Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Brilliance. Some say that it's blinding while others say it is perfection. But to these girls, it is a symbol of their greatness. They are the Stage Girls, young women who are dedicated to learning the art of theater and acting. And now, they shall be graced by worlds no human can never witness.

Because this is the Revue of a Thousand Stars.

"Haaahh... Finally! School's over!"

With a satisfied look, Karen Aijo stretched her arms as school is over. She's currently cleaning up her desk after school has ended since, after all, today is Friday.

"Karen-chan! Can you hurry up!" said a kind voice.

"I'm coming!" said Karen, where she's almost done fixing her bag.

After cleaning up, Karen went outside the classroom and went to the school's entrance gates where her friends are waiting for her.

"Hey everyone! Sorry for the wait! Karen Aijo is here!" Karen loudly proclaimed.

"Oh, Karen... Same old, same old..." said a stoic girl.

"Well... We won't be complete if Karen's getting left behind." said a kind girl.

And from those responses, Karen immediately responded, "You guys. Having you say these things to me is a big non non!"

"It's been a while since we're walking together, doesn't it, Maya Tendo?"

"Same goes for you, Saijo-san"

What Claudine Saijo is referring to is their group. All nine of them usually went their separate ways once school is over. Usually, Karen would be with Mahiru and Hikari while Junna will be with Banana. The same goes for Kaoruko, Futaba, Maya, and Claudine. But in this instance, all nine girls are walking as a big group.

As of now, they're heading back to the Starlight Dorm so that they can relax after a day of classes. So far, each of the girls is engrossed in their discussion with each other.

"Hey Banana! What's for dinner tonight?" Karen happily replied.

"Well, I actually don't know what to pick Karen-chan." Nana replied, "Maybe you can decide what's for dinner."

In shock, Karen immediately began to plead with her friends to at least help her out.

"Me!? Well, uhhhh... Mahiru-chan! Hikari-chan! Can you help me out!" Karen pleaded.

"Sorry, Karen-chan. If Nana-chan wants you to decide for dinner, then you should at least try answering her." Mahiru replied.

"I agree," Hikari said, "At least give Nana-san an answer."

"Oh come on!" Karen whined.

Meanwhile, behind them, Kaoruko and Futaba are arguing regarding their morning routine. Normally, their arguments would've lasted for a while but in this instance, it lasted for the whole day.

"Futaba-han! When will you fix that bike of yours!" Kaoruko whined while pointing at her legs, "My legs were about to be turned into jelly a while ago if it weren't for the bell!".

"Hey! I'm doing whatever I can to fix it so can you at least be patient!" Futaba snapped back.

"Hoshimi-han! Please tell Futaba-han that she needs to fix her bike!" Kaoruko pleaded to their representative.

Junna sighed, knowing Kaoruko she would keep on whining, and replied, "Kaoruko-san, please be patient. Knowing that Futaba is doing whatever she can to fix her bike so please be more understanding."

But even with that, Kaoruko still whined about her being too tired and hoped that at the end of the week, she'll be able to go to school with ease, leaving Futaba and Junna let out an irritated sigh.

And finally, behind the three is the duo, Maya Tendo and Claudine Saijo who were observing their classmates' from behind.

"Even as if the day ends, it never gets boring, Maya Tendo," Claudine said, "Ever since what happened back then, we never get tired of these sorts of things."

Maya nodded, seeing that her friends are still going at their 'routine' per see, "I agree Saijo-san, it seems that they still have the energy to make the day more interesting no."

From that remark, Claudine was about to say something, until...

In a blink of an eye, the Seisho girls are transported to a familiar stage that they all know too well. It is the Revue Stage, where many important events have happened there from the auditions to the ReLive stories.

"What! Why are we here again!?" Claudine said in surprise.

It has been quite a while since they've been to Elle's stage. Ever since they learned about Elle's secret, it was a bit hectic for them whenever they come by and defeat the Korosu.

"But wait a minute, why are we still wearing our school uniform?" Karen noticed as she's looking at herself.

Soon enough, the entire group also realized that their outfits never changed. Usually, whenever they went to the stage, they'd change into their Stage Girl attire. But now, they remain in their school uniform.

"Do you think Elle-chan has something planned for us?" Mahiru wondered, leaving the rest of the group to follow Mahiru's theory.

While they're trying to figure out what's going on, the group suddenly heard three voices coming from the seats.

"It appears that Seisho has arrived." said one voice.

"Oh my... You're right! It is them!" said a calm voice.

"Hi girls! Guess we're not the only ones here!" said a cheery voice.

When the Seisho girls turned they were surprised when they saw the voices' origin. It was the other Stage girls from the three schools. The Rinmeikan, Frontier, and Siegfeld girls are at the stands where they found the Seisho girls.

"Aruru-chan! What are you doing here!?" Karen said in surprise, while the rest of the girls are going down the stands to welcome the Seisho girls.

"From the looks of things, it seems you're in the same predicament as we are," Akira said, "We were inside our clubroom when we ended up here."

"Well, at least you're safe, to say the least," Tamao said, "We were worried about what will happen next."

"Hey! Hey! So how did you guys ended up here!" Aruru said in excitement.

"Well, we were going back to our dorm and suddenly, we wound up here instead," Karen said.

"I think you ended up the same correct?"

Tamao replied, "Yes, that's right, we were cleaning our rehearsal room when we're suddenly transported here."

Misora then said to them, "The same thing for us! We were about to have our dinner until poof! We're at Elle's stage!"

Seeing how everyone was transported at the same time, the Stage Girls felt that Elle must've done something to bring them all together. Knowing that it could be an emergency, some of them began to give off their pleasantries to each other and discuss what Elle has planned for them until...

"Greetings Stage Girls. You have arrived."

"Welcome back to our stage-ryuu!"

When the Stage Girls turned around, they saw two figures at the center of the stage. And those two figures are none other than Elle and Andrew.

"Elle!/Elle-chan!/Abominamole!" said the Stage Girls.

Elle replied, "Seems to me you've been waiting for me."

Andrew replied, saying, "We may be a bit late-ryuu, but we're here to explain what's about to happen."

"Then explain it, Abominamole!" Kaoruko screamed.

"And it looks like you still lack some delicacy, Kyoto Girl," Andrew said in reply, leading Kaoruko steaming with anger.

"Enough Andrew," Elle said, leading Andrew to stay quiet.

"Hey, Elle-chan, do you mind telling us what's going on?" Karen said.

"Has the Korosu returned?" Tamao said in worry.

"Did you planned a surprise for us!" Aruru said in excitement, leaving some of the girls bewildered.

"I'm sorry everyone but the answer is no," Elle said.

"Then... Why did you bring us here?" Maya asked Elle.

"It's because we have a guest," Elle replied, until...

"That's enough Elle... Let me do the talking."

From the other side of the stage, the girls all turned their heads and saw a person in the shadows.

"Hey! Who are you! Show yourself!" Fumi shouted at the figure.

After Fumi's shout, the figure walked into the light. When the girls got a good look at the figure, they were in shock.

It was a well-dressed man. Wearing a black fedora, he was wearing a suit with a black tie along with checkered jeans. He also wearing brown loafers and has a choker on his neck. He's also holding a book, to say the least.

In an elegant voice, the man said, "Sorry if I scared you all, I know you have a lot of questions but I promise you, I will answer to the best of my abilities."

When most of the girls finally got their composure, Shizuru asked the man saying, "May I know who you are sir?"

The man replied saying, "My name is Edward, and I'm here to welcome you to the Revue of a Thousand Stars."

Chapter Text

"The Revue of a Thousand Stars?" the Stage Girls all said in confusion, wondering what Edward was talking about.

Edward proceeded to walk towards them and said, "I understand that many of you are wondering what is going on but to ensure that I get the best results, raise your hand so that I may answer them."

And in a blink of an eye, almost all of the girls raised their hands, except for some of them.

"Wow! So many of you want some answers! Well, let's see..." Edward gleefully said as he's picking which girl shall he pick, "How about... You!"

Edward pointed to a small, blonde girl who is none other than Michiru.

"So Edward, can you tell us why we're here?" Michiru said.

With a smile, Edward said, "Well, I'm here to educate you all about the different stories that you haven't encountered." 

"Other stories?" Mei Fan said in confusion, leading the other girls to know what the man is talking about. 

Edward then replied, "What I'm saying is that you will watch the stories unfold, and maybe... you can come to enjoy those stories as I did." 

From his answer, some of the Stage Girls began to understand what he's talking about. Ever since the girls discovered Elle's power, they decided to experience Elle's stories so that they too can learn a valuable lesson from each of them. And judging from his answer, they believe that he also possesses a semblance of Elle's power.

"But wait... What about the Korosu? Won't they pose a problem in this revue?" Claudine said with worry.

Although the Revues don't pose a problem to them, they still have to defeat the Korosu since, with each new story, there will always be a group of Korosu ready to attack them.

"No need to worry Miss Saijo," Edward calmly replied.

"It's because there won't be any Korosu in this revue."

"W-What do you mean no Korosu!?" Claudine exclaimed, knowing that for each revue, a group of Korosu will appear. And once they appear, they must destroy them to finish the revue.

Even the other Stage Girls are also agreeing with Claudine since this has been the routine for as long as they remember.

"Look, I understand why you girls won't trust me," Edward sternly said, "But I can assure you, no Korosu will attack you all. You have my word."

When the Stage Girls hear his declaration, many of them began to become skeptical of his words. 

That is until Tamao stepped in and said, "If there are really no Korosu that will attack us, then, you have my word."

From it, some of Tamao's friends were shocked because of what she said.

"Have you lost your mind, Tamao-san! Are you seriously going to trust this guy!?" Fumi said with shock and anger.

Immediately, Tamao gently told them, "Everyone! I understand your uneasiness, but I believe that Edward-san is telling the truth. I know this might come out selfish, but please, trust in Edward-san."

From her statement, some of the girls start to wonder if Edward is even telling the truth.  But sooner or later, some of them began to discuss to themselves if he's even worthy of trust.

"Well, if Tamao-senpai trusts him, then I'll put my trust in him as well!" Rui said with conviction.

"N-Not you too, Rui-san!" Fumi screamed, leading her to see if her other classmates would follow Rui's example.

"Well... It's not that he's hurting us so I'm on board as well!" Ichie happily said.

"Haahhh... Fine by me... If he's not causing us trouble, then it's fine." Yuyuko groggily said, leading the rest of the Rinmeikan students to look at Fumi.

"Ugh! Fine! I'll trust him for now!" Fumi said in anger, leading Ichie to jump for joy.

Meanwhile, the Frontier girls are also discussing whether or not they should trust Edward but apparently, it's as if Aruru and Lalafin want to trust them.

"Come on gals! If this guy is like Elle-chan, then Edward-san must have plenty of stories to share!" Aruru said in excitement.

"Yeah! Maybe Lalafin can know more amazing stories just like Edward promised!" Lalafin said.

"Oh boy... Nothing can stop those two from doing what they want don't they..." Tsukasa nonchalantly said.

"Yeah... The best option, for now, is to go with the flow." Misora said.

With a smile, Shizuha said, "But in that case, we could learn something new from all of this." 

Meanwhile, the Edels are waiting for Akira for an answer on whether or not they should trust Edward.

"So, Akira what's your call on this one," Michiru replied, leaving the rest of the Edels in suspense.

Akira was deep in thought after Edward's announcement. It was a surprise for her that someone similar to Elle has asked them to be a part of another Revue. 

It was there that Akira spoke up saying, "Michiru, Mei Fan, Shiori, Yachiyo, share your opinions on this situation."

From the announcement, some of them (except Michiru) start to think about their opinions on the matter. After a while, they came up with their opinions as follows.

First, a smiling Michiru said, "You know Akira, I feel like Edward-san might show some interesting stories! I think it can help you in making you shine more!"

"Well, in my opinion, I believe that if we were to take up Edward's offer... I think Akira-senpai, no... All of us Edels can benefit from this endeavor!" Mei Fan said.

"Um... If Edward-san isn't as bad as he was... Maybe we should trust him a bit?" Shiori said.

"As for me... I think Edward-san could give us something new," Yachiyo said with a grin, "We can't let this opportunity slide right, Akira-san?"

After hearing all of their opinions, Akira has decided on what course of action to take.

Finally, the Seisho girls are now talking amongst themselves about what they should do regarding Edward's motives.

With the girls huddled together, Claudine said to them, "If I were you all, I believe I need proof that Edward is trustworthy."

"If you wish to have proof, shouldn't you at least have a sliver of trust for him?" Maya replied, leaving Claudine to get flustered.

"Are you trying to become reckless, Maya Tendo!" Claudine snapped, knowing full well of what has transpired in the past.

"Come on Claude-chan! Won't it be interesting if we accept Edward-san's offer!" Karen happily said.

But, unfortunately, Mahiru said, "Karen-chan, I know how excited you are but you should at least be more cautious on what's happening right now." 

"That's right... You know what happened last time we put our trust in Elle, correct?" Hikari said.

"I know but... I have a feeling that this time around, he will keep his promise!" Karen said.

While the five of them are discussing Edward's proposal, the rest of the Seisho girls are also wondering about the same topic as them. Junna thought about trusting Edward with Nana agreeing with the notion while Kaoruko flatly said that she would rather trust Edward than to stand side by side with Andrew.

After a while, all the girls converged towards Edward, who is standing in between Elle and Andrew.

"So Stage Girls! What's your final decision?" Edward said.

And in a chorus, many of the Stage Girls said that they trust in Edward.

"Very well then. Now... Let's start the revue shall we?" Edward confidently said.

With a flick of the wrist, Edward procured a pen and opened his book. He then started to write on that book and while writing, the stage begins to change. 

Gone are the curtains and the seats as it has been replaced with something else. Golden walls were erected in place and soon enough, the entire stage became somewhat akin to a lobby.

And when Edward stopped writing, all of the Stage Girls were in awe of what transpired, leaving some rendered speechless.

"Wh-Where are we!?" some of them said.

Edward grinned and said, "Welcome to my theater! This is the Theater of a Thousand Stars!"

"Now come! Follow me!"

After their bewilderment, Edward led the girls to view the theater and to be amazed at it. Some of them saw countless booths that sell a variety of items. Whether it's food or toys, they were in awe of how much power Edward has.

"Alright ladies, here we are!" Edward proclaimed as they reached their destination.

When Edward opened the door, the girls were surprised to see that Edward has led them to the movie room.

"Now then... go to your designated seating so that we may proceed to our screening." Edward said, leading the Stage Girls to their seats.

After procuring their seats, Edward then said to them, "Ladies and Andrew, today you will witness your first movie, so sit back, relax and enjoy the show!"

Chapter Text

The movie opens with a shot of a painter's easel. 

"Very nearly there sir," a man's voice said.

The camera pans to an elderly man who is painting someone, "I have to say, your face is familiar. Have I drawn you before?" 

Then, a familiar voice said, "Occasionally."

After hearing that voice, the Rinmeikan girls flinched, knowing far too well whose voice it belongs to.

"Wait... That's my voice!?" Rui exclaimed.

"Hey, Edward! What's the meaning of this!?" Fumi said in anger and annoyance.

With a sigh, Edward paused the movie and stood up, leaving the girls to see if he has a good explanation.

"I'm very sorry that I forgot to mention this but, the stories that I'm showing you would occasionally, feature you girls," Edward said.

"So you're saying that whenever we watch these stories, it would occasionally show us as those characters?" Maya said, leaving all of the Stage Girls to wonder if they too will be featured in any of the future screenings.

"Anyway, I hope this will be the last time that I have to pause the movie. Do I make myself clear?" Edward sternly said, making the rest of the girls calm down.

"Of course! I've seen you in the newspaper!" the painter replied.

He then said, "You're a reporter?"

The Rui onscreen said, "I'm a journalist."

"So in this movie, I'm a journalist?" Rui said.

"Yes... And a really good one so to say." Edward remarked.

"Ooohhh... I wonder what kind of stories have you been scooping out!" Ichie said.

The camera then pans to a Wire Fox Terrier who is sitting right next to his owner.

The dog whimpers, wondering if his master is finished with his errands.

"Be patient, Snowy," Rui said.

"Aw! What cute dog!" Shiori said in delight.

"Yes... He reminds me of Mr. White." Hikari replied.

"But we all know Andrew is also cute right?" Andrew said.

"Like you're any cuter, Abominamole," Kaoruko said sarcastically.

While waiting for his master, Snowy was looking around until someone wearing black shoes appears. He then looked up and saw someone is flexing their hands, ready to do something.

"I wonder what will that one do?" Mahiru said.

With curiosity, Snowy decided to follow the figure who proceeds to take some wallets, revealing itself as a woman.

During that scene, the Rinmeikan girls discovered who the woman is when her back is shown.

"So I'm basically a thief in this movie huh?" Yuyuko said in a huff, knowing that she's basically a pickpocket in the movie.

"It's okay Ichie! It's just a movie! Don't let it give you a negative impact!" Tamao said.

"It's ok, I'll get used to it..." Yuyuko said in a tiring fashion.

While following Yuyuko, she then began to grab another man's wallet, leaving the poor man to find out that his wallet is missing.

She then proceeded to take another wallet and another wallet, while lighting her latest victim's cigarette, leaving him wittingly unknown of what has happened.

"How oblivious," Akira remarked, seeing how the last victim was unable to notice that his wallet has been stolen.

"The Yuyuko-san in there must be that good," Tamao said, leaving some of the girls impressed.

As the painter finishes Rui's painting, he then proceeded to show her caricature.

"There. I believe I have captured something of your likeness." 

The Rui onscreen took the painting and saw how well drawn it was.

"Not bad! What do you think, Snowy!" Rui remarked, leaving the audience to see Rui's attire. She's wearing a blue sweater, plus fours, an Eton collar, and a light brown check suit.

"So this what my counterpart is wearing?" Rui wondered.

"Edward-san, can you tell me, in what place does this story set?" Claudine said, knowing too well that the Rui onscreen is wearing clothes that are not from their time period.

Edward replied, "Well... It is set in Antwerp, Belgium in the mid to late 1920s."

"So this story is set in Taisho era?" Junna said, leaving the girls to feel more interested in what kind of story will unfold.

But then, Rui noticed that her dog is nowhere in sight. She sighed and proceeded to find her dog, right after paying the painter for his hard work.

Rui began to roam the marketplace, trying to look for Snowy, while two men who are both holding a newspaper. 

"Anything?" the man on the right said.

"Nothing!" the man on the left said.

"Whoa! Lalafin's in the story as well!" Lalafin said.

"Hey, Edward-san! What's my role in the story!" Ichie said, leading Edward to reply, "Be patient Miss Ichie, you'll see soon enough."

While walking, Rui is fixing her hair and as she's calling out her dog, Snowy appeared, wanting to tell his master about the woman that he saw. 

"Where have you been? Chasing cats again?" Rui said, unbeknownst to her on when she looked into the mirror.

"Is that a ship?" Karen said.

"To be more precise Miss Karen, a model ship," Edward said.

"Snowy! Look at this!" she exclaimed when she saw the model ship, wherein the ship's figurehead featured the body of a unicorn.

"Triple masted. Double decks. Fifty guns. Isn't she a beauty?" Rui said in awe.

The seller explained to Rui about the ship wherein he said about its origins.

"That's a very unique specimen, that is. From an old sea captain's estate."

"The Unicorn," Rui said.

  "I'll admit if that ship was real, I would enjoy riding it at the ocean!" Aruru said.

"I also liked that there's a unicorn at its front!" Shiori said, due to her admiration of horses.

The seller then explained to Rui more information about The Unicorn while Rui began to inject some of her own knowledge. 

"Unicorn. Man o'war sailing ship. It's very old, that is. 16th century."

"17th, I would think."

"Reign of Charles I."

"Charles II."

When the girls saw how Rui onscreen was able to say more facts about the ship than the seller, they find it very impressive about her intelligence.

"Wow Rui, your counterpart must be very intelligent about that ship," Tamao said.

"R-Really!?" Rui said while blushing.

The seller then said, "That's what I said, Charles II. As fine a ship as ever sailed the seven seas. You won't find another one of these mate. And it's only two quid."  

Rui stood up and looked at the seller and said, "I'll give you a pound."

"Done!" the old man said, as Rui gives him his money.

"Shouldn't Rui pay more to the man?" Hikari said, knowing that she once lived in England.

Edward then said to Hikari, "It is true that Rui should pay more IF, it's in this time period. Remember, this the 1920s, and the currency works differently."

Meanwhile, a man in a blue suit began to race towards the boat as the old man is giving Rui "The Unicorn".

"What's that man's problem?" Karen said.

The man then asked the seller, "Hey, bud, how much for the boat?"

The seller then said to him, "I'm sorry, I just sold it to this young gent."

"You're a little late for that man," Yachiyo said, "You should've gone to that market earlier."

"The early bird gets the worm," Junna quoted, making all of the girls always plan early.

He then said to Rui, "Tell me what you paid and I'll give you double."

"Double!?" the seller said in shock.

"Thanks. But it's not for sale." Rui flatly said.

"I agree, I have the right to not sell that ship even if he wants it that bad," Rui said, leaving some of the girls to agree with her.

The man tried to warn Rui saying, "Look, kid, I'm trying to help you out. I don't think you realize this, but you're about to walk into a whole mess of danger."

"Danger?" said a few of the girls.

"Maybe someone's after the ship?" Mei Fan said.

"Hmmm... How interesting." Michiru mumbled to herself.

"What kind of danger?" Rui replied.

The man immediately tells her, "I'm warning you, get rid of the boat and get out while you still can. These people do not play nice. "

"What people?" Rui wondered until another familiar girl bumps into her.

"Wonderful. It's just wonderful." 

"Oh good... Looks like I'm in the movie as well." Fumi sighed.

"But hey... You do look good in that outfit of yours!" Ichie replied.

The Fumi onscreen is shown wearing a red coat along with a red tie to match her coat.

The Fumi onscreen said, "Don't bother wrapping it, I'll take it as is."

Believing that she can get the ship, she said, "Does anybody object if I pay by cheque?"

The seller then replied, "If you want to buy it, you'll have to talk to the kid." 

Fumi then saw Rui standing with the ship and said, "I see... Well, let the "kid" name his price."

"You really think you can Rui's ship that easily?" Aruru teased, knowing for a fact that if the Rui said no on the first offer, then she's sure as heck she won't give up.

"Yikes! I better make sure I don't end up like her!" Fumi thought to herself.

"'Name his price'? Ten years I've been flogging bric-a-brac and I miss 'name your price' by one bleedin' minute!" the seller said in annoyance.

Rui then said to Fumi, "I'm sorry. I already explained to the other gentleman."

The seller then said, "American he was. All hair oil and no socks."

Realizing that money won't work against Rui, Fumi decided to 'enlighten' her about the ship's history.

"Then let me appeal to your better nature. I have recently acquired Marlinspike Hall, and this ship, as I'm sure you're aware, was once part of the estate." 

"Of the late sea captain?" Rui said.

"Really?"Kaoruko said, "Then shouldn't Rui-han give it to Fumi-han the ship since it is part of the estate that she bought."

"Well, it could be true that the model is part of the estate but bear in mind that the model is outside of the estate so, therefore, it is not part of the purchase," Junna said in reply.

"The family fell upon hard times. Lost everything. They've been living in a cloud of bad luck ever since. We are talking generations of drinking and irrational behavior..." Fumi said until, Rui cuts her off, saying, "I'm sorry. But as I told you before, it's not for sale. Good day to you sir."

And from it, Rui began to leave the marketplace to go home.

"You really are becoming aggressive about your ship aren't you Rui?" Ichie said.

"That young woman, what's her name?" Fumi said to the seller.

The seller then said, "Her? Everybody knows her. That's Tintin."

"Tintin?" some of the girls said, leaving some of them to chuckle about it.

"You guys! Stop laughing!" Rui said in embarrassment.

"Sorry, it's just... the name was a bit weird for me," Karen said.

"I know! Right, Karen-chan!" Aruru said.

"Well, it is an interesting name though, I wonder how she got that name," Michiru said interestingly.

"Of course, I wonder if she got it from her mother?" Maya said.

"But even so, the name 'Tintin' is a bit interesting," Claudine said.

And once the seller said Tintin's name, Fumi went into a scowl, knowing that she has to get that ship.

The scene then cuts into Tintin entering her flat.

"What is it about this ship? Why has it attracted so much attention" Tintin wondered, as she placed the model ship near the fireplace.

"What secrets do you hold?" Tintin replied as she began to examine "The Unicorn"

"I couldn't agree more to that Tintin," Yachiyo said, making all the girls wonder what kind of secret the ship holds.

Tintin then enters her study as she's looking for the magnifying glass, not knowing that a stray cat has entered the room.

"Something tells me that a disaster will strike," Futaba said, knowing that if a cat is in the same place as a dog, bad things will surely happen.

While Tintin is looking for the magnifying glass, several newspapers were on display on the wall, featuring Tintin's previous exploits ranging from capturing a crime ring to retrieving a king's lost scepter.

When the girls saw them, they were all in shock at how many stories Tintin has garnered and was a part of.

"Wow! I can't believe she has gone through those kinds of adventures!" Karen said.

"Edward-san! Is it possible if we can learn about Rui's other adventures!" Ichie shouted with delight, leaving some of the girls to know more about her adventures.

"If you girls want to know more about them, then once this story's over, you can check our bookstore if you liked," Edward said, leading Ichie to plan a trip to Edward's bookstore.

Tintin is still trying to find her magnifying glass until Snowy found it, leading Tintin to grab it from his jaws.

"Thank you," Tintin said until she spotted the cat with her glass.

"Uh oh," some of the girls.

"Yes... Uh oh indeed..." Edward replied.

The cat hissed at Tintin leading Snowy to try and chase it. 

"No Snowy!" Tintin exclaimed.

Chaos has ensued in the flat as Tintin tried to catch the cat, leading many of her valuables to get destroyed. But, in the midst of their chase, Snowy unwittingly knocked The Unicorn, leading it to crash on the floor.

"Oh no!" some of the girls exclaimed.

"I just bought that!" Rui said in shock.

"Don't worry Rui-chan! Maybe your counterpart can fix it!" Tamao said, reassuring Rui.

Tintin then looked in shock seeing that her newly-bought ship is now broken. She then took the ship and noticed that its mast has been broken.

"Look what you. You broke it! Bad dog!" Tintin snapped at Snowy, leading him to whimper.

"Hey! Don't blame Snowy! Blame the cat!" some of the girls said.

But when Tintin tilted the ship, a metal tube came out of the mast's hole. The tube fell from the ship and when Snowy tried to grab it, he pushed the tube all the way under the closet.

"What's that!?" Junna exclaimed, where some of the girls wondered if that's one of the ship's secrets.

"I wonder what's inside that tube?" Tsukasa said.

Tintin then decided that she needs to know what has happened to the ship as she grabs her coat.

"Something happened to this ship. And we're going to the one place that could have the answer," Tintin said as she called Snowy to follow her, "Come on, Snowy."

Just as Tintin left her flat, an unknown looks through its binoculars, who is eyeing the model ship.

"Looks the bad guys are making their move!" Lalafin said in suspense.

"Yeah! I also wonder what kind of secret "The Unicorn" is holding!" Aruru said in excitement.

Edward then said to them, "Well, you'll just have to wait and see girls."

Chapter Text

The scene then appears that Tintin and Snowy are in the library.

"Here it is!" Tintin said as Snowy went up the chair to see what Tintin is reading.

Tintin read aloud, saying, "Lady Frances Haddock of Marlinspike Hall, the last captain of the ill-fated Unicorn. The ship set sail from Barbados in 1676 on one of the most ruinous voyages in maritime history. Ship never reached destination. Attacked by pirates, all hands lost except for one survivor."

"Unbelievable..." Junna and Tsukasa said, seeing that only one person has survived the voyage.

"When Lady Frances was rescued and returned home, she was convinced her name had been cursed. The Unicorn's manifest stated that it was carrying a cargo of rum and tobacco bound for Europe, but it was long claimed the ship was carrying a secret cargo." Tintin said in curiosity.

"What was the ship carrying, Snowy?" Tintin said.

"A secret cargo?" Elle said, wondering what kind of cargo the ship was carrying.

"Maybe a secret treasure perhaps?" Karen said, leading some of the girls to speculate what kind of treasure the Unicorn is carrying.

Tintin turned the next page and read, "Historians have tried and failed to discover what happened on that fatal voyage, but Lady Frances' last words,  'Only a true Haddock will discover the secret of the Unicorn.'"

And from that statement, the Stage Girls now start to wonder if there are still some of Frances' descendants who are still alive.

Tintin is still looking for some answers where she didn't notice that someone is watching her. And when the figure came close to Tintin, she turned around wondering who it was.

"It's the guy from the marketplace!" Misora said.

"Why won't he leave Tintin alone!?" Tamao said in shock.

"I'm guessing he's checking on her if she's getting closer to the truth," Maya said, "He's doing whatever he can to not let Tintin be in grave danger."

Thunder rumbled outside leading Tintin to realize that something is missing.

Tintin returns to her flat and said, "I've missed something, Snowy. We need to take a closer look at that model."

As she entered her room, thunder flashes outside showing that the Unicorn is gone, leading Tintin to be shocked.

"It's gone!/ Where did it go!" some of the girls said in shock.

"The bad guys took the ship!" Lalafin said.

"Of course it's gone! How could I've been so stupid?" Tintin responded leading her to realize where to go next.

The scene changes when an emblem of a fish is shown in the light. It was revealed that Tintin went to an abandoned estate.

"Wait... where did Tintin go off to?" Aruru said, wondering why Tintin ended up at that place.

After shining the light at the emblem, Tintin then tried to open the gate, not realizing that the gate is locked from the other side.

"Looks like you need to find another way, Tintin." Mei Fan said.

Tintin tried to open the gate by force until Snowy was able to get inside.

"How'd you do that?/ How'd he do that!? " Tintin/ Fumi said, revealing to Tintin that there was a hole next to the gate.

Tintin remarked, "Clever boy."

"Clever indeed," Junna said.

After going through the hole, Tintin used her flashlight to check her surroundings where she showed her light at a coat of arms.

"A coat of arms. Why does it look familiar?" Tintin wondered.

"Isn't it the same emblem that we saw a while ago?" Yachiyo questioned.

Tintin then realized something about the coat of arms, "Hang on a minute. That fish! It's a haddock."

"Of course! Marlinspike Hall is the old Haddock estate." Tintin said in realization.

"So Tintin's in Marlinspike Hall? Isn't it the same place Fumi onscreen said that she acquired a while back?" Nana said in reply.

"Looks like we found our thief," Michiru said, leaving some of the girls to know that Fumi stole Tintin's model.

Snowy then decided to leave Tintin leaving Tintin to call out Snowy until he heard a small growl. 

When Tintin heard it, he flashed his light revealing an angry Rottweiler.

"Tintin run!" Tamao, Rui, and Ichie said.

"Will you be quiet..." Yuyuko said in reply.

Tintin then started to run as the guard dog began his chase. Thanks to his headstart, Tintin managed to get ahead of the dog and tried to slow it down to no avail.

But as Tintin got backed into a corner, the Rottweiler is about to pounce on him until Snowy barked at the dog, leaving it to be completely docile. 

"Well done Snowy!" Tintin praised the dog as she began to pet him, "Good boy."

"That was close..." Fumi said in relief.

"I thought I'm about to end up as dog food," Rui said.

Snowy then proceeded to play with the guard dog leading Tintin to get inside the manor.

She then flashed her light, seeing how the manor is left in a terrible state. 

"What a dreadful place," Kaoruko said.

What she didn't know is that a figure began to walk along with her.

"Who is that!?" Shiori said in suspense.

Tintin opened the door, hoping that she can find her model ship. She noticed one of the glass cases and she started to unravel it, revealing the Unicorn.

"Looks like the Fumi onscreen has a lot to explain," Rui said, leading her to say to Fumi, "I hope your counterpart is ready for it."

"Oh sure... I'm also with you on that, Rui," Fumi said in reply.

Tintin unlatched the case and grabbed the model with steady hands.

"Well, well, well. It seems we've caught our thief." Tintin said.

But then, she felt that someone is behind her as the figure knocked her out. And when Tintin dropped her flashlight, the light was shown onto the figure, revealing to be Misora.

"Misora!?/Me!?" said the Frontier girls.

"Why did I knocked out Rui-san!?" Misora said in shock.

"Maybe you're employed by Fumi-san?" Shizuha said.

Misora then grabbed the model as Tintin woke up, clutching her head in pain.

"Welcome to Marlinspike Hall. I see you let yourself in." Fumi said, where Misora is standing next to her. 

"Looks like your right Shizuha-san, I am employed by Fumi," Misora said, leading her best friend says, "And you must be Fumi-san's butler!"

"Shouldn't the correct term be a maid, Aruru?" Misora said.

"But look at you! You're wearing a vest! Meaning... you're Fumi-chan's butler!" Aruru replied, leaving some of the girls to look at her attire with curiosity.

"I came to retrieve my property," Tintin said as she placed her hands on the model.

With a confused look, Fumi then replied, "I'm sorry, I'm not sure I follow you."

"Uh, hello! You took Tintin's ship didn't you!" Rui said in anger knowing that she's the only person capable of stealing it.

Tintin then replied, "I think you do."

She then grabbed the ship next to her as Misora is still holding onto it and said, "This ship was stolen from my apartment less than an hour ago."

Fumi then said, "I'm afraid you're mistaken, Ms. Tintin." wherein Misora pulled it away from her.

"Wow Misora-chan, I didn't know your counterpart has such a stern look," Aruru teased, leading the said girl to sigh.

"Well, I do make that look whenever I'm with my siblings," Misora said.

Tintin then said to them, "There's no mistake. It belongs to me."

"Are you sure?" Fumi said.

Tintin then explained to them, saying, "Of course I'm sure. I took it home, I put it on a cabinet in the living room, and then Snowy chased the cat and knocked it over, and it...".

And when Tintin grabbed the mast, she realized an important factor of what happened to her ship, "...fell."

" Bien sûr! Tintin's ship fell and was broken!" Claudine exclaimed, leading some of the girls to realize that that's not her ship.

"Can't Fumi-san fix the ship? She could be able to have the money to have it repaired, right!?" Rui said, trying to find a reason that she's the thief.

"The ship's string snapped when it fell, right?" Yachiyo said leading her to conclude, "But when Tintin grabbed the 'supposed' part, it won't budge."

"That's correct Yachiyo. Since that part was intact, there's no possible way that the ship Tintin was holding is her model."

Tintin realized her mistake and turned towards them saying, "This isn't my ship."

"No. Indeed," Fumi said, as Misora grabbed the ship and put it back inside its case.

"I'm sorry," Tintin said, "It looks identical."

"Well, looks can be deceiving." Fumi said, leaving Tintin to exclaim, "Yes, indeed. But I don't understand! Why did Lady Frances make two ships exactly alike?"

"I agree! Why is there another model of the Unicorn?" Karen said.

"I don't know Karen. Maybe there's a reason why another model exists." Hikari said.

"And you have one already. Why do you want another?" Tintin questioned Fumi.

"What is it about this model that would cause someone to steal it?" Tintin questioned as Fumi leaned closer to Tintin and replied, "Goodness me, why so many questions?"

"Now I'm curious why Fumi-san wants the other model that badly?" Junna wondered.

"Hey, Edward-san. I've been wondering, what's my name in this story?" Fumi said, leading many of the girls to wonder as well.

If Rui is named Tintin, then what is Fumi's role in that said story?

Edward then replied, "Her name is Irine Ivanovitch Sakharine, mostly known as Sakharine."

'Sakharine?' some of the girls thought.

Tintin then replied to her, saying "It's my job. There could be a story here. That's what I do, you see."

"Well, she is a journalist after all. It is her job to find stories," Rui said, leaving Ichie to reply, "And to make them so adventurous!"

"Well, it's no great mystery. Lady Frances Haddock was a drunkard and a hopeless reprobate. She was doomed to fail, and she bequeathed that failure to her sons." Sakharine said. 

"Hey! Don't disrespect her if you don't know the whole story!" Tamao said.

"So it's true! The Haddock line is cursed." Tintin said when Sakharine's cane blocked her path.

She then looked at Sakharine who has a question of her own.

"What else have you found out?" she said.

"What is there to find?" Tintin said when Sakharine put her cane on her shoulder instantly.

"She's really fast!" some of the girls said.

"I'm starting to get more suspicious about this girl," Tsukasa said.

"Me too," Lalafin said.

"Me three!" Aruru replied in agreement.

"That depends what you're looking for," Irene said when Tintin determinedly said, "I'm looking for answers, Ms. Sakharine."

"You're looking in the wrong place," Irene said, leading her to remind Tintin saying, "It's late. I think you should go home."

"This way ma'am," Misora said as she gave Tintin her flashlight. He then led Tintin out of the room.

"Now I'm curious about what kind of secret Sakharine is hiding," Junna said.

"Even so, I'm still determined that she's responsible for stealing my ship," Rui said.

As Tintin is out of the door, the butler replied to her, saying, "It's a pity, sir."

"I'm sorry?" Tintin said in confusion.

"That the mast broke on your model ship, sir," he said, "I hope you found all the pieces. Things are so easily lost."

"Is she referring to the metal tube?" Nana said.

"You might be right, Banana! I think Misora's trying to help Tintin!" Lalafin replied.

"Nestor! Where are you!?" Sakharine said, leading Nestor to say, "Good night, sir."

When Tintin heard about what Nestor said, she began to ponder about it on the way home.

"Some things are easily lost. What did he mean by that, Snowy? What was he trying to tell me?" Tintin wondered while walking towards her home.

"Some things are easily lost," Tintin repeated.

"I hope Tintin notices the tube when she gets home," Karen said with worry, as Mahiru told her, "It'll be fine, Karen! I'm sure Snowy will show Tintin the tube."

Tintin ascends the stairway and was about to open the door to her flat when Snowy pushed the door, revealing it to be open.

Tintin then noticed the door open and when she turned on the lights, her apartment is in disarray.

