A few days later...

"Myah, I'm starvin'! It feels like we gotta wait YEARS for lunchtime to roll around on days with morning P.E," Grim complained.

Y/n paid no mind to the conversation, as she was busy doing 3x times the paperwork with the mixture of the competition and her own work that Anya gave her to do. Being the Empress of a whole country and the Manager of the SDC is...HARD

Man, Y/n is going to be sleep-deprived.

Yuuna looked at Y/n with sympathy while she helped Y/n with the extra paperwork, all she needed to do if follow Y/n's instructions.

"What's P.E got to do with anything?" Ace groaned. "You're always hungry. While Y/n and Yuuna are busy with paperwork..." he continued. Ace turns his head to the side, noticing a crowd of students. "....Hm?"

"Huh?" Yuuna perked a brow a bit, noticing the crowd as well along with Deuce and Grim. "There's a crowd gathering near that wall" Deuce mumbled.

Everyone except for Y/n stood up to take a closer look at what the students were looking at. "Let's see...' Song & Dance Championship...Now accepting auditions'? Oh, that's the music showcase event that Yuuna is helping Y/n manage, " Deuce said.

"It's pretty cool. I see it on TV every year. Never knew the competitors on there had to audition, though. I heard that Y/n is also participating for the first time as well" Ace said. He then started to read the rest of the poster, "'Dancers! Singers! Come one, come all! This is your shot at the big time! Outshine the rest and be a star! If the tea, representing your school makes it to the final round...Each member will receive a share of fifty thousand thaumark prizes'"

"Fifty thousand Thaumarks?!" The Trio, including Yuuna, yelped in surprise, scaring Y/n.

"Do you have to be so loud!?" Y/n shouted, walking closer to the group. After all, she was done with her work for today.

"Sorry!"

"That's right! Isn't it just a fabulous prize?!" Crowley asked, appearing out of nowhere.

"GAH! You scared me!" The two brain cells jumped in fright, as Grim jumped into Yuuna's arms after falling off Deuce from the first surprise. Crowley stood behind Y/n who looked unfazed by his unexpected appearance

"I know it's a running gag at this point, but could you PLEASE stop popping up out of nowhere, Headmaster?!" Ace yelped. "And how did you not get scared, Y/n????"

" 'Cause I knew he was here???" Y/n asked, shrugging a bit.

"Oh, I beg your pardon. I never meant to frighten you. I just thought you would be unfazed like my Mas- I mean, Y/n here" Crowley murmured before getting serious again. "There's a reason this Song & Dance Championship has such a tantalizing pot up for grabs. There are a number of businesses sponsoring it, including Y/n, you see. SDC is nothing like the Pop Music Club contests you're used to" Crowley explained.

"Indeed" Y/n nods. "The finalist gets swamped with offers from all manner of entertainment agencies and labels. It is entirely possible to rocket from obscurity to the ranks of the top artists in the land. There isn't merely a matter of school pride- it's a high-stakes music battle with the entrants' future success or failure riding on the outcome," Y/n continued.

"And if we want to attract more elites, we need a sufficiently enticing prize" Crowley added.

"Ah, I get you. If the sponsors can net a star that lets the, basically print money..." Ace trailed off.

"Fifty thousand thaumarks is a small price to pay" Yuuna finished off.

"With fifty grand, I could load up on fancy three-thaumark canned tuna!" Grim exclaimed.

"Hold on. It says that the prize is split amongst the team" Deuce said. "So if there was a four-member group, each member would get...uhhh...fifty divided by four...Ten...Thirteen..." Deuce mumbled, concentrating.

Y/n and Ace blankly stared at Deuce as Yuuna was dozing off a bit, trying to do the math in her head as well.

"It'd be 12,500 thaumarks," Y/n answered.

"Which would net you over four thousand cans of premium tuna" Ace added.

"Daaang!" Grim squealed. "Four thousand! Ooh, Ooh, Yuuna! Y/n! I want in on this competition!" he said, turning towards Y/n since she is the manager.

"You'll have to make it through the auditions first," Y/n bluntly said.

"You can't even eat four thousand cans of tuna..." Yuuna added.

"Some schools select representatives from their Choral and Pop Music Clubs...But here at Night Raven College, we scout talent from the entire student body via audition" Crowley said.

Deuce grinned. "So your gutta duke it out and claw your way to the top!" he said, pumping his fist together.

