The Trials Of Time (ch3)

EARLY RELEASE FOR ALL MY PATRONS!

I wonder which of you guessed the correct theory of what Claudine has in mind...

Disclaimer: I do not own Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight.

----------

						Chapter 3. One-Man Show


Claudine allows herself to sleep in on Saturday morning, knowing she's going to need her strength for the coming days.

By the time she puts on her leisure clothes and heads to the lounge for breakfast, only Maya, Nana, and Junna are there already. She can assume the other five are still asleep or just barely conscious in their beds.

Claudine helps with preparing the morning's omelettes before retrieving her plate and sitting down beside Maya. Maya gives her a proper greeting.

"Good morning, Saijou-san. Did you sleep well?"

"Well enough," Claudine replies. "How is everyone feeling?"

"All right," Nana says. "I'm just glad we don't have to go tonight… I really hope it's over."

"As do I," Maya agrees. "Though it has been nagging at me… I wonder what is happening that has made the Korosu multiply in such a manner."

"Who knows?" Junna shrugs. "We never really understood them all that well from the beginning."

"I'm sure it will be fine," Claudine says, trying to share her confidence. "We've got to keep focusing on the play."

"Indeed," Maya agrees.

A short while later they're joined by their other friends, and come to a silent, mutual agreement not to talk about the Korosu anymore. They discuss their play instead, and after breakfast break into two groups; those who need to go to town to run errands and shop, and those who need to do chores at the dorms.

Claudine is in the latter group, and spends the rest of the morning organizing and cleaning her room, as well as completing her weekend homework for classes.

After lunch, all nine of them head to the school building to rehearse their roles and practice their songs some more, making up for time lost due to fighting the Korosu. Everyone is visibly more energized today, simply because there is no lingering dread that they'll be whisked away tonight.

Claudine is glad to see everyone getting back to their normal selves, smiling so much more and laughing together. Which is exactly why she's decided to enact this plan entirely on her own.

After an afternoon of practicing together, the girls head back to Starlight Hall for supper. Claudine eats her fill, knowing she'll need it.

She lingers with the rest of them for a short while, until everyone breaks apart to go back to their rooms to get their weekend homework finished. Claudine feigns that she intends to do the same, and wishes them all a good evening.

She heads back to her dorm room to keep up the guise, but doesn't get comfortable. Instead, she puts on sneakers and pulls a coat over her blouse in preparation to make the walk back to the school building.

She waits until she can't hear any voices coming from the hallway, then slowly slips out the door and down the hallway toward the exit.

Her explanation to the woman behind the dormitory check-in desk is that she'd forgotten something at school during her self-led practice today. She's about to head out the doors when the woman says something that catches her attention.

"You as well, Saijou-san?"

"Pardon?" Claudine takes a few steps back and peers in at the clerk curiously. "Did someone else forget something as well?"

"Yes," the woman replies. "Kagura-san just left a few moments ago for the very same reason."

"Hikari did…?" Claudine tapers off. Why? Did she really forget something? Or is she-

"Either way," the woman says. "I hope you find your lost item. If you see Kagura-san there, please make sure you come back together."

"Ah, yes." Claudine dips her head politely before hurrying out the doors.

The evening is a bit chilly, and the sun is on its way to set as she takes off at a jog down the sidewalk. She keeps her eyes trained ahead for any signs of her classmate.

/Hikari… there's no way she has the same idea as me, right? She really must have forgotten something there…/

Even so, Claudine has to consider the possibility that Hikari had come up with the same plan as she had.

If that's the case, Claudine won't allow it. Hikari may have attended the most prestigious theatre school in the entire world, but she's already performed a one-man show and made more than enough sacrifices since arriving here at Seishou. Claudine won't let her do this, too.

She hurries onward until she's more or less running. And thankfully, just as the school building is in sight, Claudine spots a familiar figure with long black hair and a blue coat heading for the doors. Claudine hurries to catch up with her, but then slows down to catch her breath and appear as casual as possible as she calls out.

"Oh? Is that Hikari?"

Hikari jolts a little bit before slowly turning around to face her. Claudine walks up to her with a friendly wave, trying to be nonchalant.

"So it is you. What brings you back to the school at this hour?" Claudine smiles calmly, but her eyes search Hikari's seriously. Hikari bites her lip a little bit and quickly looks down to avoid her.

"Good evening, Saijou-san. I just forgot something here earlier…"

Claudine's heart sinks. She knows then and there that Hikari had, in fact, decided on the same course of action as Claudine herself had.

Of course she would. After all, she's played the martyr before, so why wouldn't someone as selfless as her try to do it again? Claudine is glad she'd caught her in time.

"Oh, really? So did I. If you tell me what it is you forgot, I can go and get it for you," Claudine offers kindly. "Karen and Mahiru were asking for you."

It's a lie, but Claudine believes it's a justified one, given the circumstances.

