A/N: Hi guy…I know you're already bored with my apologizes but I still wanted to apologize! Sorry, sorry, sorry and sorry for being extra late! So, that's all. Back to the story. R&R~

Chapter 11 : Can You Sing? ~Opening Ceremony~ (Part 3)

Place : Diamond Kingdom

Time before the opening ceremony : 4 hours 30 minutes

KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Come in," invite a voice.

"Ah, oni-sama.."

"Altezza?"

"Yes, oni-sama. Uh..um…do I look beautiful in this dress?"

"Yes, you look beautiful." Bright chuckled a little. "You always do but…for some reason I feel that you're kind of different today." Bright drew nearer to Altezza and had a quick head-to-toe look. He wondered for a moment, "Hmm…anything special my dear Altezza? Not to mention you looked nervous too."

"Oh..um..you noticed oni-sama?" said Altezza who was feeling a little bit shy.

"Of course. I'm your brother remember? I grew up with you always by my side. Not to mention today..not today actually. More like recently you're kind of…"

"Kind of?" the short pause made the suspense grew in Altezza.

"Kind of ..um…" Bright was still thinking of a suitable word to describe Altezza's behaviour recently.

"Kind of what oni-sama?" she's a bit worried about what would her brother say.

Bright smiled – able to read Altezza's face and thus said "You kind of shine more than you usually do. You smiled brightly to others, nod politely to Princess Fine and Princess Rein and even when you laugh it seems that you enjoy yourself very much. You never laugh like that before."

Altezza blushed, "Um..really? I think that I'm the usual me as always. Maybe…you're just imagining things. Haha…"

"Really?" Bright questioning Altezza.

"Y..yes! That must be it! Haha…maybe…?"

"Are you sure?" Bright added Altezza's nervousness.

"Eh…um…" a short pause filled in their conversation afterwards for a while. Altezza got more nervous than she already was. She hated it and suddenly she just got some lines to distract her brother from kicking around the bush. "Oni-sama…um…did you know anything about the Star-Drop Ceremony?"

"Well, quite much. Why?" asked Bright.

"Well…I always wanted to know what's the story behind it. I mean it's history to be exact! Haha.." 'Ahh! This is bad. This is definitely awkward! Oni-sama will surely doubt my question to him. I cannot act natural at all!' - Altezza thought.

"Hmm…let's see…I don't really know much about it but our grandma once told me about it."

"Grandma? We have one?! I mean..yeah that's obvious but…this is the first time I ever heard anything about it" 'Oh, great! He didn't suspect me! What a relief~' Altezza smiled a little.

"Yeah. It's from looong ago. I didn't want to bring this up because it hurts so much that I can't barely accept the truth that she's already gone. I love her very much. She had never treated me like a prince or told me to be a perfect one. 'Be yourself, believes yourself no matter what' she said…just like Princess Rein once told me to get me out of the dark crystal grasp. Grandma always held me gently every night, accompany me until I fell asleep every night, practised sword arts with me and…taught me how to wish upon a star too. I…know this sounds like a girl's talk but it's the truth. I don't know how to describe it the best way anymore." With all the nostalgic talking that he had just said, Bright blushed a little bit.

"Really? Wish upon a star..."

"Hm?"

"It's kind of sweet to me," Altezza said with gentle tone. She was kind of liked the idea.

"Yeah…sweet enough to make you forget about all your problems. Oh! And it is very efficacious for nervousness too," he chuckled and gave a sidelong look at Altezza.

Altezza blushed, "Wh…what?! Oni-sama?"

"If you think that I'll just forget about the things that I mentioned earlier easily once you changed the topic you're totally wrong my dear Altezza." Bright smiled but not the happy smile! It was kind of creepy, slightly with a smirk but not that obvious or shall we call it scheming smile?

"Uh..um…hahaha" she offer a fake laugh, hit her head and protruded slightly. "You got me oni-sama."

"Well, I'm one of the Fushigi Boshi's prince afterall. Anyway I'll let it pass for now. I'll know about it eventually right Altezza?"

"Haha-ha…" 'Just what is that supposed to mean?! Arghh! Oni-sama, please don't smile like that to me! It makes me more nervous than I already am! Oh, what should I do? If oni-sama knows about it, will he mad? Would he abandon me? Uwaaahhhh!' – Altezza's self-thought.

"Altezza?"

Altezza jumped out of surprised, "Y..Yes! Oni-sama?!"

"I'm just wondering.."

"Y-yes! Wh-what?!" 'Oh my gosh, what should I do? How am I supposed to react? Inhale! Exhale! Inhale!...BWAHH! Oh, it's not helping at all! What should I do?!' Altezza thought in panic. She seemed so restless.

"Altezza, are you okay?" Bright asked out of concern.

"Ah! Y-Yes! I'm okay. Just fine," she said. She was lying of course. 'NOOO!' – Altezza's mind-shout.

"I'm just wondering…"

"Y-yes!" she shouted spontaneously due to nervousness.

"Haha..you look awfully enthusiastic right now. That's good though. I'm just wondering if you're still interested in hearing about this 'Star-Drop Ceremony history' that you mentioned earlier." Bright said in a tender tone.

"Ah…yes.." she replied it on a whim. After that she realised something. "Eh?! Ah, yes, yes! The story! Of course, I'll be glad to hear it. Tell me oni-sama!" With that, Altezza sigh in relief silently.

Bright cannot help but restrain his laugh. He knew that Altezza will sulk risht away if he dare to laugh her at a time like this. So, he just move on to the story telling session, "Okay. The story begins…"

A/N : wow…*in amazement* I never thought that this story will be this long…