With the conclusion of the final entry, the Hidden Talent Show moved into its results ceremony. Since the prizes were simply cash, everything ended peacefully, exactly as Alice had planned. Though I had been uneasy when I first heard that Machina-san was the organizer, the show turned out to be quite the entertaining spectacle.
“Now then, let us announce the rankings for the Hidden Talent Show. As previously mentioned, the top five performers will receive prize money. To begin—though I am sure it comes as no surprise—1st Place goes to the only contestant to receive a perfect score: Olivia-san! Congratulations!”
“Oli-bin’s initial performance really made a massive impact, didn’t it? In contests like this, the first person usually has a bit of a disadvantage because they’re used as the benchmark for everyone else, but she just crushed the competition with that perfect score right out of the gate.”
Ultimately, Olivia-san remained the only one with a perfect score, securing her victory. It was a well-deserved win; in terms of sheer unexpectedness, she had been miles ahead of the pack.
“Let us hear a few words from our winner...”
“Thank you very much.”
“...Perhaps a word for Kaito-san as well?”
“I felt a profound sense of happiness to be granted the prestigious honor of demonstrating my skill in the presence of Kaito Miyama-sama. While my primary goal was solely for Kaito Miyama-sama to enjoy himself and the results were of secondary importance, I am honored that such an outcome followed. I have never shown this technique in public before, but should Kaito Miyama-sama desire it, I will perform it for you at any time. Please do not hesitate to ask. Once again, thank you for today.”
“...She really never wavers, does she?”
When Alice first asked for a comment, Olivia-san gave only a brief bow and a formal thank-you. However, the moment she was told to address me, her eyes began to sparkle, and she delivered an incredibly passionate message. As Alice noted, she was very easy to read, but I found that quality rather endearing.
“Moving on, 2nd Place—with 24 points—is Baldo-san, the Knight Commander of the Arclesia Empire! Congratulations!”
“He has such a stiff image, so seeing that unique side of him was surprisingly fun, wasn’t it?”
The runner-up was Baldo-san. To be honest, I hadn't spoken with him much myself, but whenever I visited Chris-san, he always seemed like a very rigid, serious knight.
I never imagined he would use a kendama to put on such a comical street performance. He mentioned that there was a time when he had been torn between becoming a knight or a professional performer. The performance was genuinely fun to watch, and the gap between his usual persona and the act was incredible. His speech as the runner-up was also very dignified, making it almost hard to believe that the man standing there was the same one who had just performed those tricks.
“Next, we have a tie for 3rd Place... With 22 points, it is the duo of Akane-san and Kaori-san, and Kuro-san!”
“Now that you mention it, no one actually scored 23 points.”
As Fate-san pointed out, no one had landed on that specific score. As a result, 3rd Place was shared by Akane-san and Kaori-san, who performed a water magic routine, and Kuro, who had surprised everyone with the tactical move of baking a normal castella.
“Hehe, I’m just glad we made it into the top ranks. Kaori was the main act while I just took some water to the face, but since it led to a good result, getting soaked was well worth it!”
“Th-Thank you very mush...”
Akane-san was as bold as ever, giving her comments with a lighthearted tone, but Kaori-san was visibly trembling with nerves and even stumbled over her words.
“H-Hmm... I’m happy with the result, but it feels a bit... unsatisfying. For my baking a normal castella to be treated as some kind of emergency is just...”
Kuro looked a bit conflicted, but from my perspective, her act had been the most unexpected of all, so the result felt appropriate. Kuro’s score was actually split: Alice and I, who are all too familiar with her obsession with baby castella, gave her perfect marks for the shock value, while Chronoa-san, Lilia-san, and Canalis-san, who aren't as aware of the context, gave her 4 points each.
“And next is 4th Place.”
“Oh, so the rankings don't skip ahead even with a tie?”
“It’s just prize money, after all, so there’s no reason to skip a rank. It’s better to let more people win; it gives them more incentive to participate next time. Thus, 4th Place goes to the duo of Aoi-san and Hina-san with 21 points!”
“That was track and field, wasn’t it? To think the otherworld has sports like that. I suppose since the only race there is the Human Race, things are bound to be different from our world.”
4th Place went to Aoi-chan and Hina-chan. As members of their school's track and field club, they demonstrated several athletic events. Naturally, they avoided time-consuming things like long-distance running and focused on displays like the high jump.
Since I knew their background, it wasn't particularly surprising to me, but for the other judges, the concept of standardized track and field was novel enough to earn high marks. In this world, physical stats vary wildly by race, so competing in standardized athletics like that is a foreign concept. It made sense that they found it exotic.
Finally, 5th Place went to the duo of Fia-sensei and Funf-san for their manzai comedy routine. With the prize money distributed to everyone from 1st to 5th place, the Hidden Talent Show came to a successful close.