The Girl Who Played God (ch3)

EARLY RELEASE FOR ALL MY PATRONS!

Sorry if it seems a bit fast-paced right off the bat, but I wanted to get straight into the heart of the matter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight.

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							Chapter 3. Deal With The Devil

The school building is empty, so hollow that the sounds of Nana's frantic footsteps echo down the barren hallways as she runs. Her chest pounds, tightens, and constricts as if about to cave in on itself at any moment.

The last revue was months ago. She doesn't even know if the giraffe is still here, if his stage is still operating. But she has to try.

I won't let this happen. I won't let us be torn apart…

If they'd all stayed in Japan after graduation, perhaps she could have lived with that. But to hear of so many of them going away overseas, to places where Nana wouldn't be able to see them for possibly years on end… Simple calls and texts wouldn't suffice. She needs them all to stay together. She doesn't know how she'll survive otherwise.

So she runs through the stark gray hallways until she reaches the stairs, but doesn't slow down for a second before jumping into them and racing down two at a time.

None of them will be leaving until after graduation, but she can't afford to waste another second in a world where the future that awaits her from this day forward is riddled with sadness and anxiety about their eventual departure. She won't be able to enjoy her school days or performances from this point forward now that that knowledge is lodged in the back of her head, sinking its thorny vines in like poison.

This can't happen. She won't let it.

Her shoes slam against the final step as she makes a jump to the lower-level hallway, then sprints toward a familiar spot.

The windows beside her are blank. They don't show the world outside nor her own reflection. She glances once just to check. She doesn't look again.

She runs, fragments of her gasping voice and echoes of her heartbeat raining down over her until her destination is in-sight. The light at the end of her tunnel is red. It flickers at the top of the elevator, beckoning her, as if it had been expecting to see her again.

She skids to a halt and nearly slams right into it, throwing her hands out and not even feeling the dull pain as they smash against the cold metal. She doesn't even have the breath to speak yet, but she still forces it out anyway.

"Giraffe-!"

And had it been any of the others, that light wouldn't have been on. The elevator would have appeared as just a wall. They would've had to pry it open with a crowbar until their fingers bled. But for her-

For Daiba Nana-

Almost instantly upon her arrival, the doors clatter open slowly, cordially. She doesn't have the time to be worried about how ready they were for her. She just hurries on and takes one last glance at the emptiness behind her before the doors slam shut.

The elevator clatters and screeches on its way down, bringing her to a place lower than the lowest level - a place that, by all rights, shouldn't exist.

When it drops her off, she takes that first step out and finds herself in the highest rows of a cold, dark theater. Only the stage is lit, its curtains billowing in an unseen breeze, stirring up dust and sand.

But she doesn't head toward the stage. She isn't here to fight this time, and her clothes have not turned into those of a girl about to perform a ReLIVE or a revue.

She keeps her school uniform, for the theatre already knows her intentions. Now it's just a matter of if it will accept them.

She walks only a few steps through the rows of seats at the higher balcony, gazing down at the stage. The spotlight is slowly shifting colors, but she can't discern exactly what it is yet.

When she comes to a halt, all of her emotions have reeled themselves in. The panic and terror and distress somehow become calmer, quieter. It's like how a criminal who has fought and struggled against death row finally accepts their fate.

Nana stops, and she doesn't even need to turn her head to know he is there. His presence is as unnoticeable as ever, in spite of his massive size. Even when he is lying down, the giraffe's head still towers far above her, his long eyelashes gazing solemnly down onto a stage with no performance on it.

Nana draws in a deep breath and waits. Eventually, he turns to acknowledge her.

"My, my. I haven't summoned you, and yet here you are, Daiba Nana-san. I understand."

Nana balls her fists at the ends of her skirt.

"You do, right? You know why I'm here? What I need to do-?"

The desperation seeps into her tone, and yet he remains as unaffected as ever by her plight. Though to say he is uninterested is exactly wrong.

