The final applause for the play was raging. All I could do now was spectate and watch how all our plans would play out.

Mia and Valerie lay dead on the stage, when suddenly, instead of the curtains closing, the lights went out for a brief moment, and when they went back on the stage was filled with a cloud of smoke. Only Mia was still laying on the stage. She was looking around to figure out what was going on but could not do too much since she had to play dead.

The crowd, thinking the show wasn’t over yet went back to their seats. But at the same time, Anna spoke through a microphone to the crowd.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, the following scene is no longer part of the play. Instead, we get to enjoy a different story. Two beautiful yuri seeds are at the point that they might blossom.”

That was my plan. I let Anna narrate what was happening on stage so that whatever happened, we would control the perception of the public.

Then from the air descending slowly, was Valerie. Her dress had been turned into an angelic costume. Her descent really was majestic. She had clearly pulled out all the stops. I could see the surprise in her eyes when Anna started narrating, but once her plan was set in motion, she had no choice but to see it through until the end.

When she finally arrived on the stage Anna said “The angelic princess Valerie, noticed that her knight, Mia, who defended her honor valiantly, had fallen and lay now in front of her. Was she dead? Was she injured? She did not know.”

Valerie sat on her knees next to Mia and caressed Mia’s face. I could hear some squeals coming from the crowd. No doubt those were members of the fan club.

“Seeing that her knight was still breathing, she put the head of the knight on her lap, after all, what better way to let her knight rest, than giving her a lap pillow on those angelic thighs.”

Wait, Anna? What are you doing? I hope she wasn’t forgetting our cause. I fear she might have turned into her otaku mode, witnessing what was going on on stage had really high yuri vibes after all. I hoped this would end well.

Valerie, who had no other choice but to do as the narrating voice told her, went ahead and gave Mia a lap pillow. Mia was looking back into Valerie’s eyes

It was the first time I ever saw Mia so flabbergasted and embarrassed. “W-What are you doing in front of everyone. A lot of my family is here!” she whispered to Valerie.

“Knight Mia, who was surprised to look into the eyes of her beloved one when she opened her eyes, asked, “How did you find out, you weren’t supposed to know about my duel.” Anna narrated.

“I don’t care who knows. I love you, please go out with me, Mia” Valerie said, loudly. There would be no way to turn that one around with narration.

“I tell you to be original, and this is what you come up with. Embarrassing me in front of everyone? Mia whispered angrily.

I could see the worrisome look on Valerie’s face, Mia sat up and turned toward Valerie with a red face. “You’re an idiot!”

Valerie looked like she was completely crushed.

Mia planted her hand over Valerie’s shoulder to the ground and pinned her down and then said, “But you are my idiot!” and kissed her. “Of course, I love you too.” Loud squeals emerged again from the crowd. Now Valerie kissed Mia, and they deepened their kiss. I frantically signaled to close the curtains. While Anna said

“Although for us it is the ending, for these two it would only be the beginning of their story…”

Anna ended the narration. There was loud applause and squeals coming from the crowd.

The curtains were closed now, so I walked up to Valerie and Mia, and coughed loudly. That seemed to get them out of it. “I get what the two of you feel right now, but can you take it elsewhere than the middle of the main stage of the school festival?”

Valerie looked a bit embarrassed, but Mia looked determined and said, “Sure, we will do just that. She picked Valerie up in a bridal carry and walked her off the stage.”

While they walked past me, Mia whispered “Thank Anna for me, Valerie would have completely caught me off guard and would have topped me without those funny narrations bringing me back to reality.”

I gulped. I know it was my idea, but the blade had cut through all the way. The dynamic with Mia at the top felt more logical, but I meddled and something in me wondered what would have happened if we had not interfered. The end result was beautiful yuri, there was no doubt about that. So maybe I should not worry about the small things so much.

When I looked up, I noticed Anna had returned. She had a big smile on her face. It was clear she was happy with the result.  I wanted to go up to her for a celebrational hug, but I heard our idol performance being announced behind me.

All those glossy sparkly feelings I got from watching that confession had made me forget I was about to be on stage myself. At least they had allowed me to be a lot less self-conscious about it but now the nerves were kicking in.

Before the curtains opened, Elsa and Therese made their way downstairs to the lifts. Only Tina and Eve would start on stage.

