Tamao is faced with a sudden announcement that the Theatre Performance department is closing down. In front of her is Ukaji-sensei, who is explaining to her that due to reducing enrolment numbers, it has become very difficult for Theatre Performance to justify its continued existence. For this reason, the principal has announced that Theatre Performance will close down starting this academic year and all existing Theatre Performance track students will be transferred to the General Education track. Even though it was what Eru and the
Zero.
Given the declining trends in the previous years, the decision was painful, but necessary. It's not like the remaining students of Theatre Performance are going to reverse this by just putting up a play. To the school executive committee, there is no value in maintaining Theatre Performance. Since the decision is already set, the final directives from the exco are to notify the parents and to clear the Theatre Performance classroom by next week.
As Ukaji-sensei takes her leave, the members of Theatre Performance take stock of what happened. This is especially jarring for Fumi, who has just returned to stage acting only for the entire department to shut down. Ichie also takes this news very badly and she tries to ask everyone if there is something anyone can do. With Theatre Performance gone, everyone will be scattered. Ichie continues to be worked up, and she storms out of the door. With nothing left that they can do, the remaining students start to clean up the classroom.
The cleaning continues until sunset. As Rui helps with the cleaning, she gets worked up as well. Clearly Eru has betrayed them, by not holding up her end of the bargain. The deal which was if the Rinmeikan girls manage to stay on the Revue Stage their department will not shut down. To try to calm down the situation, Tamao tells everyone to stop work and return back to the hostel first. Rui's attempt to stay behind to help Tamao is rebuffed by Fumi, who knows that Tamao needs time to be alone in these trying times.
As they return to the hostel, Yuyuko asks Fumi what the General Education track is like, considering Fumi was in General Education for a short while before joining Theatre Performance. It's not a bad place, Fumi says. The teaching quality is high, and everyone had fun during the lesson with teachers who are passionate in teaching. Just as Yuyuko was about to ask Fumi how she did in General Education, they spot Ichie. Rui asks what they just saw and Fumi quickly brushes her off by saying that she left her water bottle in the classroom and tells everyone to return to the hostel first. Yuyuko notes that it is very rare for Fumi to just forget something in the classroom, but doesn't press the issue.
Meanwhile, Fumi tries to figure out what Ichie is doing on her own and decides to catch up to her. Ichie tells Fumi that maybe she is a bit too hasty by running away immediately after the announcement. If only she could help Tamao bring back Theatre Performance. Though Fumi understands the sentiment, it is still better to not pester Tamao about it. Sure, the mood might have lightened up again, bringing up the matter will only dampen moods again. Still, Ichie wants to wait for Tamao to return so that she can greet Tamao in her own way. "As long as it doesn't break any school rules," Fumi reminds Ichie. Ichie wonders if it's supposed to be some kind of snide comment and Fumi immediately tells her to just keep that in mind. Finally, before Fumi returns, Ichie tells Fumi that even Theatre Performance shuts down and everyone goes to General Education, they all will still be friends. Fumi pushes back on Ichie by asking what she mean by that, which immediately knocks Ichie off-base.
Part 1B
The sun has set, but back in the classroom, Tamao is still by herself, clearing the classroom. There aren't enough boxes for the things they need to bring out of the classroom, and Tamao takes note of that. As she stacks up the items, Tamao discovers the script to the Ghost Squad play. And from there the scripts to Yoshitsune, the Seven Lucky Gods, Onikurenai and Urashima Tarou. Producing all of them was fun, she thought. Everyone working together to write the script, produce the costumes, build the sets, to the final production on stage. As she reminisces on the plays that they have done, she feels agitation against Eru, who she viewed as breaking their promise. Was her, and her friends' participation in the
With Eru on scene, Tamao tells Eru off for not holding her end of the bargain, but Andrew corrects her by reminding her that Eru's deal was only that if she gets the Top Star she can stand on any stage she wishes. And besides, it wasn't the Revue Stage's fault that Theatre Performance is shutting down. Eru builds on that by saying that a stage production is something that is started from zero to one. A manifestation of the Stage Girls' resolve and passion, not something that can be forced upon anyone. Therefore, even with Theatre Performance shutting down, Tamao should fight through the pain and shine, even off-stage. Andrew then continues by saying that all this talk of stopping the shutdown of Theatre Performance without really figuring out how to do so, just relying on others, would all just amount to that, idle talk. Eru tells Andrew to calm down and he apologises, saying that it just annoys him that someone would call Eru a liar. Eru finishes the meeting by saying that while merely appearing on stage isn't a condition to be a Stage Girl, it is not necessary to stand on stage to be a Stage Girl, and implores Tamao to figure out where she stands.
Tamao wakes up in the classroom, wondering what that earlier meeting meant.