"What happened to her apartment!?" Rui said in shock.

"It appears that someone is looking for something important," Akira said in wonder.

"I hope this won't happen to our own dorms as well," Hikari said, leading Mahiru to say, "

"Great snakes!" Tintin exclaimed, seeing the damage that has become of her apartment. 

Snowy immediately directed her to the cabinet about the metal tube underneath.

"It's the tube!" Junna exclaimed as the other girls murmur in agreement.

Tintin notices Snowy and said, "What is it Snowy?"

She then looked under the cabinet and she began to pull it out of the way. It was there that she noticed the object that was found under the cabinet.

"What's this?" Tintin wondered as she began to piece the puzzle together.

"Aha! This was in the mast!" Tintin exclaimed as she began to untwist the tube, revealing an old piece of paper.

"So what's the deal with that piece of paper?" Claudine said in wonder.

"I think we're about to find out, Claude-san," Maya said. 

Snowy then gave Tintin her magnifying glass as she began to check the paper.

She then read the paper aloud saying, "Three brothers joined. Three unicorns in company sailing in the noonday sun will speak. For 'tis from the light, the light will dawn. And then shines forth the Eagle's Cross."

When the girls heard the poem, they wonder if it's another piece of the Unicorn's secret. As for the smartest of them, they now start to think about what will happen next.

"I've got to say Hoshimi-han, in a way, that poem was beautiful," Kaoruko said in praise.

"Yes but, I wonder what kind of secret the poem has, Hanayagi-san," Junna said.

Tintin then looked at the bottom of the paper and noticed something strange.

"What are these markings? Some kind of secret language or code?" she wondered.

"All I see are some random shapes!" Ichie said in confusion.

"Maybe they're something only a Haddock would find perhaps?" Shizuru said.

"It makes no sense. But it does explain why they ransacked the flat."

"They were looking for this, and they didn't find it. Which means, they'll be back." Tintin said in caution.

"Tintin better find another place to stay since those people are going to look for the scroll." Mei Fan said.

"I'm sure she already came up with a plan," Rui said.

Tintin then heard the sound of the doorbell wherein she went outside of her apartment. As she went outside, she placed the scroll inside her wallet and went downstairs.

Descending the stairs, Tintin noticed that her landlady, Mrs. Finch is talking to someone.

"I have to go back to my cocoa. I've got a very good book and a cup of cocoa. It's really lovely!" Mrs. Finch said to the person outside.

"I hope the person that she's talking to is not the same people that ransacked her apartment," Tsukasa said with worry.

Tintin then said to Mrs. Finch, "Thank you, Mrs. Finch. I can look after this."

Mrs. Finch followed through with what Tintin said but, the camera then showed that Tintin is holding a pistol behind her back.

Some of the girls were in shock that Tintin is carrying a gun since they all know that Tintin is just a journalist.

"Why in the world would she carry a gun!?" Tamao said in worry, as some of the girls also thought of the same thing.

Edward sighed knowing about this and said, "The reason why Tintin is carrying a gun is because of her experience. She was targeted by past villains which is why she's carrying a gun."

Some of the girls then understand the circumstances and decided to move on with the story.

Then, a familiar voice was heard, revealing it to be the man from the marketplace, "Hey, kid, is that you? Open the door." 

"What do you want?" Tintin replied.

"Look, the game is up. He's gonna be back," he warned as Tintin aims the gun at the door.

Many of the girls are taken aback, now believing that the man is trying to help Tintin.

"What are you doing Tintin, he's trying to help you!" Mahiru said in shock.

"Please! Don't do it!" Rui screamed.

"Now, I know he wanted those boats, but I swear to God, I never thought he'd kill anyone over it!" the man said.

"Who? Who are you talking about?" Tintin said.

"I'm trying to tell you that your life is in danger." the man said, where Tintin said, "Answer me! Who?".

But suddenly, gunfire rocked the flat as Tintin immediately got down.

The girls were taken shocked as bullets whiz through the air.

Some of them began telling Tintin to get down, even some of them start to pray that Tintin will be alright.

As the gunfire ended, Tintin immediately pointed her gun at the door, seeing if her would-be assailants will shoot back.

The door suddenly opened as the man walked towards Tintin.

"Thank goodness he's safe!" Claudine said in relief.

That is the man dropped the newspaper he's holding and collapsed on the floor.

"Oh no!" Tamao said in horror.

"He's been shot!" Shiori said.

Many of the girls now are in disbelief. Killing someone over a model ship? That's just deplorable!

"Please! Someone help him!" Karen said as Hikari and Mahiru comfort her.

"Mrs. Finch! A man's been shot on our doorstep!" Tintin shouted as Mrs. Finch saw the man and said, "Not again."

"Call an ambulance!" Tintin ordered as a blue car accelerated from the crime scene.

Snowy tried to chase the car but to no avail.

The camera then focused on the man as he began to press his bloodied finger on the newspaper's letters.

"He's trying to give Tintin a message!" Junna said, leading many of them to wonder what kind of message is he giving to her.

Tintin immediately went to the man to see if he's okay when the man lost consciousness.

Some of the girls began to pray for the man, hoping that he'll survive his wounds.

Tintin then noticed the newspaper as the screen moves to him holding the newspaper with the bloody letters.

"The victim's name was Barnaby Dawes." A familiar voice said as Tintin lowers the newspaper revealing the agents Thomson (Lalafin) and Thompson (Ichie) who are in their matching suits and hats.

"I finally appeared in the movie!" Lalafin said exclamation.

"Edward-san! What's our role in the movie!" Ichie said excitement as Edward said to them, "You two play as Thomson and Thompson, a duo of agents Tintin knows ever since his first story."

"So cool!" Lalafin and Ichie said as both of them got really cool roles in the story.

"By the way, Edward-san. Which of them are Thomson and Thompson respectively?" Tsukasa said, leaving Edward to say that Lalafin is Thomson and Ichie is Thompson.

"He was one of the top agents at Interpol, but we haven't got the clue of what he's working on, " Thompson replied as Thomson also said, "Quite right Thompson. We're completely clueless." 

"Interpol doesn't have any leads?" Tintin said.

"What is this Interpol that they're talking about, Edward-san?" Junna said.

Edward then replied, saying, "The International Police or Interpol is an organization dedicated to fighting crime across the globe. Thompson and Thomson are members of that said organization."

"That's so cool!" Ichie and Lalafin said.

"Steady on, Tintin. We're still filling out the paperwork," Thomson said as Thompson also said, "Police work's not all glamour and guns. There's an awful lot of filing."

"How I agree on that, Thompson," Akira said with a sigh as the rest of the Edels nod.

They are indeed the top stars of Siegfeld but it does have some responsibility. Whenever they're not performing, they still have to perform their duty as student council members. 

Tintin then said to them, "Well, I might have something for you. Before he lost consciousness, Dawes tried to tell me something, and I think he was spelling a word."

She then started spelling the word from the letters. She then said the spelled word which is, "Karaboudjan".

"Karaboudjan?" some of the girls said in curiosity.

"I wonder what kind of word is that?" Junna, Michiru, and Claudine said feeling that this word is in another language.

"Karaboudjan!" Thomson exclaimed as he grabbed the newspaper right out of Tintin's hands.

"Does that mean anything to you?" Tintin said as Thomson exclaimed some more.

"Maybe he figured out what Karaboudjan is!" Maya said.

Lalafin is now on cloud nine, seeing that her counterpart is solving the mystery that easily.

"What is?" Tintin wondered until, "Worthington's have a half-price sale on bowler hats!"

"I'm sorry what?/ Excuse me!?" some of the girls replied leaving Lalafin to deflate a little bit.

"I'm guessing you only looked at the ad didn't you Lalafin," Tsukasa said to the pink-haired girl.

"Oh, man!" Lalafin said, feeling ashamed that her counterpart is not taking it seriously.

Thompson then snatched the paper in anger saying, "Really, Thomson! This is hardly the time. Great Scotland Yard!"

"What is it?" Tintin said hoping that the other one is being serious.

"Canes are half-priced too," Thompson said leaving Tintin to grab the paper and said, "Are you going to take charge of the evidence."

"Are you sure these two are detectives Edward-san?" Rui replied, leaving the two girls to feel their ego dropping.

"Yeah... They are detectives per se, but... They're really keen about their appearance." Edward replied.

"Well... I do understand them a bit." Yachiyo said.

Who wouldn't want to take advantage of a half-price sale?

Thomson then took the paper, confident that the evidence is safe with them. That is until he tripped from the cat and fell from a flight of stairs.

"Thomson? Where are you?" Thompson replied, leaving his partner to reply, "Well, I'm already downstairs. Do try to keep up."

The girls chuckled at what happened where Lalafin protested saying, "No way that can happen to me!"

"Well, only time can tell, Lalafin," Shizuru said with a smile, leaving the said girl to pout at her.

Tintin then escorted the duo outside when she said, "Wait! You dropped this.", as she gave the newspaper to Thomson

"Good heavens, Thomson! Look after the evidence, man." Thompson said in annoyance.

"Sorry, Thompson. My mind is on other things," Thompson replied, leading Thomson to say to him, "Yes. Our light-fingered larcenist."

"Who are they talking about?" Karen wondered.

"What?" Tintin said, leading Thompson to say it's the pickpocket.

It leads some of the girls to understand that the duo is also after the pickpocket.

"So they're after me?" Yuyuko said, leading Ichie and Lalafin to declare that their counterparts must capture the pickpocket.

"He has no idea what's coming." Thompson declared as Thomson said, "Go on, Tintin, take my wallet." 

Tintin was confused with it and decided to grab it, revealing that the wallet is tied with an elastic string.

"Yes, industrial-strength elastic," Thomson said, leaving Tintin to say, "Very resourceful."

"That's actually smart. If the pickpocket would try and take their wallet, they'd surely notice that someone is taking it." Junna said in interest.

"We do know that the pickpocket would take their wallets from the back of their coats so that's really smart," Maya said.

"On the contrary. It was childishly simple." Thomson said.

" Simply childish, I agree," Thompson replied.

"Tintin." the duo said

"Gentlemen," Tintin replied as the detectives leave the flat.

Snowy then noticed the pickpocket's shoes, who is going after the duo.

"Hey, you two! The pickpocket's behind you!" Karen said.

"Snowy, what is it, boy? What do you see?" Tintin said.

As the two detectives were engrossed in their conversation, the pickpocket tried to get away, not noticing that the elastic is stopping her from getting the wallet.

"Wow you two, your plan actually worked," Misora said in astonishment, leading the two girls to high five each other from their seats.

The pickpocket noticed the trick and dropped the wallet, instantly sending it back to Thomson. 

Thompson tried to give chase but the wallet got snagged on his cane.

"Stop, in the name of the law!" he screamed as the wallet came loose from the cane and hit Thomson right on the head.

The girls chuckled at the scene leading Lalafin to mumble, "Some partner I have."

Thompson managed to grab the thief but was able to take off her coat but unfortunately, his vision was blocked, and ran right into a street pole.

From that fiasco, many of the girls start to laugh, seeing that the detectives' plan has completely failed.

"Some detective you are." Fumi teased, leading Ichie to have her face redden with embarrassment.

"What's going on down there?" Tintin wondered as she went to check on the detectives.

The pickpocket slipped, saying to Tintin, "I do beg your pardon."

"Uh oh." said some of the girls, knowing that the pickpocket has grabbed Tintin's wallet

"Sorry, ma'am!" Tintin exclaimed as Thompson shouted at Tintin, "The pickpocket, Tintin! She's getting away!"

Tintin immediately patted her back pockets revealing that she had been had. 

"My wallet! It's gone!" Tintin realized as she noticed that the pickpocket is walking away.

"What are you waiting for! After him!" Rui said hoping that Tintin catches the thief.

"Come on! Snowy after him!" Tintin said she began her chase.

Tintin tried to go after but thanks to the fog, Tintin kept dodging from the upcoming cars that were about to hit her.

"Tintin watch out!" some of the girls cried out.

Suddenly a truck was about to run over them when a cane manages to snatch them.

"Got you!/ Steady on." said the detectives.

The girls sighed with relief at the quickness of the detectives.

"Good job you two!" Rui said, leading the girls to say no problem.

"I've lost him. You must find my wallet. It's very important. I have to get it back." Tintin said to the detectives, leading Thompson to promise that he will get it back.

Tintin then walked back to her flat, thinking about what the poem is all about the scroll.

"We've lost the scroll. But we haven't lost the story." Tintin said in a declaration.

"Karaboudjan. It's an Armenian word. That's our lead, Snowy."

"I'm starting to like this character more and more," Tamao said in fascination.

Like Tintin, she always tried to salvage what's left in Rinmeikan's performance department and it is through that determination that they found a new department, the Performance Association.

"What was Barnaby Dawes trying to tell us when he said our lives were in danger?" Tintin said when two men are carrying a crate behind Tintin as a woman wearing a trenchcoat and a captain's hat.

"Ms. Tin... Tin?" said a familiar voice.

"Yes?" Tintin said in wonder.

"Oh look it's me," Tsukasa said in curiosity, "I wonder what my role is about?"

"Delivery for you." Tsukasa said as Tintin replied, "But I didn't order anything."

"I've got a bad feeling about this..." Shiori said in suspense.

"Well, that's because it's you that's getting delivered!" Tsukasa said as she covered Tintin's mouth with a cloth drenched in chloroform.

The camera then showed what the crate is labeled, revealing the word, "Karaboudjan".

Some of the girls gasped seeing that the Karaboudjan appeared on the crate.

"Tintin's getting kidnapped by the Karaboudjan!" Rui said in shock.

"It must be the organization Tsukasa must be working on," Yachiyo said.

"Hoo boy... I'm the bad guy in this one aren't I?" Tsukasa said.

Tsukasa then ordered her men to load the crate until Snowy bit Tsukasa's butt in an act of defiance.

Tsukasa screamed in pain and said, "Get off me, you confounded mutt!"

She managed to get Snowy off of her and locked the door.

Many of the girls winced at the screen of how Snowy bit Tsukasa's backside.

Meanwhile, Tsukasa immediately covered her posterior, praying to her other self that she's a bit ok.

Noticing that his master is being taken away, Snowy immediately went back to their flat and opened the window.

He noticed that the red van started to go on its way so Snowy decided to go after it through another vehicle.

Snowy immediately jumped, landing on a fire truck's ladder.

The girls were then amazed at how Snowy was able to jump onto the fire truck. 

"Nice one Snowy!" Rui said.

The van is going along its way until it immediately stopped due to traffic.

The fire truck also stopped when its ladder starts to move, leading Snowy to dangle off of it.

Tsukasa and her subordinate wondered what that thing was when Snowy fell on the van's side as the van accelerates.

The girls began to voice out their concerns, shouting at Snowy to not dangle off of the van.

Tsukasa then grabbed the steering wheel and carefully maneuvered the van.

"Shake him off, then run him over!" she said to her subordinate.

"You really want to run him over didn't you..." Shizuru said in a calm but threatening voice.

"I would never!" Tsukasa rebutted.

The van managed to shake Snowy off and luckily, he was able to stay under a moving car.

Seeing that he lost his chance of following his master, Snowy saw a bicycle heading in the same direction as the van.

Snowy immediately got on board the bicycle's cart where a sign shows that it's heading towards the docks.

"Why are they towards the docks?" Tamao said, hoping that they won't do something bad to Tintin.

"I think we're about to find out," Rui said.

The van swerved to its right as Snowy immediately jumped off of the cart onto a fence, revealing a herd of cows.

"That's a lot of cows!" Mahiru said.

"Are there that many cows in Hokkaido Mahiru?" Karen said in curiosity. 

"I guess, there are some cow farms in the area that my family stays." as the Hokkaido native knows about them during her childhood.

He then surveyed the area hoping that the van would turn.

And when the van turned, Snowy immediately went after it but a cow notices him and flings him over to another cow.

Snowy immediately went under the cow and accidentally bumps into the cow's udder, leading that cow to moo in surprise.

This led to several of the cows' moo in surprise as Snowy is racing to the van.

"Those poor cows," Mahiru said in worry, as they're really sensitive when someone hits their udders.

Snowy managed to get to the van but discovers that the crate is being hauled off to the ship.

"I want to this on the starboard side!" Tsukasa said, leaving the audience to discover that the ship's name is none other than the Karaboudjan.

"So that's what Dawes was talking about! He's talking about the ship!" Junna exclaimed, leading several of the girls to realize that Dawes' warning has come true.

"I hope Snowy would get Tintin out of this mess," Rui said with worry.

Edward smirked seeing that the girls are now getting more interested in the story knowing that his master plan is working.

"Looks like we're on our way to the climax!" he thought.

Chapter Text

"Not here. Look your side." 

"Hang on. Nothing."

"Well, check that pocket, Tom."

Meanwhile, in a groggy state, Tintin came to her senses as Elma(Tsukasa) and Tom are searching her body.

Then, a familiar person walked through the cage and said, "Have you found it?"

"She doesn't have it," Elma said as Tom also said, "It's not on her, boss. It's not here."

"I knew it! Sakharine stole the ship! She ordered Tsukasa and her men to ransack the flat!" Rui said that left many of the girls to agree with Rui.

"I'm betting that she's also responsible for the ambush last night," Futaba said in a serious tone.

"Not here? Then where is it?" Sakharine said in desperation.

"Where's what?" Tintin groggily said.

Sakharine rattled the cage with her cane and said to Tintin, "Oh I am tired of your games. The scroll, from the Unicorn."

"A piece of paper like this!" Sakharine said as she waved her scroll over Tintin's head.

"It appears that even she has a copy of the scroll," Akira said as Mei Fan replied, "But shouldn't her ship's mast should be broken?"

"If you recall Mei Fan, Sakharine must've repaired her ship after she found the tube inside it," Michiru explained, making the rest of the girls agree with Michiru's theory.  

"You mean the poem?" Tintin said.

"Yes."

"The poem was written in Old English."

"Yes."

Tsukasa and Tom looked at each other, wondering what Tintin is talking about.

"It was inside a cylinder."

"Yes."

"Concealed in the mast."

"Yes!"

"I don't have it."

"She really is trying to make Sakharine angry, isn't she?" Nana said with worry, while some of the girls are really surprised that Tintin's telling everything to Sakharine.

"Well, she is being honest that she doesn't have the scroll," Tamao said.

Fed up, Sakharine motioned her cane and Elma pulled the cane revealing a swordstick from it, and pointed it to Tintin.

"You know the value of that scroll. Why else would you take it?" Sakharine said in a threatening tone.

The girls were surprised that Sakharine is holding such a dangerous weapon.

"Where did she get that!" Tamao said in shock.

Yuyuko then noticed the sword and it resembles a shikomizue , a hidden sword weapon in Japan.

"Two ships and two scrolls, both part of a puzzle," Tintin said, as she realized why Sakharine needs her model, "You have one, you need the other."

"But that's not it. There's something else," Tintin said as Sakharine went closer to Tintin and said, "I will find it, with or without your help."

She then said to Tintin, "You need to think about exactly how useful you are to me." 

The girls now see Sakharine as a very dangerous woman. Seeing how she told Tintin of how useful she is in her quest to complete the puzzle.

"I'm wondering, are you considering a villain's role in future plays, Fumi-san?" Tamao said to Fumi, leading her to wonder as well.

Her counterpart is showing what a vile villain is and she does notice that her face resembles both a hero and a villain. She has partaken some roles as a tritagonist or a protagonist in her past plays with Tamao and her friends back at Rinmeikan. Maybe she can play as a villain in future roles.

Elma sheathed the swordstick as the three of them went outside of Tintin's cage.

Meanwhile, Snowy peeked out of the doorway and when the door opens, he immediately hides from them.

"We'll deal with him on the way," Sakharine said leaving Alma and Tom to agree.

Alma then proceeded to close the door, not knowing that Snowy managed to get inside unnoticed.

Snowy finally found his master as she went towards her.

"Snowy! It's good to see you, too," Tintin said as she then said to her dog, "See if you can chew through these ropes."

"Good job Snowy!" Shiori said in delight as she begins to think if she can adopt a dog like Snowy.

Snowy then started to through the ropes as the scene changes to the Ksraboudjan sailing across the Atlantic Ocean.

"She's lying! She must have the scroll. The question is, what has she done with it?" Sakharine said as Elma explained, "We searched him all over, boss."

"I want you to go back down there and make her talk. Break every bone in her body if you have to!" Sakharine said in anger.

"That's just ruthless Fumi! You wouldn't do that in real life do you!" Tamao said in worry.

"Like I'll ever do that! Except if Ichie were to pull her pranks on me..." Fumi said, leading the said girl to quiver in fear.

"Nah... I'm just joking!" Fumi said in a cheeky smile, as Ichie sighed in relief.

"That's nasty!" said Tom as Irene reminded them saying, "You know the stakes. You know what we're playing for. Just do it!"

"Ms. Sakharine! Ms. Sakharine! All hell has broken loose!" said a portly man as he ran towards the said woman.

"It's a disaster! The captain has come around." 

"The captain!?" some of the girls said in shock.

"I thought Sakharine owns the ship!?" Misora said leaving Claudine to say, "She must've paid the crew to follow her instead."

"What!?" Elma said.

"She's conscious. She's accusing you of mutiny. She says you turned the crew against her," the man said as Elma replied, "Sounds like she's sobered up again." 

"Well, don't just stand there. Get her another bottle." Sakharine instructed them as the three of them began to go downstairs.

"They're giving her alcohol just to take control of the ship!?" Tamao said in anger, knowing that the captain's crew is willing to betray their captain for money.

From it, many of the girls promised themselves that their greed would never blind them. Even if the whole world is the reward.

Meanwhile, Tintin bolted the storage door with a crowbar and covered its window with a wooden board. 

She then started to look for a way to escape and noticed its porthole. Tintin went to push one of the crates until she heard a growl from it.

The girls jumped in surprise, seeing that the crate is housing a dangerous animal, to begin with.

"Everyone, I'll be honest. I don't want to know what's inside that crate!" Kaoruko said, quivering in fear as to who knows what's inside of it.

Tintin backed away from it as she carefully pushed the crate and opened the porthole,  noticing that one of the ship's upper portholes is open. She then heard a rumbling voice, that is seemingly drunk. 

"Tintin better escape from their clutches." Karen said in confidence.

"Of course... I do believe in what you said, Karen." Elle said with a smile.

And then, Elma and Tom reached the storage as Alma tries to open it but to no avail.

Tom notices it and says, "Jiggle it a bit, it's stuck."

"Jiggle?" Elma wondered.

"Sorry Tsukasa, it'll take a lot more than that to open that door," Rui said as Tsukasa replied, "I'm guessing my counterpart is about to find out."

Tom tried to open the door as Elma realizes what's going on.

"What are you doing? Get off!" Elma said as she pushed Tom off the door.

"It's not stuck, you idiot. She's bolted it from the inside!" Elma said in anger as Tintin heard that her captors have arrived.

"So you want to play like that then, do you Tintin?" Elma said as she told her crewmate, "Get the TNT."

"What's a TNT?" Lalafin said as Michiru said to her, "It's basically a term for dynamite."

"So they'll blast the door open?" Karen said.

Seeing that Alam will blast the door, Tintin immediately went to work in creating an escape plan.

"Broken crates. Rope. Champagne. What else do we have, Snowy?" Tintin said, knowing that she needs to improvise.

In the meantime, Alma placed a bar next to the door, as Tom slowly places the dynamite at the door.

"There are other ways to open this door. They'll be swabbing the decks with your innards when we're done with you." Elma said.

"Geez, I think my counterpart must be dead-serious in threatening Tintin like that," Tsukasa said knowing that her counterpart really wants Tintin dead.

At the same time, Tintin is fashioning a grappling hook while Alma is preparing to light the dynamite.

On her first try, Tintin tried to throw the hook at the porthole above her but it ended up hitting her head.

With the dynamite lit, Alma immediately stepped back but in the meantime, Tintin decided to put more force into throwing the hook.

"Come on Tintin, hurry up!" Rui said in suspense.

"Man, this getting me all riled up!" Futaba said in excitement gripping the seat with her fingers.

As the dynamite is nearing its explosion, Alma decided to step back and stay behind Tom.

"Don't move," Tsukasa said as Tom replied with a "What?".

"I didn't know you're scared of explosions Tsukasa-chan." Misora teased as Tsukasa replied, "Well in my counterpart's defense, she doesn't want to get hurt in the explosion."

And in the moment of truth, Tintin hurled her hook and managed to land on the porthole, hitting a blonde girl at her back leading the dynamite to explode.

"Wait, who's that!?" said some of the Frontier girls.

"Could that be me!?" Aruru said in excitement.

"Let's go!" Elma said, leading the charge as they heard the sound of a gun firing.

"Looks like Tintin found a big gun in there!" Futaba said with a smirk on her face.

She may not experience doing an action scene with a prop gun, but any action scene is worth watching if done correctly.

Immediately, all of them began to fire back at Tintin, thinking that she rigged a gun in place.

"She's got a big shooter!" Tom said as one of the said 'bullets' hit him.

"She's got me!" Tom said as he dropped to the floor.

"Wait a minute... why is he not dripping blood?" Claudine said in wonder.

Noticing that the bullets are corks, Alma said to them, "Hold your fire."

Tom and Alma then entered the room, discovering that Tintin rigged the champagne bottles to burst open.

The girls were surprised and impressed by Tintin's creativity, especially in creating a diversion.

"That's so cool!" Aruru and Karen said, seeing that Tintin was able to buy herself enough time to escape.

"She must've heard about the dynamite so she made the champagne bottles burst when the door opens," Junna said in an impressed tone.

"But still, what a waste of good champagne," Claudine said.

Alma looked at the place and said, "She ain't here. She's vanished."

Until, the last bottle burst open, hitting Tom straight to his head where drops into the floor.

The girls laughed at Tom, seeing how misfortunate he was when he got hit by the bottle's cork.

"She's hiding. Search the ship. Quickly!" Elma said to her men.

Meanwhile, a familiar face is seen but was blurred by the bottle. The said girl then grabbed the back of her head, massaging it since it was hit by Tintin's makeshift hook.

And from it, the energetic Aruru said to the audience, "I'm finally in the story!"

"Geez, Aruru, can you keep it down!" Misora said as some of the girls are trying to watch the movie.

"Sorry, Misora! It's just that I'm appearing in a story such as this!" Aruru said to her childhood friend.

Aruru is always a sucker for stories that are new and adventurous to her, especially "Captain Twins".

Aruru began to come to her senses until Snowy jumped at her table, scaring Aruru as her head went to the birdcage.

"Ah! A giant rat from Sumatra!" she exclaimed.

"Your imagination must be really big when you think Snowy is a big rat, Aruru." Misora said.

"Maybe my counterpart has a wilder imagination than me!" Aruru said.

But as Tintin makes her way into the room, Aruru immediately gets the cage off her head and began eyeing Tintin with caution.

 "So, you think you could sneak in behind me and catch me with my trousers down, huh?" Aruru said, who's wielding a telescope like a sword.

"Aruru are you trying to hurt the person that could save you!?" Rui said to the blonde girl.

"Hey! She's defending herself!" Aruru said to Rui.

Tintin immediately grabbed a stick from the desk as she blocked Aruru's telescope.

"I'd rather you kept your trousers on if it's the same to you," Tintin said, as Aruru began fighting Tintin with her telescope.

"I know your game. You're one of them." Aruru said, trying to land a hit at Tintin.

"Sorry?" Tintin said.

"I've gotta admit, the Aruru's counterpart is really sloppy in fighting Tintin." Futaba remarked, knowing she's seen better swordplay in the theater.

"She must've been their prisoner so long that she must've been tired." Claudine said.

"They sent you here to kill me, huh!?" Aruru said, swinging her scope downward to Tintin.

She managed to move away from it and jumped on top of a chest.

"I don't know who you are!" Tintin cried out, trying to convince the woman to stop attacking her.

"That's how she planned to bump me off. Murdered in my bed by a baby-faced assassin!" Aruru said whereas Tintin jumped over the swing and Snowy biting the woman's foot in hopes of stopping her.

Many of the girls are now starting to get annoyed that Aruru's counterpart is still attacking Tintin.

"Baby-faced!?" Rui said feeling that she's been insulted leading Aruru to say that she's sorry that her counterpart has disrespected her.

"Assassin!? You've got it all wrong! I was kidnapped by a group of thugs." Tintin said as she dropped her weapon leading Aruru to drop her weapon in anger and sadness.

"The filthy swine! She's turned the whole crew against me!" Aruru said with tears flowing through her eyes.

"Who?" Tintin said to the woman as she said, "A sour-faced woman with a sugary name. She's bought them all off, every last man."

"Sakharine!" Tintin exclaimed.

Many of the girls are now feeling sorry for Aruru's counterpart that she's the only one on the ship to oppose Sakharine.

"I hope my counterpart gets revenge against Sakharine," Aruru said, as she's seething with anger.

"Don't worry Aruru, I'm sure she'll get her revenge." Misora said.

"Nobody takes my ship!" Aruru said in anger.

"You're the captain?" Tintin said in surprise.

"Of course I'm the captain. Who else could I be?" Aruru said as Tintin shushed her to stay quiet.

"Wait! You're the captain of the ship!?" Tsukasa said in surprise knowing that there's no way a drunk like her would be the captain.

"Maybe it's because of how much my counterpart is drinking. It's another reason why they made her useless." Aruru said leaving all of the girls to understand that a drunk captain is useless on her own ship.

The captain explained that she's been locked in her room for days, with whiskey as her only source to survive whereas Tintin opened the door with ease.

As Aruru turned to see the door unlocked, she said, "Oh... Well, I assumed it was locked."

"Well, it's not," Tintin said, showing that the door was never locked, to begin with.

"I think your counterpart must be really stupid to not notice that, Aruru," Misora said in a kind but understanding tone.

"I know but... Can't she even try to check if the door's unlocked!?" Aruru said in desperation.

"I believe that she's must've been too drunk to notice it," Shizuru said.

Tintin then decided to leave the room and said to the prisoner, "Now you must excuse me. If they find me here, they'll kill me. I have to keep moving. Try and find my way off this drunken tub."

"Tub? Tub?" the captain said stammering as to what the young lass said.

"Well, she's not wrong with that," Tamao said knowing that the captain is just drowning her sorrows with alcohol.

But as Tintin exited the room, a crewmate saw her leading Tintin to hit him with the cane. The crewmate dodged it and punched her in the gut as he tries to choke her against the steel wall.

"Come on Tintin! Fight back!" said some of the Stage Girls.

While the captain is thinking about what Tintin said, Tintin punched the man in his face but the man was able to use Tintin's weapon against him.

"Help him out other me! Help him out!" Aruru said, trying to convince her other self onscreen.

"Tub?" she said as she opened the door and punched the crewmember in the face, bouncing off the pipe and right into the door.

"Nice one other me!" Aruru said.

Tintin thanked the captain as the two of them began to haul the crew member inside her room.

"I'm Tintin by the way," Tintin said as the captain introduced herself saying "Haddock. Arsenia Haddock."

"Wait what!?" Junna said in shock.

"No way! I'm playing as Lady Frances' descendant!" Aruru said as her counterpart's ancestor is a respected sea captain.

"There's a longboat up on deck. Follow me." Arsenia said as she grabbed her captain's hat.

Tintin was shocked by the captain's name and said, "Hang on a minute. Did you say 'Haddock'?"

"That's what I said!" Junna said, leading Nana to say to her, "Junna-chan, please calm down. It's not the end of the world you know." 

"Sorry, Daiba-san. I'm just surprised with everything that's all." Hoshimi said, leaving the girls to wonder why Sakharine would target Haddock's ship.

Meanwhile, Sakharine pinned Alma to the wall and said to her, "How could you let them escape? Find them. Find them both."

Elma then said to Sakharine, "Don't worry, we'll kill them, ma'am."

"No. You can kill the girl. Not Haddock." Sakharine said.

"Why in the world would Sakharine keep Haddock alive?" Rui said.

"Maybe she believes that she could lead her to the Unicorn's secret perhaps?" Tamao said, leading all the girls if Arsenia knows about the Unicorn's secret.

Tom then complained saying, "What? She's just a hopeless old soak. We should've killed her long since."

Sakharine took notice and grabbed him using her cane and said, "You think it's an accident that I chose Haddock's ship, Haddock's crew," wherein she continued to do the same to Alma, "Haddock's treacherous first mate? Nothing is an accident."

Then, a peregrine falcon flew to Sakharine and began to feed it, "We go back a long way, Captain Haddock and I. We've unfinished business. And this time, I'm going to make her pay."

The girls were very suspicious as to why Sakharine is dead set in going after Haddock. It would be possible that she wanted to take the Unicorn's secret and rub it in. Or Haddock must've done something that would incur Sakharine's wrath.

"That's a nice bird, Fumi-chan!" Ichie said.

"I'll admit... my counterpart must've enjoyed falconry," Fumi said leading her to wonder, "Maybe I should try having a pet bird?"

On another side of the ship, Haddock is leading Tintin across the Karaboudjan. 

She said to Tintin, "We have to reach a locked door at the end of this corridor. This is gonna be tricky."

"You wouldn't happen to be related to the Haddocks of Marlinspike Hall, would you?" Tintin said to the captain.

"Why did you ask?" Haddock said to the journalist.

"I think Tintin is trying to learn more about the Unicorn from Haddock," Akira said leading Michiru to say to her, "Yeah... She could learn something important from the captain herself."

"Maybe she knows about Lady Frances' story!" Aruru said.

Tintin then described the ship in question until Haddock pushed her to the wall in anger and said, "What do you know of the Unicorn?"

"Not a lot. That's why I'm asking you." Tintin said.

"The secret of that ship is known only to my family!" Arsenia said as she continued on saying, "It's been passed down from generation to generation. My granddaddy himself, with his dying breath, told me the tale."

"So the secret is only known to Arsenia's family?" Karen said.

"Maybe that secret should never be shared outside of the family. After all, his family's legacy was supposed to be a secret." Nana said.

"And?" Tintin wondered until Haddock said one word, "Gone."

"What do you mean gone?" Tintin said.

"I was so upset when he kicked the bucket, I had no choice but to drown my sorrows. When I woke up in the morning, it was gone! I'd forgotten it all." Haddock said, leaving Tintin baffled about what happened.

"How could you forget something so important! That's your legacy!" Tamao said, seeing that the captain had to drink to forget.

"Grief can make us do many irrational things, Ms. Tamao. All of you girls understand it right?" Edward said melancholically.

Knowing the girls, they have gone through the worst of their times. Even Fumi and Tsukasa felt pity for the captain because of her grandfather's death.

"Everything?" Tintin said as the captain explained that she forgot every single word.

"Well, is there somebody else in your family?" Tintin said to the captain as she followed her "Maybe they would know."

"Lady Frances had three sons. All but my bloodline failed. I am the last of the Haddocks!" the captain said to Tintin.

"Did you say, three sons?" Tintin said until one of the crewmates began to open the door above them.

"Wait a minute... Did Haddock say three sons, as in the three sons from the poem?" Karen said, leading the smartest of them to start piecing the puzzle. 

"No... it can't be!"  Michiru and Junna thought as the two of them realized the answer.

The two of them hides under the stairs when they heard about the prize of capturing Haddock and killing Tintin. Snowy growled at what the men said but luckily, Tintin told Snowy to stay quiet.

Luckily, the man who heard Snowy thought it's just his imagination and proceeded to move onward.

"That was close!" Shiori said with a sigh of relief.

"I hope Snowy won't cause any alarms at the ship." said some of the girls.

Haddock and Tintin started to move up the deck, Tintin said to Haddock, "I know what Sakharine's looking for."

"What are you raving on about?" Haddock said to her.

"It was written on the scroll. 'Three brothers joined. Three Unicorns in company sailing in the noonday sun will speak.'" Tintin said as the captain wondered what she's talking about.

"Lady Frances didn't make two models of the Unicorn. She made three!" Tintin said.

"Three!?" Rui exclaimed, leading many of the girls to realize what the poem is all about.

"So Lady Frances made three ships for her three sons!" Junna said leading Akira to follow through and said, "And those three sons will inherit the Unicorn's secret."

The girls were in awe of how Lady Frances has concealed her lifelong secret through her model ships. Aruru and Karen are very excited as to what kind of secret Lady Frances has kept for her bloodline.

"Three ships for three sons," Tintin said to the captain.

"Excellent!" the captain said.

The two of them went through the ship as Tintin now knows that Sakharine is after the third model.

Meanwhile, Haddock tried opening a door, realizing that it's locked. 

"Barnacles! Someone locked the door!" Haddock said.

"They're so close!" Rui exclaimed.

"Well, is there a key?" Tintin said.

"A key?" Haddock said as she exhaled her breath leading Tintin to cough a bit.

"Yes, now, that would be the problem," Haddock replied as Tintin staggered a bit from the captain's breath.

"Does Aruru always brush her teeth?" Nana said to the Frontier girls.

"Of course I brush my teeth! I always brush it three times a day!" Aruru said in reply.

"Yeah... sure you do..." Misora mumbled to herself. 

Sure Aruru is her best friend but, every now and then, she's the one who has to keep on reminding her to brush her teeth.

The two of them entered a room, revealing it to be the crewmates' quarters as Haddock pointed to Tintin to a bunk above them.

"Mr. Jaggerman! Top bunk in the center. Keeper of the keys. Careful, mind. He's a restless sleeper on account of the tragic loss of his eyelids." Haddock said as the said person was shown who is sleeping with his eyes open.

"He lost his eyelids?" Tintin said in disbelief as the captain replied, "Aye. Now that was a card game to remember. You really had to be there."

"How in the world does one loses their eyelids!?" Claudine said in shock.

"Saijo-san... It's best that you shouldn't dwell on this." Maya said in reassurance.

Tintin then began to go to the bunk when the captain told her, "I'd do this myself, Tintin, but you've got a lighter tread and less chance of waking the boys."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Tintin asked the captain, where some of the sleeping crewmates slide downward.

"You've nothing to worry about. Provided they all stay asleep." Arsenia said.

