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The lines had all been read, and Acid Drop's hand was around Tsubomi's throat, squeezing tightly. She could still breathe just fine, but it was uncomfortable and added to the pain in her skull. 

[color=00aeef]"I don't get it."[/color]

[color=0072bc]"Of course you don't. But don't worry,"[/color] the hand tightened its grip even more, [color=0072bc]"We'll keep going over it until it's stuck in our memory."[/color]

As if it had itself been an actor waiting for its cue, the darkness around them began to coalesce into an orb not much bigger than Tsubomi's palm. As the wisps began to move they donned their costumes, the various colors of the world, the final result reminiscent of a disco ball toy. As the hand on Tsubomi's neck loosened just slightly, the multicolored orb burst outward, blinding her. 

When her eyes reopened, the theater was back, built around her in a perfect recreation of its former self. And she and Acid Drop sat once more in a box seat, high above the stage that stood with its curtains closed. Countless Miseria of various shapes stormed in, piling into the seating on the ground floor. Once they had all found a seat, the curtains opened slowly, the spotlight shining in the center of the stage on a lone Miseria wearing a paper mask. It bore a crudely drawn [url=https://images2.imgbox.com/5a/92/f4ykkSTh_o.png]girl with blonde hair[/url] and sat under a clearly tattered and torn wedding veil.

[color=0072bc]"Let's see how well you remember. The title is..."[/color]

But Tsubomi merely shook her head. She didn't know the title. She had only seen the front cover of the script once.

[b]"Welcome, dear guests! Tonight we will be performing, for its once in a lifetime debut, a show that is sure to delight you! We hope that you enjoy our little performance! Without further ado, we present: '[i]Flowering[/i]'!"[/b] Having said her(?) introduction, the Miseria on the stage bowed and the spotlight died out. The audience began clapping, but soon hushed themselves as the first actors took the stage. 

[hider=Act 1]

Five Miseria bearing paper masks took their positions in the darkness. Even without a light, Tsubomi could see what was drawn on as their characters. Three she didn't recognize, but another had a television on its mask and the fifth bore her own transformed face. Thus began the first scene.

The Acid Drop on stage (Actor Drop?) walked from stage left towards the center where the actor whose mask bore a television lay, then paused. She crouched down to check the fallen actor's pulse, only to turn back to stage left and notice the three unrecognizable faces laying in a pile. Too-bright blood, an obvious prop made of ketchup and red food dye, slowly pooled from under them until it reached the television-masked corpse. Actor Drop took a step back only to stain her foot with crimson. 

Suddenly, from above the stage completely fell another Miseria, this one without a mask. It landed on Actor Drop, knocking her down and rearing back its head to bite out her throat. Tsubomi felt the hand on her own neck shift slightly. But before the Miseria could make good on its intention, a nerf bullet, another sign that the play seemed to have a low budget, hit it in the forehead. It collapsed to the side, 'dead,' and warped its 'remains' into a ball. Apparently Miseria made surprisingly good actors. It seemed that another character, bearing another unrecognizable mask, had saved Actor Drop. It came over to help her up, and the two went separate ways offstage. 

The audience clapped as the others were dragged offstage as well. They soon stopped just as the next scene began. 

A Miseria (that was clearly Actor Drop but wore a Tsubomi mask) came back onstage and sat at a school desk, staring out the imaginary window that was the front of the stage. Another actor that seemed to be playing a teacher's role tried to get her attention, but no matter what it did, Actor Drop as Tsubomi didn't seem to care. 

The Running Crew quickly shifted the props onstage in the darkness as the teacher left, and with the change in background the scene shifted as well. Tsubomi's actor now stood at a train station, being seen off by two Miseria that could only be her parents. Without any emotion, she waved to them a single time and then boarded the train, not once looking back. 

Tsubomi didn't have time to blink before the next set-piece was prepared, this time being an approximation of her Aunt and Uncle's home in Hibusa. Actor Drop plugged an MP3 player into a socket under a desk, which itself stood across from an oversized pink cat plush in pristine condition, already in place from being shipped a week prior. By all accounts this seemed to be Tsubomi's bedroom. Finished tying the string that represented the charging chord to the cardboard box representing the outlet, the actor stood up only to hit her head on the bottom of the desk, knocking an alarm clock off and onto the floor. 

