I was losing all my senses, I was losing all control
It was getting so offensive, now you want me back for more
And I just won't go

-Indigo Girls

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Part 24: Festival

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It wasn't until four or five hours in that Momomi fully realized that this was going to be her last Astraea cultural festival with Kaname.

The finality of it hit her, in all places, while they were at one of the game booths, trying to shoot five free-throws in a row to win some ridiculous and otherwise forgettable prizes. They had gone to this very booth during their first year, and Kaname had spent an inordinate amount of time trying to make those shots, just to get Momomi a silly little phone charm. In the end, she finally managed it, and had presented the bauble to her with all the tongue-in-cheek drama of an engagement ring, and it was at that moment that Momomi realized that her roommate was not only into her, but would probably do anything she asked.

Now, five years had passed, and that awkward, surly girl had become the tall, athletic, cocksure woman standing before her, this time making all five shots on her first try. And just like before, she asked Momomi what prize she wanted, then presented this year's phone charm on one knee, head bowed and arms outstretched. "Your treasure, my lady."

"You do me great honor, goofball," Momomi giggled, taking it from her. "Now get up already. It's embarrassing to see you like that."

"Alas, far be it for me to embarrass a lovely lady," Kaname sighed, rising to her feet, then reaching down to brush off her knee.

"You've had enough practice at it, that's for sure."

Kaname visibly deflated. "You wound me, madam."

"You'll recover." You always do.

They resumed their stroll around the festival grounds, and after a companionable silence, Kaname looked over at her. "Did you have a good time today?" she smiled softly.

The urge to keep up the banter was strong, but as she had been doing more and more lately, Kaname was speaking with her guard down, so Momomi answered honestly. "I did. Thank you. But why are you talking like it's over? We've still got... what, most of an hour before call?"

"We do," Kaname agreed, "but I need to get there early. There's something... important I need to do before the show."

"Oh," said Momomi, genuinely surprised. Kaname had not mentioned anything about this before. "Do you want me to come with?"

"Nah, stay and enjoy the festival a little longer. This is... something I need to do on my own."

"Well... okay."

Kaname looked into her eyes, then, and Momomi was quite sure that her longtime girlfriend was sorely tempted to kiss her right then and there, but even she would not dare to do so in the middle of the cultural festival. Instead, she gave her a knowing smile and a slight bow of the head. "I'll see you in the dressing room."

"See you there."

With a last smirk, Kaname went on her way, leaving Momomi alone to ponder her next move. It would probably be best to hit one or two of the food stalls to fuel up before the show, since no food was allowed backstage.

She had just made up her mind and headed off in search of some takoyaki when there was a tap at her left shoulder. She looked around, but no one was there.

"Surprise!" came a wholly unexpected voice from her right.

Momomi whirled around, and her eyes bugged as she took in the sight of someone who was so completely out of context here that she could not manage more than a gasp of shock.

"What's the matter, Momomi-chan?" Kazuharu winked. "Cat got your tongue?"

Kazuharu was here.

Her goddamn fiancé was here.

On Astraea Hill.

"What are you doing here?!" she finally managed in a high-pitched hiss.

"Thought I'd surprise you." he shrugged.

Trying to look as nonchalant as possible (even though her mind was whirring with panic), Momomi took a quick look around to see if anyone had noticed them, particularly Kaname. Luckily, they seemed to be in the clear for now. "Follow me," she said. "But try not to look like you're following me."

With a confused Kazuharu a few steps behind, Momomi darted toward a covered booth that had closed up shop earlier. She slipped in through a gap in the tarps, looked around to make sure no one else was inside, then waved Kazuharu in after her.

"Gotta say, this isn't quite the welcome I was hoping for?" he said, his ever-present smile now looking a bit strained.

"Seriously, what are you doing here?" she asked again.

"I was hoping to see your show, actually. Imagine my dismay when I was told that it was restricted to students and family members only. I considered asking if betrothal counted as family, but I didn't want to press."

"You – you didn't tell anyone we were engaged, did you?" she blurted out, only then realizing how that must have sounded to him.

"Momomi-chan, what's wrong?" he asked, the smile finally fading. "Was this a bad idea? Should I not have come?"

"No, it's not that..." she sighed, even though it was. She took a slow breath in an attempt to get her heart to stop hammering. "It's just... how can I say this..?"

To her surprise, Kazuharu gently took her left hand in his, looking for a ring that wasn't there. "No one knows you're engaged, do they?" he said softly.

"It's... it has nothing to do with you, it's this school," she said. "People... treat you differently if they know you're engaged." She reasoned that this was not entirely a lie, though there were definitely specific people on that list.

"Okay," he nodded. He visibly pondered his next words before saying them. "Does it... have anything to do with the girl you were with earlier?"

Panic returned with a vengeance, so Momomi did what came naturally in an effort to cover it up. "What, were you stalking me?" she said with an expression somewhere between a smile and a sneer. "Am I engaged to a stalker?"

"No, no, not at all!" he insisted, waving his free hand between them. "I only got here about fifteen minutes ago. I finally found you at the basketball hoop, but you and that other girl looked like you were having fun, and I didn't want to interrupt."

Having fun? Momomi wondered if he had also seen the way Kaname was eye-f*cking her there at the end. "She's my roommate," she said, keeping the practiced sarcasm on her face. "We've hung out at the festival together every year since seventh grade. It's our little roomie tradition, that's all. Now get your mind out of the gutter, yuri-boy."

"Okay, okay," he laughed, looking away to cover his blush. "Look, I get it, I really do. You're still in high school for a few more months, and you should enjoy it as much as you can. If people are gonna be weird and wreck it for you, then they don't have to know. Whatever's best for you."

