Locke led the conversation throughout the rest of the Social phase. Neither Arthur, as the director of this show, nor Ciel, as the ringmaster of the majority of the cast, could pull the threads of their discussion away from him. He used every advantage at his disposal to endear himself to the rest of the cast, even brushing aside his argument with Arthur and Jay with an easy smile.
“I want us all to have fun today,” he said to the cast of magical girls, “but there are other things that are important to me, too. It’d make me happy if you could help me make this episode something a little bit more than just a good time.”
Adah didn’t often think about it due to how their relationship had started out, but Locke really was a celebrity on another level than everyone else in this room. Even among a bunch of magical girls popular enough to appear on a nationally broadcast program, he maintained his status as an idol. The gap in fame between Locke and even someone like Ren was as dramatic as between Adah and her fans.
Locke used that gap to control the room.
Adah had met plenty of people during the last year who had impressive skills as idols. Iris could conjure a hundred unique smiles at will, with a control over her face that was microscopically precise yet somehow always appeared natural. Mari from Apex Vox knew exactly how far she could lean into her cuteness, and when she settled into that sweet spot, it took all Adah’s effort to resist pulling out her phone and snapping a picture of the girl. Rika could close any distance between the two of you in an instant. If she made eye contact with you while she sang on a stage, the whole world would start to feel like it was composed of two spotlights, shining on you and her alone.
Locke outdid them all.
It all came back to what Sheffa had explained so long ago. That gap between the idol and the person watching them wasn’t a distance but a shared space. It was a fantasy world in which the embarrassing became endearing, the unreasonable became reasonable, and a certain magic was created by two people allowing their feelings to travel along parallel lines. The idol wanted to shine, and the fan wanted to watch them shine.
Locke understood that fact better than anyone Adah had seen before. Throughout the entire Social phase, he filled that gap to the brim with the fantasy of his heartthrob character, and charmed every girl in the room into joining him in that world. His argument with the showrunner faded away as this boardroom set became his stage.
He had a way of making you want to mirror his smile, and rewarding you with a warm gaze when you did so. He made jokes that filled the room with a jovial spirit without turning himself into some stand-up comedian. Like everything else about him, his humor brought you into his world rather than elevating him above you. His manner of conversation was the same. He could respond to anything you said so naturally and effortlessly, and his words were so pleasant to listen you that you hoped he’d continue on talking for the rest of the day. At the same time, his attentive demeanor made you feel as though it was just as pleasant for him to listen to you.
Now that Locke was in front of a camera, Adah realized that the pretty boy she’d met at Sirk’s office hadn’t activated even one percent of his charm around her. He knew how to perform in a way that the no-name magical girl Adah had been a year ago couldn’t have comprehended. Even now, he was a reminder that she was a small fry in this game. With every word and gesture, Locke carried as much impact as any of Heartbreak’s bombastic curtain calls.
Yet, recognizing that fact was the first step in learning to match him. Today’s filming was an opportunity to perform alongside Locke as much as it was one to leave an impression on the viewers. Throughout the Social phase, Locke tossed Adah a few more openings like the one from earlier, but it wasn’t until their discussion reached its final topic that Adah found her chance to make a play for the role of this episode’s main character.
Locke held up a cue card and read off the prompt Jay had mentioned earlier: What do you wish people knew about being a magic user?
“Oh,” Locke said, then snapped as if remembering something. “That’s right. I’m supposed to tell you there’s actually a twist for the last question. Since I’ve been answering your questions all morning, we thought it’d be fun if I got to ask you all some of my own questions at the end.”
Arthur stood at the edge of the set, and Adah spied him take a step forward at Locke’s announcement, presumably to put a stop to the boy’s self-imposed twist. However, Jay placed a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back. The showrunner held up a hand to signal he wanted the segment to go on, then watched the set as a hint of a smile crept onto his face.
It seemed like the showrunner was happy to let good trouble play out. Locke must have understood that, too, and carved out this opening from the leeway Jay had given him earlier. If this was when Locke wanted to strike, then Adah needed to be ready to follow up.
“Let’s start with a question like this,” Locke said. “What’s the hardest part of being a magical girl for you?”
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Locke looked right at Felt as he asked his question, practically forcing her to be the first one to respond. By watching how she maneuvered as part of Ciel’s group, he must have concluded that her way of speaking could help him open his own discussion as well.
“Probably all the training and stuff,” Felt said, a little unsure of herself.
“Ah, yeah,” Locke said, slipping back into a more casual tone. “There’s a lot of that. What don’t you like about it?”
He’d done it again, Adah realized. She’d caught herself forgetting about the cameras around them as she listened to Locke talk. His easygoing manner was infectious, and made her feel as though they were all hanging out at an afterparty rather than actively filming.
