Chapter Text
Prologue
When Maya opened her eyes, she immediately closed them again. The sight of spotlights overhead burning into her skull was unexpected, and it was much too bright that her vision remained fully white even as she kept her eyelids shut tight. Searing pain stung the areas around her sockets, and it hurt to even move her eyeballs.
It was strange, to say the least. She always turned the lights off at night before going to bed. It wouldn't make sense for her to be met by so much brightness now when she was waking. Her bed felt warmer than it usually was too, and held a certain sturdiness than the usual plush comfort she'd been so used to. The surface was lacking its usual silkiness as well, instead presenting a rough, almost hairy surface against her fingertips as she moved her hands to feel around the texture.
She grunted, definitely finding discomfort in the oddity of the situation. This was too unfamiliar, and she needed to open her eyes and access her situation properly, figure out where she truly was. She was starting to think that this wasn't her bed, and her eyes still saw white from where they hid behind her closed lids. She turned her head, in hopes that the direction she turned to would not lead to more searing spotlights shooting lasers into her brain. Maya was used to the spotlight, but even this was excessive, and she'd preferred it if they were not effectively trying to blind her.
And so she turned, cautiously opening her eyes, only to be met by a looming darkness outside of the area of the overhead light. The darkness seemed to stretch on for miles, with no end in sight. This confused Maya even further, not recalling how she'd managed to get there. The last she could remember was-
The object underneath her shifted, and Maya instantly lost whatever smidgen of a balance she had from lying on top of the surface. A surface that she could now conclude was very much not her bed in Starlight hall.
Before she knew it, she was sliding off the uneven, mysterious object below her. She stuck her arms out to catch herself, preparing for the inevitable fall to wherever she was about to be dropped off to. She’d overestimated her situation however, as it was barely even a drop from where she’d initially been lying, and before she knew it, she’d landed on her feet. What turned out to be concrete covered the ground below her, the darkness she’d seen slowly shifting away to make room for more light to embrace it.
"So the stage girl finally awakens."
The familiar, yet ever as disjointed voice boomed through the space before her. It was louder than usual, as if she was standing right next to a megaphone.
Maya turned to the surface she’d slid off from, expecting to be met with something akin to a raised platform, only to be met by several brown spots on beige. She reached out to touch, feeling for herself, once again, the rough texture of what she could now see was short, thick fur.
When she looked up, she was met with pearl black, beady eyes peering down at her.
“Kirin.” Her voice came out unexpectedly raw and dry. She wondered if she was dehydrated, though Maya had no desire to drink any water. Somehow, she had the feeling that she had no need for it. “Where am I? This does not look like the basement…”
The giraffe blinked once in acknowledgement.
“Tendo Maya-san.” He spoke, his monotone voice sending chills down Maya’s spine. “As you may not be able to guess, I shall gladly inform you that we are not in the physical world.”
As anything that ever pertains to the giraffe’s power at work, the statement by itself was enough to make Maya swallow thickly in grim anticipation. “What do you mean?”
Anticipation truly was what she ended up feeling, though now fear struck her heart in gentle caresses as she further assessed the mysterious situation.
“Due to unfortunate circumstances that had befallen your physical body in the real world, you are unable to be awakened.” He explained, curling his head around to rest on his back, the space where Maya had previously occupied. “Thus, we are now inhabiting your unconsciousness, where your consciousness now speaks to me.”
“I am dreaming?” She asked. It was the most logical conclusion she could come up with. “You are not real?”
“I assure you, I am very much real. I have projected your consciousness to be able to live in your unconsciousness, a space where I myself am able to cross.”
“That fails to make any sense.”
“You are confused.” He stated. “I understand.”
The giraffe proceeded not to provide any more explanation, and so Maya had to switch tactics to get any bit of information out of him.
“Did something happen to me?”
There were a variety of different ways she wanted to phrase that. Her mind ran through a few in an incredibly short amount of time, coming up with similar questions that would perhaps give her answers as to how she ended up where she was. Were they in another revue, somehow? Did the giraffe take her somewhere? Did she pass out? Was she asleep?
…Did she die?