"I appreciate that," she smiled more genuinely, relieved that he was not going to press the issue.

Kazuharu released her hand, then briskly slapped both of his own together and grinned. "Anyway, are we still on for tomorrow morning? The meeting with the tailors?"

"Yes, I got permission to be away," Momomi confirmed. "Gives me an excuse to skip Mass, too. I heard your driver will be here at eight?"

"Well, yessss..." said Kazuharu, his grin fading into what was probably supposed to be a sly smile, though being Kazuharu, it ended up more goofy than anything else. "But I was wondering..."

"You were wondering..?"

"Are you doing anything tonight after your show?"

Momomi thought about this. "Not really? There's the bonfire, but... nothing I have to be at. Why?"

"Well, mmmmaybe, I was thinking, you'd let me take you out to dinner tonight? Then afterward we could drive back to the estate and you could spend the night, so we can get an early start tomorrow?"

"Oh, really?" Momomi laughed mockingly, arching one eyebrow at him. "Spend the night? And what do you intend to do with me if I... spend the night?"

He leaned in more closely. "I intend," he said slowly, the soft smile never leaving his face, "to take you home... walk you to your guest room... kiss you chastely on the hand... and wish you a pleasant sleep." Here, the grin returned, and he leaned back. "Come on, Momomi-chan, give me a little credit. We're not married yet."

Not for the first time, Momomi found herself wondering if this guy was for real.

Still... maybe a bit more damage control would help in the long run.

"Okay," she nodded. I'll meet you at the main gates after I get changed."

"Awesome! I'll be waiting!"

At that moment, several booths away, Hazuki was for the first time enjoying a cultural festival as part of a group, wandering the booths with Tamao, Nagisa, Chihaya and Noriko. Conscious of their relatively imminent call time to meet backstage, they were trying to cram in as much festival as possible in the remaining forty minutes.

It was the first time, really, that Hazuki had spent any social time with Miator's "old married" couple, as the prickly Noriko and long-suffering Chihaya were colloquially known. As stressful as the opera had been at times, and as difficult as Chikaru's isolation was for her and Tamao both, Hazuki could at least be grateful for this chance to get to know a wider circle of her fellow students. Noriko, especially, had proven to be an absolute fountain of borderline inappropriate humor and sarcasm (and frequently crossing that border, truth be told), keeping things loose with a quick wit and an acid tongue. Hazuki could not remember the last time she had laughed this much in the company of more than one or two people, but it was probably somewhere in the neighborhood of never.

Even with this, though, it ached a little that Chikaru was not here to share this with them, especially since this would be her last festival before she graduated. She tried not to dwell too much on it, but it could not be denied that the Chikaru-shaped hole in her life was never far from her thoughts.

Then, as though those thoughts had somehow brought her here, there came an unexpected voice from beside them. "Good afternoon, ladies. Are you enjoying yourselves?"

As one, the quintet turned to see Chikaru giving them a pleasant smile (though to Hazuki's eyes, it looked a little strained).

"Chikaru..!" Tamao smiled hesitantly.

"Herr Direktor!" said Noriko. "Let me guess – you're here to tell me you changed your mind, and you'll let me do my fourth verse after all."

"We've been over this, Mizushima-san," Chikaru said patiently.

"I'm just saying, you're the one who asked for satire..."

Chikaru cleared her throat. "Anyway," she continued, "I'm sorry to interrupt you all, but I was wondering if I could borrow Hazuki-chan from you? I have need of her... expertise on something."

"Ah, you need something from a really high shelf, then?" Hazuki smiled, even though what she wanted to say was more along the lines of yes yes yes, borrow me, I miss you, I'm yours, do anything you want with me...

"Something like that," Chikaru giggled, and for just a moment, that familiar twinkle was visible again in her tired eyes. She then bowed to the group. "I'll see the rest of you backstage shortly, then?"

"We'll be there!" said Nagisa brightly.

Tamao looked a bit lost, obviously wanting to go with them, but not wanting to ask. Hazuki took her hand and gave it a squeeze. "See you soon?"

"Soon," Tamao nodded.

Chikaru led her off, then, and Hazuki was not at all surprised to find the pair of them making a beeline for the theater. Something was wrong, obviously, but she waited for Chikaru to give the details in her own time.

Instead, to her surprise, Chikaru gave her a sidelong smile. "Alone at last, eh?"

"Hmm, not the way I hoped, but I won't argue."

"Are you... well, Hazuki-chan?"

"I'm hanging in there. More importantly, are you okay?"

"More importantly?" Chikaru repeated.

"Well, to me it's more important," Hazuki sighed. "I still get to be worried about you, don't I?"

"Thank you," Chikaru said in a voice just above a whisper.

They entered the theater via a side door, then headed toward a stairwell that led up to the control booth overlooking the stage. "So," Chikaru said carefully, "I... can't help noticing that I haven't... overheard anything from you and Tamao-chan in a while. Is there anything wrong? Or is the dormitory probation just making things difficult?"

"Overheard?" Hazuki repeated, but then Chikaru gave her a Look, and she blushed slightly at the realization. "Ah, that. Um... yeah, the probation wasn't helping, but... we made a mutual decision to tone it down for now. It just seemed like the right thing to do."

"Hazuki-chan... please tell me the two of you aren't abstaining for my sake?"

"Would that be such a bad thing?"

Chikaru sighed. "My darling, I've told you before: never delay a pleasurable activity on my account."

"Well, maybe we want to," Hazuki replied, softly.

Apart from another small sigh, Chikaru said nothing, so Hazuki did her best to get back on task. "So, why do you need my expertise?"

"Yes..." Chikaru grimaced. "Hazuki-chan, I know you're at least fairly adept with computers, but how are you with electronics in general? I know your parents work for Sony, but that doesn't make you an expert by association..."

