The script!
It's the new script for Starlight!
Amemiya-san finished it yesterday.
By herself.
With all of you in the A class working so hard,
we in the B class have to show we're just as good.
It's still just the first draft.
I'll be making it even better going forward.
So it would be great if you could tell me what you think about it today.
It's the 100th anniversary of the Seisho Festival.
Let's make it the best play we can!
Yeah!
This part here...
could you make it a bit longer?
Not shorter?
I just thought making it longer would make it easier to show off during fights.
I see what you mean.
Drafts for this year's goddess designs?
Yeah, Hanayagi-san provided lots of ideas.
Oh?
Like with the tam from last year.
I thought the silhouette was a bit too pronounced,
so I removed the tam to let the jewel on the forehead stand out.
C'est bien. Sounds good to me.
You are fortunate.
For you are ignorant of your sins
and the tragedy that will eventually befall you.
The Goddess of Despair's line is different from before!
The others have changed a bit too.
But I think I prefer them this way.
How to put it...
The Goddess of Despair's sadness and...
Um...
Concedentence?
Oh, condescendence?
Yes, exactly, that! They come across better now.
We're putting on the same play,
but the pacing and spoken lines are way better than before.
"Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale."
What?
It's a quote by William Shakespeare.
You haven't heard it before?
My life isn't tedious at all.
That's not what he meant.
You only live once.
Simply repeating the same story would be boring.
So to avoid tedium,
you should always attempt new things.
Even with the same play, we can make it better, put on an even better performance...
I think that's what he meant.
I get it. So that's what it means.
Even with the same play...
No, precisely because we're putting on the same play,
we should make it even better than before.
That's what the auditions are for, right?
There's no guarantee that even the leads will be the same.
We're not putting on something entirely different.
We are showing our new selves—
how we in the 99th generation—
have grown through our hard work.
It's starting again.
I like the new script too.
Oh, really?
Nana?
What's wrong with Banana?
Did something happen?
I've never seen her like that before.
I really like this new Starlight, though.
You like Starlight too much.
Of course I do! It's the first play I saw!
It's the very reason I became a stage girl!
You like it too much too, don't you?
Is that...
the book Starlight is based on?
I found it in London.
Ah, it's all in English.
I'll translate it for you.
I'm sorry I can't do more for you as your teacher.
Don't worry about it.
I was just having everyone join to keep the club going.
They all have their own clubs to worry about.
Daiba-san, why don't you apply to Seisho Music Academy?
The Star-Plucking Tower?
They said they'd remake it for the 100th anniversary.
Really? I guess we've got our work cut out for us.
We had to work late into the night, but it was a really rich and fulfilling experience.
It's only been two months, but it feels like it's been much longer.
It'll start again soon.
The Starlight of the 99th Seisho Festival.
Huh?
I was all alone for the longest time.
It was only after coming here that I made friends who I could really create plays with together.
I was able to stand on the stage.
My first stage, and the greatest of friends.
Nana?
I have to protect my Starlight.
Starlight.
This is the story of goddesses guided by the light of the stars.
This is the story of a distant planet, from long ago, in the faraway future.
It is the summer star festival, celebrated through generations in a small village in a small country.
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.
The two are connected by a distant promise.
But on the night of the star festival when they had both turned sixteen...
Claire, we meet again for the first time in a year.
Who are you?
Claire?!
I don't understand.
Your voice, your warmth,
the promise we made...
I feel as though they were all important to me.
But I can't remember!
On her way back from the star festival the previous year,
Claire had an accident and lost her memories.
We may be able to get them back.
What?
Today is the star festival held once every year.
If we're able to seize a star at the top of the Star-Plucking Tower,
perhaps your memories will...
Let's go, to pluck that star together!
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.
Star plucking is the absolving of sins.
Star plucking is the miracle of the night.
With their song to help them, they arrive at the Star-Plucking Tower.
However...
Who goes there?!
They were confined to this tower 500 years ago:
Sinful goddesses awaiting their death in slumber.
Ferocity,
Flight,
Pride,
Binding,
Jealousy,
Despair.
I beseech you, let us pluck the stars!
Claire needs them!
We will not relinquish any stars to you!
Why were we confined here?
What sins did we commit?
Amidst the flow of time, we goddesses have forgotten even that.
O, and so it repeats.
The cycle of despair.
Beneath the light of the stars.
Even as they are torn apart by the black emotions of the goddesses,
the two reach the summit.
Here, Claire's stars await.
And it shall be bestowed upon you, the star which you have longed for.
My eyes! The light blinds me!
Claire? Where are you, Claire?
Claire!
I remember now.
Your name is...
Forgive me, Flora.
Our dream was not meant to be.
Her eyes burned by the light of the stars, Flora fell from the tower,
forever parting with Claire.
And high above,
the stars continued to shine for eternity.
Starlight.
This is the story of a distant planet, from long ago, in the faraway future.
It's great.
Yeah, it is.