Felt looked at Pirouette and said, “Our agency made Piro and me work out every day at the start, but we also got stuck with all the early morning missions because we were rookies. So we’d wake up when it was still dark out, go on some boring mission, then they’d force us to run laps before we even got breakfast. I hated that.”
“That sounds rough,” Locke said. “That’s not what you imagined being a magical girl would be like?”
“Everyone here had to go through that,” Ciel said before Felt could respond. “That’s just the way it is.”
“Yeah, but I like stuff like this way more,” Felt said, to which Pirouette and Iyswell nodded in agreement. “If I could just go to shoots every day, I totally would.”
“That’s a weird thing to say,” Locke said.
That casual atmosphere Locke had built over the last hour fled the room, replaced by a chill that brought everyone to attention. There was nothing friendly in his tone any longer. Felt had thought Locke was inviting her to vent her feelings, but now that vulnerability had been thrown back in her face.
“W-What?” was all Felt could say in response, her voice cracking from the betrayal.
Locke laughed and said, “Sorry, I didn’t mean it about you. More like, it’s weird that that’s the way it is. It’d make more sense if the people who wanted to train and battle became magical girls and the people who wanted to go on television became actors or something.”
Felt hesitated, but Locke didn’t take his eyes off her. Cautiously, she said, “I guess so. I don’t know, though. Being a magical girl seems like more fun than just a plain actor.”
“That’s true,” Locke said, nodding like she’d said something he didn’t expect. “If someone had the choice between becoming an actor with magic or one without it, a lot of people would probably choose to have magic.”
That was it. Right when the rest of the room started to agree—that was when Heartbreak should make a move.
“Magic isn’t a bonus,” Adah said. “Magic and fighting Cruelties is the job. If you’re not ready for the work the job entails, find a different job.”
She stared straight at Locke as she spoke, though her words were angled to attack Felt and the other girls. They would respond how she needed them to. This gaze was for the viewers. Locke was the focal point for the entire episode—Arthur and Jay had even said so explicitly. Heartbreak needed to build her character in relation to him, to dance all throughout that fantastical gap that the other girls had gotten lost in. She’d present herself as someone who could stand on equal footing with Locke.
“And what would you know about the job?” Ciel said from across the oval table. “You slacked off your whole career, and now you go around chasing gimmicks so that your fifteen minutes of fame doesn’t run out.”
There was the bite, but Adah still needed Ren and Locke’s help to reel it in.
“What do you mean by ‘gimmicks?’” Locke asked, ever innocent.
Ciel scoffed and pointed at Adah. “First she’s like a dominatrix or something, then it’s some demon roleplay, and now she wants to act like the general of an army. You asked what the hardest part of being a magical girl is—it’s dealing with people like her.”
“Then quit,” Adah said. “Otherwise you’ll be seeing a lot more of me and my gimmicks.”
“Let’s pose the same question to you, Adah,” Locke said before Ciel could fire back. “What’s the hardest part of being a magical girl?”
Time had never passed so slowly for Adah—not even in the final minutes before class let out on a Friday. Yet, she needed to wait out every eternal second that she could manage to.
She knew exactly why Locke had passed this question back to her instead of letting Ciel speak up. The girl was already annoyed with her, but not to the point of snapping. Having to listen to Adah talk again could ignite some explosive frustration inside Ciel, if Adah played her move right. Every second that she waited before answering Locke’s question would help the pressure build up in Ciel that much more.
Finally, she couldn’t hold back any longer. She turned her head toward Ciel and spoke.
“I get tired of putting the dogs back in their place.”
“Says the bitch!” Ciel spat back.
The only challenge more difficult for Adah than waiting to reply to Locke was holding back her grin now. The game was truly afoot now, and this set had morphed from Ciel’s playground into a battleground. Of course, that meant that Ciel’s crew would attack Adah in earnest now, but even their ploys would create more openings for Adah herself to seize upon. What mattered was that Ciel no longer controlled all of the social dynamics on this show. She could be agitated, and if she was agitated, she’d make mistakes.
The trump card that Ren held had yet to be played, but now Adah understood her role in this game. She was the piece that would set up for Ren’s checkmate. Soaking up the spotlight while Ren waited in the shadows suited Adah just fine. Her career needed the attention at this junction—she simply needed to avoid being sacrificed before the game reached an end.
Now that tensions between Adah and Ciel were reaching a point that might boil over, Arthur rushed onto the set with his tiny steps. He clapped his hands in a way that hardly made a sound and projected a pacifying smile at Adah and Ciel.
“Thank you so much, everyone,” he said through his smile. “However, that is all the time we have for the Social phase! We’ve got a very fun challenge prepared for today, so let’s move right into it. There’s just one order of business we need to take care of before I explain today’s rules.”
The director looked at Ciel and spoke carefully, “Ciel, because you won last week’s challenge, you hold the power of—”
Before he finished explaining, Ciel pointed across the table at Adah.
“Her,” she said. “I’m sabotaging her.”
No surprises there.