“My name is Adah. As a magical girl, I’m known as Twilight Heartbreak. Somehow I’ve been working as a magical girl a little longer than most of everyone else here, even though it doesn’t feel that way. I’m part of the Sisterhood of the Last Light, a team based in Region 4.”
Despite having all that time to think about how to handle her introduction, Adah still felt as though everything she’d said thus far would put an insomniac to sleep. She was giving a dictionary definition of herself, not anything that could capture the heart of a prospective fan.
What she should say was one problem, but she also had no idea how she should carry herself. Once she stood at the front of the classroom, it became obvious just how many cameras were watching, with two crew-operated cameras walking around like the wardens at a prison and a half dozen fixed lenses pointed at different spots on the set. She tried to think of what the photographer Neil had told her so long ago, about the secrets only someone on this side of the lens could see, but this situation was too unlike the photoshoots she’d done in the past.
Adah paused for a moment to think of how she could bring Heartbreak to the foreground, or at least whatever aspects of her own personality overlapped with Heartbreak’s. In that split second of hesitation, her self-introduction was interrupted by a shrill voice.
“Oh, I have a question!” a girl seated at the center of the room called out with her hand raised in the air. Even though Arthur had pointed out to Ren that they weren’t actually students, the other girls must have latched onto this as a way to lean into the high school atmosphere. Maybe they thought it was cute. Though, what was the point of raising your hand if you were just going to shout out loud anyway?
The shouter in question was one of the girls from that Region 1 group chat. She went by Felt, which was both her real name and her magical girl alias. Between Felt, Iris, Locke, and Ren, Adah concluded that using your real name must have become the trendy thing to do in Region 1. That was certainly easier to take advantage of if you already had a unique name to begin with.
Adah looked at Felt and, having already been interrupted, said, “Go ahead.”
Surely the crew would cut all this out anyway.
Felt smiled and asked, “Are there other magical girls in Region 4? I’ve never heard of any.”
If Adah could be grateful for one thing in regards to Ciel’s posse, it was that they weren’t as clever as some of the other personalities she’d had to deal with. A stupid question like this was obviously an attempt to get a rise out of her. While it’d be fun to fire back at Felt, it wouldn’t be in Adah’s best interest. She shouldn’t be the one to reveal the hostilities bubbling under this show’s surface—if she could help it.
Snapping at Felt may have been what Heartbreak’s fans wanted from her, but her fans weren’t the ones Adah needed to win over. The rest of the viewers would want a more lighthearted opening to the season. If some magical girl they didn’t know started attacking one they were familiar with, they’d sour on the new girl immediately. Once the penalties and sabotages started flying, there’d be plenty of chances to set Heartbreak loose.
“Yes—plenty, in fact,” Adah answered as sweetly as she could. “I’m sure you’ll be hearing all about them soon enough.”
Felt raised her eyebrows as she continued to smile, though Adah couldn’t tell if that reaction was for her benefit or the camera’s.
Before Adah could jump back into her introduction, she was interrupted yet again. This time, the culprit was Arthur. The director cleared his throat and tapped his chin.
“I think it’d be interesting to hear what you’re hoping to get out of this experience, Adah,” he said. “What does success on this show look like to you? Oh, and if you could repeat the question in your answer, that’d be great. Like, ‘A successful season for me would be…’”
A couple of girls toward the back of the class—notably Ciel—snickered, but Adah put them out of her mind. She could use every bit of help Arthur was willing to offer right now.
“A successful season for me would be pretty simple,” she began. “I’d like to win a challenge or two. I think I’d have fun deciding who to use the sabotage on.”
That wasn’t half-bad. It was probably humble enough not to turn off prospective fans, but still showed Adah had some fight in her. She was proud of that last line, too. Thinking about who to punish was a sufficiently Heartbreak-esque priority.
Arthur tossed Adah a couple more questions to make sure he’d have enough footage to choose from during editing, then the filming broke so that the crew could rearrange the classroom for the group discussion. The production provided some refreshments to the cast members during this break, but Adah had opted to bring a snack from home instead. According to Sheffa, Ciel’s sabotage had no limits, so such publicly accessible food wasn’t worth the risk.
The crew worked quick anyway, and the girls were directed back into the classroom set not more than ten minutes later. All of the desks had been removed from the set except for eight, which were arranged in a neat circle with one desk corner barely touching the next, all the way around. Arthur had a seat in mind for each of the girls, and Adah found herself stuck between Ren and Tiella. All things considered, that wasn’t a bad seat, excluding the fact she had to face Ciel directly across the circle.
The filming must have fallen behind schedule, as Arthur posed the first question of the girls’ group discussion without any of the preamble he’d given before their self-introductions.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
The questions began on a mundane note, as Arthur asked the girls, “What’s the first thing you do when you get home from a mission?”
The cast was supposed to answer these early questions in a rapid fire, round robin style, but no one was willing to be the first to speak up. The girls in Ciel’s crew all shared these shy looks with one another until Ciel finally spoke up.
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll say it if no one else will. Unless it’s a quick mission, I have to use the bathroom after every time. I always drink a bunch of water before because I want to stay hydrated, then it comes back to bite me!”
The other girls all broke into laughter now that Ciel had said what was on their minds, with several of them chiming in to say how true Ciel’s little observation was. Adah kept quiet; her own answer would have been “collapsing on the couch,” which now seemed like a tidbit she should keep to herself rather than going against the grain of conversation. Ren refrained from joining the chatter, too, so Adah figured she wasn’t sabotaging her first impression by sitting one question out.