Flora's bravery, in her attempt to achieve a miracle for a friend, fearing no danger.
Claire's strength,
continuing to remember the promise she made with her dear friend, having forgotten all else.
It's great!
Yeah, it is!
This is a treasure! A treasure of a book!
Just look at how old, thick, and heavy it is!
It's just a secondhand book I bought.
It's not worth much.
What? But...
What's really valuable here
is what kind of play we'll put on
and what kind of stars we'll become, right?
Yeah!
We have to put on the best performance of this new Starlight that we can!
A brilliant stage and important friends.
I want to protect it all.
So for my Stage of Destiny,
I chose to reenact that one year.
Stage of Destiny?
You mean the giraffe's...
This time around,
we haven't faced each other in the auditions yet, right?
But you said it yourself.
That it was hard work, but a rich and fulfilling experience.
That it was a great year.
If only those days could continue forever.
That's why I'm repeating it.
My eternal stage, that one year.
What are you saying, Nana?
But, that day...
Ever since Hikari-chan transferred here,
it's all gone weird.
The Junna-chan I know
isn't called "Junjun".
I won't let them call you that.
Huh?
That's not the script I know.
Everything is changing.
The next Starlight...
That's not my Starlight!
Nana...
To keep my reenactments going,
I can't lose anymore.
But, why?
What changed with this reenactment?
The eight-person auditions started with Hikari-chan participating.
Karen-chan, who always finished last during the reenactments, was removed from the cast.
But...
Karen-chan jumped in, and...
It's... not Hikari-chan.
The one who changed my reenactment was Karen-chan?
Fruits, fully ripened and plump atop the stage.
But they're all soft,
so someone has to protect them.
99th generation, Daiba Nana.
I'll protect them.
Forever, as many times as it takes!
Banana!
Today is the seventh day of auditions.
The Revue of Bonds is starting.
The one who changed my reenactment
was you, Karen-chan.
Starlight is an eternal story told by eight people.
There is no ninth person.
So Karen-chan, what is your role?
Who in the world are you?
You're not the same Karen-chan as before!
This isn't the same reenactment as before!
What changed since Hikari-chan came?
Why did it change?
What changed with you reuniting with Hikari-chan?!
I'm gonna Starlight together with Hikari-chan!
I hate it!
I hate Starlight!
To part with a friend you've made is far too cruel of a tragedy!
That's why I'll protect you all.
I have to protect you
with my reenactment!
If I don't beat you,
my reenactment will come to an end!
That's a non, non, Banana!
Stage girls evolve by the day.
There's no "same us" or "same stage".
Any stage is a one-time thing.
We burn bright for that instant,
which is why it's so precious, irreplaceable,
and valuable!
They burn out in an instant!
That's why stage girls are all reborn every time they go up on stage!
No, Karen-chan!
We all have to keep acting out my reenactment forever...
Or else!
Karen-chan!
No!
Don't do it!
I'm sorry, Nana.
I made a promise with her.
I'll go to pluck those stars with Hikari-chan!
Karen-chan...
Why are you shining like this?
Why are you so dazzling?
This marks the end of the seventh day of auditions.
You forgot this.
So you were always looking out for us, huh.
Again and again, all alone.
I wanted to protect all of you.
Was I in the wrong?
"Men are men; the best sometimes forget."
It's a quote by William Shakespeare.
"Time travels in diverse paces with diverse persons."
Another Shakespeare quote.
More.
More?
W-Well...
"He who moves not forward, goes backward."
Right.
"The future influences the present just as much as the past."
By Nietzsche.
"It's never too late to be what you might have been."
George Eliot.
"The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one."
Elbert Hubbard.
What else?
Let's see...
"Everyone has their own destined star.
A twinkling star, a morning star, a falling star...
I may not be able to see my own star,
but the me looking up will be gone tomorrow.
99th generation, Hoshimi Junna.
I will seize my own star!"
Is that...
My own quote.
Wh-What?!
I've never seen you this happy before.
That's not fair!
I don't know anything about you, Nana.
Maybe I was being too greedy.
To make that year even more fun,
to make us grow even closer,
I'd change the lines up a bit with each reenactment,
and make changes to the performance.
But Hikari-chan joined, Karen-chan changed,
and everyone else started changing too.
I was scared that my reenactment was being rejected.
But...
These new days were stimulating,
and everyone's new selves were enchanting...
I had no idea what to do.
What do you know, you're a real stage girl too.
We'll make it even better than before.
Both the stage and stage girls are destined to change.
As a stage girl, you'll be fine.
So let's make it together, Nana.
The next Starlight, with all of us.
I'm sorry, I... I...
I had no idea.
You're this big, yet you're a scaredy-cat and crybaby.
You're like a kid.
What about this?
Take it with you.
Huh?
The time that you treasured so dearly...
The things you wanted to protect...
Take it all with you,
to the next stage!
Yeah!
The last day of auditions.
I understand.
Girls' Musical Revue Starlight.
I understand.