After breaking up, my ex asked me to win her back-Chapter 219 - 218 The Persistent Underdog

"We can hide no longer, our passion is about to unfold. No more thinking of right and wrong, just one question remains, how long must we wait to become one? When will our blood start to surge, when will the dormant buds bloom and burst forth, when will such passion... "

The Phantom of the Opera stepped back half a step, but Christine, on the contrary, was pressing forward step by step.

The roles had reversed.

Such overtly flirtatious lines were less about seduction and more akin to the mating call of animals.

Kiryu Hina uttered the words, her face flushing, because in her heart she wasn’t imagining the Phantom of the Opera, but the figure of Kagura Hikaru.

Their bodies entwined in bed, skin against skin, they shared body heat and love.

What a beautiful thing that would be.

But at this moment, Ayakoji Chiyoko’s face and that unexpected kiss from not long ago intruded into her thoughts without warning, quite spoiling the atmosphere.

It wasn’t about lingering feelings, but a residual pain.

Just as someone who had once been stabbed might flinch when seeing a stabbing on television, their memories would resurface, and the old wound would phantomly ache.

Ayakoji Chiyoko’s forceful kiss had a similar lingering effect on her.

So much so that Kiryu Hina’s lines were not quite smooth, she briefly faltered due to the memory flashback, pausing here for a second.

It could be said that from this moment on, Ayakoji Chiyoko’s purpose in teasing her had been achieved—to hinder her, to prevent her from affecting Kagura Hikaru so easily.

The only reason Kiryu Hina had insisted on going on stage was obviously to get close to Kagura Hikaru, there was no doubt about it.

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Ayakoji Chiyoko, on the other hand, didn’t want her wish fulfilled, but with such little time to plot, she used the kiss to disrupt Kiryu Hina’s composure.

Once the flow of emotions inside is interrupted, it’s not so simple to pick up where one left off.

This quick thinking indeed took effect, the one second pause allowed Kagura Hikaru’s rationality to swiftly recover.

He surreptitiously pinched his thigh.

This was the stage, no time for him to space out, as it was his turn to speak next.

He flung his cloak off with a flick of his wrist and joined the recovering Kiryu Hina in a duet: ""Beyond the point of no return, the final threshold, we have crossed the bridge, look, it burns behind us!""

The Phantom of the Opera extended his hand, Kiryu Hina grabbed it and twirled into his embrace, leaning her head back onto his shoulder, eyes closed, their singing voices softened:

""Now we’ve passed the point of no return... the final... threshold... ""

According to the script of Don Juan Triumphant, the scene should come to an end here, as the first act of the opera closed.

But the Phantom of the Opera didn’t let it conclude.

On one hand, he was infatuated with the sensation of performing onstage with Christine for the first time; on the other hand, the police had quietly surrounded the sides of the stage, their long guns ready, as if waiting for the curtain to fall to immediately apprehend him.

Christine too noticed the urgency of the situation, looking at him with worry.

The Phantom of the Opera was not panicked but turned Christine towards him, holding her face in his hands, eyes locked onto hers.

"Tell me you’ll share with me one love, one lifetime, lead me, save me from my solitude. That is my wish for you, Christine. Say you need me with you now and always, let us be together every moment, day or night. In times past, wherever we went, we were inseparable."

This was almost identical to the confession Raoul had made to Christine on the rooftop of the opera house in the preceding scene.

Christine had rejected him back then.

But now, faced with the same lines, Christine’s expression was completely different.

Her eyes brimmed with tears, her lips trembled slightly, her delicate fingers caressed the Phantom’s chest.

"Yes," she said, "I will."

"Christine!!" Raoul at the edge of the stage howled like a beaten dog.

The Phantom of the Opera, who desperately wanted to confess his love to his beloved before being arrested, got the answer he had longed for.

Tears of joy ran down from his unmasked right eye, and he was utterly content.

At that moment, he decided that he must escape with Christine no matter what.

The Phantom of the Opera, who had harbored thoughts of giving up, found hope to continue living.

He pulled out the dagger hidden at his waist.

The police thought he intended to harm the hostage (Christine) and immediately aimed their guns at him, but the Phantom of the Opera flung his dagger into the air, and it disappeared into the ceiling. Discover exclusive content at novelbuddy

The officers instinctively looked up, then wore looks of shock and, forgetting all about arresting the suspect, they hastily turned and fled.

The Phantom of the Opera also grabbed Christine’s hand and ran towards the back of the stage.

Before the crowd could react, a huge golden chandelier crashed down onto the stage at the school auditorium with a thunderous noise, shattering into pieces on the stage floor and sending fragments flying in all directions.

The students below screamed while the onlooking teachers almost mistook the event for a stage accident.

But they quickly realized that the loud bang seemed to have come from the auditorium’s sound system; it was just a sound effect.

Upon closer inspection, the chandelier that had fallen onto the center of the stage wasn’t actually made of crystal but appeared to be solid-colored foam, weighted to fall convincingly, and the chandelier’s pendants were all hung up with plastic models, which is why they swayed.

As for the ’fragments’ that flew out, they were merely foam bits and could not hurt anyone.

The classic scene of the chandelier falling in "The Phantom of the Opera" is iconic, and the Drama Club put enormous effort into creating the prop, having to report to the school to do this particular scene.

Thanks to Chiyoko Ayakoji, who was the Student Council President and also participating in the performance, who implicitly allowed it, the scene was approved after much difficulty, and they were permitted to smash the chandelier.

Regardless, the result seemed to be successful.

If the audience below was successfully scared, then their efforts were worthwhile.

The soothing music that filled the auditorium grew tense and uneasy with the fall of the chandelier.

In the center of the stage, the chandelier burnt with black smoke amidst chaotic screams and confused shouts of anger.

It was complete chaos.

"Christine, where are you?!"

Raoul, with his hair disheveled, staggered about searching for Christine.

He ran toward the back of the stage, tentatively lifting the curtain of the changing room where the Phantom of the Opera had switched places just before and, to his surprise, he found the Don Juan actor lying on the ground, along with a secret passage.

Raoul drew his sword, lifted the entrance to the tunnel from the floor, and jumped in.

The lights suddenly dimmed, and the curtain quickly closed.

In less than twenty seconds, the curtain was pulled open again, and by then, the chandelier in the middle of the stage had vanished, the backdrop had changed to a dark and gloomy cave.

The Phantom of the Opera and Christine, just like before, took the boat down the river toward his Underground Kingdom.

The cave backdrop parted, and the iron fence backdrop behind it also lifted, revealing the Phantom’s chamber, filled with candles and art, glowing gold and resplendent.

He led Christine out of the boat and then moved aside the 1.5-meter-tall portrait of Christine, revealing a narrow secret passage behind it that could only fit one person.

"This leads to the surface, and at the end of the tunnel is our freedom," said the Phantom of the Opera joyously, holding Christine’s hands.

Christine smiled back, gripping his hands.

But at that moment, Raoul, relentless in his pursuit, waded through the water behind them, drenched, his long hair dripping wet, incessantly dripping water.

"Christine!!"