THAT’S OUTRAGEOUS #
Zyneese stood in front of the transmogrifier, skin gone faintly blue at the cheeks, violet undertones dragged colder each time the magic failed and snapped her outfit back to default. “This event is cursed.”
She had entered solo. Six contestants. Fierce room. Third place. Second place. Never first.
She only wanted the Fashionable Undershirt .
Then pride got involved.
By the fourth failure, even her face had taken on that dangerous void-cast.
The void whispers: kill the judges.
A hooded figure appeared at her elbow and pressed a gleaming ticket into her hand.
“Special participation,” the stranger said. “Take it.”
Zyneese looked down at it. “This is rigged.”
“This is curated.”
The next round was obscene.
Four mechagnomes had somehow been inserted into the bracket, bright and compliant as stage props. Opposite Zyneese stood one innocent elf priest in a sharply endowed draconic garment, giving the kind of earnest effort that would have been dangerous in an honest competition.
The cloth-changing magic worked perfectly. The lighting adored her. The event had all the integrity of a bribed magistrate.
The void whispers: this seems fair enough.
Somebody in the crowd screamed, “SHE UNDERSTANDS SILHOUETTE.”
When the box landed in her hands, Zyneese opened it, stared at the prize, and went perfectly still.
Inside was Trial of Style Reward: First Place .
An hour later she walked out in her new Fashionable Undershirt , looking vindicated enough to start a religion, and quietly slid a Silver Chainkini into her bag for reasons nobody was invited to survive knowing.
Behind her, the hooded figure lowered the hood.
Hiyorieese smiled.
「負 け癖 がつくのは、かわいそうでしょう。」 — It would be cruel to let you get used to losing.
Zyneese did not look back. “I’m not asking what you did.”