Chapter 8. Two stars' past
"Fool?" Tsubasa called out as she entered in her room. "Hey Fool, are you here?"
"Right here," he answered patting an empty spot on Tsubasa's bed, his position tried to make him sexy but unfortunately for him, it did not.
"I have so many things to tell you!" she said enthusiastically as she jumped on the bed, almost falling on Fool.
The Stage Spirit quickly got out of her way and took back his place in the air.
"I suppose you got accepted." he said serious.
Tsubasa smiled from a corner of her face to another, she could not keep her enthusiasm anymore. The girl stood up, caught Fool's hands and started spinning around the room.
"I'm so incredibly happy, I can't believe all of this is real!" she said still smiling and spinning.
"M-M-My he-e-ead-d-d." Fool tried to say, he begun getting dizzy.
This was not the first time someone spinned him this way and he already knew what was going to happen, his stomach would take revenge on him even though it wasn't his fault.
"What are you saying Fool?" Tsubasa asked as she stopped spinning. She was holding Fool by his leg, upside down.
"I'm not a fan of spins actually.." he said, his eyes trying to adjust back to the world.
"Oh, gomen, gomen." Tsubasa said letting go of Fool.
He started flying again feeling a little better, Tsubasa's smile was still on her face, as bright and big as on the start.
"What?" Fool asked her serious. He observed that the girl expected something from him, her blue eyes were looking right at him.
"Won't you congratulate me?" she asked.
He kept looking at her, his arms crossed. "Do you know what joining Kaleido Stage means?"
Tsubasa's excitement didn't disappear. "The first step to achieve my dream?"
"And what is your dream?"
"To perform a great maneuver just like the one Sora and Layla-san did! It would be.. I can't even put it into words." Tsubasa replied as she let herself fall on the edge of her bed.
Fool kept silent for a few moments before continuing, "Why?"
"Hm? Do you mean why I want to perform such a maneuver?" Fool nodded. "Because.. I want to see what performing such a maneuver will be like. I want to train hard, to learn the maneuver's steps and then perform it at Kaleido Stage."
"I see," Fool answered.
He confirmed his thoughts. Tsubasa's dream was not a dream, but pure curiosity. She only wants to satisfy her curiosity.. But not only this. She wants to be seen as an adult, she wants people to take her seriously, to see her as a person. She has no idea what the training for such a maneuver means, she has no idea how hard it is to bear something like this. But then again, she is May and Leon's daughter and not only this. Her sister died and she kept living on without drowing, she does have something.
Fool decided not to interfere. Afterall, he wasn't there to interfere. The Stage Spirit took out many cards and placed them all around him as he spinned. He choose a card and showed it to Tsubasa.
"The Rollercoaster," he said.
"What? What's that, do you read future in cards?" she asked looking at the petite card in his hand.
"Your journey just begun. After you arrived on the top, you have to take the fall. If you will refuse to take the fall and run away, you will not be allowed to be on top again."
Tsubasa raised an eyebrow suspiciously. Suddenly, she begun to laugh and wave her hand.
"No way, no way, what are you talking about Fool? I haven't even been on top." she replied.
"Have you not been accepted on Kaleido Stage?"
The moment Tsubasa realized Fool was telling the truth, she froze. That meant she was going to take a fall?
She looked at the ghost floating in front of her.
"My predictions are precise, but future can be changed. It all depends on the choices you make." he said seeing the scared look on her face. It was not his job to worry about Tsubasa and tell her encouraging words, but her down face seemed really sad.
"Okay!" Tsubasa replied, getting back into her usual, cheerful mood. "Anyway, I'm going to sleep. Tomorrow will be a big day." the black-haired girl said as she turned the lights off and put the blanket over her head. "Wait!" Tsubasa jumped as a moment after she closed her eyes. "You still didn't congratulate me." she accused Fool.
"May the force be with you," he quoted making Tsubasa smile, though his real intention was to tell her 'Be strong.'
XXX
Tsubasa arrived at Kaleido Stage earlier than she was supposed to. She was so excited that she could barely sleep, at five o'clock in the morning she felt like climbing mountains. As the black-haired girl walked down the hallway to the girls' changing room, she spotted Hilary approaching her.
"Hilary!" Tsubasa called out loud.
The red-head got surprised by the sudden call and she tripped as the papers in her hands fell all over the hallway.
"Oh," she said disappointedly looking at the papers, but after a moment she looked up at Tsubasa and smiled back. "Good morning, Tsubasa." she replied politely.
Tsubasa approached her and knelt down in front of her, a look of worry appearing on her face.
"I'm sorry!" she said looking straight into Hilary's brown eyes.
The red-head put her hands in front of her and shook them."It's ok, really, it was my fault."
The other girl shook her head and begun picking up the papers. "Let me help."
"I'm sorry." the red-head replied looking at the ground as she slowly started picking up the papers.
"What for?" Tsubasa asked smiling.
"For causing you trouble, I should take care of those myself, but.."
"Hey, we'll be some kind of partners from today onwards, right? I mean, we're both part of Kaleido Stage, right?" the blue-eyed girl said still picking up papers. "It was my fault too, so it's ok."
