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Neige sat down at next to Ash at the table backstage, sighing deeply and letting his head fall onto his folded arms with a dull thump. Ash jumped and panicked wordlessly for a bit, hands fluttering uselessly over Neige's form.
"Are you okay?" Rielle's text-to-speech cuts through the awkward silence. Neige looks up a moment to see Rielle's worried frown. He's still not great with social cues, but Neige could tell he was trying his best. Neige drops his head back down onto the table. "No," he says miserably. "I made Vil and his group sing with us."
Florian opened his mouth to say something, only for Fabian to immediately cover his mouth with his hands. While the cousins squabbled in the background, Faith reached over the table to pat Neige's back sympathetically.
"It really wasn't as bad as you might think, dear. I know the fans loved it."
"The fans weren't the ones singing it. I mean really, who would want to sing after losing when they obviously put so much effort into their performance? That's a kind of performance you'd be disappointed to lose, honestly I was glad just to have our performance watched and acknowledged. And he was just crying! Real tears!" Neige lamented, voice muffled by his arms and table. "But no, I just had to open my big stupid mouth."
Faith smiled gently, though it lacked his usual mirth. "I suppose we couldn't tell that much from down in the stands. Nevertheless, I'm sure you meant well."
"I'm pretty sure that was an original song, too. Can you imagine the amount of work that would go into arranging the song, the vocals, the choreography? When my siblings and I performed, we'd take months just to figure that out, let alone perfect it, and we already how to work well together! It really is amazing he's able to it in only-" Rielle started obliviously before his phone was promptly snatched and silenced by Faith, the grating sound of text-to-speech cutting off partway through the sentence. Rielle looked at him with a confused frown, reaching for his phone. Faith shook his head, keeping it just barely out of reach with a bit of precisely controlled wind magic.
"At least- ow, Flo, geroff- at least I'm sure that your brothers are glad to win- this is for your own good, Flo- especially Gran." Fabian said in between gasps of air, wrestling and rolling all around the place with Florian, who seemed to be employing various tactics such as kicking and scratching, entirely forgoing magic despite the pink magestone brooch pinned to his belt.
Maximillian, reading a book in the corner, glanced over, then promptly raised the book higher as if to shield himself from their antics, his nose scrunching slightly in distaste.
"Hey," Ash asked gently, putting his hand on Neige's shoulder, "how about we all go out for dinner after this, just to get our minds off things? I'm sure the Headmaster will allow it as long as we ask nicely."
Before Neige could respond, Fabian let out an indignant shriek. "Did you just lick my hand?!?"
The outburst, paired with Florian’s unhinged laughter, startled Faith enough to drop Rielle's phone. Both Ash and Rielle scrambled in a frantic attempt to catch it before it hit the ground, their movements a blur of desperation. Maximillian didn’t seem fazed in the least, though—he simply adjusted his book, uninterested in the chaos unfolding around him.
Neige lifted his head and chuckled softly at the scene.
"Sure," he smiled, "it's a date."
In the chaos of the moment, Neige missed the way Ash’s face flushed a deep pink at his words.