Although Ciel’s answer had been a way for her to continue to establish herself as this group’s leader, it did also serve as an effective icebreaker. The whole cast—Adah included—chatted about the next few questions without any friction until Ren made a move of her own. While the rest of girls were in the middle of answering a question about the funniest fan interactions they’d experienced, Ren drove the conversation in a different direction.
“Has anyone had any experiences that weren’t so funny?” she asked. “Like a fan going too far?”
Arthur watched Ren through his glasses, but didn’t stop her. Even as the rest of the cast remained silent, he let Ren control the scene.
“What about you, Ciel?” Ren said, looking across the circle at the girl. “I mean, it could be the opposite, too. Sometimes when we’re in that magical girl mode, we can take things a little too far, right?”
Ciel kept her face as still as possible and replied, “I don’t think I know what you’re talking about.”
In response, Ren simply shrugged and let her shark teeth show.
“Oh,” she said. “Nevermind then.”
The chatty atmosphere Ciel had built earlier crumbled in that moment, and not even any of her friends tried to dispel the awkward silence that swallowed the room. In the end, it was Arthur who had to put the discussion back on track.
“Let’s talk about the actual experience of being a magical girl,” he said. “A lot of fans want to know how things have changed for you from the start of your careers until now. Anyone want to start on that?”
The discomfort from earlier still lingered in the air, like a sour version of the bashfulness that froze the very start of the group discussion, and no one opened her mouth to speak. Since she’d sat out the first question, Adah decided to make up for it by breaking the silence on this one.
“What’s changed?” she said. “The humanoids are the biggest thing, obviously. They’re scarier than anything I thought I’d have to deal with when I first became a magical girl. Now that we’ve seen them in action, I think they’re going to change what it means to be a magical girl in general. No matter who you are, you’re going to have to adapt.”
That wasn’t how Heartbreak would phrase those thoughts, but that answer felt true enough to Adah. As the first one to speak, there was a good chance her answer would wind up in the episode’s final cut, too.
That’s what Adah figured, at least. Then a second man stormed into the classroom and cleared his throat. Adah had seen him speaking with Michel while she had her makeup done—this was Ready, Steady, Go!’s producer and showrunner.
“I think we should take five,” he said. “Everyone take a breather. Adah, Arthur—can you come with me?”
Each sentence from him was spat out like a surgeon asking for his next tool, and Adah found her legs obeying his request before she realized it. She followed the two men out into the darkened studio floor. The showrunner crossed his arms and turned to Arthur, who smiled first at him and then at Adah.
Before he even opened his mouth, Adah knew she’d done something to annoy them.
“We know you’ve gotten used to doing things a certain way, Adah,” Arthur started talking without any kind of lead-in. “Don’t you think this show is a good opportunity to do something different? You can let your fans see a more casual side of you.”
“Most of the people watching this show won’t be my fans,” Adah said. “I want those people to see what kind of magical girl I am. Besides, I thought I was being casual.”
“I understand,” the director said with strained smile, “but you’ve seen how the other girls are handling this, right? Everyone’s just trying to have fun. When you talk about more serious stuff, it makes you look out of place—get it?”
“You’re a rookie, so I’ll make it simple for you,” the showrunner joined in. “Don’t mention those human Cruelties again. Anything you give us that involves a topic like that—it’s useless. I don’t mind solving some problems in the edit, but at a certain point you’re just causing trouble for others. A lot of people are working hard to make a specific kind of show here.”
“And I’m killing the vibe?” Adah said.
“We just want you to succeed,” Arthur said. “When you succeed, the show succeeds. Why not try having fun? A set like this is a great place to make friends.”
Was this good cop, bad cop? Or did the director just happen to have a kinder disposition than the showrunner?
“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Adah said.
“You never know. After eight weeks of filming together, people tend to develop a unique bond with each other.”
With those words, Arthur sent Adah back inside the classroom set. He and the showrunner stayed behind to talk a bit more—about her, of course. While new friendships were off the table, Adah figured she could at least make a better impression during the Social phases. There’d be more than enough time to get serious during the challenges.
As Adah walked through the classroom doorway, she noticed Ren leaning against the wall to her left. The girl was tapping away on her phone, but spoke quietly when Adah passed her by.
“When you talk like that, you remind people of what happened with Locke’s team,” she said. “The point of this show is to help them forget. Some of us want a break from thinking about all that.”
“I was just answering the question,” Adah whispered back. “What about you? What was all that about Ciel taking things too far?”
Ren smiled—no teeth this time.
“Like she said, it’s nothing,” Ren whispered. “She wouldn’t lie, would she?”
Before Adah could say anything in response, Ren walked away. Perhaps she didn’t want to be seen talking too much with Adah. The director came through the doorway around the same time, which made for a convenient excuse for Ren to rejoin the other girls.
Now that everyone was back inside the classroom, Arthur stood next to the teacher’s desk once more and clapped his hands once.
“There are always some hiccups on the first day of filming,” he said with an empty smile. “However, you all did fantastic. We would have loved to hear more from everyone, but we do need to keep to our schedule. Therefore, it is time to unveil our very first challenge!”
Arthur led the eight girls out of the classroom and across the studio floor. They headed to the center room of those Adah had seen earlier, the largest of them all by far. The director gave them all some instructions to enter the room as soon as he opened the door so that the cameras inside could capture their authentic initial reactions.
After a pause for dramatic effect, he swung open the door.
“Welcome,” he said, “to the library.”