I also went downstairs, but I would only enter after a short while. They started playing our song, and after Elsa and Tina entered, it was clear the crowd was going wild. My cue was coming up and my heart was beating wildly. Right on the second, the platform raised with me on top of it, raising me on a tower with three large fire pillars surrounding me. We had never practiced with fireworks, and I had to say, it was pretty scary and impressive at the same time. I knew that if I dared to move, I would end up charred like the real Jeanne D’Arc. The second the fire stopped, I started singing with my arms open, in an inviting gesture. and rose petals came swirling down from above me while the pilar lowered and brought me on the same level as the other girls. I was amazed by the angelic sound of my voice that sounded through the PA system. That voice correcting software was quite something.

Now the hard part started. My duet with Elsa. Elsa looked at me really happy. I could see she was having the time of her life, and right before our duet started, she riled up the crowd.

The three other girls got in formation around us. This was it! Even though I think I got out unscathed, the difference between me and the other four girls was night and day. Even I could tell that, but even then, at some point, I forgot about the crowd, the queen, and everything that was happening and was just having fun performing what we had practiced on stage with my friends.

When the outro started, I ended on a slightly elevated platform and both Elsa and Tina, and Therese and Eve shared a kiss on stage. Depicting the idea from the lyrics, that I brought them yuri for real.

Their kisses started a squeal concert in the audience, and by the time the curtain closed, the applause was deafening. The five of us went back out, in front of the curtain to bow one more time. After all, we had only one song, so an encore was out of the question.

Suddenly we were all handed a bouquet of red roses. When I looked at who handed them to me, I noticed it was Trixy. The crowd had gone dead silent with the queen on the stage. The queen was quickly given a microphone to address them.

“Some of you might wonder why the queen shows up at an idol debut at a school festival, but the truth of the matter is, I am here because of a promise. Not the promise to come and watch this show, but the promise that I made to each and every one of you on the day that I became queen.”

She took a deep breath and looked at me with an endearing look.

“That day I promised in an interview that I would do everything in my power to make the people happy, and this girl here, Claire, our very own yuri Jeanne D’Arc, true to her nickname, shook the queen awake and showed me that I should not be stuck behind protocols and that I should use my power to bring happiness however small whenever it is in my power.”

Trixy was exuding an aura of leadership.

“Claire presented me the case of two girls that wish to get married but won’t be able to because their mothers will be married first. Her plea made me investigate the case closely, and this week, I met her and the girls of the CYA and even aided them with one of their cases after a courageous Dutch girl convinced me that it was my duty to do so.

Even though her words twisted what had really happened quite a bit and made her look really benevolent, I noticed that all the girls were looking closely at what she would say right now. To us, her words right now were like a matter of life and death.

“Before you judge my answer, I must inform you that the crown has never approved of a same-sex marriage like this ever before, and even requests for traditional marriages hardly ever get approved.”

That didn’t sound too encouraging… Trixy continued.

“Therefore, after long consideration, I will offer the same thing to all the CYA girls I got involved with this week. Ten years. If you are still together on this same day, ten years from now, you will have proven to me that you have the commitment that is needed for a successful marriage. You are all still very young and I do not think marriage should ever be decided on an impulse. For any of you that are still together in ten years' time, I will perform your marriage personally at the palace in Laken.”

Loud applause sounded in the crowd. And I heard a few remarks about how just the queen’s ruling had been.

So, it was a provisional yes. I noticed that Elodie and Gazette were kissing happily. Wait, all the girls, that meant Anna and me too? I looked over at Anna who waved at me a bit shyly.

I got startled when suddenly Trixy bowed over to me and whispered in my ear “That gives me ten years to steal her from you.”

Trixy left the hall with her attendants before anyone else, I was still a bit dumbfounded. We walked off the stage, and I walked immediately toward Anna.

“What did Trixy say to you at the end?” Anna asked. I looked her in the eyes and said, “Don’t you even dare to look her way ever again.” I pulled her close to me and kissed her intensely. The idea of Trixy stealing her from me gnawed at me. “I’ll show that woman that you are mine. Ten years is nothing.”

“I-Is that a proposal?” Anna asked.

I gulped. It was, wasn’t it? It couldn’t be interpreted any other way. To be honest, I could not imagine a future without Anna. If you are sure, you are sure. The combination of my anger toward Trixy, and the realization that I did not take another possible future into account made me say “Yes, please marry me ten years from now on this day.”

Anna looked meekly at me and said, “I wouldn’t want anyone else.”

We kissed and heard a lot of people squealing and applauding around us. My proposal might have been messy, and not really as fairytale-like as it should have been, but to me, the most important part of it all was that Anna said yes.

Yati

That was it for the Y-files' main story! Next week I will share the epilogue I wrote with you all as a final goodbye to the cast. I will post all of the epilogue chapters on Tuesday and Wednesday as a little end-of-the-story party so make sure to tune in regularly then!

I hope you all enjoyed my story!

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