Chapter 19: The Great Vocalist Search

Yuna's POV

After an entire week of preparing, planning, and nearly breaking down from stress, it was finally time.

Auditions.

The day we had been waiting for. Or dreading. Mostly dreading.

Lena had actually done an amazing job getting people interested, which meant we had a whole list of candidates to go through. It sounded promising.

But by the end of the first audition, I already knew we were doomed.

Candidate #1:

Mika. Confident. Friendly. Walked in with the energy of someone who had trained for this moment.

And then she opened her mouth.

And it was like listening to a dying car engine.

Kai winced so hard I thought he was in physical pain. Ethan, sipping his juice box, casually set it down as if preparing to evacuate. Milo blinked. Leo turned to me, begging for me to do something.

I forced a polite smile. "Uh… thank you! Next!"

Mika pouted. "But I only sang one line—"

"Next!"

Leo sighed in relief. "Okay. One bad audition is fine. Maybe the next person will be better."

Leo was so naive.

Candidate #3:

This guy was so nervous that instead of singing, he just… stood there. Frozen. Like a glitching video game character.

We waited.

And waited.

Finally, Ethan leaned forward. "Hey, buddy. You okay?"

The guy bolted out of the room without a word.

Leo stared at the door. "Was that… a ghost?"

Candidate #5:

She could sing. She just refused to sing our songs.

"I'll join if we only do jazz remixes," she said, hands on her hips.

Kai deadpanned. "Next."

Candidate #7:

An opera singer.

A very passionate opera singer.

Within seconds, the entire room vibrated from the force of her voice.

Noah had to physically grab his notebook before it slid off the table.

Leo clutched his ears. "MY SOUL HAS LEFT MY BODY."

Milo, ever the composed one, simply murmured, "Fascinating."

Ethan, who somehow remained calm, nodded. "Very impressive. But maybe not the vibe we're going for."

The girl bowed deeply before leaving.

Candidate #9:

This one was promising at first. Good energy. Good attitude. Knew our band name.

Then she asked, "Can I sing while playing the bagpipes?"

We all just stared.

Kai rubbed his temples. "Next."

Candidate #12:

A dude who, for some unknown reason, sang everything like it was a Broadway finale.

His audition song? Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.

With full emotion.

Ethan was genuinely moved. "Wow. He really felt that one."

Leo was curled up in the corner. "This hurts."

Candidate #14:

Showed up, grabbed the mic, and immediately screamed, "I WANNA ROCK!" before doing an air guitar solo for five minutes straight.

I did not know his name.

I did not want to know his name.

Candidate #15:

Could actually sing. Really well, in fact.

Then she revealed that she would only join if we became a K-pop dance group.

Leo let out a noise that was part sob, part scream.

By this point, I was ready to start throwing people out.

"What—WHAT IS HAPPENING?!" I yelled, pacing like a maniac.

"How—how is it this hard to find a normal singer?! Someone who just SINGS?! NO BAGPIPES! NO OPERA! NO—WHATEVER THAT BROADWAY GUY WAS DOING?!?!"

Leo was sitting in the corner, knees to his chest. "We're doomed. We're never gonna find a singer. We should just quit now."

Noah, aggressively scribbling in his notebook, muttered, "What if we just write a song without a singer? No lyrics. Just pure instrumental suffering."

I snapped my head toward him. "Noah, I swear—"

He held up his hands. "Okay, okay. Just an idea."

Ethan, still somehow relaxed, casually suggested, "We could just add another guitar solo."

I snapped.

"NO. NO MORE GUITAR SOLOS. WE ARE A GUITAR SOLO AWAY FROM ABSOLUTE DISASTER."

Everyone went silent.

Kai muttered, "Jeez. Okay."

I collapsed onto a desk, groaning. "We have everything but a singer. How are we supposed to be a band if we don't even have someone to sing?!"

Milo, who had barely spoken all day, finally shrugged. "We just keep trying."

I groaned, dragging a hand down my face. "I hate that you're right."

Ethan grabbed another juice box from his bag. "We still have a few more auditions left. Maybe the last person will be a miracle."

I sighed. "Yeah. Or maybe they'll be another opera singer."

Leo groaned. "At this point, I'll take it."

And with that hopeful thought, we continued our search for the one voice that wouldn't make us want to quit music forever.

The next morning, my plan was to sleep in.

Instead, I was dragged out of bed and forced into the back of my uncle's truck with my two cousins, against my will.

My older cousin, Ben, was at least somewhat normal. He was the quiet, sarcastic type, so we got along fine.

My younger cousin, Lily?

Would not stop talking about unicorns.

"Did you know unicorns are actually real? But they're invisible! Only special people can see them!"

I slumped in my seat, my soul leaving my body all over again. "That's great, Lily."

"And did you know that if you have a unicorn's blessing, you'll never have bad dreams? But you have to believe REALLY HARD."

"Uh-huh."

"And also—"

"Hey, Lily," Ben cut in, smirking at me.

"Did you know Yuna's actually scared of unicorns?"

I snapped my head toward him. "I AM NOT."

Lily gasped. "Yuna! How could you be scared of something so majestic?!"

Ben just grinned like the evil older cousin he was. "She told me she once had a nightmare where a unicorn chased her through a field, and she fell in the mud."

I glared daggers at him. "I will throw you out of this truck."

But that did make me remember.