"I can get by," said Hazuki as they arrived at the door to the booth. "Why? What happened?"

Chikaru stopped in front of the door, turned, and looked the taller girl in the eye. "The sound board is dead."

Hazuki blinked, hoping that she had not heard that correctly. "The what now?"

"The mixing board, where the sound tech controls all the microphones. It's completely dead. Our tech, Sakiya-chan, is trying to scrounge up one of the smaller ones from the performance halls at Lulim, but I'd appreciate another set of eyes on the problem, if you could."

"I'm on it," Hazuki nodded grimly. "It's not my forte, but I can look it over."

With a last nod, Chikaru opened the door for them, and Hazuki followed her into the booth, where Sayuri and Ayame were already up to their elbows in cables as they pulled audio patches from the built-in sound console. Ayame was the first to notice them, and she managed a ragged smile. "Hello, Azuma-san! Welcome to our nightmare!"

"So what level of 'dead' are we dealing with here?" Hazuki asked, looking down at the endless dials and sliders.

"Well, we came up to do our sound and lighting check," said Ayame, wrapping masking tape around the end of one the cables and marking it with a pen. "Lighting was fine, thank God, but when I went to turn on the sound board, it made a sad little noise, and then... nothing."

"Was there a pop? Maybe a breaker got tripped."

"That's what I was thinking," Sayuri nodded. "But I want to get everything unplugged before we try that. I think the breaker box is out in the hallway, behind us."

"I'll go look for it," said Hazuki, hurrying out past Chikaru and scanning the hallway for a wall panel. She found one, but to her dismay, it was locked. "Anyone got the key for this thing?" she called back.

After a few seconds, Chikaru leaned out of the door and tossed Hazuki a keyring. "This was hanging up inside. Here's hoping?"

"You got that right," Hazuki muttered as she tried several of the keys in succession. Finally, one fit, and she opened the small metal door. "Aha!" she called. "Yeah, it looks like one of the smaller breakers went."

"Okay, give me a second," came Ayame's voice from within. "There we go, all the leads are out, and it's powered off. Can you reset that one, please?"

Hazuki flipped the errant breaker back to the ON position. "Ready!"

"Thank you! Turning on the console in 3... 2... 1... on!"

Immediately, the breaker tripped again, and Hazuki swore she heard something spark. "It didn't hold," she called. "Also... I'm no electrician, but I'm pretty sure it shouldn't be smelling like this."

There was a curse from the booth that sounded a lot like it came from Sayuri. "Okay, leave that one off," Ayame sighed. "I don't think we're getting this thing back."

There came the sound of labored footsteps from down the hall, and Hazuki turned to see a short, black-haired Lulim senior she did not know by name. The older girl was struggling to carry a mixing board which, while indeed smaller than the built-in console inside, was still an incredibly awkward burden. Hazuki hurried to give the girl a hand, and together they maneuvered it in through the doorway.

"Well done, Sakiya-chan," Chikaru smiled at the girl as they placed the replacement board as close to the original as they could manage.

"It was the best I could find," Sakiya grimaced. "I don't think it has enough channels, though: I think we'll have to dump the stage mikes. Either that, or we won't be able to use all the body-mikes."

"Stage mikes it is," Sayuri said with a grim smile. "I hope the chorus is in good voice tonight."

Sakiya, meanwhile, was making an effort to reach under the main console with a power cord, but she was obviously having trouble plugging it in. Finally, with a growl of frustration, she withdrew her arm and passed the three-pronged end of the cable to Hazuki. "Azuma-san, I'm about five centimeters too short for this. Would you mind terribly?"

"I told you we'd need your expertise," Chikaru giggled.

"So you did," Hazuki chuckled. She took the cable from the technician, crouched down, and reached in to secure the plug in place. "Got it."

"Okay, let me try powering it on with nothing in it," Sakiya nodded. She flipped a switch, and... nothing. "Crap."

"Wait, do you think that plug might be on the bad circuit?" said Ayame.

"Oh, good call! Azuma-san, can you see any more outlets down there?"

Hazuki flattened herself against the floor to try to get a better look. "There's... one over here, further to the left, under... whatever this part is."

"The lighting console," the tech supplied. "Can we reach over to there?"

"I... think so..." Hazuki grunted as she once again reached in with the cable. For a moment it looked like it was going to be a hair short, but luckily, she just managed to get it plugged into the free outlet. "Okay, it's in," she said as she pushed herself back to her feet.

"Say a quick prayer to the theater gods," said Sakiya, then switched it on.

For all of a second and a half, the replacement board lit up, but before anyone could manage a sigh of relief, there came another distant pop, and it went dead again.

Only this time, to their collective horror, so did pretty much everything else in the booth, including the lighting console.

"Oh, f*ck me running," Sayuri whispered.

Hazuki quickly stepped back out into the hall and checked the electrical panel. "Okay, this time it looks like the main breaker for the booth went," she called back. "Do you want me to turn it back on?"

"One second!" Sakiya called. "I'm going to power everything down first!"

"Okay, say when."

After a short pause, Sakiya poked her head out into the hallway. "Cross your fingers and hit it."

Hazuki flipped the main breaker, then followed the other girl back into the booth. "Right, then, let's see just how screwed we are," Sakiya said briskly. "Lighting first."

She powered up the lighting controls, and they came right on. "Checks out," she nodded to herself as she ran her hands over a few of the sliders. "At least we won't be in the dark. Do you want me to try sound again?"

"Do you think it'll work?" Chikaru asked.

Sakiya looked at her school president and shook her head. "Honestly, I wouldn't want to risk it, at least until we can get an actual electrician in here to look things over. I think right now lighting and sound are an either-or prospect."