"Of course, the most serious students have been preparing for this since last year..." Crowley said. "But as I see it, everyone always has the right to dream of stardom. Well? What do you think? Aren't I so very kind?"

Y/n and Yuuna had dumbfounded expressions on their faces.

Crowley sweatdropped a bit, "A-anyone has the right to audition, as long as they are currently enrolled here. I, for one, simply cannot wait to see who will represent us this year!"

"'The audition song is Piece of my world. To apply, contact Rook Hunt in Class 3-A'" Yuuna read the rest.

"This sounds rat, actually!" Ace smirked. "I figured we sports club would be stuck doing all the heavy lifting behind the scenes, but I guess not! You guys wanna give this a whirl?" he asked, turning towards his friends. "If we make it in, we'll be excused from all the back-breaking work of putting the venue together. Sounds like a win-win to me"

"If we won, the extra income would make a HUGE difference in my family's quality of life...but hold on. I'm decent at athletics, but I've never danced or sung before" Deuce frowned a bit.

"Piece of My World' which I heard was composed by Y/n, was a crazy popular song last year," Ace tells them. "There's a ton of Magicam tutorial videos that go over how to do the dance moves and stuff. If the moves are simple enough, we could get those down pat in no time"

"Myah!" Grim beamed. "You've been browsin' Magicam a lot ever since you got that new phone, Yuuna. You can play if from yours" Grim suggests. "Okay, I'm gonna practice for my audition!"

"Fufufu. Your dancing will definitely catch interest, one way or another" Y/n chuckled.

"Count me out. I don't think I'd pass the screening even if I tried" Deuce said, giving a close-eye smile.

"Aw, you're no fun" Ace narrowed his eyes at the spade boy.

"Come on, Deuce, I'm sure you'll do great" Yuuna encouraged.

Deuce smiled at Yuuna's encouragement. "For one thing, I don't think it's appropriate to audition on a lark when you're not serious about gunning for the top spot"

"It's just an audition" Ace groaned. "You don't have to take it so seriously"

"Heh" Deuce mockingly grinned at Ace and Grim. "For another thing, you guys will need a shoulder to cry on when you completely bomb it"

Yuuna sweatdropped a bit on how Ace was going to react. "Hey, don't act like that's a given!" he shouted. "I'll pass, just you watch!"

"Yeah! That prize money and the ensuing Tuna are so good as mine!" Grim exclaimed.

"No need to have so much pride..." Y/n muttered.

"Sure, whatever you say. Oh, we have Potionology next period, right? I'm on class duty today. I need to go get the lab and equipment prepped soon" Deuce said. "I don't have time to stand around chatting. Let's go ahead and order our lunch"

"I second that! I'm still hungry over here!" Grim yelled.

"Are you going to join as well Yuuna?" Ace asked.

"Um...no. I'm actually going to be busy helping Y/n." Yuuna said.

"Eh? Why?" Ace and Deuce asked in disbelief.

"Just leave it that. Yuuna said no so it's a no" Y/n said, narrowing her eyes.

"I just know I'm going to get drowsy in class after stuffin' myself at lunch" Grim grumbled.

"You'd better not nod off in the middle of an experiment and blow up another beaker" Ace said, giving Grim a stern look.

"Aaaoooaaah...." The Heartslabyul duo and Amaryllis trio stopped in their tracks when they heard someone singing

"Ara ara~" Y/n smirked.

"Mrah?" Grim mumbled.

"That's that song?" questioned Deuce.

"Such a lovely voice he has!" Y/n smiled, really drawn in by the sound of the angelic-sounding voice.

"It came from over by the well" Yuuna pointed out.

'Singing by the well? What is this? Snow white? Wait...it kinda is since it's Pomefiore arc' Y/n thought. (She isn't really breaking the 4th wall since she has memories of playing the game, remember?)

"AaaoooaaaACK! Ugh!" The voice choked a bit before starting to cough.

Y/n cringed a bit.

"Whoa, that went from smooth to rough in a hurry," Ace said, flinching in surprise.

"Mah singin's s'pose to sound charmin', but ah just can't do it..." the voice sighed.

"Ara?" Y/n knew who the voice belonged to.

But then, her wings fluttered a bit in response to Y/n recognition, making a rustling sound.

"Who's there?!" the voice asked, turning around.

"Y/n! Control you're wings!" Grim yelped.

"Sorry about that"