Author's Note: Written for the LJ comm 100_fairytales; the prompt used was 'keeping up appearances'.
Underneath Tokyo, Tenkai reclined in his throne. Aoi Satan knelt before him with his head bowed.
"The only one left," remarked Tenkai. "The others are dead."
"My lord."
He raised a hand. "They served me well – as you continue to do, Satan." The ghoul smiled. "My full power has returned to me; the imperial capital is mine again."
Tenkai rose. "It is time."
"My lord, you promised – "
"Yes. Your reward for helping me." He glided over to the kneeling figure. "Bishop Tenkai rewards his loyal followers."
Satan barely suppressed his grin as power coursed through his body. Power unimaginable; enough to destroy.
Ogami felt a lot better the next morning after a good night's sleep. Thankfully, there was not much work to be done that day; the Hanagumi had just received their scripts for their latest performance and were busy learning their lines.
Surprisingly, there had not been as much fuss about casting as he had expected.
"Th' Phantom of th' Opera?" asked Kohran, pronouncing the unfamiliar kanji carefully.
"It's a musical based on a novel from France," said Ogami, smiling at Iris' sudden interest.
"... This is an outrage!" fumed Sumire, waving the script about. "I demand to know who did the casting!"
Ogami sighed. He should have known it was too good to be true.
Kanna smirked. "But Carlotta suits you perfectly, as though she was written with you in mind." She flipped through the pages. "So I'm... Rowl? Roll? Raul? Whoever that is... And look, Maria! You got the top spot as the Phantom!"
Sumire was fuming quietly. "Tell me, Ensign, who was that fool who could possibly make the mistake of giving me, Kanzaki Sumire, a supporting role in this production?"
Ogami grinned weakly. "Well, look here, Sumire-kun..."
"Hey, don't bully the poor Captain, snake woman!"
"Silence, ape woman! Can't you see I'm busy talking to the Ensign?"
"Here they go again," muttered Kohran. She skimmed through the cast list. "I'm... Meg? Who's that?"
Sakura stared at the list in dismay. "I'm the lead?"
"What?" exclaimed Sumire; her copy of the script grew even more crumpled. "This is an outrage! As the Top Star of the Teigeki, I demand to know why the leading role has been given to this country bumpkin!"
Sakura bristled. "Country bumpkin?"
"Stop picking on her, witch!" Kanna jumped into the fray, despite Maria's nonverbal warnings. "They probably just couldn't stand you any longer!"
Quick as lightning, the other girl whirled on her longtime adversary. "Oh? And do you have something to say about it, gorilla woman?"
Ogami, unnoticed in the background, sighed and massaged his stomach. It was going to be a long day.
As he headed down to the dining hall for dinner, Ogami passed Yuri in the hallway.
"Ah, Ogami-san!" she said. "The manager wants to see you right away."
"Alright, thanks for telling me, Yuri-kun."
The captain sighed; dinner would have to wait. He turned and made his way up the steps.
"You wanted to see me, Manager?"
He looked up from his cup. "Ah. Yes. Come in, Ogami." The older man took a long draught.
"Tell me," he asked abruptly, "how did the girls take the casting?"
Ogami tried not to fidget. "Not... very well, sir."
"Did you tell them it was you who did the casting?"
"No, sir."
Yoneda chuckled. "Smart boy. You don't want them murdering you before opening night, eh?"
"Manager..."
He poured himself more sake. "Let me guess. You want to know why I put you in charge of this production, right?"
"... Yes, Manager. I'm not very experienced with the theater, and yet you entrusted this big-budget play to me – "
"Jeez!" Yoneda slammed his cup down; Ogami jumped.
"Get a grip, I don't like whiners. I chose you because of that outstanding job with A Midsummer's Night Dream, no more, no less. You think too little of yourself."
"I... yes, sir."
The older man's face softened. "Hey. I know it'll be hard, especially dealing with Sumire, but think of it as a learning experience. Not only with the theater, but with the Hanagumi as well." He leaned back in his chair. "This is all for the protection of the capital."
"And speaking of the capital..." Yoneda checked to make sure they were alone, before leaning forward conspiratorially. "More sightings of unusual activity involving the you-know-whats have been reported; we'll keep you updated when we receive more information."
