Death Tamao Tomoe/Bond Story

*A flash that lights up the sea of stars. The war between the Moon and the Earth was coming to an end. "Did the young die happy? Where will these souls depart to? Only the stars were listening to these questions. From "Performance Festival" Play - Act 5.*

*(Part 1 and Part 2 of Arcana Arcadia Stage Girl bond stories are viewable in the Gallery under Arcana Arcadia - Intermission.)*

* Part 1
* Part 2
* Bond Level 15 Talk
* Bond Level 30 Talk

Like a Burning Flame Part 1

 **Tamao:**Good work today. I'll see you tomorrow.

 **Tamao:**Phew... And that's it for today's rehearsal.

 **Tamao:**The Performance Festival script will be finalized soon, and I've got my role down as well.

 **Tamao:**Rehearsals will finally begin. And after that is... the performance.

 **Tamao:**Our dream is counting on this... On this play where "Death" steals the souls of everyone watching.

 **Tamao:**......

 **Tamao:**The "Death" Arcana... The upright position means "collapse", "termination"... and "death". The reverse position means "fresh start" and "revival".

 **Tamao:**It sounds pretty ominous if you only look at what the card stands for, but after playing the role, I found it to be quite a complicated and charming character...

 **Tamao:**A philosopher, but also a cynic... A non-human existence, yet strangely human in some ways.

 **Tamao:**It's my first time playing this type of role. A very worthwhile challenge.

 **Tamao:**While gaining experience on this stage with my co-stars, I could feel the role become even more captivating.

 **Tamao:**At this paramount stage where all the top level performers from different schools are competing against one another.

 **Tamao:**To think I'm able to gain so much just by rehearsing with those girls... It's like a dream.

 **Tamao:**That's why I have to aim for even greater heights... Push myself further past my limits.

 **Tamao:**But... Ichie's "Sun" during that script reading... It was so refreshing and carefree... Full of this shining brilliance.

 **Tamao:**Ichie's true acting. A stage where Ichie can be how she wants to be...

 **Tamao:**It's as if...

 **Tamao:**As if she's telling me and Fumi "It's okay to be yourself".
Yes, like she was trying to tell us that through her acting...

 **Tamao:**......

 **Tamao:**I know. I know that the acting isn't like me. Even Isurugi-san was able to see through it.

 **Tamao:**But... for the sake of reviving Rinmeikan's Performance Department...!

**????:**"I finally found ya..."

 **Tamao:**Who is it?!

**????:**"You're causing trouble for me by continuously stirring things up on the battlefield...!"

***\*click\****

 **Tamao:**What is that...

 **Tamao:**A long tube with a dull shine... No... Don't tell me...?!

**????:**"Heh heh heh... Let's settle this once and for all, 'Death'!"

 **Tamao:**Aaaaahhhhhhhh!!

 **Shiori:**N-Noooooooo!

 **Tamao:**Aaaa—Huh?

 **Shiori:**Huff... Huff... I can't do this anymore...!

 **Shiori:**I thought... I thought I'd be able to face you if I stayed in character...

 **Shiori:**But... The "Chariot's" way of speaking... It's just so embarrassing!

 **Tamao:**Oh...! You are... Shiori-san?!

 **Tamao:**Then what's that you're holding... It looked like something dangerous...!

 **Tamao:**A 1.8 liter bottle?!

 **Tamao:**This is...!

 **Tamao:**"Hanamaru Natural Yuzu Ponzu"! Fumi's absolute favorite...!

 **Tamao:**But how...? The company that makes this went out of business, so it's been discontinued...

 **Shiori:**Yes, but people across the nation have been asking for it to come back... So it was available temporarily.

 **Shiori:**I was able to get my hands on a bottle of it through my father's work connections.

 **Tamao:**I see. I'm sure Fumi will be so happy. She says it's the best way to show support.

 **Shiori:**This is her ultimate ponzu we had to travel across the nation to find.

 **Tamao:**Across the nation?

 **Shiori:**Fumi is the type to get stuck on something once she gets hooked...

 **Shiori:**She was like, "There has to be the ultimate ponzu somewhere in this country that I have yet to meet!"...

 **Shiori:**There was a time when our family trips were her "Search for Ponzu Around Japan" trips... This is the one she found after spending so much time.

