Make Them Love Me Or They'll End The World-Chapter 149: Kira’s Shot.

Kira stepped forward, lifted her script to eye level, and began in a monotone. Not just monotone: satellite-navigation monotone. Her cadence clicked like a metronome that had never known joy.

"I-shall-walk-before-I-curse-her," she intoned, each word landing with the precision of a vending machine dropping coins. Paper rustled in the quiet. Fluorescents hummed. A speck of dust drifted through the stage lights like a lost meteor.

"Umm… Well, this is good?" Tengen muttered, leaning sideways as if a different angle might reveal hidden emotions.

"I dunno, this sounds like an AI movie," Sumire whispered back, brow twitching.

Yura, however, curled a smug smile and folded her arms, the picture of villainous satisfaction. "Hehehe… Foolish girl. She thought she could outdo me with that robotic tone."

Kentaro didn't bite at any of the commentary. He kept his eyes on Kira, watching the way her shoulders stayed locked, the way she inhaled through her nose at the start of each line like she was steadying a gun. It wasn't good, objectively, but she was trying, and trying mattered. The script trembled in her hands only at the parts that mentioned the prince. His name never appeared, but her fingers told on her.

"And I shall make the light sleep until the dark sings," Kira finished, the last word clipped clean.

Silence held for half a breath. Then a round of applause rose, polite but real. Kira blinked, surprised. A flush crept into her cheeks, barely there, like someone had brushed her with dawn. Her eyes slid, almost involuntarily, toward Kentaro.

He met her gaze and smiled, simple, warm, unguarded.

"I think… I've got a chance," she mouthed to herself, the corners of her mouth threatening to betray her stoic mask.

The clapping tapered off. No one rushed to speak first. The air went awkward and heavy, too many people, too much pride, too many stakes to name. Mr Tachibana, who had been sitting ramrod straight on a folding chair, finally rose with a small, genial smile and crossed the scuffed floor. His dress shoes squeaked faintly on the varnish.

He guided Yura forward by the elbow, gently, with that teacherly touch that says you were seen and I'm proud, and then beckoned Kira to meet her halfway. Yura didn't resist; Kira didn't posture. They stopped, face to face, the stage lights painting a thin gold line along their profiles.

"Sir?" Kentaro murmured, not fully sure what Mr Tachibana intended.

The teacher folded his hands, eyes kind. "Though I haven't known Yura as long as I've known Kira, and to be honest, Kira, I haven't known you that long either, given your absences and how recently the term began, what I can say is that I'm proud of both of you. Standing before your peers and performing with your whole heart is something an old man like me can appreciate." He dipped his head, the smile reaching his eyes. "So, before any decision: Thank you. Truly. Well done."

Both girls stared at him, surprise softening into brightness. Their eyes glimmered just a little. They nodded.

"Hmph. It was a fierce battle, but may the better woman win," Yura declared, a smirk returning as she extended her hand.

Kira stared at the offered hand for a beat, calculating, weighing, and then smirked, too. "Fair enough. I can respect you for actually competing." She reached out. Their palms met. They shook.

Kentaro and Tenka exchanged a look of pure disbelief.

"Never thought I'd see Yura and Kira shaking hands," Kentaro breathed.

Before Tenka could answer, Serica's quiet voice drifted up from the floor, surprising in its timing after so long a silence. "Ken… Who do you want to win?" She kept her eyes forward, as if looking at him would be too much. "I know she'd be the bad guy, but… Who do you want to play against?"

Kentaro hesitated, feeling the question settle in his chest as a stone dropped into water. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Who would I want to win?

If Yura won, there was that thread between them, days and nights under the same roof, the messy, stupid domestic fights, the way her pride softened when she wasn't looking. Maybe that familiarity would tug loose whatever memories were trapped behind the crystal's cold wall.

If Kira won, doors might crack open, her resolve, her anger at Alberlines, the way she'd been drifting toward Akio's orbit. A stage is a dangerous place to hate someone on; every line asks you to understand them. Maybe the role could pull her closer, make her see.

"Either way… I don't think there's a bad answer," he said at last, letting the thought settle into a small, honest smile.

Serica risked a glance at him then, and colour touched her cheeks. She turned quickly away.

"I see... Well, I guess that's acceptable, but still, I don't know why that hurts my chest." She muttered softly

"Hm? Did you say something?" Kentaro leaned a little closer.

"Ngh! N-no, nothing, hahaha!" Serica squeaked, stepping back like she'd brushed a live wire.

Kentaro let her be. Mr Tachibana had stepped back to the centre, and the whole room went still with expectation. The lights hummed. Someone in the back shifted; the seat creaked loud as a crow.

"And so," Mr Tachibana said, voice gentle but firm, "though I respect the effort you've both poured into this, there can only be one Maleficent."

You could hear his sleeve when he raised his hand. You could hear the breath Yura took, and the quieter breath Kira didn't. He let his palm hover, milking the moment like a seasoned director, and then brought it down with a soft clap as he spoke:

"The winner, the person who will play Maleficent in the upcoming play, is…"

"K-"

"Y-"

Two syllables, two futures. The sound split the room like lightning...

*

"Do I know Kira…?" Milly repeated, blinking at the woman facing her across the changing room. "Why would you want to know that?"

