Aria/Story

Spoilers!*"Your greatest villain Drake shall warn you, SPOILERS AHEAD!"*The following article or section contain **spoilers!** Viewer discretion is advised.

Overview**Story**VoicelinesGallery

## Behind the Scenes

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Lee So-eun

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Michelle Marie

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Yū Kobayashi

## Profile

A member of Prima Donna, Tetra Line's "squad" of musical performers. While Noise and Volume hold down the modern genres of pop and hip-hop respectively, Aria is more on the lines for classical and opera music. Being in the star role of so many plays and operas, some wonder if there's any leading role that Aria *can't* play...

### Nikke Backstory

An opera singer from Prima Donna, where she plays the lead in every performance she's a part of. Her singing consistently garners standing ovations, making her a living legend in the world of opera.

## Story

### Character Story

#### Episode 1 - Sleepless Night for the Princess

In a waiting room at the Royal Road Opera House, a clerk is obstructing Counters, refusing them entry despite their insistence that Aria called them here. They ask to see proof of identification and that Aria did indeed request them, but since they don't have any, the clerk insists they leave, even threatening to call security. At that moment, Aria steps in, telling the clerk the squad is here by her request. She welcomes them to the opera house, particularly her "Maestro," the protagonist.

A moment later, the squad is in Aria's dressing room. Anis is going gaga over the props, outfits, and cosmetics, and Aria invites her to take any that strike her fancy. Whilst Anis and Neon decide to give Rapi a makeover using the room's cosmetics, Aria pulls the protagonist aside to ask his assistance. The protagonist is more than willing to listen, as Aria confides that this issue weighs on her so much she feels the only safe way to handle it would be to speak with him. She explains that since her debut, she's been the leading lady of opera after opera. Hestia, Castle of Parma, The Lily Knight. Name an opera in the Ark, Aria's been cast as the lead role at some point or other.

Despite each production being a rousing success, and Aria being propelled to the heights of stardom, she finds that all she's sung are recitatives. She suddenly breaks into a number, a lament by a character who has been forsaken by the god of music who fears they cannot repay their guardian. The protagonist finds Aria's singing flawless, but is also unnerved by the lyrics. She goes on to explain that last number is from one of her latest roles, where she plays as the unfamed talentless singer Sophia. The whole point is that the song exudes Sophia's despair and loneliness, of reaching for heights from an abyss that she *knows* no amount of effort will bridge.

The problem therein is that Aria's singing capability is *too good*, so much so that it makes Sophia seem like a flawless character. Thus, the audience stops empathizing with Sophia's plight, and the whole story simply degrades into a waiting game for the world around Sophia to recognize her talent. Simply put, Aria is so talented and fortunate in her skills and career that she has literally zero experience with Sophia's struggles.

She does not know how to *not* be perfect, thus she cannot empathize with the character and embody her according to the intent of the script. She briefly ponders whether to tell the director to find a less talented singer for the role, and when the protagonist asks, admits that she took the job both of out personal interest for a refreshing new take, and out of professional pride, having up till now been able to flawlessly play whatever role she was given. Ergo, she's asking the protagonist to help her with becoming Sophia.

Anis takes that moment to step into the conversation, summing it up as Aria needing someone to accompany her in training and giving her an alternative perspective. Aria herself can tell Anis isn't too familiar with idea, and while she finds the idea of getting takes from someone with little to no experience with the industry nonsensical, she does see merit to it. Neon tells the protagonist Counters will continue giving Rapi a makeover while he helps Aria, much to the dismay of Counters' leader.

#### Episode 2 - Tearjerker

The next day, at Royal Road Opera House. Aria is rehearsing her role as Sophia, lamenting her talentless as she bids her guardian to propose to her and end herself as a singer, only for her to reject the protagonist (acting as the guardian) offering her a ring, wishing to meet her demise in the opera house.

Aria cuts the music and declares that this isn't it. She just can't quite nail down how to sing badly without *actually* singing badly enough to ruin the song. She asks the protagonist for suggestions on how to make her singing "worse," but finds that she can't make a compromise between characterization and singing quality. Thinking back to Anis' words about how someone completely detached from the industry might better handle it, Aria asks the protagonist to try singing the verses she just did. His attempt is completely awful, and not even the kind of "bad" Aria is looking for. Fortunately, she *did* glean some insight from that "performance," believing making her voice more nasal might be a step forward.

Aria begins to sing again, but finds this attempt no more "successful" than her previous ones. Despite the protagonist assuring her progress is progress, Aria insists it's not enough, not with Sophia set to premiere in two days. She tries to dismiss the protagonist while she stays to practice, but he insists on remaining. His devoted words garner him Aria's gratitude, comparing him to Sophia's guardian.

The day of Sophia's premiere, and Aria is nervous about going on stage for the first time in her life. Despite the protagonist belief in her, which he attributes to her commitment and resilience, she comments that trying to achieve greatness with those attributes alone would only make a person into another Sophia. She wonders if he'd still believe in her even if she were to become a nameless talentless gutter-rat like Sophia, and he gives her a silent nod. Aria notes how this so resembles the connection between Sophia and her guardian, and reserved the protagonist a box seat on the second floor, which according to the script is where the guardian watches Sophia.

Bidding the protagonist watch her to the end, Aria steps on stage as the overture ends...

#### Episode 3 - Shining Stars

A new reporter is interviewing audience members after Sophia concluded. While they're all enamored with Aria's singing, they personally find it jarring that the script calls for her to play a talentless hack of a singer, and believes the opera house made a mistake going with the script they did. Aria silently watches the news go on about how her singing was the only thing people agreed was good about the performance.