Chikaru nodded, then looked to their music director. "Sayuri-chan?"

"Obviously we can't go without lights," she said, crossing her arms and staring fixedly at nothing. She chewed her lip for a moment, then looked up at Hazuki. "Azuma-san, during the last two tech rehearsals, when the microphones were hot... could you really tell that they were, from up on the stage?"

Hazuki shook her head. "Honestly? Not at all. All I could hear was the orchestra and the other singers around me."

Sayuri nodded slowly. "Then we go without, but we don't tell anyone the sound's off. We mike them up, just like in rehearsal, and we tell them to sing out. Azuma-san, please don't tell anyone, not even Suzumi-san."

"Wait a second," Ayame put in. "With no sound, does that mean the stage crew's headsets will be out? And what about the speakers in the dressing rooms?"

"Should be fine," Sakiya waved. "Those are all controlled by a separate system backstage."

At that moment, another Lulim student that Hazuki did not recognize rushed into the booth. "Chikaru-sama," she bowed. "Um, Kenjō-senpai needs to see you in the dressing room. She says it's important."

"Kaname?" said Chikaru, exchanging glances with Hazuki.

"Don't ask me," Hazuki shrugged. "I only saw her in passing today."

"Well, I should see what this is about, then," Chikaru sighed, before turning to her assistants. "More than ever, my friends, I am thankful for your efforts and your hard work. Let's do our best to make this happen."

"We've got this," Ayame nodded, but she did not look particularly confident.

Chikaru bowed to them and departed. As she passed Hazuki, she smiled and silently mouthed "thank you," then reached up to give her shoulder a tiny squeeze before she set off down the hallway.

Even though there had been no Souma connection through her uniform coat, Hazuki's shoulder still tingled from this brief contact, and she realized that this was the first time that Chikaru had actually touched her in... well, entirely too long. For a moment, she felt strongly compelled to follow, but then Sakiya's voice brought her short. "Azuma-san, I know it's rude of me to be impressing you into crew duty when we've only just formally met, but can you spare a few minutes to help me with a lighting check? I'm a little nervous after what just happened."

"Um, of course," Hazuki said with a slight bow of the head.

"Don't keep her for long, please," Ayame reminded them. "Dressing room call is in twenty minutes."

Tsubomi liked to consider herself a relatively simple girl with relatively simple pleasures. One of these was strawberry shaved ice.

So it was that she, Chiyo and Kagome found themselves back at the shaved ice stand for the third time that day, killing time while waiting for Kizuna and Remon to finish up their shift at the maid cafe and come join them. Then it would be a sweep of the food stalls before heading to the theater to watch Yaya-senpai and the others.

Hopefully, she considered, the presence of the Lulim third-years might also perk up the conversation level. Kagome had been her normal silent self, and Chiyo simply did not have much to say other than to wonder how Nagisa-senpai and Tamao-senpai would look on stage. The rumor mill had been working overtime going into the festival, with most of said rumors being about the strong possibility for the forthcoming performance to be a massive failure, and Chiyo was a little ball of concern for her revered senpai.

"I was really hoping they might get another shot at being Étoile," said Chiyo, "but if the opera is terrible, won't it hurt their chances?"

"Shouldn't matter," Tsubomi said around a mouthful of ice. "Hikari-sama would have to step down for them to even have a chance, and I don't see that happening."

"Even with Amane-sama graduating?"

"Yeah, once you're Étoile you get to keep the position, even if the other one graduates."

"Oh," Chiyo blinked. "I guess I thought the Étoile-sen was a yearly thing. Does she get to pick a new partner?"

"Not sure," Tsubomi considered. "Probably not, though. 'Cause then Hikari-sama could pick someone younger than her, and when she graduates that other girl could pick someone younger than her, and so on, and then Spica would be able to keep the position forever."

"I wonder if..." Chiyo began, but she trailed off as a dour-looking man Tsubomi did not recognize stepped up to them. He was of medium height, stocky, slightly balding, and wore what looked like a permanent expression of disgust. He spared Tsubomi and Chiyo the barest of glances before turning his attention to Kagome...

Who, Tsubomi noticed to her horror, was staring up at the man, her eyes wide and unblinking, completely frozen in place.

"Kagome-chan?" the man said in a deep growl.

"Pa – Papa?" the tiny Lulim girl managed.

Chiyo let out an almost-silent gasp, while Tsubomi found herself likewise frozen with sheer panic.

"We're leaving, Kagome-chan," the man said through gritted teeth. "You will obey me."

He held out one hand, and Kagome, still looking like a deer in headlights, reached out tentatively in response. Her father closed the distance and grabbed her by the wrist, then half-dragged her to her feet and pulled her roughly away.

"Chiyo," Tsubomi whispered, "get help. Find a teacher. Find one of the sisters. Or.. everyone's probably at the theater by now; go there and get Kenjō-senpai or Hazuki-senpai, or... just get someone."

"What are you going to do?" Chiyo squeaked.

Tsubomi clenched her jaw. "I'm going to follow them."

Chikaru found Kaname sitting alone in the principals' dressing room, still in her uniform, but with one shoe and sock removed, and a look of pain and annoyance on her face. "Kaname?"

The former Spica president looked up and gave her a mirthless smile. "Well, you know what they say: karma's a bitch."

"What happened?"

"I came down early to get dressed," Kaname winced, "and being the very picture of grace that I am, I turned my ankle coming into the room." She gingerly put her bare foot against the floor, then made a face as she tried to put weight on it. "I've twisted it before on the track, but this feels a lot worse. It might be a full-on sprain."

"You... sprained your ankle," Chikaru said back to her.