We finally arrived at the picnic spot, a little wooden gazebo in the middle of the rice fields. It was actually a nice place—shady, peaceful, and with a cool breeze.

But I was still dead inside.

I just sat on a mat, staring blankly at the horizon while everyone else unpacked the food.

"Yuna," Aunt Roa said, "aren't you excited?"

I stared at her with the lifeless eyes of someone who had suffered too much.

"Yeah," I said flatly. "This is the happiest I've ever been."

Ben snorted. "You look like a ghost."

"Because I am a ghost, Ben. I died yesterday."

Lily climbed onto the picnic table. "Don't worry, Yuna! I'll ask the unicorns to bring your soul back!"

I put my hands on her shoulders, looking deep into her way-too-enthusiastic eyes.

"Lily. If you summon a unicorn right now, I will personally fight it."

She gasped in horror. "You monster!"

Uncle Ramon laughed. "Yuna, I think you need some food before you start attacking imaginary creatures."

I groaned, but my stomach did rumble at the sight of the food. Rice, grilled fish, fresh mangoes, and—oh. Oh yes. Fried chicken.

Fine. I would allow myself to be happy for a brief moment.

As I sat there, stuffing my face, I thought about everything that had happened this week. The band, the failed auditions, the absolute chaos of it all.

It was frustrating. It was exhausting.

But somehow… it was still fun.

Even if we had to go through another week of audition torture, maybe—just maybe—it would all be worth it.

That is, if we found a singer before we all lost our minds.

Lily poked my arm. "Yuna, if a unicorn did appear right now, what would you do?"

I sighed dramatically. "I'd let it eat me. Just to be free from this suffering."

Ben snickered. "That'd be a great way to go, honestly."

And with that very deep and important conversation, we continued our forced family bonding in the rice fields.

After lunch, Aunt Rosa and Uncle Ramon were living their best lives, reclining under the shade like royalty, fully embracing their post-meal food coma.

Uncle Ramon had his hat pulled over his face, arms behind his head, while Aunt Rosa was sipping on fresh coconut juice, occasionally sighing in deep, almost offensive satisfaction.

Meanwhile, I sat there, drained of life, staring blankly at the horizon, haunted by the memories of the past week. The failed auditions. The suffering. The horrible screeching of that one guy who thought screaming counted as singing.

I wanted to rest. I needed to rest.

But Lily, my relentless little cousin, had other plans.

"Yunaaaa, let's go explore the farm!" she whined, tugging at my arm.

I groaned. "Lily, my soul has already left my body. I don't think I can move."

"C'mon! You've just been lying there like a sad potato!"

"I am a sad potato."

Lily pouted. "Pleaaaase?"

I turned my head toward Aunt Rosa and Uncle Ramon, hoping for help. But no—they were too busy basking in the breeze, completely ignoring my silent cries for rescue. Even my older cousin, Ben, was just chilling against a tree, completely useless in this situation.

Lily wasn't going to give up.

"Fine," I muttered, dragging myself up. "But if something bad happens, I'm blaming you."

The rice fields stretched far and wide, glowing under the afternoon sun. It was peaceful. Too peaceful.

"This is where the farmers harvest rice!" Lily chirped proudly, marching ahead.

I wiped the sweat off my forehead. "Yeah. No kidding."

She skipped along the narrow dirt paths between the paddies, balancing perfectly like a little acrobat. Meanwhile, I followed cautiously, because I knew how this was going to end.

Sure enough—

A frog jumped out of nowhere.

And my soul left my body.

I shrieked, lost my balance, and—

SPLASH.

Right into the rice field.

AGAIN.

Lily lost her mind.

She didn't just laugh—she exploded. She collapsed on the dirt path, kicking her legs like a cartoon character, clutching her stomach as if she were in actual pain from the sheer comedic genius of my suffering.

"OH MY GOSH—HAHAHAHAHA!" she howled, slamming a tiny fist into the ground.

"YOU—YOU REALLY—HAHAHA—FELL?!"

I heard her gasp for air in between giggles, her voice nearly breaking from the effort of trying to form words.

Meanwhile, I lay there. Motionless. Face down in the muddy water, arms sprawled out in defeat, feeling the cold embrace of betrayal.

Why.

Why was the universe like this?

Was this my fate? Was I destined to be eternally cursed by the rice fields and their evil accomplices, the frogs? Was this some kind of divine punishment for a crime I didn't remember committing?

"Lily," I said, my voice muffled by the water, barely clinging to life. "If you ever speak of this—"

But she couldn't even hear me through her violent wheezing.

She was rolling now, absolutely done for, tears streaming down her face. She even tried to sit up but immediately collapsed again like her bones had turned into jelly from laughing too hard.

And just when I thought this moment of humiliation had peaked—

A voice.

A very familiar voice.

"...You again?"

I froze.

A deep, paralyzing dread settled into my bones.

No.

Please, no.

Anyone but him.

With all the reluctance of a horror movie protagonist realizing they weren't actually alone in the haunted house, I turned my head.

And there he was.

Standing at the edge of the field, holding a bundle of bamboo over his shoulder like some kind of countryside action hero—

Kai.

Because of course it was Kai.

I was lying face down in the mud like a tragic swamp creature, and Kai was standing there, staring at me with that same annoyed-yet-mildly-confused expression, as if he were personally offended by my existence.

I wanted the rice field to swallow me whole.

To be continued.