Aria thanks the protagonist as he shuts off the TV. Having heard the reactions, Aria is considering walking away from Sophia, even if it compromises her professionalism. Her overqualifications make her the worst matchup for the opera's intended story, and she considers it a disservice to both the scriptwriters and the audience. The protagonist wonders if she's really going to cast her pride aside like this, even knowing her presence is only a boon to the opera house.

Aria tells him to leave her so she can organize her thoughts. Before he does so, she asks him if he really thinks she's done enough, considering she doesn't think so. Sophia was *not* meant to be a story about the character overcoming her difficulties. She took the play because she liked the ironic twist on uniqueness, about how everyone, even ordinary or talentless people, have their own shine. It was a message Aria so dearly wanted to convey with her own song. But even with the play's rousing success, can anyone really say Aria did Sophia justice?

Later that night, Counters and the protagonist huddle in his room, ruminating over ways to help Aria. As they think about ways to make Aria's singing "worse," Anis suddenly has a lightbulb moment and brings up gaslighting. Tell someone the same put-downs over and over for long enough, and even if it's a complete lie, they'll believe it. As mean-spirited as it may seem, Anis has the idea of breaking Aria's usual confidence, which in turn could compromise her ability to sing. She details a plan to bring Aria to a hole-in-the-wall bar in some back-alley, where the patrons are all lushes who don't know or care one lick about opera or who she is. The protagonist has some concerns over this, and even Anis acknowledges that this all hinges on Aria being willing to risk such a thing.

As if on cue, Aria's cuts in from the side, voicing her assent to this plan. She's willing to do whatever it takes to properly become Sophia, even if it means taking a risk. If nothing else, singing in a bar will be a novel experience, and if anything, this is lower-stakes than whatever she was originally planning to do. Thus with a plan in mind, the protagonist steps out with Aria.

#### Episode 4 - One Private Day

In a dingy back-alley bar, the owner notes his two newest guests, being unfamiliar faces. Aria requests he hire her to sing for a day, and while he's initially uninterested, he eventually agrees on grounds that he doesn't have to pay her. The owner points out the set-up to play accompaniment, then tells the two to stop bothering him.

Some time later, Aria is watching her would-be audience, a crowd of drunkards so noisy and engrossed in their own little worlds they don't even spare her a glance, and it's doubtful her song could even be heard over the din. Just before she steps on stage, she asks the protagonist for a repeat of what he said earlier. His promise to keep faith in her is like a magic spell, and with fears allayed, Aria steps on stage.

The protagonist starts up the music, and Aria begins to sing. The drunks begin to heckle her, demanding she either start dancing or start walking. Aria ignores them and continues, and the drunks, though no longer demanding she leave, begin to grumble that the only sort who would *think* to sing in a place like this would be some no-name who couldn't cut it anywhere else. Eventually they seem to come around, even finding her singing decent. At Aria's cue, the protagonist begins to sing the guardian's response...

A while after the show, and the owner finds it a shame that Aria doesn't plan on coming back, even if he were to pay her for the privilege. Turns out a bunch of the clientele, for all they verbally stoned her, really liked her singing, and asked him to have her come back and sing again. He goes on about how she soldiered on in both lyric and tone, weathering the drunks' jeers and choking through cigarette smoke, because she was that desperate to loose her voice and be heard by anyone willing to listen.

Aria has an epiphany, and profusely thanks the protagonist and the owner. The key to understanding the character of Sophia, from the very beginning it was not something that could be found endlessly rehearsing in a splendorous opera house.

#### Episode 5 - Toast Song

Some time later, the curtain rises on the second performance of Sophia. Counters briefly talks about what Aria's epiphany was, and whether she'll truly nail the intent of Sophia this time, or walk away from it entirely. The lights begin to dim, and the pervading silence fills the room with a nervous energy. Despite Counters' concern about Aria's improvement, the protagonist maintains his belief.

Aria takes to the stage, and her voice strikes a chord with the audience. A different one from the premiere, but a chord all the same. Her voice, wavering on the verge of collapse yet still going strong, making them *believe* she's portraying a talentless singer.

Later, in the protagonist's room, a reporter on TV is interviewing audience members from the opera. They still need time to parse through what they just heard, but the overall reaction is a positive one. Aria completely melded into the role of Sophia, portraying all the have-nots that resonated within the audience.

Aria is listening to the same interview, feeling satisfied at how this turned out. She thanks the protagonist for helping her understand, that everyone has their goals in life, and the suffering that lines the path to that goal is something familiar to everyone, genius or fool. Drawing forth that feeling and putting it into her voice, Aria didn't even need to act. Sophia's pain and desperation resonated with her all the same.

The two continue to watch the interview, where one of the interviewees is a regular of Aria's performance. She enjoyed the quality of the singing, yes, but she always found Aria *too* perfect, almost inhuman in how good her singing was. This time however, her performance as Sophia was much more believable, and made her seem like a real person. The audience and the protagonist particularly agree that one of the standout parts of the performance was Sophia's bond with her guardian, which Aria explains stemmed from her having someone who paralleled the guardian.

Seeing his lack of understanding, Aria asks the protagonist if he remembers the final number of the performance, "Even if Music Abandons Me." A song where Sophia pours out her love towards her guardian. Up to now, Aria never quite understood love, even as people proclaimed they loved her singing, and praised it even when her talent threatened to ruin Sophia. But not the protagonist, for she believes he understood. Artists always need someone to stand beside them and see the realm of creative arts as they do, and the protagonist filled this role marvelously. As a small token of thanks, Aria offers to sing him the finale, as a bit of a private encore.

The protagonist silently nods, and Aria begins to sing;

*You were there from my start to finish,*

*You make me complete.*

*Therefore, my song is yours.*

*And even if my music abandons me,*

*If my ears fall deaf and my voice is lost,*

*I will always be with you...*

## References

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