"...I really am sorry about all this." Rosalia earnestly apologized to us after Matilda bolted out of the room. "Matilda is rather... deeply prejudiced in certain ways."

"I can see that," Sol says on our behalf. "She seems like a rather strange girl. Rosalia, you do know how to attract them." Sol made a light jest. 

"But she isn't a bad person," Rosalia assured us.

"Of course," Sol agreed with her. "I didn't say that she was."

"...Well, that was a curious method of departure, but..." Luna spoke up, a little awkwardly, trying to take control of the situation again. "Anyway, as you can see, the Red Rose society has another influential title-bearer joining its ranks. The gap between us has opened even wider." Luna's words provoked a glare out of Sol.

"What was her title?" I ask Luna.

"Chérie Poupée. It means 'Darling Doll,'" she answered. I don't think that title fits her very well, but maybe that's just because of my first impression of her. "Well, anyway. The introduction of Chérie Poupée is complete, so we will take our leave now. Ah, I mentioned it before, but Sol, don't forget that we won't require a coin toss for the May Festival."

"And I told you I wanted a fair fight."

"Yes, yes." Luna brushed off Sol's demands and walked out of the room, the Red Roses filing out behind her.

But Rosalia remained behind. She had more she wanted to say. "Matilda is our official affiliate now, so she'll be causing a lot of trouble for you in the future. Please, try to be generous with her." I don't know why, but I got the feeling that she directed those words specifically at me. Rosalia gave a small bow of her head and left the room.

How responsible... I think to myself after seeing her leave.

"She really is." Chloe agreed with the words I thought I had thought.

"As expected of Belle Épine,¹'Beautiful Thorn.' Rosalia's title.she has both beauty and intelligence," Sapphire commented.

While the three of us were in awe of Rosalia's demeanor, Sol had a new fire lit inside of her. "I am not going to lose to her..." she borderline growled. "I'm going to spend all day thinking of ideas. We have very little time left and today's session is over. Goodbye." Sol marched out of the room, irate. 

"I may have some ideas by tomorrow myself," Sapphire says. "And we are over schedule."

"Okay," Chloe raised out of her seat. "I guess we should head off too, then."

I am, naturally, in agreement. I will be getting sleep today. Over the last few years, I have trained myself to be able to function on three hours of sleep a night, and I fully intend to get back into that habit. If I continue to deprive myself of sleep, then I run the risk of falling asleep in the middle of a stream. I can not think of anything more insulting or blasphemous than that. Time spent sleeping is time wasted not simping, after all.

---

Seraph retreated back into his room, brushed his teeth and jumped straight into bed. He fully intended to get three hours of sleep, but his mind decided that it was about time for him to worry about the May Festival. To be specific, he worried about the theme of it. No matter how little he contributed to conversations, he was still a member of the Blue Lily society. There were expectations set of him, and he wanted to meet them. He wanted to come up with an idea, any idea, no matter how bad it was. He just wanted to show that he was trying. But he couldn't come up with anything. Now he was starting to worry immensely, and the worst case scenario played out in his mind. The girls would harshly denigrate him. 'You can't even come up with a simple idea?'  'You're a pathetic failure.' 'Leave Vincennes and never come back. Bringing you here was a mistake.' 'You're useless.' Now Seraph was worrying over this impossible and, quite frankly, stupid scenario.

"So, you're worrying about a thing, are you?" Seraph's voice of reason spoke to him. 

Yeah.

"Well, the best thing you can do in a situation like this is to worry about it as much as possible."

W...What?

"Don't do anything about it. Just make sure you keep worrying because that always makes things go away. You know those nearly 8 billion humans on Earth? Whatever you're worrying about is obviously a trillion times worse than anything they can imagine. They definitely never had to face any kind of personal crisis. I'm certain they've never felt lonely or been sued. They've never lost family members, friends, spouses or children. They've never been fired, or heartbroken, or panicked about their career choices, or anything that most humans go through in their lifetime. Because whatever you're worried about is definitely the biggest thing that has ever happened to anyone. Ever."

Where are you going with this-

"No one has ever gone to war, so no one will understand what you're going through. They never approached Omaha Beach, knowing they'd most likely be slaughtered in the next few minutes. No one has had to face constant aerial bombing that turned up without warning. Whatever it is recently you've got on your mind justifies you losing sleep and being a total dickhead by creating false images of your kind friends. Whatever. You know best. It's a good thing humans live forever and never age, so don't worry. You've got all of time to hold yourself back with pointless doubts and worries."

Yes, I get it, thanks-

"No you don't, because it's way worse than any of that. You know, if the bad thing does happen, or you embarrass yourself somehow, we're all going to be laughing at you. All 7.8 billion of us. Because we don't have our own lives, or relationships, or careers. We're all just waiting to see you fuck up. The entire planet is going to turn up at your front door and write 'LOL' on it. In piss. That's what's gonna happen."

