Seishou's Great Murder Mystery Gala

This is a super fun idea from 0mniessence! Unlike some others I've done, this one is all in good fun! Though I must warn you I probably didn't get every aspect of this concept correct... So please bear with me. I tried my best to describe how it will work, so I hope it's accurate and understandable!

Disclaimer: I do not own Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight.

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												Seishou's Great Murder Mystery Gala

															Chapter 1.

Every year, Seishou holds an Open House for potential future students about halfway through the school year. The prestigious Academy opens its doors to invite in students still questioning their choices for academics in hopes to entice as many as possible to make a choice in its favor. Thus, the Open House is a very significant event that requires a lot of time, dedication, and creativity to be put into it in order to come up with ways to lift the enrollment numbers for the coming years.

The Open House extends over a period of two days and one night, during which time the visiting girls will be able to experience the dorm rooms and mingle with other students.

It's traditional that the students of the designated theatre classes put on some kind of performance to entertain the newcomers on the evening of the sleepover, not only to create an event for the visitors to attend, but also to be able to demonstrate the skills they themselves have perfected over their time at Seishou, and show off the fruits of their labor.

The students in charge of putting the program together have been meeting to discuss ideas for an event this year, and have recently come to a decision. Therefore, on a Friday afternoon, once classes have been dismissed, all participating girls are asked to gather in the dance studio to hear the news.

Claudine enters with most of her friends - only Junna and Nana are absent, as they'd been part of the group deciding on what they should do for the Open House.

A giant circle of folding chairs has been set up for them, and as they enter, Claudine takes a seat between Maya and Mahiru. In addition to their group, there are about a dozen other girls from both Class A and Class B, all settling down and chittering excitedly.

"I wonder what we'll be doing this year?" Mahiru says happily. "Hikari-chan, this will be your first Open House here with us!"

Hikari blushes a little and nods.

"Yeah. I'm counting on you to show me the ropes, Mahiru."

"Oooooh~!" Karen is kicking her legs excitedly under her chair. "It could be anything! A play, a concert, a dance, a murder mystery gala-"

"Please, Karen-han," Kaoruko sighs, placing a hand on Karen's insistently-bouncing knee. "That last one is just ridiculous."

Next to her, Futaba grins.

"Heh. Doesn't matter what it is, as long as I get to strut my stuff."

Claudine can't help but smile and get swept up in her classmates' enthusiasm as well. She turns to her other side where Maya has been sitting quietly all the while.

"Well?" she prompts. "Is the mighty Tendo Maya not feeling excited about this?"

Maya doesn't respond or look at her, though. She just keep staring ahead at Junna, Nana, and the others who are still murmuring together. Claudine raises an eyebrow and reaches out to poke her shoulder.

"Hey, Tendo Maya. Are you listening to me?"

"E-Eh?" Maya snaps out of her little trance and turns to her, clearing her throat. "My apologies. What was it you were saying, Saijou-san?"

Claudine crosses her arms and pouts a little.

"I asked you if you were excited about this Open House event. Clearly you didn't hear me at all. What's on your mind?"

Maya's lip wobbles a little nervously.

"Ah, yes. Well, you see… there is always the possibility they've decided on... a haunted house…"

Claudine has to stop herself from laughing outright.

"Oh-" she smirks. "I see. That wouldn't be good for you, now would it?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Well don't worry," Claudine says proudly, puffing up her chest and lifting her chin. "Even if it is a haunted house, I'll be sure to cover your mouth so all those new students don't have to hear the school's top student shrieking like a little kid."

Maya hums in contemplation, her eyes now finally melting out of the stupor and getting back the usual 'two-can-play-at-this-game' spark.

"Oh? Is that so? And will you be covering my mouth with your hand, or with your own mouth?"

"Wh-Why you-"

"All right!" Junna's voice suddenly calls out to get everyone's attention. "We're ready to begin giving out information about our decision, so please listen up."

Claudine is forced to end her spat with Maya in a glare that vows to finish things later. All the girls gathered begin to quiet down and turn expectantly to the ones in charge. They're all smiling.