Kaname sucked a breath between her teeth as she took her foot in both hands and tried the rotate the ankle in question. "Anyway, you know this show backwards and forwards and every other way, right? I'm not that much taller than you, so you should fit into my costume okay. Might be a little snug across the chest, but that can't be helped."

"Kaname, what are you talking about?" Chikaru asked.

"I won't be able to go on like this," Kaname sighed noisily. "If anyone can pull off a last-second Pirate King, it's you. Don't even try to tell me that you don't have all the lines and all the songs for all the parts memorized. Even I know that you don't do this kind of thing halfway."

Chikaru stared at the seated girl for a while, feeling a tiny smile coming on as she did. She then crossed the room, knelt down, and placed both hands over Kaname's bare ankle, even as the other girl tried to pull it away. "Whoa, whoa! Don't touch! It's..."

It only took the tiniest movement of Souma to confirm what Chikaru had already suspected, and she smiled a little more knowingly as she looked up at Kaname. "You did not turn your ankle."

"Dammit, I knew you were gonna do that," Kaname growled, as she set her completely uninjured foot back on the floor and sank down in her chair.

"And yet you tried anyway," Chikaru said softly. "Thank you."

Kaname rubbed one hand over her face, then looked anywhere but at Chikaru. "That... wasn't supposed to happen to you, you know."

"I do."

"And I'm being serious here: you can still go on for me. I can't fix what happened last year, but..."

"It's okay," Chikaru assured her. "I really do appreciate the attempt, Kaname. More than you know. As it happens, though, I have another role to play in tonight's production, even though it won't be on the stage."

"You do?" Kaname asked, furrowing her brow.

Before Chikaru could say any more, though, there came the sound of running footsteps and gasps for breath from the hallway, and Chiyo suddenly burst into the dressing room, looking like she'd just sprinted all the way from Miator. "Chikaru-sama!" she panted. "Kenjō-senpai! Ka- Kagome needs you!"

"What happened to her?" Chikaru asked, feeling her blood turn to ice.

Chiyo took a few gulps of air before turning her terrified face to both of them. "It's her father! He's here! I think he's come to take her away!"

There was a pause of no more than a heartbeat, and then Kaname jammed her shoe back on. "Well, Chikaru, you might have to go on for me tonight after all."

"Why's that?"

"Because I might be in jail for murder."

Chikaru shook her head. "Not if I get to him first..."

It was getting to the point that waiting for help was no longer an option.

Fortunately, Tsubomi had managed to flag down Kizuna and Remon (right on schedule, and still in their maid outfits) shortly after Chiyo had dashed off, and together, the three of them tailed Kagome and her father all the way to the front gates, working out the bare bones of a plan as they went.

"We gonna do this?" Kizuna whispered.

"It's now or never," Tsubomi nodded.

"Yeah, but what do we do once we separate them?" Remon hissed.

"We'll figure that out when we get there. Let's go."

After saying this, Tsubomi pressed her cup of partially-melted shaved ice into Kizuna's hand, then followed the Lulim third-years as they jogged forward, looking every bit their normal bouncy selves. "Ya-ho, Kaaaaaaagomeeeee!" Kizuna called in a singsong voice. "One of the stands has funnel-cakes! Let's go try some!"

"Kagome, I haven't gotten you the takoyaki I promised!" Remon waved as they dashed in front of the girl and her father. "Come on, sweetie, let's go!"

"Hey, that's no fair!" Kizuna pouted, hands on hips. "I get to treat Kagome first!"

"What idiot eats funnel cakes before takoyaki?" Remon snorted. "Come on, Kagome, let's go eat!"

"Ooh, then we can go try the shooting gallery!"

"Or the archery range!"

"Or the basketball hoops!"

"Ha! Betcha I can shoot more than you can!"

"Can not!"

"Can too!"

As the other two girls continued their improvisation in front of the still shell-shocked Kagome and her on-the-verge-of-exploding father, Tsubomi came around from the opposite side, treading as quietly as she could manage. Once she was in range, she caught Kizuna's eye and gave her a single nod.

"Whoops!" Kizuna said suddenly, tripping over seemingly nothing and sending the remaining strawberry-flavored slush flying... only to have it splatter onto Byakudan, specifically hitting the hand that was keeping hold of his daughter.

The moment the man snatched his hand back with a curse, Tsubomi dropped down and threw herself at him, hitting the backs of his knees with the broadest part of her back. Remon, lunging forward as though she were trying to catch the flying confection, slammed her shoulder into his chest at the same time, and they all went down in a tangle of bodies, leaving Kagome the only one standing.

"Kagome, run!" Tsubomi shouted as she tried to grapple the man's leg.

This, finally, seemed to shake the Lulim second-year from her stupor, and she took off running back toward the crowded festival grounds.

"Get... OFF of me!" Byakudan snarled, bodily heaving Remon off of his chest and kicking out his leg to roughly shake Tsubomi loose. Kizuna tried to get him in an arm-lock once he regained his feet, but he literally grabbed her by the face with his free hand and pushed her sprawling to the ground before dashing off in pursuit.

They hadn't been able to keep him down for long, but it had bought Kagome a lead. Tsubomi helped the other two stand, and they scrambled after him. "Stop that man!" Kizuna bellowed. "Keep him away from her!"

Soon they were right back in the midst of the festival. Kagome was ducking through crowds, obviously trying to use her smaller size to her advantage, while her father merely barreled his way through, and all too quickly, near the food stands, he caught up with her, clamping his hand around her upper arm. "Kagome-chan, stop this at once! You will obey me!"

This time, though, Kagome did not freeze at those words. "Let me go!" she screamed, her voice louder than Tsubomi had ever heard it. "Let me go, let me go, LET ME GO!"

"Kagome-chan, this is no time for a tantrum!" the man growled, shaking her roughly. "You will obey me!"

