"And now, the moment you have all been waiting for! Bib number eleven, Jin-sama's Lady Reiko—her turn has finally arrived!"
The stadium erupted in a thunderous roar of applause at those words alone.
(Ugh...)
For Jin, the announcement brought nothing but intense pressure. His only consolation was that Reiko, the one actually performing, remained perfectly composed.
"Well then, I shall be going," she said simply before walking out onto the performance stage.
Reaching the central area of the arena, she turned toward the spectator stands and performed an elegant curtsy, drawing another wave of cheers.
"Then... begin!"
At the signal, Reiko began to sing.
"Cherry blossoms bloom and fall; upon the wind, to whom do they fly?"
She began to move, her steps fluid and graceful.
Years ago, after meeting Neon—the automaton Reinhardt had gifted to his then-fiancée and now-wife, Berche—Reiko had been inspired to cultivate these artistic talents.
"O maidens in the breeze of falling petals, what thoughts do you hold? Is it of fleeting childhood days, or the burning passion in your hearts?"
Her movements were so refined that they were better described as mai rather than a mere dance.
"Time passes and flowers scatter, yet what should become of this love?"
Reiko glided across the stage with a seamless, flowing motion. Unlike a human, she had the distinct advantage of never losing her breath, allowing her to maintain a perfect vocal performance while moving dynamically.
"That song is an original, isn't it?" Sion remarked, noting that she had never heard the melody before.
"It is a lovely song," Stayhart agreed. "It matches her movements perfectly."
"I would call that a mai rather than a dance," Sion added.
"The flowers bloomed again this year, but you are beneath a distant sky."
The audience was captivated, enchanted by both her voice and her elegant mai.
"I want to cherish this moment, right here and now, believing it will lead us into the future..."
The tempo of her mai slowed further as Reiko returned to the center of the arena. Just then, the time limit was reached.
Reiko performed a slow, deep bow.
The stadium vibrated with a deafening cacophony of cheers and applause.
"In a sense, she caught us completely off guard, and yet it was an incredibly fitting performance!" Stayhart shouted over the noise, his face slightly flushed with excitement.
"Now, next is bib number twelve, Lordtoss-sama's Momoko!"
Momoko walked to the center of the arena and took a natural, relaxed stance.
"Then... begin!"
Momoko performed a slow, graceful curtsy and began her act.
"Oh... Whoa!?"
Momoko produced a set of knives from beneath her skirt and began to juggle them. There were twenty in total.
"That’s incredible," Jin muttered.
It looked like a street performer's trick, but the level of execution was staggering. Each of the twenty knives spun at high speed like a propeller, cycling through the air in a perfect, rhythmic loop.
It was a feat that required extraordinary dynamic vision and reaction speed. As the seconds ticked by, she threw them higher and higher, until they were soaring nearly five meters into the air.
"Ohhh!"
After about two minutes, Momoko suddenly stepped back. The twenty knives plummeted simultaneously, sticking into the ground in a perfectly straight, even line.
Without a pause, she transitioned into her next act: a display of high-level acrobatics. Unlike traditional floor gymnastics, her routine focused on explosive jumps and complex mid-air twists. She bounced around the stage as if she were on a trampoline.
What was most impressive was that, despite her violent and erratic movements, her clothing remained perfectly undisturbed. Even in a skirt, there wasn't a single moment where it fluttered or shifted out of place; it was truly an "ironclad" defense.
After two minutes of these stunts, Momoko leaped exceptionally high, performed several rotations in the air, and landed with perfect stability.
"And now... a dance?"
For the final minute, Momoko performed a high-energy, up-tempo dance routine.
"I see. She wanted to demonstrate her versatility and dexterity across multiple disciplines," Sion summarized.
When the time limit expired and Momoko bowed to the audience, she was met with a shower of praise and applause.
"Finally, we come to the end of this long automata competition! Our final performer is bib number thirteen, Marikka-sama's Hanako!"
Hanako took her place on the stage to a warm reception. As a side note, the knives Momoko had used had already been neatly cleared away.
"Then... begin!"
Hanako started to move slowly, but the crowd seemed confused.
"Hmm?"
"I wonder what she's doing..."
"I'm thinking of marrying off my daughter," Hanako said, her voice changing to fit a character. "But I wonder if there is a suitable match?"
"Well now," she replied in a different tone, "how about marrying her to the great Sun-sama?"
"Ah, I understand," Sion said. "It's a solo play."
"A solo play, indeed. That's a clever choice," Stayhart added.
Once the nature of the performance became clear, the audience’s interest intensified. Hanako’s clear delivery made the story easy to follow.
"...Eh? You say you are hidden by the clouds, so the clouds are greater?" Hanako acted out. "Then, let us propose a match to Cloud-san."
(Ah, I see. It's The Mouse's Wedding,) Jin realized. (She's quite good at this.)
A solo play relied entirely on the performer's ability to portray multiple distinct personalities through voice and movement.
"...Eh? You say Cloud-san is blown away by the wind, so Wind-san is greater? Then, let us go to Wind-san's place."
Most of the audience had never heard this old folk story before, and they leaned in, listening with rapt attention.
"...Eh? No matter how hard the wind blows, you are blocked by a wall, so Wall-san is greater? Then, let us go to Wall-san's place to propose the match."
It was one of the many stories Jin had told Vivienne long ago.
(I wonder if everyone else was there listening back then too...)
At the very least, Marikka had clearly remembered it.
"...Eh? No matter how strong Wall-san is, a mouse can poke a hole in you, so the mouse is greater? Oh, then we mice are the greatest of all! In that case, I shall marry my daughter to a fellow mouse."
"It seems Chuutarou, her childhood friend, is of a good age for it."
"That is perfect."
"...And so, the mouse's daughter came to be married to one of her own kind."
Hanako finished the narration to conclude the piece.
Since she still had about half her time remaining, she moved immediately into a second solo play: The Old Man Who Made the Flowers Bloom.
"...Let us make the flowers bloom on the withered trees!"
She finished the performance with a scene of the old man receiving praise and rewards from a local lord, timing her final bow perfectly with the end of the round.
Hanako, too, was rewarded with a massive ovation and a chorus of cheers from the captivated crowd.