The next day, during lunch break, Tamao prepares to have lunch. Modern Literature, Mathematics, Classical Literature, Japanese History... While she is getting a hand on all of this, the assignments are realling piling up over at General Education. Still, she is doing her best to get along in General Education. Rui runs to Tamao, just as she always does, wanting to have lunch with her. Tamao refuses, saying that since needs to do her revision for the later classes, she will be having lunch at the classroom. Rui is a bit disappointed at this, and Tamao tells her that maybe it is best for Rui to also focus on what she needs to do right now in General Education. Besides, Fumi, Ichie and Yuyuko are also busy doing what they need to do in General Education. Rui is shocked at this level of depression and asks what she means by that. Tamao answers that without any theatre productions to look forward to, taking up Rui's time just makes her feel guilty, which makes Rui very confused. Tamao continues that she's just an ordinary girl now. An ordinary girl who cannot stand on stage, or create a stage production. Whatever image of Tamao that Rui had all this while, is dead. This completely devastates Rui, but Tamao continues that she is sorry that she cannot continue the days when they shone on stage together. Rui, dejected, takes her leave, with complete formality[1]. After Rui leaves, a second year ballet club member asks Tamao if that was Rui. The ballet club member tells Tamao that she has her eye on Rui, considering that she is tall and has the physical capability for ballet. A basketball club member interjects by saying that Rui has quite a lot of fans despite being a freshman, and she should join basketball instead.
Tamao returns to the hostel, wondering if that's what she will need to get used to, everyday in General Education. Tamao realises that she will need to bring all these books back home. These records of Theatre Performances past: the sketches of the costumes made, the rough drawings of the background artwork. All these were brought in from Tamao's home. Most importantly, the script for "The Rinmei Chronicles".
The Paulownia tree has a lifespan of around 30 years. The Chronicles trace a life that starts together with a newly planted Paulownia, and its growth parallels a human life that grows and declines along with it. This is the stage production, steeped in tradition, that has become emblematic of Rinmeikan. A protagonist, fighting against the tides of change, and the like-minded compatriots that follow them. A tale of passion, sacrifice, and the beauty of ruin. In the end, even as the Paulownia dies, a new one sprouts, and the flapping of the butterfly's wings herald a new beginning as the curtains fall.
While the basic outline of the Rinmei Chronicles has remained unchanged, what the students of Theatre Production have done to fill the outline changed throughout the generations. "The sorrows and joys of the White Tiger ~The Rinmei Chronicles 1963~", "The Flames of Goryōkaku ~The Rinmei Chronicles 1971~", "The Tale of Gikei ~The Rinmei Chronicles 1985~", "The Mystery of Bakumatsu ~The Rinmei Chronicles 1995~" (They don't use the Imperial year notation? That's surprising). These were all performed in Rinmeikan's Grand Hall, a stage only for Rinmeikan. These were the tales that Tamao's mother and grandmother have regaled her with since young. The Rinmei Chronicles that have kept Tamao in wonderment. But recently, Rinmeikan has stopped performing the Rinmei Chronicles. Some time before Tamao was born, there was some pushback from the student community regarding The Rinmei Chronicles due to the fact that the basic outline is over a century old. Complaints that such an old theatre production is not up to the times and would only weigh down on Rinmeikan's future. A call to reinvent Rinmeikan by rejecting tradition (maybe call it a cultural revolution? >.> [2]). With that, they seal away the Rinmei Chronicles and tried to make a clean sheet production. Yet, while this new production aspired to look forward, they failed to capture what Rinmeikan represented, and with the continuing productions that rejected the traditions and history of Rinmeikan, the loss of this core aspect of Rinmeikan meant that prospective students gradually declined in number. What was once a top school, started its slow decline into oblivion.
"Surrender...? You're quite the character for saying that the person who was called the devil deputy, the person who visits doom on their enemies. If that day ever happens, I will never be able to face Isami-san and the General, who crossed the Sanzu River before me. If I shall live such a ungainly life, then I shall carve out a meaning of my own with these hands!"
That... was my grandmother, Tamao thought. Young, beautiful, and so radiant on stage. She remembered when that video played back then. "Look, Tamao... This is the Rinmei Chronicles... The stage that your grandmother staked her life on." Tamao wonders what it meant to stake her life for a stage production, and became sad. She couldn't protect the institution that her mother, grandmother, and seniors, have fought to preserve. Maybe Theatre Performance deserved to shut down, what with all their hopes that an outsider would save them. If only she had a stage where she could stake their lives on, to protect the institution of Rinmeikan. Then she could have protected Theatre Performance, her dreams, and maybe continued the tradition her seniors have set before her. And with that she cries (Again? After Frau Jade?). What will Rinmeikan become, without Theatre Performance?
"Youngster--are you really going to die here?"
Tamao jolts.
"Are you satisfied? Is this how your life is going to end? Have you truly fought? On that battlefield of life--?"
Tamao realises that is her grandmother returning to give some wisdom. No, it is not the end, she realises. It is not the end of her dreams, nor of the stage. Not until she produces the Rinmei Chronicles for this year. So much for telling Rui that the Tamao she looked up to was dead. No, she hasn't died yet. She is not yet satisfied, and her life as a Stage Girl isn't ending just like that, and she will fight for a proper resolution. She will bring everyone's power together, no, use everyone's power, to produce the Rinmei Chronicles of her own.
Continue on to Part 2: The Exiled Knight
[1] If you don't understand why I mentioned this, formal language is used in opposition to familiarity.
[2] Cultural Revolution. One aspect of the Cultural Revolution in China's history is the attempt to wipe away the cultural history that China had in favour of new ideas, whatever they may be.
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