"We think you'll all really enjoy what we've come up with this year," Junna says. "Rather than another play or dance or recital, this year for Seishou's Open House we've decided on…"

She pauses for suspense.

Everyone leans forward a little in anticipation. Karen actually falls off her chair. Once she's been helped back up, Junna reveals the answer:

"A Murder Mystery Dinner Gala!"

There's a beat of stunned silence just before Hikari's monotone voice breaks it.

"So Karen was right."

"I was?!"

"You can't be serious-"

But Kaoruko's disbelieving comment is promptly drowned out by everyone else's cheers and applause. Now that the decision has been revealed and they've had a second to consider it, everyone seems to be in agreement.

"A gala?" someone cries out. "That's such a good idea!"

"And a murder mystery at that!"

"I've seen one on TV once!"

"Me, too!"

"I've been to one before! It's so much fun if the actors know what they're doing!"

As the other girls chitter excitedly, Claudine puts a hand to her chin in contemplation.

"Oh? Now this is interesting." She looks to her side at Maya. "I suppose this is all right with you? You can't handle ghosts, but murder is fine, right?"

Maya appears to be immensely more relaxed now that the verdict hadn't been a haunted house. She smirks at Claudine in return.

"Yes. A Murder Mystery Gala is certainly something I hadn't anticipated. I've never been a part of one before. This should be a very good opportunity."

As the rest of the talking starts to taper off, Junna begins speaking again.

"We're glad it seems like everyone is on-board with our decision. We all agreed it would be fun to do something different for a change. This type of event will allow us to dress nicely, mingle with the new prospective students, and also show off our acting skills. If we impress enough people, they'll see the value of enrolling in Seishou. That's our main objective here.

"But our secondary goal is to have fun. Now, as you all know, the Open House isn't for another month or so, but given the nature of this event, we're going to need a bit of time to prepare. And I should also mention that we're going to be inviting a few other guests as well."

Another ripple goes through the crowd.

"Other guests?" Maya repeats. "As in, attendees, or participants?"

Junna grins. "Participants."

Another murmur.

"Oh wow. I wonder who it is?" Mahiru says.

"I hope it isn't parents…" Hikari mumbles.

"What if it's all the other theatre schools?!" Karen squeals.

"Hah," Kaoruko turns her nose up. "As if we'd need to invite those-"

"We'll be inviting some students from the neighboring theatre schools," Junna announces.

Kaoruko actually chokes on her words, and Futaba has to give her back a few good whacks. Next to her, Karen jumps clean up out of her seat.

"Really?!"

"Karen-chan, sit down."

"Oh, sorry."

"I like the enthusiasm, Karen-chan!" Nana says from beside Junna. "Yes! Since a murder mystery involves a lot of characters, we've invited the lead five girls from Rinmeikan, Frontier, and Siegfeld to join us as actresses!"

This time, the circle of girls breaks out into a much larger murmur.

"Seriously? We're inviting fifteen other actresses for this?"

"From those schools?"

"Yukishiro-san is going to be coming here?!"

"Tomoe-san, too?"

Of course, the students who know nothing about the giraffe's revues are all in a fluster, but the nine who already know the other schools' girls very well have much calmer reactions.

"Oh my," Maya says with the usual smug kind of expression. "To be bringing other schools into this behind our backs… This is going to be very interesting."

"It's just because they need a larger cast," Claudine huffs. "Though, I have to admit it should be a good experience."

"Wow…" Mahiru says. "So this is why we're getting a whole month to prepare this year."

Hikari taps her shoulder curiously.

"But then… does that mean they're going to be coming here every day to practice with us?"

"Good question, Kagura-san," Junna calls over. "Not every day, but we've made arrangements with the schools to let them visit every Friday starting next week. Like you guys, they'll be getting their character assignments today. You can go over them with the people from your school as much as possible during the week, and then we'll collaborate together here on Fridays with the others so we can all get a feel for things and learn each others' characters."

