Before either Adah or Grace made their trips, the Last Light had some business to take care of. Though, this particular business looked more like play.
After the success of the carnival, Adah was eager to return all of her attention to fighting against—and learning more about—the Cruelties, but rushing into mission after mission would have been shortsighted. Ironically, it would do her and her team more good in the long run to indulge in the hype of their concert for a little longer. They had more attention on them than ever, and their fans were eager to support them in any way they could.
However seriously Adah wanted to take the threat of the Cruelties, to the rest of the world she was still a magical girl. And the world expected certain things of magical girls.
The Last Light had just unveiled a short album’s worth of new songs, but only one of those songs was available for anyone to listen to. The team stood to gain even more fame, and to energize their existing fanbase even further, by releasing digital recordings and music videos for every song in their repertoire. That would transform their concert from a fleeting memory, archived only through shaky cell phone footage, into a part of people’s everyday routines. If they could play those songs in high fidelity at the push of a button, people would have the Last Light in their ears all day long. While they washed the dishes, while they drove to work, while they slugged through their homework—the Last Light would be their soundtrack.
That said, filming a half dozen music videos was a daunting task. Adah and her team would want to consider how they released the videos, as well. Should they all share a theme or each have their own? Could they afford to hire a third party director for all of them? What about a different director for each? Then there was the question of wardrobe, and of location, and of release schedule…
Point being, they couldn’t dive into that project without finishing some prep work first. In the meantime, they could maintain their momentum through a much simpler kind of video.
Dance performance or practice videos were something even the major idol-like agencies made use of. These videos would feature the group performing their choreography in a simple dance studio, with no major editing or camerawork required. A lot of the time, the whole video would be one static shot. The girls would dance, then the agency would upload the video with the studio recording of that particular song playing in sync with the dancing.
These dance videos were quick and easy to produce, with the actual recording process only requiring someone to set up a tripod and review the footage. Since the idols had usually practiced their routines to death, they only needed a few takes to get a full recording suitable for showing the public.
Rather than find this solution lazy, fans oftentimes enjoyed a dance video as much as a fully produced music video. Such videos were a good chance to see a choreography in detail, with high quality footage they could replay as much as they liked. Since the idols didn’t need to hold microphones or sing, they could also get away with performing moves they might have to cut or alter for a live show. A lot of these videos were even filmed while the team members were wearing casual athletic clothes, which became surprisingly cute when fans normally saw them all dressed up.
Since Adah and her teammates had poured all that effort into practicing their dance for The Last Light, it only made sense to release a performance video of their own. They could record it in an afternoon, and Seb could handle the editing cleanup in an hour or two.
So, Adah and her teammates booked space in the same dance studio at which they had originally practiced this routine. Grace accompanied them to keep an eye on the recording from an outsider’s perspective. If anything looked off from the camera’s point of view, she could stop the girls and have them reset before they wasted time recording a whole runthrough they wouldn’t end up using.
Such a thing had already happened three times today, in fact. Though, neither instance had been related to the camera, but rather one of the girls missing their mark in one way or another. As easy as Adah had thought recording this video would be, she had to admit that being on camera added a new layer of pressure to practicing. On several occasions, she caught herself focusing more on how she might look in the final product than on hitting her moves at the right time. Surely it was that pressure that had led to the team’s flubs.
To reset their minds, and to keep from working up a sweat (this was being recorded, after all), the girls decided to take a break after their third mistake.
The girls had sat down on the studio floor in a circle, with Grace opting to continue to make use of the chair she had sat in while watching the camera. They had all decided to go with the casual look after a suggestion from Seb. He had said that everyone who was a fan of the Last Light already loved watching them when they were immersed in their magical girl personae, but fans would always have doubts about what the people they cheered for were actually like. In Seb’s view, Adah and her teammates didn’t come across so differently when they were in “casual mode.” Who they were as magical girls felt closely aligned to who they really were. If the fans saw the girls in sweats and sneakers and still felt their personalities shine through, they’d only end up looking more charming for it.
The guy was an expert when it came to their fans, so Adah and the others trusted in his analysis… with some caveats.
The girls had put some thought into what they wore today. The twins, for example, came in matching oversized t-shirts—something that wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for them to wear to practice, but also something they had deliberately chosen for the camera. The loose shirts draped nicely over their tall bodies, and would accentuate their dances moves with a certain airy flow as they moved about.
While Rika typically preferred baggier clothes for practice, she had worn a pair of slim, tapered athletic pants today. The more form-fitting pants would contrast well with the twins looser clothes, while making it easy for a viewer to watch Rika’s footwork and appreciate the dance’s steps.
Adah’s choice of apparel was perhaps the most calculated of all, which—in a roundabout way—actually made it the most natural. She had brought a long-sleeved white shirt, only to roll up the sleeves immediately. The extra fabric, while totally unnecessary for keeping her warm, complemented the ruffled black skort she wore below it. Though, even that was more of a fashion-focused skirt that happened to have shorts attached underneath than real athletic wear. The outfit was more casual than anything Heartbreak would normally wear, but was more elaborate than anything Adah would actually practice in.
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Yet, the fact that she had wanted to stand out in this way made it an outfit representative of her true personality, didn’t it? If nothing else, she felt she looked cute, so it seemed unlikely her fans would take issue with her choice. She was happy to fire back if they did.
While her teammates reminisced about their performance of The Last Light at their concert, Adah got to thinking about her conversation with Elise at the Department of Magic office. More specifically, she thought about what she had seen during that conversation. The way Elise had opened up the office space and injected life into her staff proved her intention to change how the Department operated. The woman wasn’t looking to waste any time. That was a positive change of pace overall, but it also meant Adah couldn’t know the full extent of what Elise had planned.