Jin Yue's smile was small and sharp, the kind of expression you get after years of being told no and winning anyway. The short blonde hair, the scar on her cheek, the balanced stance, she looked like a blade left out on a winter night. "We heard she's quite the rookie," she said, tilting her head just enough to seem friendly. "We wanted to meet her. Maybe get a sense of her strength."

The room smelled like laundry powder and cold metal. Fluorescents buzzed. A locker door banged somewhere down the row, clang, then silence. Milly could feel that silence tilt toward pressure. Jin Yue didn't need to raise her voice to be dangerous; she carried calm like a baton.

Lying would be stupid. It would be fatal if it came back, and everything did, eventually.

"Yes," Milly said, after the tiniest hesitation. "I know her. She's my best friend."

Five pairs of eyes widened, quick, involuntary. "Best friend, eh…" They murmured, a whisper rolling between them. Then matching, controlled smiles. Soldiers trying on social masks.

Milly didn't give them time to press. "If you want to meet her, you'll need to wait. She's off for a few days."

"Aww," Hua Li pouted, drawing the sound out like sugar on the tongue. The red ponytail swished as she leaned forward on her elbows, eyes bright with a mischief that looked cute until it didn't. "Can't you ask her to come in tomorrow? Pleeease? We really want to meet her."

Milly's brows pulled together. She took a half-step back before she caught herself. "She has college," she said flatly. "Even if I asked, she wouldn't come in."

"Oh, I see," Hua sang, and the sweetness slid, revealing teeth. "Then what if we visit her?"

A knot tightened in Milly's stomach. Bad idea. Catastrophic idea. "And how would you do that?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

Hua's smile sharpened. We go to her college. Hehehehe."

There it was. No pretence. The words slithered across the tile and coiled around Milly's shoes. Her heartbeat ticked up, quick and mean. If these five walked into that campus cold, wearing Cradle on their backs like a target, everything would unravel: Kira's cover, Halcyon's balance with Kentaro, the fragile, invisible line between police and myth.

"Or," Hua added, sing-song, "you can bring her here. Which is it, Milly~?"

Milly's throat went dry. The syllables stuck. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Again. Nothing.

"Ngh, OW!" Hua yelped as a blue-braided comet, Xia Yu. Brought a thin folder down on the top of her head with the bored precision of someone closing a drawer.

"Shut it, Hua. Stop being a jackass," Xia said, sliding the folder under her arm. The lenses of her glasses caught the light when she glanced at Milly. "Sorry about her. She gets excited and forgets we have to work with people."

The tension loosened slightly. Milly let a breath out through her nose; she hadn't known she was holding. "It's fine," she said, because you said that in rooms like this. "But please don't. If you go charging into her campus, you'll cause problems, not just for Kira, but for the branch."

"For Kira, sure," Xia said, curious now rather than confrontational. "But why the branch?"

And that did it. Five heads tipped toward her at once, interest pricking like pins. The changing room felt smaller. Milly glanced from face to face: Jin Yue calm, measuring; Mei Lin serene, unreadable behind those long pink lashes; Lan Fen restless, green pigtails twitching; Hua already recovered, eyes glittering; Xia poised to take notes on the air itself.

"You don't know about the college?" Milly asked, surprised enough to forget to mask it.

Five shakes of the head.

Of course. They'd been parachuted in by Beijing with a codename and a direction, nothing else. Sometimes Cradle's right hand hid things from its left and called it protocol.

Lan Fen hopped off the bench and crossed her arms, chin up. Her small frame radiated heat. "All we got told when we got here," she said, every time we stretched like taffy, "was that weeee are meant to take out Oblivion. Nowhere, no who, no how. But weeee just arrived."

"Weeee," Milly echoed under her breath, cracked despite herself by the odd emphasis. Then she sank onto the bench opposite them and exhaled. "Fine. You'll learn soon anyway."

They leaned in a fraction, collective gravity pulling them closer.

"Oblivion isn't the only Alberline we know about," Milly said. Her voice went cool, even. "There are three others. Confirmed. Living in plain sight." She let that hang for a heartbeat. "And all three attend Kira's college."

Shock snapped through the five like an electric current. "WHAT?!" they barked together, training abandoned for pure human reaction.

"So you're telling me," Jin said, arms now folded, "world-ending creatures are… Studying, eating lunch, and making friends. Right now."

"That's correct." Milly didn't blink. "And on top of that, there's a boy, Kentaro Takamiya, who's somehow at the centre of them. He doesn't control them, not exactly, but they respond to him. And Kira, the girl you want to meet, wants to get him away from Alberlines, save him, and eradicate the rest."

Mei Lin, who'd been silent, tilted her head, pink hair slipping like water over her shoulder. "Why him? Why does she want to save him?"

Heat crept up Milly's neck. She looked down at her hands, then back up, trying to sound matter-of-fact and failing. "Because… She loves him," she said softly, words catching and tumbling out anyway.

"OMG," Hua gasped, hands clasped under her chin. "That sounds like a novel!"

"Focus," Jin chided, but even she couldn't entirely mute the spark of interest.

Milly stood, letting the bench scrape loudly enough to end the spell. "That's all I'm telling you for now. You'll get briefed properly. Just don't bother Kira." She met each gaze in turn, pinning the request to a warning. "Not yet."

The five looked at each other again, measuring, aligning, unspoken calculus moving behind five very different sets of eyes, then nodded as one.

Milly's shoulders dipped a fraction in relief. "Good," she said, and turned for the door, leaving the new transfers by themselves...