Hilary adjusted her glasses as she looked at Tsubasa, she put a hand on the left side of her blue jacket wit short sleeves, the one everyone from Kaleido Stage's staff wore. She smiled back.
"T-Thank you."
Tsubasa picked up the last papaers and hands them to Hilary smiling. "That's a lot better."
"Why are you here so early, Tsubasa?" Hilary asked as the two girls walked down the hallways, the two of them were simply walking around the circus.
"I couldn't really sleep last night." she answered scratching the back of her neck, her long ponytail slipping as she walked. "I was so excited about today, I still am." Tsubasa put a hand on the left side of her chest, her heart was beating like crazy.
Hilary smiled, she could almost feel Tsubasa's excitement.
"By the way, how long have you been working here?" the newcomer asked.
Hilary thought a few seconds before answering. "Three months, I think." she answered a bit embarrassed. "I really love this place," she continued. "I'd always come and watch every show when I was young."
Tsubasa listened to her carefully, she didn't really understand what Hilary meant though.
"I see." she replied.
"And there was Naegino Sora." the moment she said that name, the two girls stopped walking.
They were on the edge of the platform Kaleido Stage was standing on, looking at the sea. Hilary's expression changed drastically.
"Sora?" Tsubasa asked blinking.
"Yes, she was the star at Kaleido Stage for more than fifteen years, can you believe this?"
"I don't really get it.." Tsubasa confessed confused.
She knew that Sora must have been great since she was able the maneuver she saw on the tape, the Legendary Maneuver, but she didn't really understand why Hilary looked as if she was speaking about a God. In fact, now that she thought about it, she has never seen Sora onstage before. She has only been to Kaleido Stage once when she was really young and she couldn't really remember the show she saw, but she was sure Sora was not the one to perform in it. Neither her father. Hilary wanted to continue but someone intrerrupted her.
"Slacking off already, newbie?" a female voice asked.
The two girls turned around to see a woman wearing the same jacket as Hilary approaching. She had blonde, middle-length, straight hair and small eyes.
"N-No!" Hilary answered getting panicked.
"Oh right, it's only half past eight." the woman said looking at her watch. "My bad." she giggled.
Hilary smiled back. "Oh, by the way, this is Tsubasa Oswald, she just joined Kaleido." the redhead said pointing with her hand towards the said new performer. "Tsubasa, this is Amanda Stevens, a member of Kaleido Stage's staff."
The moment Amanda heard Tsubasa's name, her face changed. She was looking amazed at her, her mouth almost dropped.
"Oswald.. Don't tell me you're.." she managed to say, pointing her index finger at the blackhaired girl.
"Uhm.." Tsubasa was feeling awkward, she didn't know what Amanda meant.
"Answer this question right away!" Amanda demanded, scaring both Hilary and Tsubasa with her traightforwardness. "What's your father's name?" she asked her loud, as if they were in army.
"Yes!" Tsubasa replied putting her hand in front of her forehead, as in army. "I-I mean, Leon. Leon Oswald."
"Which means that.. Your mother is May Oswald?"
"Yes." Tsubasa answered still scared.
"Oh my God." Amanda exclaimed stunned.
"Are you serious Tsubasa?" Hilary asked too, her eyes glowing with hope.
"Yes, why?" the black-haired girl asked confused.
"I'm May's biggest fan!" Amanda said taking Tsubasa's hands. "Please present me to her, I'll pay even my life it I have to!" she begged her.
"I want Leon's autograph, I'll also pay with my life!" Hilary said, taking Tsubasa's other hand. "TThough I still have many things I want to do.." she hesistated.
"W-W-Wait, you don't have to pay anything!" Tsubasa tried to calm them down. "I.. I will try my best, but why do you want to meet my mother so badly?" she asked Amanda.
The girls let go of her hands and all of them sat on a bench.
"I suppose you already know that May Oswald was one of Kaleido Stage's stars, one of the best that had ever been in my oppinion." Amanda begun seriously. "May Oswald is my idol, my model. No.. Actually, May Wong is. Before she married Leon Oswald, when she performed at Kaleido, she was the most amazing person I've ever seen. I watched every performance she has ever given, I would always clap as hard as my hands could at that age after every performance." Amanda's expression changed into a gentle one as she talked about Tsubasa's mother. "She and Sora Naegino, the two of them were stars, nothing less. Of course there was also Leon Oswald, but there was something between Sora and May that made you unable to choose between them, though I never had this problem. I always have loved and admired May, always have, always will." she continued. "But this little girl thinks Sora is better." she pointed with her index finger towards Hilary.
"T-That's my oppinion!" Hilary protested.
Tsubasa watched the two girls arguing, she was confused.
"What do you mean by 'stars'?" the black-haired girl asked.
"We mean what we said, simple as that. May and Sora were stars." Amanda answered smiling gently at Tsubasa.
"But how can people become stars? Is that even possible?" the teenager persisted with questions, the subject made her curious. Her mother didn't talk about her past at Kaleido Stage, only on the rare times Leon came home. She realized she knew nothing about her mother.
"That's what I thought too, until I saw their performances for the first time. I couldn't believe nor understand until I saw it with my own eyes, so I understand you." the blonde woman continued.