 **Tamao:**I didn't know that. That explains why she's so attached to it.

 **Shiori:**Yes. She even said she'd die without it.

 **Tamao:**...I feel like I've seen her like that before.

 **Shiori:**I'm sorry my sister's like that.

 **Tamao:**No, not at all. Don't be sorry.

 **Shiori:**But...

 **Shiori:**But... Fumi didn't die even though she doesn't have her favorite ponzu anymore.

 **Shiori:**...It was Tomoe-san, right?

 **Tamao:**Huh?

 **Tamao:**...Oh, yes. She took a liking to my family's "Kappo Tomoye Traditional Ponzu" that's been handed down for generations.

 **Shiori:**...Yes. I knew it... I knew it was you, Tamao Tomoe-san.

 **Tamao:**...!?

 **Shiori:**Fumi was a stage girl who lived for the stage. She always aimed for the center of the stage – for Position Zero.

 **Shiori:**But one day... Without even talking to me about it... she left Siegfeld's stage... and transferred to Rinmeikan... And the General Education Department on top of that...

 **Shiori:**She gave up the stage... The stage girl in her had died.

 **Tamao:**......

 **Shiori:**Fumi as "Frau Platin"... and me as "Frau Saphir"...

 **Shiori:**We would create "Elysion" together as sisters. That was our dream. Our promise.

 **Shiori:**She threw away that promise... Everything. Why did she quit Siegfeld?

 **Shiori:**Why Rinmeikan... And why the General Education Department?

 **Shiori:**What about the stage with me? What happened to our promise?

 **Shiori:**She wouldn't answer any of my questions... I was really sad and lonely.

 **Tamao:**Shiori-san...

 **Shiori:**But then!

 **Shiori:**She returned... to Rinmeikan's stage. Without even telling me...

 **Shiori:**She became a new stage girl – she changed into someone I didn't know.

 **Tamao:**......

 **Shiori:**I was happy... but I didn't understand.

 **Shiori:**Why? Didn't she quit the stage?

 **Shiori:**Why? If she were to come back to the stage... Why wasn't it at Siegfeld with me?

 **Shiori:**I could never figure it out... But after being on the stage in the Performance Festival, I think I understand now.

 **Shiori:**It's because of you, Tamao Tomoe-san.

 **Tamao:**Huh...?

 **Shiori:**It's your fault... that Fumi changed.

 **Shiori:**She must've forgotten our promise... when she was reborn.

 **Shiori:**If it was going to cause such uneasy feelings...

 **Shiori:**If she was going to show me the stage I long for, happening without me...

 **Shiori:**Then I'd rather her not have returned to the stage... I'd rather she remained dead as a stage girl...!

 **Tamao:**Shiori-san?!

 **Shiori:**No... I can't stop... The feelings I've been trying to suppress... The "Chariot" deep inside me won't be stopped...!