"We still don't know exactly what those things are?"
"No." The commander looked older than Ogami had seen him before. "However, this doesn't mean you can slack, Ogami. You need to be prepared in case anything happens. Is that clear?"
The ensign stiffened into a salute. "Understood."
"Good lad. You may go."
Once the door of Yoneda's office clicked shut, Ogami sighed. It was easier said than done, dealing with the likes of the Teigeki's Top Star and the capital's defence; he might even think the first more difficult to deal with.
Surprisingly, it was Sumire who brought up the subject first. Over breakfast in the dining hall one morning, she pushed aside her plate and cleared her throat.
"The ensign has been looking rather troubled of late," she declared, pushing her fringe back.
Kohran nodded. "Yeah, I've noticed. Ogami-han's been spendin' a lot of time down in th' trainin' room."
Sakura merely nodded. The captain had not opened up to her since the night of the last battle, when she had taken him dinner.
"I've got an idea!" Everyone turned to look at Kanna who was grinning. "Manager Yoneda'll be giving us an off day after we finish the production! We should all go out and take the Captain with us!"
"... that's actually a good idea, Kanna-san," said Sumire. "I was expecting you to say something involving food, since that's all you ever think about..."
"Say that again, cactus woman!" But the words were said almost like a formality; they simply just were not in the mood when their squad captain was in this condition.
"Yes, that's a good idea, Kanna." Maria stood up. "I'll speak with Manager Yoneda later this afternoon and see whether we can get it earlier."
"Yay! A date with Onii-chan!"
"Erm, Iris, I don't think it really qualifies as a date since all of us are going," said Kanna. "Now, if it was only one of us with the captain..."
She left the sentence unfinished; all the girls blushed and looked away, not meeting each other's eyes.
Maria broke the silence. "We've wasted enough time here. Let's go. We have a rehearsal to attend."
They drifted out of the dining hall slowly; Sakura hung back, her hands clutched in front of her. Maria noticed and fell back with her. "Sakura?"
"Ogami-san – Ogami-san hasn't been saying anything to anyone. It's not like him... not since that time." She was not about to tell her friend about the promise she had extracted from him that night at the empty stage; before the others had come in. "I'm worried."
"He'll be fine," said the Russian girl brusquely. The last thing she wanted was to have their female lead distracted; Maria's focus was on the play now.
"But Ogami-san – "
" – is most likely waiting for us in at the stage already." She noted the crestfallen look on Sakura's face and continued in a gentler voice. "Sakura, you know the captain well enough. He'll be fine."
She nodded, seeing it was pointless to argue. Sakura would just have to trust in Ogami and Maria.
Ogami was poring over a dusty book taken from the attic in the library. It was ancient; every turn of the page made him sneeze. He sighed. There was virtually nothing of interest in it; nothing to explain the nature of the strange black object.
"Onii-chan?"
The captain looked up to see Iris hovering beside his desk. "Iris," he said, breaking into a smile. "What's the matter?"
She glanced down at the stuffed teddy in her arms. "Jean-Paul had a nightmare," Iris said in a confidential whisper, "and can't get back to sleep."
Ogami patted Jean-Paul. "I see. Well, let's tuck him in. And I suppose you must be tired too, Iris?"
He left the book where it was, standing up and taking up the lamp that sat beside him. Iris slipped her hand in his free one.
In Iris' room, Ogami sat on the edge of her bed, tugging Jean-Paul's nightcap straight and making the little girl giggle.
"There," he said, pulling up the blanket. "Both Jean-Paul and Iris are comfortable now."
Blue eyes stared back solemnly. The captain frowned.
"Iris? Is there something else?"
She pulled the blankets all the way up, leaving only her eyes visible. "Iris is worried about Onii-chan," came the muffled sound. "Onii-chan hasn't smiled since that fight."
"I'm fine," he said defensively. "We lost the battle and I'm just trying to find out what that thing was."
"Onii-chan?"
Iris regarded him from over the top of her blankets. "Promise Iris something. Promise you won't keep your problems to yourself, okay?"
Ogami hesitated. It sounded very familiar...
"... Yes. Of course, Iris. I'll be sure to share any problems I'm having."
