Aikatsu Crescent!

「Phase 19」 Midnight Wings

"Good morning, everyone," Nanami Kaori greeted to her class. "Today, I have an announcement."

This immediately caught the class' attention - including Tsubaki. An announcement? It wasn't often that they were given entire class announcements... aside from big events, the idols of Celestial Academy were usually left to their own devices.

"You've all been given the opportunity to audition to play a new character in the drama Midnight Wings," the teacher explained, and the class was instantly filled with mutterings. Midnight Wings was a popular drama amongst young girls, with both romance and magic as key features. The main character was from the moon, but sent to earth after nearly blowing up her school as punishment. Despite being less than pleased about her new living situation, she was forced to get used to everything, whilst hiding her identity to even the boy she loved. Meanwhile, she was being chased by people who wanted her to leave Earth. A dramatic yet beautiful story; one of Tsubaki favourites. It was just an added bonus that the main character was played by her inspiration, the muse of Prism Tiara: Mochizuki Kira.

To think they were able to potentially play a character.

From looking over the audition details, Tsubaki saw the character in question was Suzuko Mami-chan. From the moon, here to bring Ibara (the main character), back. However, when she falls in love with a human, she becomes conflicted...

"Fits you well," Hinata said. Lessons were over, and they were sitting outside. Tsubaki raised an eyebrow.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked. Hina shrugged.

"You just seem like the type to really enforce rules."

"I guess," Tsubaki agreed, "It's more of a case-by-case basis, though."

"I think it'd be cool you tried," Mai said, "I'm trying, at least."

"Me too!" Hinata exclaimed, "Personally, I think they should just hand over the role already, since I'm Hina-sama and will obviously win, but I suppose I should give you all the chance to prove yourselves."

Mai giggled, then turned to Kotone. Mai and Hinata had dragged her with them after class, hoping she'd be able to give them advice. "Are you taking part, Kotone-chan?"

"I cannot."

"Eh?! Do you have a job then?"

"No. I'm not compatible with acting."

Hinata sighed. "I thought you'd be able to help."

"I can help with the technical side," she responded, refusing to elaborate further. She knew there was little chance of the others already forgetting about her struggles with expression, therefore it was wasted breath explaining to them, she thought. Unexpectedly though, she found herself wrapped in Mai's arms.

"Thank you, Kotone-chan!" she exclaimed.

"You're welcome."

Meanwhile, Tsubaki was looking through the details of the audition on her phone once again. By this point, she practically had them memorised but... she didn't want to miss any small details. Acting in the academy's Summer movie had been fun, and Tsubaki found herself performing far more naturally than she had expected. Some way or another, she felt the desire to discover if it was just a fluke or not. Auditioning for a televised drama seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Her phone then lit up with a notification. "It's time for my meeting with Kasugano-san," she said, standing up and grabbing her bag. She smiled at her friends. "I'll catch you later." Once her friends gave the usual 'see you later's and 'good luck's, Tsubaki ran off.