 **Shiori:**Can you understand?! How it feels to have something important taken away from you!

 **Shiori:**Give her back to me. Give me back... my sister!

 **Tamao:**...!

 **Shiori:**Fumi I saw at the Performance Festival script reading... She was in perfect sync with you.

 **Shiori:**Acting that shocked Michiru-senpai... And a stage that Yukishiro-senpai admired.

 **Shiori:**A performance no one has ever seen before... Co-stars who brought that out from one another.

 **Shiori:**Fumi... has been fascinated by the stage you're trying to create... By you!

 **Shiori:**I have no desire to know the kind of stage you're trying to create. But—

 **Shiori:**Don't make the stage... into something personal. Don't drag Fumi into it.

 **Shiori:**"'Death'!! Give 'Temperance's' soul back to me!!"

 **Shiori:**Huff... Huff...!

 **Tamao:**Shiori-san...

 **Shiori:**I'll take back my sister with my own stage. I definitely won't lose to you.

 **Shiori:**That's what I came to tell you today.

 **Tamao:**Shiori-san, you're shaking.

 **Shiori:**Because... Because I'm scared. I'm scared to challenge Rinmeikan's "Death".

 **Shiori:**But... I made a promise with Michiru-senpai. I'm determined to continue running forward.

 **Shiori:**In order to get back the dream stage with my sister... I must tear down and surpass this wall – surpass you.

 **Shiori:**That is my attachment towards the stage... towards my co-stars... towards a promise...

 **Tamao:**...Determination to keep on running. I see... That's why you chose to borrow the "Chariot's" character.

 **Shiori:**...!

 **Shiori:**...Yes. Otherwise I feel like I would lose to "Death".

 **Shiori:**But... I ended up getting swept away instead.

 **Tamao:**Using your character to push yourself past your limits...

 **Tamao:**You're the same as me.

 **Shiori:**Huh...

 **Tamao:**You've also lost something important to you...

 **Shiori:**...?! You've... "also"?

Like a Burning Flame Part 2

 **Tamao:**You've also lost something important to you...

 **Shiori:**...?! You've... "also"?

 **Tamao:**You see... I wanted to protect the Rinmeikan Girls School Performance Department.

 **Tamao:**That's where both my grandmother and mother studied.

 **Tamao:**But... I couldn't protect it.

 **Tamao:**I was robbed of my honor as a stage girl... I lost the stage I was supposed to stand on. I lost everything.

 **Shiori:**Oh...

 **Tamao:**And then there was Fumi Yumeoji. She also... lost something.

 **Shiori:**Huh...?

 **Shiori:**Fumi... lost something? What... did she lose?

 **Tamao:**What... The question is probably to "who".

 **Shiori:**...!?

 **Tamao:**That's why we started working together to get back what we lost.

 **Tamao:**In order to be reborn... from being dead stage girls – to take back what we lost.

 **Tamao:**Even if we had to drive someone off the stage. Even if we had to take someone else's brilliance. We're getting back what we lost at all cost.

 **Tamao:**That is our promise. Rinmeikan's vow.

 **Shiori:**What... do you intend to do? To my sister—

 **Tamao:**I like Fumi.

 **Shiori:**...!!

 **Tamao:**The way she's able to break down characters in a calm fashion. Her expressive skills that burn on stage.

 **Tamao:**I like the stage girl Fumi Yumeoji... And I trust her.

 **Shiori:**You're just trying to use her!

 **Tamao:**No... We have a contract.

 **Shiori:**A contract...?

 **Tamao:**That's right. In order to revive Rinmeikan's Performance Department... Just like Faust who makes a pact with Mephistopheles...

 **Tamao:**To devour all the stage girls and release the best brilliance at the top of the Performance Festival.

 **Shiori:**...! That's... the stage you're aiming for... as "Death"...?!

 **Tamao:**It's possible Fumi has hidden her true intentions... But we have a contract.

 **Tamao:**We were both robbed of and lost something. So we're working together to stand up once more... We're bound together by common fate.

 **Tamao:**...No. We're accomplices in our attempt to take over the stage.

 **Tamao:**Shiori-san. I mean...

 **Tamao:**"'Chariot'... If you insist on trampling on our ambitions and ending our contract—"

 **Tamao:**"Then reaping souls... shall be all that I'll do as 'Death'."

 **Shiori:**......!

 **Tamao:**"Both the 'Emperor' and 'Hierophant' know of the 'Chariot's' growth!"

 **Tamao:**"The steel monster that has gone through numerous battles and survived the bloodbath!"

 **Tamao:**"It'd be such a shame... to reap your soul..."

 **Tamao:**"But I sure would love to have... your soul."

 **Shiori:**...?!

 **Tamao:**"'Chariot'... Have you never thought of it?"

 **Tamao:**"If the 'Chariot', 'Death', and 'Temperance' were to work together... we would have nothing to be afraid of."

 **Tamao:**"We would be able to control everything in this world... To control the stage."

 **Shiori:**Huh...?

 **Tamao:**"Join us... 'Chariot'."

 **Shiori:**......!

 **Tamao:**"Come over to our side."

 **Shiori:**Your... side...

 **Tamao:**"Your beloved whom you've been chasing after is here. The world you yearn for is here. If you come over—"

 **Shiori:**Please... Please stop!

 **Shiori:**Huff... Huff... I made a promise with Michiru-senpai! That I would follow through with my resolution! That's why—!

