"It’s all leading up to this now. Don’t mess up."

Raymond enviously looked back at Lily, who had immediately changed clothes the moment her role was over and she wasn’t needed on stage anymore. Now dressed in regular casual clothing.

Compared to him, who was now wearing a dark navy colored suit with a white dress shirt underneath. Raymond felt like he was about to overheat.

He also wasn’t allowed to cast any magic for fear it might ruin any of his makeup or the other spells that were used to change his appearance. Otherwise he would have already casted his spell to cool himself down. Something he found to be complete...codswallop.

"I haven’t messed up yet have I? I won’t mess up now."

"Well this is the one scene you never actually managed to do properly."

Lily’s skepticism was valid, but Raymond was still confident in himself.

Professionals had standards after all, he wouldn’t ruin everything just for a small reason.

"My middle name is succeed. I’ve always succeeded at everything I tried."

"I thought you don’t have a middle name?"

Sometimes the haters voices were loud, but you just had to ignore them.

This was a lesson he had learned in his long life.

One of the backstage technicians stuck their head through the curtain. Looking for Raymond and informing him of the time remaining.

"Two minutes left before you go on stage Raymond, are you ready?"

"Ready."

This was it. The final scene that the past few hours had all been building up. The climax, and most importantly, the final scene. Because even when most of it didn’t even include either him or Ellen on stage at the same time. This whole play was still focused on Killian and Viviana after all.

Checking himself in the mirror again, Raymond let out a deep breath.

He already memorized the whole script. All that was left was the execution, and the actual final scene itself.

After waving off Lily, Raymond stepped onto the stage. His shoes clicking on the stage with each step, illuminated only by a spell which was made to resemble moonlight.

The stage was set, simple, regular props and designs to make it resemble a garden in the moonlight. A faint floral scent being blown towards the audience to increase the immersion.

Standing on the other end of the stage, Ellen. Dressed in a long and flowy violet dress looked at him. The two of them smiling back at each other. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

He mouthed out toward her, "I hope you’re ready."

"Are you?" she mouthed back.

The curtains soon retracted, revealing the entire audience whom they had been performing for. Raymond could recognize a few of the people in each row, some seniors, some juniors and of course. His fellow special class classmates, sitting directly in the front most row. With an empty seat in between them.

But it wasn’t empty, because if Raymond walked up to the seat and stuck a hand out. He would be able to feel a very familiar pair of horns, and a soft head that loved being petted.

He smiled internally just imagining it.

It was just the two of them now.

Seeing her stand in front of him, Raymond thought back to the previous months, and the damn ’fighting’ they were doing. Which looking back, was a stupid thing to do that they did for a stupid reason.

But their pettiness alone was what carried them here, and they weren’t going to stop being petty towards each other anytime soon.

Clenching his fists, Raymond carefully recited his lines.

"Vivi..."

Faithfully reenacting the role of someone who, despite their struggles with feelings of inferiority. Never let that get in his way, still choosing to confess his feelings towards said source of inferiority.

"Killian?"

She turned to face him, despite looking drastically different in just about every department. Raymond could recognize Ellen no matter what. Recognizing the lion by its claw. Just her vibe alone was enough for him to recognize her.

He closed his eyes.

"I...like you."

Now that Raymond actually had to say his lines. It suddenly felt much more embarrassing then before. Previously, it was like a looming threat that he could mostly ignore. But now that he was about to say the line, the realization of what he was about to say hit him like a freight truck.

He had talked a big game in front of Lily and Ellen. Acting confident and sure of himself. Now he was reaping the consequences of his own false sense of confidence.

"I’ve always liked you, I think...ever since we first met. I fell in love with you, each day we spend together. I feel myself falling in love with you more and more. I...I just...I love you."

With each line, Raymond felt his own heart pounding faster. His face turning redder and redder.

He could sense her presence drawing closer, despite her steps not making any sound. Mentally bracing himself.

Her voice was closer now, right in front of him. "Killian. Open your eyes."

.

.

.

Actually. Screw this! He wasn’t prepared for this at all!