"Those guys must be heavy sleepers if they don't wake up from that." Karen said.

"Since they're in a ship, it can be tiring for them. After all, a ship needs a functioning crew 24/7." Junna said.

While Tintin is sneaking up to Jaggerman, Haddock began warning Tintin about the crew members especially Mr. Hobbs, who is handy with the razor, and Mr. Gitch who was sacked as a shepherd for his 'animal husbandry'.

The girls were a bit weirded out when Haddock tried to warn Tintin of the crewmates that she should avoid.

"Well... that was... um... interesting..." Junna said in a deadpan way.

"Your crew really is unique Aruru." Mei Fan said.

"They're unique alright, but... They don't compare to my friends!" Aruru said leading the rest of her friends to smile.

As Tintin reached the top bunk, she tried to reach for the keys but to no avail leading Haddock to sigh. 

She looked at Snowy and decided to use him to extend her reach. Snowy was about to grab the keys but noticed a sandwich.

"Not the sandwich. The keys!" Tintin said to Snowy but when Snowy grabbed the sandwich, the shark that Tintin's holding onto snapped and Tintin fell below Jaggerman's bunk while a sleeping crewmember dropped onto her.

"Are you trying to wake them up Snowy!" Rui said.

Claudine shooked her head and said, "It seems he prefers his instincts rather than the task at hand."

Tintin gets the man off of her and tries to get the keys but because of the shark, the rest of the crewmembers fell on her. And by some miracle, they all stayed asleep.

When Snowy tries to help his master, a hand reached out from the pile as Tintin manages to get the keys. 

The girls all breathed a sigh of relief seeing that Tintin managed to grab the keys and not wake up the crew members. Even though she was squashed by them.

Haddock was ecstatic as Tintin tossed the keys to the captain. She then raced to the door as Haddock remarked how amazing Tintin was when Tintin said, "Hurry up, Captain! We have no time to lose."

"Bingo! Just the necessities of course." Haddock said as the room was revealed to be the storage room of the ship's liquor.

When the girls saw that Haddock is after some whiskey, they were all annoyed that the captain put through Tintin a lot of trouble.

" Incroyable! She just made Tintin go to the trouble to get the keys all just for some whiskey!" Claudine snapped in anger.

"You have got to be kidding me..." Misora said in an irritating tone, leading Aruru to chuckle a bit.

"Maybe she's just thirsty?" Aruru said meekly.

"Just give it up Aruru. There's no way you can defend her like that." Tsukasa said to the girl who in turn felt sad that she's not helping at all.

Haddock proceeded to grab some of the whiskey leaving Tintin dumbfounded.

"To the lifeboats," Haddock said to Tintin as she wonders if she's just wasting her time with a drunkard.

Meanwhile, the Karaboudjan's crew is assembling a freeway for a seaplane while some of them are still searching for their captives.

"What's the plane for?" Karen said leading many of the girls to wonder if it's for an emergency.

While chugging whiskey, Haddock opened the door and noticed that one of the crewmen is in front of her where Tintin and Haddock immediately stepped back.

Noticing the bottle, Tintin grabbed it to knock the crewman out but Haddock grabbed the bottle before Tintin could hit it. 

Luckily, the man was knocked out and Tintin ended up hurting her hand.

"Do you care for that bottle more than your life!" Fumi screamed, seething with anger.

"Maybe she's just trying to help Tintin? What would happen if Haddock didn't grab the bottle." Aruru said in defense of the captain.

The trio left and made their way to the lifeboats. Tintin and Haddock began to push the lifeboat to the water when Tintin immediately crouched down with Haddock.

The two found Elma and Tom who are still searching for them as they enter a room.

"It's Elma!" Haddock replied as Tintin asked her if that's the bridge.

"So my counterpart's name is Elma?" Tsukasa wondered.

"Aye, on the other side of the radio room," Haddock said when Tintin replied, "Radio room?"

Tintin immediately went to the said room as she told the captain to alarm her if the crew were to find her.

"Is she going to try and call for help?" Shiori said.

"Not likely. Maybe she's trying to give a lead perhaps?" Karen replied.

Tintin made her way to the room and eavesdropped on the pair. She heard them saying about the Milanese Nightingale.

"Milanese Nightingale?" Tintin wondered as Elma said to Tom, "Pray this cheers her up."

"Milanese Nightingale?" the girls all said.

"Do you think it's their secret weapon?" Lalafin said as the rest of the girls now wonder what kind of weapon are they talking about.

As the pair leaves the room, Tintin immediately searches the room for some clues when Snowy is fighting against a rat for the sandwich.

She then noticed the index card with the word "Bagghar".

Tintin then noticed a brochure that spells out "Sultanate of Bagghar". She then reads the brochure as she said, "...ruled over by Sheikh Omar Ben Salaad, whose love of music and culture is matched only by his love of..."

But when Tintin turned the page, she saw something on the brochure that led her to say, "Great snakes!"

"Wait a minute! What did Tintin saw!" Fumi said.

"There's absolutely no way she saw the Unicorn in that brochure right!?" Karen said leaving many of the girls to be shocked if Karen's assumption could come true.

Tintin then pocketed the brochure and checked the map in the room. She then pointed at the Port of Bagghar located in Morocco.

She then saw the instrument for the radio wherein she began to use the radio to call for a signal.

"Edward-san, what kind of instrument is Tintin using?" Tamao said as their host said, "That instrument is used for Morse code. It is one of the leading ways of communicating with other people around the world at that time. They use lines and dashes as their alphabet in creating words through the radio."

The girls were very interested in Edward's facts about Morse code, especially Junna and Michiru.

Meanwhile, Haddock called out Tintin hoping that she's done when a crew member appears from the boat.

"Hey! Put your hands up!" said the man in which Haddock do so as the boat fell to the waters leaving the poor man dangling on a hook.

"And let that be a lesson to you!" Haddock said to the man.

"Good job me! That'll teach them a lesson!" Aruru said with pride.

Haddock then proceeded to check the other lifeboat and began to push it to the water.

Meanwhile, Tintin is busy typing on the radio when suddenly Tom entered the room and found Tintin.

"He found Tintin!" Rui said.

"Tintin run!" said some of the girls.

"In here! She's in here!" Tom cried out as Snowy leaped towards Tom and bit his arm.

Tintin then punched Tom and grabbed his gun.

"Nice punch Tintin!" Aruru said.

"She really has a good punch didn't she Rui?" Tamao said leading the said girl to blush.

"Ehehehe... Thanks for the compliment, Tamao-senpai." Rui bashfully said leading her to wonder if she should learn some boxing.

Suddenly, a crewman found Haddock by the boat and pointed his gun at him wherein Tintin whizzed past by him leading Elma and the man to open fire at her.

The girls are now at the edge of their seats as Tintin dodged the gunfire.

"Who knew a chase scene with guns could be this awesome!" Futaba said with a smile.

Snowy immediately went towards the lifeboat as Arsenia is trying to push the boat to the water.

Tintin ran to the lifeboat, dodging the gunfire when she came across one of the crew's members.

The crewman swings for the fences but Tintin dodged it as she hits his knee and pushes him aside.

"Tintin must be really good at this. I hope I can improve my kendo skills in the future." Rui mumbled to herself.

Seeing Tintin in action makes Rui feel that she's not reaching her full potential. Maybe she can learn a thing or two from these viewings.

The crewman gets up and began to fire at Tintin. Snowy saw that the man is firing at his master and whines, hoping that his master is alright when Haddock boarded the boat leading one of its lines to cut.

Luckily, Haddock grabbed a hold of the boat and grabbed Snowy before he lands right into Atlantic waters.

"Snowy!" Shiori said.

"Don't worry Shiori-chan, Snowy'll be alright!" Michiru said, calming the girl and hopes that the cute dog won't fall.

Tintin started dodging the gunfire as she slides downwards to the deck when a crewmember saw her.

The crewmember fell down the staircase as his fellow crew went upstairs.

Tintin returned fire to her pursuers and noticed that the lifeboat is dangling on one line. 

Elma shoots Tintin but missed as Tintin shoots the searchlight's handle, immediately turning it on as it blinds her pursuers.

"Man, Tintin's getting more awesome by the second!" Lalafin said.

"She must be really adaptable on many occasions," Akira said as her fellow classmates agree.

"I hope I can be just like her!" Rui thought to herself.

Tintin jumped to the lifeboat amidst the gunfire as she shoots the line when the trio lands onto the lifeboat when it crashed on the water. The crew tried to shoot at them but it was too late as the lifeboat is way beyond their reach.

Sakharine noticed that they escaped as Tintin and Haddock rowed the boat hoping that they bought enough time to escape.

"Turn this ship around!" Elma said to the man as the man began to turn the ship around.

"Tintin hurry up!" some of the girls said.

Elma slides down the stairs and fires her flare gun to the sky. 

The flare whizzed through the air as Tintin ushers the captain to stay hidden in the boat.

"There she is!" one of the crewmen said as Elma immediately shone the spotlight on the supposed boat.

"Oh no! They spotted them!" Rui said in horror.

From it, Shiori started praying that a miracle will occur, hoping that Tintin and Haddock will be captured instead.

"Now! Full speed!" Tom said to the helmsman as the Karaboudjan is speeding towards the lifeboat.

Elma chuckled, hoping that Tintin and Haddock will drown once the Karaboudjan crushes them.

Tintin and Haddock immediately lie still on the boat, hearing the Karaboudjan as it is heading towards them. Both of them closed their eyes until the ship crashes onto the lifeboat, splintering its wood across the ocean.

When the lifeboat crashed into the Karaboudjan, some of the girls are in shock, seeing that the Karaboudjan has laid waste to Tintin's lifeboat.

"No Tintin!" Rui screamed in horror as she turned to Edward with teary eyes.

"Edward-san! Please tell me they're not on that boat!" Rui said to her, hoping that Tintin and Haddock are able to survive the crash.

"Look! Down there!" Tom cried as the searchlight showed them what's left of the lifeboat.

But miraculously, another lifeboat appeared revealing Tintin and Haddock as they silently peeked from their hiding spot.

"They're alive!" Rui said, jumping for joy that they're alive and well.  

"Oh, thank goodness they're alright!" Junna said with a smile.

Tom is still checking for Tintin and Haddock until Sakharine grabbed him and pushed him to the railing.

"Idiots! You idiots! What have you done!?" Sakharine said to Tom.

"We killed them, boss like you wanted!" Tom said to Sakharine leading her to tell him, "No! Not what I wanted! I needed Haddock alive!" 

"Whoa, Sakharine! Calm down!" Ichie said in a joking manner as she continued on saying, "You didn't know that they survived, didn't they?"

"She really must have a vendetta against Haddock if she'll be the one to personally dispose of her," Akira said.

"Wait a minute, boss! There are two boats missing!" Elma said, showing Sakharine that two of the lifeboats are gone.

"So, that one must have been a decoy," Tom said as Sakharine releases him for her grasp.

She then tried to look for them until she grabbed the index card, revealing that Tintin must've seen it.

"They're onto us and our destination," Sakharine said as she pointed her cane to Tom saying, "Find them! Make absolutely certain they never reach Bagghar!"

Tom immediately follows through as Sakharine looks onward, hoping that Tintin and Haddock won't reach their destination.

Meanwhile, the crew removes the seaplane's cover as they prepare the plane to take off.

"She must've had a good reason why Sakharine doesn't want Tintin and Haddock to get to Bagghar," Maya said, "It could be because of the brochure Tintin saw from the ship."

"Even so, that chase scene is really awesome! I hope I'll see some more of them in the next part!" Futaba said in excitement.

And cut! Man! 6400 words... Maybe I need to limit myself in typing such many words in a chapter!

Anyway, college has been really hectic cuz of the assignments but even so, I'll do my best in uploading chapters for this fanfic of mine. 

Leave your comments and reviews and once more, I'm William DeGrave and see you in the next chapter!

Chapter Text

Meanwhile, Tintin is still rowing the lifeboat as hard as she can wherein Haddock sat across Tintin.

"We have to get to Bagghar ahead of Sakharine," Tintin said as Haddock replied, "I know. I know... Why?"

"Is Haddock that dense as to why Tintin needs to go to Bagghar?" Claudine said in an irritating tone.

"Saijo-san, it is important that Tintin only saw the brochure that contains information. Possibly, the third model ship." Maya said to the Frenchwoman.

"Because he has the third model ship," Tintin said to the captain leading her to wonder how Tintin knows about it.

Tintin grabbed the brochure and said, "The Sheikh collects old ships. And this is the prize of his collection."

Tintin opened the brochure and showed Haddock the picture of what appears to be the Unicorn.

"Blistering blue barnacles, that is the Unicorn!" Haddock exclaimed.

"No way!" Junna and Karen said in unison.

"So that's why Sakharine wants to stop them! Bagghar is the location of the last model!" Misora said in shock.

"Wait a minute... Karen-chan! How did you guess that the brochure shows the third model!?" Aruru said in curiosity.

Karen chuckled as she tried to think of an answer leaving Hikari and Mahiru to sigh. 

Usually, Karen sometimes blurts out random stuff on what might happen. Surprisingly, those said predictions had happened now and then. 

"I wonder how this girl can pull off these kinds of surprises?" Hikari and Mahiru thought.

"Captain, do you see the distortion around the model?" Tintin said as she showed the captain the Unicorn's case. 

The captain saw it as Tintin explained, "It means that Ben Salaad exhibits it in a bulletproof case in his palace."

"And Sakharine is going to steal it!" Haddock said, now knowing Sakharine's next plan of action.

"Yes, he has a secret weapon. The Milanese Nightingale. But that won't be enough to solve the mystery, and that is why Sakharine needs you." Tintin said to the captain.

The girls started to think about how the Milanese Nightingale be part of the plan. Aruru thought about a super-powerful gun that can break the case's glass while Michiru and Akira are discussing if the nightingale is a thief hired by Sakharine.

"That's why she made you prisoner. There is something she needs you to remember." Tintin said to the captain as Haddock replied, "I don't follow you."

 Tintin then sat down and told her "I read it in a book. That only a true Haddock can discover the secret of the Unicorn."

Haddock started to smile as Tintin followed suit upon hearing those words, thinking that she's starting to remember about it. Unfortunately, the captain replied, "I don't remember anything about anything."

"You have got to be kidding me..." Claudine said whilst rubbing her temples.

"If she can't even remember anything then... How come Sakharine is keen on keeping Haddock alive?" Aruru said in wonder.

"I don't know Aruru... Maybe the more we listen to the story, the more we can find out about it." Misora said to her friend.

"But you must know about your ancestors, Lady Frances. It's your family legacy!" Tintin said to the captain.

"My memory is not what it used to be." the captain said.

"Well, what did it used to be?" Tintin asked but the captain replied that she'd forgotten it.

Tintin sighed and said to the captain, "Captain, can you get us to Bagghar?"

The captain gets up and said to Tintin, "What sort of a stupid question is that?"

"Well now... Someone's pride must've been hurt." Yachiyo said.

"She doesn't want to be belittled by Tintin didn't she?" Misora replied.

Haddock said, "Give me those oars! I'll show you some real seamanship, lassie.", Haddock said as she starts grabbing one of the oars and putting it in place.

"I'll not be doubted by some pipsqueak tuft of ginger and her irritating dog!" Haddock said as she placed the oars to the left of her.

She ranted on and on saying that she’s the master of the seas, not knowing that while she's fixing the oars, she knocked out Tintin and Snowy because of it.

When the girls saw Haddock knock out Tintin & Snowy, some of them facepalmed at that incident.

"Can't she ever be careful about it!?" Fumi said in annoyance as Claudine is trying her best to not rant about it.

"Oh, brother..." Misora groaned seeing that Haddock had just knocked out Tintin and Snowy by accident.

Aruru awkwardly chuckled about what happened and as far as she's concerned, she silently hoped Haddock would do something amazing in the future.

"I know these waters better than the warts on my mother's face!" Haddock said as she began to row the boat. She then noticed that Snowy and Tintin are all knocked out.

Haddock chuckled at the sight of them, saying, "Look at the pair of them. Fast asleep. Typical landlubbers. Aye, no stamina these days."

Haddock then starts to row the boat, telling Tintin that they'll be able to get to Bagghar in no time.

"Well, that's because you knocked them out!" Rui screamed in annoyance.

"Rui-chan! Please calm down!" Tamao said as the kind girl is calming Rui down with her words.

Meanwhile, Aruru's face is beet red as her counterpart is doing nothing but trouble. Aruru then felt a pat on the back wherein she looked at Tsukasa who smiled at her.

"It's ok, Aruru. I know that pain too well." Tsukasa said, leading Aruru to hug her back.

The scene changes as a pair of similar shoes appear as it's walking across the street. The figure appears to be flicking its hands as it walks.

"So we're back in Antwerp this time. And it looks like we're seeing Yuyuko's counterpart." Tamao said.

"Well, we better catch her this time! Right, Ichie!" Lalafin said to the former idol with a determined look on her face.

"You got that right Lalafin!" Ichie said with a smile.

Two similar pairs of feet were then seen walking wherein they're hanging their respective canes on their left arms. 

The camera then reveals Yuyuko who is looking around the area. She's wearing black pants along with a pair of glasses and a bowler hat. 

She then noticed that the detectives were walking the same street as well.

“Look, Thomson. There’s the fellow.” Thompson said to Thomson.

Ms. Silk (Yuyuko) noticed them as she began to search her jacket, leaving her scared and nervous.

“Why is my other self getting nervous? Shouldn’t she be calm?” Yuyuko said.

“Maybe it’s because she believes they might notice her perhaps? The detectives might have some evidence that placates her as the pickpocket.” Fumi said to the sleepy girl.

The detectives immediately walked faster as Ms. Silk managed to grab her keys as she went towards her flat. 

She was about to open the door when the detectives arrived and said, “Ms. Silk?”

“Yes?” she said.

“My name is Thompson,” Thompson said as Thomson replied, “And Thomson.”

“We’re police officers!” the two men exclaimed.

“Whoa! I didn’t know our other selves can be in sync with each other!” Lalafin said in surprise.

“Maybe we can try doing that in a future play!” Ichie said.

Ms. Silk heard what they said, leaving her to say, “Oh crumbs.”

She walked past them as the two detectives looked onward until they saw Ms. Silk crash into something.

“Ms. Silk!” the detectives exclaimed as they went towards Ms. Silk who accidentally bumped into an old lady.

She was in a daze as one of the lady’s pet birds circle around her when it perches onto her hat. 

When the girls saw it, some chuckled while the rest laughed at the scene.

“Very funny girls…. Very funny.” Yuyuko said in an annoyed tone.

“It’s kind of fitting that you’re so sleepy in class Yuyuko. It’s a surprise you didn’t end up in an accident so far!” Ichie proclaimed while Yuyuko huffed in annoyance.

Yuyuko indeed acts like a sleepyhead merely because of her late-night practices but in truth, she is very aware of her surroundings. Sure she does sleep in class but whenever class is over, she’s very awake when walking across the school’s hallways even though some people think she’s half-asleep.

The detectives began to help her out as the pet store owner began to catch the birds. 

“Are you all right?/Are you alright ma’am?” the detectives said to Ms. Silk as they help her get to her feet. 

Meanwhile, a random man began to help the old lady who was knocked on the ground.

“No need to run away sir,” Thompson said as Thomson replied to Ms. Silk, “No, no you see, yesterday we very nearly caught the pickpocket who’s been terrorizing the town!”

As they were explaining to Ms. Silk about the pickpocket, the kind man was dusting the old lady but as he tried to dust her backside, the old lady thought he’s caressing it and began to hit him with the clerk’s broom.

The girls chuckled as the good samaritan is being beaten merely because of his actions.

“Can’t you give the guy a break! He’s trying to help you!” Aruru said amidst her chuckle.

“I guess if that happens to us, we might as well give them some explanation,” Mei Fan said, leading some of the girls to agree with her.

“Pickpocket?” Ms. Silk said as Thompson explained that she was able to pull out a wallet from the pickpocket’s jacket.

“A wallet with your name and address!” Thomson said.

“That’s my wallet,” Ms. Silk said as  Thompson said, “Well it’s obvious he’s stolen it from you!”

Some of the girls groaned as the two detectives WERE standing next to the pickpocket.

“Well…. They didn’t see the pickpocket’s face so naturally, they think that Ms. Silk is a victim of the pickpocket.” Junna explained with a sigh.

“This time, we’ll catch the thief for good! Right Lalafin-chan!” Ichie said. 

“You bet Ichie-chan!” Lalafin said in determination.

“No, no, that’s my wallet,” Silk said nervously as Thomson asked if she’s alright alright.

“We didn’t mean to startle you. Let us help you in to your apartment.” Thompson said as the two detectives follow Ms. Silk.

“Thank you so much. No need to come in. I’ll be quite all right, really.” Ms. Silk said to the detectives leading her to try and close her door. But, the detectives opened the door as they said, “No, we insist./ Better safe than sorry. It’s the least we can do.”

The detectives made their way into the room as Thompson said, “Good grief. What’s all this.”

It is revealed that the room is filled with countless wallets. While some of them are on shelves and boxes, other wallets were littered across the room.

“It’s my collection?” Ms. Silk said.

When the girls saw all the wallets, they were in shock. All of those stolen wallets, all of those personal belongings, they were wondering when did it all start!

“How many wallets have you stolen!?” Fumi said in shock.

“I don’t know…. It must’ve been a whole year…. I think?” Yuyuko said to Fumi.

“What a lot of wallets!” Thomson said in astonishment.

“I can’t help it. It started with coin purses and sort of went on from there, really.” Silk explained to the detectives.

“You want to be careful. Haven’t you heard? There’s a pickpocket about.” Thompson said as Thomson agreed that whoever he was, he’ll enjoy getting his hands on this collection.

“What do you mean, ‘pickpocket’?” Ms. Silk said as Thompson explained that the pickpocket is nothing more than a criminal and a thief, leading Silk to be horrified.

“I’m not a bad person! I’m a kleptomaniac.” Ms. Silk declared.

“A what?” Thompson said.

“It’s a fear of open spaces,” Thomson said to Thompson as the latter replied, “Poor woman. No wonder she keeps her wallets in the living room.”

“I think Thompson and Thomson got the wrong definition. Am I correct, Mr. Edward?” Akira said, leading Edward to nod in response.

“You’re correct Akira. What Thomson was referring to is agoraphobia. Kleptomania is a rare but dangerous mental disorder that makes anyone unable to steal something. In Ms. Silk’sm case, she steals wallets.” Edward explained to the girls.

“So you’re saying that Ms. Silk has a mental disorder that makes her steal wallets?” Rui said in surprise.

When Edward explained it to them, many of the girls find it very curious that someone has a mental disorder that rare. Junna, Akira, and Michiru find it very interesting that they decided to hit the books when they go back home.

“Wallets. I just can’t resist the lovely things. It’s a harmless little habit, really.” Ms. Silk explained while the detectives are examining the wallets Ms. Silk has ‘collected’.

“Good heavens, Thomson, look at this! His name’s Thompson, too.” Thompson said as she showed her partner a wallet with her name.

“What a coincidence,” Thomson said but Thompson replied, “No, Thomson, this is Thompson without a ‘P’ as in ‘psychic’.”

“Are you for real?” Fumi said in annoyance as the detectives themselves were victims of the pickpocket.

“I think I know why they got the idea of the elastic band don’t they….” Lalafin mumbled to herself.

“No, no, no, it’s Thompson with a ‘P’ as in ‘psychologist’.” Thomson corrected Thompson as Ms. Silk started to explain about her collection.

“Look at this one! A green one that I managed to pick from a pickpocket actually pickpocketing at the time.” Ms. Silk said to the detectives who are still arguing about the wallet with Thompson’s name.

Ms. Silk keeps on telling her story as the argument blows out on who’s the sidekick from them.

The girls started to chuckle that the detectives are just arguing about who is the sidekick. 

Ms. Silk tried to keep on telling her stories but the detectives are too engrossed with their argument that she finally snapped.

“Listen! I can’t stand it anymore! All right, I’ll come quietly.” Ms. Silk said as she had had enough of their shenanigans.

The theater erupted in laughter as Aruru, Karen, Lalafin, and Ichie are clutching their stomachs. While the serious ones like Fumi and Claudine are snickering because of what’s happening.

“Who knew that Lalafin and Ichie arguing would lead the pickpocket to give up!” Fumi said while chuckling.

“I guess even criminals have their breaking point. In this case, it’s the detectives’ argument!” Misora joked.

Ms. Silk began to grab the wallets and throw them at them saying, “Take them! Take them! Take them all!”

“Stop it. Pull yourself together, woman! We can’t take your wallets! Do we look like thieves?” Thompson said to Ms. Silk until Thomson said to Thompson, “Good heavens, Thompson. This looks familiar.”

She then held the wallet in the air, showing it to Thompson as she saw the wallet’s name. In her disbelief, she held the wallet as both of them said the owner’s name, “Tintin!”

“They found Tintin’s wallet!” Rui exclaimed.

“But the problem is… How will they get to Tintin? She’s halfway across the ocean!” Mei Fan said.

“Knowing Tintin, I’m sure they’ll find a way to get it to her!” Aruru said in confidence.

Meanwhile, Tintin is still knocked out as Haddock is still rowing the boat as she began to shiver.

“I’m so cold. And thirsty.” Arsenia said as she wrapped her arms across her body and rubbed her throat.

“Shouldn’t the ocean be warm?” Karen said.

“The reason why it’s cold Karen is that it's early morning. You do experience cold mornings whenever it’s autumn and early winter right?” Mahiru said to the brunette leading her to understand her friend’s explanation.

Haddock tried to warm herself up by exhaling within her palms but it was in vain. 

“My throat is parched. Let’s see if there’s any freshwater.” Haddock said as she began to look at the lifeboat’s compartment.

As she was looking for some water, she found something even better, in her opinion.

Arsenia chuckled at the sight of the bottle as she said, “What have we here.”

It was revealed that she managed to get a bottle of whiskey as she started to close the compartment’s doors.

“Oh boy… I have a bad feeling about this.” Claudine said as she knew that something terrible will happen when Haddock gets a hold of her ‘favorite’ drink.

“Tintin. Tintin.” a voice said to Tintin as light is slowly lighting up.

“Come and warm yourself, lassie.” the voice said.

 But when Tintin woke up, she immediately shot up in horror as it has revealed that Haddock lit a fire on the lifeboat!

Soon enough, many of the stage girls jaw-dropped in disbelief as the captain lit a fire in the lifeboat while some of them buried their faces in annoyance.

“Are you kidding me! Who in their right mind lights a fire on a boat in the middle of the ocean!?” Fumi said in outright anger.

“ Pour l’amour de Dieu….. What is she thinking!” Claudine said as she clutched her head as Banana and Maya calm her down.

As for Aruru, let’s just say she had never done anything this stupid. Sure she does some things that many of her friends might question her but this takes the cake. Seriously, who in their right mind would try and light a fire in the middle of the ocean.

“Please let this be over…” Aruru said praying that her other self would do something cool later in the story.

“Captain? What have you done?” Tintin said as she saw the captain warming herself up.

“No need to thank me,” Arsenia said as Tintin replied, “What?”

“Well, you looked a little cold, so I lit a wee little fire,” Haddock said she placed her palms near the flame while Tintin tried to stomp the fire out.

“In a boat!” Tintin said but then, Haddock grabbed the oars in adding them to the fire.

“No! Those are our oars! We need those oars!” Tintin said in horror when Haddock replied, “Yes but not for much longer.” as she snapped the oar in two.

“For crying out loud Haddock! That’s the only way for you to row the boat!” Mei Fan said as some of the girls are about to have a headache.

“I have no more words for this stupidity….” Fumi said whilst rubbing her forehead.

“Have you gone mad! Quick, Captain, help me!” Tintin said as she began to scoop some water to extinguish the flames.

“She’s right. What have I done!?” Haddock replied as she went for the whiskey bottle to extinguish the fire.

“No, Captain, not that!/ No don’t! ” Tintin and the girls said but unfortunately, Haddock doused the flame with the whiskey as an explosion rocked the boat.

“Thundering typhoons!” Haddock exclaimed.

“How in the world did this woman became a captain!” Tamao exclaimed.

“You and me both Tamao-san. You and me both.” Misora said as the rest of the Frontier girls try to comfort Aruru on what has transpired.

“Even Karen wasn’t that absentminded!” Hikari and Mahiru thought after seeing this fiasco.

It is then revealed that the boat was overturned with Tintin, Haddock, and Snowy on top of it.

“Well, this is a fine mess,” Tintin said, annoyed that Haddock made the blunder in the worst timing while Haddock muttered to herself saying, “I’m weak.”. 

 “We’re stranded here…”

“Selfish.”

“...with no hope of rescue…”

“I’m hopeless.”

“...while Sakharine and his men are halfway to Bagghar.”

“Poor, miserable wretch!”

“Can you stop your moping me! At least you’re still in one piece!” Aruru snapped at Haddock leaving most of the girls to be surprised at the blonde’s outburst.

“Wow, ryuu! I never thought I’d see her like that, ryuu!” Andrew said in shock.

“The last time we saw her like this is from her hijacking,” Elle said as she remembered how Aruru hijacked the ReLive, turning it into a Live instead.

“Yes, all right. That’s enough of that.” Tintin snapped at the sea captain.

“It was her fault, you see. It was Lady Frances.” Arsenia said as Tintin explained the reason for that.

“Because she was a figurehead of great courage and bold exploits. No one like her ever existed in my family. Why do you think I drink? Because I know I’ll never be like her.” Arsenia explained to Tintin. 

“She’s… She’s just like me…” Mahiru thought to herself. 

Before the ReLive, she always clung to Karen because she believed she shines the brightest. She loved her so much that when Hikari arrived, she’s willing to force Karen to always help her. It wasn’t until their Revue that Karen convinced her that she’s already shining and she can be just like Karen.

“You’re wrong, Haddock! You can be like her! You have to believe in yourself!” Aruru shouted at the screen.

Normally, Misora would tell Aruru to quiet down but this time, she’ll let it slide.

“No, it’s far better that I end it now. Put us both of our misery.” Haddock replied as she shook Tintin’s hand.

Then, Snowy turned his head noticed something in the distance. 

“What is it, Snowy?” Tintin asked her dog as Haddock was about to jump into the ocean when a glint of light was seen in the sky revealing it to be the Karaboudjan’s seaplane.

“Oh no! It’s the seaplane!” Rui said in shock as the girls are hoping that Tintin would find a way to get out of this predicament.

“Those are Portuguese markings,” Tintin noticed as Haddock replied, “Are you even listening?”

“Where is the Karaboudjan registered?” Tintin replied to the captain as she noticed the plane in the sky.

“We’re saved. We’re saved!” Haddock said as she believed that the plane has spotted them.

“It’s a sign from above!” she exclaimed until the seaplane shot its rounds at them.

“Look out!” some of the girls exclaimed where luckily, the plane missed its mark.

The plane soared back to the sky as Haddock angrily exclaimed at them saying, “Troglodytes! Slave traders! Mutant malingerers! Freshwater politicians!”

“Is Haddock even trying in insulting them?” Michiru said as the girls were a bit weirded out by Haddock’s choice of words.

“Well… It is set in a different time so you should understand their word choices.” Edward said to the girls.

Tintin pulled out her gun and said to Haddock, “Bad news, Captain. We’ve only got one bullet.”

“And what’s the good news?” Haddock said to Tintin as she said to her, “We’ve only got one bullet.”

“Is she seriously trying to shoot the plane down with her gun!?” Junna said in shock.

“I guess we’re about to find out!” Aruru and Karen replied, seeing that Tintin is about to do something spectacular.

Tintin set herself in a stance as she anticipated the plane heading towards them. The plane began to fire at them and without hesitation, Tintin fired her shot as the plane bellowed smoke.

But in the midst of it, Haddock jumped over the water, thinking that it might come back.

“You got him!” Haddock explained as the plane landed at the water.

Tintin jumped into the water as Haddock praised the girl for her marksmanship. Meanwhile, the pilots immediately exited the plane and opened the plane’s engine where smoke billowed out of it.

The girls cheered at this feat leading Karen and Aruru to reply, “So cool!”

“Tintin managed to shot the engine!” Maya said, impressed that Tintin shot the plane with ease.

“She must practice with her marksmanship that well,” Rui said as she taught to herself, “I need to practice my kendo skills hard.”

“Stay here, Captain,” Tintin replied as she dove into the water to the plane.

“Don’t take your eyes off of them,” one of the pilots said as his partner tells him to hurry up.

“Just as I thought. The ignition lead has been cut. Lucky shot!” the pilot said, not knowing that Tintin is heading right for them.

“One more pass, and we’ll finish them off,” the pilot with the gun said not knowing that Tintin revealed herself and said to them, “Hands in the air!”

“Now!” she ordered as the pilots raised their hands, not knowing that Tintin’s gun is out of ammo.

“Tintin’s so cool! She managed to force the pilots to surrender! Even though she’s out of ammo!” Lalafin said with a smile.

“Oh, man! I wonder what other adventures has she gone through before meeting Haddock!” Aruru said in delight.

The scene changes as Tintin began reading the airplane’s instruction manual.

“Let’s see here,” Tintin said whilst browsing the manual while Haddock asked her saying, “ You do know what you’re doing, eh, Tintin?”

“Um… More or less…” she replied, revealing that the other pilots are bound behind them.

“I hope she knows how to pilot the plane,” Futaba said knowing that for a first-timer like Tintin, she might have a hard time piloting a plane.

“Well, which is it? More or less?” Haddock nervously said Tintin replied, “Relax. I interviewed a pilot once.”

“Seriously!? Just because you interviewed a pilot doesn’t mean you know how to fly it!” Futaba cried out as Kaoruko giggled at Futaba.

“Calm down Futaba-han. I’m sure Tintin would figure it out. I mean… this could be proof that I could ride your bike if I read the instruction manual.” Kaoruko slyly said as Futaba groaned. 

The plane bounce off the waves and when it reaches its top speed, it lifts off into the blue sky.

“Which way to North Africa?” Tintin said as the plane soars into the air as the Karaboudjan is shown below it.

“Captain, look! We’ve caught up with them.” Tintin said as the plane speeds ahead of the ship.

“Alright! They’ll be able to get to Morocco ahead of them!” Rui said as some of the girls cheered Tintin in getting a headstart over Sakharine.

“Wonderful! But you think we might find another way to North Africa that doesn’t take us through that Wall of Death?” Haddock said in a scared manner, revealing that their plane is heading towards a gigantic storm cloud.

“We can’t turn back! Not now. Not now.” Tintin said, determined to get them to Morocco

“Uh oh….” Aruru and Karen said in unison.

“Haddock’s right! Tintin needs to find a way to get to Morocco or they’re done for!” Shiori said in horror.

“I understand your concern, Shiori. But they have no choice. Either they turn around or take the risk of going through those clouds.

As the plane entered the clouds, thunder crackled left and right, forcing Tintin to dodge every thunderbolt that might strike them.

Scared of her life, Arsenia tried to calm down until she noticed something that caught her eye revealing it to be medicinal alcohol. 

Haddock tried to get a hold of it when Tintin swatted her hand saying, “No, Captain! Those are surgical spirits for medicinal purposes only.”

“Good job Tintin! Make sure the captain doesn’t drink any of that stuff!” Aruru said.

“Quite right, lassie, quite right,” Haddock replied but suddenly, a thunderbolt struck the plane’s wings as it turned upside down.

Shiori and Tamao screamed in fright as the plane got struck by lightning.

Luckily, Tintin immediately turned the plane upright making Haddock scared out of her life. She immediately grabbed the bottle and starts to unscrew its cap when the plane starts to dive rapidly.

The bound pilots began to float as the gravity dropped when suddenly, a portion of the medicinal alcohol began to float out of the bottle, turning into a sphere.

“How did that happen!?” Karen said in shock while the other girls are surprised to see that such a thing is happening before their eyes.

“Zero gravity, girls. Since the gravity dropped very low, water becomes spherical when gravity isn’t present on a certain area.” Edward said to the girls.

Haddock saw the alcohol bubble and tries to drink it, not knowing that Snowy saw the bubble first and was able to slurp all of it.

“Snowy why did you drink it!?” Shiori exclaimed.

“Calm down Shiori-chan! At least Captain Haddock wasn’t able to drink some of it.” Michiru said to her schoolmate

The plane immediately swung in time as Snowy dropped to the ground with a burp. The plane immediately shot up high until it began to nosedive again.

Another alcohol bubble immediately appeared as Haddock is determined to drink before Snowy gets to it.

Snowy also notices it as he tries to drink it but Haddock grabbed his tongue and immediately sipped all of it until she gets thrown back when the plane rises again into the air.

“Oh no! Haddock managed to get a drank the bubble!” Aruru exclaimed in horror.

“I hope she won’t do something stupid again won’t she,” Fumi said as she prayed that Haddock won’t cause another blunder.

The pilots were taken aback until the planer began to sputter noises from its propeller.

“No, no, no! The fuel tank! It’s almost empty!” Tintin said as the screen showed that the fuel tank’s meter is set on empty.

“They’re going to crash into the ocean!” Tamao said in horror as the girls are now full of dread that the plane might crash.

Tintin managed to come up with a plan as she said, “Captain! This may sound crazy, but I’ve got a plan. The alcohol in that bottle may give us a few more miles.”

Haddock noticed that she drank all of its contents as Tintin continued saying, “I need you to climb out of the plane and pour it into the fuel tank.”

“Is she insane! What would happen if Haddock falls off of the plane!” Claudine snapped at the screen.

“It’s called a calculated risk. Although the bottle’s contents are gone, Haddock has to find a way to get the engine running.” Junna said as she knew that somehow Haddock would be able to kickstart the engine.

“Christopher Columbus!” Haddock said as she put on one of the plane’s parachutes.

She opened the plane’s door as the violent wind and rain made their presence on Haddock where she immediately closed the door and said to Tintin, “There’s a terrible storm out there. And it’s raining.”

Tintin turned around Haddock and said, “And you call yourself a Haddock?”.