 **Tamao:**Oh? I was just acting.

 **Shiori:**...Huh?

 **Tamao:**I wanted to try acting with the "Chariot"... and you who have shown such remarkable growth in the Performance Festival.

 **Tamao:**It's improv. Improvisation.

 **Shiori:**I-Improv...?

 **Tamao:**That's right.
I won't follow the same footsteps as the blue oni.

 **Shiori:**??

 **Shiori:**S-So that's how you captured Fumi too... You're scary!

 **Tamao:**Heh heh... The "Chariot" inside you has lit a fire in the "Death" inside me.

 **Shiori:**Huh...

 **Tamao:**Thank you, Shiori-san.

 **Tamao:**I was about to turn back and revert to taking the easy way out.

 **Tamao:**I was on the verge of being satisfied with just standing on the best stage and being a part of the student drama performance... By the powerful performers and the beautiful play.

 **Tamao:**Thank you, Shiori-san. You made me realize this.

 **Tamao:**If I don't go in to take it, it'll be taken away from me. This... The Performance Festival stage is a battlefield.

 **Tamao:**In order to make our dream come true... I have to light the fire once more.

 **Tamao:**Attachment towards the stage... towards co-stars... towards a promise...

 **Shiori:**I... lit the fire? The fire in "Death"...

 **Shiori:**I knew it was you... Tamao Tomoe-san.

 **Tamao:**Huh...?

 **Shiori:**A stage girl's passion... spreads. Just like how Michiru-senpai's flame lit up my fire.

 **Shiori:**The "Death" Arcana – it's reverse position means... revival.

 **Shiori:**Tomoe-san's flame... A flame that's been revived time and time again... It revived my sister...

 **Shiori:**It brought Fumi Yumeoji back as a stage girl.

 **Tamao:**Shiori-san...

 **Shiori:**If she's been revived...

 **Shiori:**If she's been revived, I'm bringing her home. I'm bringing my sister back to my stage.

 **Tamao:**Oh... Well, we can't have that. If you're going to bring her home, you'll have to wait until our contract is over.

 **Shiori:**Then I'll just take her away... on the Performance Festival stage.

 **Tamao:**I'm not handing her over. Not on the Performance Festival stage.

 **Shiori:**Heh heh...

 **Tamao:**Hehehe!

 **Tamao:**We'll continue this on the stage.

 **Shiori:**...Yes. On the Performance Festival stage.

 **Tamao:**...All things considered... Fumi is the guilty one here.

 **Tamao:**Her sister cares so much for her, yet...
She wouldn't know though, would she. That we'd be fighting over her like this.

 **Shiori:**Oh... Yes, you're right. It's a bit frustrating, actually.

 **Tamao:**Yes, it is... So we're not going to give her this "Hanamaru Natural Yuzu Ponzu".

 **Shiori:**What?

 **Tamao:**We're not telling her about "Hanamaru Natural Yuzu Ponzu" coming back nor about this 1.8 liter bottle until after the Performance Festival.

 **Tamao:**This will be a secret between the two of us.

 **Shiori:**A secret...

 **Shiori:**Heh heh... "Death" sure is mean and loves to play tricks...

 **Shiori:**You're so scary...! Heh heh.

 **Tamao:**Did you know there's a theory that "Death" isn't the Devil's messenger, but actually one of the angels?

 **Tamao:**"Death" isn't an evil god. Death appears in front of people who have passed to reap their souls and bring them to heaven.

 **Tamao:**"Death" never reaps someone's soul until their time has come. It waits until their time has run out.

 **Tamao:**I have to play a convincing "Death" that commands fear and reverence aside from reaping souls.