"Changes are happening, yes? Or at least, they are trying to." He cranes his neck just a little and looks down on her. "I have known you for far too many years to count. I know you better than anyone else. And as such, I know exactly why you are here."

"Then please-!" Her voice echoes around the theater, her tone cracking just a little, like the image of her world had cracked- "Please… I need it… I need my repeat performance back somehow. Even if it isn't our first year of Starlight together, then let us relive the second year. That year was even more fun in the end anyway! I-I'm sure everyone would be fine with repeating it, even if they'd never know…"

She does something utterly foolish then. She looks up at him hopefully. He blinks.

"Daiba Nana-san. You speak as though you can make this happen once again." He turns away from her now, and when his gaze leaves her, so too does her hope. He glances back to the stage where, though nothing is happening, it's still as though he can witness something there. The lighting continues to change, and now it's clear that it's becoming yellow. He continues. "You ask this of me… and yet, what right do you have?"

"Eh…?" Nana feels her heart drop, weighed down by so much despair it very well might drown her. "Wh-What do you mean…?"

"It is as I've said." He doesn't look at her, but rather continues staring at the empty stage, reliving events that had occurred there long before. "You have no right to come here asking such things when you are no longer Top Star. It became very clear to me that Kagura Hikari-san bested you, and then both she and Aijou Karen-san went on to show me a spectacular performance, the likes of which I have never known before, or since…"

He trails off, closing his eyes as if to relive the memories of it, of the performance he witnessed while Nana and all the others were at school, preparing supper for Karen and Hikari's return. She knows nothing of what occurred on that stage, and she probably never will.

After a moment, the giraffe pulls himself from his reverie.

"You no longer hold the title of Top Star. You relinquished your hold on time, and you rescinded your ideal repeat performance once already. Why should I allow you to have them again?"

Nana's throat goes dry, as if hot sand has been forced down it, burning her stomach.

"But-!" She rakes her brain for an excuse, and can think of only one. "I won Top Star so many times beforehand! With all of those repeat performances, I won every other time except the last! I've won hundreds, maybe even thousands of times! Doesn't that count for anything-?"

He seems to ponder for a moment, keeping his eyes on the stage that is gradually becoming saturated with yellow. But still he doesn't blink.

"Are you expecting me to provide special treatment for you?"

"Didn't you do it for Hikari-chan and Karen-chan?" She clenches her fists tighter, a daring challenge in her eyes.

But she knows him. Just as he knows her better than anyone, the same is true for her knowing him. She knows he needs something out of this. She knows he needs to be satisfied too if he's going to consider allowing this.

She thinks of the friends she's going to lose if this doesn't work, mustering up her love for them, reminding herself how much she cares about them, enough to go to such lengths as this. Telling herself she loves them is what gives her the ability to use them here and now.

"You said it yourself…" Now, her voice is much calmer - like his. "Karen-chan and Hikari-chan showed you an amazing performance last year, right? One more spectacular than anything you've ever seen before. So why not let it repeat? Let me have my repeat performance back. Only this time, it'll be of our second year, which will include Karen-chan and Hikari-chan's stage that you loved so much."

She smirks when she notices his reaction. His tail swishes, his ear flicks, and his eyelashes tremble. Slowly, he finally turns his head back to her.

"Oh? You do make an interesting point. I understand."

Nana's smile grows. She knows him. Just as he can easily withdraw himself to pull the wool over the other party's eyes, she can do the same.

But if she can be cunning enough to use her friends as bargaining chips in order to trick the devil himself, then what does that make her…? She can't dare to consider that.

"Right?" she says pleasantly. "Imagine getting to see that incredible performance over and over again! For the rest of eternity! Wouldn't it be incredible?"

The giraffe lifts his head to the ceiling.

"Indeed... Even if it cannot be as resplendent as the first time, surely even seeing such a performance over and over again will still prove to be more entertaining than this. Than staring at a vacant stage, remembering. I very much would like to see it again with my own eyes. I understand..."

Nana feels something tingle up her spine, something equal parts triumphant and foreboding. But the excitement is too great for her to not latch onto.

She can do this. She can have her repeat performance again.

