(Song title: Starfall)
As if simple head-patting wasn't enough to vent her anger, Maruzensky grabbed Eternal Meteor's cheeks with both hands and started kneading them hard.
"B'mb th'b q'ma~!"
Only after Meteor mangled her apology into something barely intelligible did Maruzensky finally let go.
Nearby, Symboli Rudolf watched the two of them fool around, covering her mouth as she laughed. When Maruzensky released her hands, Rudolf cleared her throat twice—calmly directing Meteor's attention to herself.
Meteor immediately tensed up again.
Rudolf sighed, helpless.
"Do I look that scary?"
Meteor nodded furiously… then immediately shook her head just as hard.
Rudolf's expression went flat.
This kid really is the type who'll climb onto the roof if you don't smack her for three days straight. I wasn't even planning to scold her, and she's still acting up…
"Alright, fine," Rudolf said at last. "Go get ready for the Winner's Stage. After that, you're coming to the hospital with me."
"Do we haaave to? That's such a was—" Meteor started reflexively, then caught Rudolf's smile turning progressively too gentle.
"—a waste of… money. No problem! We'll go, we'll go, we'll go! After the Winner's Stage, we'll take Maruzensky-onee-san's car!"
Meteor had wanted to refuse, but the moment Rudolf entered "nuclear kindness" mode, refusing became physically impossible.
"...It's not that serious," Rudolf muttered—though her face twitched like she'd just remembered Maruzensky's driving.
"I'm going to prep for the stage!" Meteor chirped, then bolted.
She didn't realize Rudolf's face change wasn't because of her—
it was because of the phrase: Maruzensky's car.
Watching Meteor run off, Rudolf laughed softly, resigned.
Maruzensky poked Rudolf twice in the side, grin wide.
"On the way back, you're riding in my car too~ With lil' Meteor."
"The license points on the way back are your problem," Rudolf replied instantly.
"Nooooo~!"
Choosing the song
Once in the dressing room, Eternal Meteor pulled out her phone and started flipping through her song list.
Up and down. Again and again.
Nothing felt right.
"The stage is about to start and you're still picking?" someone teased.
"What else am I supposed to do—random it?"
"You said that yourself. Then hurry up, or you'll end up going onstage and singing Uma Pyoi Legend."
Just imagining that scenario made Meteor shiver violently. Even her toes curled up in horror.
No. Anything but that.
Fine—random it is. Singing Uma Pyoi on Winner's Stage is basically execution.
She tapped something without even checking the result, sprinted to hand the USB to backstage, and only then looked at the lyrics on her screen.
The more she read, the more her face twisted.
"Is this… something you're supposed to sing on Winner's Stage?"
"You picked it, idol."
"Go away."
The Winner's Stage begins
Backstage, once she got the cue, Eternal Meteor took a deep breath. After forcing her heart and expression into calm, she used both index fingers to "draw" a smile onto her cheeks, then strode forward onto the stage.
Under the spotlight, she closed her eyes and listened to the roar of the crowd—savoring that intoxicating sensation of being the center of everything.
It was exquisite.
She opened her eyes, spread her hands, and pressed them downward to signal for silence. When the venue finally quieted, she lifted the microphone.
"Goal: an undefeated Triple Crown!"
The response hit like a tidal wave.
All of this… I caused this. I'm the one they're looking at. I'm the one they're cheering for—right now, I'm the center of the world.
Meteor snapped her fingers.
The stage plunged into darkness.
Then the music started, and a single lonely spotlight pinned her in place.
"I wonder… what's reflected in my eyes?"
"It isn't the moonlight of a starless night…"
"It's cast upon the bustling crowd…"
Listening to the lyrics—so clearly threaded with sadness—Rudolf's confusion deepened.
This wasn't the kind of song you sang on Winner's Stage.
And yet Meteor had looked completely fine just now… hadn't she?
Rudolf glanced sideways at Maruzensky and found the same baffled expression on her face, so Rudolf turned back to watch.
"So small—an individual. So vast—the world."
"Every step forward feels like a sigh."
"I reach my hand toward a distant light…"
Onstage, Eternal Meteor stretched her hand out, grasping toward the air.
Below, countless glow sticks swayed in rhythm—light joining light into a sprawling river of stars.
Something that once felt untouchable.
Something she could never reach.
And now—
Meteor clenched her outstretched hand into a tight fist.
I've grabbed it. I've finally seized it all.
I will carve a new chapter into history.
"Memories buried deep inside—silent, yet never forgotten…"
"Someone has left… but their voice still echoes in my mind…"
"This body is no longer fragile…"
"And once I recall everything carved into it…"
"I will pursue the faith I once held…"
I'm standing on the stage right now.
I've escaped that weak, powerless body.
I can do things I never even dared to imagine.
And now…
I'll become the meteor that burns across everyone's heart.
Behind her, the massive screen lit up—a single point in the darkness.
The point expanded… then streaked across the screen wrapped in flame, before the display fell dark again.
"Crashing into the barrier above the crowd…"
"Shards pierce the atmosphere, burning into a meteor shower…"
After a brief blackout, the screen filled with countless lights—innumerable meteors streaking past, one after another, each extinguished by the atmosphere.
And yet every one of them shone dazzlingly bright.
"I don't need the future, or the past…"
"These starlights won't fade—until dawn."
I really don't need them. I don't have them.
As long as the flame I leave behind leaves a trace…
As long as the wound my fall creates is remembered by this world…
That's enough. That's everything I want.
Rudolf's expression hardened as she listened.
Now she was sure: Eternal Meteor hadn't truly absorbed their earlier talk at all.
After the stage, she had to drag her to the hospital for a proper check.
Who knew what else she was hiding?
"Before something happens," Rudolf muttered, "I need to correct that way of thinking."
Maruzensky patted Rudolf's shoulder, her own face unusually serious.
"Yeah."
"I know we said we should trust that promise…"
"But the way she's acting… that was just her trying to calm us down."
"She's just a kid—yet she keeps pretending to be an adult."
Lil' Meteor… what happened to you in the past?
Maruzensky gritted her teeth.
To go through something like that and still smile—still joke around, still apologize when she messes up…
How strong did she have to be?
Her fist tightened—then slowly loosened.
The past couldn't be changed.
So they'd start with what they could change.
From now.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 90)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 95)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 80)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter70)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter70)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter50)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter60)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 20
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 20
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