When Arsenia heard it her grew red, knowing that no one calls her a coward.

“Looks like her pride got shot by Tintin’s words didn’t she!” Yachiyo said with a grin.

“From what transpired there, I bet you girls would do the same if people called you a coward on stage!” Edward exclaimed, leaving many of the girls to understand Haddock a bit.

They indeed learned from the best in their respective schools but when push comes to shove, they’ll be ready to prove to the doubters that they deserve to be on stage.

Arsenia flung the doors in fury as she went flying out of the door in an instant!

“Captain!/ Captain!” Tintin and some of the girls said as they saw Haddock flew out of the door.

“Captain! Can you hear me? Captain? Captain?” Tintin shouted throughout the plane as Haddock revealed herself on the plane’s right window.

When the girls saw this, all of them sighed in relief that Haddock was able to hang on one of the parts of the plane.  

“Thank goodness, she’s alright! I almost got a heart attack!” Fumi said in relief.

“You and me both sister,” Shiori said to herself.

“You’re doing fine! Now, pour the bottle into the tank. We’re running on fumes.” Tintin said as the captain thought of an idea saying, “Fumes!”

She began to walk towards the tank as she plopped herself onto the engine and opened the tank.

Tintin then noticed something on the floor as she saw the alcohol bottle.

“Oh no,” Tintin said in horror.

Haddock began to beat her chest and screamed as she placed her mouth into the engine’s entrance and burped revealing that the engine’s mechanisms begin to turn leading the propeller to burst in flames.

“No way!” Rui and Fumi said in shock, seeing that Haddock was able to kickstart the engine through her burp.

“That’s so cool! Haddock kickstarted the engine because of her burp!” Aruru said with joy as her other self was able to do something amazing.

“Of course! Haddock drank the bottle and because the alcoholic content is still in her system, her burp was able to start the engine!” Junna said leaving the rest of the girls to be in awe of what transpired… even though it was a bit weird.

Haddock was held aback by the force as the plane immediately went full speed.

“Captain! I can’t see!” Tintin shouted as the captain said, “Land! Land!”.

“We can’t! We’re not there yet!” Tintin shouted back and Haddock immediately scooch over the windshield and showed Tintin that they’re on land and the plane is heading towards a sand dune!

“Tintin, turn the plane! Turn the plane!” Rui and Shiori exclaimed.

Tintin immediately turned as she tried to navigate the desert. 

“No, no, no, starboard! Starboard! Starboard!” Haddock exclaimed as Tintin immediately turned the plane with Haddock at the front.

The pilots are starting to free themselves of their ropes when suddenly, lightning struck Haddock as she’s about to launch herself out of the plane where she’s able to cling onto the plane’s tail.

“Haddock hang on!” Aruru screamed, even though the rest of the girls are shocked that she’s still conscious after receiving a lightning bolt directly.

The pilots immediately exited the plane through their parachutes as they land on the desert sands.

The tail immediately broke as Haddock landed facefirst on the sand whereas Tintin accidentally broke the plane’s controls. 

“Oh no!” the girls said in horror as the plane was about to crash into the dunes

Seeing that they’re about to crash, Tintin grabbed Snowy and braced for impact as the plane tumbled and crashed onto the desert.

Tintin crashed into the plane’s windshield, knocking her out as the propeller is still spinning. The broken windshield turned into bits when it landed on the propeller as its next victim is Tintin.

“Tintin!” Rui and Aruru screamed in horror as Tintin is getting closer to the propeller.

Haddock woke up and saw the plane as Snowy is trying to pull her master out of harm’s way.

“Hang on, Tintin!” Haddock cried as she raced towards the wreckage as Snowy is trying his best to pull her out.

“I’m coming!” Haddock cried out as the parachute launched her in the air because of the sandstorm.

Haddock was trying to land on the plane as she narrowly avoided the spinning propeller when the plane immediately shifted downward as Haddock was flown backward as she managed to grab a hold of the plane.

Haddock was able to get to the front as Haddock is trying to get Tintin out as her hair is nearing the propeller

The girls are tensed up as the propeller nearing Tintin’s hair. Some are hoping that Haddock gets Tintin out while the rest of them like Shiori and Tamao closed their eyes.

“I can’t look! I can’t look!” Shiori meekly said in a frightened manner.

Miraculously, Haddock was able to throw Tintin out of harm’s way until the parachute’s strings got caught into the propeller as Haddock spun through the propeller, launching her right at the dirt.

Tintin regained her consciousness whereas Snowy fell off the plane into the sand.

“Oh, thank goodness she saved her! Who knows what will happen to Tintin if Haddock didn’t throw her up!” Shiori said, sighing that Tintin’s alright.

“Anyway girls, what do you think of the movie as of now?” Edward said to the girls as some of them began to share their opinions.

Karen and Aruru enjoyed the airplane scene, especially how Haddock was able to kickstart the engine. Rui also enjoyed Tintin’s feats in regards to her sharpshooting and her gun bluff against the pilots. 

All in all, the girls are now interested in how the pair will be able to get to Bagghar at this rate. While some are confident like Aruru who believes that they’ll find a way while the rest of them are concerned like Shiori that Tintin and Haddock will stay safe.

Chapter Text

As time passed by, the sun’s heat radiated across the Sahara Desert whereas Tintin and Haddock walked its sands.

“The Land of Thirst. The Land of Thirst. The Land of Thirst.” Haddock repeated as it is revealed that both of them have removed their outer clothes as Haddock is wearing her shirt and a scarf tied on her head while Tintin retained her shirt as she tied her sweater around her waist.

“Will you stop saying that!” Tintin said in annoyance since she’s carrying her while dragging her feet across the desert sand.

When the girls saw what had become of Haddock and Tintin, they all felt sorry for them that they’re enduring this perilous trial.

“How long have they been walking,” Tamao said, seeing that the two of them are severely dehydrated.

“It must have been hours for them. Their bodies are getting tired due to the heat and how far they’ve walked.” Junna said, noticing that their movements are becoming more sluggish.

“You don't understand. I’ve run out, ” Haddock cried as she knelt to the hot sands, saying “I’ve run out. You don’t know what it means.”

“Captain, we have to keep going. One step at a time. Come on, on your feet! Lean your weight on me.” Tintin said to the captain as she hoisted her up and began to carry her.

“A man can only hang on so long without his vitals,” Haddock said to the lass while Tintin said to her, “Captain, calm down. There are worse things than sobering up.”

“I agree with Tintin. There are worse things than being sober. They could end up having heat stroke or worse, getting lost in the desert.” Akira said, making the girls more worried about them.

“Look! Tintin!” Haddock cried out as she pointed her finger into the sandy wasteland. She then replied that they’re saved as she found water even though there’s none of it in the desert.

“Why’s Haddock acting like that!? Is she being delusional!?” Tamao said in a concerned tone.

“You’re precisely correct Miss Tamao. Because of the heat, Arsenia is experiencing hallucinations caused by their time in the desert. You should all be glad that you haven’t experienced it to some degree.” Edward said to the girls nonchalantly, making some of them alarmed at Haddock’s mental state.

“How could this man stay so calm!?” Mei Fan and Fumi instantly thought.

Snowy noticed this as he tried to stop Haddock by pulling her overalls, leading her to tumble into the desert whereas Tintin said, ”Captain! Stop! It’s just a mirage!”

Tintin hurriedly went to the captain as Haddock said to her, “But it was here. I saw it.”
 

“It was just your mind playing tricks. It’s the heat.” Tintin said to the delusional Haddock.

“I have to go home.” Haddock said.

“What?” Tintin said, flabbergasted that the captain is not snapping back to reality.

“I have to go back to the sea,” Haddock replied, leading Tintin to be more annoyed that the captain is becoming more delusional than before.

“Captain, you’re hallucinating!” Tintin reminded the captain.

“What does she mean by ‘go back to the sea’!? Has she lost her mind!” Fumi said in shock.

“Poor Captain Haddock…. The desert must’ve taken a toll on her mind.” Mahiru said with a sigh.

The rest of the girls are starting to get worried about the two of them since they’ve been walking in the desert for so long.

“Look. Did you ever see a more beautiful sight?” Haddock said to the lass as she pointed her finger across the sands. 

As she stood up, Haddock said to Tintin, “She’s turning into the wind, all sails set. Triple masted. Double decks. Fifty guns.”

When Tintin heard what Haddock’s been saying, she realized that the captain was talking about the one ship she only knew of.

“The Unicorn?” Tintin said as she finally realized that Haddock is starting to remember the story.

When the girls see what has transpired, they all stare in shock that the captain is finally remembering the story of Lady Frances Haddock.

“She’s doing it….. Arsenia’s remembering Lady Frances’ story!” Aruru said with joy as her counterpart was about to tell the story of Lady Frances.

“Isn’t she a beauty?” Haddock said to Tintin as she replied, “Yes! Yes, she is!”

“Tell me, Captain, what else can you see?” Tintin said to the former drunkard as she narrated to the girl, saying, “She’s got the wind behind her. Look at the pace she’s setting! Barely a day out of Barbados, a hold full of rum and the finest tobacco and the hearts of the sailors set for home.”

And from it, a ship’s topmast begins to appear out of the horizon as both Tintin and Haddock are both envisioning the Unicorn as it sails across the sand. Soon, the sand changed into the waves, sending the Unicorn into the stormy seas.

“That’s so cool!” Aruru and Karen said in unison wherein, the rest of the girls are in awe of the story’s transition from the desert to the raging seas.

“If our stage can transform itself during scenes such as this, I believe that many other students would be determined to be a part of our school,” Maya said as she felt that if the school can increase its budget, they could be able to recreate this kind of transition in some way.

The camera zooms into the ship revealing a woman wearing a purple coat as she looks at her telescope revealing a pirate flag whose upper skull and the tips of its swords are stained red.

She then puts it down, revealing herself as Lady Frances Haddock, captain of the Unicorn and ancestor to Arsenia Haddock. 

“The red pennant,” she solemnly said as the screen reverted to Haddock on telling the story.

“The blood runs cold in every sea captain who looks upon that flag, for he knows he’s facing a fight to the death,” Haddock replied until she used her bottle as a telescope where she said, “But Lady Frances is a Haddock. And Haddocks don’t flee.”

“You bet she was! No one runs from a fight!” Aruru said, excited that she’s finally going to see Haddock’s ancestor in action.

“All right! Let’s see what Haddock’s story has to offer!” Futaba said with a big grin knowing that Lady Frances’ leads her crew very well.

The Unicorn charged through the Atlantic Ocean where its cannons began to reveal themselves as its gunners went to their respective stations.

“Let’s unload the King’s shot into these yellow-bellied, lily-livered, sea slugs!” Lady Frances declared as her second-in-command, Mrs. Nicholls, is descending the stairs alongside Haddock. 

When the girls saw the person beside Haddock, they were in shock that the person next to Lady Frances is none other than Misora!

“Wait, what!? Why am I beside Lady Frances!?” Misora said in shock, whereas Aruru realized something important on why Misora’s counterpart is with Lady Frances.

“I got it! If Arsenia’s ancestor is Lady Frances, then…. Misora’s counterpart’s ancestor must be the woman next to Lady Frances!” Aruru happily proclaimed, making the rest of the girls realize that Aruru’s assumption is correct.

“So you’re saying that the Misora next to Lady Frances is her ancestor?” Yachiyo said, whilst gesturing at the screen.

“Huh… I guess in another world, I must be bound to be with Aruru….” Misora thought to herself, surprised and happy that she’ll always be by Aruru’s side.   

“Prepare to bring her about, Mrs. Nicholls,” Arsenia said to her as Mrs. Nicholls replied, “Aye-aye, Captain! Prepare to bring her about!”

As the crewmembers began to turn the ship, a cannonball whizzed through the ocean waves as it hit the Unicorn near its forepeak. The Unicorn retaliated back by sending a barrage of its own towards the pirate ship.

The pirate’s flag fluttered in the air as its crew reveled in joy as they fired back at the Unicorn as one of its cannonballs tore through the Unicorn’s mainsail, burning it.

The girls are now in their seats as they witness the naval battle of The Unicorn and the pirate ship.

“So this is what naval battle looks like! This is going to be a good fight!” Futaba said with glee.

“Come on, Haddock! Show them what you’re made of!” Aruru said as she cheered her counterpart on screen.

Haddock walked past her men as they kept on firing at the pirate ship when the two ships collided with each other, sending the Unicorn’s crew to stagger.

During the collision, the Unicorn’s topmast got snagged with the pirate ship’s topmast as well, leading the Unicorn’s crew to get ready for a possible invasion.

Lady Frances found Mrs. Nicholls as she said to her, “Mrs. Nicholls, secure the cargo.”

“Right you are, ma’am,” she replied to the captain, as Lady Frances raised her saber and shouted to the crew saying, “Prepare to repel all borders!”

As Lady Frances rallied her crew, Aruru, Lalafin, Ichie, and Karen roared in excitement, showing their support to Lady Frances’ determination in defending the ship.

Still entangled, the Unicorn began to move to the right as the pirate ship was hoisted up in the air. 

Like a flying galleon, the pirate ship swung into the air, leading to the dodge its swing whereas the pirates hollered in laughter, ready to board the Unicorn.

As the pirate ship swung into the air, some of the girls’ jaws went agape, seeing that the pirate ship swung into the air like an amusement park ride.

The first to break the silence is Karen and Aruru as they screamed in joy of this amazing moment.

“That’s so cool!” Karen and Aruru exclaimed, waking some of their classmates from their stupor.

“Holy cow! This is exceeding my expectations!” Futaba said as she marveled on how the pirate ship swung into the air.

One of the pirates spun the wheel of the ship, forcing it to swing back, leading the pirates to board the Unicorn from above. One of the ship’s guards blocks the upcoming pirate’s sword but another one drops on him, stabbing him in the neck.

Another pirate landed onto the Unicorn’s cannons, slashing his cutlass on the crewmen's throats while another one stabbed his cutlass into another crewman’s heart.

“I thought Lady Frances’ crew was supposed to be able to fend off those pirates. Aren’t they more well-trained than those pirates?” Akira said, leading Aruru to explain.

“Sure they are well-trained but they won’t be able to take on the pirates in hand-to-hand combat. They’re more unpredictable and they managed to take them by surprise.” Aruru explained to Akira, shocking the Edels including Akira.

It’s rare for someone who is able to be on Akira’s level, especially when it comes to giving an important answer to her question.

“Impressive… It looks like I shouldn’t underestimate her based on her actions…” Akira thought to herself.

Another pirate swung into the air, kicking another crewmate as he fell into the sea. He then fired his flintlock pistol at another crewman when he landed next to Lady Frances. 

With murderous intent, he quickly pulled his cutlass when Lady Frances shot him with her pistol. Another pirate quickly charged at her when she blocked and punched him in the face while she quickly pushed another pirate to her right and proceeded to cut him down with her saber. She then immediately threw her pistol at the other pirate, knocking him out.

“That’s so cool! She’s able to fend them off all by herself!” Aruru said with excitement, seeing how Lady Frances is able to fend off the pirates without needing any help.

“I know right! I’m wondering if we can convince our school to invite students from the other class!” Futaba said with a grin, thinking of the possible fight scenes that include more and more people.

“It may be hard work but I believe that it could happen in the near future,” Tamao said in response.

When the Stage Girls thought about it, they felt that they should invite their other schoolmates as well in their plays. Even though their roles could be minor roles, they still want them to shine alongside them.

Suddenly, the pirate ship immediately slammed into the ocean waves making the Unicorn turn on its side.

“This way! We need more men!” a pirate with an eyepatch said, leading his comrades to the Unicorn, steadily.

“So they’re trying to overwhelm the ship with their numbers,” Junna said, seeing that the pirates are forcing their way into the ship through their sheer numbers.

As the Unicorn is on its sides, the rest of the crew and pirates are still fighting, even though they’re still hanging on.

Meanwhile, Haddock has just defeated another pirate as she immediately raced towards the topmast. She immediately cut the rope and swung all the way into the pirate ship’s topmast.

With a flick of her wrist, Lady Frances cuts the pirate ship’s topmast, flinging its would-be invaders.

With its final moments, the pirate ship began to sink into the sea due to its critical damage, leaving the Unicorn to sail onward. 

“There goes the pirate ship! Now unto the pirates, Lady Frances!” Aruru cheered on as the girls were now on their seats that the fight was about to reach its climax.

Using a wooden stick, Lady Frances rappeled down the line like a zipline when she’s nearing the burning sails. With her quick thinking, she immediately cuts the rope and swings in the opposite direction.

During her swing, she cuts down some of the pirates and kicks two of them in the face as she lands.

She cuts the ropes near the cannon and flips a burning torch as she sets the cannon’s fuse on fire. With its rope cut, the cannon launches itself, dispersing a group of pirates and sending them into the ocean.

When the girls saw Lady Frances’ feats, they were in awe of how creative and unpredictable she has become when she’s against those pirates.

“Can’t get Lady Frances any cooler! This story’s the best!” Aruru said with a big grin. 

“Lady Frances is really resourceful and creative. It’s interesting how she’s able to defeat a group of pirates all by herself.” Maya said, impressed by Lady Frances’ feats.

Meanwhile, a pair of boots was seen walking across the burning masts as Lady Frances had put a chokehold on another pirate. When her eyes looked at it, the figure stood triumphantly along with the flames.

“Wha-!? Who is that!?” Fumi said in surprise as the rest of the girls wondered who it was.

“I think it’s the pirate captain! He must be the one who is after them!” Aruru said, anticipating the pirate captain’s next move.

The screen faded into the sands as Haddock described what Lady Frances’ saw, saying, “And then she saw her.”

Haddock raised the bottle like a sword and said, “Like a phantom, rising from the dead.”

“Who? Captain, who did she see?” Tintin said to the captain.

Haddock stared into the sky until she said to Tintin, “It’s gone.”

When the girls heard that, almost all of them groaned, especially Aruru.

“We were so close to the story’s climax!” Aruru groaned as Futaba said, “I know right! Things were starting to get good until Haddock immediately forgot about it!”

“Let’s just hope that the next time Haddock remembers, she’ll be able to remember the entire story…” Fumi said, annoyed that Haddock has just forgotten the important part of the story.

“What do you mean gone? What happened next?” Tintin said, worried that Haddock is starting to forget the story.

“By Jupiter, I have lips! Since when did I have lips!?” Haddock screamed as Tintin immediately went to Haddock and asked him, “Captain, something happened on the Unicorn. It’s the key to everything. You must remember.”

“The Unicorn? What? I’m so terribly thirsty.” Haddock wailed as Tintin tried to help Haddock until she started to faint.  

Tintin caught Haddock and remarked, “To think all it took was a day in the Sahara. Congratulations, Captain, you’re sober.”

“Sober,” Haddock said as she laid down on the desert sands.

“I think Haddock reached her limit. Her hallucinations must’ve tired her out.” Junna said, noticing how Haddock is tired and her speech is slurring.

“Poor Haddock, I hope someone will be able to save them right now.” Nana said in a worrying tone.

After a while nighttime came to the desert as Snowy barked across the desert, hoping that someone would save Tintin and Haddock.

Miraculously, light bounces off Snowy’s white fur when a man popped out of the desert sands and shone his light onto Tintin.

Aruru jumped for joy, seeing that Tintin and Haddock were finally saved while the rest of the girls sighed in relief.

“They’re saved! They’re finally saved!” Shiori said in joy.

“Oh, thank goodness they’re safe! I’m just glad someone found them!” Tamao said that Tintin and Haddock are finally safe.

“Good dog!” the man said as he patted Snowy for doing a good job.

He then checked Tintin’s pulse and said, “This one’s alive. Check the other!”

“Yes, sir!” 

The other man turned Haddock over to check her out to see if she’s still breathing.

“Yes! Good boy, Snowy!” Shiori said, seeing that Haddock and Tintin are in safe hands.

“Man, I hope I get a dog as loyal as Snowy!” Karen said in joy.

“I hope the dog’s also white as well….” Hikari mumbled to herself.

Morning comes around as the scene changes into an outpost where some of its soldiers are doing their exercise drills. Another soldier is also seen raising a flag, revealing it to be France’s flag.

“ Mon dieu! Are those my countrymen!?” Claudine said, surprised that she’s seeing her people.

“You’re correct Ms. Saijo. What we’re seeing here is the French Foreign Legion, France’s special forces that are stationed overseas.” Edward explained to the girls, learning about the FFL.

“I’m Lieutenant Delcourt. Welcome to the Afghar Outpost.” a familiar voice said, revealing it to be Tamao, who is walking alongside Tintin.

“Tamao-senpai! You finally appeared!” Rui said happily, seeing her counterpart walking alongside Tamao-senpai’s counterpart.

“So I’m playing as the lieutenant of that outpost. I guess I must be a good leader to my soldiers.” Tamao said.

“It looks like all of us are part of the story!” Ichie said, noticing that all five of the Rinmeikan are part of the story.

“Edward-san! Do you think we might see this happen in the near future!” Ichie said to the host, as the rest of the girls are curious if their respective groups would appear in the near future.

“Well… in this case, it is a rare occurrence but… most of the time, some of you will appear in some stories while the rest of them won't. It’s not that every story you girls will appear on them y’know.” Edward said to the girls, making them realize that not all stories would feature all of them.

“Thank you, Lieutenant. We owe you our lives.” Tintin said to her savior. 

“Did you find my friend?” Tintin said to Delcourt as she said to her, “Yes, but she’s not in good shape, I’m afraid. She’s still suffering the effects of acute dehydration. She’s quite delirious.” 

When the girls heard about Haddock’s condition, they were a bit worried that she’s still suffering from the after-effects in the desert.

“On the bright side, at least Haddock’s about to recover!” Nana said in a chipper tone.

“No kidding. Their experience in the desert surely took a lot out of them.” Michiru said.

Delcourt opened the door, revealing Arsenia who is holding a glass of water in a curious manner.

“Haddock! You’re awake. Good! I have a visitor for you.” Delcourt said to the captain.

Tintin approached the captain and said, “Captain?”

“Hello! I think you’ve got the wrong room.” Haddock said.

The girls went into shock that Haddock just immediately forgot about Tintin. 

“I just…. How did this happen!” Fumi said, shocked at what had happened to Haddock.

“Edward-san is this the side effect Haddock is experiencing right now!?” Tamao said, hoping that Edward would explain it to them.

Tintin felt shocked by what Haddock responded to her as she said, “Captain, it’s Tintin. Our plane crashed in the desert. Don’t you remember?”

“Plane? No, no, I’m a naval woman myself. I never fly if I can help it.” Arsenia said to the lass as she replied to the lieutenant, “She’s got me confused with someone else.” 

Haddock raised her glass and started inspecting it and said, “What is this particular liquid? There’s no bouquet. It’s completely transparent.”

“Why it’s water.” Delcourt said to the captain.

The girls are dumbstruck by Haddock’s behavior. They never believed that Haddock doesn’t know what water looks like.

“Are you serious! How in the world did Haddock not notice what water is!?” Claudine said, shocked that Haddock is not her usual self.

“It looks like that side effect must be that worse for Haddock,” Junna said, concerned about the captain’s well-being.

Haddock went in awe, thinking of water as the next best thing as she said, “What will they think of next?”.

Snowy notices why Haddock’s acting like this and proceeds to get the nearest drink.

“We suspect she has a concussion. Heatstroke. Delirium.” Delcourt explained to Tintin when Snowy sniffed the jug of medicinal spirits and grabbed it.

“Snowy, put that down!” Shiori said in horror, seeing that Snowy is trying to do something terrible with it, especially since Haddock’s doing ok.

“Shiori-chan wait! I think Snowy’s doing it on purpose!” Aruru said, leaving the girls to be bewildered with Aruru’s answer when some of them figured out why.

“She’s sober,” Tintin said to the lieutenant as she grabbed the glass and said to the Captain, “Now, Captain, out in the desert…”

“The desert?”

“Yes. You were talking about Lady Frances.” Tintin said as the three of them are not noticing Snowy putting the medicinal spirits near Haddock.

“Lady who?” 

“Lady Frances. And you were telling me about what happened on the Unicorn.” Tintin said, annoyed that Haddock had forgotten everything about the Unicorn.

“Come on, Haddock! Try and remember the Unicorn!” Karen said.

“I don’t think it’s because she hasn’t drunk any alcohol, didn’t she…” Yachiyo said with a grin, leaving many of the girls wide-eyed with her response.

“Wait a sec… You mean the reason Haddock’s acting like this is because she hasn’t drunk any alcohol!?” Fumi said in shock as the rest of the girls know why Snowy grabbed the spirits.

“So that’s why Snowy grabbed the spirits. She has to make Haddock drunk to remember the story!” Shiori said, realizing that Snowy is trying to help.

“The unicorn!” Haddock exclaimed as the Tintin said, “Yes!”

“Ahhh…. The stuff that dreams are made of. Wee children’s dreams.” Haddock said in a happy manner.

“No, the ship. Please try to remember, Captain. Lives are at risk.” Tintin said to the captain.

Then, Haddock was about to reach for the glass of water when Snowy spins the platter, leaving Haddock to grab the spirits by mistake.

Tintin saw what happened as he exclaimed, “Snowy, what have you done?”

Haddock proceeds to drink the bottle until she stops in her tracks.

“Oh this isn’t gonna end well…” Misora said, knowing what would happen when Haddock drinks alcohol again.  

“Well, Snowy had no choice so…. This better work.” Shizuha said to her friend, hoping that Snowy’s plan would come to fruition.

“I’d stand back if I were you.” Tintin said to the lieutenant as Haddock’s face starts to grow red until she screams while holding her throat.

“Out! Everybody out of the room!” Tintin said as Snowy starts to wonder if he made the right call.

“Snowy!” Tintin said as she grabbed the dog

“This woman is insane!” Delcourt remarked as Tintin shut the door, hoping that Haddock wouldn't cause more chaos.

That is, until Arsenia bursts through the door, surprising Tintin and the girls.

“Holy cow! How did she do that!?” Fumi said in shock, seeing how Haddock was able to burst through the door like that.

“She must’ve been really strong… or really drunk to do that,” Rui said, surprised at what Haddock could do.

Haddock pushes away one of the officers as she grabs the officer’s saber and swings it in the air saying, “Show yourself, Red Rackham!”

“Red Rackham!?” some of the girls exclaimed.

“Haddock’s finally remembering! And it looks like the pirate captain’s name is Red Rackham!” Aruru said in excitement.

Then, the scene changes back into the Unicorn as Red Rackham reveals herself to the audience. Flowing with blonde hair and sporting a grey outfit, Red Rackham is wearing a red cape along with a hat with red feathers. It’s also seen that she’s covering her face with a mask.

“So that’s what she’s wearing? I thought pirate captains would wear extravagant clothes?” Karen said, curious of how simple the pirate captain is wearing.

“Well… It could be her preference to wear such a thing. Not all pirates wear something like Red Rackham would wear.” Yachiyo said to the brunette.

Lady Frances saw Red Rackham but suddenly, she immediately blocked one of the pirates attacking her.

“If it’s a fight you want…..” Frances said as she tossed the pirate until the scene changed into Haddock, “....you’ve met your match!”

Tintin said to the delusional captain while Delcourt is in a fighting stance, “A fight with who?”

“To the death….. Red Rackham! ” Haddock/ Lady Frances said.

“I got it! She’s recreating the story of her ancestor! That’s why she’s acting like that!” Karen said, shocking her fellow Stage Girls.

“It looks like Snowy’s plan did work. He managed to get Haddock drunk enough to re-enact the story.” Akira said, surprised that Snowy’s plan worked.

Lady Frances jumps off the deck as both captains stare off. Red Rackham swings her burning cape as she fights off Frances with her saber. The two of them went at it, Lady France using her superior fencing skills while Red Rackham utilizing her burning cape as a weapon.

“That’s so cool! She’s also using her cape as a weapon as well!” Karen said with joy.

“How come I never thought of that!” Futaba said, inspired how Red Rackham was able to use her own cape as a weapon.

Haddock tried to pierce Red Rackham but was able to dodge it using her cape as she covered Frances with her cape, tossing her aside. She flicked her sword in victory when one of the masts fell onto Haddock.

The girls were surprised that Red Rackham was able to defeat Lady Frances, using her adaptable sword style.

“It looks like the pirate captain beats the naval captain.” Rui said, cautious about what would happen next.

Then, in the present time, a ceiling fan fell onto Haddock as the soldiers immediately entered the room, ready to apprehend the drunkard captain.

“No, wait!” Tintin said to the soldiers.

The scene changes once again as Haddock tries to get back up as a group of sabers corners her.

It then changes back into the present time, as Tintin goes to Haddock’s aid.

“Captain…” Tintin said.

“I remember everything now. Everything Granddaddy told me. The Unicorn was taken. The pirates were now masters of the ship.” Haddock said to the lass.

“So the pirates managed to take the Unicorn. And the pirates held Lady Frances and her crew hostage.” Junna said, shocked that the pirates were able to defeat the Unicorn’s crew.

“But on the plus side, Haddock finally remembers everything!” Aruru said with joy.

“Now we’ll be able to know the entire story!” Lalafin said as the rest of the girls will now know the full story.

“The crew surrendered?” Tintin said, shocked at what happened to Lady Frances’ crew.

“Granddaddy said that Red Rackham called Lady Frances the King’s dog. A pirate hunter sent to reclaim their hard-won plunder.” Haddock said to Tintin.

When the girls heard, they were surprised that Lady Frances is a pirate hunter, tasked by the King to reclaim their treasure.

“So Haddock’s also a pirate hunter!?” Tamao said in shock.

“I get it. That’s why history said that Lady Frances is a merchant. It’s to hide her secret job as a pirate hunter!” Junna said, realizing the secret behind Lady Frances.

“A pirate hunter….” Aruru thought to herself, seeing that Lady Frances has become more cooler than she’d ever thought.

Then, the pirates slammed Lady Frances on the post, when Red Rackham said in a raspy voice, “Why would I waste my time on rum, tobacco, molasses, and dates when you have a more valuable cargo onboard? Where is it?”

Lady Frances smirks at Red Rackham and says to her, “You’ll have to kill me first.”

“Oh no! Red Rackham knows about the secret cargo!” Tamao said.

“It looks like Lady Frances won’t allow Red Rackham to take the cargo. But even so, show her that you won’t give it up!” Mei Fan said.

“Not first, no,” Red Rackham replied, revealing that the pirates rounded up Frances’ crew to be tossed overboard, “I’ll start with your men!”

When the girls saw it, they were appalled by Red Rackham’s decision to force Lady Frances to give up her cargo.

“How dare she! Using her crew to force her to give up the cargo!” Fumi said, seething in anger.

The rest of the girls now know how ruthless Red Rackham was, seeing how she’s willing to sacrifice Lady Frances’ men in exchange for the cargo. They hoped Red Rackham would get her comeuppance.

Haddock got up and said to Tintin, “To save her men, she would give up the secret cargo.”

“And where was it?” Tintin said to the captain, as she placed her hand on one of the books on the shelf, as it transitioned back into the past as the book Lady Frances pulled is actually a fake.

“It’s a secret lever!” Lalafin said in excitement.

“So Haddock also commissioned a secret lever for their cargo. How interesting~” Yachiyo said.

Then, the sound of gears was heard as a hidden door revealed itself. 

Red Rackham went down the hidden passageway as her eyes were in shock as the hidden doorway revealed a motherload of treasure.

“Four hundredweight of gold, jewels, and treasure.” Haddock said, revealing how much treasure the Unicorn is carrying.

The girls are in shock, seeing how much treasure Lady Frances was delivering to the King. They all knew that Lady Frances is tasked to find stolen treasure from pirates but they never even imagined this would be this many.

“No…. No way…..” Junna said in shock.

“So much treasure…. So much gold…..” Rui said.

“This is incredible. To think Lady Frances’ was tasked to deliver this much treasure. It’s amazing.” Claudine said.

Red Rackham inspected the gold and with a flick of her wrist, she said to her crew, “Kill her men!” 

“Wait what!?”

“No, Rackham! No!” Lady Frances said to the captain as the screams of her men were heard. The pirate crew then pushed the remaining men to their doom as one of the men was devoured by a shark. 

“Rackham, you gave me your word! Rackham! Rackham!” Frances screamed.

When the girls saw what Rackham did, they were in shock at what Rackham did. Karen was sobbing while Mahiru and Nana were calming her down.

“That monster!” Shiori screamed, with tears flowing in her eyes, seeing the men drown in the ocean or eaten by sharks.

“She said she’ll keep her men safe! Why did she break her promise!” Aruru said in anger.

“Not all people are able to fulfill their promises, you know. Sometimes, they will take advantage of you.” Edward lamented as the rest of the girls were in anger at what Rackham did to Lady Frances’ men.

The scene changes to Haddock as she said to Tintin, “Lady Frances knew she was doomed. That she’d be hung up from the highest yardarm. But they didn’t reckon one thing!”

She turned around to Tintin and grabbed a quill pen, saying, “Lady Frances was a Haddock. And a Haddock always has a trick up her sleeve.”

While tied up on the mast, Lady Frances flings her head, leaving the feather from her hat float. She grabbed the feather by the teeth and spit it at her hand wherein she used the feather to cut through the ropes.

“I didn’t know her feather could do that!” Tsukasa said, surprised that once again, Lady Frances has proven herself to be very resourceful.

“Lady Frances is truly an amazing captain.” Akira said, impressed by how Lady Frances is able to escape. She has truly earned her respect.

“And with that, she hurls herself forward!” Haddock said to Tintin.

“On the pirates? Like that? Unarmed?” Tintin said in bewilderment.

“No! No, on a bottle of rum rolling on the deck.” Haddock said as she grabbed a bottle of rum and said, “And she opens it up, and puts it to her lips, and….”

The soldiers immediately take aim at Haddock if it weren’t for Tintin putting the bottle down.

“And then she stops. ‘This is no time for drinking,’ she says. ‘I need all my wits about me’” Tintin said to the captain.

“Good job on adding some lines to Haddock’s story, Tintin!” Mahiru said as the girls are glad that Tintin stopped Haddock from drinking more alcohol.

“With that, she puts down the bottle and…” Tintin said, motioning the captain to continue the story.

“Yes, yes, she puts down the bottle….” Haddock said, thinking about what’s next, and immediately said, “And she seizes a cutlass.”

Back in the story, Lady Frances grabs a cutlass as she makes her way down the ship.

“And then she makes her way to the ship’s magazine, where they keep all the gunpowder and the shot!” Haddock said as Lady Frances grabs one of the barrels and starts to pour its contents while ascending to the ship.

“Wait a minute! Is she…. Is she blowing up the ship!” Mei Fan said in shock, as the girls realize that Lady Frances is destroying the Unicorn.

“Why in the world would she blow up her ship!?” Tamao said, wondering why she would blow up her own ship.

“She wouldn’t blow up her ship unless…” Akira, Junna, and Maya thought until they realized the real reason.

Lady Frances is still dumping the gunpowder until Red Rackham appears with a cutlass saying, “You dog! You’d blow us sky?”

“Come on, then,” Lady Frances said as she placed the barrel aside as she drew her saber.

“Let’s have you.” the captain, cutting a lantern from its ropes starting the countdown.

“Time for round 2, Rackham!” Futaba declared as the rest of the girls started to cheer for Lady Frances.

“Come on Lady Frances, show her what you can do!” Aruru said.

The lantern drops, lighting the gunpowder trail until Red Rackham spanks Lady Frances with her sword as she makes her way to the trail.

“Not this time.” she said as she swiped the fuse with her foot.

They both resumed their fight until Haddock kicked the gunpowder onto the lantern, kicking it off once more as they made their way to the lower decks.

“This is amazing! With the gunpowder fuse, this fight’s more intense than I thought!” Futaba said with a big smile, seeing how this sword fight became more intense than ever.

Rackham tried to slash Frances but only received a punch from her as they continued with their swordplay. She throws one of the sleeping pirates and kicks the fuse.

The captains continued their duel when Haddock cut another lantern, restarting the fuse. Luckily, Rackham kicks the fuse as Frances tries a thrust. Rackham dodges it but Frances punches her again, cutting another lantern in the process.

Unfortunately, Rackham tries to get to it but Frances is able to keep her occupied as the captains clash while the fuse is moving towards the magazine at a very fast rate.

The girls are in their seats as the duel is about to end in a draw if one of them is unable to beat their opponent.

“Come on Lady Frances, you got this!” Aruru said, praying that the captain prevails.

The duel kept on and on until Rackham tried to slash the captain until Frances reversed her saber, stabbing Rackham in the chest. She finished it by flicking her saber on her head.

Lady Frances is victorious.

The girls clap on the duel as Aruru and Karen screamed with joy as Lady Frances defeated Red Rackham. 

“She did it!” Karen and Aruru said, jumping with joy.

“That was one of the best sword fights I’ve ever seen!” Futaba said, hoping that once the viewings are done, she’ll use the moves that she saw from the story. 

“Good work, captain. Good work.” Claudine said, pleased that Lady Frances has avenged her fallen crew.

Red Rackham drops to the floor, seeing that she has been fatally wounded as Lady Frances points her sword point-blank.

Then, she cuts the mask away, revealing Red Rackham as none other than Fumi Yumeoji!

“What!?” the girls said, shocked that Red Rackham’s identity was revealed.

“Fumi’s/I’m Red Rackham!” Tamao and Fumi said in unison.

“How is Fumi Red Rackham!” Shiori said, confused on why Fumi is Red Rackham.

“Wait a minute…. If Haddock’s ancestor is Lady Frances, then….. Sakharine’s ancestor is….. It’s… It’s all coming together!” Aruru thought, shocked that she finally realized why Sakharine is obsessed with the Unicorn.

“You!” Haddock said as Tintin replied, “Captain, what is it?”

“How could I be so blind?” Haddock said, realizing the most important fact.

“What are you talking about?” Tintin said to the captain.

“This isn’t just about the scrolls or… Or the treasure that went down with the ship.” Haddock said, thinking about the details more until she thought of one single answer.

“It’s me. It’s me she’s after.” Haddock said.