After ducking out from under it and standing properly, she began towards the bed in the corner of the room but quickly tripped on the alarm clock. She didn't even try to catch her balance, she simply fell flat on her face just shy of the bed frame. Miseria who seemed to be meant to portray her Aunt and Uncle came into the room to lift her up and onto the bed. 

The curtains closed, and when they reopened the stage was completely redone. A recreation of the previous play's setting, a sand covered stage with cacti planted around it, was revealed to have been set up. The scene played out just like before, and was followed by another rendition of the talk between Tsubomi and Acid Drop against the marble wall. The only substantive difference was that both characters were played by entirely new actors. 

[/hider]
Tsubomi could hear the ticking of a clock. It didn't seem to be correct, being faster than one tick per second. With each one, her headache lessened slightly, until after what seemed like a handful of minutes had passed, her pain was gone. But the stage, which had been cleared of props just before the ticking started, stood empty the entire time. She could hear the audience murmuring. The ticking continued.

Finally another actor appeared on stage, bearing a Suki mask. She stood still in the center of the stage for a few moments before Actor Drop as Tsubomi ran out and grabbed her by the arm, rushing her offstage. Immediately after they left, several more actors appeared as if from nothingness. The scene that played out was reminiscent of the beach fight, starting with the sand statue being made from Paper Mâché and more of the ketchup with red food coloring, and ending with Acid Drop speaking to Tsubomi afterwords, though both were once more played by two new Miseria.

It was at this time that Tsubomi noticed the hand around her neck was gone. She wondered why that was, but didn't look away from the stage to check. The play was still going, after all, and Acid Drop had made it clear that that not watching it fully was rude.

[hider=Act 2]

Seven Miseria wearing paper masks took up positions in the dim light that covered the stage. There were four that Tsubomi didn't recognize, but one had a television on its mask and wore a torn cat-ear headband. Another had her own transformed face on its mask, which was clearly Actor Drop again.

The Acid Drop on stage walked from stage left towards the center where the actor wearing the cat ears lay, then paused. She crouched down to check the fallen actor's pulse, only to turn back to stage left and notice the three unrecognizable faces laying in a pile. Once again the too-bright blood, an obvious but different prop, pooled from under them until it reached the television actor. Actor Drop took a step back, staining her foot with ruby liquid. Without having washed off the previous prop, now both of her feet were red, each bearing a slightly different shade.

Suddenly, a Miseria without a mask fell onto Actor Drop, knocking her down and rearing back its head to bite out her throat. But before the Miseria could make good on its intention, the final actor standing pulled out a water gun and shot a stream at its forehead, causing it to collapse backwards like a cat that was caught doing something wrong. The gun wielder came over to help up Actor Drop, and then walked offstage. Members of the Running Crew drug the fallen actors out of sight as Actor Drop followed.

Wearing a Tsubomi mask, she came back onstage and sat at a singular school desk, staring out the imaginary window that was the front of the stage. Another actor wearing an Acid Drop mask came out to stand next to her.

The Running Crew quickly shifted the props onstage, and with them the scene changed to what seemed to be the Club-room as further characters walked out. They took their positions before Acid Drop dragged Tsubomi by the arm towards the others. 

[color=firebrick]"[b]Mm-hm. Little monkey minions. Probably a dark girl interloper, but who knows... But given the circumstances..."[/b][/color] Kiyo spoke her lines in a garbled mess of a voice, doing little to no emoting with her body but more than making up with passion in the delivery of her lines.

When the actor playing Kiyo stopped, Actor Drop walked over to Suki and began rubbing her head slowly. [color=00a99d]"Snapdragon's friend is a banana tree. Snapdragon is one... Crikey is another... and now Banana Tree... That's three."[/color] 

[color=00a99d]"Three or eight. Nine maybe. But minus two. So one and seven?"[/color] The math checked out to Tsubomi. It would be a difficult fight against Snapdragon without Rei and Willow's help.  [color=00a99d]"Mm... Three and six. Bad odds. Bad odd, bad even." [/color] It was even worse with her two friends. If Haruna didn't help, that left a two to one against the other team, and chances were that there would be more joining them before then. Tsubomi nodded twice in agreement with her onstage counterpart. 

The characters in the Club-room all stood and went their separate ways offstage, except for Tsubomi. Instead she donned her Acid Drop mask and walked around in circles for a while until the curtains closed.

[/hider]
Acid Drop returned to her seat next to Tsubomi, holding a bag of popcorn and a drink. Tsubomi was about to comment when the curtains raised again.

