Faith Misora Kano/Bond Story

*She was a "nobody" until she gained "faith". From alpha to omega, episode to epilogue. She stands in the wilderness in order for "A" to incarnate. From "Performance Festival" Play - Act 4.*

*(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

For What I Believe Part 1

 **Misora:**Now, return to the stage, Aruru!

 **Misora:**Running away, giving people attitude and being rebellious... I will put you in your place!

 **Misora:**I'll have you stand on stage even if I have to throw you up there—

 **Misora:**Aruru... I'll... take you down!

 **Misora:**"Revue Frontier" is beginning!

Some time before Aruru and Misora's "Revue Frontier" began—

 **Misora:**Pamphlets and flyers are good.

 **Misora:**How's the air conditioning in the theater?

**Troupe Staff A:**It's good, Misora-chan. There shouldn't be a problem tomorrow.

 **Misora:**All right. How's the audience seating?

**Troupe Staff B:**It's fine. Finished cleaning! Spick-and-span!

 **Misora:**Thank you. Oh, we need to prepare the lap blankets for the audience too.

 **Misora:**Lighting check, audio check, stage preparations check. Let's have our dress rehearsal. Can you get the cast?

**Troupe Staff C:**Okay!

 **Misora:**Tomorrow is Sky Blue Theater Troupe's regularly scheduled performance... "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" where the lead role is played by a child.

 **Misora:**It's the first stage for some of the children, so the stagehands need to give them lots of support.

 **Misora:**Phew... It sure is tough to have both the "Performance Festival" and the Sky Blue Theater Troupe at once.

 **Misora:**My role preparations for the "Performance Festival" too...

 **Misora:**"Faith" – my role in the "Performance Festival".

 **Misora:**Same as "Charity" and "Hope", it's an Arcana from the Visconti-Sforza tarot deck. We don't really have specifics on the meanings.

 **Misora:**That's why they casted us, the ones from the new school Frontier...

 **Misora:**The new meaning behind our roles... behind this "Faith" Arcana...

 **Misora:**"Faith" – Belief in God's existence and using the teachings as something to rely on. Trusting and relying on someone and justifying it. However...

 **Misora:**"Faith," huh. It's such a tricky role.

 **Misora:**How should I go about it? How should I portray it...

 **Michiru:**Anyone here?

**Troupe Staff C:**Misora-chan, she's here!

 **Misora:**Oh, coming! Ah, I got stuck in my thoughts again. The "Performance Festival" is important, but right now I need to focus!

 **Misora:**Welcome to Sky Blue Theater Troupe, Otori-san!

 **Michiru:**Thanks for having me today, Misora-chan.

 **Misora:**Not at all! Come over this way! We're having our dress rehearsal soon.

 **Michiru:**Okay. But... are you sure it's okay for me to be here the day before the performance?

 **Misora:**Of course! You said you wanted to see what it's like behind the scenes. There's no reason for me to say no!

 **Michiru:**Thank you for doing this even though you must be so busy.

 **Misora:**Don't mention it. Being in charge of the stage for Sky Blue Theater Troupe has always been a part of my job...

 **Misora:**I was the one who decided to help out with my family's stage... even when I'm in school.

 **Misora:**Also, it's more lively backstage when it's close to the performance. Preparations for tomorrow's show are pretty much all finished...

 **Misora:**I think it's a great timing to be here for a tour.

 **Michiru:**I see, I'm glad!

 **Misora:**Um... Are you sure this is okay for you? We're such a small theater troupe. If you have to learn about behind the scenes, perhaps Siegfeld would be...

 **Michiru:**No, Sky Blue Theater Troupe is good. In Siegfeld, all the students aside from the Edels devote themselves into creating a stage as stagehands.

 **Michiru:**Thanks to that, us Edels are able to focus on preparing for our roles, but...

 **Michiru:**I noticed after watching the "Performance Festival" stagehand team. I only know how Siegfeld creates a stage.

 **Michiru:**That's why I want to learn. I have to know more about the stage.

 **Michiru:**The way a stage is created, a stagehand's job, who does what...

 **Michiru:**I must know how a stage is created. What is necessary...

 **Michiru:**For the sake of the "Timeless Play".

 **Misora:**Huh?

 **Michiru:**Oh, it's nothing! Just talking to myself!

 **Misora:**I understand now... You always struck me as someone who knows everything. Then, please observe to your heart's content today!

 **Misora:**We're just a small theater troupe, but the leaders of each section are all veterans in the field.

 **Misora:**I'm sure they'll be able to answer any questions you may have.

 **Michiru:**Thank you!

**Troupe Staff C:**Misora-chan! The cast is here!

 **Misora:**Okay! All right everyone, let's start the dress rehearsal!

 **Misora:**Good work! Everyone has the songs, lines, and acting down pat!

**Children:**Yes!

 **Misora:**Next will be the final check for the production, so everyone gather in the meeting room after a 15 minute break.

