Disclaimer: I don't anything marimite or SP!
Chapter Eight: The Theatre Festival - Part 1: The Lead Up
The next day Sakura discovered the reason behind the strange feeling she had had the night before. She had decided to sleep in, in order to catch up on the much-needed rest after staying up all night to finish her homework. However, her alarm clock had other ideas and went off at the usual time of six-thirty. Shutting off the alarm, Sakura rolled over and went back to bed, only to be rudely woken up again, this time by Nagisa and Tamao bursting into her room.
"Onee-sama! Wake up!" Nagisa exclaimed excitedly, whipping the covers off Sakura.
"Nng, Nagisa," Sakura complained, grabbing her covers back and turning to glare at the other girl. "You are incredibly loud for this early in the morning. What is it?"
"They picked the play for the Theatre Festival!" Nagisa exclaimed, barely able to contain her excitement.
"They picked the what for what?" Sakura asked, completely confused as to what Nagisa was talking about.
"She wasn't here for the announcement Nagisa-chan," Tamao explained when Nagisa looked at Sakura strangely.
"Oh! That's right! Sorry, I forgot you were gone," Nagisa said, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.
"The theatre festival is a tradition of Astraea Hill," Tamao explained to the still-confused Sakura. "Every year the representatives of the schools, the student council, get together and choose a play for the residents of the Strawberry Dorms to perform. Each year the schools rotate which school has students acting and which school is in charge of all the backstage stuff."
"And which schools are acting this year?" Sakura asked, slightly worried.
"Well, Miator is in charge of all the backstage stuff; directing, set, props, that sort of thing," Nagisa explained.
"Which means that the actors are from Spica and Lulim this year, except for Etoile-sama," Tamao added.
"I see," Sakura said, happy that she wouldn't get roped into getting onstage. "So which play did they pick for us to do?"
"That's the exciting part," Nagisa exclaimed. "Plays were submitted and voted on by the residents until three were left for the student councils to decide upon. They picked Carmen, which was the play suggested by Tamao-chan and Rokujou-sama asked Tamao-chan to write the script for it."
"Really? That's fantastic!" Sakura said, smiling at Tamao. "Write an amazing script Suzumi-san."
"I will," Tamao said. "However, it will be difficult to write the script without knowing who is going to play which parts."
"I overheard the council from Spica saying that it would be more popular for Etoile-sama to play Carmen and to have Amane-san play Don Jose." Nagisa said.
"I heard that too," Tamao said, "however I think Etoile-sama would make a better Don Jose than Amane-sempai."
"Whatever," Sakura said, getting bored with the conversation. "As long as you write a good script while keeping the characters open to be played by anybody you should be fine. Then, after the actors are picked, you can edit and improve the script to fit better with that actor."
"That's a good idea," Tamao said.
"Glad I could help," Sakura said. "Now, if you two don't mind, I would like to get back to sleep so I can actually focus tomorrow."
"That reminds me," Nagisa said, smacking her forehead. "Rokujou-sama wanted you to come to the student council room as soon as you woke up."
"What? Nng...fine. It's not like I would be able to get back to sleep anyway." Sakura said, rolling her eyes and sighing in exasperation. "If you see her, tell her I'm on my way."
"Will do," Nagisa said as she and Tamao headed out the door to do whatever it was they did on a Sunday morning.
After a few more minutes of lying in bed, Sakura got up and took a shower. After she did that, she changed into her uniform, too lazy to try and throw anything else together, and headed down to the student council room on the ground floor. When she arrived, she heard the soft tones of a discussion going on inside so she knocked. After hearing a brief 'come in' she opened the door to find, not just the Miator council, but also the councils of both Spica and Lulim as well.
"Ah, Aoi-san," Miyuki said, looking up and seeing Sakura standing there somewhat awkwardly. "Please, take a seat."
Sakura did as she was told and sat at the far end of the table where all three student councils could see her. She saw Chikaru and gave the other fifth-year girl a small smile as she sat down. She noticed that the President of Spica, Shion, and her two assistants whom Sakura did not know, all seemed pretty annoyed about something. The Miator council looked somewhat on edge, Shizuma seeming pretty indifferent, and the Lulim council looked quite content and at ease.
"Umm," Sakura broke the silence that had permeated the room since she walked in. "If you don't mind my asking, why did you want to see me?"
"We were discussing roles for the upcoming Theatre Festival," Miyuki explained. "It was brought up by Shion-san that it would be popular for Amane Ohtori to star as Don Jose and Etoile Shizuma-sama to play the part of Carmen."
"And this has what to do with me?" Sakura asked, not sure where this was heading.