Hikari visibly reacts at the mention of their names.

"They were…?"

Claudine feels a bit guilty fibbing to her like this, but in the end it will be for Hikari's own good.

"Yes," she nods. "They said you just went off somewhere without telling them."

The way Hikari stays quiet tells Claudine she'd guessed correctly. She knows Hikari well enough by now to understand she's the kind of person who will sneak off quietly without saying a word to anyone when she had something important she needed to do. After all, Claudine is the exact same way, since she has the exact same objective right now.

So she uses Karen and Mahiru against her, and watches as Hikari begins to re-think her decision.

"But…" She shakes her head. "I should really-"

"What you should do-" Claudine cuts her off gently, reaching out to grab Hikari's wrist and pull her a step back, away from the building. "Is go back to those two. Enjoy your night. Get some rest. I know they're worried about you, Hikari."

Claudine's voice has lost its pleasant acting tone by now, and she speaks with genuine seriousness.

Hikari finally meets her eyes, and Claudine can see she'd really had the same idea to come here on her own tonight for the same purpose. She offers a tiny smile, to let Hikari know that she doesn't have to do this.

/I'll handle it this time,/ Claudine conveys to her.

Hikari must understand her intent, because she starts to fret.

"But, Saijou-san-"

"I can handle something like this," Claudine says with a flick of her hair over her shoulder. "I may not be the top student, but I'm close enough, wouldn't you say?"

She holds Hikari's gaze for a long moment, compelling her to comply on this matter. When it comes to confidence, Claudine will always win out between the two of them.

Sure enough, Hikari can't manage to look at her for very long before she gets nervous about being found out. She tries to take a step back, but Claudine keeps her grasp on her wrist.

"Hikari." Her voice leaves no room for argument now. "Please. Karen and Mahiru need you. Don't make them worry."

Hikari swallows, shakes her head a little, and ultimately flicks a hesitant glance back to her.

"But… what about you-?"

"Like I said," Claudine puffs out her chest. "I can handle something like this just fine." She smiles, and after another moment, Hikari finally relents.

"Okay…"

She moves a pace away from the school building now. Claudine finally lets her go when she realizes she's succeeded. Hikari takes a few more hesitant steps away before glancing back over her shoulder.

"Are you… really sure?"

"Absolutely," Claudine insists. "Don't worry. I'll be back before you know it." She gives another charming smile, hating that she has to lie to her friend like this. But again, it's for Hikari's own good.

Hikari eventually smiles back, and Claudine can see the trust in her eyes. She really is putting her faith into Claudine, and she truly does believe she'll be all right alone.

Claudine tries to ignore the guilt wriggling around in her stomach and just keeps up the act a little longer.

"Merci, Hikari. I'll see you soon."

"Okay."

"Oh, and…" Claudine turns back to her one last time. "No one else needs to know about this. I'm sure you understand my feelings, right?"

Hikari drops her gaze again, but nods.

"Yeah…"

"Très bon!" Claudine smiles. "Have a good night, Hikari. And don't worry about a thing."

Claudine sends her off with another little wave, and Hikari finally turns away and starts heading off back to the dorms. Claudine watches her go until she's out of sight, then finally releases the breath she'd been holding in.

/Thank goodness I got here in time to stop her… But now she knows exactly what I'm doing, too…/

In retrospect, it probably would have been better for the two of them to go together, for safety's sake. But Claudine is truly confident in her own skills, to the point where she believes she can handle a few dozen Korosu on her own in her own one-man show.

If it means slowly cutting down their numbers over the weekend so there will be fewer or none left for everyone else to worry about when Monday comes, it will all be worth it. And it's possible there may not even be any here tonight at all, so she'll simply be able to go home after checking.

Either way, she just doesn't want such a massive burden hanging over everyone's heads, especially not when they're less than a week away from a performance they're all looking forward to so much.

So she'll take on that burden alone in their stead, little by little. Not more than she can handle, but just enough to decrease the overall number of Korosu to make it easier on everyone else if they are eventually called back to fight.

With Hikari safely out of the way now, and her word given not to tell the others about Claudine's intentions, Claudine turns back to the school building and proceeds forward. She pulls out her student ID card from her coat pocket and scans it at the doors to get inside, then briskly proceeds down the hallways.

The lights are on, but they're dim, and the buzzing sound unnerves her a bit and makes her heart beat faster. She takes off into a jog, hurrying down the flights of stairs to the lowermost level. From there, it's a few more hallways and a few more turns before she finally finds the familiar elevator.

She's reported here herself several times before when she'd been called in for the giraffe's Auditions, but recently she's just been forcibly brought to the underground stage with the others. The last time she'd actually come here willingly had been months ago, and it makes her heart pound even harder just to be standing here once again.