Even if it means losing Hikari to the world of the stage for six months.

Even if it means Karen and Mahiru and all the others will have to suffer without her, and worry about her for so long.

Even if it means they'll all have to live through those horrible feelings of loss and helplessness again.

It will all be worth it.

Because in the end, it will always turn out like it had the first time.

It was always have a happy ending, and the nine of them will be able to perform the 100th Starlight Festival together.

And they'll get to move into their third year together, experience so much more together than they ever had before.

And it will always stop here, today, before Hikari and the others announce they have to leave.

Nana will make sure they never get to such a sad part ever again.

She's done this before. Thousands of times, perhaps. She knows how this works. She knows exactly what she will have to do and when.

And she will do it. Each time, without fail.

Because she loves them so much. She won't let them drift apart.

While the others have their memories reset each time, Nana will retain hers, as will the giraffe.

They lock eyes, and come to a mutual agreement for this horribly selfish twist in the rules.

No, Nana tells herself. I'm not just doing this for myself. I'm doing it for everyone's sake.

Even though Junna and Karen and everyone had told her they need to move on, to let time bring them forward to new stages…

Nana just can't accept that. Not when they're all going to be forced to stand on separate stages all across the world.

This is for everyone's own good. For their happiness.

By now, the entire stage has been smothered in that garish, sickly yellow, and it begins to leak out into the audience.

"So?" Nana's voice echoes quietly now. "Do we have a deal?"

The giraffe looks back to the stage for a moment, watching it drown.

"Indeed, if I am to go through with this, I will be providing you with special treatment. But you do understand the risks, do you not?"

"Risks?" She shakes her head. "The only risk I won't accept is the risk of everyone being torn apart, and that only exists in the future. And if I get my repeat performances back, that can never happen. To me, anything is better than us getting taken away from each other."

The giraffe dips his head.

"Indeed. However, needless to say that this will be a bit of an… unconventional approach. With special treatment being given, I must warn you that it is possible for abnormalities to occur."

Nana tilts her head.

"What kind of abnormalities?"

He ponders again for a moment.

"Slight changes," he says. "Minor adjustments. Every day may not be exactly as it was the first time."

Nana relaxes.

"That's all right then. I've dealt with those before, but it always turns out the same in the end. I don't mind."

The giraffe nods.

"Very well, then. Now that we have agreed upon our terms, as our last order of business, I need only the payment."

"Payment?"

"Unlike before," he elaborates. "When you would do battle with other Stage Girls, your fight for radiance and the loser's loss of said radiance would serve as the fuel for the Top Star's wish to come true. But this time, things are very different. We have no revues anymore, and no means of sacrificing radiance to pay the price. And so I must ask you, Daiba Nana-san, just how will you pay for this wish of yours?"

"How will I pay…?" she murmurs. "Isn't that obvious?"

The giraffe tilts his head. Nana smiles.

"Our futures," she says. "Mine, and everyone else's futures will never come, right? So that can be the price we pay to keep reliving the past. If it's a repeat performance, we won't need our futures anyway."

"Indeed you speak the truth." The giraffe lifts his head high once again. "Then, Daiba Nana-san, given these unique circumstances, I acknowledge your wish, and your payment for it."

All at once, the bright yellow light floods the entire theater, and both occupants in it. Nana smiles up at him.

"Thank you, Giraffe!"

He says nothing in response to that, but does speak one more time.

"I trust I will be seeing you again very soon, Daiba Nana-san. In this future of a past you shall soon bring upon us. I understand."

Nana closes her eyes and opens her arms, reveling in the light of her special new wish.

We'll never become like Claire and Flora in the old script. We'll never be separated. We'll always be together. All of us. This is the new ending we wrote together.

With a blinding flash, the light expands and swallows her whole.

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A/N: "Deal With the Devil"... but which of them is the devil in this case…? I wanted it to be a bit ambiguous, because Nana did sort of trick the giraffe into agreeing in her own way, wouldn't you say? I wonder which of them has more power over the other at this point.