Betrayal. That's the first thing Mikoto felt, which was ludicrous. For there to be betrayal, there would have had to been trust first. Between Hein and him. And trust had not been part of the agreement. They were tributes. But the girl  who risked a beating to give him bread, the one who steadied him in the chariot, who covered for him with the white headed Avox  boy, who insisted Geysis knew my hunting skills. Was there some part of me that couldn't help trusting him?

On the other hand, he was relieved that they could  stop the pretense of being friends. Obviously, whatever thin connection they'd foolishly formed had been severed. And high time, too. The Games begun in two days, and trust would only be a weakness. Whatever triggered Hein's decision - and he suspected it had to do with him outperforming her in training - he should be nothing but grateful for it. Maybe she's finally accepted the fact that the sooner we openly acknowledge that we are enemies, the better.

"Good," he said. "So what's the schedule?"

"You'll each have four hours with Effie for presentation and four with me for content," said Geysis. "You start with Effie, Mikoto."

He  couldn't imagine what Effie would have to teach him that could take four hours, but she got him working down to the last minute. They went to his room and she put him in a full-length gown and block-heeled shoes, not the ones he'll be wearing for the actual interview, and instructed him on walking.  When he finally conquered walking, there was  still sitting, posture - apparently he had a tendency to duck his head - eye contact, hand gestures, and smiling. Smiling was mostly about smiling more. Effie made him say a hundred banal phrases starting with a smile, while smiling, or ending with a smile. By lunch, the muscles in his cheeks were twitching from overuse.

"Well, that's the best I can do," Effie said with a sigh. "Just remember, Mikoto, you want the audience to like you."

"And you don't think they will?" He asked.

"Not if you glare at them the entire time. Why don't you save that for the arena? Instead, think of yourself among friends," said Effie.

"They're betting on how long I'll live!" he burst out. "They're not my friends!"

"Well, try and pretend!" snapped Effie. Then she composed herself and beamed at him. "See, like this. I'm smiling at you even though you're aggravating me."

"Yes, it feels very convincing," he said. "I'm going to eat." he kicked off his heels and stomped down to the dining room .
Hein and Geysis seemed in a pretty good mood, so he thought the content session should be an improvement over the morning. He  couldn't have  been more wrong. After lunch,Geysis took him into the sitting room, directed him to the couch, and then just frowned at him for a while.

"What?" Mikoto finally asked.

"I'm trying to figure out what to do with you," he said. "How we're going to present you. Are you going to be charming? Aloof? Fierce? So far, you're shining like a star. You volunteered to save your sister. Cinna made you look unforgettable. You've got the top training score. People are intrigued, but no one knows who you are. The impression you make tomorrow will decide exactly what I can get you in terms of sponsors," said Geysis. 

Having watched the tribute interviews all his life, he knew there was truth to what he's sad. If you appeal to the crowd, either by being humorous or brutal or eccentric, you gain favor.

"What' Hein's approach? Or am I not allowed to ask?" he said.

"Likable. She has a sort of self-deprecating humor naturally," said Geysis. "Whereas when you open your mouth, you come across more as sullen and hostile."

"I do not!" Mikoto said.

"Please. I don't know where you pulled that cheery, wavy boy on the chariot from, but I haven't seen her before or since," said Geysis.

"And you've given me so many reasons to be cheery,"he countered.

"But you don't have to please me. I'm not going to sponsor you. So pretend I'm the audience," said Geysis . "Delight me."

"Fine!" he snarled. Geysis took the role of the interviewer and he tried to answer his questions in a winning fashion. Mikoto acted very cheerful and confident. 

"All right, enough," he said. '' This is good enough,now tell them a bit about your past''

"But I don't want them to! They're already taking my future! They can't have the things that mattered to me in the past!" he said.

"Then lie! Make something up!" said Geysis.

"Fine" he  said.

'' Okay times up, snowball. Just answer the questions and try not to let the audience see how openly you despise them."

Mikoto was in his room that night .Mikoto let his anger out on the furniture in the room,breaking it too pieces, He was so angry, he couldn't even compose himself.Then just as he threw a vase at the door , the door opened and the white haired Avox, Kiyoshi boy came In. And dodged the incoming vase. 

But instead of fleeing the room, the boy closed the door behind him and went to the bathroom. He came back with a damp cloth and wiped his face gently then cleaned the blood from a broken plate off his hands. 

Mikoto :-Why is he doing this? Why am I letting him?

"I should have tried to save you," Mikoto whispered.

He shook his head. 

Mikoto :- (Does this mean we were right to stand by? That he has forgiven me?)

"No, it was wrong," Mikoto said .

Kiyoshi tapped his lips with his fingers then pointed to Mikoto's chest. Mikoto thought  he meant that Mikoto would just have ended up an Avox, too. Probably would have. An Avox or dead.

He spent the next hour helping Kiyoshi clean the room. When all the garbage had been dropped down a disposal , he turned down his bed. Mikoto crawl in between the sheets like a five-year-old and let him tuck him in. Then he went away. He  wanted Kiyoshi to stay until e fell asleep. To be there when he woke up. He wanted the protection of this boy, even though he never had his.

In the morning, it's not the Kiyoshi but his prep team who were hanging over hm. His lessons with Effie and Geysis were over. This day belonged to Cinna. 

The team worked on him until late afternoon, turning his skin to glowing satin, stenciling patterns on his arms, painting flame designs on his twenty perfect nails. Then Venia went to work on his hair. They putted some light makeup on him. 

Then Cinna entered with what he assumed was his dress, but he could't really see it because it was covered. "Close your eyes," he ordered.