Even from a distance, she can see the red light on the top of the elevator flickering, and she approaches with caution. That light confirms her suspicions. It isn't all the way on as it would've been on the night of a planned Audition, nor is it completely off as it would normally be otherwise. It's somewhere in between - not exactly anticipating Stage Girls to come, but if one did, she knows it wouldn't refuse her entry.

So she draws in another deep breath and finally steps up to the elevator.

Instantly, the heavy metal doors creak open for her. Claudine straightens up and takes that step forward inside.

The doors crash closed behind her, and slowly the elevator begins to descend.

She knows this means there are Korosu here tonight. Hopefully it isn't a lot, so she can clean them up herself before long and be done with it.

After a moment, the elevator clangs to a stop and the doors open up again. Claudine steps out into the wide, dark auditorium that awaits her. Only a single orange spotlight shines up on the stage. She can hear the hissing of the unseen Korosu even from here.

As she begins her march through the dark, empty aisles, she scans the shadows for any familiar figures. But she doesn't see any of them - not Elle, not the giraffe, not anyone. They really had kept their word of not intending to call anyone here tonight, which she finds almost surprising.

By the time Claudine nears the stage, she realizes her clothes have been exchanged for her revue costume, and her trusty sword is in her hand.

She walks around the stage until she reaches the small staircase that leads up onto it, then takes her place beneath the orange beam of light.

She faces the curtains and waits.

In just seconds, a wave of half a dozen Korosu come charging out, but Claudine is ready for them. She cleaves them all into two clean pieces and watches the black dust disintegrate.

But almost immediately, ten more have taken their place. She growls, swinging her sword with expert precision at a pair of them while simultaneously jumping back to avoid the others. She spins sharply to slice at one that had slipped behind her, then proceeds to charge at the next oncoming wave.

But even though there are this many at the start, Claudine is only fighting for a few moments before she doesn't see any more taking shape. She deals with the ten more or so before her, avoiding their blades and giving them her own in return, until she's sliced the final one in half. Panting, she whirls around to face the curtains, but she doesn't hear any more hissing. With a smirk, she pushes the tip of her sword into the centerstage mark beneath the spotlight.

"Position Zero."

And with this, she wipes her face of sweat, then proceeds to leave the stage.

As she walks back through the aisles, her heart is racing from the success of her accomplishment.

/I can do this. If it's only this many of them each night, I can do this on my own, and none of the others will need to be bothered./

By the time she makes it back to where the elevator doors are waiting, her sword is gone and her usual clothes have returned. Claudine rides the elevator back up and steps out into the school building. The doors close behind her, and the red light flicks off.

So she hurries back up the stairs and out the doors, then begins the walk back to the dorms.

/I can do this,/ she coaches herself. /I can do this. For everyone's sake./

By the time she arrives back at Starlight Hall, she finds everyone else in the lounge once again and joins them. She flashes Hikari a smile and winks to show her just how well she'd done, and to convey that Hikari doesn't need to worry about her.

At last, the nine of them are able to enjoy a proper movie night, laughing and eating together.

It's only a little after midnight when Claudine begins to feel slight stinging aches throughout her body, likely places the Korosu had managed to touch her. It isn't horribly painful, more like an after-sting of sorts, and she ignores it as best she can.

/If this is the only price I have to pay… it's worth it./

Her heart is so happy to finally see everyone smiling and relaxing as they should be.

/I can do this by myself, if it's for their sake./

She sweeps her gaze around the room to each of them, until at last-

"Saijou-san?"

Maya is peering at her curiously from beside her. Claudine jolts a little.

"Wh-What is it?"

"I was just going to ask if you were feeling all right." Her eyes drop down to where Claudine hadn't even realized she'd been holding onto her side in one of the sore spots. Claudine quickly lets her hand fall away and shrugs it off.

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be? We didn't have to go fight any pesky Korosu tonight, and instead finally got to enjoy ourselves a bit. I feel wonderful."

Maya smiles.

"I am glad to hear it."

Claudine can feel Hikari looking at her from across the room, but she refuses to look back.

The nine of them finish up their movie night and eventually retreat to their rooms for bed. When Claudine stands, she finds her legs a bit shaky, but uses the excuse that she's just tired from the night of fun. She keeps her cool and wishes them all a goodnight before retreating to her room.

Once there, she lies down in her bed, now wincing at a bit more pain here or there.

/It's fine. I'll sleep it off, and by tomorrow I'll be able to do it all again until none of those damn Korosu are left./

She isn't going to let any of her friends get hurt again. She can handle this by herself.

Claudine closes her eyes for the night, and the vision of a stage comes into her mind. Everyone is standing there together in their costumes for Into the Woods, having a wonderful time.

But throughout it all, there is a soft hissing coming from behind the curtains.

-------------

A/N: I feel my interpretations of how they get to the underground stage and what the theater looks like change slightly from fic to fic... I hope you can envision this one well.