Plans were worthless if you couldn’t put them into action. No amount of espionage or research could truly prepare Adah for her first true television appearance—all the more so given the conditions of this particular program. All of Adah’s co-stars had it out for her, and the “secret challenge” format made the show itself feel like another adversary. If she could come out on top of this show, then any future job would be a breeze for her.
That’s what she told herself, anyway.
Today, she’d find out if she could even make it past the first hurdle of this show without stumbling. Armed with all of the notes she’d gathered from Iris and Sheffa, Adah had arrived on set for the first week of filming of Ready, Steady, Go!
The first few weeks of filming, and thus the first few episodes, were all scheduled at a small studio in the city of Doville near the heart of Region 2. This was meant to be a centralized location for the cast members, given they were spread across all four of Letria’s regions. To be honest, traveling there was still a major trek for Adah that necessitated leaving the agency office just as the morning sun broke the horizon. She’d have to deal with that inconvenience, though. She was surprised all the Region 1 girls had accommodated even this much. If they’d kicked up a fuss, they probably could have convinced the showrunner to host the whole show in their home region.
When Adah finally arrived on set after a several hours’ drive, the difference between a professional production like this and the more amateur photoshoots she’d been a part of was immediately apparent.
The studio was modular like the others Adah had visited, but rather than picking from a selection of pre-designed rooms, today’s production crew had obviously built the set in each room from scratch. The three rooms dedicated to today’s filming branched off from a centralized sound stage, glowing like portals to alternate realities inside the otherwise shadowy studio. A production assistant greeted Adah when she arrived and guided her to the leftmost room, where the Social phase of the show’s first episode would be filmed.
Adah peeked through the doorway leading into the first set, biding her time before making an official appearance. Filming wouldn’t begin for another couple of hours, so she had time to scope the scene before she was eventually pulled aside for her camera-ready makeup.
The Social phase’s set had been designed to look like a high school classroom, to such a degree that it could probably function as a real one. The room was filled with the same kind of cubbied desk that Adah remembered from her own schooling, all arranged in a neat five-by-five grid. A corkboard hung from the back wall of the classroom and was covered in fake flyers displaying the show’s branding, the network’s logo, and advertisements for other shows. The whiteboard at the front of the room was similarly prepped; someone from the production team had drawn an elaborate illustration depicting all eight cast members.
From the classroom theme of today’s set, Adah could guess how the Social phase would play out. She and her co-stars would start out with self-introductions, then get to chatting about their high school memories. What sports they’d played or clubs they’d been a part of; their favorite subjects; whether they’d ever gotten detention—all that small talk. The point of the show, at least on paper, was to reveal a more human and personable side of these magical girls. What better way to start out then by having them relive a bit of their high school days, the last time most of them had ever lived without magic.
Beyond that, this setting would keep the topics of discussion during the initial Social phase low stakes. The showrunner would want to ease the audience into the drama at first. Let the fans get to know all of the cast first, then let the fights break out later.
Adah inspected the classroom for any hints of what today’s challenge may entail, but nothing in particular stood out. Maybe it’d be a pop quiz based on classic school subjects. That’d make for awful television, but it was a challenge that Adah was confident she could win.
Since no hints revealed themselves to her, Adah’s eyes eventually settled on the main point of interest within today’s set. What caught her attention had nothing to do with the set design itself, but rather who waited in it. At a desk in the back corner of the classroom sat the blonde magical girl Ciel, already surrounded by a gaggle of other girls. Most of them had their backs turned to the doorway, so Adah couldn’t make them out, but they were surely all Ciel’s Region 1 compatriots. The one face Adah could see belonged to Tiella, who stood a step behind the ring that the other girls had formed. Already it seemed like Sheffa’s prediction about that girl working her way into Ciel’s crew was proving true.
Ciel herself didn’t make as much of an impression on Adah as she’d expected. With the way Sheffa had told her stories about the girl, Adah figured she’d be surrounded by some sinister aura, as if her wicked intentions were so extreme that they filled the air around her. Instead, Ciel looked like a slightly plainer version of Iris.
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However, she did behave like a ringmaster. As the girls around her chatted, she made sure to look each of them in the eye. She really looked at them, too, not just courteous glances. She must have noticed Tiella had been pushed to the edge of her group as well, for she broke the flow of everyone’s conversation to address a question directly to the more outcast girl. Like an act of mind control, the circle of bodies opened up as soon as Ciel spoke, allowing Tiella to step into the huddle.