That wasn’t necessarily a problem, but Adah had grown cautious after all that had happened with Thibault. For magic users to maintain the power they had in this region, they needed to continue to stick together. If Elise wanted to support them, all the better. But if she got any ideas into her head that went against magic users’ best interests, they would be ready to reject those ideas together.
Out of everyone in the coalition Adah had built, one magical girl was more isolated than the rest.
“Ami,” Adah said, interrupting the flow of her team’s conversation. “Can you get in touch with Seliah for me? I want to talk to her about something.”
Ami stared at Adah for a second, her brain no doubt processing this total non sequitur her captain had thrown her way.
“Yeah, sure,” she eventually answered. “But what do you wanna talk about?”
“Her plans for the future, I guess,” Adah said. “She got back to work right away after the carnival, but she’s still totally on her own. It might be better if she wasn’t alone.”
Adah didn’t explain what “it” was, mostly because she wasn’t even sure herself. She could only explain it as her instincts. Regardless, Seliah would definitely benefit from joining an agency that could properly support her. Either that or bringing more magic users and staff into her team. Being a magical girl must have been exponentially harder when working alone than in a group.
“Maybe she can join us?” Ami suggested, her eyes shining.
The last time this idea had come up, the Last Light had been swamped with C-Rank missions thanks to Thibault’s schemes, and had only just found their own footing as a team. Arguably, they were just as busy now, but their recent work felt more manageable than staying on constant Cruelty call. Seliah had leveled up in her own right, as well. As they’d learned before the carnival, the witch had no trouble keeping up with Adah and her team during combat. In fact, she stood a good chance of leaving them in the dust.
“It’s something to think about,” Adah said. “We’ll need to consider what she wants to do, too. For now, I want to make sure she’s not on an island. I want her close by, just in case. Do you think you can help with that?”
Ami nodded and said, “You got it. Just in case of what, though?”
“Our new Secretary has taken an interest in her,” Adah confessed. “That’s probably a good thing, honestly, but…”
“Just in case,” Rika finished for her.
Elise should be keeping up to date on the progress of magic users in her region. That was part of the Secretary’s job. If she saw potential in Seliah and could help bring that out of the girl, that would be to the whole region’s benefit. Yet, Adah remembered that Thibault had also seen potential in DreamRise. Sometimes the Department of Magic misunderstood how to make use of that potential.
“As long as we’re giving Ami jobs,” Grace joined the conversation, “here’s a heads up that you and Michel will need to go to Pominomi on your own next week. When you’re there, I want you to make good use of him.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ami asked with a scrunched up face.
Frankly, Adah wasn’t sure what Grace was implying either. She had forgotten about Ami’s foray into modeling, though. Pominomi, a fashion brand that preferred to use magical girls for their models, had invited Ami to visit back before the carnival. Apparently they had liked what they had seen, since they had decided to move forward with including her in their next product shoot.
Grace rolled her eyes at Ami’s question and said, “Stuff like modeling and acting—that’s his arena. As much as I might downplay what he’s done, he does know his stuff. He wouldn’t have gotten as far as he did if all he was good at was scratching backs. So take advantage of that. If he gives you advice, you should listen to it. Maybe you don’t end up following what he says, but you should at least listen.”
“That much I can do,” Ami said, “but why won’t you be there?”
Grace went on to explain what she had to Adah the other day—how she owed her friend a longer visit after ditching her so quickly the past couple of times. Now that she was hearing that story again, it seemed a little odd to Adah. This trip came up out of nowhere, or at least Grace had neglected to mention it until now. If she had been planning to visit to make up for before, she probably would have planned her trip ahead of time. Maybe she hadn’t wanted to bring it up while the girls were focused on the carnival.
In any case, their conversation had started to drag their break out longer than they’d planned. Adah and her teammates stood up and arranged themselves in front of the camera once more. They didn’t have much else on their schedules for today, so they would be free to relax however they liked as soon as they finished filming. Maybe Adah would see if anyone wanted to take a casual low rank mission with her later. She still had a ways to go to charge her scythe back up to its previous power. She thought it wise to keep her weapon full of a healthy reserve of energy, in case she ever found herself in a pinch.
Grace made sure the girls were all properly centered in the camera’s view, then hit the record button. She bent down to grab the laptop that the team was using to play The Last Light’s music over the studio speakers and started up the song once again. They’d place a clean track of the song on top of the performance video during the editing process, so they didn’t need to worry about bringing any equipment to capture the audio today. The music that played over the speakers was strictly for the girls to dance to.
Adah and her teammates moved through the opening instrumental of the song with the same fast-paced movements they had performed during the concert. They had practiced this opening sequence more than any other part of the choreography, so they got through it without issues today. Then came time for Adah’s first lyrics, during which her dancing would break her apart from the rest of the group.
Though, as soon as she was meant to step forward, Adah froze.
Another spark flashed in her head, same as it had when finishing off the pegasus Cruelty or right before her nightmare.
The spark was an idea. Someone else’s idea. Like a second mind was at work in her head. The feeling was a cross between déjà vu and an unfounded suspicion that someone was standing right behind her. A strange sixth sense.
The idea vanished as quickly as it appeared, but Adah got an inkling of what it was: eyes. Lots of eyes.
The music playing over the speakers stopped.
“Adah?” Grace called out. “You okay?”
Grace and all three of her teammates watched Adah with confused looks on their faces.
Adah shook her head, as if to wake herself up, then said, “Sorry. I forgot the steps for a second. I’m ready now, though. Let’s start it over.”
She must not have frozen for too long, since her teammates shrugged off her behavior, with only Ami groaning about how her captain wanted to keep her here all day.
Grace, however, kept her eyes on Adah even as the team arranged themselves for the start of the song once more.