“What?” some of the girls said, dumbfounded at what Haddock said.

“I…. I got it! That’s why Sakharine’s after Haddock!” Junna thought as the rest of the smartest Stage Girls realize why.

The fuse is heading towards the barrels as Red Rackham said, “You’ll suffer a curse upon you and your name, Haddock.”

“She wants vengeance.” Haddock said.

Rackham throws her sword at Haddock, saying to her, “Come back and face me!”

Lady Frances turns around, knowing that she has done enough.

“So Red Rackham cursed the Haddock because she didn’t finish the job?” Futaba said, confused as to why Rackham wanted to fight Lady Frances again.

Then, Haddock grabs Tintin’s arm saying they have to go, confusing Tintin more as Lady Frances dives into the water as Tintin and Haddock jumps from the building when the Unicorn explodes.

“There goes the Unicorn…. May it sail to the waters beyond the ocean.” Tamao said, bowing to it as a sign of respect.

Haddock arises from the water as she dodges the falling mast and grabs onto it.

“I curse you! I curse your name and all who come after!” Rackham said while pushing the deck from sinking.

“We will meet again, Haddock! In another time! In another life!” Rackham declared to the captain as she sank to the bottom of the ocean.

Lady Frances grabbed her hat until a second explosion rocked the Unicorn as its treasure burst from the explosion.

“Look at all that treasure!” Aruru said as the Unicorn’s treasure flies through the air.

Like a thirsty man in the desert, Lady Frances hoisted her hat in the air, collecting the coins and jewels that she’s able to catch.

She looks at the Unicorn one last time as it sinks into the bottom of the ocean.

“It’s not over. It was never over!” Haddock declared as Tintin asked him, “I don’t understand. Who’s after your blood?”

“Sakharine!” Haddock said.

“Sakharine?/ Sakharine!? Why?” Tintin and the girls said .

“She’s Red Rackham’s descendant! She means to finish it!” Haddock said.

“So Sakharine is Red Rackham’s descendant!?” Fumi said as the girls finally knew the truth.

“I get it! She wants to defeat Haddock, Lady Frances’ descendant so that she can avenge her ancestor’s defeat!” Tsukasa said as the girls are fully enlightened on why Sakharine is dead-set on defeating Haddock herself.

“That’s why she did it.” Tintin said as Haddock replied, “Did what?”

“Sank her own ship. Lady Frances sent that treasure to the bottom of the sea. She would be damned before she let Red Rackham have it.” Tintin said, realizing why Lady Frances blew up her ship.

“She blew up the ship so Red Rackham won’t sail away with the treasure!” Aruru said, completing the theory on why Lady Frances sank the Unicorn.

“So she’d rather sink the ship than let them have it! I guess Frances is desperate enough to not let the pirates sail it all away!” Misora said, confirming it.

“And she was.”

“But she couldn’t let it lie.” Tintin remarked.

“No.”

“Three clues wrapped in a riddle, concealing a secret.” Tintin said to the captain as she placed her hand, saying to her, “But only a true Haddock would be able to solve it.”

“What secret?” Haddock asked the journalist, saying to the captain, “The location. To one of the greatest sunken treasures in all history.”

“The wreck of the Unicorn.” Haddock said.

“Not only does Sakharine want to beat Haddock. She wants to humiliate her in getting the treasure!” Karen said.

The girls are now more determined to see Haddock restore her family’s legacy. To find the wreck of the Unicorn, and show the world it’s history.

“She means to steal it! The third scroll!” Haddock said, determined to change her fate.

“Billions of blue, blistering barnacles! I swear, as the last of the Haddocks, I’ll find that treasure before her!” Haddock declared in determination.

“To Bagghar.” Tintin said to the captain, showing her hand as the captain spits on her hand, shaking it with Tintin’s.

“To Bagghar!”

As the two women shake their hands, the girls now ready themselves for what will happen at Bagghar because soon, the Chase at Bagghar is about to begin.

Chapter Text

The pair are riding on camels as until the camera shows a beautiful city nestled between two mountains, the pair has reached Port Bagghar.

Tintin notices the Karaboudjan as she says to Haddock, “She’s here.”

Tintin shows Haddock the ship, showing that they arrived first.

“Alright! Tintin and Haddock made it!” Aruru said, happy that Tintin and Haddock made it to Bagghar first.

The scene changes into a busy marketplace as the duo is in a marketplace.

It shows that the city is experiencing a water shortage, seeing how there’s a long line of people waiting to get their water.

The girls felt sad that the city is experiencing a water shortage.

“Those poor people….. They’re trying to get some water.” Shiori said, sad that the people are getting more and more thirsty.

“It’s no good. They could be anywhere.” Haddock said to Tintin when she turned her back.

“Captain. Don’t look now, we’re being followed.” Tintin said, as their supposed stalkers are none other than Thomson and Thompson.

“We’re finally here!” Lalafin and Ichie cried with joy, seeing that Thomson and Thompson made it to Bagghar.

“Hey guys! What took you so long!” Aruru said to them, making the duo chuckle.

“Sorry we’re late! But most importantly! We’re here to help!” Ichie said, puffing her chest with pride.

The captain turns around, making it look like she’s sightseeing the old buildings as she said to Tintin, “Yes, we are.”

The scene changes as Tintin and Haddock trip their stalkers.

Tintin said to them, “What do you want? Why are you following us?”

Suddenly, Haddock pushes Tintin aside and starts to slam their stalkers to the ground.

“Who are you working for?” Haddock said while slamming Thomson and Thompson to the ground.

“Oh come on Aruru! Are you trying to hurt us!?” Lalafin and Ichie said in unison.

Aruru immediately stands up and begins to bow.

“I’m so sorry, gals! Please forgive my counterpart!” Aruru said, hoping that Lalafin and Ichie accepted her apology.

Some of the girls chuckled as Junna said, “Well, in Haddock’s case, she hasn’t met Thomson and Thompson, so I guess that’s the reason why she’s attacking them.”

Tintin immediately grabs Haddock and said to her, “Captain, stop! Stop!”

“Thompson and Thomson!” Tintin said as she got the detectives back to their feet. 

“Not so loud!”

“We’re in disguise!”

“So I see. You got the message I sent from the ship?” Tintin said to the detectives.

“Yes, well, a bit of a long story, that.” Thompson said as her partner replied, “The upshot is we caught the thief, retrieved your wallet, and then hopped on the next plane to Bagghar.”

“Yes, that pocket picker has picked her last pocket.” Thompson said.

“Looks like you finally caught me,” Yuyuko said as she yawned, “At least my counterpart has a nice bed to sleep in.”

“Alright, Lalafin-chan! We nabbed our first criminal!” Ichie said in joy.

“All criminals shall beware of the detective duo for they will face justice!” Lalafin declared.

Thompson grabs a wallet as she hands it over to Tintin.

“There. Don’t worry. She didn’t take any money.” Thompson said, giving the lass her wallet.

“It’s not the money I’m worried about.” Tintin said as she rummaged through her wallet.

She finally grabbed her scroll with a smile and said, “The odds are even.”

“Looks like Sakharine and Tintin now have their respective scrolls. Now it’s a race to get the last one!” Karen said, anticipating the possible battle in getting the last scroll.

“Come on Tintin! You can do it! Get the last scroll before Sakharine gets it!” Rui said in determination.

Tintin puts the scroll back into her pocket as she said, “Now to find the next two scrolls.”

As she puts it away, she notices a banner that spells, “THE MILANESE NIGHTINGALE”.

“The Milanese Nightingale.” Tintin said, only to reveal it as none other than Shizuha Kocho as Bianca Castafiore, the world’s famous opera star!

“Shizuha!?” the Frontier girls (excluding Shizuha) said in shock.

“Oh my….. So I’m Miss Sakharine’s secret weapon.” Shizuha said, mildly surprised that her counterpart is an opera singer.

“But…. but…. How can she be Sakharine’s secret weapon!?” Claudine said, confused on why Sakharine would use an opera singer as her secret weapon.

“Oh! Maybe she’s Sakharine’s secret spy!” Karen said in excitement.

“Sorry to burst your bubble, Karen-chan. I don’t think Shizuha’s counterpart is a secret spy.” Mahiru said to the brunette, leaving her dejected.

“But even so, I do wonder what my role in the story is about.” Shizuha said, curious about what her counterpart does in the story.

“That’s her secret weapon?” Tintin said, bewildered on Sakharine’s secret weapon.

“My!” the detectives reply, seeing the beautiful lady on the poster.

“What a dish!” Haddock exclaimed.

When Haddock called Bianca a dish, the girls were a bit confused until Edward said, “In that timeline, if a man or woman calls you a dish, it means you’re handsome or beautiful.”

“Well if that’s the case, thank you for the kind comment, Aruru.” Shizuha said with a smile.

“Aw, Thanks Shizuha-chan!” Aruru said, happy that her counterpart is complimenting Shizuha’s counterpart’s beauty.

Meanwhile, sporting a red dress, Bianca is having her photoshoot. During the photo shoot, she’s showing off her singing voice to the photographers.

“You look beautiful in that dress, Shizuha-chan!” Tsukasa said to her classmate.

“She’s right! You look like a beautiful princess!” Lalafin said.

Shizuha giggled at her classmates’ compliments, seeing how her counterpart is getting the attention of her classmates.

Suddenly, Ben Salaad and his assistant appeared as the sheikh said, “Enchanted, signora! Benvenuto! Welcome! Marhaba!”

Bianca noticed him as she made her presence known to the shiekh.

“We are blessed with your presence.” Ben Salaad said.

Bianca chuckled at him and reached out her hand and said, “Yes. Indeed, Signor Salad!”

Some of the girls snickered at what Shizuha’s counterpart had said.

“Pfft…. Salad…” Misora said, snickering at how Bianca said Salad but not Salaad.

“I wonder what would happen if Bianca were to meet us. It’ll be a bit funny if she said our names wrong.” Futaba said.

The rest of the girls giggled from Futaba’s answer as they too imagined what would happen if Bianca said their names wrong.

Ben Salaad kissed her hand but when his assistant tried to kiss her hand, Bianca swatted it away and said, “What charming peasants!”

The girls laughed at the assistant, seeing how he put his hand back.

“Sorry Mr. Assistant. I only let prestigious men kiss my hand.” Shizuha said in a pompous manner, making most of the girls laugh.

“Oh, how true! No ordinary man can grace Lady Shizuha’s hand.” Tsukasa said in an exaggerated tone.

Bianca turns around and said, “May I introduce my escort, Madame Shuggair Addeitiff.”

Sakharine appears from behind Bianca and bows to the shiekh in respect.

“She’s been very….. Passionate in her support for this concert,” Bianca said to the shiekh, “It’s my first visit to the Third World.”

“So that’s Sakharine’s plan. She’s using Bianca’s concert as an excuse to take the third scroll!” Junna said as the rest of the girls now understand why this is her master plan.

“Now the big question is…. How will Sakharine be able to take the scroll?” Yachiyo said.

After that, many of the Stage Girls are pondering on what Sakharine’s next step would be.

Karen and Aruru thought Sakharine might steal the ship at night while Akira and Michiru discussed an inside job.

Nevertheless, Edward finds it interesting that the Stage Girls are thinking about Sakharine’s next step in her plan.

“Please forgive me. I must escort madam to her dressing room,” Sakharine said to the sheikh, “Excuse us.”

Sakharine and Bianca walk away as the sheikh and his assistant applauds the songstress.

The reporters followed the two of them when Sakharine saw her prize; The Unicorn encased in a bulletproof container.

“Looks like Sakharine is much closer to her goal than I thought.” Akira said, 

Back at the entrance, some of the remaining guests are waiting in line when Tintin pulls out the scroll and says, “Here, I want you to look after this.”

Haddock is taken aback at what Tintin said, leading the reporter to say, “What are you doing?”

“Me?” Haddock said

“Yes.”

“Are you sure?”

Aruru groaned at the captain’s response as she said, “Oh come on, Haddock! Tintin’s placing her trust on you!”

“I agree! She saw your determination in getting the last scroll and you’re going to back out!?” Mei Fan said in annoyance.

“Maybe it’s too much for her,” Tamao said, prompting Rui to say to her, “What do you mean, Tamao-senpai?”

“Haddock’s afraid that she might make an even bigger mess if she has the scroll.” Tamao explained to the girls, “She’s afraid that Sakharine’s men might get to her first.”

“But even so….. She could at least try her best in guarding the scroll.” Rui said, annoyed that Haddock won’t even try to protect their scroll.

“If I’m caught, I don’t want them to find this on me.” Tintin said as she gave the scroll to Haddock, “Look, just keep it hidden.”

Haddock kneels and says to Tintin, “I will guard this with my life!”

Weirded out by Haddock’s pledge, Tintin immediately tells Haddock to get up before some of the guests might notice them as the view changes to a view of the shiekh’s estate.

The girls chuckled at Haddock’s overdramatic pledge, making Aruru reenact it.

“Oh Tintin, until the end of days, I solemnly swear to protect the scroll!” Aruru said dramatically, making some of the girls laugh while Misora shakes her head with a grin.

Then, classic music begins to play as the guests make their way to their seats.

Then, the music changes into a triumphant tone as Bianca appears as she’s now wearing a beautiful purple dress.

Soon enough, the audience fills the estate with their applause, welcoming the songstress.

“Wow, Shizuha-chan! I can’t believe you got another beautiful dress to wear!” Lalafin said, eyes sparkling of how beautiful the dress Shizuha’s counterpart is wearing.

“I agree…. Your figure is perfect with that stunning dress…” Yachiyo said, whilst admiring the dress.

“Wow…. Maybe I should try wearing dresses whenever there are special occasions…” Shizuha thought to herself.

“It’s her.” Haddock said while clapping as Bianca made her way to the stage.

While the audience is clapping, Tintin notices “The Unicorn” in a glass case, making her use theater binoculars to check it out.

“Eyes on the prize, Tintin. Eyes on the prize.” Aruru said, believing that Tintin can get the ship before Haddock.

“Claude-chan. What’s Tintin using?” Karen said, curious about what Tintin’s holding.

“I think that’s one of those opera glasses I believe. It’s used whenever people want to have a closer look at the actors at play.” Claudine said to the brunette.

“I’m surprised that you know this kind of trivia, Saijo-san.” Maya said as Claudine huffed with pride, “Well I am an expert on opera houses so I should know these kinds of things.”

Then, the sheikh waves his hand, allowing Bianca to begin.

Suddenly, Bianca sings on a high note but slowly but surely, she lowers her tone until….. She begins to sing her piece.

When the girls heard Bianca sing, they were instantly mesmerized. Never have they heard such a beautiful voice! No wonder Bianca’s called one of the world’s greatest opera singers.

“She’s amazing! I never imagined her singing would be this good!” Junna said, impressed by her singing voice.

“I know right! Her vocal range is astounding if she’s able to change the pitch of her voice.” Claudine said with a smile.

“Ohhhh!! Now I’m even more pumped to become a Top Star like her!” Karen said in confidence.

While Bianca is singing, the sheikh is instantly enamored, like the rest of the audience but for Haddock, it was becoming unpleasant for her.

“Blistering barnacles!” Haddock said as she’s twisting her ears with her finger, “What’s that noise?”

Bianca keeps on singing majestically until Haddock realizes where the noise is coming from.

“My ears, they’re bleeding.” Haddock said in horror as Tintin said to her “No they’re not.”

When the girls notice that Haddock is acting strange because of Bianca, they are annoyed that Haddock is getting a migraine due to Bianca’s singing.

“Is she serious!? Did Haddock not even realize the beauty of Bianca’s voice!” Claudine said, annoyed at how Haddock thinks Bianca’s voice is tearing her apart.

“I’m afraid Haddock is not that used to operas so to speak. After all, she is a sailor.” Maya said, sad that Haddock can’t enjoy operas.

Bianca is still singing, mesmerizing the shiekh. Unfortunately for Haddock, it was so annoying that it made her bang her head on a chair, making the guests uncomfortable.

“Captain!” Tintin said quietly to the captain.

Unknown to her, Snowy starts to whine, due to Bianca’s singing as well.

“Snowy!” Tintin said to the dog.

“Can someone get this buffoon out of there!” Claudine angrily said, annoyed that Haddock’s actions are ruining the afternoon.

“Poor Snowy…. I think his ears can’t handle Bianca’s singing…” Shiori said, pitying the terrier.

Bianca then raises her voice in singing until Haddock finally has had it.

“Oh, Columbus, it’s every woman for herself! Make way!” Haddock said as she made her way out of the villa, “Make way! Medical emergency.”

Plugging her ears, Haddock quickly grabs a tablecloth and immediately covers herself until she gets out of the pavilion with a sigh.

She then grabs a drink from her pocket when suddenly, the scroll comes out of her coat.

Noticing the scroll that came out of her pocket, Haddock tries to grab the fluttering scroll until she manages to grab it.

Aruru sighs in relief that Haddock was able to grab the scroll.

“Thank goodness, she grabbed the scroll.” Tamao said in relief.

“But still, I hope she won’t even try to get herself drunk again.” Rui said, hoping that Haddock won’t do her usual drinking.

After grabbing the scroll, Haddock looks at both of them, until she immediately puts the bottle down, knowing that this isn’t the time to drink.

“That was close.” Haddock said to herself.

Some of the girls begin to clap for Haddock, seeing that she’s beginning to control herself from drinking alcohol.

“Nice work Captain Haddock! You’re beginning to learn some self-control!” Tamao said, happy that the captain knows that she needs to guard the scroll.

Suddenly, someone’s hand grabbed Haddock’s bottle when Tom arrived saying, “Hello, captain.”

“You!” Haddock exclaimed, when Elma smashed the bottle at Haddock’s head, knocking her out.

“Oh no! Elma and Tom!” Tamao said in horror that the pair was able to ambush Haddock.

“Fortunately for them, they’ll be able to get Tintin’s scroll.” Akira said in a serious tone.

Back in the pavilion, Bianca is currently serenading the shiekh when Tintin notices Sakharine from the balcony.

With steely eyes, Sakharine observes Bianca, who is beginning to raise her pitch, leading her to perch on her glove.

Tintin notices it and begins to check on Sakharine who is with her falcon, making her realize Sakharine’s master plan.

“Oh, no!” Tintin said as she moved her glasses to the case, which was strangely vibrating.

Tintin immediately stood up and exclaimed, “Sakharine!”

Then, the case begins to vibrate faster when various glassware begins to break, including the shiekh’s own glasses.

“Hey! Why are the glasses shattering!?” Lalafin said in confusion until Claudine realized why Sakharine brought Bianca to Bagghar.

“Oh…. Oh no!” Claudine said in shock, making the rest of the Stage Girls surprised by Claudine’s outburst.

Then, Bianca keeps on raising her pitch, until…..

Bianca sang the last note in her highest pitch, making the bulletproof case shatter!

“What!?” some of the Stage Girls said in shock, seeing that Bianca’s voice was able to shatter the Unicorn’s bulletproof case.

“How did…. How did this happen!?” Tamao said in shock.

“It’s her voice…. Bianca’s voice shattered the case!” Claudine said, making most of the Stage Girls realize how it happened.

“Wait a second! Are you telling me that Bianca’s singing was so strong that it shattered the case!?” Mei Fan said to the Frenchwoman.

“But that’s impossible! How is this even possible!?” Junna said until Edward said to them, “It’s possible.”

The girls immediately turned to the host as Edward said to them, “If you can match the glass’ frequency with the pitch of 100 decibels and above, you can shatter glass. It’s been tested and proven.”

When the girls heard about Edward’s theory, they were even more surprised that it’s actually possible to shatter glass if you can sing at the highest pitch.

“Whoa! Now that’s something!” Karen said in amazement.

The shiekh immediately took notice of his ship when Sakharine let her falcon loose.

The falcon dived in the air to grab the ship, scaring Bianca as chaos ensued across the pavilion.

“The falcon! Snowy, after him!” Tintin said to her dog when Haddock arrived saying, “Tintin! Tintin!”.

Sakharine took notice of them and immediately said, “Those two! There! They’re here to steal your ship!”

“You’ve got it all wrong! They’re not thieves! She is!” Aruru cried out while pointing her finger at Sakahrine.

“It’s no use Aruru. The sheikh would only believe in Sakharine since she’s the guest of honor.” Misora said to her friend, leading Aruru to say, “Oh man!”

“No, no, no, no, no, we’re not!” Tintin said, pleading with the guards who are pointing their guns at her.

“Arrest her! The ugly one!” the shiekh angrily said, making Haddock reply to him, “Who me!?” 

“Yes!”

“Hey, don’t call her ugly!” Aruru said, making Lalafin, “Yeah! She’s far better than you!”

“Thief, arrest her!” the shiekh said, as the guards are surrounding Haddock.

Meanwhile, Snowy is making his way to the ship when the falcon grabs the ship and drops it.

Snowy tries to reach for the bird but the falcon was able to slip away with the metal tube, leaving Snowy to bark at it.

The falcon flies over the crowd, landing at his master’s glove as Sakharine has the final scroll.

“Dang it! Sakharine got the last scroll!” Futaba said in an annoyed tone.

“It’s not over yet Futaba-san! I still believe that Tintin and Haddock can get the last scroll!” Rui said.

Struggling with the guards, Haddock knocked them out as Tintin called the captain from the crowd.

During the scuffle, Sakharine immediately leaves before the pair gets to her.

The pair escapes the pavilion as the two of them are walking out.

“Sakharine’s got the scroll!” Tintin said as Haddock sadly said to her, “It’s worse than that.”

“What do you mean?” Tintin said.

“They took your scroll, Tintin. It’s gone.” Haddock said as the reporter stopped in horror.

“How? What happened?” Tintin said in bewilderment as Haddock sadly said, “It was Elma. She knobbled me in the garden, and then there was a bottle of alcohol and….”

“There always is.” Tintin said, annoyed that Haddock had wasted his opportunity.

“Oh come on, Tintin, Elma just knocked her out!” Aruru said, angry that Tintin thinks that the captain is not taking her job seriously.

Haddock grabs Tintin by the shoulders and says, “No, no! No, not like that.”

Tintin puts Haddock’s arms in frustration and says to the captain, “I can smell it from you.”

Tintin storms off as Haddock looks away sadly.

“Poor captain. Tintin thinks Haddock is not guarding the scroll that well.” Tamao said.

“Oh…. I hope Tintin and Haddock get the scrolls back.” Rui said in a worrying tone.

Meanwhile, Sakharine and Elma are on a jeep as it zooms away from the estate.

Sakharine is inspecting each of the scrolls with a smile on her face.

“Hurry. Back to the boat.” Sakharine said, instructing Tom to make the jeep go faster.

Meanwhile, Tintin punches another guard as Haddock walks towards Tintin and says, “Tintin! Where are you going?”

“I’m going after Sakharine!” Tintin said to the captain.

“By yourself?” Haddock said.

“Yes! Come on Snowy!” Tintin said to her dog when Haddock grabs a rocket launcher from the guard and inadvertently knocks the guard out.

The girls chuckled at Haddock’s clumsiness but were able to knock the guard out.

“Looks like we’re going for another chase. But this time, on a vehicle!” Futaba said in excitement.

“Catch them! Catch them!” the shiekh said in anger, but it was too late, Tintin and Haddock got on the motorcycle as they sped off of the property.

The pair makes their way on the jeep when Tom notices them from the rearview mirror.

Sakharine notices them and immediately says to Elma, “Lose them! Get her off our tail!”

Elma immediately fires her sub-machine gun as bullets bounce off the sidecar, narrowly missing Snowy.

“Snowy, watch out!” Shiori said in horror.

“Don’t worry Shiori-chan! I’ll protect him!” Aruru said with a smile.

Snowy immediately retreated to the sidecar as Haddock readied the missile launcher.

Aiming at the jeep, Haddock fires the launcher, not knowing that she aimed it in the opposite direction!

“Oh come on! Seriously!” Fumi said in annoyance.

“It seems that Captain Haddock doesn’t know how to use that launcher. More or less on where it will fire, no doubt.” Junna said whilst rubbing her temples.  

“Did you hit anything?” Tintin asked the captain.

Arsenia noticed that she fired at the dam’s mechanism making her drop the launcher and said, “Oh dear.”

Soon enough, without the mechanism, water burst forth from the dam.

Sakharine notices that they’re still on the trail, making her frustrated, and said, “Faster you idiot! Faster!”

Tintin and Haddock began to pick up speed as the water flowed from the dam to the city. 

“Hey gals! I just realized something!” Karen abruptly said, surprising some of her friends.

“What is it Karen-san?” Tamao said to the brunette, making Karen reply to Tamao, “The reason why there’s a water shortage is because of the dam!”

“The dam?” Mei Fan said in confusion.

Soon enough, Junna realized why Karen mentioned the dam making her say, “I think I get it. The reason why there was a water shortage is because of the dam!”

After Junna’s explanation, most of the Stage Girls finally understand why there was a water shortage in Bagghar. Some of them were mad at the shiekh for not helping his people while the rest were glad that the people were able to get some water.

Elma reloaded her gun when suddenly Snowy lept from the bike and attacked Elma.

“Not again!” Elma cried out, as Snowy jumped at Sakharine, forcing her to block Snowy from getting the scrolls.

Suddenly, Tintin snatched the scrolls from Sakharine and said, “I’ll have those thank you.’”

“Come on, Snowy!” Haddock said as the dog jumped back into the motorcycle.

“No!” Sakharine screamed in anger.

“She did it! Tintin’s got the scrolls!” Rui said in happiness.

“Go Tintin, go!” Aruru said, cheering on Rui’s counterpart.

“Incoming falcon at four o’clock!” Haddock cried out as the falcon swooped onto Tintin where it barely grabbed the scrolls. 

Suddenly, due to their speed, the motorcycle briefly soars in the air as it lands at the town square when a tank with a building is moving towards Tintin and Haddock!

“What is that tank doing here!?” Kaoruko said in shock.

“It’s the shiekh! He must be so mad that he brought a tank to capture Tintin and Haddock!” Aruru said in shock.

“Seriously! Just how obsessed is he with that ship!” Mei Fan said, appalled at how the shiekh is mad over a model ship.

Tintin immediately revs the engine, making Haddock scream at her, “Tintin, faster!”

Then, the tank’s main gun snags Haddock by her coat, lifting her in the air!

“Captain!” Aruru screamed in horror.

“Tintin, get her off the tank!” Karen screamed at the screen.

Tintin notices Haddock being lifted when suddenly, the motorcycle hits a speed bump, causing Tintin to lose her grip on the scrolls!

“No, the scrolls!” Tintin said.

“Tintin, grab the scrolls! Hurry!” Karen screamed, making some of the girls annoyed at her.

“Karen-chan, can you calm down. You’re disturbing the rest of the students.” Mahiru said in a calming tone.

“Sorry about that Mahiru-chan.” Karen said to her roommate.

“I got one, two…” Haddock said, grabbing two of the scrolls, making Snowy snatch the last scroll with his jaw.

“And three!” Tintin said, when the tank fired its rounds, splitting the motorbike from the sidecar.

“Snowy!” Tintin said as the sidecar moved away.

Snowy and Tintin went their separate ways when the tank stopped over the edge, with Haddock hanging over the barrel!

“Captain, hold on!” Aruru said.

Haddock screams until her coat slips off the gun as she falls off the tank.

Luckily, she landed on the clotheslines, slipping on a nightgown, making her fall less painful.

Haddock notices the falcon grab the scroll and says, “Oh, no! Not again!”

Haddock rushes towards the fluttering scroll and reaches her hand, saying “Come here my beauty.”

Haddock tries to grab the scroll but unfortunately, the falcon snatches it instead.

“Ack! So close!” Lalafin said.

“Ten thousand thundering typhoons!” Haddock said while grabbing the gown like a Cancan dancer, not noticing Tintin behind her.

“Come here you pilfering parakeet!” Haddock said when Tintin bumped her, making her stuck at the front.

“Captain, the bird! Grab it!” Tintin said to the captain as the falcon flew over the bridge.

Suddenly, Snowy’s still on the sidecar and pins the bird with his paws.

“Alright Snowy!” Shiori said with a smile.

“Haddock now’s your chance!” Aruru said with a smile.

“Nice work, Snowy! Don’t let him go!” Tintin said as the pair rushed towards Snowy.

Recklessly, Haddock immediately jumped at the sidecar, not knowing that she missed, launching Snowy and the bird into a nearby building.

The falcon tries to fly with the extra weight wherein the captain is dragging herself inside.

“You blue blistering barnacles!” Haddock said, grabbing a rope from the two men pulling the barrel.

One of the men tried to grab the rope, removing the nightgown instead. as she flew through the air. 

“Hang on, Snowy! Snowy, I’m coming!” Haddock said as she grabbed Snowy before the falcon was able to grab the last scroll.

The falcon flies away when Sakharine’s group notices the bird, making Sakharine say, “There he is, stop!”

“Oh no, Sakharine!” Karen said in horror.

“Tintin, where are you!” Aruru and Rui said in unison.

Sakharine readies herself as she says, “That’s right, that’s right, come to Mommy. Come to Mommy.”

The falcon flies towards his master when Tintin arrives, breaking a spice stall as she grabs the bird before Sakharine does.

“Gotcha!” Tintin said, grabbing two of the scrolls from the falcon.

“She made it!” Karen and Aruru said.

“Tintin, don’t let him go!” Rui said, cheering her other self from her seat.

But then, the falcon frees itself, as Tintin says, “No!”

Tintin starts her motorcycle again as Sakharine chases the bird, not knowing that Haddock swings from the building.

“Geronimo!” Arsenia said as landed on the jeep, punching Tom in the face.

“You double-dealing, pilfering parasites!” Haddock said, attacking Sakharine’s group. 

“Come on Haddock, beat them to the ground!” Futaba said.

“Show them no mercy!” Mei Fan said with a grin on her face.

Meanwhile, Tintin is still chasing the bird as they make their way to another building.

“Excuse me! Pardon me! Sorry!” Tintin said to the building’s occupants when a chunk of the building collapsed.

Tintin revs up the bike, chasing the falcon until the bike breaks from the wall as the front wheel lands on the wire, making Tintin ride it like a zipline. 

Tintin soars through the air on the makeshift slope. But as the last part of the bike breaks, Tintin lands on one of the lanterns as she lands on a building.

With breakneck speed, Tintin tackles the door open and jumps from the ledge, miraculously grabbing the falcon, landing on a floating platform.

“Gotcha!” Tintin said while grabbing onto the bird.

“That was awesome! Did you see how Tintin kept on going!” Karen said, seeing how Tintin was able to keep up with the bird.

“I know right! That jump was the best moment in the story for me!” Futaba said grinning.

Kaoruko sighs at her childhood friend, seeing that the only thing that makes Futaba excited are action scenes.

As Tintin holds onto the bird, she notices the scrolls lining up.

“The scrolls are lining up,” Tintin said in wonder as numbers begin to form, “These are hidden numbers.”

“Those are numbers!?” Karen said in shock.

“It’s another clue to the Unicorn’s treasure!” Aruru said in joy.

Sakharine notices Tintin is holding onto her falcon as Tintin notices what the numbers mean, “What does it say?”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you!” Sakharine said to Tintin, making the reporter turn around, seeing that Elma is dangling Haddock from the dock!

“Captain Haddock!” some of the girls said in shock.

“Let the bird go.” Sakharine said to Tintin, as the falcon tried to fly away.

“What do you value more, those scrolls or Haddock’s life?” Sakharine said, revealing that Haddock is tied up along with Snowy.

“Snowy!” Shiori said in horror.

“You coward! Let them go!” Fumi said in anger.

“Don’t listen to her,” Haddock said to Tintin, turning around to Sakharine and said, “You’ll get away with this, you sour-faced sassonack!”

“I will kill her!” Sakharine said, forcing Snowy to bark at his master with pleading eyes.

“What should Tintin do!? Should she give up the scrolls or what!?” Rui said in worry.

“Oh man, this has gone from bad to worse!” Misora said, biting her thumb in suspense.

“Don’t worry about me, Tintin, I’m fine.” Haddock said to the reporter.

“Let the bird go now, or this woman dies!” Sakharine said, warning Tintin for the last time.

“Haddock, please! Don’t risk it!” Aruru said, hoping that her counterpart won’t agitate Sakharine further.

“No! Wait!” Tintin said in horror.

Haddock looks at Sakharine with burning hatred and says, “You two-timing troglodyte! You simpering son of a po-faced profiteer!”

“Perhaps we should put it to the test,” Sakharine said, waving Haddock goodbye saying, “Here’s mud in your eye.”

“Fathead!” Haddock screamed before Elma pushed her to the ocean.

“Captain/ Captain! ” Tintin and some of the Stage Girls said as the reporter lets the bird go and dives into the ocean to save the pair.

The falcon flies back into Sakharine’s hand as her group walks away.

“Dang it! They were so close! So close!” Karen said, burying her face with her hands.

“There has to be some other way! They can’t lose like that!” Rui said with anger.

“Edward-san! Is this how their story will end!?” Aruru said to the host.

“Don’t worry Aruru. The story is not yet over, because….. The finale is nearing.” Edward said to the Frontier student as Tintin’s story is about to end.

Chapter Text

After a while, the tank that was chasing Tintin and Haddock finally separates itself from the building, revealing it to be a hotel.

But when the driver opens the hatch, he instantly screams as the tank falls to the ocean.

The Stage Girls laugh at the driver’s misfortune, seeing how that’s karma for chasing Tintin and Haddock.

“Ha! Serves him right!” Futaba said with a smile.

“That’s what you get for trying to run over Tintin and Haddock!” Aruru said to the driver.

Then, Thompson and Thomson get up from the hotel’s porch, weary from the tank that caught the hotel building.

“We’re saved,” Thompson says in relief.

“I love the beach,” Thomson says to his partner.

“You said you wanted a holiday,” Thompson says to Thomson, as he replies, “Quite.”

“Wait a minute! Why are we at the hotel building!?” Ichie said in confusion.

“I think your counterparts stayed at that hotel. They must be really unlucky that they chose the wrong place.” Yachiyo said with a grin.

“But on the bright side. At least they get to enjoy the ocean view.” Michiru said with a smile.

Then, the hotel’s manager walks out of the building with a satisfied face as he notices that the hotel is in the perfect spot.

He walks towards his signboard and places a star that he picked up, making it a “three” star hotel.

Some of the girls chuckled at the manager who added another star to his hotel signboard.

“Well, he is near the coast and I’ll admit, I’m willing to spend my money if I get a good view of the ocean,” Akira said with a soft smile.

Haddock walks along the harbor and says, “Nobody takes my ship!”

“They’ve already taken it,” Tintin says to the captain. 

“And nobody takes my ship twice!” Haddock says in anger as she points to the Karaboudjan. 

“We’ll show them, won’t we Tintin?” Haddock says to the lass who is busy patting Snowy, “All right then, what’s the plan?”

Tintin says to the captain, “There is no plan.”

“No plan!?” some of the Stage Girls said in shock.

“What do you mean no plan!? What has gotten into you, Tintin!?” Rui said in shock.

“Of course there’s a plan. You’ve always got a plan.” Haddock says to Tintin, making the reporter reply, “Not this time.”

“Sakharine has the scroll. They’ll lead her to the treasure. It could be anywhere in the world. We’ll never see her again. It’s over.” Tintin says in a flat tone.

“It can’t be over Tintin! You can’t give up!” Karen said with pleading eyes.

“You were this close to getting the scrolls, Tintin! I still believe you can do this!” Aruru said with a determined look.

“Heh. I thought you were an optimist.” Haddock says to Tintin when Snowy shakes off the water from his fur.

“Well, you were wrong, weren’t you? I’m a realist.” Tintin says to the captain as she walks towards her.

“That’s just another name for a quitter,” Haddock says to Tintin.

“You can call me what you like. Don’t you get it? We failed.” Tintin said to the captain.

The pain. The despair. It was all too familiar to Tamao and her friends. They all thought that losing their theater department was the end. If it weren’t for Tamao’s newfound courage, the Performance Association would never have come to fruition.

“Tintin…..” Tamao quietly said. 

“Please Tintin…. Please! You can’t give up!” Rui said, clenching her fist.

“Failed,” Haddock says, beginning to point her finger at Tintin saying, “There are plenty of others willing to call you a failure. A fool. A loser. A hopeless souse!”

“Don’t you ever say it of yourself!” Haddock says, pushing Tintin back until she lands on the reclining chair.

“You send out the wrong signal. That is what people pick up. Do you understand? You care about something, you fight for it. You hit a wall, you push through it. There’s something you need to know about failure, Tintin.” Haddock says to Tintin as she turns away from her, saying “You can never let it defeat you.” 

After Haddock makes her speech, the Stage Girls are in awe of what she said to Tintin. They had never seen this side of Haddock and they were very inspired by how Haddock was able to tell Tintin to never give up.

Suddenly, Tamao began to tear up as her friends were surprised to see her like that.

“Tamao-senpai, why are you crying!?” Rui said in horror.

“No, no. It’s… It’s okay. I just…. It reminded me of how I failed back then.” Tamao said while wiping her tears away, “I called myself a failure for not saving our department. But now…. I’m even more determined to keep our dream alive. So what do you say everyone, are we letting our failures beat us?”

Soon enough, everyone agrees with what Tamao said. Letting failure keep you down is nothing more than a thorn on your side.

“She’s right. Even if I make several mistakes, I won’t let it bring me down!” Karen said with a smile.

“I agree. ‘Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.’ Thomas Edison” Junna said with confidence.

“Alright girls! We solemnly declare that we won’t give up, no matter what!” Aruru shouted with joy, causing some of the Stage Girls to shout with determination.

Akira smiled, seeing how she herself will never let her past define her. Because after all, she is Frau Platin, the leader of Siegfeld’s Edels.

Suddenly, Tintin suddenly stands up and says to the captain, “What did you just say?”

“You hit a wall, you push through it.” Haddock says to Tintin, when she replies, “No, no, no, you said something about sending out a signal.”

Then, Tintin claps her hands and says, “Of course! Captain!”

Tintin turns around and says to Haddock, “I sent a radio message from the Karaboudjan. I know what radio frequency they’re transmitting on.”