"Makes sense," Futaba says. "So how exactly is this thing gonna work the night of the Open House?"

"Right." Junna clears her throat and pushes her glasses up onto her nose more. "We'll be hosting the gala in Seishou's ballroom. After a day of touring the dorms and campus, the new prospective students will join us for dinner and a party. Our actors, as well as the visiting ones from other schools, will be improvising in-character for the extent of the gala, which is going to be about 4 hours long. You'll have the job of mingling and sitting with the new guests, chatting with them a bit casually and getting them involved. But as you're talking, you'll be adding in hints about your assigned character and who you are, in order to relay some information. This will be not only to get the guests invested in the murder mystery, but also to let certain background information about your respective characters be known."

Claudine puts her hand up.

"So then, I presume only the actresses involved will be able to attempt to solve the mystery and apprehend the culprit?"

"Yes," Junna nods. "The guests will only be there to observe and enjoy. Our murderer can't 'kill' any of them; only other actors. But of course, no one is going to know who they are except the murderer themselves."

"Wait!" Karen blurts out. "B-But won't it be super obvious when the murderer kills someone? Like if they come up and punch them in the gut? We'll all know right away!"

"Honestly, Karen," Junna sighs. "No one will be punching anyone. And did you seriously think we'd let it be that easy? Relax and let me explain.

"The murderer will have a certain gesture or signal to use in order to let a victim know they've been 'killed.' We were thinking something that's evident to the person being targeted, but not obvious for the people around them, something like three small taps on the back of the neck. But all of the actors will have to get up and move around and pass behind one another a lot, so no one will really be able to tell if someone is tapping another person to kill them, or if it's just a ploy.

"And the victims won't just drop dead instantly so it's easy to see who the person standing right behind them is when they died. The lighting crew is going to be working with us, putting spotlights on all the actresses and following them around the ballroom. But every 30 minutes, all of the lights are going to be completely shut off for fifteen seconds. This will give the actors a chance to move around and reposition themselves if they're still alive, and those who have gotten killed within that previous 30-minute timeframe will have to start playing dead from then on."

"I see," Kaoruko says. "So then the lights will be shut off a total of 7 times throughout the event then?"

"Exactly. The Gala will begin at 8PM, and for the first half hour, guests and actors will begin to mingle and story-tell. The lights will be shut off at 8:30, 9:00, 9:30, 10:00, 10:30, 11:00, and finally one last time at 11:30. The official end of the event is midnight, so at this point all of the remaining actors have to give their guess as to who the murderer is and try to solve the mystery."

"And we really will be solving the mystery during the gala," Hikari mentions. "Since you'd said before that none of us will actually know who the murderer is."

"Right," Junna confirms. "So within the entire gala, everyone - guests and actors alike - will be trying to solve the mystery for real. It isn't like the actors will just be putting on an act while we all secretly know who the culprit is. No one will know when or if they're going to die. It'll all be completely random. The only person who will know is the murderer themselves."

"And the script-writer!" Nana chimes in. "That's me! But my lips are sealed!"

"This is quite elaborate," Maya comments. "A very welcome challenge, and a performance that will test not only our acting, but our improv skills as well."

"Right," Claudine agrees. "It isn't often we get to do improv, and especially not such a long show. This will be fun."

Everyone else begins nodding in agreement.

"Yeah!" Futaba cheers. "We'll give those newbies such a fun time, they'll all wanna enroll here!"

"I suppose it does sound promising," Kaoruko admits.

"Oh boy!" Karen is bouncing up and down in her seat. "Can we get our character sheets today, Jun-Jun?"

"Yes, don't worry, Karen. We'll be passing them out now. Just make sure you keep your character's identity fairly secret from everyone else. You'll only be given information on who you're playing, and maybe just a bit about characters yours might have a relationship to, but that's all."

She, Nana, and some of the other girls from Class B begin going through their bags to pull out some papers. All of the character sheets are stapled in between two blank sheets of paper, so no one can see any information in-passing. Junna and Nana begin passing the packets out.