[hider=Act 3]

Actor Drop sat in a chair with Tsubomi's mask on her face. Next to her was another actor wearing Acid Drop's mask who was clapping softly.

[color=00746b]"Well, that wasn't nearly as good as I expected from the script. I think even [i]you[/i] could have done better. Not bad for their first time, though."[/color] Acid Drop's new actor said as she stopped clapping.

[color=00a99d]"There was a script?"[/color]

[color=00746b]"Yep."[/color] She waved a small paper pamphlet in front of Actor Drop, who slowly reached out to grab it.

Once Tsubomi's actor began reading, Acid Drop's stood up to walk around and stand behind her. She leaned over her right shoulder, pointing to the paper with her right hand, and rested her left hand on Actor Drop's other shoulder.

As she spoke, Acid Drop's left hand began to move further and further right, up to Actor Drop's neck. But she stayed focused on the script, as if trying to memorize it.

[color=00746b]"Now, read along with me..."[/color] 

At that line, the curtains closed once more. Mere seconds later they reopened, revealing Miseria wearing masks of Rei, Acid Drop, Oros, and a frog. The scene evoked a sense of deja vu immediately. Actor Drop 'fell' from high up, the wire holding her aloft and lowering her down slowly clearly visible, and Rei's actor took off her paper mask to replace it with one bearing Schrade's visage instead, 'catching' Actor Drop as she 'fell,' jumping a few inches off the ground to do so before landing safely on all six feet, as this Miseria actor had.

[color=seagreen]"Hey Tsubomi. I ran into your partner earlier. Pretty sure you two got split up."[/color] 

Actor Drop stood up onto her own feet and spoke. [color=00a99d]"Yeah, Boss, we did get separated. I'll fix that."[/color]

[/hider]
[color=00aeef]"This seems familiar."[/color] The actual Tsubomi said to the Acid Drop eating popcorn next to her.

The curtains fell once more.

[color=00aeef]"I-"[/color]

[color=0072bc]"Shut up, the final act is starting."[/color]

[color=00aeef][i]Four Acts? A Kishōtenketsu? Wait...[/i][/color] When did Tsubomi learn that term?

[hider=Act 4]
When the curtains reopened, Actor Drop as Tsubomi was alone in the center of the stage, the spotlight shining on her. She began to pace back and forth, clearly distraught over something, clearly out of character for the emotionless girl. After the fourth or fifth time, she fell hard onto her back to lay still as another actor came out onstage wearing an Acid Drop mask.

[color=00a99d]"You're here."[/color] Actor Drop's voice was perfectly emotionless, just the same as the real Tsubomi's, as she tilted her head to look at Acid Drop's actor. 

Acid Drop continued walking until she was next to Actor Drop, only to stop and step on her head with one foot. [color=00746b]"And you're here."[/color]

[color=00a99d]"You keep showing up. But you never told me your name. Who are you?"[/color] As she asked, Actor Drop tried to lift her head slowly, but to no avail. It didn't seem that the other actor was pressing very hard.

[color=00746b]"Don't ask stupid questions. You know who I am."[/color]

[color=00a99d]"Are you my magic?"[/color] At that, the Acid Drop actor began to visibly press harder on Actor Drop's head, pushing it against the stage with enough force to make it flatten slightly.

[color=00746b]"What did I [i]just say[/i] about stupid questions?"[/color]

[color=00a99d]"Mm... Are you an actor in my head?"[/color]

By now Actor Drop's skull seemed to be made of plastic. There was a visible indent where the other actor's foot applied its pressure, and the opposite side was akin to a marble popper that was ready to bounce. 

[color=00746b]"You're such a moron."[/color]

[color=00a99d]"Mm... So who are you?"[/color]

[color=00746b]"How, many, times, do, I, have, to, tell, you?"[/color] The standing actor lifted her leg, only to bring it back down, punctuated each word with a fresh stomp on Actor Drop's head. [color=00746b]"Stop asking stupid questions."[/color]

[color=00a99d]"But-"[/color] Actor Drop's reply was cut short by the ringing of an alarm clock. The sound was jagged, different from what it should be but still just as grating. Someone in the Running Crew had thrown the broken alarm clock from Tsubomi's bedroom's scene onto the front of the stage, right next to the two actors. 

Tsubomi could hear the sound of the script's pages being flipped next to her. At the same time, the various actors from the play so far each came into view from both sides of the stage, only to pass by Actor Drop and her tormentor, crossing the stage completely and to the opposite side. Neither of the two seemed to notice. The alarm stopped just as the final actor finished their stage crossing, and the duo continued as the sound of the clock's off-tempo ticking resumed.