“Oh yeah! Tintin sent a message from the Karaboudjan before they escaped!” Tsukasa said, making Junna realize why Tintin thought of the radio transmission.

“Well, how does that help us?” Haddock asks the lass as she says to her, “All we have to do is send that information to Interpol, they can track the signals and figure out which way they’re headed.”

“She’s right! That’s how Thomson and Thompson found Tintin! They tracked the signal when Tintin sent her message to the port!” Junna said.

“And with that information, Interpol can find the Karaboudjan wherever they are in the world,” Akira said in confidence.

Haddock then points ahead and says to Tintin, “Here comes Interpol now.”

“Tintin!” Thomson and Thompson said, waving their walking canes as they made their way to the duo.

“Any port they’ll enter, we’ll know at once,” Tintin says to the captain, until the captain says to Tintin, “And we can get there first.”

Haddock points Tintin to an object, revealing it to be a seaplane.

“Alright! Now we’re getting somewhere!” Futaba said with a grin.

“Now Tintin and Haddock can get to her first!” Aruru said with a smile.

Then, the Karaboudjan sounds its horn as it lands at the harbor at night.

Suddenly, Sakharine, Elma, and Tom get out of the ship as Tom says to Sakharine, “What are we doing here boss? I don’t get it. We’re right back where we started.”

“They’re back in Antwerp!?” Claudine said in shock that Sakharine came back to the place where the story begins.

“I don’t know why they came back but….. It could be about the scrolls that she has. Maybe study about them more?” Junna said with a curious look.

“In any case, it is mysterious why Sakharine would come back to Antwerp,” Akira said, making some of the Stage Girls think about why she would come back.

“You speak of this to no one. Keep your mouths shut.” Sakharine says to her group as Elma replies, “Don’t worry. As long as we get our share.”

The girls also notice that Nestor is also there, wearing a chauffeur outfit and with a car.

“Oh hey! I’m back again!” Misora said, noticing that her counterpart had arrived with Sakharine’s car.

“I’ve got to admit. You do look snazzy in that outfit your counterpart is wearing.” Yachiyo said with a grin.

“You’ll get your share,” Sakharine says to them in annoyance.

“Where are you going?” Tom says to his boss as she says to Tom, “Just guard the ship.”

“Where’s the filthy moolah?” Tom says in confusion, forcing Elma to coax him back to the ship.

“He really is an impatient man. Thinking that he’ll get his share in a blink of an eye.” Claudine said in annoyance.

“On the bright side Saijo-san, I’m sure Tintin and Haddock will arrive sooner or later to stop them,” Maya said to the French woman.

“Good evening, ma’am. I trust you had a successful trip abroad.” Nestor says to her master as Sakharine replies, “Do I pay you to talk to me?”

“You don’t pay me at all,” Nestor says nonchalantly.

Some of the girls shake their heads in annoyance, seeing how Sakharine is mistreating her servant.

“Some master you are….” Misora grumbled about how her counterpart is being treated.

Suddenly, ropes tied around the car’s wheels lift the car in the air as Sakharine notices that something is wrong.

“What the blazes? Nestor!” Sakharine says in shock.

“Nestor!” Sakharine said, looking out of the window, leaving her servant to shrug it off.

“Alright! Tintin and Haddock made it to Antwerp early!” Karen said with joy.

“And it appears that they have already set their trap,” Akira said.

Then, Tom and Elma get out of the ship to see Sakharine’s car being hauled in the air.

“Tom! Elma! You blithering idiots, don’t just stand there do something!” Sakharine shouts at them as the car is being hauled to another building, whereas the Haddock is chuckling with glee that her archnemesis is done for.  

“Hope you like prison, Sakharine! Because that’s where you’re headed!” Aruru said in excitement.

“Wel,l it was a fun ride, Sakharine. But your time’s up.” Fumi said to her counterpart.

“Caught her like a rat in a trap,” Thompson says as the car is being placed at the top of a building.

“Congratulations, gentlemen. She’s all yours.” Tintin says, standing alongside the duo.

“Yes, we also had an arrest warrant issued by both Interpol and the FBI.” Thompson says to Tintin as Thomson also adds, “Your friend who got shot…”

“Barnaby,” Tintin says as Thomson continues, “...he was one of their agents. Hot on Sakharine’s trail from the start.”

“So Barnaby’s already after Sakharine from the start,” Junna said with curiosity as Claudine added, “But unfortunately, he ended up getting shot.”

“Hey Edward-san, what is this FBI that Thomson is talking about?” Aruru said as Lalafin said with excitement, “Are they also a police organization like Interpol?”

“Correct Lalafin. The FBI is like Interpol but is stationed in the United States. Although they prioritize their efforts domestically, they do have a helping hand with other police departments across the globe.” Edward said to the pink-haired girl.

“It still doesn’t make sense,” Tintin says as the detectives turned to Tintin, “She has the key to the treasure of the Unicorn, which is sitting somewhere on the ocean floor. Why would she come back home?”

“Even Tintin wonders why Sakharine came back home,” Akira said.

“In any case, maybe we’ll learn why Sakharine went home instead of going out at sea,” Nana said with a curious smile.

Haddock chuckles with glee as she lands the car at the building where Tintin, the detectives, and some policemen are waiting.

“Right.” Thomson says as the detective duo look at the car and say in unison, “Sakharine.”

Until, Sakharine pulls out a gun and says, “That’s Ms. Sakharine to you.”

“Oh come on! Really!” Aruru said in annoyance that Tintin and the detectives are holding their hands up high.

“Sakharine must’ve had a backup plan!” Karen said in shock.

“I’ll admit….. I’d give Sakharine some respect since she must’ve placed a gun in the car. If she’s cornered by the police.” Maya said with respect.

Sakharine turns around and says, “Hold it.”

The policeman in front of her puts her hands in the air in fright.

Haddock notices the ambush when suddenly, Elma appears, forcing Haddock to move the crane, making Elma miss her shot.

“Captain, take her out!” Aruru said in determination.

Haddock walks towards Elma as they begin to fight for the gun, not noticing that the crane is still moving.

“Look out!” Thompson says in shock as the policeman moves away when Sakharine says “Oh no!”

The car slams at the brick wall, losing the roof in the process as the car is scraping across the wall.

Then, Elma punches Haddock, making her fall off the crane.

Luckily, Haddock manages to grab the railing as she flails around.

“Captain, hang on!” Lalafin said in suspense.

“Elma! Elma, get me down!” Sakharine says to her lackey as Elma pulls one of the levers, making the crane move to the other side.

“What? Not that way!” Sakharine says angrily.

Haddock struggles to pull herself up as Sakharine continues to berate Elma saying, “Not that way, you fool, the other way!”

Elma pulls the levers once more when Haddock grabs Elma and pulls her out of the chair as she throws her off  the crane where luckily, she lands on a passing truck full of boxes.

“Geez, that was close!” Tsukasa said with relief.

“I almost thought I’d see Tsukasa-senpai go splat.” Misora said, relieved that Tsukasa’s counterpart didn't die a grisly death.

Haddock controls the crane once more when Sakharine sees that she has to finish off Haddock herself. She grabs her cane and jumps to another nearby crane as she turns it on using her cane.

“Right!” Sakharine says in annoyance as she sits down and activates the crane.

“Are we seeing a crane fight!” Karen said with enthusiasm.

“It looks that way, Karen-chan!” Aruru said, clapping with excitement.

“Alright! Now this is a first for me!” Futaba said, seeing how for the first time, she’ll be seeing a different kind of ‘sword’ fight.

Intense music begins to play as Haddock pushes one of the levers, making the crane hit Sakharine’s crane. Sakharine groans in pain as she controls the crane to hit Haddock back.

The force of the collision causes Haddock’s cables to snap as the car falls to the ocean.

Enraged, Haddock moves her crane, clashing with Sakharine’s crane when one of their cranes collides with a nearby building.

“Look out!” Thomson/Thompson says as their group immediately runs for cover.

“Everyone get out! You’re going to get hurt!” Tamao said in horror.

“Tintin, go! Let Haddock handle this!” Aruru said.

Noticing the debris, Sakharine moves her crane to the left, as debris is thrown right at Haddock’s crane, making a lot of smoke.

Haddock starts to cough because of the dust when suddenly, Sakharine’s crane launches forward, breaking the glass as it knocks Haddock down.

“Captain!” Mei Fan said in horror.

“Come on Arsenia, take Sakharine down, now!” Aruru said, cheering the captain from her seat.

“This is getting intense!” Futaba said with a smile.

As Haddock gets back to her feet, Sakharine’s crane is retracting backward.

While the cranes are causing destruction, Thompson replies, “Good lord! Come on!”

While Tintin and the rest are getting to safety, a police car drives by when suddenly, one of the cranes immediately destroys it in half.

Luckily, the police officers were spared since the two of them were in the front.

“Geez, this is complete mayhem!” Kaoruko said.

“I guess with a battle like this, it sure spells mayhem and destruction to those who are not careful.” Nana said.

“Oh they have no idea of what other battles they might see…” Edward said to himself.

Haddock activates one of the levers as the crane smashes Sakharine’s crane throught the right.

“Close but no cigar!” Sakharine says to Haddock as she activates the crane, hitting Haddock’s crane from below, launching Haddock from her seat, hitting the crane’s upper wall.

“That’s gotta hurt!” Aruru said while clutching her head.

“Oh no! Sakharine is gaining the upper hand!” Karen said in horror.

Because of the attack, various objects are falling from the boxes, forcing Tintin, Thomson, Thompson, and Snowy to run for cover.

Tom notices Snowy as he tries to shoot him when suddenly, random tires fall on him as he falls down.

Once again, the girls laugh at Tom's misfortune on how he’s being treated as the movie’s laughingstock.

“Hey Tom! Where’s your self-awareness!” Ichie said.

“I think he forgot to bring it with him before the trip.” Yuyuko replied, as some of the girls chuckle at the Rinmeikan girls’ jokes.

Snowy peeks out from the tires when some of the Karaboudjan’s crew begins to shoot at Tintin’s group.

With quick feet (or paws), Snowy rushes towards a box and pushes it as the box spills its contents all over the ground.

Not noticing the cans, the crew immediately slips from the cans as Snowy smiles at his handiwork.

“Snowy’s the best! I really wish I had a dog just like him!” Shiori said, gushing at how amazing Snowy can be.

“Good boy, Snowy! Good boy!” Karen said with enthusiasm.

“G… Good boy…” Hikari said whilst blushing.

Sakharine activates one of the levers as her crane slams against Haddock’s cabin, crashing against a building.

Undeterred, Haddock shouts in rage as her crane clashes with Sakharine’s, not knowing that it instantly snaps from the clash.

“Oh no, her crane!” Karen said in shock.

“Without her crane, Haddock’s a sitting duck!” Futaba said in suspense.

After the crane’s collision, Haddock’s cabin crashes into Sakharine’s cabin, causing Haddock’s windows to shatter.

As Haddock gets to her senses, she stares face to face with Sakharine.

The theater is filled with suspense as Haddock and Sakharine are in a staredown.

“To think that after a hundred years, their descendants would meet again.” Maya said in a solemn tone.

“Who knew Red Rackham’s promise to Lady Frances would come to fruition. Destiny really wants these two to fight for their family’s honor.” Michiru said.

“Come on Haddock…. You can beat her!” Aruru said in a determined tone.

“Red Rackham,” Haddock says to Sakharine as she replies, “That’s right. My ancestor. Just as Lady Frances was yours.”

“Unfinished business,” Haddock replies as Sakharine proudly says to her, “Oh, I’m glas you know the truth, Haddock. Until you could remember, killing you wouldn’t have been this much fun.”

“No way! She didn’t kill Haddock just because she doesn’t remember!” Shiori said in horror.

“I think she wants the satisfaction of seeing Haddock defeated. She doesn’t want to kill her right after she steals Haddock’s ship. She wants Haddock to remember first, before killing her.” Junna said to Frau Jade.

“No way Sakharine can beat her! Haddock’s just getting started!” Aruru said.

Sakharine pulls back her crane and with a mighty swing, Sakharine’s crane strikes true as it destroys half of Haddock’s cabin.

Sakharine laughs with glee, seeing that Arsenia is about to lose.

While Tintin’s group is running away, Tintin sees Haddock’s crane, crashing into the Karaboudjan as Haddock falls at the ship, groaning.

“Captain!” Karen, Aruru, and Lalafin said in horror.

“Tintin, save her!” Rui said in horror.

Beyond the distance, Sakharine is walking along the crane, using it as a bridge to where Haddock is lying at.

Grabbing a machete, Haddock says to Sakharine, “Who gave you permission to board my ship?”

While Haddock is struggling to stand up, Sakharine draws her cane sword and says, “I don’t need it. I’ve never needed it.”

Haddock jumps onto the platform as the women face off in the duel to end their families’ rivalry.

“Time for the final round! Haddock versus Sakharine!” Futaba said with a grin.

“Come on Haddock, you can do this!” Mahiru said in determination.

Haddock starts with a thrust as Sakharine dodges it and smacks Haddock with the back of her sword.

Haddock tries the thrust again but instead clashes with Sakharine’s blade. When Haddock clashes with Sakharine again, she tries to overpower Sakharine but the crimson clad villain stomps Haddock’s foot and hits her with an elbow.

“Haddock what are you doing!? Fight back!” Aruru said in horror,

“I guess Haddock’s not as good at sword fighting than Sakharine.” Futaba said.

“But even so! How can Haddock fight back!?” Aruru said to the Seisho girl, leading her to reply, “Well if I were her, I need to change my approach as soon as possible. She can’t rely on aggressiveness to win this fight.”

Gritting her teeth, Haddock stands up and charges at Sakharine when suddenly, Sakharine throws a net at Haddock disorienting her.

After that, Sakharine throws Haddock away, landing at the boxes where she swings her sword like her ancestor Red Rackham.

“Captain Haddock, get up!” Aruru said with pleading eyes.

“I guess even Sakharine inherits Red Rackham’s mannerisms.” Junna said in an interesting tone.

Then, Haddock notices the whiskey bottles on the floor as she places her hand on it.

While Sakharine is swinging her sword, a bottle hits her from the back.

“Hey, Sakharine! The fight’s not over yet!” Karen said with a determined smile

“Heh, heh, sometimes, you just gotta play dirty.” Futaba said with a grin.

Seeing it as a nuisance, Sakharine smacks another bottle but soon, she is experiencing an onslaught of bottles that instantly disarms her of her weapon.

Thanks to the momentum, Haddock keeps on throwing the whiskey bottles at Sakharine, until she falls to another platform.

“Come on Haddock, finish her already!” Aruru said with a smile.

“Looks like this battle is over,” Akira said with a smirk.

Haddock is about to throw the last bottle when suddenly, Sakharine reveals that she lit a lighter, and the scrolls are close to its flame!

“No, the scrolls!” Junna said in horror.

“I forgot! Sakharine still has the scrolls in her pocket! She must be very desperate if she doesn’t want Haddock to get the treasure!” Rui said in anger.

Aruru grits her teeth, seeing that Sakharine once again was able to weasel her way out.

“The legend says only a Haddock can discover the secret of the Unicorn...” Sakharine says as she smiles in victory, “...but it took a Rackham to get the job done.”

“So you’ve lost again, Haddock,” Sakharine says with glee as Arsenia looks at the bottle on her hand, “That’s right. Why don’t you take a drink? That’s all you’ve got left isn’t it?”

“You coward! You won’t get away with this! You hear me!” Aruru said in anger.

“Tintin, where are you!” Rui said in desperation.

“Everything that was rightfully yours is now mine,” Sakharine says to Haddock, “Including this ship.”

Suddenly, Tintin swung by Sakharine as she was able to grab all three scrolls from her!

Soon enough, the theater erupts with joy as some of the Stage Girls cheer for Tintin.

“She did it! Tintin grabs all the scrolls!” Aruru said with joy, jumping in the air with happiness.

“God! Buddha! Thank you! Thank you!” Rui said with tears in her eyes.

“Alright, Tintin! Marche à suivre!” Claudine said, praising Tintin.

Tintin lands on the Karaboudjan’s deck, holding the three scrolls in her hand.

As Sakharine freezes in horror, Haddock says to her, “Thundering typhoons.”

She then turns around with a smile and says, “Nobody takes my ship.”

With a loud punch, Haddock tosses Sakharine to the ocean as she screams on her descent.

“Bye bye Sakharine! That’s what you get for stealing Haddock’s ship!” Aruru said with pride.

“Well…. Guess that’s it for my counterpart.” Fumi said with a sigh.

“I’m surprised you’re this calm, Fumi-san,” Tamao said, making Fumi reply, “Hey, at least she put up a fight against those two. She’s not half-bad.”

Seeing that Sakharine is still swimming, Haddock kicks the whiskey bottle on the ground as it lands right at Sakharine’s head, knocking her out.

The Stage Girls laugh at that moment, seeing how for everything Sakharine has put Haddock through, they know that she deserved it.

“Ha! Serves her right!” Tsukasa said whils smiling.

“And that’s what I call an insult to injury!” Kaoruko said, pleased that Sakharine gets her comeuppance.

With confidence, Haddock looks at Tintin with a smile as Snowy makes his way back to his master.

Meanwhile, Thompson and Thomson were able to haul Sakharine on their boat.

“We have you now, you devil,” one of the detectives says as Thompson replies, “You are under arrest.”

“To be precise,” Thomson says as she looks at her partner, “you are under arrest.”

Seeing that she has nowhere to go, Sakharine raises her hands in defeat.

“Game over, Sakharine! You’re under arrest!” Ichie and Lalafin said in unison, noticing that they said the same line at the same time.

“Wow! Who knew that the two of them could say their lines at the same time.” Tsukasa said, as the Ichie and Lalafin high fives each other.

As the morning sun rises, Tintin holds all three scrolls into the light, revealing the hidden message.

“Do you see it?” Tintin asks the captain as the scrolls reveal all of the hidden numbers.

“Blistering barnacles, they’re coordinates.” Haddock says in awe as Tintin replies, “It took all three scrolls to form the numbers.”

“So that’s it…. They finally found the treasure’s location!” Junna said with a smile.

“She did it…. She finally did it!” Rui said happily.

“Latitude and longitude.” Haddock says as she replies to the lass, “That is it. That’s the location of the treasure.”

With great joy, Tintin offers her hand to Haddock but instead, Haddock hugs her as they jump with joy.

“We did it!” Tintin says to the captain.

Aruru instantly jumped for joy as she said, “Yahoo! We finally got the treasure!”

“Hey, Aruru! Get do-” Misora said when her childhood friend rushed towards Rui and hugged her while jumping.

“Hey, what are you doing!?” Rui said in shock.

“I’m jumping with you, Rui-chan! Aren’t you glad that Tintin and Haddock got the treasure!” Aruru said smiling.

Although Aruru is annoying her, Rui can’t help but let it slide since she’s really happy that her counterpart.

After Aruru and Rui went back to their seats, the Stage Girls were chuckling at how Aruru jumped to Rui.

Some time later, Snowy is basking across a blue sky and Tintin’s exhales in anticipation.

Meanwhile, Haddock is holding a sextant and says, “Almost there, Ms. Tintin!”

“Look Rui-chan! I’m sailing the seven seas with you!” Aruru said with joy, making Rui reply, “And it looks like we’re looking for the treasure as well!”

“Oh! I hope that we’ll be able to sail the seas with you, Hikari!” Karen said to her roommate.

“Hey! Don’t forget about me, Karen-chan!” Mahiru said to the brunette as she replied, “Of course, Mahiru-chan! I won’t forget about you too!”

“A nudge to starboard should do it!” Haddock says to Tintin, revealing they’re actually on land rather than sea as Tintin is driving a car.

“Eh!?” some of the Stage Girls said in shock.

“They’re on land!?” Karen said in disbelief.

“But I thought they’re on water!?” Aruru said in disappointment.

“I think it’s the coordinates. Maybe the place they’re going isn’t on water, but on land.” Michiru said, leaving Karen and Aruru to groan that they’re not seeing an underwater excavation of the treasure.

“Are you sure we’re on course?” Tintin says to the captain as she replies, “Trust me, lassie.”

“I know these parts like the back of my hand.” Haddock said while lowering the sextant.

Suddenly, Haddock places the sextant on her eyes and says, “Starboard! Quickly! Quickly!”

“Aye, Captain, starboard it is!” Tintin says as she turns the car to the right, hitting some shrubbery along the way until they stop at a familiar sight.

“Is that Marlinspike Hall!?” Claudine said in shock.

“I think that’s where the coordinates point to!” Fumi said in surprise.

“You mean that all this time… Sakharine basically lives at the mansion, not knowing that it’s there the whole time.” Yachiyo said with a mischievous grin.

“Oh man! I’m really glad that Sakharine didn’t find the treasure by luck!” Futaba said in a grateful tone.

“All stop!” Haddock says to Tintin as they reach their destination.

“Marlinspike Hall,” Haddock says solemnly as the reporter says in shock, “Those coordinates lead here.”

“And this is where Lady Frances hid it?” Tintin says in bewilderment as she says to the captain, “I thought the treasure went down with the ship.”

Suddenly, the hall’s doors open, as Nestor greets his visitors, “Mistress Haddock, Ms. Tintin, I’ve been expecting you.”

When the girls saw Nestor welcoming Haddock home, they were all glad that Haddock came back to her ancestral home. 

“Welcome home, Haddock…. Welcome home.” Aruru said gently.

“It must’ve been years since Haddock came home.” Nana said with a gentle smile as Karen replied, “Yes…. I’m just glad she’s able to come home.”

As the group enters the old house, Nestor says to them, “Welcome to Marlinspike Hall.”

“Will you look at this place,” Haddock says to Tintin, “I don’t think it’s changed at all since I was a wee girl.” 

“And may I say, ma’am, how much I’m looking forward to having a Haddock back in charge of the estate.” Nestor says to the captain.

“You’ll be waiting a long time, Nestor. There’s no way I could afford to live here!” Haddock says to the caretaker.

“Come on, Captain, you deserve this!” Aruru said with joy, “After all this time, you finally got your home back!”

“I don’t think so, Aruru-chan,” Shizuha said to the blonde girl, “Haddock may have her home back, but she needs to learn to adjust her lifestyle. She must’ve stayed on her ship for who knows when.”

“Well, Captain, you know the house,” Tintin says to the captain as she walks around her, “Where do we start?”

“Is the cellar still here?” Haddock says.

Then, Nestor opens the cellar door as Snowy and the Rottweiler plays around.

“Aw, Snowy’s having a new playmate!” Shiori said, gushing over how Snowy is playing with another dog.

“I wish I had a dog like Snowy….” Hikari silently said.

The group enters the cellar but Haddock begins to panic, “No, no, no, no, this isn’t it.”

“I meant the other cellar,” Haddock says to Nestor as she replies, “I’m sorry ma’am, there is no other ‘cellar’.”

“Other cellar? Is Haddock talking about another room in there?” Junna said in confusion.

“It was bigger than this,” Haddock says when Tintin notices that her dog is gone, “Snowy.” 

She then hears her dog’s bark as she says, “Snowy, where are you?”

“No, Hector,” Nestor says to his dog, as it barks at the wall, prompting Snowy to bark back.

“Captain, help me,” Tintin says to the captain as they move the objects blocking the wall until a hole appears from it.

“Snowy,” Tintin says as she peeks from the hole as Snowy peeks out of it.

“Snowy found the cellar!” Shiori said with a smile.

“Good boy, Snowy, good boy!” Rui said happily.

As Tintin and Haddock look from below, Tintin says to the captain, “Just as you said, Captain.”

“You hit a wall,” Tintin says as Haddock and Aruru said “you push through it./ you push through it. ”

Suddenly, Tintin breaks the brick wall with a ram as both women enter the hidden cellar.

“My grandfather must have walled it up before he lost the house,” Haddock says when Tintin replies, “And then shine’s forth the Eagle’s cross.”

Tintin and Haddock walk towards a statue with a cross when Haddock replies, “Well, I can see the cross, but where’s the eagle?”

“St. John the Evangelist, who was always depicted with an eagle,” Tintin says as St. John the Evangelist’s statue reveals itself, “And he’s called the Eagle of Patmos.”

“So that’s the eagle from the poem. It’s talking about St. John the Evangelist.” Akira said.

“But the big question is,” Claudine said, “Where does it point to the treasure?”

“He is the eagle,” Tintin says, pointing Haddock to the statue, “What’s he trying to tell us?”

Then, Haddock walks towards a globe when Tintin replies, “I’m at a loss.”

“Heh. That island, the one in the middle, that doesn’t exist.” Haddock says as Tintin replies, “How do you know?”

“Because I’ve sailed those waters countless times. I’ve been there. There’s been a mistake.” Haddock replies as Tintin suddenly realizes something important.

“What if it isn’t?” Tintin says to the captain, prompting her to look at Tintin.

When the girls heard what Tintin said, they suddenly realized why there was a nonexistent island.

“It’s the last test! This is Lady Frances’ test to see if a Haddock can solve it!” Junna said.

“Because only a true Haddock can get the treasure!” Aruru said with a smile.

“Lady Frances wanted her inheritance to go to someone who was worthy of it. Someone like herself, who knows the seas like the back of her hand. Someone who could look at a globe and tell if one tiny island was out of place.” Tintin says to the captain.

Slowly but surely, Haddock places her finger onto the island when suddenly, the globe bursts open, surprising Tintin, Haddock, Nestor, Snowy, and the Stage Girls.

But when Tintin and Haddock looked at the globe's interior, they were in shock to see the treasure within it.

“Blistering treasure,” Haddock says in shock as Tintin runs her hand on the golden loot, “It’s Red Rackham’s barnacles!”

“It’s the treasure that Lady Frances caught from the explosion!” Aruru said with joy.

“Well I’ll be….. To think that Lady Frances brought the only remainder of the Unicorn’s treasure. Now that is amazing.” Junna said with a smile.

When Haddock looks at Tintin, both of them smile at each other that they finally achieve their goals.

“What is this?” Haddock says in wonder as she grabs the treasure’s container, revealing it to be a hat.

After grabbing the hat, she pours the hat's contents into a bowl while Tintin notices another item inside the globe and grabs it.

“My, my. What did Tintin see inside the globe?” Yachiyo said in curiosity.

After pouring the contents, Haddock wears the hat, revealing it to be Lady Frances’ hat.

“It’s the hat. It’s Lady Frances’ hat!” Karen said with joy.

And as the girls saw Haddock wearing it, they now believe that Haddock has completely transformed. Gone is the cowardly drunkard who spends the day drinking in her cabin. And now, it has been replaced by an honorable (slightly drunk) captain who will carry her family legacy for as long as she lives.

“You deserve it, Haddock. You deserve to wear that hat.” Aruru said while tearing up a bit.

As Haddock wears the hat, it’s as if she feels the history within it. 

Meanwhile, Tintin grabs the item from the globe, revealing it to be a parchment.

“Is that a map?” Mei Fan said with curiosity.

“Why is a map inside the globe?” Claudine said in curiosity.

“Maybe it’s Lady Frances’ old map that was preserved?” Karen said with her finger on her chin.

Then, Nestor returns to the room, along with two glasses of champagne.

Haddock laughs with glee as she grabs one of them and says to Tintin, “Just a wee tipple.”

“A toast to our good fortune,” Haddock says to Tintin as she gives her the other glass when she drinks her champagne in one gulp.

“I guess some things don’t change,” Misora said with a sigh as Aruru said to her, “Oh come on, Misora-chan! It’s ok! My counterpart deserves every bit of rest she needs after a grand adventure!”

“Well….. For once, I’ll let this one slide,” Fumi said to Aruru, “Just be sure she limits herself from drinking too much.”

“Oh, that’s better,” Haddock says to Tintin, “It’s odd, really. You would’ve thought after all the fuss and botherm there would’ve been more.”

Then, Haddock grabs Tintin’s glass and drinks it all up.

“More of what?” Tintin says as Haddock replies, “Red Rackham’s treasure.”

The girls laugh at this moment, seeing how Haddock still has her….. “drinking” issues.

“Other than her ‘drinking issues’, I do agree that the location should’ve shown more of the Unicorn’s treasure,” Junna said while fixing her glasses, “It is still somewhere across the ocean floor.”

“You’re right, Junna-chan! I wonder where the rest of the treasure is!” Karen said with enthusiasm.

“I mean, by your account, she looted half of South America. I just thought…” Haddock says to Tintin, “Never mind. There’s plenty to go around.”

“It’s a funny old life, eh?” Haddock says as she puts arm around Tintin while they walk, “Well, you’ve got your story for your newspaper.”

“All’s well that ends well.” Haddock says to Tintin.

“Indeed it is, Haddock. Indeed it is.” Junna said in a pleasing tone of how Haddock is quoting Shakespeare in their journey’s end.

“Oh everyone’s going to love this story when my counterpart publishes it,” Rui said.

“I hope it will inspire countless others to create their own adventure too!” Aruru said happily.

“It’s not ended,” Tintin says to the captain as she shows Haddock the parchment, “Lady Frances left another clue at the bottom of the globe.”

“A clue to what?” Haddock says as Tintin replies, “Four hundredweight of gold.”

Haddock stops Tintin as she continues, “...just lying at the bottom of the sea.”

“How’s your thirst for adventure, Captain?” Tintin asks the captain.

“Ready for another adventure, Aruru?” Rui said to the blonde as she responded, “Of course, Rui-chan! Of course I’m ready!”

“Unquenchable, Tintin,” Haddock says as the two of them hold the parchment together.

And from it, the screen fades away as the theater erupts with applause. 

“Thank you for watching ‘The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn’,” Edward said to his guests, “Please keep your surroundings clean and proceed to the exit in an organized manner.”

“Also, please wait a while in the lobby. I have some private business with Ms. Elle and Andrew.” Edward said as the Stage Girls find it weird on why Edward wants to talk to Elle and Andrew.

“Should I ask why Edward-san wants to talk to Elle?” Junna thought when she decided to save that question for later.

After leaving their seats, some of the Stage Girls begin to talk about the story that they have watched. Some are excited while the others are interested in what other stories they may encounter next.

“That was awesome!” Aruru said with happiness, “I never would’ve thought a story such as that would exist!”

“Ugh…. Well, it was a fun story,” Yuyuko said while stretching, “It ain’t no rakugo….. But it was a fun story.”

“Oh…. I can’t handle this!” Karen said with excitement, “I can’t wait for the other stories Edward-san would show!”

“I’ll admit, never in my wildest dreams would I encounter a story such as this,” Claudine said with a smile, as Maya said to her friend, “Of course, Saijo-san. The future stories that we’ll encounter may be more interesting as Tintin’s adventure.”

As the Stage Girls make their way to the exit, Edward proceeds to talk to Elle and Andrew.

“How was it, Miss Elle? Does it exceed your expectations?” Edward said to Elle.

“It does, Edward-san,” Elle said with a gentle smile, “The story that you introduced to the Stage Girls was very fascinating.”

“Of course-ryuu! Andrew doesn’t even know when to be excited or intrigued!” Andrew said with his paw in the air.

“In any case, I’m thankful that you both enjoy the show,” Edward said with a bow, “Now then…. Time to show these girls my theater.”

Chapter Text

While Edward, Elle, and Andrew are still inside the movie room, the Stage Girls split with their respective groups as they explore Edward’s theater house.

While the Siegfeld and Frontier girls explore the left side, the Seisho, and Rinmeikan girls, they’re exploring the eastern side of the theater.

All of the groups decided to meet with each other near the movie room’s entrance if Edward is calling for them.

On the eastern side, the Seisho and Rinmeikan girls are exploring the stalls on the theater house’s eastern side. Although some of them are empty, they couldn’t notice how extravagant they are. 

“Ah, that was amazing!” Karen said with excitement, “Tintin and Haddock’s adventure was one the best stories I’ve ever seen!”

“I agree Karen-chan!” Ichie said with a smile, “That story was full of action and drama all at once! Especially when I’m playing one of the detectives!”

“Now, now, you two,” Claudine said with a sigh, “I’m sure there will be other stories that you’ll be interested in.”

“Besides, I hope that there will be stories that will truly star yours truly,” Kaoruko said with a smirk as Futaba said, “Of course you’d say that.”

“In any case, it is surprising to see stories that we haven’t witnessed before,” Maya said with a smile, “I would love to stay here and watch some of them. If Edward-san would allow it.”

While the rest of the Seisho girls are talking, Junna is in deep thought regarding Edward. Seeing how he told the Stage Girls to leave him and Elle alone warrants great suspicion.

“Um…. Hoshimi-san!” 

Junna got startled by the voice as she turned around, revealing it to be Tamao.

“Yes, Tomoe-san?” Junna asked Tamao as she replied, “Are you alright?”

“Oh, me?” Junna said, “I’m fine. I’m just thinking about why Edward would want us to leave the theater room first.”

“Is that so?” Tamao said with a curious look, “I will admit, it was strange that Edward told us to leave rather than leave with us. Maybe it’s a private matter between him and Elle?”

“Hmmm……” Junna said to herself when suddenly, Karen shouted at them saying, “Jun-Jun! Tamao-chan! Come over here!”

Tamao and Junna were surprised as Karen called them from the front.

“Karen-chan is something isn’t she?” Tamao said with a giggle as Junna said with a smile, “Yup. She is something isn’t she?”

As Junna and Tamao make their way to the rest of the group, Karen and Ichie are calling for their respective friends to look at what they found.

“Jun-Jun! Come take a look at this!” Karen said as Ichie said, “Tamao-chan! Hurry up! You have to look at this!”

The two of them make their way to the rest of the group as they stand on what appears to be a diner. In this case, an old-school American diner.

With a shiny floor, it seems as though the diner is still brand-new. Records of various singers are plastered on the wall and the tables are pristine. The only thing that stood out was a neon sign saying, “Johnny’s Diner”.

“Wow! What kind of a place is this!” Karen said with twinkling eyes.

“I think it’s a diner,” Junna said as Fumi replied, “But what kind though?”

As the Stage Girls look around the place, Ichie notices a bell right on the counter.

“What’s this bell do?” Ichie said with a curious look as she rings it making some of the Stage Girls jolts in fright.

“Who did that!” Claudine said in annoyance as Ichie made her trademark ‘just kidding!’ face.

“Seriously?” Fumi said with a groan as Ichie said, “My ba-”

“Is someone there!” 

Some of the Stage Girls jolted in shock when an unknown voice rang from the counter.

“Hey! Who’s there!?” Claudine said in horror as Maya stood in place, shaking.

Then, the kitchen door opened revealing a handsome man with slick, black hair. Wearing a red bow tie, the man is wearing a white shirt and an apron with a name tag saying “Johnny”. He also wears shiny black shoes and a white square hat.

“Oh! Hello Stage Girls!” said the unknown man as he bowed to them, “The name’s Johnny, and welcome to Johnny’s Diner!”

While some Stage Girls are still in a state of shock, Futaba immediately said, “Um…. Who are you?”

Johnny suddenly notices the Stage Girls as he said, “Oh, uh…. Sorry about that!”

“The name’s Johnny and I’m the owner of this place,” Johnny said to the Stage Girls, “I deal with Western foods straight from the USA! If you want food for the theater, you can come to me and I’ll bring your orders at the theater!”

“So you're saying that you’re selling food here?” Tamao said as Karen immediately replied, “Really! What kind of food do you sell!”

“I sell various kinds of food, especially the ones for the theaters!” Johnny replied to the brunette.

Karen became excited since she’ll be able to eat during the viewing when Claudine said, “If you do sell food, how much do we have to pay you?”

“Oh don’t worry, Miss! If you need some food, I’ll whip ‘em up for you!” Johnny said with a smile, “But I almost forgot….. It’s entirely free!”

“We get to eat for free!?” the group said in shock as Johnny said to them, “In one condition.”

“You girls get to eat for free once per visit,” Johnny said as he vaulted over the counter, “The food is limited to one person only and you can’t order any more food.”

“Then I’m willing to pay!” Karen said as Johnny shushed her, “Sorry Miss….”

“Karen,” Karen said as Johnny replied, “Karen. But I can’t accept any money from any of you. It is my principle that I should not bend my own rules.”

“But!” Karen exclaimed as Mahiru said to the brunette, “Karen-chan, please don’t fight back. I know you want to taste some of his food. Please be grateful that you won’t spend more money.”

“Ok….” Karen said in a deflated tone.

Johnny claps his hands and said, “Well then, with that out of the way…. Are you ready to take your order?”

“Before that, Johnny-san, we’re not the only Stage Girls here,” Tamao said to Johnny as he replied, “Is that so? Gimme a second.”

Johnny vaulted over the counter as he grabbed a red telephone underneath it. He then pushed its buttons while holding the handle.

“Uh…. Who are you calling, Johnny-san?” Nana said as Johnny replied, “My boss.”

Johnny perked up as he said, “Hello boss, Johnny here!”

“Yup, they’re here.” Johnny said to the phone when he stood in shock, “What? The other group found that place?!”

“Come on boss! You should’ve surprised them!” Johnny replied as he groaned, “Ugh! Just get your butt over here!” 

As Johnny slammed the phone in annoyance, he replied, “What am I gonna do with an idiot like him!”

When he looked back, he was surprised as almost all of them were in a deadpan look.

“May I know why you’re acting like that?” Fumi said in an annoyed tone.

“Just….. Just wait for a while…..” Johnny said to the Stage Girls.

“Sorry if we’re late.”

The Seisho and Rinmeikan girls all stood up as Edward, Elle, Andrew and the rest of the Stage Girls arrived at the diner.

“Hi girls! Sorry for making you wait!” Aruru said with excitement as Akira said, “Edward took a while for his meeting to end.”

“While Edward’s talking on the phone, he suddenly ended up saying sorry to someone,” Misora said in a deadpan tone as Michiru replied, “And after his phone call, Edward explained to us who he is calling and here we are!”

Edward rubs his head as he said, “Sorry about letting the girls loose, Johnny. You can’t blame them when they’re that curious. Besides, it’s their first time here.”