He  could feel the silken inside as they slipped it down over his naked body, then the weight. It must have been forty pounds. He clutched Octavia's hand as he  blindly stepped  into his shoes, glad to find that they aren't heeled like  Effie had him practice in. There was some adjusting and fidgeting. Then silence.

"Can I open my eyes?" Mikoto asked .

"Yes," said Cinna. "Open them."

The creature standing before him in the full-length mirror seemed to have come from another world. Where skin shimmered and eyes flashed and apparently they made their clothes from jewels. Because his dress, his  dress was so beautiful. It was black with flame designs.


For a while, everyone just  stared at him. "Oh, Cinna," he finally whispered. "Thank you."

Cinna dismissed the team and had him move around in the dress and shoes, which were infinitely more manageable than Effie's. 

"So, all ready for the interview then?" asked Cinna.

''All ready'' Mikoto answered and then smiled. 

They meet up with the rest of the District 12 crowd at the elevator. Portia and her gang had been hard at work. Hein looked striking in a beautiful gold dress studded with red ,blue and yellow jewels and when she moved she seemed to be on fire. While they  looked well together, it was a relief not to be dressed identically. Geysis and Effie were all fancied up for the occasion. 

When the elevator opened, the other tributes were being lined up to take the stage. All twenty-four of them  sat in a big arc throughout the interviews. Mikoto would be the last, or second to last since the girl tribute preceded the boy from each district. How he wished he could be first and get the whole thing out of the way! Now he had to listen to how witty, funny, humble, fierce, and charming everybody else was before going up. Plus, the audience would start to get bored, just as the Gamemakers did. And he couldn't exactly shoot an arrow into the crowd to get their attention.

Right before they paraded onto the stage, Geysis came up behind Hein and him and growled, "Remember, you're still good friends So act like it."

What? he thought they abandoned that when Hein asked for separate coaching. But he guessed that was a private, not a public thing. Anyway, there was not much chance for interaction now, as they walked a  single-file to their seats and take their places.

Just stepping on the stage made his breathing rapid and shallow. He could feel his pulse pounding in his temples. It was a relief to get to his chair . Although evening was falling, the City Circle was brighter than a sunny day. An elevated seating unit had been set up for prestigious guests, with the stylists commanding the front row. The cameras would turn to them when the crowd is reacting to their handiwork. A large balcony off a building to the right had been reserved for the Gamemakers. Television crews had claimed most of the other balconies. But the City Circle and the avenues that feed into it were completely packed with people. Standing room only. At homes and community halls around the country, every television set was turned on. Every citizen of Panem was tuned in. There would be no blackouts this night.

Present Mic , the man who had hosted the interviews for more than forty years, bounced onto the stage. It was a little scary because his appearance had been virtually unchanged during all that time. Same face under a coating of pure white makeup. Same hairstyle that he dyed a different color for each Hunger Games usually blonde. Same ceremonial suit, midnight blue dotted with a thousand tiny electric bulbs that twinkled like stars. They did surgery in the Capitol, to make people appear younger and thinner. In District 12, looking old was something of an achievement since so many people died early. You saw an elderly person you wanted to congratulate them on their longevity, ask the secret of survival. A plump person was envied because they weren't scraping by like the majority of them. But here it was different. Wrinkles weren't desirable. A round belly wasn't a sign of success.

This year, Mic's hair was powder blonde and his eyelids and lips are coated in the same hue. He looked freakish but less frightening than he did last year when his color was crimson and he seemed to be bleeding. Mic told a few jokes to warm up the audience but then got down to business.

The girl tribute from District 1, looking provocative in a blue gown, stepped up the center of the stage to join Mic for her interview. You could tell her mentor didn't have any trouble coming up with an angle for her.She looked so kind and bubbly. Her name was Luna ,Mikoto remembered.

Each interview only lasted three minutes. Then a buzzer went off and the next tribute was up. 

 The districts slip by. 2, 3, 4. Everyone seems to be playing up some angle. The blonde boy from District 2 is a confident and cool. The white haired boy from District 5 quiet yet elusive. Mikoto spotted Cinna as soon as he took his place, but even his presence could not relax him. 8, 9, 10. The foreign looking boy from 10 is very sweet. Mikoto's palms were sweating like crazy.

Mikoto especially didn't like the boy from four, the pink headed guy ,he was flirty and seemed cute and innocent but Mikoto could feel that it was just a mask hiding his evilness.

Haru, who was dressed in a gossamer suit complete with wings, fluttered his way to Mic. A hush fell over the crowd at the sight of this shy-bean yet cute tribute. Mic was very sweet with him, complimenting his seven in training, an excellent score for one  so small. When he asked him what his greatest strength in the arena will be, he hesitated slightly "I-I'm very hard to catch," he said in a trembling  voice which turned confident. "And if they can't c-catch me, they can't k-kill me. So don't count me out."

"I wouldn't in a million years," said Mic encouragingly.

And the Mikoto's name came up .With a very confident smile he headed up to the stage and shook his hands with Mic. 

Mic :- So Mikoto, this is your first time at the capitol, so what did you like the best.

Mikoto ;- Definitely the ice cream 

Mic :- Can't disagree with that. So Mikoto ,that eleven was amazing ,what's your motivation?

Mikoto :- Back at the district, I promised someone who loves and cared for me that i'll return iam just  trying to fulfill my promise

Mic :- Of course, i wish you the very best.

After Hein's interview ,all of them returned back to their rooms to rest and mentally prepare themselves for the games begun tomorrow.