Nana Tamanoi's What-If: The Day She Was Fired from the Ranfoo Grand Circus - The night she was driven from the stage

The boom of the taiko drum, reverberating deep into her gut, seemed to punch through the pitch-black ceiling. The air trembled. Her skin prickled with a tingling sensation. Sweat flew. Every breath she took made the back of her nose sting hot. "More! More! Your voices aren't loud enough!" With a flutter of her crimson-red skirt, Tamanoi Nana slammed the oversized wadaiko drum with all her might. DON DON DON DON! Cheers and clapping erupted from the audience. Thunderous applause shook the air of the circular theater, Théâtre Ranfoo. Nana's jet-black short bob bounced with each strike, scattering the golden stage lights. *(Today is the best fun ever!)* The port town of Kasselma, steeped in the smell of steam and soot. On its main street stood the red-and-gold palace that was the headquarters of the Ranfoo Grand Circus. Seating capacity: twelve hundred. In the very center of one of the largest circular theaters on the continent, Nana drummed, sang, and laughed every night. *Moonlit Taiko* — the Ranfoo Grand Circus's most popular act. Whenever Nana took the stage, the old lion Sieg was always at her side. Fifteen years old already. A true veteran among the kings of beasts, his mane had faded to silver, and his left eye was slightly clouded white. Even so, the sight of him walking gracefully in time with Nana's drumming had the power to silence everyone who watched. "Sieg! Here we go!" Nana raised both drumsticks high above her head. Golden eyes flashed sharply for an instant. —DON! That was the moment. Sieg's massive body sprang up like a wind-up toy. "...Huh?" His clouded left eye flew open. His silver mane bristled all over. The aged lion let out a low growl from the depths of his belly. "Grrrrrrr..." The air changed. A foul smell, like sweet rot, stung her nostrils. Deep in Nana's ears, a high-pitched ringing buzzed like tiny insects flitting about. "Sieg! Look at me!" Faster than she could shout, Nana was already striking the drum. DON DON DON! Faster than the rhythm of her heart. Louder than a lion's roar. Sieg's gaze wavered back toward Nana. But something was wrong. Sieg's eyes weren't looking at Nana. "WAAAAAAAH!" Screams rose from the audience. A woman in a dress in the front row tumbled from her chair. The sound of shattering glass. Someone was knocked over. In an instant, the venue became a scene of pandemonium. Sieg was about to leap into the audience. "No! Absolutely not!" Nana's body moved before she could think. Her tiny 150-centimeter frame tackled the nearly two-meter beast. She clung to Sieg's collar, throwing her entire body weight against him to push him back. "Please! Calm down! Look at me!" Tears welled up. No — sweat. The back of her nose ached. Her arms felt like they'd tear off. Still, Nana desperately kept drumming. DON DON DON. A quiet rhythm, like striking directly against her own heart. Sieg's breathing gradually settled. The fur on his back, bristling with agitation, slowly lay flat. "...It's okay. It's okay. I'm here." Nana buried her face in Sieg's mane and repeated the words in a small voice. —But the venue was already beyond repair. Three audience members had collapsed. Fortunately, their injuries were minor, but the incident nearly violated the Patreia Ordinance — a city law stating that if audience members are harmed during a performance, the promoter must pay full compensation and face up to six months of suspension. "The performance is cancelled. Please follow the staff's instructions and exit calmly." A troupe member's announcement echoed hollowly. After returning Sieg to the dressing room, Nana stood dazed in the wings. Her legs were shaking. Her fingertips were cold. She had no idea what had just happened. * * * "Tamanoi Nana." The voice was cold. The dim corridor outside the dressing rooms. On the crimson carpet, the cold light of silver-rimmed glasses glinted. "...Director." Gardo Ranfoo. Third-generation director of the Ranfoo Grand Circus and one of Kasselma's most prominent citizens. His tall, lean frame wrapped in a black suit, Gardo pushed up his silver glasses with a fingertip and stared down at Nana. "The cause of this accident is your negligence." "N-no, that's not true! Sieg suddenly just—" "You mishandled an aging beast. That's all there is to it." Gardo cut off Nana's words. The eyes behind his silver-rimmed glasses were as if made of ice. "Because of you, the Ranfoo name has been tarnished. Violation of the Patreia Ordinance. Injured audience members. Do you have any idea how much damage this represents?" "But I—!" "You are dismissed as of today. Vacate the dormitory as well." Her heart stopped. Dismissed. Get out. She understood the words, but their meaning wouldn't sink in. "W-wait, please! Sieg didn't do anything wrong! I... I wasn't watching him properly... so please, at least spare Sieg!" Nana's voice trembled. Tears spilled over without her even trying to hold them back. "And one more thing." Gardo's mouth twisted ever so slightly. "That old lion will be disposed of." "...What?" "We cannot put a beast that caused an accident back on the Ranfoo stage. Euthanasia. The procedure will be arranged as soon as tomorrow." Nana's knees hit the floor. She didn't even realize she had collapsed. "Please! Just save Sieg! He's