"You will only understand when you'll see it with your own eyes too." Hilary completed.
"Though," her happy smiled was replaced by a sad one. "I doubt May and Sora will ever step on stage again. Same for Leon." Amanda completed.
"What do you mean?" Tsubasa asked even more confused than before. She knew that her mother gave up on Kaleido Stage a long time ago, when she and Mirai were born to be more precise, but she knew nothing of Sora and even more, her father. He never told her he would not perform at Kaleido Stage anymore. "May gave up on stage soon after she engaged with Leon, probably when you were born." Amanda said smiling gently to show Tsubasa that she didn't blame her for this, though Tsubasa herself was feeling quite bad. "Sora made a pause when her daughter was born too, but she came back. Everything was good after that,but then something happened again and Leon made a pause and Sora decided to not perform either and wait for him. Their pause still continues even now, I will always hope Sora and Leon will come back onstage one day. Due to this pause, Kaleido Stage's new star became Rosetta Pasttel." Amanda informed, her expression showing some anger.
Seeing how Amanda reacted, Hilary spoke. "Everybody still hopes and waits for Sora and Leon to come back, they have thousands of fans all around the world. Me and Amanda too."
Tsubasa couldn't say anything anymore, she surprised and confused.
"Well, the training is about to start. Shouldn't you go?" Amanda asked interrupting Tsubasa's thoughts.
"U-Uhm, yeah, you're right." Tsubasa said getting up. See you later Hilary and it was nice meeting you Amanda." she said, trying to ignore all her thoughts, at least for now.
"It was nice meeting you too." Amanda said landing Tsubasa her hand.
The black-haired girl took it only for a moment and then left.
XXX
Tsubasa had a lot to think about and a lot to ask her mother, father and Sora, but not now. She had to concentrate on her courses today.
The training usually starts at at nine o'clock in the morning, but today the teacher, Anna, made the newcomers, which were about twenty, a tour of the whole circus. Tsubasa found out that there was a training room for newcomers, another training room for those who will be in the next show and a last training room for the person or persons who will play the main roles in the next show. The rooms usually looked the same, but for those who will appear in the next show, the rooms may change depending on the training they had to do.
While they visited the room for the persons playing the main roles for the next show, Tsubasa found out that the show currently airing at Kaleido Stage was Beauty and The Beast, the show was going to be performed for two more times, this Friday and the next one. The main character, Belle, was played by Rosetta and the Beast was Rosetta's partner, Bennedickt Haunguard.
"You all can just call me Ben, nice to meet you and welcome at Kaleido Stage." he presented himself to the twenty newbies
He and Rosetta looked somewhat alike; both had the same dark-orange hair, though Rosetta's was barely touching her shoulders while Ben's was tied in a short, low tail. Their eyes were different too, Rosetta's were brown while Ben's were green. He was a head taller than her and their bodies were well-developed, Rosetta was especially well-developed. Mother Nature was very generous with her.
The two of them were very friendly and sociable, but as the newbies got the chance to see them training for the climax maneuver on the trapeze of this show, they all saw how cool and perfect they looked together.
Tsubasa wondered if she would ever find such a partner and be able to be in such good sync with him so that people would see them as one person.
XXX
"I'm here," Leon said opening the door to the director's office after knocking.
Kalos was standing up looking at the sea with his hands crawled in his pockets.
"Why did you want to see me?" Leon asked approaching.
"I want to see what you have to say about her joining Kaleido." Kalos said turning around.
Leon knew who was Kalos talking about. "I thought we talked about this."
"You talked with me, I never agreed to anything." Kalos replied.
Leon narrowed his eyebrows. "I will not let you make her go under a training such as the one
for the Legendary Maneuver."
"I don't have any intention to do this, at least, not now." Kalos replied calmly. "But, if I will take an interes into her, I will do anything to make her succeed walking the path of a true star."
"Like you did Sora?" Leon asked.
"Weren't you also part of the reason she had to go through a lot?" the director continued, memories running on his mind.
"Sora is different-she is strong." the grey-haired man replied. "She had a dream from the very beginning, she had the reasons to be strong and go on, but Tsubasa doesn't."
"You're wrong," Kalos cut him. "Sora didn't have a dream when she first came here, she didn't even have a purpose at the beginning."
Leon didn't hear this before, though he knew Sora for such a long time now
"To tell you the truth, I already have my eye on her." Kalos said recalling a precious information he had; the moment before the auditions he saw Tsubasa skating. "You should trust her more, she is May's daughter afterall, and May is the one you were head over heels for." the director said with a serious tone, though he obviously wanted to tease the former performer. "In any case, I would not let her get away if I make up my mind. You have no right to chose for her now, she has already joined Kaleido Stage and every decision she has to make, she has to herself."
Leon turned around about to leave, but Kalos told him one last thing which surprised Leon, the director never insisted on something.
"You should stop trying to protect her, she would be fine alone. You know this too."
Leon left and closed the door behind him. He refused to listen to Kalos' words. He knew that if Kalos set up his mind, he could transform into a monster. He would not let his little girl get through something like this—not his only little girl.