**Children:**Okay!

 **Michiru:**Wow... That's amazing, Misora-chan.

 **Misora:**Oh, Otori-san. What do you think?

 **Michiru:**Yeah, everyone played their parts properly in "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz". The quality is amazing!

 **Michiru:**But the way you moved the stage along so smoothly was just as spectacular! It was brilliant!

 **Misora:**Y-You think so? Well, it is my family's theater troupe, so I had to get better at it.

 **Misora:**So... How was it? Did you find it useful?

 **Michiru:**Of course! I got to interview a lot of people! Like the lighting staff Kitahara-san's love for halogen lamps even though LED has become mainstream!

 **Michiru:**And you can tell when a performer is a villain with just one glance through costume staff Mizuno-san's design and usage of colors!

 **Michiru:**Yokoi-san's sound effects use different sounds that perfectly match each prop during the action scenes!

 **Michiru:**I learned so much being able to watch professional stagehands up close! Thank you!

 **Misora:**Oh, I'm so glad to hear that!

 **Michiru:**It reminded me again of all the things that stagehands have to take care of.

 **Misora:**You're right. But being able to experience first-hand the stage as it is completed is a perk of being a stagehand.

 **Michiru:**Perk of being a stagehand... It sure sounds convincing coming from you who's experienced being a stagehand and a performer.

 **Misora:**Well, that's how it goes when your family runs a theater troupe.

 **Michiru:**A family-run theater troupe... You really are a child of the stage!

 **Misora:**Oh no, not at all! That would be Aruru!

 **Michiru:**Huh?

 **Misora:**Making everyone happy through the stage. She's a stage girl who embodies that.

 **Misora:**As long as you're on the stage, you can be anybody. As long as you're on the stage, you can do anything!

 **Misora:**Aruru is the one who taught us the possibilities of the stage.

 **Michiru:**Aruru-chan is the child of the stage... You're right.

 **Misora:**But... But right now, Aruru...

 **Michiru:**Huh...?

 **Michiru:**Aruru-chan ran away from home?!

 **Misora:**Yes. She hasn't gone back to the insti– back home.

 **Michiru:**I can't believe Aruru-chan who is always bright and energetic would run away... Why?

 **Misora:**......

 **Michiru:**When we did the second script reading for the "Performance Festival"... Everyone from Frontier... especially Aruru-chan, was acting kinda off...

 **Michiru:**What happened?

 **Misora:**......

 **Misora:**...Aruru said it during the Revue for the "Unknown Lead"... That we're not fighting.

 **Michiru:**Huh...

 **Misora:**She said we're a family. A family creating the same stage... That's why there'll be no fighting between us.

 **Misora:**She said she'll make everyone the "Unknown Lead".

 **Michiru:**Aruru-chan... will make everyone the "Unknown Lead"... That sounds like her.

 **Misora:**Yes. But... we can't do that anymore. Because... we're stage girls.

 **Misora:**No matter what stage, there's ever only one lead. Once someone is the lead... you either get off the stage... or take over the lead. Those are the only two choices.

 **Misora:**We are friends and rivals at the same time. We're rivals fighting to become the "Unknown Lead".

 **Michiru:**I didn't know... about that.

 **Misora:**Yes, that's why... I was surprised.

 **Michiru:**Surprised?

 **Misora:**Because it was Aruru who taught us. She was the one who made us aware of our weakness, fragility, and incompetence when we're not on the stage.

 **Misora:**A stage girl's greedy, arrogant, and self-centered way of living. The one who charmed us was Aruru.

 **Misora:**That's why... I thought she'd be happy about our decision.

 **Misora:**That she'd say we'd all perform Revues together and how she's not gonna lose! That she'll come along on our new step forward.

 **Misora:**But Aruru said if she has to fight everyone for it... She doesn't want to become the "Unknown Lead".

 **Michiru:**She doesn't... want to become the lead?

 **Misora:**I've always been together with Aruru... But that was my first time seeing her like that.

 **Misora:**That's why Shizuha-senpai, Lalafin-senpai, and Tsukasa-senpai... No one knows how to approach her.

 **Misora:**But... But I believe in her. I'm sure she will come back to the stage.

 **Misora:**The Aruru who has made so many people happy with that strong brilliance of hers... There's no way she won't come back to the stage.