"According to Minamoto-san's sources," Shion said, grabbing Sakura's attention. "There are a large number of students who are upset about Miator being unable to submit actors in this year's play."
"Why is that?" Sakura said, getting a bad feeling about the whole.
"Because it means that they won't see their 'beloved Sakura Aoi-san' performing a lead role," Chikaru explained, smiling innocently at Sakura.
"WHAT?" Sakura exclaimed, nearly falling off her chair. "When did this happen?" Sakura asked, directing her question at Shizuma, who should have warned her the night before.
"What do you mean?" Shizuma asked, pretending to play dumb, even though she knew exactly what Sakura meant.
"I mean, when on earth did I suddenly have a fanclub?" Sakura stated, knowing full well that Shizuma was doing this to catch up on the years of teasing that she missed out on.
"A couple days after you arrived," Shizuma replied honestly.
"WHAT?" Sakura exclaimed, this time actually falling off her chair.
"Yes, it seems you made quite an impression on the rest of the students after your display in the dining hall," Shion said with obvious disapproval.
"Anyway, when and where aside," Miyuki said, bringing everyone's attention back to her. "The fact of the matter is that this poses a problem to us. Since Shion-san is so worried about what is going to be popular among the students or not, she has offered for you to temporarily transfer to Spica until the end of the Theatre Festival. This way, the students get what they want and we don't have to bend the rules in order to give them what they want."
"What exactly is it that they want?" Sakura asked, not liking what was happening at all.
"They want you to participate in Carmen as a lead of course!" Chikaru said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the entire world.
"No way," Sakura deadpanned.
"What?" Shion asked, dumbfounded.
"I said 'no'," Sakura stated. "There is no way you are getting me on that stage. I will help out with the backstage stuff if I have to, but I refuse to get on stage."
"Oh? And why is that?" Shizuma asked. "As I recall, you were quite the little actress back in the day; always getting roles in school productions."
"I was six," Sakura stated, "and it wasn't my choice. I was forced to audition and wound up with the parts, so I played them, as was expected of me."
"Whatever you say," Shizuma said, obviously not believing Sakura. "You still haven't answered my question," she pointed out.
"I don't like exposing myself to people," Sakura said.
"Well, since we can't force you to get on stage," Miyuki said, "would you mind becoming the Assistant Director?"
"What will I have to do?" Sakura asked.
"Help oversee the set building, props and costumes and help the actors with blocking and line memorization if they need it," Miyuki informed.
"Very well, since there's no way I can get out of participating in some way, I might as well," Sakura said, resigning herself to participation.
"Good, you may leave now, thank you for your time," Miyuki said.
Sakura bowed and exited the room, leaving the council members to their meeting.
A week later, Sakura was sitting in the dining hall with Nagisa, Tamao and a few other fourth-years. The entire hall was chatting animatedly as everybody knew that today the cast for Carmen was going to be announced. As soon as Miyuki stood up, the entire dining hall went silent.
"I will now announce the main cast for the play," Miyuki stated as she stood up. "Furthermore, I shall assign the remaining roles and staffing positions later." Miyuki continued.
"Ne, ne onee-sama," Nagisa said, tugging on Sakura's sleeve.
"What is it?" Sakura asked, turning her lapsing attention from Miyuki to her foster sister.
"Who do you think will be Carmen?" Nagisa asked, once Sakura turned to look at her.
"Don't know," Sakura replied, shrugging her shoulders. "Probably..." but she was cut off when Nagisa shushed her and pointed to Miyuki. Sakura immediately turned her attention back to the president.
"Now then," Miyuki continued as the hall fell silent. "I will announce the results." The students in the hall became even quieter. "The heroine Carmen's role will be..." the hall waited with bated breath. "Lulim's Minamoto Chikaru-sama," Miyuki finished.
There was a long pause of silence, then... The whole hall burst into chaos and noise. Sakura just rolled her eyes while trying her best to shut out the exclamations of surprise, but failing miserably.
"This can't be..." Shion said, looking dumbfounded.
"She said it would be Chikaru-san!" Nagisa exclaimed.
"Hai," Tamao agreed with her roommate.
"She did it! It's Chikaru onee-sama!" A Lulim girl Sakura recognized as part of Chikaru's many clubs exclaimed, grabbing onto her friend.
"Congratulations!" The other Lulim student yelled.
The only thing Sakura did not try to block out was the conversation between Miyuki and Chikaru which went along the lines of Chikaru saying that she was honoured to be chosen to play the role of Carmen, but wondering who would do the costumes, to this Miyuki replied by asking Chikaru to do both if she could and Chikaru agreed. After that, Miyuki announced that Don Jose would be played by Etoile, Hanazono Shizuma-sama, the Commander of the Guard would be Kenjou Kaname-sama from Spica, Ella, Don Jose's fiancé, would be Kiashiki Momomi-sama, also from Spica and Escamillo would be played by Ohtori Amane-sama, again from Spica.