…Are you do-

"And even after you're dead, we're going to erect a shrine of you, that says 'this person made a mistake,' and we'll visit it everyday with flowers. Not the good kind, though. The bad kind. Like corpse flowers, or the Gastrodia agnicellus. Oh, and don't even think about taking any of those creative risks you want to do. You know the singer-songwriter you want to become? Yeah, if you screw up anything in the process of becoming it in the slightest possible way, we're all going to be laughing at you. We're certainly not busy worrying about our own lives. Beethoven, Da Vinci, Tolstoy, Suisei and all the other VTubers you love… None of them ever worried about their careers. Just keep sabotaging yourself so you don't have to ever fear doing something original. That's the safe path. No one has ever taken a risk before. You're the first one to do it. Ever. And I'm sure the universe cares if you screw up or take a risk. It definitely isn't busy regulating the speed of light, or keeping the galaxies from colliding, or whatever the fuck the universe does. In fact, the entirety of creation was designed solely to watch you fail. That's what we're all doing here. That's what gets us up in the morning: You. Failing."

Okay, thanks asshole, I get it. Shut up.

Deciding not to worry about anything, Seraph ordered an acoustic guitar online that came with a bunch of other guitar stuff he had yet to familiarize himself with and went to sleep. He woke up at five in the morning, refreshed and full of regret. Not only did he not think of a theme for the May Festival, he missed several live streams he could have easily caught if he had just stayed awake. Then he cringed when he remembered how he bought a guitar on impulse just because he wanted to learn it. Unable to face the cruel reality he brought upon himself, Seraph curled up in his bed and napped under the crushing weight of all his failures, flaws, and with the knowledge that he would never be able to do anything that could make himself happy.

---

It's Thursday, after school, the Blue Lily society is having a meeting, I want to die but it's not like anyone cares, let's just get on with it.

"Well, let's begin at once," Sol was raring to get this meeting underway. She placed both her hands on the table and leaned forward. "What do you think about bringing in a professional dancer to act as a special judge?"

"...To grade the dancing?" Chloe asks, confused by the proposal.

"Yes."

"I wonder if they'd like that," Chloe says, doubtful. "Besides, calling a pro in would go a little beyond 'theme'..." 

"That is true..." Sol slumped her shoulders in disappointment when faced with the truth. "I suppose I'm just so frustrated about yesterday, I can't get 'competition' out of my head... But you are right that people might not be happy about it, and we don't have the budget to hire someone..." Sol's own reasoning causes her to let out a sigh. "I don't know what to do. I want to do something to make the Blue Lily society's presence known, but..."

"Ah," Sapphire raised her hand. "I do have one idea, if I may..."

"Oh, yes, you did mention yesterday that you had an idea. Let us hear it," Sol urged her on.

"It was Seraph that made me realize it," she said. I already don't like this idea. "Yesterday, we all fought to see which of us would dance with him first."

"I-I was not fighting over Seraph." Chloe objected.

"Yes, that's right," Sol objected as well. "I would never do something so unbecoming."

"Oh, I see." Sapphire nods in understanding. She had a rare, impish look on her face. "Then I suppose I will take the first dance-"

"Absolutely not." The two pressed in simultaneously, making even the usually placid Sapphire nervous. 

"Ahh... anyway." Sapphire continued. "As much fun as it is to watch secret feuds, what do you think of turning who dances with who into a game of sorts?"

"Oh... that's a good idea," Sol says.

"A game?" Chloe repeats, not sure if she heard right.

"With Easter eggs," Sapphire elaborated. "Easter has already passed for this year, but we needn't be so strict about it, in my opinion."

"Yeah, that's true, but..." Sol was reluctant about the idea for some reason and knitted her brows. "I feel like that could cause a conflict..."

"Are you worried about what she said yesterday?" Chloe asked her. I don't know what's going on. Who is she, what'd she say, and how could Easter eggs cause conflicts? I must've fallen into a microsleep yesterday and missed something. Maybe I had one a little earlier and missed something? 

"Yes," Sol responded. 

"But that's no problem," Chloe assured her. "She said she'd concede to you, after all."

"Ah, but..."

"Just let it go," Chloe tells her. "I've had to deal with this sort of thing since I first came to Vincennes. This isn't the time to be stubborn."

"...You're right." Sol was convinced. "Well, then, we'll go with Easter eggs. Is that acceptable to all?" I don't have any ideas myself, so I just agree with whatever the hell we're doing, and so does everyone else. "Then, the system we will use for the Soirée Dansante will be... to put names inside the Easter eggs and hide them?" Sol turned to Sapphire to see if she had guessed correctly.

"Correct." Sapphire answered her with a giggle. "Attendee's write their names on a piece of paper and place it inside an egg. Then, that person will dance with whoever finds their egg." 

"Okay. We'll decide on the specific rules tomorrow. We'll also need a name. What would be appropriate?" Sol turned the question onto the group, and Sapphire spoke up.

"The truth is, I thought of that, too," she said with pride. "What do you think of 'Woo with Oeuf'?"

"Yes." I agree without hesitation. If you don't know, oeuf means egg. The name is a pun that rhymes, so that means it's good. Puns are funny, you see, and everyone loves them. Those who say they don't are lying.

"...A pun?" Sol said, disapprovingly. I must be mishearing things. Maybe if I narrow my eyes and glare at her, my hearing will work better. "But it does have a nice sound to it..." There we go, my hearing is working again. "Okay, the Blue Lily society's proposal for the May Festival shall be... 'Woo with Oeuf...'"