 **Misora:**There's no way stage girl Aruru Otsuki could live without the stage...

 **Michiru:**......

 **Michiru:**—I wonder.

 **Misora:**Huh...?

 **Michiru:**"Stage Girls are getting better day by day" — Those are Karen-chan's words, right?

 **Misora:**Um... Otori-san, why are you... getting on stage...?

 **Michiru:**"'Timeless Play' – it brims with love for every story that has ever existed and will be handed down for all eternity."

 **Michiru:**"The 'Unknown Lead' awaits the one who shows the most brilliant Revue and lights the fire in the young girl's heart."

 **Michiru:**"There's no stage girl who wouldn't be inspired after hearing those words."

 **Michiru:**"It's extremely stimulating and interesting. However..."

 **Michiru:**"That is all there is."

 **Michiru:**"That is all there is."... Akira said that.

 **Misora:**...Otori-san?

For What I Believe Part 2

 **Michiru:**"Unknown Lead"... It's stimulating and interesting, but... That is all there is.

 **Misora:**Yukishiro-san... said that...?

 **Michiru:**...Yeah. I wanted to make Akira into someone even more special! Into the lead who will be talked about for eternity...!

 **Michiru:**But... She told me she's fine with burning out her youth with "Elysion".

 **Misora:**......

 **Michiru:**I had intended on staying by Akira's side forever to support and watch over her. But... I found out I knew nothing.

 **Misora:**Otori-san...

 **Michiru:**I give up. I thought I had to be the guide and that I was needed, but...

 **Michiru:**Akira's already become Siegfeld's outstanding "Emperor".

 **Misora:**......

 **Michiru:**The pitiful "Grand Chancellor" who's been left behind... The foolish "Hierophant" who's gone crazy with blind faith...

 **Misora:**Huh?

 **Michiru:**My "Hierophant" Arcana in the "Performance Festival" can mean faith...

 **Michiru:**How I am right now with my pointless faith... is exactly like the pitiful "Hierophant" being dragged along by blind faith.

 **Misora:**Blind faith...

 **Michiru:**That's right. I tried to selfishly shove the "Unknown Lead" at Akira.

 **Michiru:**I went up onto Akira's stage from below... without even trying to face her on equal terms. I tried to deify her without her even asking.

 **Michiru:**Stage Girls are getting better day by day. They change rapidly on stage. They won't always be "the girl" we've known.

 **Michiru:**Yet I didn't see Akira's true feelings... her "core". I'm the one who's always been watching from up close, yet I couldn't see anything.

 **Misora:**That's... blind faith...

 **Misora:**...! Don't tell me... Perhaps... I'm the same...?

 **Misora:**"I'm sure she will come back to the stage"... "There's no way she won't come back to the stage"...

 **Misora:**"There's no way stage girl Aruru Otsuki could live without the stage"... That's what I believed in...

 **Michiru:**I've always been by her side, always watching her. If what I believe in is simply my selfish blind faith...

 **Misora:**It might not be... Aruru's "core"?

 **Michiru:**...It's a possibility.

 **Misora:**But... it was my first time seeing such a weak Aruru. I don't know... that Aruru.

 **Misora:**If... If I have been... blindly believing in Aruru, and not looking at her "core"—

 **Misora:**If there's an Aruru who I don't know behind Aruru's stage...

 **Misora:**Even if I wait... even if I believe... She might not ever... come back to the stage...?

 **Michiru:**......

 **Misora:**What do I do... What if it really turns out like that...?!

 **Michiru:**Then...

 **Michiru:****("Hierophant")**
"Then what would you do?"

 **Misora:**...Huh?

 **Michiru:****("Hierophant")**
"Who you believe in may not be the all-mighty God but... a weak lamb."

 **Michiru:****("Hierophant")**
"The one you believe in – their existence may not be in the form you've been expecting."

 **Michiru:****("Hierophant")**
"Would you still be able to continue believing? What will you believe in?"

 **Misora:**Otori-san...?

 **Michiru:****("Hierophant")**
"Your faith is being tested. So what would you do?"

 **Misora:**Being tested...? Me...?

 **Misora:**......

 **Misora:**..T-That's... There's only one answer.

 **Misora:**I have been... blindly believing in Aruru, and not looking at her "core"—

 **Misora:**If there's an Aruru who I don't know behind Aruru's stage...

 **Misora:**I...

 **Misora:**I—!

 **Misora:****("Faith")**
"I will go up on stage. And bring that lost child together with me."

 **Michiru:****("Hierophant")**
"Oh...?"

 **Misora:****("Faith")**
"Even if our faith is blind. Even if she is a weak lamb."

 **Misora:****("Faith")**
"She pulled us up on stage. She changed us. That is a fact that cannot be denied."

 **Misora:****("Faith")**
"Her true identity is the same as a mere human being, Oz, who used to be a small-time imposter – the one who gave us the ability to think, courage, a heart, and the hot air balloon to return to Kansas!"

