Chapter One:

The Proposal


The day was finished with good work outs and practice at the Kaleido Stage. Almost everyone was filled with exhaustion from their practices, except one. An orange pigtailed girl was sitting intently in her dorm room in front of her laptop. She wore her black trimmed eye glasses as she tried focusing. But she just couldn't.

She yelled, "ARGH!!"

The sudden outburst drew the other inhabitants of the dorm to her room. Fists banged loudly on her door. It broke her out of her extremely focused state. She got up and opened the door. There stood five people at the door in combat ninja poses with their pajamas.

"Mia! Are you okay?" A lavender haired colored girl asked.

"Sora? Everyone? Why are you here?" Mia certainly wasn't expecting guests at this late of the hour.

The boyish looking one answered. "We heard you scream!"

The Chinese girl stepped forward into the room. "Where are they?! Let me at them!"

Mia in total confusion stepped aside letting the other girl in to inspect her room. "Who?"

"The intruders!" The little red head claimed.

"I'll give them a KAIYA! And a WOOO!" The blonde stood at the doorway doing martial art moves to emphasize her point.

"So where are they?" May was puzzled not seeing anyone that seemed uninvited.

Mia sighed. "There's no intruder. I was just having a hard time coming up with an idea for a new script."

"Oh, is that why you were called in today?" Sora asked.

Mia nodded. "Yep, he says that I have a week to come up with one." She sighed.

"Don't worry Mia. You'll figure out something. You always do!" Anna stated. She patted the distressed Mia's back in hopes of cheering her up.

"Yah, it's not like Kalos will fire you if you didn't come up with one in time or something that's less than perfect." Sarah chimed with a cheery attitude obviously not aware that her statement had hurt Mia's feelings and confidence.

"I agree. The worst thing he'll do, if you don't finish, would be to fire you as the director, producer and writer. It's not that bad. You'll still be a performer!" May and Sarah nodded at each other with agreement of the others' thoughts.

Mia's face went from constricted with focus and frustration to droopy with gloom—drained of confidence. The ideas of her friends got her thinking of all the possibilities that could happen if she didn't make something great and on time.

"You guys aren't helping…" Sora interjected coming to Mia's aid.

"Yah look at what you did now!" Rosetta added. These comments escaladed as the argument became heated. But the one thing that postponed it was the Spirit of the Stage.

"Why don't you all just kiss and make up?" Fool said with a mischievous look in his eyes.

"Fool, when will you stop being so perverted? And especially in the most wrongest times!" Sora added. "Don't make me flush you down the toilet!"

"Fool-sensei, this is not the time for such a comment." Rosetta continued.

May became curious as to what the Spirit of the Stage had said. "What did he say?"

"It's nothing important!" Sora tried snagging Fool, but remained unsuccessful.

"TELL ME! BARK! BARK! BARK!" May started snapping and chomping like a rabid animal.

"He said we should kiss and make up." Rosetta answered. She was too tired for anymore games. She just wanted to sleep.

"What the..?!" May imagined that the Spirit of the Stage was a spirit that was filled with wisdom and sophistication, but never did she thought he was a pervert. She gave him too much credit.

Then it struck Mia. Kiss? Kiss… Kiss… KISS! "I GOT IT!" Her sudden excitement woke her friends even more. This… it cannot be turned down.

"What?" May questioned.

"Mia, did you get an idea?" Anna hoped so she can get back to her dreams of making the audience laugh at her jokes like her father.

Mia was filled with excitement. "YES! Miss Sarah, there hasn't been a show where the leads actually kiss each other right?" To her, her idea seemed fresh for Kaleido Stage. She felt the spark of wanting her new creation to be filled with lust and passion!

Sarah pointed a finger to her chin and thought for a good minute. "Actually… there hasn't." Sarah was surprised at the new revelation that there wasn't a show where the leads kissed. Sure in most of the shows, they are close to kissing or doing something else like a kiss on the cheek, but nope. No intimate touching between lips had crossed her mind. "Why? What's your idea?"

"I want to make a show focused on the kiss between the two leads!" Mia slowly turned her head to Sora's direction, which caused the lavender haired girl to point at herself in confusion. All she remembered was the mention of a kiss.

"What? Me?" Sora was utterly confused with what was happening.

"Of course you! You're going to be one of the leads!" Mia stated with a matter-of-factly voice.

"Wait huh!?"

"You are the Kaleido Star! It's natural for you to be playing the leading lady." Mia crossed her arms very impressed with herself. She was running the ideas throughout her head for the new show. She smiled ear-to-ear in her mind.