Raymond made his decision in a flash. Opening his eyes, he spotted Ellen tip-toeing while standing directly in front of him. Who was also strangely blushing for some unknown reason.

Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pulled her in close. Leaning forward and ignoring her small squeak as he whispered directly into her ear.

eep-!

"Stay quiet."

Raymond wasn’t allowed to use magic. But he was confident in his own ability to not get caught. Besides, no one would be expecting him to use any magic now would they?

So while in reality Raymond was closely hugging Ellen in order to better hide the two of them. The audience was seeing a completely different image.

That being the actual...ahem...scene. Which, creating a specialized illusion for that was really quite something.

No one even noticed the brief pause when Raymond activated his magic. Since the spell itself was so small however, the area hidden by the illusion was also small. Forcing Raymond to tightly hug Ellen, otherwise. If she moved just a bit out of the cover. The entire illusion would be blown. Then this whole play was ruined, and Raymond didn’t want to ruin it now when so much work had been put into it.

Except he neglected the fact that Ellen wasn’t exactly a statue.

"R-R-Raymond?!"

He put a finger to her lip.

"Shhh. My illusion spell can’t cover much."

Since the real Killian was much taller. Raymond had to wear height boosting shoes that made him nearly a head taller then Ellen, who had to wear the opposite. With extremely thin soles so that she would be shorter.

She looked up at him, his looming frame fully covering her from above. With how tightly he was pulling his arm around her waist. They were close enough that just a casual breath from Raymond was enough for Ellen to feel the warmth.

Ellen made eye contact with him, a thought appearing inside of her head as she did so.

’Could this be...another offense?’

With their ongoing fight that had yet to conclude. Ellen mistook this as Raymond’s final attempt to win.

Since she was obviously going to win...

She absolutely couldn’t let him get what he wanted!

But—!

’You’re too close!!!’

Even if she knew that, just the mere proximity was enough to freeze her in her tracks.

Her exceptional eyesight made it all the worse, she was practically getting a full view of Raymond’s entire face in perfect quality. Every inch and every single detail. Her eyes continuously flicking from his eyes to his lips.

No.

Who was she?

She was the World Crossing Arrow damn it! She was a hero who had faced threats hundreds of times her size without a single trace of fear in her body. She had looked at the Demon King himself and told him to kill himself. She had once told her mother about her old crush on Joshua only to find out he was a bastard the next day. She had faced worser situations then this!

Similar to Raymond, she made up her mind in seconds. Her fighting spirit surging as she thought back to her past.

Just do it now! Consequences can come later!

She put her fingers to his chin, cupping his face in her hands and pulling him downwards slightly while he was still.

Finally, by standing on her tip toes. She would be able to reach him fully. Just by moving her head forward the tiniest amount.

"?!Ell-

His eyes widened, realizing what she was about to do.

Too late.

---

"Wow...you actually kissed her."

Raymond looked at Lily, while he didn’t really care about his reputation in the academy. Ellen did care slightly about her image, so he figured he should help her out here.

"To be honest. I actually didn’t."

"What do you mean? We all saw you on stage lips locked with Ellen!"

Being reminded of that really made him wince, but he stuck through it.

Waving his hand, he mobilized his mana in his cores. Casting the same illusion spell he had just casted earlier.

A brief illusion of him and Ellen doing the scene appeared in the room. Causing Lily’s jaw to drop.

"It wasn’t even real..?"

"Why do you sound so sad about that?!"

Looking at the illusion however, it also reminded him of Ellen’s flushed appearance.

With that, it was definitely his victory in this duel wasn’t it?

"Heh."

In the next room over, Ellen quietly stared at her own reflection in the mirror. Still dressed as Viviana, she brushed a finger against her lip.

...that was her first time.

After...that. With how flustered Raymond had looked. It was definitely her victory wasn’t it?

And all she had to do was sacrifice some of her pride and jump off a cliff alongside her dignity. All just to win a dumb game, she had done something that she had never ever before done in this or the past timeline.

...it wasn’t even worth it.