AN: LL is past college age in this fic. This song also comes from "the Devil's Carnival 2", and to me, is kind of like an "adult" version of "Pining for the Moon".
An electric keyboard began to play, mimicking a pipe organ, disrupting the quiet peace of Heaven. But tonight, none of the angels cared one single bit. On the contrary, as soon as the first midnight notes filled the air, so did gasps and sighs. The crowd was already going wild, swooning in excitement and delight…
Down, down, down at the midnight rectory, with giggle juice, frisking under the marquee. The peacocks are strutting behind velvet rope, sipping away on their heavenly dope…
It was time to PAR-TAY! The opening verse repeated itself, but this time with renewed vim and vigor as the beat dropped. Lyrical Lily burst out onto the stage, dressed in provocative outfits that harkened back to a time and place far beyond their own. Tonight in particular, Kurumi took the lead, striding front and center down the large, wooden stage at the concert hall. Upon this wildest of nights, however, it hardly looked like a concert hall at all. Much like the performers, it was gussied up, dressed up to also look like something right out of 1920s America: a speakeasy.
It was an Academy-wide reunion, not just for Arisugawa, but for the young men's Academy just across the city. Some of them hadn't seen one another in years since graduating high school, so they wanted to make the night last, and make the night out for all it was worth.
"Scratch at the hatch, brothers, sisters, let's have fun! Enter on all fours, with your love and your daps on! Surrender yourselves, dolls, get down on your knees! Bring out the flappеrs, and please pray for me!"
The crowd went wild for Kurumi's performance as she sung and danced her way across the stage, skirt swishing and flying dangerously high. She was every bit as playful and mischievous as she was back when she was still at the Academy, but she'd only grown finer and finer with age. Her white hair seemed to glow under the white-and-blue spotlights, the bows fluttering like butterflies as she moved and grooved.
"Am I low enough, God Daddy?" Miiko, Haruna, and Miyu provided the backup vocals for that night's performance.
"No, no!" Kurumi sung back, shaking her head playfully, teasingly.
While Miyu and Miiko stood on either side of Kurumi, staring up at her with wide, adoring eyes, Haruna was in the back, still manning her DJ booth, just like always. It had been far too long since she was able to let loose and perform like this! It was funny, the old Haruna would've been utterly appalled and scandalized by the complete and utter debauchery and shameless sin going on around them, but years away from the Academy did good (and bad) for the old member of the Disciplinary Committee.
And even if it wasn't a bit of maturity on her part, nothing helped her let loose quite like the power of song and dance. Watching all the whirling and twirling from her DJ booth high above truly swept her away, and any objections she may have had otherwise were completely absent tonight. Her old self would've put a hand over her heart and declared, "I say! What sort of fopdoodle…?!"
But this Haruna only grinned wolfishly, spinning her silver discs faster and faster as she played off of Kurumi's energy and toggled the knobs and sliders to accentuate the song and add all sorts of playful and surprising sound effects and musical edits. It was like her way of "pranking" the audience, keeping them all on their toes, leaving them wondering what sort of daring remix she would try next.
That's my Chairman! Kurumi threw one quick wink over her shoulder as Haruna raised the volume, and the roof, adding more sound effects to the set list as there was a break in Kurumi's vocals. Miyu and Miiko were still swishing their skirts as well.
"Am I low enough, God Daddy?"
"No, no!"
"Am I low enough…?"
"Well, all right! Gimme two "Hallelujah"s and an "Amen"!"
The crowd raised fists and drinks as high as they could go, trying to raise the roof just as much as their beloved, redheaded DJ was. She was acquiring quite the devilish side, and everyone was eager to match pace. "Hallelujah! Hallelujah! And A-MEN!"
"Hallelujah!" Miyu took a step forward.
"Hallelujah!" Miiko took a step forward.
"And…" Kurumi jerked a thumb over her shoulder.
"A-MEN!" Haruna fist-pumped once before her fingers slid across the spinners and dials once again, proving a perfect and smooth transition into the musical interlude. The chatter and cheering got even louder as Kurumi took a quick bow, followed by Miyu and Miiko, and then Haruna.
