Hikari-chan...
Kagura Hikari-san.
You have passed the auditions this time.
Now the glimmer of the stage girls belongs to you.
Fuel has been added,
and the hearth has been lit.
What is the stage of destiny that you desire?
I don't want it.
Excuse me?
I don't need any fuel.
The stage requires a large amount of fuel that makes your heart race and ignite desire.
You say you will provide that on your own?
Don't you want to see it?
An unpredictable stage.
This is my...
Starlight.
I understand.
This marks the end of the auditions.
The curtain rises on the stage of destiny!
W-Withdrew?
Hikari-chan withdrew from school?
Yeah.
Hold on, I don't get it.
Karen-chan...
All the documents are ready and stamped.
I don't believe it. That's...
Hikari-chan can't just go off somewhere on her own!
That's...
Aijo.
Sensei, what did Hikari-chan say?
Not a thing.
Where did she go after leaving?
No idea.
Why?
Why, why did she leave on her own?
It just can't be true.
Karen-chan...
The number you have dialed cannot be reached.
That's...
The number you have dialed cannot—
That's definitely...
The number you have dialed cannot be reached.
...not true!
Um...
I-I am Karen Aijo, from Japan.
Um...
Although I sometimes want to ask...
Yes!
Hikari Kagura!
Kagura Hikari-san, 16.
And you can't reach her by phone or e-mail.
Correct...
But she left a notice of withdrawal, right?
That's definitely not real!
All right.
Do you mind if we ask some more questions?
Go ahead.
Where did you last see her?
That's...
Hikari-chan, where are you?
Wow!
The number you have dialed cannot be reached.
The number you have dialed—
Good morning.
Let's go, Mahiru-chan.
It's cold enough to freeze a banana.
They say it's the coldest it's been this year.
I bet you've never experienced cold like this before.
I haven't.
This is a first.
Aren't you cold, Karen-chan?
Hot banana.
Dear Kagura Hikari-sama,
It has been cold here lately. How are things on your end?
The 100th Seisho Festival will soon be upon us.
We're practicing day in and day out in preparation for the festival.
And class B is in full swing preparing the set.
A performance better than last year...
An evolved Starlight...
The stage I was supposed to stand on with Hikari-chan for the first time.
Say, Hikari-chan.
Do you remember the promise we made?
Raise your hand if you're staying overnight.
Me!
Six people from the scenic design group in class B.
Okay, I'll hand in the form.
Here I am! Sorry to keep you waiting.
It's a Banana special, banananciers!
Yes, finally!
This'll help us get through the night!
Stop right there.
Aijo-san,
are you injured?
No.
Then why is that the best performance you can manage?
Is it because of Kagura-san?
It's been over six months since she left.
Isn't it time you got over—
Amemiya-san!
Sorry.
I get that it's hard on you, but we need you to focus.
There's not much time left until the Seisho Festival.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
If it's too hard, we can think about having someone else step in.
Okay?
Karen-chan...
Sorry.
But I'll be fine.
Exactly.
There's no time to be down in the dumps.
Once more from the top.
Okay.
Below the meteor shower that flies by once every year...
I met Flora...
...and I met Claire...
...in a fated encounter.
I think we two have always been together.
Let us meet here again next year.
On the night of the star festival.
What's wrong with me?
I don't feel a thing.
Neither the nervousness from standing on the stage,
nor the exaltation from singing.
The glimmer I felt on stage...
Karen-chan?
I don't get it at all anymore.
Why do I want to stand on the stage?
Hikari-chan isn't even here anymore.
So for what purpose do I want to stand on the stage?
This isn't right.
I love the stage, and yet...
Just now, I...
I asked myself why I'm doing all this.
In those auditions, if you fail, that means it's over for you.
If you fail,
you'll lose what's most important to you as a stage girl.
I get it.
I don't get it,
but I get it.
Hikari-chan had lost it—
what was most important to her.
Karen-chan?
Hikari-chan!
Auditions where you steal others' glimmer...
Fuel for the stage of destiny, huh...
The joy of standing on the stage...
Happiness, excitement...
The delight of dancing on stage,
the love of singing,
the light that illuminates the stage.
Kagura-san had it stolen from her,
and was dead as a stage girl.
But we haven't lost anything.
Neither the joy of standing on the stage,
nor the happiness or excitement.
Because Kagura didn't steal it from us, I guess.
But why?
She could have become the top star, so why?
Maybe she couldn't steal it.
She didn't want to steal it.
Not Karen-chan's glimmer.
And she protected us while she was at it.
I wish she'd mind her own business.
But...
Then, Hikari-chan is still deprived of it.
Where is she and what is she doing?
This is my Starlight.
Maybe Banana had it right.
Starlight is a sad story about parting.
I can't read this by myself, Hikari-chan.
"This is a story...
of a 'n-nearbu?'
...and distant planet."
Karen-chan, I'm home.
Banana-chan is making dinne—
Are you translating Starlight?
Yeah.
If you pluck a small star,
you will gain a small amount of happiness.
If you pluck a large star,
you will obtain a great wealth.
If you pluck them both,
you will obtain an eternal wish.
Starlight gathering...
is the absolving of sins.
Starlight gathering is the miracle of the night.
Her eyes burned from the light of the stars,
Flora fell from the tower.
Claire, left behind,
was made to pay for the sin of trying to seize the stars...
and was imprisoned in the Tower of Starlight Gathering,
as a new sinner.
Imprisoned?
In all the Starlights I've seen,
Flora falls from the tower,
forever parting with Claire,
and then the play ends.
It's just a small difference in the script.
But...
Claire was imprisoned all this time.
In that tower.
In that tower?
Then...
Hikari-chan.
Hikari-chan!
Made to pay for the sin of trying to seize the stars, she was imprisoned in that stage.
But...
That's...
not our stage.
We still haven't stood on that stage.
Our stage hasn't started yet!
Answer me, Hikari-chan!
We still...
...haven't Starlighted!
Hikari-chan.
The sin of trying to seize the stars, huh?
I guess that means us stage girls who aimed to become the top star are all sinners.
But, so what?
I don't care what anyone says.
I will seize my own star!
Tell Kagura-san this:
"I'll be waiting for you on the stage."
We all had different openings,
and different stories.
But we met...
to stand on the same stage.
We passed each other by, and we clashed,
but we found our glimmer together.
I'm sure there's a purpose to us meeting.
So...
I'll be waiting for you on the stage.
The stage has kept us together, for better or worse.
It's only thanks to the stage that we're here right now.
We all eat the same food on the same stage.
We stage girls are all connected.
I'll be waiting for you on the stage.
I'm waiting.
A light that will never fade,
excitement and passion that will never run dry,
an eternal moment, burned into memory.
One day it must end,
which is why we burn brightly now,
along with that moment.
I'll be waiting for you on the stage.
The stage is our heart.
Song is our pulse,
passion is our blood.
The stage makes us what we are.
Even if we're hurt and fall,
the stage resurrects us.
Stage girls can be reborn endlessly.
So...
I'll be waiting for you on the stage!
I will be waiting for you on the stage.
Wait on the stage.
That's...
A ticket...
Hikari-chan...
Seisho Music Academy, 99th generation,
student number 1, Aijo Karen.
Entering!
Of course I remember...
that promise.
Girls' Musical Revue Starlight.
I understand.