A crowd was quickly forming, and Tsubomi looked desperately for a teacher, a nun... hell, any adult who could stop this.

Then, as if in answer to her prayers, there was a rose-colored blur, and suddenly a woman was standing in the center of the rough circle of onlookers, a stick of takoyaki in one hand, and the other with a handful of Byakudan's shirt.

"She said to let her go," said Ren Fengxian in a soft voice.

"Who the hell are you?!" he spat.

"The stable hand." Fengxian replied, her face devoid of expression.

"Well, stable hand," he sneered, "I happen to be Kagome-chan's father, and I've come to take her home."

Fengxian looked down at Kagome. "Do you want to go with him?" she asked.

Kagome shook her head furiously, still trying to free herself from his grasp.

"She wants you to let her go," Fengxian said, returning her gaze to the red-faced father. "And so do I."

"Kagome-chan, you are my daughter, and you will come with me!"

"NO!" Kagome screamed again, finally squirming out of his grasp and ducking behind the Chinese woman. "I'm not going home with you! I don't want you to touch me ever again! I don't want you to hurt me ever again!"

There was a chorus of soft gasps, as well as the sounds of running feet as Hazuki and Kaname sprinted onto the scene, followed closely by Chikaru, then at a greater distance by Chiyo and what looked like most of the cast of the opera. The former two looked ready to kill (or at least maim) somebody, but they came up short at the scene before them.

Fengxian looked from Kagome to her father, then dropped her takoyaki so she could grab the man with both hands and pull his face to within centimeters of her own. Tsubomi was not at a good angle to see the look on Fengxian's face, but she got a good look at Byakudan as the color drained from his skin, and his eyes went wide while his mouth moved soundlessly.

"My sister," said the stable hand, her voice as soft as ever, "was about her age when a group of men raped and murdered her before my eyes." She pulled him in a hairsbreadth closer. "Do you want to know what I did to them? Do you want to know what I do to people who would hurt children?"

After this, Fengxian went on speaking – or at least, her lips were still moving – but her words were too quiet for Tsubomi to hear.

Byakudan, on the other hand, was reading her loud and clear.

"N-no," the man said in a tremulous whisper, his face contorting in horror to the point that his skin seemed to be trying to escape to the back of his skull. A dark stain appeared on the front of his slacks and started slowly working its way down one leg.

"Holy sh!t," Kaname whispered.

"Do you want to hear more?" Fengxian asked, almost conversationally.

His answer was a series of choked-out nonsense syllables as he went completely slack in her grasp. At first, Tsubomi wondered if he had fainted, but his eyes were still wide open and twitching spastically.

"Fenxian-san, you may let him go now," came an authoritative voice. The crowd parted not unlike the Red Sea as Sister Mizue arrived in the company of three men: two in uniform and one in a suit.

Fengxian relaxed her grip on Byakudan while the two uniformed men handcuffed his wrists together behind his back. He offered no resistance, and in fact did not seem to be able to focus on any of them.

"Byakudan-san," said the man in the suit, "I am Inspector Fukuyama of the prefectural police, and I am placing you under arrest based on the evidence gathered from your home this morning. You have the right to remain silent, and you have the right to an attorney at your trial."

The two uniformed officers led him away, though the man could barely put one foot in front of the other. Tsubomi looked for Kagome, and found that she was holding tightly to Fengxian, her face buried against the woman's chest. For her part, Fengxian had her strong arms wrapped protectively around Kagome, though she was looking somewhat mournfully at her dropped takoyaki.

Somewhere in the crowd, someone started applauding.

It began with just the one set of hands, but then another joined, and another, until almost everyone present was cheering. Chikaru approached the pair, giving Fengxian a thankful smile before crouching to ask Kagome something. The second year turned and nodded to her class president, but showed no signs of letting go of her protector.

"So what do you figure?" Tsubomi heard Kaname ask from close by. "Did she put the fear of God into him?"

"No, I think she put the fear of Ren into him," Hazuki said dryly. "That might actually be worse."

Tsubomi then found herself being hugged between Kizuna and Remon. "You did great, Tsubomi-chan," Kizuna whispered.

"Hey, so did you," Tsubomi replied, though she could not quite bring herself to smile.

"Thanks for being there," Remon nodded against her. "God, if you hadn't been..."

Two distinct handclaps rang out over the buzz of noise, causing the crowd to fall silent. "Your attention!" Sister Mizue called. "That will be enough gawking for one day. Please allow the police to do their work, and the rest of you can go about your business." She narrowed her eyes and swept her gaze over all assembled. "I do believe a great many of you have a show to put on, do you not?"

If nothing else, the arrest of Byakudan-san gave the cast of Pirates something to talk about backstage other than how nervous they were.

Even though she would not be on stage until the second half of the show, Hazuki was already in costume well before curtain. Given the amount of time it took to get her hair pinned back sufficiently to fit into the silly Keystone Cops hat, she felt better having as many of her preparations as possible over and done with now rather than at the wire. Along with that, it gave her a chance to relax in the much more spacious green room (rather than the overly packed chorus dressing room) and just enjoy the atmosphere as much as she could.

She had gleaned from a brief conversation between Fukuyama and Sister Mizue (not that she had intentionally stuck around long enough to hear it, of course) that police had raided the Byakudan home that morning and found enough incriminating evidence to arrest him, but he himself had not been there. Speculation was that he had gotten wind of the raid and fled, but had come to Astraea with the intention of taking Kagome away with him to... wherever he would have gone. Fukuyama and his officers had been on site in anticipation of this possibility, but were waiting for him to leave the campus grounds before they made the arrest.

Apparently Tsubomi, Kizuna and Remon had gotten to him first, however, leading to the chase that culminated with Ryofu's intervention.

