Chapter 49

"We have to keep moving to make sure none of our hot headed students get ahead of themselves and pick fights with the guests." Trey explained to Odette and Grim.

No sooner had those words left his mouth when they had to break up between some students and three small Royal Sword Academy students.

Riddle quickly collars the three trouble marker who quickly leave.

"Are you guys okay? Let me apologize for my fellow students." Trey said

"I'm good." The shortest a gingered hair with a scarf around his face sneezed.

"Yeah whatever I could have taken those guys with or without your help." Replied the grumpy looking red haired.

"Grum don't be rude. This is Grum, Snick and I'm Dominic." The silver haired boy said pointing to the red haired, ginger haired then himself.

"By your uniforms you must be RSA." Trey stated.

"You're barely taller than me? Are you sure you're students there?" Grim exclaimed.

"Grim!" Odette reprimanded.

"Are you all this rude? We're tall for dwarfs I'll have you know." Grum snapped.

'Dwarfs exist here too?' Odette thought as she looked closer at the 3 of them.

"Cut it out Grum. By the way have you seen 4 other dwarfs? About as tall as us? We got separated on the way to your dressing room." Dominic explained.

"I haven't but I can have the broadcast club page them over the PA system." Riddle offered.

"Mhhhh, looking for someone? I'm the purfect guy to ask." A voice asked as a head appearing floating near the group.

"A floating severed head!" Grim cried out as he hid behind Odette.

"Chenya!" Trey and Riddle exclaimed in unison.

"Oh you're that weird floating cat guy we met at Heartslabyul's garden at the beginning of the school year." Grim sighed.

"Heh heh, is he a human? Is he a cat? He's mysterious and magical fellow. Aruchemi Aruchemievichi Pinka. That's me." Chenya said as he fully appeared.

"Cheyna sempai have you seen Toby and the others?" Snick asked looking up at him.

"If you're on the prowl for your friends I just saw them around the corner." Chenya informed them pointing to the left.

"Thank you Sempai. If you'll excuse us NRC students." Dominic said leading the group away. "See ya around." Chenya called after them waving.

"You know them? Thanks for stepping in Chenya." Trey said.

"Yeah their sophomores at my school I know their names and faces at least. I'm happy to be a guide." Chenya grinned. "How are you Riddle? It's been so long since I've seen you."

"I'm well, thank you for asking. I'm sorry for not visiting during the holidays." Riddle answered looking genuinely sorry. "I must get going sorry."

"Always so busy. It's fine. Until next time." Chenya replied as he began to disappear again until he was only a head again.

"Are you trying to scare the guests?" Riddle sighed.

"Maybe." He grinned as he fully disappeared.

On the way back to the purple stage the group run into Lilia and Carter in their ceremonial robes. "Hi guys." Carter greeted them.

"Hi guys, what's with the ceremony robes?" Odette asked as she looked them over.

"We're you're opening act. Since NRC is the hosting school we get to provide the opening act for all the other performers." Carter explained.

"Oh that sounds exciting." Odette smiled at him.

"Once we're done performing we'll get to see your group perform. It was nice of you to give Malleus those tickets. He was over the moon when he got back." Lilia grinned at her.

"Oh do you have Diasomnia buddies too?" Carter teased.

"I'm buddy with lots of people. I don't think Diasomnia student's are any weirder than anyone else here. I like them." Odette replied crossing her arms over her chest. "Besides you told me he doesn't get invited to a lot of things so why wouldn't I invite him? But I'm glad you will all get to enjoy the show." She reminded Lilia with a glare.

"Carter we should get going. It's almost show time." Lilia said as just smiled back at Odette.

"Later!" Carter waved as they left.

"What was that about?" Riddle asked.

"Nothing." Odette huffed. 'I need to talk to him soon.' She thought.

"You should get going too. Will you pass on a message for us?" Trey asked checking his watch.

"Sure." Grim answered.

"Tell Ace and Deuce they look forward to their performance and not to mess it up. They gave us tickets too." Trey informed them.

"Will do, see ya later than." Odette said as she began to job towards the purple stage.

The stage is fully complete and people are already filling the seats.

"Wow the finally touches make the stage look great." Grim cheered.

"Look at all this press." Odette whispered as she glanced over at the crowd.

