She places her hands on her chest to emphasize these last words. When she does so, her balance falters. Doi scrambles in her socks, and reaches out to grab the balustrade beside us. Her hand briefly brushes my hand, resting on it.
She snaps her whole arm back and takes two small steps away from me. Doi’s gaze fixes on the pearl between us. Hot waves of shame roll off of her Chi. Her face burns with an expression of profound hate.
I realize that this hate is aimed wholly at herself.
She hates the strongest, bravest student here at Pearl Famous because of what that girl liked.
Whom, not what.
Loved, not liked.
I don’t know much about these things. But it seems deeply wrong that love should ever be a reason for hate.
I take her hand in mine and fold my other hand over hers.
Doi looks at me with astonished eyes. It cuts slices into my heart to think that she, who defended me so many times and paid so high a price for it, should be so surprised at such a small kindness in return.
When she sees the tears on my cheeks, her heart at last caves in.
“I don’t want to leave here, Peasprout! I’m frightened! And what’s going to happen to you? What are we going to do?”
I have no answers for my friend, and the only thing that I can do is offer my hands and join my weeping with hers.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-LUCKY
The final weeks of the school year are filled with preparations for the Drift Season Pageant. The opera that the first-year students are going to perform is The Great Leap of Shin. Sensei Madame Phoenix selected a script written by two girls whose names I don’t recognize. When the winning students are called to ascend to the front of the hall at the announcement ceremony, I see that it’s the two silent girls whom I forced to partner with me in literature class. Good.
Mitsuko is chosen by Sensei Madame Yao for the score that she composed. Two first-year boys and one first-year girl are chosen for their sculptures. They’ll assist the three third-year students who have devoted to the Conservatory of Architecture in designing and building the opera stage. I wonder how much the first-years are entrusted with the secrets of the pearl.
A great sheet of pearlsilk that’s twice as tall as the Temple of Heroes of Superlative Character encircles the site of the construction on the central performing stage at the Conservatory of Music. Whatever they’re building in there must be epic. The three students’ winning sculptures are displayed on slender plinths in front of the site. They’re fine works. However, it hurts to notice that none of them has an interior as Cricket’s had, with two sculptures inside. He should be behind that sheet of pearlsilk now, helping to create the stage.
“Cricket, can you ever forgive me?” I cry at the wall of pearlsilk.
There’s rustling behind it. I didn’t realize that anyone was working there. The curtain parts and a head appears. It’s Cricket!
When he sees me, he freezes. There are so many things I’ve wanted to say to him since I destroyed his sculpture, but the only words I get out are “What are you doing in there?”
“I’m helping with the creation of the stage.”
“But … how?”
“I helped the three winning students carve their entries, so they asked me to help them as their assistant. And then Supreme Sensei Master Jio saw a design I drew and he liked it.”
Two third-year students suddenly appear through the slit in the pearlsilk. One of them, a tall, bossy-looking girl, says, “Cricket, you promised to help—” She cuts herself short when she sees me there.
“I’m sorry, Peasprout. I have to go. I’m doing something important.” He says this without gloating. He smiles wanly and disappears behind the screen.
* * *
Since the Drift Season Pageant is cast according to wu liu rankings, Suki was given the lead role of the chief engineer, Mu Haichen, but refused it, because she found it “disgusting” to play a eunuch. The role went to Etsuko, who also was offended at playing this great hero. Suki instead chose to play the role of the boy Lim Tian-Tai. However, she threw a fit at playing a boy and insisted that the script be changed so that at one point, it’s revealed that Lim Tian-Tai was only pretending to be a boy and was actually a classical beauty and a princess in disguise, and that at least half of her time onstage be spent in beautiful gowns. Sensei Madame Liao fired her from the production for insubordination, but Sensei Madame Yao and Sensei Madame Phoenix brought Suki back and insisted that her requested changes be made.
The two boys with the highest rankings in wu liu take the roles of the girl assassins Shok-Bee and Yumi. Suki and Etsuko were originally offered the roles, but they insisted it would be humiliating and morally outrageous to make them play supporting characters. Thus, the opera ultimately proceeds with two girls playing males and two boys playing females.
At last, the evening of the performance of the Drift Season Pageant arrives. We gather in Eastern Heaven Dining Hall for the End-of-Term Feast. Doi and I don’t eat a single bite because everything has animal parts in it and Doi made dumpling soup and vegetable curry-fried rice for us beforehand. However, it’s also because we’re restless with anticipation to see the opera performed. At last the clarion formed by the tower on the eastern side of the Hall of Lilting Radiance sounds, and a great cheer rises up. We all proceed to the site of the performance at the Conservatory of Music, Doi and I rowing a small boat across the water so we don’t have to navigate the rails in socks.
When we arrive and finally view what they’ve been building behind the great sheets of pearlsilk, we gape in shock