After that everybody ate dinner while continuously talking about who Miyuki had picked for the cast, which made Sakura quite irritated, after all, she was being forced to participate in something she wanted nothing to do with as it reminded her too much of the time when Yumi was put in Cinderella at Lillian and the subsequent events that followed. As soon as she finished eating, Sakura excused herself and left the hall to go outside, much to the dismay and worry of Nagisa and Tamao. Once she was outside, Sakura took a deep breath of the crisp night air and walked to a random tree where she stood with her back turned on the dorms, looked at the sunset and began to softly sing.
Shizuma was looking for Sakura. After Miyuki's announcement about the cast for the play, she had eaten her dinner faster than anyone else and left the hall as soon as she finished. Shizuma had checked all the lounges, unused rooms and even Sakura's own room, but to no avail. Shizuma didn't want to admit it, but she was very worried about her old friend, and not being able to find her only made it worse. It was only when she stepped outside did she see a figure leaning against a tree with her back to Shizuma. As Shizuma began to wonder why someone was over there she heard singing and realized that it was the girl by the tree weaving such a beautiful song. Once she got closer she realized that the girl in question was Sakura. Shizuma stopped a few feet away, aware that her presence may cause the beautiful melody to stop. It was then that Nagisa, Tamao and Chikaru decided to come outside and continue their own search for Sakura out there.
"Etoile-sama?" Nagisa began, surprised that Shizuma was just standing around.
"Shhh," Shizuma commanded, not unkindly, as she wanted to listen to Sakura's singing voice some more.
"Eh?" Nagisa asked, confused.
"Listen," Shizuma suggested. And Nagisa complied. As the group fell silent, they could hear it, a most beautiful melody reached their ears. After about two minutes Nagisa broke the silence.
"It's onee-sama!" She exclaimed in a whisper.
"Eh? You mean that's Sakura-san singing?" Tamao seemed genuinely surprised.
"She sounds so beautiful," Chikaru commented, closing her eyes the better to concentrate on the melody.
Everybody nodded their heads in agreement and followed Chikaru's example and closed their eyes. After another two minutes Tamao quietly led the others to stand only a few feet behind Sakura.
Sakura, unaware that she had an audience, ignored them and continued singing: "Maria-sama no kokoro sorewa uguisu, watashitachi to ut-" she stopped abruptly when she realized that someone was watching her. She turned around to see Shizuma, Nagisa, Tamao and Chikaru standing behind her.
"Don't stop," Nagisa begged her.
"Keep singing," Chikaru requested.
"It's so pretty." Tamao added as the others nodded their heads in agreement.
Too tired to argue, Sakura nodded, turned back to face the now almost gone sun, and began again.
"Maria-Sama no kokoro, sorewa aozora/watashitachi wo tsutsumu hiroi aozora/Maria-Sama no kokoro, sorewa kashi no ki/watashitachi wo mamoru tsuyoi kashi no ki/Maria-sama no kokoro, sorewa uguisu/watashitachi to utau mori no uguisu/Maria-Sama no kokoro, sorewa yamayuri/watashitachi mo hoshii shiroi yamayuri/Maria-Sama no kokoro, sorewa safaia/watashitachi wo kazaru hikaru safaia."
As the last note died away, Sakura turned around to face her friends and, in Shizuma's case, her sempai, who all just looked at her.
"That was amazing onee-chan!" Nagisa told Sakura, finally breaking the silence.
"Yea, it was so pretty, where did you learn that song?" Chikaru asked Sakura.
"At my old school," Sakura answered, "it was an all-girl's Catholic school called Lillian Girl's Academy. I went there last year with my best friend Yumi and a girl that I figured out was my biological older sister, whom I had not seen for years prior to that moment."
"That must have been awkward," Tamao commented.
"You don't know the half of it," Sakura said before yawning. "It's late, so I'm going to bed, night guys," Sakura said, stifling another yawn as she waved to the four girls before heading up to her room to crash for the night, having no idea how stressful the next couple days were going to be.
A/N: hey guys, sorry for the late update, my mom's been getting on my case for too much fanfiction. i got exams in two weeks so don't expect any updates for at least a couple weeks. i guess thats it for now. R + R please!
PS: the song Sakura is singing is "Maria-Sama no Kokoro" and it's from one of the Maria-Sama ga Miteru specials/OVAs (can't remember which one though, sorry!)
