Long black hair. Blood-red dress. The famous half smile that a madman might paint. Of course, sunglasses hid her eyes.

Despite herself, Katrina trembled. Her mind raced. Did Miss Satomi sense that she had the cursed bow?

But her teacher gave no indication of anything being wrong.

A small part of Katrina despaired. Part of her had wanted to believe that Miss Satomi would detect what she had done. Part of her wanted Miss Satomi to stop her, make her return the cursed bow, tell her that everything would be okay.

You’re a selfish little thing, aren’t you?

Katrina shuddered as she remembered Tremon’s words.

“I’m ready,” Katrina said.

“Then let’s go.”

Katrina stood up, then paused.

“Miss Astrid, thank you, for everything.”

Astrid blinked.

“Of course, Miss Katrina.”

The drive was quiet. To make everything as familiar as possible, Shizuka had driven Katrina to the Golden Friendship Pavilion multiple times. From the parking lot to the courtyard to the venue itself—Katrina had rehearsed all of it.

Yet that preparation seemed to have been for naught, for today the Pavilion had become an unrecognizable wonderland of red and gold. Red and gold, red and gold everywhere—in banners, streamers, flower arrangements. To the Chinese, red represented good luck, wealth, and fortune, and gold was, well, gold. And scurrying about this opulence were reporters, spectators, musicians and their retinues, and many, many people wearing lanyards.

“Miss Shizuka Satomi! Miss Katrina Nguyen!” said a man with a fancier-than-average lanyard.

“Yes we are,” Miss Satomi said.

“Uh—my name is Landon Fung, one of the directors. I can take Miss Nguyen from here. You do remember the notice we sent to all competitors?” he asked nervously.

With nearly all events, Shizuka would have remained with Katrina, and even kept her away from the other competitors. But in this competition, coaches and teachers were asked to kindly refrain from coming backstage. Musicians were to be together, to mingle, “in the spirit of friendship,” as the organizers said.

Of course, Shizuka knew this was a load of crap. This separation had Tremon’s hands all over it. But nothing could be done. Shizuka gave Katrina one last look over.

“Do you have everything you need?”

“Yes, Miss Satomi.”

“Energy bars?”

“Yes.”

“Tuning fork?”

“Y-yes.”

“Okay, then. Make sure to find a quiet place to rest. Stretch your fingers, especially your pinky, remember? And don’t talk to people if you don’t want to.”

“Yes, Miss Satomi.”

Katrina turned to walk away.

“Wait! Katrina?”

“Yes, Miss Satomi?”

“Next week, shall we bring our violins to El Molino Park?”

“Yes! And can we stop for boba afterward?” Katrina asked.

“Of course.”

“Maybe tea eggs, too?”

“Two orders.”

“I love you, Miss Satomi,” Katrina said.

Shizuka hugged her student for the last time, and kissed her on the cheek, and watched her leave. She turned to an official who had been waiting by her side.