"Hey you two SDC rehearsals are starting soon. This place is off limits to the general public out you go." A film crew member snapped at them as he stomped towards them.

"Excuse me these two are part of our production team don't you see their passes?" Vil asked coming up towards Odette and Grim.

"Vil Schoenheit! Pardon me." The guy gasped stepping away from them.

"Bold of you to arrive last manager." Vil chided looking annoyed with them.

"Did you take in the sights and sounds of the festival?" Rook asked smiling closing the gap quickly as they came closer to the dancing group.

"You guys should see the line of people outside the coliseum for the same day tickets. It's absolutely nuts." Grim exclaimed.

"Really? Well it's nice to know people are excited." Kalim smiled.

"There's a lot of reporters and camera as well. We can chalk this up to Vil and Neige I'm sure." Jamil commented.

"Oh yeah, I have a message to pass on, Jack says Epel don't fall on your face and Ace and Deuce Riddle and Trey say the same thing." Grim laughed.

"Please I don't need anymore pressure." Deuce sighed.

"Now I'm getting nervous." Epel confessed.

"We've got 3 hours until the show there's no sense in tensing up now." Ace said.

"Agreed. Our rehearsal time is there to ensure we don't make any mistakes at showtime. SDC tradition dictates that the host school team performs first. Let's make our act so hard to follow that everyone who comes after us looks like moldy tubers in comparison." Vil smirked.

"Yeah!" Everyone cheered.

An unknown voice called out Vil's name. Everyone turned to the voice to see Neige LeBlanche. Vil looked confused as the he approached.

"I knew it was you Vil." Neige smiled as he got closer.

"Neige." Vil breathed still looking a little like a deer in headlights.

"It's been forever, how have you been? When I heard the news you be in this year's SDC I just couldn't wait to see you in person." Neige explained.

"So that's him." Epel whispered as the group stepped back to give them some 'privacy'.

"No wonder he's a household name even the way he walks is perfectly choreographed." Ace whispered in return.

"He looks nice through. He doesn't give off the same intense aura like Vil does." Deuce muttered quietly.

"True, he doesn't have much of a glamorous vibe." Kalim commented as low as he could.

"His smile is entirely unlike Vil's It's unaffected like a tiny flower blooming in an open field." Rook sighed.

"Hmphm! The more innocuous someone looks the worse they're likely to act behind the scenes. That's how entertainers are." Jamil whispered.

"Do you have room to talk there?" Grim commented at a normal volume.

"I agree with Jamil on this one." Odette said making everyone look at her. "I just don't see what the big deal is? How is this a rivalry? Vil is clearly a league above this kid."

She received more surprised looks from everyone and she just rolled her eyes at them.

"I've haven't seen you much on the job since we filmed that last movie together. I've missed you." Neige said as the group began to eavesdrop again.

"I've been focusing on school right now So I'm avoiding movie deals with long filming periods." Vil explained.

"Oh that makes sense. I'm just happy I get to hear you sing again today. Your voice is absolutely incredible after all. The first time we costarred in was a musical drama set in a school right?" Neige reminded him.

"Just so, you played the star and I played the student who bullied you. They were the perfect roles for us." Vil sighed looking unhappy.

"Excuse me NRC entrants its' time for your rehearsal please stand by." A staff member called over to the group.

"We'll be right there. If you'll excuse us Neige." Vil said stepping away from him.

"Sure, I'm looking forward to your performance." Neige said then left the area.

"Keep smiling that obvious smile whole you still can. Our flawless performance will crush you completely and utterly." Vil muttered to himself as they got into position. He didn't know Rook could hear him and was giving him a concerning side eye.

They performed and all the observers love it. They cheered and clapped. They praised Vil for what he came up with.

Thanks for reading and sticking around. Neige and some of the 7 dwarfs have appeared. I don't know if anyone reading this is a Neige fan but if you are sorry cause I paint him in a very boring light. I wish the story gave the player more interaction in this part of the story. To have the player pick whether they like or dislike Neige. I'm on the fence but I lean more towards dislike. But we're not here for him. We're here for our Diasomnia boys! Sorry that is the last appearance they make until after the overblot. I don't want to give away too much but I promise all this will be worth it when we finally get to where I want to be but it does take a lot of support work.