The song was not over, not by a long shot, but it was time to dance! Haruna vaulted over the DJ booth, leaving it on auto-play, a pre-set, pre-recorded track, joining the rest of her old bandmates on the front and center part of stage. Miyu grabbed her hand immediately and pulled her in close. Kurumi and Miiko gave them both teasing looks before doing likewise with one another.
"Shall we, old friend?" Kurumi managed to shout over the general din of the rest of the "speakeasy". Miiko didn't respond verbally. Instead, she only gave Kurumi a devilish smile of her own and dipped the taller woman just like she used to when their "speakeasy" parties were tame gatherings in the Academy basement. But the spirit was still the same, it was time to break free!
The rest of the hall erupted into drinking and dancing as well, crystal and glass on trays of silver and gold spinning through the sea of whirling, twirling bodies. Gloved and bejeweled hands swiped at the trays and lips were more than eager to down the contents. Jumping, jiving, swing-dancing, and diving were on the menu tonight. This wasn't just communion at Mass, it was entirely different kind of Eucharist.
"Up, up, up in a perch we'll be squeaky swinging!" Miyu took over the vocals on the second verse and everyone looked up in amazement. Since when had she gotten up there?! Now she was high above the audience, sitting cross-legged on the catwalk above the stage. The chaos of the night was its own best disguise and not a single member in the audience could remember seeing her slide off stage.
"Standing on edge, we're-a pitchin' and wingin'!" Miiko gave the audience its next surprise. She was not on a catwalk, but she was hanging off a pillar on the right side of the stage. How she'd gotten up there without anyone noticing was just as much a mystery as it was with Miyu.
"Down in the boiler, we chatter and puff!" Kurumi's head popped up from below the stage, opening a trap door that was smack in the middle of it.
"Loosen the collar right up to the scruff!" For a second time, Haruna quickly removed a hand from the turntables, tearing open part of the front of her dress. Not so low that anything unsightly was seen, but just enough to warrant a little smirk and wink at the raving, raging crowd.
The crowd was so hyped now that they almost missed the next several lines sung by Miyu, Miiko, Haruna, and Kurumi, in that order.
"So all of you, bred high, but down on the make-out, remember God's Garden?"
"Let's wiggle the snake out!"
"Fiddle the humbugs, and howl like the pooch!"
"Kneel for a swallow of Heavenly hooch!"
Kurumi dropped to her knees, flashing a Cheshire cat smile at the crowd as Miiko strutted across the stage towards her and tossed her a bottle of… something. They would never truly know if there was anything in it, or if it was an empty prop bottle, or if maybe it only contained water. What they would know, however, was that Kurumi took a comically big swig from it before tossing it back to Miiko to take her swig while she wiped the back of her hand across her mouth.
At the same time, Miyu and Haruna were carrying on the call-and response with each other, and the rest of the audience.
"Am I low enough, God Daddy?"
"No, no!"
"Am I low enough, God Daddy?"
"No, no!"
"Am I low enough…?"
"Give me a "Lordy, oh Lordy, hey Lordy, my Lord!""
The blue and white spotlights finally left the stage, circling round and round through the audience. The lights flickered and flashed off of handsome suits and gaudy, gleaming dresses. Pearls and feathers shined through the darkness as men and women danced like heathens. There was close, body-to-body contact as they spun and flipped, singing and swinging. Hands and legs intertwined and smiles grew wider and wider as hands reached for second rounds from the silver and golden trays.
Then, with one accord, the entire crowd bellowed out in response to the four women on stage. "Lordy oh Lordy, hey Lordy, my Lord!" And at the same time, the quartet again started to dance. Haruna exited the DJ booth again and took Miyu's hand in her left and Kurumi's in her right. Miiko grabbed onto Miyu's other free hand and the four drank and danced and partied the rest of the performance away!
AN: For another "moon song" that's a little less "party" and a little more "lullaby", I recommend "I See the Moon". As a kid, I listened to that song every single night to fall asleep. It's funny how many moon songs I know.
Guess I could also give a shout-out to "Fly Me to the Moon" and "Moon River" and "Ballad to the Moon".