family to me! To me... in this circus that took me in... Sieg is the only—" Her voice wouldn't come out properly. She couldn't breathe; sobs caught in her throat. "Family? A drifter performer like you playing house with our troupe's beast — don't make me laugh." With those cold words, Gardo turned on his heel. "Get out. Never show your face before the Ranfoo crest again." In the chilly corridor, only Nana's weeping echoed. The silver earring in her left ear — a small ornament shaped like a lion. It had been crafted from the clasp of Sieg's old collar. On the day she first stood on stage with Sieg, the previous director had given it to her. "As long as you have this, he'll never forget you," he'd said. With trembling fingertips, Nana touched the earring. Only the faint coldness of the silver seeped into her heart. *(I... couldn't protect him.)* *(It's my fault. All of it is my fault.)* * * * She was only allowed back into the dormitory long enough to gather her belongings before being thrown out. A single cloth bag with a change of clothes, scraps of dried meat, and a bundle of old sheet music. Outside, it had long since grown dark. The nights in Kasselma mixed the scent of the tide drifting from the harbor with the smell of burning coal. *(Where should I go...)* Her feet wandered aimlessly toward the river. Kleben Riverside Road. A downtown district along the Mieren River, where warehouses and cheap inns huddled shoulder to shoulder. Streetlights were sparse at night, and the rough laughter of sailors leaked from tavern doors. Nana trudged along. The hair behind her ears of her black short bob bounced in the wind. The hem of her crimson skirt grew damp in the night mist. "...Nobody needs me anymore." Her mutter dissolved into her white breath. At age twelve, she'd lost both parents to an epidemic. It was the previous director of the Ranfoo Grand Circus who had taken in the orphaned Nana. "You've got an interesting face. Stay here." Eight years had passed since then. To Nana, the circus troupe was her entire world. The older women of the troupe cooked with her whenever they had free time. The young acrobats teased her but taught her the rhythms of the taiko. And there was Sieg. To Nana, who couldn't do anything, the previous director had said: "You will stand on stage with Sieg." In an era when lion taming was considered work only for large men, the previous director alone had believed in the sound of Nana's drum. *(All I can do is play the taiko.)* *(Dance, singing — everything, I learned on the circus stage.)* *(And yet...)* The back of her nose stung. The dried meat in her pocket squished against her damp fingertips. The tears wouldn't stop. Since childhood, she'd heard it countless times. "You're so tiny." "For a girl." "Useless." But when she stood on stage, all those voices vanished. The audience laughed, applauded, and the calls for an encore never stopped. Only in those moments did she feel like she was needed in this world. *(I want to be needed by someone.)* That feeling had always smoldered deep in her heart. Tonight, it all disappeared. "Uu... *hic*..." She sobbed as she walked. Embarrassingly, the tears wouldn't stop. Her nose ran. Her eyes swelled. Her face became a mess. On the deserted riverbank, Nana forced her buckling legs to keep moving. * * * The orange glow of a gas lamp flickered. At the corner of the warehouse district on Kleben Riverside Road, beneath an especially large streetlight, there was a small shadow. *(...Huh?)* It was a girl. Around thirteen years old. Her pure white hair reached down to her waist, with bangs cut perfectly straight across and the back loosely braided. The cold color, like moonlight, shimmered through the gaslight. And her eyes. Large, crimson-red eyes. Standing there enveloped in the darkness of night, only those eyes burned red, as if on fire. Depending on the light, they sometimes flashed brilliant gold. The girl was staring intently at Nana. With her eyes still swollen from crying, Nana stared back. Their gazes met. The girl tilted her head slightly, and smiled softly. It was a smile like a flower blooming. The dark riverside street seemed to brighten for just an instant. Nana. Forgot to breathe. "...Good evening." Her voice was cool and quiet. Clearer than the wind crossing the river's surface at night. "Are you crying?" Nana couldn't manage a reply. Her face was a mess of tears, her nose sniffling, and yet, for some reason, she couldn't look away from the girl. The girl's red eyes narrowed slightly in the streetlight. "It's okay." She had no idea what was supposed to be okay. But the voice was so gentle that Nana felt something deep in her chest grow faintly warm. *(Ah, she's beautiful.)* That was all she could think. The wind blew, and the white hair swayed softly. The girl's slender hand floated gently into the air. As if offering something. Without knowing what lay beyond that gesture, Nana thought she wanted to talk with this girl just a little longer. On the pitch-black riverside road, on the night she was fired. The girl with the whitest hair in the world was smiling. —This was the first night of the two of them.

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Episode 1

Name: Nana Tamanoi's What-If: The Day She Was Fired from the Ranfoo Grand Circus
Author: Novelia

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