Ciel was operating from a position of presumed power, and simply by listening to the other girls and giving them her attention, she was buying their loyalty. She may have been the one leading this little clique, but she didn’t dominate it. She let everyone else feel important. She gave everyone else priority in their conversation. She must have behaved the same in that group chat of theirs—that would explain why Iris hadn’t heard her say much.
Compared to the venom Iris was capable of spewing, or the contempt for all social creatures that Clair possessed, this Ciel didn’t seem like she’d be too much of a problem. Adah had learned a lot from dealing with her old rival, and she didn’t intend to fall victim to an off-brand Iris.
Besides, she wasn’t taking on this challenge alone. She had Iris and Sheffa in her corner, and a representative from her agency backing her up here at the studio.
There was only one problem. Michel had insisted upon accompanying Adah instead of Grace.
Michel needed to show his face on set, as he put it, in order to close the loop with Ready, Steady, Go!’s showrunner. He claimed it would be terrible manners to send his talent to the filming while he stayed home. Apparently there was an illusion that needed to be maintained. Michel couldn’t give the impression that he only cared about the showrunner to the extent that he could secure Adah a spot on the cast. Likewise, the showrunner needed to pretend that he wasn’t including Adah simply because he thought it’d buy him a favor from Michel down the road.
Since they both knew they were only meeting in person to keep up the charade, Adah didn’t understand why they should bother, but she deferred to Michel’s expertise in this case. If she tried thinking like them, she could almost follow their convoluted logic. Michel showing up to the set was a means of proving he would go out of his way for the showrunner, and perhaps that could reassure the man. It was like saying, I’m willing to come all this way, so you can trust me to do that favor for you, too.
When Adah had asked if Grace’s presence couldn’t accomplish the same thing, Michel had burst out laughing in response.
“I would never say anything bad about that woman,” he had told her, “but she’s a bit too serious for this kind of job. Sometimes on a set like this, hard work looks more like goofing off. And she was never very good at that.”
Adah had suspected he was setting up an excuse for his future behavior, but she held her tongue. He had pulled some strings to get her this job—even if Sirk had pulled more—so she owed him a little appreciation.
That wasn’t to say she’d take it easy on him, though. If Michel was here, she’d put him to work one way or another. When they arrived on set, Adah let him know what she needed from him.
“I want you to keep an eye on things,” she said. “Iris warned me that everyone here is looking for a chance to trip me up or stab me in the back. I can’t watch for that sort of thing and put on a good performance at the same time, so I’m relying on you to help me out. These girls are going to act nice—especially to you—but don’t fall for it.”
Michel laughed and ran a hand over his head. Despite looking so messy, with strands flying this way and that, his hair was free from any tangles or grease. Somehow he kept it clean while caring for it so roughly, almost like a house cat’s fur.
“Just who do you think I am?” he said. “Have some faith in your producer. I wouldn’t have gotten to where I did if I didn’t know how to play the game. Actually, you should be happy I’m here over Grace. Give me some time, and I might even figure out something about this show you can use to your advantage.”
If there was any environment in which Michel could put his skills to work, it was a studio set like this one. Despite how far Adah had come in her own career, his accomplishments still dwarfed hers on the show business side of things. She’d let him work his magic and see what she could learn along the way.
Still, Michel would benefit from some context, so Adah began to point out Ciel and explain what Sheffa had told her about the girl. In the middle of her whispering, a voice called out to Adah from behind.
“If you’re not going in,” the voice said, “can you get out of my way?”
Adah turned around to find another familiar face staring at her. With those sharp features, that face that could only belong in the realm of show business, Ren of the River waited for Adah to move aside. She looked just as Adah remembered—she was hard to forget—but she gave off a different impression than she had that day at Sirk’s Department of Magic. Although it had been at Adah’s expense, Ren had seemed almost jovial when they’d first met. Today, she was strictly business.
Adah stepped aside, opting to observe rather than confront Ren. If what Iris had said was true, then Ren was the girl Adah had the most in common with here. She wanted to see how her co-star carried herself.
Ren took one step into the classroom set before starting some observation of her own. She watched the group of girls who had crowded around Ciel, and all the while her face betrayed no emotion. However, Adah did recognize a certain look in Ren’s eyes. She’d seen the same glint plenty of times in her own mirror.
Ren was running calculations. She was thinking—planning something.
Whatever scheme she had in mind, Ciel was her target.