Sparkling Brightly

In the corridor at the bottom left of the open-air venue, a small dressing room sat tucked away in a corner, inconspicuous. As the heating unit above sensed someone approaching, it emitted the mechanical drone of operation.

"Have you heard? That Little Cauliflower is making a comeback. He’s going to take the stage right here today during the auditions."

"Ha, has Rongsen Media gone mad?"

"How can a guy with such a tainted record be allowed back on stage? Lip-syncing, insulting fans, and then those subsequent reports about his messy private life with over a dozen female fans..."

Amy skipped lightheartedly to the door in the corner. Upon pushing it open, her eyes lit up. Sitting by the floor-to-ceiling window next to a half-person-high flowing moon flower was a quiet girl, her blue eyes swirling with a faint, lingering melancholy.

The blue-haired girl looked up and gave a small nod as she saw her enter.

"Yo, A-Xin, you’re here so early! Sorry, I ran into some trouble on the way and got here late."

"I’ve brought the evening gown." Amy moved behind Tang Xin and pushed the swivel chair the girl was sitting in until she was facing the vanity mirror. The mirror's aluminum frame emitted a soft, yellow glow. Seeing her refreshed self in the reflection, her temperament completely transformed, the melancholy in the blue-haired girl's eyes shifted into a sort of anticipation.

'Soon, everyone will be able to see my sparkling side,' Tang Xin thought. The silhouette of a blonde girl involuntarily surfaced in her mind, and a faint smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

"As girls, we have to package ourselves properly. Your foundation is so good, A-Xin. Just look at the difference a few days of skincare maintenance makes. Once you’re on stage, you’ll have them all head over heels!"

Amy gave a mischievous giggle as she dampened the girl's face with warm water. She rubbed some facial cleanser between her palms and took the opportunity to knead the girl's cheeks before patiently and slowly spreading the cleanser evenly across her face, not missing a single spot.

"That guy Aivmey is something else. Whenever it’s time for this, he’s nowhere to be found. I guess the makeup and styling are entirely up to me," Amy said.

Aivmey's little assistant was still dressed in the same outfit she wore two days ago: a small vest over a white shirt, a grey pleated skirt, and round-toed Doc Martens. She looked full of energy and youthful vitality.

After using toner for a second cleanse, Amy pulled a pile of bottles and jars of cosmetics from her bag. After some picking and choosing, she selected a few that caught her eye and began applying makeup to the girl.

"By the way, A-Xin, did you really never look after your skin before?"

"I used facial cleanser..." Tang Xin’s voice was weak. "And I only know how to do a little light makeup."

Amy laughed in spite of herself. "That’s it?"

"I didn't have much time, and I rarely paid attention to these things," Tang Xin said.

"My god! There are so many handsome guys and beautiful girls at the Starry Art Academy. Back then, I had to wake up three hours early every single day just for skincare essence, toner, and moisturizer," Amy said, her eyes wide.

"With a beautiful calculated makeup look, my turn-back rate in that long corridor from the dorms to the teaching building was through the roof. Every day, seniors were asking for my curtain contact info. I’m telling you, I’m an expert at this."

Amy leaned close to Tang Xin’s ear, whispering like girls sharing secrets: "If you want to learn, I can teach you. The makeup I do is so natural that others can't even tell—no-makeup feel."

"And then you reveal just a bit of your fair neck and wrists, wear some subtle accessories that just happen to accent yourself... details determine success."

Amy grew more excited as she spoke, reminiscing about the days she spent secretly competing with her roommates at the Starry Art Academy. She used to spend vast amounts of time on makeup and beauty, drifting through the 'flowers' without letting a single leaf touch her. Back in the dorm, she would aggressively spray makeup remover on her face and scrub away at the tap.

The price, of course, was obvious. After graduating with a barely passing final project, she had been rebuffed by society. If it hadn't been for her styling skills catching her boss's eye, she might have ended up playing music on the streets for a living.

After a long monologue, Amy noticed Tang Xin was a bit distracted. She shrugged helplessly and used an eyeliner pencil to trace the girl’s eyes, applying a pale red eye shadow.

