Stella, what are you doing here so early? Let's go somewhere else, it's a bit crowded here. Hani pushed Stella back to the place she came from, trying to run away from all the eyes on them.
"Well, I am going to be commenting for the tournament today, so they have glammed me up! I need to study the different dialogue and comments I have to talk about, which is why I am here early. I was waiting for you to show up, too!" Stella explained the situation.
"Oh, I see... well, if you are going to be free before the tournament, let me know... um... we should explore the festival together. Let me know if you want to, well, I have to go now, text me!" Hani mustered her confidence to ask Stella, but was unsure if she wanted to hear the answer, so she quickly fled the scene.
As Hani made her way to Emma's class venue, the school festival started, and people who had lined up instantly poured in. Squeezing through, she finally made it to where Emma was and found her getting dressed up for their cafe.
"Emma! You look so cute!" Hani fawned over Emma, who was wearing a magic girl uniform with her friends. Her hair was in buns, and one of her staff glammed up to look like a magic staff from the animation. She looked amazing.
"Of course! We worked so hard to make these costumes!" Emma and her friends were proudly strutting around, posing and taking pics. Then, out of nowhere, Emma handed Hani a stack of flyers.
"Eh? What is this for?" Hani asked, confused.
"Haaaa? Did you think all those lessons were for free?" Emma chuckled, "You are gonna help me hand out these flyers before your tournament starts!"
Hani, who was grateful to Emma without an argument, agreed. "Sure! Shall we also look at other people's stalls while we hand out these flyers?"
Nodding with excitement, they left together, handing out flyers and checking out the different stalls. There were a lot of various types of things being set up. Performances using magic, Games created using illusion magic, and different challenges for event goers could show off their skills.
There were also the classic booths, some of which were cake shops, ice cones, shooting games, etc.
As they were passing by the shooting game, one of the prizes caught Hani's eye. Oh... That bunny looks so cute. Thinking back to Stella comparing Hani to a bunny, she silently laughed.
"You want it?" Emma, who saw Hani's interest in the toy, instantly asked Hani.
"Eh? No, that's fine. We have a lot of flyers to give out." Hani was embarrassed that she was caught looking, thinking she was childish.
"Che, it won't take that long. Do you not have any faith in me?" Emma grinned as she paid the stall owner for the pellet gun.
Gun in one hand, she lifted it up, taking a few seconds to position herself properly, focused on the target, Emma made her shot. The shot connected as she got her first target, then the next and the next until she managed to hit all 50 targets without a single miss.
The stallkeeper who had been watching it from the start, dreading it as he saw Emma make every shot, did not know what to say. The winning prize, a limited edition panda plush that had been sold out within a day, had already been won.
Reluctant but scared to go against Emma Wang, he handed her the plush. "Here is your prize, Miss Wang." The stallkeeper had all the life drained from his face, not knowing how to explain to his classmates that their main attraction was taken within an hour of opening.
"Don't call me Miss Wang, in school I'm just Emma," she rolled her eyes, she did not like being treated as a Wang all the time. Also, this is not the prize I want. Give me that bunny." She threw the panda plush back to the stallkeeper, who suddenly came back to life with vigour.
"Oh, are you sure, Miss Wang? No, sorry, Emma? Well, if that's what you want!" quickly before Emma could say no, he swapped the Limited edition plush for the Bunny plush.
Emma then pushed it onto Hani and walked forward. "Hurry up, let's go. You said you wanted to eat some corn dogs, right?" Embarrassed by this, Emma was a bit red in the face, so she decided to scurry ahead so it would not be seen by Hani.
I guess Emma can seem very cool in a lot of different ways. Hani thought as she followed Emma with a smile.
As they made it to the corn dog stall, they came across a familiar face. It was Stella who was also lining up for one.
"Stella!" Hani instantly shouted as she ran up to her. Emma followed behind, irritated that her time alone with Hani had now ended. I swear to god this girl is everywhere. Does she keep a tracker on Hani or something?
The girls spent their time eating and stopping for fans to take pictures with world-famous Stella and cute cosplay Magic Girl Emma. With Stella's helping hand, the flyers were gone instantly. A few hours went by, and it was time for them to go to the tournament. Emma had to go back to her venue, promising Hani she would be there for her stage.
It had finally started; everything Hani was training for was this stage. Stella went to her post as she was on the big screen, making announcements. Hani found a spot and sat down alone on the front bench when suddenly a hand was on her head.
Shocked, Hani looked up to find that it was Ivory. "I told you I'd come watch you, kid," she said with a grin as she ruffled her hair, "I like your haircut. Makes you look even more like a kid."
"Miss Ivory! I am glad you came. I'm not until a few hours, but I wanted to watch them all!" Hani's face gleamed. Today was going to be a great day.
The music started for the commentators' introductions as people cheered for Stella, and the tournament had officially begun.