Hazuki closed her eyes and tried to suppress a shiver as she remembered the look on Ryofu's face as she stared the man down. The ancient general's expression had barely changed, but there was something in her eyes – something positively lethal – that made Hazuki very glad to not be the focus of that fury. Whatever words she might have said to Byakudan were probably secondary to the weight of that glare.

It concerned Hazuki that Ryofu had been asked to stay "for questioning" afterward, and she hoped that this would not be another strike against her already tenuous employment. Considering that the whispered conversations backstage were already hailing her as a hero, though, perhaps the administrators would be reluctant to punish Ryofu for being in the wrong place at the wrong time... or in this case, the absolute right place at the absolute right time.

The green room was beginning to fill up as more and more of the chorus members and principals alike got into costume, and several were taking their turns in the makeup chairs. One particular poofy-dressed ward of the Major-General detached herself from the group and practically floated to where Hazuki was sitting. "Oh, I do love a girl in uniform," Tamao mock-swooned as she sat down beside her.

"You just love me for the badge," Hazuki sighed dramatically. "That's why you end up dumping me for a pirate in the end."

"I am nothing more than a victim of circumstance and choreography," Tamao said, batting her eyelashes.

"Story of my life," Hazuki replied, not able to hold back a smile.

"Hazuki-chan, your makeup's not done," Tamao noted.

"We're getting ours done during a lull in the first half. I'd be clueless trying to do it myself: I can't even do regular makeup, much less stage makeup."

Tamao grinned evilly, then leaned in and said the next so only Hazuki could hear. "Then how will you ever manage to be a lipstick lesbian, Hazuki-chan?"

"Ehh, I'm okay being a futch," Hazuki shrugged.

This earned her a giggle from Tamao, who carefully leaned further in to rest on her shoulder, taking pains to keep the aforementioned makeup from smearing against the navy blue cloth of Hazuki's costume.

For a while, neither of them spoke, but then Tamao let out a soft sigh. "Do you think Kagome will be okay?"

"Well, she stood up to an abuser in plain sight of the world, and she's surrounded by people who are probably feeling well inclined to look out for her, now including a thousand-year-old Chinese warlord, so I think she'll be safe for now." Hazuki paused and frowned. "As for whether or not she'll be okay... that's harder to say. I hope so. I hope we can all be there for her."

"That's exactly what I'm worried about," said Tamao. "I heard someone say that her mother has been missing for years, and with her father going to prison, will she even be able to keep going to St. Lulim? How can we be there for her if she has to leave?"

Hazuki's frown deepened. These schools were expensive, after all, and if Kagome were to become a child of The System, her chances for continuing here were probably slim. "Her tuition should be paid up for the full academic year, so... hopefully something will get worked out between now and February."

"I'll bet Chikaru is already trying to come up with something," Tamao smiled wanly.

"I wouldn't bet against it."

"Could I have everyone's attention please?" came a voice over the low murmur. "Could we get everyone in the green room before Places? I have a few announcements."

More and more of the cast began to self-herd into the green room, and Hazuki and Tamao soon found themselves in close quarters with literally dozens of their classmates in various states of costuming. Head and shoulders above the rest (thanks to the chair she was standing on), Sayuri waited for the shuffle to die down before she continued.

"Before we go on... I just wanted to take the time to say thank you," said the Lulim vice-president. "For what's it's worth, I checked through the archives, and this is the first time in forty-six years that the Astraea academies have even attempted something of this magnitude. You've worked very hard to get here, and you should all be proud of yourselves."

There was a light smattering of applause, and Sayuri actually gave them a small, crooked smile at this. "No, go ahead. You deserve it. It has been an honor to work with each and every one of you, and I deeply appreciate everything you've done in the service of this story, because that's what it's all about. That's what we're here to do. All this work is to serve the story, and to give it to our audience. For some of you, this may be your first and/or your last time on stage, so if I can offer you anything to take with you once the curtain closes... it's that thought. Always serve the story, in all that you do."

Tamao slipped her arm around Hazuki's waist and gave her a gentle squeeze, which Hazuki returned gratefully. They had a story of their own to serve once this was all over, and hopefully, thought Hazuki, they would still be able to make it a good one.

"Apart from that," Sayuri went on, "I can only remind you of what I've been saying all along. Diction, diction, diction. Those of you who have microphones, don't count on them to save you. Sing out, Louise! And last but not least... don't be afraid to smile! Remember, it's a comedy!"

Hazuki metaphorically bit her tongue at the mention of the microphones. On the one hand, she understood Sayuri's decision to keep it from the cast, but on the other... well, she was simply glad it had not been her decision to make.

"And... that's really all I have to say," Sayuri finished. "Break a leg, toi toi toi, and... let's send the audience home happy. Ayame, do you have anything?"

"I think you pretty much covered it, Sayuri-chan," came the secretary/AD's voice (though she had not made herself visible over the crowd). "I'll just echo what a treat this has been for us, to work with all of you, so thank you all for everything you've brought to this production. And with that... we are at Places and holding! Pirate King, Frederick, Samuel, Ruth, and pirate chorus, come to the stage! Those of you who have volunteered to sing with the chorus for the parts where you are not on stage, report to the stage left wings! The house is still filling, so we will be holding the curtain for now! Let's do this, ladies!"

Hazuki felt a pulse of something almost electrical race through her at Ayame's words: after weeks of preparation, it was actually happening.

"Shall we, then?" Tamao asked, her face a delightful mix of exhilarated and nervous.