"I say, A-Xin, have you really never liked anyone since you were little?"

"Why ask that all of a sudden?" Tang Xin was stunned. She truly seemed to have never considered the question, from the time she left the Iris Orphanage to her days at the Starry Art Academy.

"Because when you like someone, you want to show off in front of them. For instance, you’d create a 'chance' encounter so they can see your sparkling side."

Tang Xin stared blankly at her reflection in the mirror as Amy’s voice continued in her ear.

"But honestly, with your water arts ability, your skin is naturally much better than an average person's. Even without much maintenance, it wouldn't ever get to a point of being irredeemably rough."

"A-Xin, why did you stop talking?"

"Letting them see my sparkling side?" Tang Xin murmured.

...................

On the open-air stage, the auditions had already begun. Watching the youth on stage singing with all his might—yet still completely tone-deaf and possessing a voice that was hard to describe—the audience below broke into a round of sighs.

"I told you Lin Fan wouldn't be any good once he stopped lip-syncing, didn't I?"

"How does a guy like that have the face to even step on stage? No wonder Rongsen has been struggling these years; the quality of their artists keeps dropping. It turns out they only know how to promote artists through hype."

Xu Xiaoyou didn't care for the scene on stage. Beside her, the rose-red figure in the seat was crossing his legs with zero regard for his image.

Aivmey clicked his tongue and shook his head. "What kind of fashion sense is that? Where did Rongsen Media hire that costume designer? See no evil, see no evil."

"So why are you here?" Xu Xiaoyou asked.

"Just joining the fun, and incidentally to see what kind of brilliance that Little Blue Bird of yours will radiate," Aivmey said.

With the end of the first performance, it was time for the judges to score.

Xu Xiaoyou glanced over and was momentarily stunned. She saw Aivmey raise a card with the number '0' on it.

He stood up, his voice echoing through the vast open-air audience stands: "Zero points. Next."

"You’re a judge for the vocal arts stage?" Xu Xiaoyou blurted out. "But aren't you a fashion designer?"

"How could a lead fashion designer not have any involvement in other artistic fields? Is it really that surprising to be invited as an audition judge?" Aivmey said. "The family ensures every family child develops comprehensively in virtue, wisdom, physique, and aesthetics."

The dejected youth on stage walked away, and soon a second female contestant took the stage.

The auditions weren't that formal. The scoring process wasn't strictly rigorous, and there was no 'turning the chair' for contestants. The quality of the participants was hit-or-miss, much like a massive jade market where every contestant was a stone placed on a cloth—irregular in shape and varying in size. Whether it was a piece of junk or a brilliant gemstone was entirely up to Aivmey to judge.

And so, a tragedy unfolded.

After giving zero points to several contestants who didn't catch his eye, the perpetrator of this tragedy showed no self-awareness whatsoever. In fact, he seemed to find it quite enjoyable. Before a contestant could even finish singing, Aivmey would hold his '0' card high, his tone rising like a judge delivering a final verdict in court:

"Zero points!"

The audience was in an uproar. People from all over the world were dumbfounded, wondering if this judge had gone mad. So many contestants in a row had received a zero, and the last one hadn't even been given the chance to finish. Was he treating this audition as a joke?

"It’s useless to look at me with those weird eyes, because these people really sing terribly. Whether it’s classical or pop, entering the auditions is just being a piece of scrap stone for others to step on."

Aivmey ignored the murmurs of the crowd and put down his card, leaning into Xu Xiaoyou’s ear.

"I’m planning to hold up a ten-point card the moment your Little Blue Bird appears. What do you think?"

Xu Xiaoyou’s mouth twitched violently. "Without even thinking, people would assume there’s some inside deal going on."

At that moment, the previously boisterous audience suddenly fell silent. The discussions came to an abrupt halt.

"The protagonist is here," Aivmey said, his gaze calm.

Xu Xiaoyou looked toward the stage below. Her gaze suddenly froze, like the frost condensing outside the open-air stage.

Three beams of light fell simultaneously from the deep, near-black dome. The entire world fell so silent that only the central stage remained. A blue-haired girl stepped out onto the stage, bathed in the light.