[color=00a99d]"I don't get it."[/color]

[color=00746b]"No, you don't, do you?"[/color] Acid Drop paused, then lifted her foot off of Actor Drop and took a singular step back. [color=00746b]"Damn, now [i]I[/i] asked a stupid question."[/color]

Ever so slowly Actor Drop brought herself up onto her feet. [color=00a99d]"So who are you, then?"[/color]

[color=00746b]"I keep telling you, that's the wrong question."[/color]

[/hider]
In the box seat, Tsubomi felt a shift nearby as the line was delivered. She could see Acid Drop leaving through the door to the seating from the corner of her eye. Unsure why she was leaving, she turned back to the stage. She blinked once. The instant her eyes closed, they were nearly blinded by light. And when they opened, everything had shifted.

[hider=Epilogue]

Tsubomi found herself on the performance platform, standing just where Actor Drop had been an instant ago. She slowly turned her head to look around, spying countless Miseria in the audience and Acid Drop, the real one, where her actor had been. At least it seemed that way, it was hard to tell if their positioning matched from where she was now. 

[color=0076a3]"Remember how I told you we'd memorize the script? So go ahead. Say the next line."[/color]

Huh? But Tsubomi [i]hadn't[/i] learned the script yet. And the play was totally different from the one she had read before. So all she could do was improvise, something her slow mind was [i]not[/i] built for. [color=00aeef]"... It's nice to meet you.[/color] She bowed somewhat as she spoke, and the audience seemed split. Half were booing, half were cheering, and many of them were laughing.

[color=0076a3]"You're just as much of an idiot as I thought. I was hoping I was off a little, but nope. You're still the queen dumbass. If you can't even remember your lines, then what good are you?"[/color]

[color=00aeef]"I didn't get to read the script."[/color]

[color=0076a3]"You got to watch the story, that's just as good."[/color]

A fleetingly rare moment of realization hit Tsubomi. If that was the case, then she was supposed to say a line from the play, right? But she couldn't remember any of them, now that she was under the spotlight. [color=00aeef]"Mm... I don't know what to say."[/color]

Behind her, from off to the side of the stage, Tsubomi heard a hissing sound. She slowly turned around to face the source, only to see Actor Drop without her paper mask standing just offstage. [color=00a99d]"Hey! You're supposed to say the last line!"[/color] she whispered, just loud enough for Tsubomi to hear. 

The Miseria under the mask looked familiar. Like the last Miseria she had saw in the real world. When did she last see a Miseria? [color=00aeef]"The last line?"[/color]

Actor Drop winced at Tsubomi's volume. She'd spoken at her normal level, quiet but certainly too loud to inquire about the script without the audience hearing. [color=00a99d]"The last line I gave, when I was acting as you!"[/color]

Oh. The last line Actor Drop had said? Was Tsubomi supposed to have the ketchup prop dripping out of her mouth like Actor Drop did under her mask? It took talent to hide that so well, without any falling out from under the mask, or wetting the paper. She must be preparing for the next play. Good for her.

Tsubomi turned away from the talented Miseria, back to facing Acid Drop. The crowd was split between jeering and encouraging her, a chant of 'you can do it!' rising from the audience alongside the boos. 

With a bit of concentration, Tsubomi was able to remember the final line from Actor Drop. She didn't know why it was so seemingly important, and she knew she wouldn't be able to deliver it well, but she allowed the words to crawl out of her mouth at their usual pace. As the first word drug itself out of her, the too-fast ticking of the clock stopped.

[color=00aeef]"So who are you, then?"[/color]

Just when the final syllable left her lips, the audience ceased all sound. The silence of the theater seemed all-encompassing, a vortex of gravity that even light couldn't escape. From the corner of her eye she saw every single member of the audience in the building lean forward in their seats, waiting with bated breath for the next line. Did Miseria even breathe in the first place?

[color=0076a3]"Like I keep saying..."[/color]

Acid Drop took a step forward.

[color=0076a3]"That's the wrong question."[/color] 

She leaned forward, staring directly into Tsubomi's eyes, a malicious grin on her face.

[color=0076a3]"[i]I'm[/i] Tsubomi Kana. The right question is: [i]What[/i] are [i]you?[/i]"[/color]

[/hider]

In the waking world, Acid Drop's malformed smile faded into nothingness.