"Maybe spread out a little," Nana suggests. "We can't have any wandering eyes once you flip your cover pages!"

The girls gathered obey and get up from their chairs to put some distance between themselves. As Junna passes out some sheets, she explains some more guidelines.

"The murderer will have a note in the description of their character," she says. "But being that Nana is the one who worked on the script and character designs with Class B, she's the only one who knows who it is. Obviously, though, the murderer can't give anything away this entire month until the night of the gala. They have to keep it a secret and play their character normally as we run through our practice meetings with the other schools."

"Oh, and by the way," Nana says. "You can tell each other what characters you have. That's something everyone can know from the start, even before the gala begins. But all of the background information and their relationships to others should be kept secret until the night of the event. This way, we'll all basically know half the information for now, and then on the gala night we'll all gradually put pieces together and learn the rest!"

"Ooooh!" Naturally, Karen is the first one ready to blurt out her character. "I'm a circus performer!"

"A-A movie star-?" Mahiru blushes a little. "I have such a cool and extravagant character…"

"I'm a politician…" Hikari mumbles. Her two roommates look at her and nod.

"Yeah, I can see that."

"Definitely."

Next to them, Kaoruko gets a smug grin on her face.

"An heiress. How regal."

"Oh sweet!" Futaba grins. "I'm a pro motorcycle racer! You really tailored these to us, huh Banana?"

"Maybe a little bit!" Nana smiles. "But not entirely! For example, I'm a trauma surgeon!"

"And I'm an engineer," Junna says. "CEO of my own company."

With everyone else revealing their characters, Claudine is admittedly a bit eager by the time she accepts her own paper from Junna. She flips the blank front page and reads through the information sheet with a keen eye.

Actress: Saijou Claudine

Character: Detective (Murderer)

She reads through the first line with a straight face, not giving away so much as an ounce of the weight of the thrill she feels in her chest. She continues reading:

Background: Lieutenant Saijou is a prestigious and world-class police detective who acts and carries herself in a professional manner. Her excellent skills and natural cunning make her the perfect murderer who will do everything within her power to frame someone else for her crimes and make a clean escape herself by the end of the gala.

Claudine remains reaction-less on the outside, but internally she's bubbling with excitement. To be given the main antagonist role in this major event will truly prove to be a worthwhile experience.

"I'm a detective," she announces cooly.

"Oh?" says Maya. "So am I."

"Eh?" Claudine turns to give her a puzzled look. Maya blinks back at her with equal confusion.

"Ah, yes!" Nana says quickly. "That wasn't a mistake! I intended for there to be two detectives, so don't worry!"

Reassured, if not still confused as to why Nana made that choice, Claudine reads the last blurb on her character page:

Relationships: Lieutenant Saijou is secretly, madly, passionately, irrevocably, and secretly in love with her cohort, Chief Detective Tendo, but dares not admit it, and thus pines her days away in denial.

Claudine had kept her poker face when reading she was assigned the role of the murderer, but that nearly makes her choke.

Damn her, that Banana!

After all, it was really no secret that she and Maya were… somewhat interested in each other in more ways than one.

Even so, Banana is really pushing it with this… to have to act this out in front of everyone…

But thinking about it another way, she views it as a formidable challenge to put her skills to the test. Therefore, she accepts the role with dignity and puffs out her chest.

"Oh," Junna says. "And one more rule. The murderer has to kill at least one person before the evening is over. They aren't allowed to abstain completely, or else we won't have a show. And they can't kill everyone, or else, obviously, we'll all know they have to be the last one standing. And lastly, the murderer can't commit suicide. Their goal is to escape the gala alive and un-apprehended."

Everyone nods, all acting as though those rules might apply to them, as if they all could be the murderer.

But only Claudine and Nana know the truth. Claudine is certain not to give anything away even in the most minute micro-reaction of her face.

This is going to be fun.

. . .

Next to her, Maya reads over her own character's paper silently.

Actress: Tendo Maya

Character: Detective (Murderer)

Oh? she muses to herself. So then I am the murderer? But also the detective trying to catch the murderer? This will be very interesting.