“I know boss, I know,” Johnny said, “Just…. Just be careful next time.”

After seeing the banter, the Stage Girls were very interested in Edward and Johnny’s relationship with each other. Some thought they were friends while the rest thought they’re on a professional level. In any case, the girls might plan on questioning Edward about this later on.

Johnny smiles at the girls, as he said, “Well, since you girls are all present, ready to take your order?”

With a pearly smile, Johnny presented the girls with his menu, prompting the girls to check it out. The menu boasts a wide array of food, ranging from popcorn to burgers. The Stage Girls were a bit curious about the menu as each of them was reading it.

“Johnny-san, what kind of donuts do you cook?” Rui said as Johnny replied, “I make all kinds of donuts. Whether it's traditional or jelly-filled, I can make them from scratch!”

“If that’s the case, I want a box of donuts with hot chocolate!” Rui said as Johnny was writing down her order.

“Anyone else wants to place their order?” Johnny said as some of the girls began to raise their hands, prompting Johnny to move towards them.

“Ok….. So we have five orders of buttered popcorn, five orders of cheese popcorn, one order of chili popcorn, two orders of corn dogs, two packs of gumballs, two orders of french fries, a box of macarons, a box of donuts with hot chocolate, a bag of assorted nuts, and three orders of chocolate chip cookies. All orders excluding dessert items have a medium-sized soda as their drink,” Johnny said while writing the orders down, “Anything else Stage Girls?” 

Soon enough, the Stage Girls all said that they’re fine with their orders as Johnny said to them, “Good! Now if you excuse me, it’s time for me to cook!”

Johnny opened the kitchen door as he entered the kitchen to begin preparing the Stage Girls’ orders.

Meanwhile, Edward stood up from where he’s sitting and said to them, “While Johnny prepares your food, it’s time for us to go back to the theater.”

While the rest of the Stage Girls agree with Edward, some of the energetic ones groaned, most notably Karen.

“Eh….. But what about that place Johnny was talking about….” Karen said as Aruru replied, “Sorry Karen-chan! Edward-san explained to us that we need to keep it as a surprise!”

“Really!” Karen said happily as Misora sighed, “And there goes the surprise.”

Edward chuckled as he said, “Originally, it was to surprise all of you. But don’t worry everyone. Once the second film is done, I will show you that place.”

“Ok!” Karen said with a smile, as Mahiru and Nana chuckled at Karen’s airheadedness.

As the group left the diner, Edward smirked in confidence as the next story that he will present is a tale that the Seisho girls will surely recognize in an instant.

Chapter Text

As the group entered the theater once more, the Stage Girls immediately went back to their seats.

But when Andrew went for his seat, Edward tugged Andrew’s arm, prompting the mole to notice it.

“Excuse me, Edward-ryuu,” Andrew said as he noticed Edward’s arm, “May I know why you’re grabbing my arm?”

“Andrew? Are you going to your seat yet?” Elle said, calling out her friend from her seat.

“Just a second, Miss Elle! I need to say something important to Andrew!” Edward said to Elle, “It won’t take long!”

As Elle went back to her seat, Andrew looked at Edward, wondering why he pulled him in the first place.

“A little reminder Andrew…. In the story that we’ll watch, there will be some scenes that are not suitable for Miss Elle,” Edward said to the mole, “I hope you wouldn’t mind shielding her from it…. Won’t you?”

Andrew immediately nodded to Edward, knowing that Elle can’t remember stories that are…. Not for her age.

“Sure thing, ryuu! I’ll make sure Elle won’t be traumatized during the story!” Andrew said in confidence.

As the mole made his way to his seat, the theater doors swung open, surprising some of the Stage Girls.

“Hi girls! Sorry if I’m late!” Johnny said as he made his way to the theater with a trolley full of food.

The Stage Girls all eye on the trolley as it is filled with various food and drinks, most notably, popcorn.

As Johnny begins to distribute their food, Karen becomes extra giddy since the next story could be more exciting like the first one.

“Oh! I can’t wait for the next story to be shown!” Karen said as Nana said to Karen, “I agree. I do hope that the next story will be a classic story.”

“In my case, I hope that the next story will star someone like me,” Kaoruko said with a grin.

“Of course, you’d say that,” Futaba said with a sigh.

After a while, Johnny distributed all the food and said his goodbye to the group, prompting the Stage Girls to bid him farewell.

With snacks in hand, Edward said to them with pride, “Ladies and Andrew, I welcome you once more to the theater as we engage with the tale of one of literature’s greatest folk heroes! Sit back, relax, and enjoy!”

And from it, the screen lights up, counting down from five to one, as it turns black.

All of a sudden, a guitar riff echoes throughout the theater, making the Stage Girls eyes’ look towards the screen.

Then, the screen lights up when another guitar riff plays again when suddenly, a figure wearing a hat walks along with the screen, fluttering his cape.

The figure stops in the middle, drawing his sword from his waist.

“What… Who’s that?” Mei Fan said with wonder.

“That cape…. That sword….” Karen thought to herself until she realized who that figure is, “No… No way!”

Suddenly, the figure slashed the screen into a Z, and as a jaguar growled, several scratches formed until it made another Z. And from it, the story’s title reveals itself.

“THE MASK OF ZORRO”

“It’s Zorro!” Karen screamed with delight.

“Zorro?/Zorro!” some of the Stage Girls said in confusion and excitement.

“Zorro is the folk hero of Mexico! Defending the people against the vile Don Rafael!” Karen said with pride as Lalafin replied, “So he’s the hero of the story!”

“Heh… Never would’ve thought I’d see Zorro again,” Futaba said with a grin, “It made me recall how much I’ve been training Karen for the role!”

“Oh…. I can’t wait to see Zorro in action once again!” Karen said, giddy with excitement.

As the title fades, a paragraph reveals itself, saying:

“In 1821, Spain’s three-hundred-year domination of Mexico was about to come to an end. A people’s rebellion, led by General Santa Anna, spread from the arid mountains of the south to the rich and fertile northern province known as California. Peasants gathered in the streets, calling for the blood of the last Spanish governor, Don Rafael Montero. Although under orders to return to Spain, Montero refused to relinquish power without one final reckoning.”

While the paragraph shows itself, tapping sounds begin to echo throughout the theater from the screen.

“How interesting, I never thought that the story is set in a revolution,” Junna said in curiosity as Tamao said, “Whatever do you mean, Hoshimi-san?”

“If I recall correctly, our play in Zorro is set during Spain’s occupation of Mexico. It didn’t explain when but I assume this is before the revolution,” Nana said.

“So this means it could be Zorro’s last adventure!?” Karen said in shock, knowing that the story might end in an instant.

“Calm down, Miss Karen. I assure you that this won’t end swiftly,” Edward said to the brunette as Karen said, “You promise?”

“Cross my heart and hope to die,” Edward said whilst holding his hand up.

Soon, the tapping becomes more rapid until a guitar strums.

Then, a knife pierced a piece of canvas, as it formed a triangle. The same knife pierced the same canvas until it stopped.

After a while, two fingers poke through the canvas, forming two holes as two eyes are looking through the hole.

“Who is that person?” Claudine wondered as the Stage Girls were a bit confused about who the person was.

“Come on, Alejandro! It is my turn!” said another boy who is trying to push Alejandro away.

“Let me see,” the boy said as he tried to pry Alejandro away from the holes.

“What’s with that boy!” Fumi said, crossing her arms in annoyance, “Isn’t he that patient enough to get his turn?”

“I mean, he is still a young boy so, there will be times that they would be impatient,” Shiori said to her sister.

As the two fought, the other boy was able to push Alejandro away. When the boy looked through the holes, it revealed an angry mob who were shouting for freedom. 

On another angle, a man was able to climb to the flagpole, tearing Spain’s flag from it.

Then, a woman who is with her child begins to sob as it is revealed that three men are to be executed.

When the girls saw the reason why the boys were looking through the holes, seeing that the mob wanted justice. They never even thought that they were witnessing an execution.

“Why are those men being executed!? Have they done something so horrible that they must die!?” Shiori said in horror.

“I think I know why they are being executed,” Junna said as she fixed her glasses, “Someone dragged those innocent men to be executed!”

“But, who? Who’s the one that ordered the execution?” Tamao said in worry, as the rest of the Stage Girls wondered who it was.

As the crowd is calling for justice, the guards are trying to contain them when one of them tries to attack them.

Fortunately, the guard dodged the attack and hit the man with his rifle. One of his fellow guards grabbed the man but when they shoved him, it pushed the brothers back across their hiding spot.

The Stage Girls winced at the boys since they got hurt by the guard’s harsh attitude towards one of the protesters.

“Ouch…. Shouldn’t the guard be careful though?” Rui said as Michiru replied, “Seeing how the guard didn’t notice them, I’d say he’s oblivious.”

Then, a middle-aged man opened the flap as he said to the boys, “Hey! What are you doing cutting holes in my wagon?”

The screen reveals the duo as Alejandro (Maya Tendo) and Joaquin look at the man in nervousness.

“I am sorry, Señor Lopez. We were just waiting for Zorro,” Joaquin said to the man.

The Seisho girls were shocked, seeing that a younger version of their classmates is featured in the story.

“I’ll be…..” Maya said in shock, “I’d never imagined being the first of our class to be in a story such as this.”

“Never thought you’d be surprised, Maya Tendo,” Claudine said to her rival as she replied, “By-the-by Edward-san, who is the boy next to Maya?”

“That would be Joaquin, your counterpart’s brother,” Edward said as the Stage Girls are even more curious about what Alejandro and Joaquin’s role would be in the story.

“But, even so. I liked that they’re hoping that Zorro will appear!” Lalafin said in confidence, hoping that the legend will save the men.

“Go home muchachos (boys),” Señor Lopez said as Alejandro said to him, “Do you think he is really going to come, Senor Lopez?”

“Someone thinks he will,” Señor Lopez said as he pointed something to the boys.

The brothers turned around, revealing that the coffin they were sitting on has the letter Z on it.

“Joaquin, Alejandro,” Lopez said to the boys as they turned back to him, “...once I carved coffins for your mother and father. I would hate to carve one for you.”

“He’s a coffin maker!?” Mahiru said in shock as the girls realized why Senor Lopez wanted the boys to leave immediately.

“And the worst part is that their parents are already dead,” Akira said somberly as some of the Stage Girls prayed for the brothers’ parents.

“Now, go!” Señor Lopez said to the boys as they exited the wagon.

One of the boys tipped a guard’s hat, forcing the guard to get him but was blocked by the crowd.

The boys made their way to the crowd when Father Felipe caught them and said, “Alejandro. Joaquin. This is no place for you.”

“Now get back to the mission,” Father Felipe said to the boys as he made them leave the crowd.

“Who’s that supposed to be?” Karen said in curiosity as Edward replied, “That’s Father Felipe, parish priest and the guardian of Joaquin and Alejandro.”

“So he’s the local priest,” Mei Fan said as Lalafin asked their host, “Edward-san, what does Father Felipe mean about a mission?”

“Oh, it’s simple. When Spain was colonizing parts of the Americas they set up houses called ‘missions’,” Edward said to the Stage Girls, “The reason why they’re called that is it’s where the Spanish missionaries stay to rest.”

“Very interesting,” Junna remarked on the interesting fact.

Then, Futaba Isurugi appeared from the balcony as the mob began to flock to her home. 

“Futaba-chan is that you!?” Mahiru said in shock as Kaoruko happily replied, “Oh my, Futaba-han! It looks like you’re in this story too!”

As the Stage Girls noticed Futaba’s counterpart’s attire, they saw that she was wearing a black coat with red and gold details. They also noticed that she was wearing a white cravat on her neck.

“I know right!” Futaba said with a grin, “Hey, Edward-san! Do you know what my role is!”

“In due time, Miss Futaba,” Edward said in a reminding tone, “It will be revealed later on.”

With a solemn look, Don Rafael looked at the crowd, filled with angry people who were crying for justice.

Suddenly, a group of men was riding along the streets as Alejandro and Joaquin noticed them approaching the villa.

“Come on!” Joaquin said to his brother as they moved out of the way.

The crowd immediately moved out of the way as one of them, a nearly bald man entered the villa.

As the bald man entered the place, almost everyone that he passed by was moving swiftly as they carried various items.

As Futaba sniffed something from a metal case, the bald man entered her room and said, “Don Montero, for the love of God, why are you still here?”

“Montero!?” said some of the Stage Girls as the Seisho girls realized what their classmate’s counterpart’s role was.

“Futaba’s Don Rafael!?” Karen said in shock as Futaba bluntly replied, “So…. I’m playing the bad guy, huh?”

“Now, that’s a surprise,” Nana said in surprise, “Who knew that the role Futaba-chan played on stage would also be the role of her counterpart.”

“What do you mean, Banana?” Lalafin said in curiosity.

“Back in the real world, I played as Don Rafael in our ‘Zorro’ play,” Futaba explained to the pink-haired Frontier student, “While I played Don Rafael, Karen here played Zorro.”

“Yup! It was a blast playing as Zorro!” Karen said in joy as Junna started to ponder.

Seeing her classmate’s counterpart as Don Rafael was the one thing that made Junna very suspicious of how Edward picked the Stage Girls who became a part of the stories he shares.

“Now, now, Don Luiz,” Rafael said to the don, “Calm, calm.”

“Santa Anna’s men are three miles from the town. You have to go, sir. Now.” Don Luiz said to his fellow don.

“Oh yeah, it’s set during the revolution,” Misora said as Tsukasa replied, “And if I recall, Don Rafael is the only don who hasn’t left for Spain since it’s been shown during the intro.”

“Got to admit, Don Rafael seems very calm about the fact that hundreds of those people wanted him out of their country,” Futaba said in fascination.

In their version of Zorro, Don Rafael is seen as a cunning and aggressive man who is hell-bent on capturing Zorro. In their final confrontation, he lets loose against his nemesis but is defeated in the end.

In this version, however, Don Rafael is seen as a cold and calculative man who isn’t afraid of doing anything just to get his hands on Zorro. It’s like a fresh breath of air for Futaba to see a villain that she portrayed to be seen in a different tone.

“The government of Spain would like to thank you for your devoted service,” Don Rafael said as Don Luiz looked at him in confusion.

As he placed his gloves on a table, he grabbed an envelope and opened it as he read its contents out loud, “This land is the property of the Spanish government.”

“And in two hours’ time, it will be the property of the Mexican government unless I hand them over to you,” Don Rafael said as he walked towards Don Luiz, “I am well acquainted with Santa Anna. He will realize that the dons will be dutiful taxpayers and he will respect your claims.”

When the girls heard Don Rafael’s plan, they were shocked that the Don knew about Santa Anna.

“Why are Don Rafael friends with Santa Anna? Shouldn’t he and Santa Anna be enemies?” Tamao said in confusion.

“I believe he made a deal with the enemy,” Akira said, “He must’ve convinced him that without the support of the other dons, the country would end up in bankruptcy.”

“And it will lead to another rebellion,” Junna said, making the rest of the Stage Girls understand why Don Rafael made a deal with Santa Anna, but for one Stage Girl, it made her a bit confused.

Lalafin thought that Santa Anna is one of the good guys since he was fighting for Mexico’s independence. But when she heard that he made a deal with Don Rafael just to balance the economy is something that she knows is bad. She tried to think about what alternative Santa Anna would do but eventually decided to not ponder more about it.

“The rest of Alta California I have divided up equally among the other dons. I trust that you will make sure that all of them receive their grants.” Don Rafael said to Don Luiz as he combed through the documents.

Don Rafael turned around and said to the guards below, “Get the children out of the plaza immediately.”

The guards immediately followed suit as they searched the crowd for any children who would witness the execution.

“The children should never have to see the things we do,” Don Rafael said to Don Luiz.

“On that notion, I agree,” Claudine said in reluctance, “No child should ever see those men die in front of them.”

But then, Alejandro is being carried out by an unknown man as he screams, “I want to see! Put me down!”

“Hey! Let him go!” Aruru said in anger as Karen replied, “Whoever you are you better let him go!”

The unknown man dropped Alejandro when he noticed the man’s boots when the man turned around.

Alejandro got up and looked at the man and shushed him, realizing that the man was Zorro (Karen Aijo)!

Soon enough, Karen screamed with joy that her counterpart is the legendary hero, Zorro.

“I’m playing Zorro! I’m playing Zorro!” Karen said with joy as Mahiru sighed in amusement.

Knowing Karen, she has always enjoyed playing various roles whether it be a side character or the main character. As long as she understands the character, Karen will always find joy in becoming that character on stage.

“Now, now, Karen-chan,” Nana said to the brunette, “Other people are watching the story so please keep it down a notch.”

“Sure thing, Nana-chan!” Karen said with a smile, “I can’t believe that the first time I’ll appear in a story would be Zorro! Oh….. Now I’m even more excited! ”

Zorro moved away from Alejandro as the boy found his brother, to share his excitement. Alejandro was able to find his brother and said to him, “I saw him. I saw Zorro!”

With joy, the brothers make their way to get a better view when suddenly, the execution is about to begin as Don Rafael nodded at the head guard.

“I forgot! The execution is about to start!” Mei Fan said in horror as some of the Stage Girls were hoping that Zorro would stop the execution.

The head guard proceeded to shout his orders as the marksmen ready their positions and began to march.

“Who are these men that you would risk your life to have them killed?” Don Luiz said to Don Rafael as he simply said, “Who are they? No idea! Three peasants pulled at random from the crowd.”

When Don Rafael said it, almost all of the Stage Girls were appalled at how cold-blooded Don Rafael is that cold-blooded.

“That monster! Does he have no conscience!” Fumi said in anger, “Futaba-san! Is the Don Rafael in your play that merciless!”

Futaba gritted her teeth as she replied, “No. There’s no way in hell that the Don Rafael in our play is that merciless!”

“Come on, Zorro! Please show up!” Karen said with pleading eyes.

Following the beat of the drum, the guards were marching to their places, when Alejandro and Joaquin made their way to the rooftops.

As the brothers watched from above, the guards stopped in their places. The head guard pulled out his saber as the guards ready their rifles.

“Where is he?” Alejandro said in confusion as the guards cocked their guns.

“Apuntar!” the head guard said, making the marksmen aim their rifles at the tied men.

But as the head guard readied his saber, a whip caught one of the guards’ rifles, making the rest of the guns fire at the head guard instead.

In confusion, the guards notice that Zorro has arrived, brandishing his saber at them as the crowd and the brothers shout with joy that their hero is here.

Soon enough, the theater roared in joy as  Zorro was able to redirect the guns to the head guard instead.

“Zorro saved them! Zorro stopped the execution!” Shiori said in amazement.

“Now that’s what I call an entrance!” Aruru said in amazement.

“Alright, Zorro! Show them what you can do!” Karen said with excitement.

Twirling his blade, the remaining guards charged at Zorro when the black fox jumped over them as he made his way to the platform.

“Go,” Don Rafael said to Don Luiz as he looked at his nemesis.

Zorro then proceeded to cut the tied men loose as he clashed his sword with the guards.

One of the guards tried to push Zorro aback but Zorro was able to push him back instead.

With the crowd going wild, Zorro clashed with the guards from the left and the right. No matter how many times that guards attacked, Zorro was able to fend them off.

With such finesse and confidence, the Stage Girls are in awe of Zorro’s swordsmanship, especially on how he’s able to keep up with the guards attacking him from each direction.

“Holy moly, this is insane!” Karen said with joy, “Zorro’s swordsmanship is amazing!”

“To think that he’s that fast,” Rui said in amazement, “His reaction speed must be insane!”

Futaba grinned in excitement, seeing how Karen’s counterpart was showing off. Seeing how Zorro is fending the guards by himself was the best. Heck, it might be even more amazing than Lady Arsenia’s fight against the pirates.

“Now I’m even more pumped to hone my swordplay!” Futaba said with amazement.

Then, Zorro cuts one of the wooden contraptions, making him fall off the platform.

One of the guards looked below to look for him but Zorro was able to move behind him and poked his butt with his sword as the guard fell off the platform.

The girls laugh at Zorro’s antics, seeing how he easily defeated one of the guards just by poking his butt.

“Who knew that poking someone’s butt with a sword would be instant defeat?” Misora said in a joking manner.

The guards noticed Zorro as they clashed with the black bandit while Don Rafael watched from the balcony.

Zorro took on another guard as he slashed him but then another guard tried to stab Zorro but was able to dodge it, making the blade pierce the wood instead.

Regaining his bearings, the guard charged at Zorro, but he was able to dodge it, as the guard went directly to the blade that was stuck on the wood.

The other guard tried to grab Zorro but ran into a pillory as the black bandit jumped over him, slamming the pillory shut.

The brothers cheered for Zorro as they shook their hands with glee.

“That is so cool!” Aruru and Karen said in unison.

“Very impressive,” Akira said with a smile, “He’s able to use his surroundings to his advantage.”

“Heh, heh, that’s Zorro in a nutshell,” Futaba said with a smile, “He’s one of the greatest heroes literature has ever existed.”

It then changed back into the plaza as Zorro clashed with two more guardsmen when suddenly, the brothers noticed that there were guards stationed on a tower.

“Come on,” Alejandro said to his brother when Don Rafael rings the bell, signaling the guards to fire at Zorro.

“Zorro, watch out!” Lalafin and Karen said in horror.

Zorro noticed the guards from the tower but then, the brothers pushed a statue from above the guards, making them jump for safety whilst crashing onto the wooden platforms below.

“Alright!” Lalafin said with twinkling eyes, “Good job you two!”

“Nice assist, Maya-chan!” Karen said with joy how Maya’s counterpart was able to save Zorro.

“Well done, Alejandro,” Maya said, thanking the brothers’ quick thinking.

The brothers waved at Zorro as he waved them back. The guards attack Zorro once more when Zorro slashed his sword over their heads as they dodged it.

The three guards slam their swords at Zorro, trying to break his stance. Suddenly, tomatoes fly through the air, hitting the guards’ back.

Thanks to the distraction, Zorro slipped away from the wagon as the guards were getting pelted by the crowd.

When Don Rafael sees it, he is fuming that his plan has immediately crumbled.

The Stage Girls all find it amazing that the crowd is helping Zorro. They thought that the crowds were cheering for Zorro and yet they were surprised that they were helping him.

“Wow! This is the best!” Karen said in delight.

“Never in my wildest dreams would I ever see a crowd who is helping their hero,” Claudine said with a smile, “Maybe we can try having an interactive audience if the school is willing to allow it.”

“That’s a good idea, Saijo-san!” Futaba said as the Seisho girls began to plan on making their proposal to the school.

“And on the bright side,” Yachiyo said with a grin, “Don Rafael’s plan’s in shambles.”

With the roar of the crowd, Zorro runs across the crowd filled with cheers and excitement. The guards tried to apprehend him but the crowd was overwhelming them to pass through.

While the brothers were throwing rocks at the guards, Zorro walked toward them and placed his hands on them, making them turn around to see their idol.

“My thanks to you gentleman,” Zorro said to the boys as he removed his necklace and placed it around Joaquin’s neck.  

“Hey, Maya!” Karen said, “How does it feel to be thanked by Zorro!”

Maya smiled at the brunette, seeing how her counterpart saved Zorro from his imminent doom.

“I find it as an honor, Saijo-san,” Maya said to Karen as the said girl was filled with pride.

“Now, if you will excuse me,” Zorro said to the boys, “I’m missing my own party.”

Zorro pats their cheeks as he makes his way to his nemesis, leaving the boys happy to meet their idol.

Zorro dropped to the tower as he walked on top of the gate. One of the guards tried to get a clear shot but was knocked down by one of the peasants.

Zorro used his whip on a branch, as he swung to another platform.

“Kill him!” Don Rafael said in anger.

“What’s the matter, Don Rafael?” Ichie said with a smug tone, “Mad that your plan has completely failed.”

“Ichie-chan!” Tamao said in shock, “Aren’t you rubbing more salt on the wound?”

“Nah, it’s fine, Tamao-san,” Futaba said in a calming tone, “Just be glad that Don Rafael is getting his comeuppance. He may have my face, but he’s not me.”

The guards who managed to get away from the crowd fired at Zorro, but unfortunately, Zorro was too fast, making all of their shots useless.

More guards tried to shoot Zorro but to no avail. As Zorro stood at the top of a church, the crowd chanted his name in repetition. The masked hero throws his whip on a flagpost, swinging across them.

“Zorro!” Father Felipe screamed with joy as Zorro grabbed another flagpole as he swung to the balcony. 

When Zorro landed on it, he brandished his sword at Don Rafael’s throat, making the Don quiver in fear.

The girls are in anticipation as Zorro has placed his blade on Don Rafael.

“Time’s up, Don Rafael!” Karen said in confidence.

“The great Zorro has defeated you once again!” Lalafin said in a dramatic tone.

“You would murder three innocent men just to capture me?” Zorro said to Don Rafael.

“I would murder a hundred innocent men if it meant killing you,” Don Rafael said in anger.

Zorro proceeded to give Don Rafael a parting gift; a Z-marked scar on his throat, as the don grits in pain.

The girls winced at Don Rafael, seeing how Zorro branded his signature through his sword.

“How’s that for a parting gift, Don Rafael!” Karen said with joy.

“Oh, man,” Futaba said while rubbing her neck, “I think I felt that.”

“Don’t be such a baby, Futaba-han,” Kaoruko said to her friend, “It’s not like you’re on the receiving end of it.”

Futaba looked at Kaoruko and chuckled at her remark, “Yeah, you’re right. I shouldn’t let that get to me.”

“Three men, three cuts,” Zorro said to his nemesis, “A small memento of Mexico, Rafael, to remind you to not return.” 

Then, Zorro whistled loudly as his horse, Tornado, appeared below the balcony as he neighed with grace.

“It’s Tornado!” Karen said with joy as Aruru happily replied, “Is that Zorro’s horse!” 

“That’s right! Tornado is Zorro’s magnificent and loyal partner!” Karen said to the blonde, “He also saved Zorro on multiple occasions when I’m reading about his adventures!!”

“But enough about that! Tornado’s a black Andalusian!” Shiori said with glee as she saw a beautiful horse.

“An Andalusian?” Mei Fan said in curiosity as Frau Jade said to her, “An Andalusian is one of the best horses in the Equestrian sport! I never would’ve imagined that a black Andalusian would appear!”

Zorro then jumped off the balcony, landing on Tornado as the great steed galloped across the streets.

As the crowd followed their hero, Padre Felipe cheered for his hero when a guard was ready to fire at Zorro. Luckily, Padre Felipe bashed him with his elbow, knocking him out.

The girls chuckle at Padre Felipe that despite being a man of peace, he proceeded to bash the guard’s face with his elbow.

“Who knew priests like him can pack a punch?” Futaba said in a joking manner.

With Zorro’s victory, the brothers watch their hero ride the church’s steps as Tornado raised itself with Zorro waving his saber as a sign of his great triumph.

As Zorro raised his saber on high, Karen, Aruru, and Lalafin shouted with joy, seeing that the heroic Zorro had saved the day.

“Hurray for Zorro!” Karen, Aruru and Lalafin said in unison.

The brothers shouted with joy as their hero galloped into the sunset. Sitting down, Alejandro examined the necklace, showing that it is a silver medallion with a small red stone on the center.

When the girls took a close look at the medallion, it made them fascinated by its design. 

“What a beautiful medallion,” Yachiyo said, “I love how each of the medallion’s circles keeps on getting smaller, leading it up to the ruby.”

“I agree,” Junna said in agreement, “I’m very curious about how it was even made. It must’ve taken hours for its creation.”

While Alejandro smiled with his brother, the scene changed into a beautiful villa off of a cliff. It also showed a waterfall and a plantation as the villa sits near it.

It was there that Zorro passed through a cave near the waterfall, revealing it to be his hideout as he gestured Tornado to stop.

When the girls saw the cave, they were surprised at how it was easily hidden. 

“That’s Zorro’s lair!?” Aruru said in amazement as Karen replied, “This must be where Zorro trained himself to become a hero!”

Zorro proceeded to get off of Tornado as he said to his steed, “Tornado, my old friend…. You’re getting too old for this.” 

Tornado neighed at his master as Zorro replied, “Yes, me too.”

“Aw, that’s so cute!” Shiori said with glee, making her remember the times she patted her horse after a good ride around the estate.

The scene changed into a fireplace as it suddenly opened, revealing Zorro who is now Don Diego de la Vega wearing a white shirt with a black vest.

“Everyone, meet Don Diego de la Vega, Spanish don and the man behind Zorro,” Edward said to the Stage Girls.

“Ah, yes, Don Diego,” Junna said with a smile, “That was Zorro’s real name whenever he’s not wearing the mask.” 

“Also,” Claudine said, “He is a generous don who is very helpful to the people of Mexico whenever he’s not Zorro.”

Upon hearing info about Don Diego, the rest of the Stage Girls now see the reason why Don Diego became Zorro. To protect Mexico from the other greedy dons whenever Don Diego can't.

Don Diego walked towards a room, revealing a baby and a maid with black hair.

“Is she warm enough?” Diego said to the woman in Spanish.

“I always put on an extra blanket for you, Señor,” the woman said as she left the room, leaving Don Diego to kiss the baby and begin to caress it.

When the girls saw the baby, some of them cooed in delight at the adorable infant.

“What a cutie! Whose baby is that!” Ichie said with glee.

Edward smirked as he replied to the Stage Girls, “That would be Don Diego’s daughter.”

The girls were surprised that the baby was Don Diego’s. But the more surprised one was Karen. She never imagined her counterpart would have a child.

“That’s… That’s Don Diego’s daughter….” Karen said, speechless of Don Diego’s baby girl.

Then, the scene changed back to the outside of the estate where a woman is seen looking at the sunset.

When she noticed movement from the mansion, she immediately raced to it with a smile.

“Assuming that Don Diego has a son, would that woman be Don Diego’s wife?” Junna said with curiosity.

“How very astute of you Miss Hoshimi,” Edward said with a smile, “Yes, that woman is Don Diego’s wife.”

“So that’s his wife…” Karen said with a smile seeing how Don Diego has found the love of his life. Maybe that’s another reason why the don retired from being Zorro.

Then, it changed back into the baby’s room as Don Diego regaled his daughter with his latest adventure.

“But the good prince was not afraid of the evil king,” Don Diego said, waving a bouquet like a sword, “He raced across the drawbridge, fighting off a hundred guards.”

“And then, looking very handsome and dashing in the late afternoon sun..” Don Diego said with pride as his baby happily giggled, “...He leapt onto the balcony and thrust his enchanted sword under the king’s chin.”

The girls chuckled at Don Diego, seeing how he’s telling his final adventure to his daughter.

“I always knew Karen would be a good storyteller,” Mahiru said with a smile.

“Do you mean it Mahiru-chan!” Karen said to her roommate, prompting Mahiru to reply, “Yes… I do mean it!”

Karen immediately hugged her and said, “Thank you for saying that, Mahiru-chan!”

“You’re welcome, Karen. You’re welcome,” Mahiru said while being hugged by the brunette.

“‘You would kill three innocent men,’ he demanded, ‘just to capture me?’ ‘Yes’” Don Diego said to his daughter as he pulled the bouquet away.

“Then suddenly, lightning flashed and a mighty thunder shocked the wasted land. And the evil king glared at the good prince and said-” Don Diego said to his daughter when turned around and saw his wife with a smile.

“Something forgettable,” Don Diego said to his wife.

The girls laughed at the scene as Kaoruko replied, “Sorry Don Diego, the story’s over!”

“But I want to know what evil king said…..” Ichie playfully said to Kaoruko.

“And the good prince? What did he do?” Don Diego’s wife said to him.

“Well, he leapt from the balcony onto his faithful old steed Tornado and…” Don Diego said to his wife, “...raced home to his beautiful wife Esperanza… and to his little child, Elena… never to do anything so foolish or dangerous again.”

“A very good reason indeed,” Mei Fan said with a smile.

“So that’s why he retired,” Tamao said, “It’s not about Mexico’s independence but… it’s for the sake of his new family.”

“I guess…. It truly was Zorro’s last ride….” Karen said in a somber voice. Seeing how Don Diego lay his sword and cape for his family was a very good choice.

“She loves to hear your stories,” Esperanza said to her husband.

“Oh, it’s only the sound of my voice,” Don Diego said, “One day she’ll have no time for them.”

“I never tire of them. Why should she?” Esperanza said to Diego, leaving him to walk towards his wife.

“Esperanza…” Don Diego said, kissing his wife with passion.

Soon enough, some of the girls such as Shiori blushed at Don Diego’s kiss with his wife.

“Oh my…” Shiori said whilst blushing.

“Wel, uh… I won’t lie but… She is his wife after all…” Tamao said, trying to maintain her composure after seeing the kiss.

“She has your strength,” Esperanza said as the don replied, “Uh-huh.”

“Today she broke the little clay horse you made for her,” Esperanza said, leaving her husband to chuckle.

“Diego…” Esperanza said to the don when she touched his arm, triggering the injury that he sustained a while ago.

  “I forgot!” Junna said, startling some of her classmates.

“What’s the matter Junna?” Nana said to her classmate as she replied, “Zorro must’ve sustained an injury a while back.”

“But on the bright side! He won’t have to take any more injuries since he’s finally retired!” Karen said with a smile.

“It’s just a scratch. It’s alright,” Diego said, reassuring his wife.

“Diego, you promised me,” Esperanza said in a scolding manner.

“I know.”

“No more nights waiting up, praying you’ll come home alive,” Esperanza said with worry.

The girls all understand why Esperanza wanted Diego to retire. She’s worried that she might end up seeing her beloved husband die due to his occupation. But now, Don Diego hung his cape and sword so that he may enjoy his life as a family man.

“I’m just glad Don Diego finally stopped making his wife worry,” Shiori said with a smile.

“I agree,” Shizuha said 

“The Spaniards are going home,” Don Diego said to Esperanza, “From now on, we’ll grow old together with our five children.”

Esperanza giggled at Don Diego’s answer and said, “Five?”

“Yeah,” Don Diego joked, “Not enough?”

“I love you,” Esperanza replied as the two of them kissed ever passionately.

Once again, some of the girls blushed at how passionate the two of them kissed, especially Karen. She always thought of kissing scenes as all just part of the stories such as these. But seeing her other self do it more intensely made her blush madly.

“How I wish I was Don Diego’s wife…” Mahiru thought with a sigh. If there’s one thing that she could do before graduating is to at least have a kiss scene with Karen onstage.

The two lovers still kiss each other until a click of a gun is heard, prompting Esperanza to break away from their kiss, as it revealed Don Rafael and a group of guards at their doorstep.

“Wha- What are they doing there!?” Rui said in shock.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this….” Mei Fan said with worry.

“Doña de la Vega, still as beautiful as ever,” Don Rafael said with respect.

“Don Rafael, what an honor!” Don Diego said with pride, “The governor in my home. You will stay for dinner, of course.”

“I have to come to apologize, Esperanza,” Don Rafael said to her, “I’m sorry that I could not protect this country from the peasants who have overrun it.”

“I’m sorry that I couldn’t make you love me,” Don Rafael continued with his apology, “And I’m sorry that I have to leave you without a husband.”

“Arrest him,” Don Rafael said as the guards began to march towards them.

“Wait, what!?” said some of the girls.

“Why would Don Rafael have Don Diego arrested!?” Lalafin said in shock.

“He wouldn’t be able to arrest him unless…..” Junna said until she came to realize why, “Oh no!”

Esperanza tried to protect her husband but the don pushed her away as the guards grabbed both of his arms.

Then, Rafael proceeded to grab Diego’s left arm as the don gritted in pain. 

Rafael observed the blood on his hands and said, “Blood never lies… Zorro.”

Soon enough Karen’s heart dropped, horrified that Don Rafael figured out Zorro’s identity.

“How…..” Karen said with a trembling voice, “How is it possible!?”

“It’s her injury,” Akira stoically said, “Rafael noticed that Zorro was injured the last time he saw him in action.”

“And since he noticed that Don Diego isn’t leaving the country, he assumed that he’s the only man who could be the masked hero,” Maya said in a serious tone.

“Oh no… This is terrible!” Lalafin said in horror. 

“You’re a traitor to your country and your class,” Don Rafael said to his nemesis, “Take him away.”

The guards were about to take the don when Esperanza pushed one of them to the ground, prompting the don to knock the other one and grab the guard’s sword, and pushed him as well. 

“Alright, Zorro! Now take him out!” Futaba said with a smile.

“Come on Zorro! Beat him to the ground!” Karen said with determination.

Don Diego jumped onto Rafael as the two clashed their blades. The guards immediately aim their guns when the head guard told them, “Wait!”

Diego tried to overpower Rafael but the ex-governor pushed him back. Rafael attempted to stab Diego when the former parried it.

In frustration, Rafael tried to slash him but Don Diego countered it and throw Rafael onto a wall. The two men stare at each other, ready to finish this duel.

Once again, the girls are on their seats as the duel continued with the two dons.

“Come on Zorro….” Karen said with worry.

“Win this one, Zorro! For your family and Mexico once more!” Lalafin said with a smile.

Diego goes on the offensive as he was able to put Rafael against the wall. With great precision, Diego poked Rafael’s neck when one of the guards fired at the wall, allowing Rafael to slide his sword on Diego’s chest. 

Seeing how Rafael was able to hurt Zorro, Karen gripped her armrests in suspense, hoping that Diego will be able to win the duel.

Soon enough, Elena begins to cry due to the clashing of blades as Rafael and Diego continued their fight. 

Suddenly, Rafael cut one of the candles as it landed onto the tablecloth, setting it on fire.

“No!” Esperanza cried out when the head guard planned to shoot her husband.

“No!” Rafael cried in horror when Esperanza went for Diego as the bullet hit her instead.

The theater became silent as Esperanza sacrificed her life in exchange for her husband’s.

Karen dropped to her knees, shocked beyond belief. She always knew that they were looking at their alternate selves but…. When she saw her other self’s wife die in front of her, it was unbearable.

“What have you done….” Karen said in agony, “What have you done!?”