"That's a perfect idea Mia!" Rosetta exclaimed.

"Awww… Little Sora is growing up," Sarah teased.

"I bet Leon won't take kissing you all too well. He'll probably think you're an amateur and lose all respect for you," May spoke.

May's words were getting to Sora. All that she strove for will be lost if she did kiss him. "HUH!?!?!? I never even had my first kiss yet!!" All eyes stared at her with surprise. "What?"

Silence answered her.

Mia contemplated this. She has been Sora's friend for a couple of years and didn't want to impose something on her that she's not comfortable with. But this idea's tooooooo good!! It would definitely make me known in the directing business. Sorry Sora. "Sora?"

"Yes…?"

"Would you be comfortable with it if you got to choose the person?" There! Everyone's happy!

Sora thought about it for a second. She knew that Mia has been wanting to be more acknowledged by the Boss in her efforts. She remembered Mia saying that she didn't want to have anymore supervisors; that she wanted to make a great show all by herself. I can't be selfish. Mia worked too hard. She sighed. At least if I get to choose, that'd be greater than not being able to choose and getting stuck with… the image of Leon coming closer and closer to her sparked… "YES!"

Everyone looked at her with questioning eyes. "So you're okay with playing the part in general?" Rosetta spoke up.

"You know it's okay to admit that you're too scared to do it. I'll be the lead if that's the case." May taunted coolly. Hmm, if Sora doesn't want to kiss anyone on stage just because it'll be her first kiss, she shouldn't really be considered a Kaleido Star. Let's see if she'll challenge me.

"O-of course I'll do it!"

"Are you sure, Sora?" Anna voiced.

"It'll be your first kiss…" Mia pointed out.

"Unless she kisses someone before the show or rehearsals!" Sarah retorted with an elated tone. Everyone had a picture of a blonde blue eyed boy in their minds.

"Um... It's really okay. I'll do it for you, Mia." Sora reassured her friend with a smile.

"If you say so…" there was a slight pause, "well anyways! If you guys don't mind, I'm going back to work!"

"Are you kicking us out?" May interjected with an annoyed face.

"In simple terms… yes." Mia gave them a smile and shooed them outside her door. But right before Sora left, she prompted, "Sora, please choose within three days so I can finish the script to fit whoever you chose as soon as possible !"

"EH!?" The door was shut closed.

"I can't believe you agreed to do that," Rosetta voiced. She thought for sure that Sora would have declined and would try to convince Mia some other idea for a story… unless…

"Why not?" The others had gone back to their rooms. Sora and Rosetta were walking together to their rooms, luckily for them their rooms were near each other so they could continue their conversation.

"Well it will be your first kiss, unless you did what Miss Sarah said." Rosetta always thought that a first kiss would be a special event that you only share with someone that you really like, not something meaningless. On top of it, she thought Sora already had her first kiss; well so did everyone else. She's famous! How could she not have done that already?

"Well I get to choose who I'll be doing that with, so it won't be that bad." Sora didn't want to think about it, at least not right now. It was too late. She was tired. She wanted to have a night where she can sleep in peace.

"So did you already have someone in mind?" They reached Rosetta's door. The redhead looked up at Sora for an answer.

"Honestly, I have no clue." Sora rubbed the back of her head. "Anyways, good night!"

"Good night," Rosetta opened her door and closed it right after. Sora made her way to her own room to settle for the night. Ugh, too much… to think about… Ughh….

Once Sora entered the room and closed the door behind her, a voice spoke, "You know Mia is a really good friend." Sora jumped up from the sudden new voice. She turned around and saw it was Fool.

"God, Fool! If I wasn't so tired, I would be flushing you down right now. And what do you mean anyway?"The performer face planted onto her bed.

"What I mean is that she's giving you an opportunity to finally be kissed!" Fool sat down on the night table beside the bed. Finally a play that shows affection! Maybe I can convince Sora to tell Mia that there should be a very intimate scene. He was completely spazzing out in his imagination.

"Eh…" She too drifted in her own thoughts. I can't believe I agreed to this. Now I have to choose who. That's a good question… who? Sora drifted into slumber trying to find her answer.


Mia was in Kalos' office. She was standing up waiting for a reply or critiques from the Boss. Sarah was right behind him reading along. This was the first time that she was completely, utterly nervous about what he has to say about her work. She stayed up the whole night at least finishing a proposition paper for him to read. She included the highlights and some intricate details that she came up with. All-in-all, it was a rough draft. She knew that what she was presenting was entirely unpolished and he might reject it because of that, but she knows that this idea of hers will make it big.