 **Misora:****("Faith")**
"Our present started with her. Which means—"

 **Misora:****("Faith")**
"Our story cannot finish on a stage without 'Aruru Otsuki'! It won't finish!"

 **Michiru:****("Hierophant")**
"...A beginning and an end... Alpha and omega... Just like our 'Lord'—"

 **Michiru:****("Hierophant")**
"You'll bring back that 'Lord' for your own stage? How arrogant... How selfish."

 **Misora:****("Faith")**
"She's the one who taught us that. She barged onto our stage—"

 **Misora:****("Faith")**
"She stripped us down to our core that we didn't want to show nor have it be seen! We who had nothing—"

 **Misora:****("Faith")**
"She claimed we did and put us into the spotlight in a selfish, arrogant, and self-centered way— It was her!"

 **Michiru:**...!

 **Misora:****("Faith")**
"She made us into stage girls – into stage girls who selfishly and arrogantly aim for the lead."

 **Misora:****("Faith")**
"That's why— Even if I were to become the lead on a stage without her, it would be meaningless!"

 **Misora:****("Faith")**
"There's a lead I have to beat 'Aruru' for!"

 **Misora:****("Faith")**
"It's our turn this time! We'll catch her and forcefully pull her up on stage into the spotlight!"

 **Michiru:****("Hierophant")**
"Even if you end up hurting her...?"

 **Misora:**...!

 **Misora:****("Faith")**
"Even... Even if it ends up hurting her!"

 **Misora:**Huff... Huff...!

***\*clap clap clap\****

 **Misora:**Huh?

**Troupe Member A:**Amazing... It's been a long time since I've see Misora's acting, but it's so impressive!

**Troupe Member B:**What is it from?! Was there such a scene in "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz"?!

 **Michiru:**Heh heh, that was our etude.

**Troupe Member C:**You're tiny, but really good at acting!

 **Michiru:**Right? Wait, who are you calling tiny?!

 **Michiru:**Ugh... Heh heh! Hahahaha!

 **Misora:**Otori-san... Heh heh!

**Michiru & Misora:**Hahahahaha!

 **Michiru:**Ahh... What a fun etude. Misora-chan's "Faith" who puts everything on the line for what they believe in...

 **Misora:**Oh...!

 **Michiru:**"Forcefully pull her up on stage"... huh.

 **Michiru:**It's selfish, arrogant, and self-centered, but...you girls are a family.

 **Misora:**Huh...

 **Michiru:**In Siegfeld, as the king and his knights... we aren't able to do that. But at Frontier, you can fight, cry, and laugh...

 **Michiru:**I think you'll be able to come back to the stage together, holding hands.

 **Misora:**Otori-san...

 **Misora:**It's thanks to you. Without your words, I might have just blindly believed in Aruru for forever.

 **Misora:**Without noticing Aruru's core—

 **Michiru:**Misora-chan...

***♪~ ♪~***

 **Michiru:**Hm? Oh, sorry.

 **Michiru:**Huh? It's from Mei Fan. Hello, it's Michiru.

 **Michiru:**Uh-huh... Yes... What, Aruru-chan?

 **Misora:**...?!

 **Michiru:**Okay, I'm passing you over.

 **Misora:**Oh... Hi, this is Misora Kano from Frontier School of Arts!

 **Misora:**What... Aruru is causing a ruckus by the capsule machine corner in the mall?!

 **Misora:**She said she won't be able to get her capsule toy at this rate...!

 **Michiru:**You should go, Misora-chan.

 **Michiru:**How you were on the stage earlier... Give all of it to Aruru-chan.

 **Misora:**Otori-san...

 **Michiru:**Just call me Michiru. We're both faithful people it seems.

 **Misora:**...! Thank you very much, Michiru-san! I'll see you later—!

 **Michiru:**Wait, Misora-chan!

 **Misora:**Yes?

 **Michiru:**Um, if... IF... I have to make a "theater troupe"... Would you work with me?

 **Misora:**Michiru-san... making a theater troupe?

 **Misora:**Of course! I'd be really interested to find out what kind of stage you'll create!

 **Michiru:**Thanks!

 **Michiru:**See you! I'll be waiting for everyone from Frontier... on stage!

 **Misora:**Yes, please wait for us on stage! See you later!

 **Misora:**It's so difficult to interpret my role as "Faith". But I feel like I might've grasped something through the etude with Michiru-san.

 **Misora:**There's always stained glass behind "Faith". It gives off seven colors of light and is so beautiful.

 **Misora:**The stained glass pattern when moonlight shines through is beautiful, but that's just light. There's nothing actually there.

 **Misora:**"How do people believe in something that has no form" – I think expressing that is my role as "Faith".