“Karen…” Mahiru sadly said. She knew what Karen is going through. Ever since she almost lost Hikari, Karen has been a bit clingy with her classmates. Although they might think it’s weird, Mahiru’s the only one who believes that Karen might be going through something terrible.

As for the rest of the Stage Girls, all of them pay their respects to Esperanza for being a loving wife who is willing to sacrifice herself to save her husband.

As Diego tried to keep his wife alive, Rafael went to the head guard and stabbed him with his sword.

“Too late for that, Don Rafael,” Futaba said in anger, “Killing him won’t bring Esperanza back.”

“I’m afraid so, Isurugi-san,” Maya said in a sad tone.

Don Diego tried to save his wife but to no avail. With the last of her strength disappearing, Esperanza’s arm drops to the floor.

Rafael looked at what he’s done as Diego looked at him with tears flowing through his face.

“I would never have let any harm come to her,” Rafael said to Don Diego.

“She was never yours to protect,” Diego rebutted to Rafael.

It was from that statement that the Stage Girls fully realize why Rafael has been obsessed with Esperanza. Although she chose Don Diego in the end, Rafael created this obsession that Esperanza should’ve been hers.

“He’s right! Don’t you dare say that you own her!” Karen said with anger, “She made her choice when she married Don Diego!”

“Yeah! Don’t treat her that she still loves you!” Aruru said in agreement.

As the two men looked at each other, Elena’s cry echoed throughout the villa made Don Diego said, “Elena…”

Diego rushed towards the crib when Rafael bashed him from behind with the sword’s hilt.

“Zorro, no!” Karen said in horror as Rafael dropped to the floor.

“You bastard! That was a cheap shot!” Futaba angrily said, seeing that her counterpart ended the duel with a smash to the head.

Rafael turned Don Diego around, dazed from the hit as he said to him, “I want you to live… with the knowledge you have lost everything you hold dear. I want you to suffer as I have suffered… knowing that your child should have been mine.”

Don Diego fainted as the scene changed outside with the rain heavily pouring when suddenly, lightning crackled through the sky, waking Don Diego up.

In horror, he looked at the burning villa and screamed, “Elena!”

The theater’s atmosphere immediately dropped as the girls were horrified by what has happened. Some of the girls begin to cry while the rest looked away. But the one who was affected the most was Karen and Lalafin.

Lalafin cried onto Shizuha of Don Diego’s crushing defeat. Sometimes, she has seen villains beat the hero but in this case, it was one of the most painful moments that she’s ever witnessed.

“Monster! Monster!” Karen screamed repeatedly about what Rafael has done to Don Diego’s family.

Diego tried to shake the bars but to no avail. In frustration, Don Diego looked at the burning villa when Rafael emerged from it, revealing that he brought Elena with him in his arms.

Soon enough, every single Stage Girl was in shock and relieved that Rafael saved Elena from the burning villa.

“Wha…. Why did he save her!?” Tamao said in shock.

“I don’t know Tamao san,” Junna said while fixing her glasses, “But I’m glad Don Rafael isn’t as heartless as I thought.”

Don Diego immediately reached his arms and said, “Let me hold her.”

Rafael only looked at his nemesis as Diego said to him, “Let me hold her!”

“Rafael!” Diego angrily said to him, only for him to be met with a smile.

“She has her mother’s eyes,” Rafael said to Diego with a smile.

But after a few moments, Rafael immediately covered the child and made his way to the horses.

What Rafael did to Don Diego was the final straw for Karen. Seeing how Rafael not only burned Don Diego’s home but also chose to take his child and raise it as his own was absolute disrespect. She already accepted that Diego lost but for Rafael to rub it in is the worst.

“You monster! Why won’t you let him hold his child!?” Karen said in anger, “Do you have any idea that this would be the last time he’ll see her!?”

“You won’t get away with this Rafael! You hear me!” Lalafin replied in anger, “You’re going to pay!”

Diego looked from his cell and declared to his nemesis, “Rafael! You’ll never get rid of me!”

The cart immediately moved away from the smoldering villa as Diego shouted, “RAFAEL!!”

As the screen turned black, the rest of the Stage Girls are stunned by what happened to Don Diego. They all thought that the don will stay retired but they never imagined that Rafael would not only figure out his secret identity but destroyed his entire life completely.

“Is… Is this how the story ends!?” Tamao said in horror, as Edward stifled his laughter.

“You’re completely wrong Ms. Tamao,” Edward said to the Rinmeikan leader, “It’s not the end but…. The beginning.”

Chapter Text

The scene changed into a tepid desert when a lone horse trotted along.

Then, a jolly voice sang as he was riding his horse, “♪ Caught the bandits, plain to see. ♪”

“TWENTY YEARS LATER”

“T-Twenty years later!?” Karen said in shock, “How far are we going through the story!”

“This is interesting…” Akira said with curiosity, “Most of the stories that have this kind of time skip always show at  the middle or the end of the story.”

“By the way, who’s the person riding on the horse?” Mei Fan said to the host.

While the person was singing, he suddenly pulled a rope, revealing two people tied to it. One has a small mustache and short hair while the other has a messy beard and long hair.

When the girls saw the two men, they were shocked by what they had become. 

“What in the world happened to your counterpart Maya Tendo!?” Claudine said to her rival.

“I don’t know Saijo-san,” Maya said to the Frenchwoman, “But I fear that my counterpart and Joaquin must’ve done something bad that they ended up like this.” 

“♪ They’re tough and they’re mean, ♪” the man said as he pulled along the rope.

“But don’t scare…. Me!” the man said, revealing himself as Yachiyo that he tugged the rope so hard that the brothers dropped to the ground. 

“Is that you Yachiyo-san?” Mei Fan said in curiosity as the Siegfeld girls noticed Yachiyo’s counterpart’s attire. Wearing a dusty old coat, they also saw that her counterpart was old thanks to her gray hair. As for the girl herself, she was curious about what her role would be in this story, more or less her counterpart is the one dragging Alejandro and Joaquin in the desert.

“My, my….” Yachiyo surprisedly said, “I never imagined I’d appear as an old man.”

“Now I’m wondering how I managed to capture those two,” Yachiyo said with a smile.

“Even so, your counterpart is being so mean to them,” Shiori said in annoyance.

Yachiyo laughed while the brothers got up.

“♪ Stayed on their track, bringing them back, ♪” Yachiyo sang, “♪ So pay the bounty now to me♪”

“♪ Cause, ♪” Yachiyo said as he pulled his canteen and emptied its contents while Alejandro and Joaquin looked at each other in annoyance.

“♪ Cause, ♪” Yachiyo repeated, making the brothers sing along with him, “♪ Nobody’s tough as Jack, nobody’s tough as Jack ♪”

Once again, Jack laughed heartily at the brothers and said, “Now you’re gettin’ there. Like I don’ told ya. Singin’ can lighten your terrible load.”

When the girls saw why Jack wanted them to sing, they were a bit annoyed by his reasoning. But for Yachiyo herself, she chuckled that she might try to do that just to mess with her friends. 

“You know….” Yachiyo thought, “I think I might try to do that for fun….”

“If you try and pull a similar prank like this,” Akira said seriously, “There will be repercussions.”

Yachiyo chuckled at Akira’s response and said, “Sure thing, Prez!”

Jack threw his canteen at Joaquin, which he gave to his younger brother. But when Alejandro tried to drink, he soon noticed it was empty and he threw it in frustration

Jack laughed at them as he pulled the rope along with the brothers.

“He’s so mean!” Shiori said in annoyance.

“Don’t worry, Shiori-chan,” Yachiyo said whilst patting the young Frau Jade, “This is just my counterpart’s way of being helpful.”

“I think she’s FAR from being helpful,” Fumi said in annoyance.

Meanwhile, the screen changed to a bald man who washed his face with water. He then removed his bandana, scooped some water, and rubbed it on his face when he heard a shout, “Hey, hey, hey!”

“Come one! Come all!” Jack announced from his horse, “For the fright of your life!”

“See the notorious Murrieta brothers,” Jack shouted, “Robbers! Horse thieves!”

Jack continued his announcement when one of the guards saw him and immediately ripped one of the wanted posters.

“Garcia,” the guard said to his superior as the rest of his group assembled, “It’s the Murrieta brothers.”

He then showed Garcia the poster as it said: “WANTED JOAQUIN AND ALEJANDRO MURRIETA”

When the girls saw the poster, they were surprised at how low they had become. They all thought that they’d found good jobs since the friars had taught them but instead, they became thieves.

“Now I want to know where did they go wrong,” Maya said with a sigh.

“Come here, you mangy trash,” Jack said to the brothers, pulling them by the rope.

While the hut’s inhabitants watched, Jack placed his hand on the poster.

“Con su permiso, amigo? (May I, friend?)” Jack said to the guard, yanking the poster away to see how much money he would gain from the Murrieta brothers.

Garcia said to the bounty hunter, “These men are in the custody of Colonel Armando Garcia and we will take them the rest of the way. And you can claim your bounty in Tlaxco.”

“So my counterpart’s a bounty hunter huh?” Yachiyo said with interest, “I wonder how I managed to capture those two?”

“Yeah, when bulls start wearing bloomers,” Jack said in a boring tone when Alejandro peeked over Jack’s shoulder and said, “How much are we worth?”

“Get out,” Jack said, hitting Alejandro with his elbow.

“Seriously, why would anyone want to know how much they’re worth even though they got caught by the law?” Tsukasa said in confusion.

“Maybe they want to know how infamous they are?” Claudine said to Tsukasa, “They are outlaws after all.”

“All figured out….” Jack said whilst turning his head, “....about two hundred pesos.”

The brothers were in shock at how much they were only worth, especially Alejandro.

“Two hundred pesos? That’s it?” Joaquin said in disbelief, “After all the payrolls we’ve robbed? A lousy two hundred pesos a piece! That’s all we’re worth?”

“Are they saying that the two of them aren’t worth the trouble?” Junna said with wonder.

“If that were the case, it could mean that the law doesn’t care about them,” Claudine said, “But in this case, the brothers probably want to be more infamous.”

“We’re wasting time,” the colonel said in annoyance.

“That’s two hundred pesos,” Jack said to the brothers, “For the both of ya.”

“What?” Alejandro said in disbelief, “Are you crazy!? Don’t do this Jack!”

Having enough, the colonel smacked the younger Murrieta and said “Back out there!”

Suddenly, Joaquin brandished a small pistol, pointing right at Garcia’s head!

The girls were in disbelief that not only did Joaquin remove his binds, but he was able to brandish a gun! 

“How did he do that!?” Karen said in shock.  

“Touch my brother again,” Joaquin said in silent rage, “And I’ll kill you.”

“Yes, he will,” Alejandro said mockingly, revealing that he also got out of his binds.

The guards immediately went for their swords when Joaquin quickly drew another pistol in his hand.

“Hey,” one of the guards said in shock, “I thought you were tied up.”

Joaquin smiled and said to him, “That’s because you’re stupid.”

Then, Jack and Alejandro threw a rope over them and swept the guards’ legs, knocking them down.

“Why is your counterpart helping them, Yachiyo-san!?” Shiori said in surprise.

“I don’t know, Shiori-chan,” Yachiyo said happily, “But in my opinion, I’m glad my counterpart is helping Alejandro and Joaquin.”

The guards tried to fire at them but the trio held them at gunpoint.

“Drop it! Drop it!” Alejandro said to the guards while holding a rifle.

Then, the elderly man from the inn held a basket of food and approached the elder brother.

“Hey,” the old man said, “They got a strong box on the wagon.”

When the girls heard that the old man was helping the bandit brothers, they were surprised that he was willing to assist them.

“Seriously!? Isn’t that the opposite of what you should be doing!?” Lalafin said in annoyance.

“I guess even though they were liberated, it seems that some people in the government might’ve forgotten about helping the people,” Michael said jokingly, annoying Lalafin in the process.

“We know,” Joaquin reminded the old man, “That’s why we’re here.”

The old man figured out why they’d arrived in the first place. Joaquin paid the man for the food while Alejandro told some of their escapades to the old man’s grandson.

“Two hundred pesos, lousy cheats,” Jack mumbled, “It is a fact, that I, the legendary Three-Fingered Jack, ain’t even mentioned.”

When the girls heard what Jack said, they figured out why they were able to steal the strong box.

“Jack’s also an outlaw like the Murrieta brothers!” Aruru said with shock.

“That’s smart,” Maya said, “Since the guards didn’t know that Jack was their partner, he was able to fool them that he’s captured Alejandro and Joaquin.”

“My, my,” Yachiyo said with interest, “My counterpart must be really smart to think of that kind of plan.” 

“I ain’t even mentioned,” Jack said, annoyed that the brothers had become more well-known than him.

“And ain’t I the one that figured to kidnap the mayor from his own outhouse?” Jack said while getting on the wagon, “I tell you, I am the holy guts of this gang. Without me, the whole damn opera falls apart!”

“Amigos, adios,” the old man said to the trio where Alejandro saluted the old man and waved goodbye to his grandson.

The trio left the inn with the wagon, leaving the poor guards naked and tied to a bunch of cacti.

The girls laughed at the poor guards, especially Yachiyo for how they deserved it after their colonel hit Alejandro in the face.

“I hope they learned their lesson from punching Alejandro,” Yachiyo said with glee.

The brothers performed their signature handshake, showing their triumphant score whilst Jack screamed with delight.

The gang is still on the run when Jack suddenly stops the cart, revealing that a group of lawmen has cornered them.

The gang took a closer look, revealing that the lawmen were led by a US Marshall, none other than Michiru Otori!

“There you are, Michiru-chan!” Yachiyo said with a smile, “Looks to me that you’re playing as a lawman here.”

“Edward-san, what’s the name of my character here?” Michiru said in interest.

“It will be revealed soon Michiru,” Edward remarked as the girls decided to continue watching the movie.

The brothers looked at each other, prompting the trio to jump off the wagon. Michiru fired her revolver, hitting Jack in his leg.

“No! Jack’s been shot!” Shiori said in horror.

“Don’t worry about that Shiori,” Yachiyo said in a calming tone, “He did that just so he wouldn’t escape. And besides, I bet my counterpart will escape in no time.”

Shiori looked at Yachiyo knowing that she was doing that to calm her down and decided to continue watching the story.

Michiru noticed the two brothers and lined his gun. Michiru fired, hitting Joaquin in the back of his leg.

“Joaquin!” said some of the Stage Girls as they saw Joaquin in pain.

Joaquin clutched his wound and Alejandro noticed his brother in agony.

“Joaquin, Joaquin! Come on! Come on!” Alejandro said while trying to pull his brother up.

“Go! Go!” Joaquin replied, pushing his brother away from him.

“Are you crazy!” Futaba said in anger, “He’s trying to save you!”

“He can’t do that Isurugi-san,” Maya sadly said, shocking some of the girls around her.

“What do you mean he can’t!? That’s his brother Maya-san!” Aruru said in anger, “He could’ve helped him up and-”

“And it would slow them down,” Maya said, cutting the blonde girl from speaking, “I apologize if I cut you off but think about it. Since Michiru’s men are on horseback, it would be easy for them to capture my counterpart and his brother. At least Alejandro can get away from them before they reach Joaquin.”

With Maya’s statement, some of the girls (especially Aruru) became quiet and understood why Joaquin wanted Alejandro to go. It is to ensure his little brother’s safety so that he may live another day.

“Come on! Get up! Get up!” Alejandro said while trying to pull his brother from the ground when Joaquin punched him, knocking him to the ground.

Alejandro immediately got up and looked at his brother who sadly said to him, “Go.”

Shocked that his brother wanted him to leave him, Alejandro tried to process what was said when Joaquin said to him one last time, “Go.”

“Please…. Save yourself…” Elle quietly said, hoping that Alejandro would listen to his brother.

As Alejandro sat in shock, the sound of horses was heard, forcing him to quickly run away from his brother.

Alejandro managed to hide behind some cacti as the rest of the guards surrounded his brother.

Michiru drew his blade and said to his captor, “I just want you to know….. I consider this an honor.”

In his final moments, Joaquin spat at him, grabbed his pistol, and shot himself in the heart, shocking Alejandro.

When the girls saw Joaquin shoot himself, almost all were stunned by what happened.

It was silent within the theater that it took a few of the girls to find their voices.

“Why….. Why did he have to kill himself!?” Takao said in disbelief.

“I guess….. He doesn’t want to be captured….” Tsukasa sadly said, “Maybe he’d rather die than be their prisoner….”

Alejandro’s limp body did nothing to the marshall that he eventually got off his horse. Michiru walked toward it and decapitated its head, cutting the necklace from Joaquin’s neck.

Alejandro silently cried at the man who butchered his brother from afar. Michiru turned around and said to his men, “Bag the head. Bury the body.”

When the girls saw what Michiru’s counterpart did, they all felt mad at her for treating Alejandro’s brother like that.

“I hope that bastard gets what he deserves…..” Futaba silently mumbled. 

The scene changes to an unknown shore when a small leather bag is shown, revealing it to have Joaquin’s head which was placed near Michiru’s hip.

Then, a hooded figure is being rowed by several sailors as the unknown person jumps off the boat and walks towards the marshall.  

When the girls saw the hooded figure, they all wondered who that was yet they couldn’t see its face. 

Then the scenery changed back into the desert as a hand grasped Joaquin’s necklace. Revealing it to be Alejandro, he pressed the medallion close to his face, and Alejandro sobbed quietly, all alone in the desert.

As the girls saw Alejandro crying, they all went silent. Some bowed their heads out of respect while others prayed for Joaquin that he’ll be able to see his parents in the afterlife.

Meanwhile, the marshall and the unknown person are on horseback when they stop at a fort that is filled with various wooden crosses.

The girls are now intrigued by where Michiru and the hooded figure went through but judging from the crosses and building, it appears to be a possible cemetery.

Then, an old man was sleeping while snoring when he said “Of course, I have feelings for you.”

“Yes, yes, but quick. Hide in the barn,” the man sleepily said, “He’s coming.”

The man continued snoring that he didn’t notice someone opened his door until he was doused with water.

The man woke up in shock and said, “What do you want? Please! Don’t touch me!”

“What do you want? Who are you?” the man said when he saw a guard and the hooded figure.

The hooded figure removed his hood, revealing himself to be Don Rafael! 

“Is that Don Rafael!?” Karen said in shock, along with the rest of the girls.

They never thought they would see Don Rafael again, much less an older version of him! And since it was Futaba’s counterpart, most of her pink hair was fading into a pinkish-grey color.

“Oh my Futaba-han,” Kaoruko said in surprise, “It looked like you aged gracefully after 20 years!”

“Yeah, to be honest, I think Don Rafael doesn’t have that many wrinkles,” Futaba said with a smile.

The fat man grinned in delight and said, “Don Rafael….”

The scene changes to a row of disheveled men that are standing behind a wall. Meanwhile, Don Rafael is holding a handkerchief over his nose due to the men’s unsightly appearances.

“Ugh! They’re filthy!” Kaoruko said in disgust, “Do they not have showers at that time!?”

“I think this is a prison,” Junna said to her classmate while the rest of the girls all realized what kind of place Don Rafael visited in the first place.

“Still, why would Don Rafael go to a prison of all places?” Karen said curiously, “Is there a reason why he would go there?”

Given a torch, Don Rafael began walking and started to observe them. While he was looking at them, one of the prisoners started to chuckle at him, baring his blackened teeth. 

Don Rafael immediately covered his mouth with his handkerchief and resumed moving. 

While observing them, an elderly man with withering hair started coughing; Making Don Rafael cover his mouth right away.

“How disgusting…..” Kaoruko mumbled silently. She had never seen such ignorance of basic hygiene in this part of the story. She’s very glad to be born in an era where taking a bath is an absolute necessity.

Then, he started to go back and noticed one of the prisoners. The prisoner was an old bearded man whose left eye was covered in cloth.

The don lifted his chin and checked the silent man’s face.

When the girls saw the man Don Rafael checked, they began to wonder if they had seen this man before.

“Wait…. Those eyes…” Mahiru said with wonder when she took a closer look at the man, “Is that who I think it is!?”

“Listen to me. If any of you is or was that masked man dressed in black known as Zorro,” the prison head exclaimed, “Reveal himself now.”

“So that’s why Don Rafael visited the prison!” Aruru said in realization, “He wanted to be sure that Don Diego was dead!”

“I see,” Akira said in reply, “Since Don Rafael has returned, he visited the prison where Don Diego is held to know if he died during his imprisonment.”

The girls immediately understood why Don Rafael went to prison in the first place. He wanted assurance that the man he defeated was dead. While some of the girls are still mad at what Rafael did to Diego’s family, a few of them consider it smart because they rarely see a villain who does something smart for a change. 

The inmates began to wonder what the prison head meant when one of the prisoners shouted, “I’m Zorro!”

Don Rafael went to the old prisoner who told him, “They took my mask. My sword, my hor-”

“Hey! You’re not the real Zorro!” Karen said in annoyance, “You’re not even Don Diego!”

“These guys are even dumber than I thought,” Futaba said while agreeing with Karen.

Misora sighed and replied to Futaba, “I bet Don Raphael would kill Zorro on the spot to save himself the trouble.” 

“Silent, you old fool!” another prisoner said, “I am Zorro! I am the man you want! I am the original!”

“Liar!” the coughing prisoner said to the other one, “Anyone can see you are too tall!

The two men began to scream at each other, forcing a guard to put one of them back in line. Then, the rest of the prisoners screamed that they were Zorro at Don Rafael until the prisoners began to clamor at him.

“Get your filthy hands off of him!” Kaoruko shouted in anger.

“Hey! Calm down, Kaoruko!” Futaba said in a stern but calming tone, “I’m okay! They’re just desperate to get out of prison.”

“Even so,” Kaoruko said with a huff, “They should at least try to be more civil about it”

Futaba silently giggled at her childhood friend, showing that she cares for her, in her way.

It was bedlam when they crowded over the don that unbeknownst to them, the man whose left eye was covered in cloth revealed that his left eye wasn’t hurt. It was none other than Don Diego, hiding amongst the prisoners!

“I knew it!” Mahiru exclaimed, “There’s no mistaking it! That was Don Diego!” 

When the girls heard what Mahiru said, they soon looked at Karen and looked back at the big screen and noticed the man’s eyes. And upon seeing it, they saw his brown eyes that were the same as Karen’s!

“I don’t believe it….” Aruru said in shock, “That’s Don Diego!?”

While some of the girls are still in a state of shock or disbelief, Karen replies, “But I don’t get it! How did Don Raphael even miss him a while back!?”

“It’s because of his appearance,” Maya replied, “I think Don Rafael thought Don Diego would look the same after twenty years. And if that were the case, Don Diego would expect Don Rafael to check the prison and see if his nemesis is dead.”

“And I gotta say, Don Diego is way ahead of Don Rafael,” Junna said whilst cleaning her glasses.

Later on, the prisoners were escorted back into their cells when one of the guards threw one of them into the wall with a loud crack.

The guard lifted the inmate’s head showing that he died from the accident.

When the guard who put Don Diego back into his cell saw the dead inmate, he ordered his colleague and said, “Get him out of here. Before he starts to stink.”

The girls are appalled at how the guards treat their prisoners, leading to the old man’s death.

“And here I thought the guards were better than Don Rafael,” Tsukasa said sarcastically, “They’re as worse as he was!”

When his fellow guard starts to leave the cells, a hand shot from Don Diego’s cell and chokes him from behind.

The guard pleads for help from his fellow guard who instead leaves him and after a while, drops dead on the floor.

When the girls saw how Don Diego choked the man quickly, they never imagined that the former don still had enough strength to kill the guard that quickly.

“To think Don Diego can choke someone that quick,” Mei Fan said on how Don Diego choked the guard to death.

With the guard dead, Don Diego grabbed his key ring to try and remove his shackles. 

But when he pressed one of them into its keyhole, it didn’t fit. 

“Well, that’s just great!” Tsukasa sarcastically remarked, “Now how will he get out!”

“Don’t worry Tsuakasa-senpai!” Aruru said to her senpai, “I believe that Don Diego can escape! I’m sure of it!”

“Aruru’s right! I bet Don Diego can figure it out!” Karen said with Aruru’s agreement.

Meanwhile, Don Rafael and Michiru were about to leave the prison when Michiru said to him, “Did you find him?”

Don Rafael looked at him and said, “He’s dead”.

“Back to the boat,” Rafael said as he got onto his horse, “I need some sleep before landing tomorrow.”

“So that’s why he covered his face a while back,” Mahiru said, realizing why Don Rafael was wearing a hood, he wasn't supposed to be there from the start.

Back at his cell, Don Diego immediately pulled the guard’s body and closed his cell’s doors. He pulled the guard’s dagger and looked out the hallway, realizing that the guard’s compatriots were coming his way.

The don immediately opened one of the guard’s pouches, removing three pieces of paper. He opened one of them, revealing it to be gunpowder, and filled the lock with it.

“ Is that gunpowder? ” Akira thought when she noticed Diego poured the paper’s contents into his shackle.

Meanwhile, the guards were returning to the cells and one of them was carrying a big sack.

Back at his cell, Diego is trying to create a spark using two pieces of rock near a rope inside his shackle, revealing that he made a makeshift bomb. 

“So that’s Diego’s plan! He’s trying to blow the shackles off his leg!” Aruru said, upon realization of it.

“But if he’s trying to blow it off, then, won’t it also hurt him!?” Shiori said with worry.

“I highly doubt it would happen,” Claudine said with confidence, “I think he only used one bundle which is enough to blow the shackles off. But…. It would only give him a slight inconvenience.”

The guards are nearing his cell when luckily, the flint created a spark, burning the rope it was latched until it blew his shackles off his legs.

The old don grunted due to the bomb’s power and he immediately removed his shackles.

The girls looked in awe of Don Diego’s resourcefulness that he was able to get out of the cell.

“Alright! He did it!” Karen said with joy until she realized that the two guards were also coming back to grab the body!

“Oh right! The guards!” Karen said whilst facepalming, making the rest of the girls realize it as well.

“I forgot! The guards were going back to get the dead prisoner!” Junna exclaimed.

With those exclamations, the Stage Girls now wonder what will Don Diego do next to escape his captors.

Upon exiting his cell, he noticed his dead cellmate’s lifeless body and he thought of another idea.

The guards returned to the cell and grabbed the dead prisoner. The pair carried the body to the cemetery but unbeknownst to them, the dead prisoner was inside Don Diego’s cell along with the dead guard; who happened to be shoeless.

Later, the two guards dumped the body in an open grave and piled it with dirt. 

They kept going at it until the grave was left alone. Then, a hand holding a knife burst open from the grave, cutting the bag’s leather in half, where Don Diego escaped from the bag.

When Don Diego burst out of the bag, the girls were once again impressed by his quick thinking of switching the dead body with his. 

“Alright! He’s finally out!” Karen said with a smile that Don Diego was free from his prison.

“The next question is…. What will be his next move?” Mei Fan said with interest, leading the girls to think of what Don Diego did after he escaped.

The scene changed when it showed four soldiers blaring their trumpets.

An old man wearing a grey jacket shouted, “The governor has returned!”

Upon the announcement, Don Rafael jumped off the boat and walked to his old friend, revealing that it was a welcoming ceremony. Banners of red, white, and green are shown across the beach along with a large tent that only sheltered the men and women of the noble class. There’s also a crowd that was part of the ceremony who is clapping for their former governor.

“So that’s why he doesn’t want to be seen in prison. It’s all for him to not be late at his welcoming ceremony,” Futaba said while noting the reason why he was in disguise. 

Don Rafael approached his old friend and hugged him, “Luiz….”

“Welcome home Rafael,” Don Luiz said to him, “It has been too long.”

“Too long, my friend,” Don Rafael replied.

“You said once you favored me above all,” Luiz said, “Consider this a fool’s apology for ever doubting you.”

Luiz handed Don Rafael a small item, revealing it to be a gold nugget that seemed to please the returning don.

“Is that gold?” Fumi curiously said as the girls also noticed the golden nugget.

“I believe it is Fumi,” Tamao earnestly said, “I think they might’ve found a gold mine.”

“If that’s the case, they might be preparing their gifts for Don Rafael!” Lalafin said in annoyance, believing that the dons were expecting a reward from Don Rafael for their loyalty in keeping California ready for his return.

“Come,” Luiz said to Rafael, gesturing him to follow his lead, “A crowd has gathered to greet you.” 

The don walked to the tent, showing that it was filled with his old friends as they greeted and hugged him.

After being showered with love and respect from his fellow dons, Don Rafael walked towards the crowd and shouted, “Please, please. I know that you’re not really happy to see me.”

“So let us all stop pretending, shall we?” Don Rafael said to the crowd whom he immediately silenced.

The Stage Girls were very surprised that Don Rafael said those words, especially the Seisho girls.

In their version of Zorro, Don Rafael was a complete tyrant hell-bent on ruling Mexico. But to see this version of him to tell that everyone is just pretending to be happy that he’s returned was interesting.

“At least this version of Don Rafael isn’t lying,” Futaba said, interested in this version of Don Rafael.

“You think I don’t know you’ve been paid,” Don Rafael said, “Even threatened to come out into the hot sun to greet me?”

But while Don Rafael kept talking, it showed that Don Diego was there, blending into the crowd.

“There’s Don Diego!” Aruru said while pointing at the screen.

“Looks like he found out about Don Rafael’s welcome ceremony,” Mei Fan remarked, “And he might take vengeance upon him as soon as possible.”

“I understand exactly how you feel,” Don Rafael said.

“Why should you care about any of your leaders, past or present?” Rafael continued while Diego was walking towards him, “What did they ever do to you?”

“The Spaniards oppressed you. The Mexicans ignored you,” Don Rafael said while walking to the crowd, “And the dons? Well, the dons. The dons”

Don Rafael paused, looked at his clique, and replied, “The dons seemed merely to cheat and lie to you.”

Then, the don turned around and smiled at the crowd, “In fact, I put it to you.”

“Who in your entire history has ever helped you?” Don Rafael said to the crowd when a young priest said, “Zorro! Zorro fought for the people.”

Soon enough, the entire crowd chanted Zorro’s name, showing that even after twenty years, they still remembered the man who would always protect them from harm.

“See that Don Rafael! These people never forget who helped them first!” Karen said while the rest of the girls are glad that the people still remember Zorro as their protector.

“Yeah! What good is your speech if the people know who fights for them!” Aruru shouted while pointing her finger at the screen.

“I will admit, I thought Don Rafael would berate the man for saying Zorro’s name,” Akira said, believing that Don Diego’s confident that Zorro wouldn’t bother him again.

“Ah yes, Zorro,” Don Rafael said in a bitter tone, “Where is he now, Padre (Father)? Your masked friend?”

Diego still kept on walking to Rafael when Don Rafael said to him, “Unless I’m mistaken, he hasn’t shown himself in twenty years. Twenty years!”

The crowd immediately went silent as the don continued his lecture towards them, “People of California…… The time has come to take our destiny into our own hands. Not as Spaniards, not as Mexicans. But as Californians!”

The crowd started to clap for Rafael’s declaration when the former Don Diego was now a few meters away from Don Rafael.

“I stand here before you today with no mask….” Don Rafael said to the crowd, “Only a pledge…. A solemn pledge that I will never abandon you. And you have my word….”

“The word of Rafael Montero….. That I will do everything within my power to help you fight for a free and independent California!” Rafael proclaimed, making the crowd cheer for him of his grandiose promise.

“So that’s his plan, he wants to re-insert himself as California’s leader again,” Futaba said that once again, the Don Rafael onscreen is far superior to their version.

Maybe she could convince the school to do a re-run of Zorro—this time, with a more fleshed-out version of the characters.

Seeing his nemesis take control of the crowd, Diego brandished his dagger and prepared to stab him in broad daylight.

The girls tensed that Don Diego was prepared to kill his rival right away when they heard a familiar voice on the screen.

“Father!” 

Suddenly, every single one of them froze in shock as they knew who that voice belonged to.

“Wait…..” Nana said in shock, “Is that who I think it is.”

Don Diego stopped in his tracks when a blue-haired girl wearing a white dress who was holding an umbrella hugged Rafael, revealing her face to be Kaoruko!

“Gentlemen, allow me to introduce my daughter, Elena,” Rafael said, prompting Luiz and his cohorts to bow with respect.

“I’m Elena in this story!?” Kaoruko said in shock and awe.

“Wow, Kaoruko! I think you look beautiful in that dress!” Yachiyo said, “It may look simple but it suits you well!”

“Enough of that! I’m Elena!?” Kaoruko said, repeating her response.

Don Diego stopped in his tracks and saw his daughter after twenty years.

Then, a little girl walked towards her and gave her a white flower.

“Thank you,” Elena said as she smelled the flower and she became immediately curious about it.

“Can anyone tell me what this flower is?” Elena told one of the Californian dons, “I know this scent.”

“Senorita, it’s called a romneya. But it only grows in California,” Luiz said to Elena as Diego looked at his daughter, happy that he could see her. But sad that he can never talk to her again.

“And I believe that is your first visit to our shores,” Don Luiz said, making Elena feel more interested in the flower, prompting her to smell its fragrance.

The girls all felt sorry that his only daughter thought that her real father was Don Rafael. And the only thing that she remembers is the flowers that Don Diego placed when she was once a child.

Meanwhile, Alejandro is in a bar, motionless on the fact that his brother is dead. He then heard the sound of children, who were playing across the sidewalk.

Reminding of himself and his brother, Alejandro tried his best to repress it and yet it made him depressed. 

“Poor Alejandro,” Tamao said, “He truly missed his brother….”

“And now he’s drowning his sorrows with alcohol,” Maya said in a somber tone. 

Then, Alejandro called a man’s attention by grabbing his hand and said, “Hey, hey! Give me more whiskey!”

The bearded man angrily removed Alejandro’s hand from his when the drunk Alejandro replied, “Or whatever you call this. I don’t want to see the bottom of this glass, huh.”

“Money first,” the man said to him, revealing it to be the bar’s owner.

Alejandro heard the man’s request as he scrambled to find money from his coat.

The owner huffed angrily that his patron wouldn’t pay him when Alejandro grabbed him again, “Hey, hey! Wait, wait, wait!”

“What about this?”Alejandro said as he revealed his brother’s necklace to the owner.

“Are you insane!” Karen said in shock, “That’s your only keepsake of your brother!”

“Ugh! No offense to you, Tendo-san but your counterpart is being desperate to get himself drunk!” Claudine angrily said that she saw her classmate’s counterpart being pitiful.

Maya sighed as she watched her counterpart trying to drink herself to death. 

“I hope that my counterpart gets better…” Maya somberly thought.

“Silver!” the owner said with glee and was about to take it when Alejandro stopped him from taking it.

“Of course, silver. The finest,” Alejandro proclaimed, believing that he could get an entire bottle of whiskey if he wanted when a wooden cane got a hold of his hand. The cane pulled him to the left, forcing Alejandro to stop it, revealing that it was Diego who did it.

The girls all sighed when they saw Don Diego stop Alejandro from selling his silver necklace.

“Thank goodness Don Diego stopped Alejandro from selling his necklace!” Shizuha gratefully said. 

The former don looked at the owner, forcing the man to leave right away.

“Where did you get that?” Diego said to the drunkard.

“It’s none of your business,” Alejandro angrily replied.

“Where did you get it?” Diego said, forcing Alejandro to tell him, “It was my brother’s. He’s dead.”

Diego immediately moved the cane away from him and replied, “I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry? Why should you be sorry?” Alejandro said in an angry tone.

“You should not trade something like that for a mere glass of whiskey,” Diego said to the young man.

“He’s right! Drinking more whiskey won’t bring your brother back!” Aruru said while pointing at the screen.

“Yeah, Alejandro! You can’t waste your life away in a bar!” Shiori said with pleading eyes, “You have to avenge your brother!” 

Karen smiled at the two girls that the story has spurred them that selling the necklace won’t bring Alejandro happiness. 

“I believe in you, Alejandro! I believe you can make the right choice!” Karen thought.

“Why not?” Alejandro said to the old man, “You think I could get two?”

Alejandro started to laugh until he saw the man who killed his brother, who was getting off of his horse.

“Who is that?” Diego said when Alejandro immediately stood up, vengeance in his eyes.

He walked with the idea of killing him when Diego stopped him.

“That’s the man who killed my brother,” Alejandro said in anger.

“You’re drunk and angry, in no condition to kill a professional soldier,” Diego calmly said to Alejandro, leading him to sigh in annoyance.

Maya sighed, thankful that Don Diego had stopped Alejandro from killing himself.

“Listen to Don Diego, Alejandro. Michiru’s counterpart can kill you in a few minutes once he sees you,” Maya said, prompting some of the girls to agree with her.

“Get out of my way, you old man!” Alejandro said when Diego quickly grabbed him by the throat, leading him away from the marshall. 

The owner curiously looked at what was happening with the two when Diego unsheathed his sword and threw its scabbard groggily with full intent to teach the old man a lesson.

“I’ll say it right away, this fight’s going to be one-sided,” Futaba said with confidence.

“You have no idea how right you are Futaba-han,” Kaoruko replied.

Alejandro tried to stab Diego when the old man parried it and threw him into a bundle of straw.

Frustrated by what was happening, Alejandro tried to stab and slash him but it kept missing until Diego disarmed him and consecutively hit him with his cane and caught his sword mid-air.

Diego flipped Alejandro over, pointed his sword at his neck, and said, “Would you care to try again?”

Alejandro only groaned in response to how the old man had soundly beaten him.

When the fight was over, everyone saw how Don Diego immediately defeated Alejandro. 

“Wow! The short stack was right!” Andrew quickly said, “It was one-sided, ryuu!”

“What did you just call me!?” Futaba angrily shouted at the mole.

“Andrew, apologize to Futaba now,” Elle said to her friend, prompting Andrew to reply, “Sorry I called you short stack.”

“You’re welcome,” Diego replied, making Alejandro say in confusion, “For what?”

“For saving your life,” Diego said to him when Alejandro managed to look at the old man.

“I would’ve killed him,” Alejandro said to Diego when he replied to him, “No, not today.”