NEW WINGS

With Layla gone, Kaleido Stage is losing audience even with the addition of the incredible Leon Oswald, who performs for short whiles and then leaves during the performance. Sora meets May Wong, a new addition who declares herself Sora's rival and blames her for ending Layla's career. While Sora plans to throw the new performers a welcoming party, she runs into her old friend Rosetta, who wants to follow in Sora's footsteps and become a trapeze artist. Throughout the first half of the season, Sora battles with May in a fierce rivalry to become Leon's partner. In an ice skating competition, May wins and becomes Leon's partner for Dracula, making this the first time Sora had a bit part in a performance since Cinderella. But while she felt defeated, her mood soon rose after she helped her friends create the Children's Stage, when Dracula began scaring the children in the audience. On it's debut appearance, Sora performed with Marion and she once again was back to her old self again.
Sora and Layla's reunion in New York
Later, Sora is offered a chance to perform in a Broadway performance called Salome In Vegas, which has her old friend and idol Layla as the star. Even with May sneaking along, Sora and Layla's reunion is a heartfelt one (mostly for Sora) as Sora is with her dear friend once more. After seeing Charlotte and Julie again, meeting Cathy and learning how she and Layla are like partners now (something that hurt Sora's feelings), she performs with Layla and makes the performance a success while competing with May as a background character. But Layla tells Sora that she seems to be losing the same feeling she had when they were partners. Later on, during a performance at Kaleido Stage, Leon sprains May's arm and leaves her feeling rejected and hurt. Sora sees this as a chance to be Leon's partner for the upcoming Circus Festival, but May pulls through her injury and overshadows Sora again to be Leon's partner with her Demon Spiral. Sora finds an loophole in the admittance system to the Circus Festival, in which both of the winners from last year are given Phoenix Tickets to enter, she turns to Layla's partner Yuri. They train for The Angel's Maneuver, the best bet against May and Leon's Demon Spiral. But when it comes time to perform at the festival, Sora's heart is broken when she sees two other performers who she though were her friends attempting their maneuver and failing. When Yuri and Sora go on, she is seen crying on stage and she drops from the festival while May and Leon stroll away with the win. After which, Layla tells Sora that she is disappointed in Sora in the same rude voice she used on her at the start.
Sora performing the Angel's Maneuver

Feeling defeated, Sora leaves Kaleido Stage and May takes her place as the best star. But while she is home in Japan with her family and friends, she realizes that her dream is to become the Kaleido Star - not by fighting other performers, but by creating her own stage with no competition where the audience and cast's hearts are one. When Sora returns to Kaleido Stage and starts down this path, Leon soon sees that Sora is his true partner (she reminds him so much of his younger sister Sophie). Through hard determination and pain, and even winning May's friendship, Sora and Leon become the leads in Swan Lake to perform the Angel's Maneuver. But Layla returns and challenges Sora for the lead. While Layla seems to match Sora, she soon realizes that Sora's skills have far surpassed her and she wins the challenge. And when it comes time for the performance, Sora's Angel Maneuver brings together everyone's hearts together and her stage is born, making her the new Kaleido Star.