In Julie’s car, Cyrielle was looking at her phone. A few days earlier, she had started a new routine : When Marius came home from work and until he served dinner, she would go outside in the small park and record herself singing a capel. She wasn’t very happy with the result because she was nervous so her face appeared stiff and unnatural in the videos, but she didn’t get better with time, so she just kept everything. Doing this everyday for an hour and singing every song she knew, she had accumuted quite the backlog of videos that she scheduled for release in the mornings.

  It had been a few days and having a regur output of videos meant that her channel was recommended by the algorithm, as stated by the articles she had read on how to be popur on MyTube. She wasn’t famous by any means, but she had a dozen subscribers and a few comments on each video. She even started to recognize the regurs that came back everyday to write a message for her. It wasn’t a tremendous success, but her heart felt warm. She couldn’t stop reading the comment section.

  -Wow, her voice is incredible !

  -why are you so stiff u have a broom in your butt mdr

  -But doesn’t she seem so elegant ? I could put her in a historical drama and she wouldn’t be out of pce xptdr

  There were several comments like the st one, which she did not really understand - she felt she always looked stiff and unnatural. She supposed the people who saw her as dignified and elegant just had a different perspective.

  “Ready for the rehearsal ? I’ll film it for your channel, I got permission from the guys. Oh my gosh, I’m so excited !”

  Julie was jumping from her seat, so much so that the car was moving up and down, and Cyrielle started to get really scared for her safety. But it was understandable : It was finally the day of the rehearsal with ‘Heavy Protector’, and tomorrow was the concert. Even if her face appeared calm and strict as usual, inside Cyrielle was one step away from a panic attack.

  ‘Oh my gosh… Breathe Cyrielle, breathe… No, I don’t think I can ! What if I open my mouth and I puke instead of singing ? I’m shaking… No, I must stay calm. After all, it’s my only opportunity for now !’

  Trying to control her own mind to appear calm and cool, she didn’t notice the car stopping in front of an apartment complex. It was a lot cleaner than the ones Julie and Marius lived in, probably for people in the middle css. Cyrielle forced herself to take a deep breath and opened the door. Julie was also looking at the building with twinkling eyes.

  “Hyena never invited me over. I knew he had good pay as a night watchman at a university, but had no idea he was successful enough to have an apartment in such a cool pce! Do you think it's a rental like mine or does he own it?”

  Cyrielle didn’t answer, she was too focused on breathing. Soon, Julie sent a text and a man opened the door leading to the complex. It was Hyena. He guided them to an elevator, and they went all the way to the 12th floor. Here, an opened door was waiting for them at the end of the corridor.

  As soon as they went inside, they were greeted by four men with ages varying from their thirties to their fifties. They seemed nice and each had a pint of beer in their hands, with gss bottles perched on almost every surface of the room. It was an apartment with two rooms and an open kitchen, very nice looking, and with a balcony from which you could observe the bustling city of Bordeaux. It wasn’t luxurious, but it was something Julie or Cyrielle could never afford.

  In the center of the living room on a big carpet was a drum set, amplifiers, some guitars, several microphones, and other musical equipment that Cyrielle didn’t recognize. So they would rehearse in that way ? It was fascinating to her.

  Hyena was looking at Cyrielle. She seemed unfazed, judging quietly the quality of their set up. Of course, it was only his own misconception.

  ‘I hope it’s enough for her. She is probably used to having way better equipment, but if she went to a karaoke in a bar, it means she isn’t too close minded. It should be alright.’

  He introduced her to his mates, the bassist, the drummer, the pianist, and the second guitarist. They were all way too polite with her, probably infected by the misunderstanding. (They ‘vouvoient’ her. In French there are 2 ways to say ‘you’, either singur or plural. If you use plural for a single person, it’s a mark of respect like an honorific)

  “Thank you for coming, really !”

  “I watched all your videos, I can’t believe you agreed to sing with us !”

  She wasn’t a celebrity so their praise and their over-politeness made her very uncomfortable. Her face didn’t show it, but her brows got slightly closer. Noticing it, and obviously completely misreading the situation, Hyena came between them.

  “Stop now guys ! Don’t bother her. She is here to work after all !”

  What was happening to everyone ? Was there ergot in their bread ?

  “You can be casual with me, I don’t mind.”

  She tried to appear friendly but the nervousness had completely frozen her face. Immediately the band protested.

  “No, how could we !”

  “Don’t worry, we won’t bother you anymore.”

  “Just go to the mic, we’ll start right away !”

  Well, her effort to make new friends seemed to be in vain. Defeated, she went on the carpet and stopped in front of the standing mic. The guys came next to her and prepared their instruments. Hyena put the strap of an electric guitar around his neck and prepared a second standing mic for himself. When they were ready, the excited Julie sat in front of them to represent the audience and took out her phone. Hyena nodded and turned to Cyrielle.

  “When it’s not your turn, you can still do the harmonies if you want. We’ll go all the way from the beginning, you can stop us at any given moment if you need, alright ?”

  Harmonies ? What was that thing again ? Cyrielle might have received the singing ability, but it didn’t mean she had any knowledge about music. Nevertheless, she just nodded. She was too ashamed to ask. But curiously, at that moment…

  [Congratutions, you took your first steps in the right direction by provoking opportunities by yourself ! Path of Destiny rewards you by offering a gift.]

  Time had once again stopped. Cyrielle didn’t even know what to think at this point.

  ‘Which opportunity ? It’s you who made me able to sing in front of Hyena, I did nothing ! Or is something else happening that I don’t know about ?’

  She tried to think of things she did by herself, but nothing came to mind. Unless…

  ‘MyTube ? Is something happening on my channel ?’

  She had a feeling it was the case, but she had no way of verifying it right now. So, since time had stopped, she decided to take advantage of it.

  ‘Accept the gift and quickly turn the wheel please !’

  Following her thoughts, a spinning wheel appeared in front of her eyes. The colors of the prizes were the same as st time. She mentally crossed her fingers, hoping for the rainbow or the pearly gift. And, as if following her will, or as if chance had nothing to do with it, the prize appeared.

  [Congratutions, you have earned the rainbow gift ‘Ability upgrade’. Would you like to proceed or spin again ?]

  An ability upgrade ? Just when she didn’t know what harmonies were ? It smelled fishy, as if the gacha wasn’t a gacha at all. To confirm her feelings, she accepted the gift.

  [Which ability do you want to upgrade ?]

  ‘Singing’

  Immediately, her head started feeling hot. It was like with ‘home design’ but slightly better, as if she had gotten used to it. The heat spread once again from her head to the rest of her body, and when time started flowing normally again, Cyrielle was sure of something. Path of Destiny was definitely helping her.

  ***

  In the car on the way to Julie’s pce, Cyrielle was silent. She was reviewing the Saturday afternoon she had just lived through. The words of the guys from ‘Heavy Protector’ in particur.

  “Wow, that was incredible ! Your voice was just enough to support the music during the non-singing parts and your harmonies were insane !”

  “No but seriously, the songs you chose seemed to be made for you ! Did you select those because they were suited to your voice, or are you so good that you can make any song feel like it’s yours ?”

  “How did you know I wasn’t pying the right part ? Can you read music sheets ?”

  She had nothing to say to any of that. There was only one word to describe what happened. ‘Crazy…’

  That Path of Destiny thing was way too powerful. To think it could do all of that easily, as long as she needed it. But what made that stingy system get so generous ?

  She took out her phone, ignoring all the compliments Julie was throwing at her, and opened the MyTube app.

  ‘What in hell ?!’

  She went from a dozen subscribers this morning to more than a hundred.