Chapter 2-8: Something Special
Sometime later in the tour, Briar and the others find themselves sliding down the stairs when they try to climb on it.
Deuce yelps," Whoa!"
And moments later, they find themselves sliding outside of the building.
"O-oh, we're outside. I didn't expect the stairs to turn into a slide on the way out," Deuce says.
"That was awesome!" Jasper says, excited.
"What a fun Hall of Records!" Epel says.
"Yeah! Surprisingly…" Deuce says.
"I couldn't believe it when Grim grew into a giant all of a sudden," Silver says.
"Yeah, even though the projector only made it LOOK like he'd grown," Epel says.
"All I did was eat that cookie that was lying there, and then you were all screamin' at me! Nothing even happened, you guys!" Grim says.
"Well, it did catch us by surprise. When Sereia and I decided to eat one of the carrot sticks close by, we shrunk," Briar says.
Sereia giggles, "Yeah. We were around Trinket's size."
Trinket nods in response with a smile, and remembers how amazing it is to have two of her friends become her size for a little bit.
Then Deuce says, "The young girl in the legend of the White Rabbit grew bigger after sneaking a bite of a cookie. But was able to get small again after eating a carrot from the White Rabbit's Garden."
"Here, they projected a blown-up image of whomever ate the cookie on the wall. Very clever!" Ortho says.
"I had a lot of fun looking for the gloves! Even if we didn't find them in the end," Eepl says.
"Yeah. We were trying to find them, but can't find them anywhere," Tanzanite says.
Then Deuce explains, "The girl in the legend never found them either, apparently. Probably why they made it so difficult here."
"Oh, that makes sense. I thought it'd just be for little kids, but I got really into it!" Epel says.
"Yeah. It was actually a fun place to go to," Jasper says.
"I don't remember any of this awesome stuff from when I came here in elementary school. Seems like they've added a lot of improvements to make things more fun for kids. If I'd known it was this much fun, I wouldn't have skipped out back in middle school!" Deuce says.
Soon, a second staff member walks over, "Hello there! Would any of you care to try your hand—and your lungs—in the bugle contest?"
"What? That's a strange event to put on in a place like this…" Ortho questions.
The staff then holds out a small horn, "You see this small horn, the one without any valves? This is a bugle. Supposedly the White Rabbit would play one to call a meeting or summon the queen's subjects."
"That's why we blow a bugle to signal important meetings in Heartslabyul, too," Deuce says.
Then Silver remembers, "Now that you mention it, some of the White Rabbit topiaries in the park also featured bugles."
"Those are styled after how he would have looked as he began an important trial," The staff says.
"I see. So the bugle is a symbol closely associated with the White Rabbit," Ortho says.
Then the staff explains, "We're holding the contest in honor of White Rabbit Fest. You'll receive a prize just for participating, but whoever plays the best will take home something special!"
"Noice! I wanna try!" Grim says, excited.
"Here you go. Go on and give it a go!" The staff says and hands Grim the horn.
Grim takes the horn and says, "Prepare to be amazed!" He takes a deep breath and blows the bugle, but nothing comes out, "...N-nothin's comin' out!"
"Heh, it's a tricky instrument for a beginner to play properly. But here's a carrot cookie for giving it a shot," The staff says and gives him a cookie.
"Aw, yeah!" Grim says, excited to take the cookie.
Then Silver suggests, "Why don't we all try?"
"Sure!" Epel, Jasper, and Tanzanite agree.
"I want to!" Ortho says.
And one by one, Silver, Epel, Ortho, Sereia, Tanzanite, and Jasper try blowing the bugle, but none of them can get much of a tote out of it.
"It is deceptively difficult," Silver says.
"This is really hard," Sereia says.
Epepl sheepishly giggles, "Haha, not much of a contest in the end."
"None of us can actually blow it," Tanzanite says.
"I'm out of breath," Jasper says.
Then the staff says, "Here in town we learn how to play the bugle in our middle school music classes."
"You do?" Epel questions. Then turns to Deuce, "Well then you must be able to play, Deuce! Go on!"
"Huh? U-uh, sure…" Deuce says, and takes the bugle. He then takes a deep breath "Pfff…" and blows on it, which turns out to be terrible.
"Y-you're TERRIBLE!" Epel exclaims.
Sereia giggles as the twins are laughing.
"Seems Deuce Spade also cut his music classes.
"Y-yeah…" Deuce says, sheepishly, "I thought that flute playing and singing was silly... So I skipped out."
"And today you got your comeuppance," Epel says.
"I don't think that anymore, of course! Music is an important area of study for a mage," Deuce says.
"Well, at least it's unlikely you'll need to play a bugle any time in the future," Epel says
"Terribly sorry, but I'm afraid no one's qualified for the special prize," The staff says.
Then Deuce turns to Briar, "You try, Briar."
"Oh um, I'm not sure if I can," Briar says, unsure.
"Just do your best!" Deuce says.
"Okay. I'll give it a try," Briar says.
"That's the spirit," Deuce says.
Deuce takes a deep breath and soon blows the bugle, and she plays it perfectly.
Everyone exclaims in amazement and surprise, "
"W-wow, Briar!" Deuce replies, a bit surprised.
The staff happily claps and presents a bugle to Briar, "What a lovely tone! The prize is yours! It's that bugle over there!" and gives the bugle to Briar.
"Thank you," Briar says, taking the bugle.
"Hey, that bugle's actually pretty nice. Not a shabby souvenir!" Deuce says.
"It actually is," Briar says.
"Hey Briar, how were you able to play it?" Grim asks.
"Well, when I was younger, one of my guardians actually played the trumpet and taught me to play a bit. I did play a little bit and a few songs," Briar says.
"That makes sense," Epel says.
"And now you have your own bugle to play with," Sereia says.
The group begins laughing with smiles on their faces.