Section 12: Jeanne d'Arc (Alter)'s Script Pitch

Guess it's my turn now. Hehehe.

Oh? I thought I would go next...but of course, I'm happy to let you go first.

(After all, there's no way you could top the idea I've come up with.)

(Tristan seems like he's come up with something interesting, but I suspect this contest's winners will be determined more by who speaks up first...)

Don't mind if I do then.

First off, how did you guys interpret Elise's mood at the beginning?

Hmm. Well, since she saw someone she dislikes enough to insult mercilessly collapse right in front of her...

...I guess I'd say she was in kind of a, well, "Suck it!" mood...?

I remember Murasaki Shikibu actually asked Jeanne Alter to say as many mean things as possible.

Oh, my sides are splitting. You looking for an ass-kicking, Master? You just gotta ask.

Aww, thanks for the praise of my acting technique, Master. For your sake, I hope you're ready to pay the price.

？！

Anyway, I'd say Elise struck me as being jealous and petty.

I can see why you guys would think that, but my interpretation is completely different!

I know Elise isn't exactly the delicate wallflower type. Especially not with me playing her.

... ...

Tch. Really? Nothing?

？！

Anyway, I read something veeery interesting in a mangphilosophy book the other day.

It said that people only get jealous of others who have something they want.

I don't really know anything about that kinda whiny crap, but it sounds right to me.

So if Elise was jealous of Gabriela, you might think it's because of her money. But it couldn't be that, because Elise was already comfortable in her singing career and on her way to being truly rich.

No, I think that if Elise was actually jealous of her, it would only be because Gabriela was a better singer.

So I don't think she was jealous. I think it goes deeper than that.

Well, if Elise really did upset Gabriela, it'd probably make her professional life a lot harder, no matter how popular a singer she is.

Indeed. If she cared about her career that much, I can't imagine she would truly risk incurring an authority figure's wrath...

...and if she merely disliked Gabriela, she could have just badmouthed her behind her back.

So, if Elise wasn't jealous of Gabriela...what did she feel?

I'd say she was strongly fixated on her.

Huh?

The way I see it, Elise had a very personal reason for coming to the Meihousou.

A reason that motivated her to pull every string she could to get in, just like Antonio did for his sheet music.

She wanted to see her beloved childhood friend again!

？！

Back when this country was still the Kingdom of Nadai Nadha, Elise was a child living in poverty.

There's no way she would've had a good life in the final months leading up to the coup. Luckily, Elise had a close friend she could always lean on for support...

I think that friend was Gabriela. Let's say she was called...Kaoru, back when she was a little girl.

While I'm at it, I'd adopt Ryouma's idea of making her Daizou's lost sister.

Aww, thanks. I'm honored.

And since we already had a scene where I thought Elise might be Daizou's sister, there shouldn't be any problem establishing that you're around the same age.

But then one day, Kaoru suddenly disappeared. Rumor had it that General Cortés took her in as his daughter.

And since Elise was still a commoner, there was no way she'd be able to see her friend again now that she's basically royalty.

But Elise didn't give up. She vowed to see her friend again, and used what few familial bonds she had to find Antonio...

...and worked hard to become a singer famous enough to rub shoulders with royalty.

Eventually, all that hard work paid off, and she finally came face-to-face with Kaoru again.

But Gabriela didn't treat you like a childhood friend. If anything, it seemed like she didn't recognize you at all.

I don't know if she really didn't recognize me, or if she was just pretending not to...

...but either way, you can imagine how pissed I would be to come all this way only to have my closest childhood friend ignore me.

I think that's why I was such a bitch to her, even though I was happy to see she was alive and well.

？！

Yeah, probably. Also, shut up. Think about it from Kaoru's perspective.

There was nothing she could do about her brother going missing, or about being taken in by some creepy old guy from the old court.

It doesn't matter how nice her new life was, she was still a bird in a gilded cage. She must've had to bury her feelings deep down just to get through the day.

That's why I wanted Kaoru to stop suffering in silence.