Kalos put down the papers. "It's good." Mia sighed in relief. "Who do you have planned as the leads?"

"Well Sora and uh… the other… uh…" She was contemplating on how to put it in a professional manner.

"She told Sora to pick her partner." Sarah revealed easily for the orange haired girl.

Kalos stayed silent pondering about the idea. "Why did you ask her to choose?"

"W-Well it'll be her first kiss, and I didn't want her kissing someone she didn't feel comfortable kissing." Mia knew how amateurish that was to let Sora choose. She was covering up Sora's unprofessional attitude. "Had I chosen the person, or you, and Sora didn't want to kiss them, it would reflect on her performance." Mia proclaimed.

"Then why not have May do it?" This was odd for Kalos to do. He hardly questioned anything. He just went with it or didn't. No questions whatsoever. Both girls noticed.

"Because she thinks Sora should do it as well." Mia recalled their talk from last night.

"Really?" She simply nodded in response. "And Sora is alright with this role?"

Mia nodded again. "Only if she gets to choose her partner, though."

"Hmm… Get Sora right now." Mia cocked her eyebrow and saw his hand gesture for her to go. She did as he wished. Something's definitely up with him. I wonder if Miss Sarah knows.

As soon as the door closed, Kalos spoke. "What do you think about it?"

"You're asking for my opinion? Why?" Sarah was really surprised. This was unlike him. He normally knew everything he wanted to do without anyone's inputs.

"Just."

Sarah contemplated on answering, but answered anyway. "I think the story plot and the characters are good. It would really be a good show, if everything, especially if the climax is done right."

"I meant on who Sora should choose as a partner," Kalos clarified. He thumbed through the papers again. What is going on in his mind?

As Sarah was about to speak, the door opened and came in Mia and Sora. "You asked to see me, Boss?"

Kalos cleared his throat. "Yes, who do you have in mind to be your partner for the next show?"

Even though it was a new day, Sora hadn't given it a thought. She really didn't want to. She quickly thought over the possibilities. Leon- EW. No! Yuri? It feels like I'll be betraying Miss Layla if I do… EHH!? Is that all the choices I have? Oh no… "U-uh I don't know yet," she stated in defeat.

"I'm giving you till five to choose." Kalos entwined his fingers and saw Sora's expression to his statement: total shock.

"You can't be—"

Kalos interrupted. "Take it or I'll be rejecting your proposal, Mia."

Mia's face turned into a white sheet. It was filled with fear and horror. If Sora doesn't take it, her efforts and dream will be crushed. All for nothing. But Sora noticed it and verbalized, "I'll do it."

"Good, you're dismissed." Mia and Sora left the room.

"Why did you do that?" Sarah voiced. She thought his proclamation was ridiculous. But then again, it is business.

"To meet a deadline."

"Huh?" What deadline?

Sora and Mia sat outside the boss' office. It was already three when Kalos decided that they'd have to choose by five. The air was filled with hysteria and cluelessness.

"How about Leon? I thought you guys were really hitting it off during the very end when you two performed the angel's maneuver?"

"No way! I felt sympathy for him, but I can't say I felt anything for him like that!"

"Yuri?"

"Nu-uh."

"Why not? He's tall and dashing! Rich and Barbie's Ken practically! Even though he can be a dark ass hole, but that's beside the point!"

"If I did it with him, I'd feel like I'm helping him cheat on Miss Layla." Sora said in a lower tone of voice.

"You know they never went out? They just grew up together since the growth of Kaleido stage."

"Eh… still."

There was silence. "How about you try what Miss Sarah said? Why don't you go kiss someone before the performance?"

"It's not that Mia. Isn't this show going to be focused on the leads' chemistry with each other? It just won't work."

"Anna?" Mia rethought about it. "Nevermind, she wouldn't be able to play this role."

"What are the roles like anyway?"

"Well I still don't have the general story idea down, but all I know is that the guy has to be mysterious and alluring. Seductive and assertive."

"We need more top guy performers."

"I agree." They nodded their heads in agreement.


It had finally struck five o'clock. The girls went inside unknowing of their fates.

The tension was high in the room. Kalos' back was facing to them as he faced the giant glass window. Negative vibes were felt. A gulp was heard. "Bos—"

"Did you choose?"

Sora bit her tongue and paused before she answered. "No…" she stated in a low voice.

A smile crept up his lips. "Leave."

"Are you going to—" Mia began but was cut off.

"I'll discuss about this later. Now leave. " Mia and Sora left the room reluctantly.

Kalos still facing the beach view. He picked up his phone from his pocket and dialed a number on his speed dial. "How's Off Broadway?"