She continues reading:

Background: Chief Tendo is a confident, powerful, and influential officer who is fairly taciturn by nature until she gets invested in a case. She presents herself in a way that has the whole aura of the room changing and every gaze shifting to her when she speaks. Her quiet skills of meticulous deliberation present her with the perfect opportunity to commit her crimes and escape by the end of the gala.

I see, she thinks. So I am a corrupt officer. The most corrupt of all. Very interesting indeed.

Relationships: Chief Tendo has a secret admirer amongst the cast of characters. She is unsure of who it might be, though she suspects either the Politician as her business partner, or the Heiress, and therefore acts a bit more affectionately towards them. She is very trustworthy of her partner, Lieutenant Saijou, and thus often lets her do as she pleases.

So Kagura-san or Hanayagi-san's character may be in love with mine, she notes. But that is only what the Chief suspects. It may not be the real truth.

Even so, she is very excited to have been given the role of the lead antagonist for this event.

This is going to be quite fun.

. . .

As Junna hands out everyone's character sheets, Nana stands back smiling all the while.

No one knows there are actually going to be two murderers! Not even Junna-chan! All the information about this gala is coming from her, so they're taking her word as law.

Both Kuro-chan and Maya-chan think they are the only murderer, and have no idea that the other is a secret, second murderer. And even better, I've paired them up to be detectives, whom the other characters trust to 'solve' the crime, when in reality they will be trying to deflect blame from themselves, all while being completely unaware that their own partner is also a criminal! It's a twist no one will see coming!

And not to mention Kuro-chan's character is in love with Maya-chan's, but Maya-chan has no idea that Kuro-chan is her secret admirer on top of being a second murderer! I can't wait to see how they're going to figure this out!

Being the script-writer can often have its difficulties - difficulties very different from the hardships an actress faces. But it's at times like these when being the writer really pays off, in Nana's opinion.

She doesn't know if Claudine or Maya will end up murdering her character at some point, but she won't mind either way.

Nana, more than anyone else, is going to enjoy the night of the gala. She has no doubt about that.

. . .

The rest of that Friday evening is spent with the girls all discussing the gala further, asking questions about the characters and what kind of things they are and aren't allowed to do and say. The roles of the other schools' actresses are also revealed to them by Nana, though any notes of those people being the potential murderer are not disclosed.

The girls from Siegfeld, Frontier, and Rinmeikan are an assortment of characters, including a shopkeep, a mayor, a pilot, a zookeeper, and all sorts of other things.

But most of the nine gathered girls of Class A share similar thoughts that a visiting actress wouldn't be made to play the major role of the murderer at Seishou, nor would Nana let anyone who wasn't a part of the revues have such a role.

It's got to be one of us!

And of course Claudine and Maya know they are the murderer, but neither know the other is one as well.

No matter what happens the night of the gala, it surely won't be what anyone is expecting.

Over the next several weeks, Seishou's actresses are joined in their rehearsal room by the lead five girls from the other schools.

They remind one another of their characters and have multiple workshops and exercises for helping themselves and each other think up dialogue and such for their impromptu characters.

And there are little giggles and challenges all around about who would kill who first if they were the murderer.

Claudine and Maya each make sure to join in on these conversations as well, to ensure they are acting as casually as possible.

And before they know it, one month has passed them by.

And after an exciting day of meeting new prospective students and touring the school with them, the night of the Murder Mystery Dinner Gala is upon them...

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A/N: Okay, one of my favorite parts of writing this chapter was having Karen guess/say totally random, ridiculous things and just end up being right every time.

0mniessence came up with the roles of each Seishou girl, and the character sheet descriptions for Maya and Claudine! They were so priceless.

Also, while the girls from the other schools will be included here, they aren't going to have major roles (or else I'd be writing 20+ characters lol). The main focus is gonna be on Seishou's girls, and mainly the detective pair!

I hope you have a solid understanding of how this will play out! Chapter 2 will be the Gala!