"We shall," Hazuki nodded, taking her hand and following the crowd of actors out of the green room, down the long hall to the stage door, and out into the wings. The pirates continued out onto the dimly-lit stage, taking their places amidst the foam rocks of the set, while Hazuki, Tamao, Nagisa and several others clustered around the monitor showing the spotlighted (and currently unoccupied) conductor's podium. From the other side of the curtain, they could hear the low murmur of the audience as they waited for the show to begin.

Only at that moment, though, did it occur to Hazuki that Chikaru had not been there for the pre-show pep talk.

Before she could think too much about this, there came a soft wave of applause which slowly grew in intensity. The actors, both off and on stage, exchanged puzzled looks. "What are they clapping for?" Nagisa wondered aloud.

"Checking," came Ayame's voice from close by. She had changed clothes since Hazuki had seen her in the booth, having gone to a black turtleneck and equally black jeans. She tapped a button on the earpiece of her headset microphone. "Sakiya-chan, what's going on out there? The maestro didn't go out early, did she?"

Hazuki could not hear the tech's reply, but the resulting smile was plain enough on Ayame's face. "Roger that. Thank you."

"What happened?" Tamao asked.

"Kagome just came in," Ayame informed them. "She's got a whole posse with her, including Fengxian-san."

"Word travels fast around here," Hazuki sighed. While it was good to know that Ryofu had not been detained in any way, she couldn't help worrying about Kagome becoming the center of attention after all she had been through, never mind because of it.

Something to be sorted out soon, hopefully. As she had said to Tamao shortly before, perhaps the best they could do was simply be there for Kagome, and let the rest play out.

"Doors are closing," Ayame reported shortly thereafter. "We'll be dimming house lights and bringing in the maestro shortly. Hang tight, people."

Hazuki found one of Tamao's hands in her own, and gave it a squeeze. The brief Souma exchange, while as comforting as always, had something of an extra "flavor" to it tonight, and Hazuki felt the other girl's excitement once again feeding her own. Ayame walked out onto the stage to let the various pirates know about the current status, then returned to the wings. "All clear?" she asked, though she was obviously speaking to her crew via the headset. "Just like we practiced it, then. House lights down."

There was an excited buzz from the audience as the theater lights began to dim, followed moments later by another round of applause as Ōhara-sensei stepped into the hall from one of the lower side doors and took the short staircase down into the orchestra pit. The orchestra rose in greeting, semi-obscuring the view on the backstage monitor, and their sensei shook the hand of the principal violinist before stepping up to her podium. There was the sound of the orchestra members taking their seats and opening their scores while the conductor waited patiently.

However, even as silence descended once more, Ōhara-sensei did not raise her baton, instead holding it with both hands, still smiling.

"And go," whispered Ayame.

The hush was broken by the sound of footsteps, followed moments later by renewed buzzing and a few gasps from the waiting audience. Almost before Hazuki could even guess what might be happening, though, another figure appeared on the screen, walking purposefully forward to stand beside the conductor's podium.

It was Chikaru.

Chikaru, dressed in an immaculate black tuxedo with tailcoat, pristine white shirt, and a vest and bow-tie in the same red shade as her ever-present hair bows, the entire ensemble expertly tailored to complement her figure. Hazuki would never have thought it possible for a tuxedo to be this... feminine, but Chikaru pulled it off stunningly. She heard another soft gasp from closer by, but she could not be sure if it had come from Tamao or herself.

The Lulim president bowed deeply to Ōhara-sensei, and the orchestra teacher stepped down from her podium.

And then, to a renewed chorus of gasps, she handed the baton to Chikaru, smiled, and walked away, leaving Chikaru to take her place in front of the orchestra.

Hazuki would be the first to admit that she did not know much about theater, much less opera or for that matter classical music in general, but even with her limited exposure to the genre, she was quite certain that Ōhara-sensei had just paid great honor to Chikaru, and she found herself simply gaping at the screen, too awestruck to even breathe.

"She really is something, isn't she?" Ayame said, quietly enough that only the girls closest to her could hear.

"When did this happen?" Tamao whispered.

"This morning," Ayame smiled. "Ōhara-sensei insisted that she wouldn't have it any other way."

Chikaru, meanwhile, was looking over the instrumentalists, making sure she had their attention. She then raised her baton, but before bringing it down to cue the percussion, she looked right into the camera and gave the girls in the wings a broad wink.

"God, I love her..." Tamao breathed. Hazuki could not find her voice sufficiently to respond, but she gripped the other girl's hand more tightly, sending a pulse of Souma to show her agreement.

After a brief roll from the timpani, the rest of the orchestra joined in with the bright, brash opening number. In the interest of time, they were skipping the overture, so it was only a few seconds later that Ayame called for the curtain to rise. Immediately, out on the stage, the pirates slipped into character, giving a series of lustful shouts as Momomi and Chihaya came in from the opposite wings to distribute prop mugs. Yaya was roughly passed between the chorus singers, each girl taking a turn slapping her back, slamming their mugs together, messing with her long-plumed hat, or otherwise showing their piratical affection for the apprentice of their band.

Not even thirty seconds in, it was time to sing. Hazuki exchanged wild, unabashed smiles with Tamao and Nagisa both as they joined in.

Pour, o pour the pirate sherry! Fill, o fill the pirate glass!
And to make us more than merry, let the pirate bumper pass!

Next: Curtain

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Next chapter will be the finale of Book II, followed by another flash-forward epilogue. Thank you all for coming along for the ride. (The long, long ride...)

Also, I think there may be some kind of problem with PMs? I'm not sure any of my review replies are getting through. (Dragon, you expressed concern that I had not gotten back to you, but I promise I tried - the PMs are even still showing up in my outbox.)

Meanwhile, though, you can still find us over at Studio Nine Sparrows on Facebook, provided that Zuck hasn't done anything stupid yet. (Let me check my watch...)

Toi toi toi!