As if hearing her thoughts, the giraffe regarded her with his usual blank stare, and it was until seconds later that that disembodied voice of his spoke once again.
“You did not die, Tendo Maya-san. You are a stage girl of far too much spectacular brilliance to lose.” He flicked an ear. “What happened to you was unfortunate, but not permanent. As I stated, you are currently unable to be awaked.”
“Something happened to me.” Maya repeated as a statement, wondering if he would give her a direct answer if she asked once again what it was. The giraffe once again did not provide an elaboration, only flicking his other ear as he continued to stare at her, eyelids drooping. She wondered if he ever slept.
“Why are you here?”
“For the same reason as you.” He responded, as if it was supposed to make sense. Perhaps he had thought it enough to answer all the unspoken questions Maya had. “I am here for the stage, to witness the show of a lifetime.”
She looked around again. Most of her surroundings were blank, stretching on for infinity. It looked nothing close to the basement where revues usually partook in.
“What stage are you referring to?”
“The one where your life goes on without you.” He answered, far too casually for something that made Maya’s heart throb painfully in her chest. So perhaps she did die…? Or-
“Did I get erased again?” She asked, and the thought of getting wiped out of her friends’ lives a second time hurt her a lot more than she could ever admit. She’d experienced that life once before, and she had no desire to live through it again.
“On the contrary.” There was a sound that reminded Maya of a person clearing his throat. “You are very much in existence. For the reason I am here is to present you with a gift, as a girl with a great brilliance such as your own would be a shame to leave to waste.”
Maya’s eyes never truly left him. “A gift?”
“You shall accompany me in watching the real world fly by, as your physical body was to remain immobile until there came a time for you to reawaken.” He flicked both ears at the same time this time around, raising his head slightly from where he had it rested. “While you are not able to return as of yet, I shall present you with the ability to interact with the world you’ve temporarily departed from.”
The giraffe’s words whirled around Maya’s mind, filling her with even more questions as well as potential answers to her own confusion. Something did happen to her, she could assume as much. Her memory remained blank, not providing her with any semblance of detail that may contribute to her plight, though she had to settle with the fact that it was potentially something bad if it had caused herself - her actual body - to be ‘unable to be awakened’. Perhaps she was simply asleep, or passed out. It wasn’t impossible, nor uncommon, for students in her career path to occasionally face such situations.
In the meantime, as she was apparently unable to do anything, the giraffe’s proposition intrigued her.
“I get to interact?”
“You shall not communicate with the mortals of your world.” He said, sounding stricter than usual. “You may do small alterations, and as you and I both may be well aware,- the small things are what may become the catalyst for large events to occur. As I long for a show, I am truly intrigued to see what you, Tendo Maya-san, may do with this power.”
Maya nodded her understanding. It all seemed rather bizarre to her, and she still had many questions. Hopefully, something would sooner explain what happened to her. She of course would love to know how she’d gotten herself in this situation.
“What happened to me?” She asked again, not truly hoping for an answer. The giraffe would keep things interesting as long as she could, she knew.
“Do you not know what you did to bring you to this moment?”
She tried to remember, frowning to herself and subconsciously tugging at a strand of hair. “I don’t.”
As she expected, he did not provide her with a direct answer.
“You will. In due time.” Emotionless as ever. Then, as if he was simply watching the television and was holding the desire to either switch channels or pick out a movie, he stated the next part extremely causally. “Now, what do you wish to watch first, Tendo Maya-san?”
A rectangular, white screen appeared before her, floating only two or three feet away directly in front of her face.
One name came up in her mind, one person that she would often find herself drawn towards in an invisible magnetic pull. It was the first thing she could think of, and Maya wasn’t sure where to start- she could say her own name, and she would likely gain her answer right away as to why she was where she was. But something inside of her didn’t want that, nor would her curiosity overpower her enough to choose satisfaction of gaining said information over checking up on the wellbeing of the person she held closest to her heart.
“Show me Saijo Claudine.” She said to the blank, white screen.
Acting directly on command, the screen glowed, and soon what appeared to be a little live showing of her partner’s quaint little bedroom played before her.
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