I wanted to hear how she really felt, even if it meant she'd never speak to me again. That's all.

That's a lot to take in, but I love how dramatic it is. Although...does that mean Elise isn't the culprit then?

Hell no.

There's no way Elise would do anything to ruin her chances of seeing Gabriela's reaction after coming all this way.

If anything, she'd be furious at the culprit for robbing her of this opportunity.

Not to mention that if Gabriela ends up dying from this, she'll never have another chance to talk to her.

So Elise would throw everything she has into finding the culprit, for Gabriela's sake as much as her own.

The culprit, hmm... Would Miguel fill that role here, like he has in other scenarios?

Oh yeah, Miguel... Nah, the old creep can stay dead so he doesn't get in the way.

Ouch!

Ugh, just deal with it. You've been dead this whole time anyway!

And Elise wouldn't have any reason to undergo combat training, so she couldn't do a fight scene anyway.

Besides, I already know how this story ends.

But if Miguel isn't the mastermind, how do you intend to tie up all the loose ends?

Simple. Gabriela's a young widow. It's no stretch to think that people around her might get some wicked ideas...

I'd say her servants wanted to steal all of Cortés's legacy for themselves.

Hmm, makes sense. The government could take back any land and property they try to steal, but if they have dirt on the people in power, that would give them considerably more freedom to act as they like.

But of course, they'd be the first to be suspected if they killed Gabriela when no one else was around, so they waited for an opportunity like this to try and poison her.

All they'd have to do then is pin their crime on one of the guests. Yeah, that works!

This way, we can say that Salazar tried to kill Vargas to make his death look like a suicide.

Still, this would make Salazar the culprit.

Would it not be somewhat anticlimactic to have him already be dead for the film's conclusion?

Hey, I said "servants," plural. Salazar's not the only one in this scenario.

A number of servants, hmm...

Still, we never see any of these other servants during the film. How would you explain that?

I mean, sure, that's a little weird if you think about it...but it's also weird that there'd only be one servant in this giant mansion, right?

True, that is highly unrealistic.

So we could say that there's actually lots of servants behind the scenes, and they just don't ever actually appear on-screen.

Now I see. That sounds like a great idea!

I suppose we could request that Chaldea's staff play the servants, but that seems like a lot to ask this late in the production.

Well sure, it'd be a huge challenge getting ten or twenty extras here at this point. But we don't have to do that. All we need is a single actor.

And luckily for us, we've got someone perfectly ordinary and unremarkable riiight here with us.

Um, I'm afraid I don't know who you mean.

Ugh, you're so dense. He's standing right there, looking like a confused dweeb even as we speak.

Aren't you, Fujimaru?

Oh, now you get it! That's right. You're our new culprit!

Ugh, how are you such an idiot!? I'm talking about making you into the culprit, dumbass!

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That's it!

Oh... Sorry. I'm afraid I got a little carried away...

See, Jeanne Alter's idea is a staple of mystery movies...

...where it turns out the person behind the camera was actually one of the characters all along.

And above all, this way, Senpai can be part of the cast too! I think it's a wonderful idea!

Good point! If Fujimaru's a servant here, it only makes sense that he'd be sticking close to us all this time.

And that also means he'd be able to keep an eye on everything and move about freely...

In a sense, it makes him way more of a villain than Moriarty!

Was it really necessary to bring me into this?

Then, when I point to the culprit, the camera can do a one-eighty...

...and reveal Fujimaru as the mastermind who's literally been working behind the scenes this whole time.

...Heh. Intriguing! Your idea has a great deal of merit to it, fire woman!

Damn straight.

Still, I know it's kind of a stretch, so I wouldn't blame you if it's not what you go with.

Hmm. You know, being creative is kind of fun.

Come to think of it, you also said you already knew how this story ends, right, Jeanne Alter?

Would you tell us what you have in mind?

Hm? Oh, well, it's nothing that special.

After I reveal the culprit, it's basically just a scene of me and a still-sleeping Gabriela where I tell her how I really feel.

As for how that would go, you can find out once we start filming!