“You really surprised me when you said you’d be in another play.”
“And you actually have your own part this time. That’s so cool!”
Misaki and Yuzuki were both excited to hear the news.
It was after school, and we were hanging out in the classroom. Homeroom had just ended, and everyone was busy getting their things ready to go home.
I’d be surprised too. It’s not like last time where I took someone’s place for the action scenes either. I never thought I’d get to be in a play before. I’m actually gonna have to act for real this time.
“Do you think you’ll be able to memorize all your lines?” Misaki said with a worried look.
“It’ll be fiiine! It’s not like I have a ton of them.”
“But you can barely remember a single line of math formulas,” Kei commented from the side.
Oof… I bet he’s still mad that I got such a bad grade on my math test. And after all that time he spent tutoring me.
But math and algebra are different! They ain’t Japanese!
“Oh! I should tell you this, Asuka,” Yuzuki said to me with a bright expression. “The home ec club is going to help with the costumes for this next play.”
“What?! Really?! I’m excited to see what you make, Yuzuki!”
“So does rehearsal start today?”
“Ah! Look at the time! I’d better go!”
The second I stood up to go, I heard a voice call out to me.
“Kouzuki! Let’s go!”
It was a loud, somewhat low girl’s voice. I turned around to find Minatsu standing at the doorway to our classroom.
“See you guys later!”
I rushed out of my chair and over to Minatsu, leaving Misaki and Yuzuki behind. Minatsu turned around without saying anything and began walking.
Is she angry…? We barely got to talk at all yesterday.
“Um, is it okay if I call you by your first name? You can call me Asuka, if you want,” I offered hesitantly, but she just gave me a side glance and didn’t even turn.
“We’re gonna be late, Kouzuki.”
Oof. I don’t know why, but Minatsu doesn’t seem to like me very much… She’s my teacher, and she taught me a whole lot yesterday, but she makes everything she says feel kind of mean. I saw her giving me a death stare while I spoke with Yukimura, too.
✦ ✦ ✦
I wonder what I did to make her hate me so much…?
We’re both playing smaller parts in the play, so I’d really like to get along if we can. I bet I’m gonna feel a bit depressed later because of this.
By the time we arrived at the gymnasium, the rest of the club was already there.
“You guys are late!” Yukimura called out to us as we ran up.
“’Cause of Kouzuki…,” Minatsu muttered to herself.
Ack… She’s not wrong, though.
“I think that’s everyone. We have all the scripts ready, so please come up and grab one.”
Another kid was standing behind Yukimura with a big pile of papers.
Oooh, the scripts! Look how thick they are.
Yukimura explained the story to us yesterday. It takes place in medieval Europe, back in the time of lords and ladies. The story is about a commoner boy, played by Yukimura, who falls in love with a noble woman. Their love is forbidden because of their difference in class, so the boy kidnaps the girl, and they run away together, meeting a bunch of different people along the way… It’s a love story!
According to the club members, this would be their first time doing a romance play with the current cast. Most of the plays up until now had been action-oriented.
Yukimura would be playing the lead, and a second-year would play the love interest. Just like last time, Yukimura would be wearing boys’ clothes to play the part. I heard that was because they didn’t have enough guys in the club.
“Here’s your script, Asuka. We’re counting on you,” Yukimura said as she came up to me and handed me my copy. For a stack of paper, it was pretty heavy. “I want you to read through the script and learn your own role and the gist of the story overall.”
I opened my script and saw a long list of characters and the cast that would play them. Under that list was a list of the students on the crew.
I looked through the cast.
Ah…
Near the bottom of the list was my role, “The child who shelters the couple and saves them… Asuka Kouzuki.”
I’m gonna save them…
Reading that made me smile, and my chest filled with warmth and happiness.
I get to have that same feeling I had during the culture festival…
“Once you’re finished checking the scripts, we’re gonna start warm-ups and enunciation practice! Those of you onstage, practice extra hard. The third-years will help the first-years. We don’t have a lot of time, so we’re gonna have to be strict.”
Yukimura listed off our marching orders.
I got to catch a glimpse of her at work back during the culture festival, and I knew she was different when it came to the theater club.
Even though she’s playing the lead, she still has to run the rest of the club. I could never do that.
“The teacher who watches our club doesn’t have acting experience, so Captain Yukimura takes charge for things like this,” Minatsu said from next to me, watching Yukimura.
“Wait. Does that mean she has to run the club all by herself as a student?”
“That’s right. We try to distribute the work among ourselves, but we can only do that because Yukimura is our leader. It goes without saying she’s also great onstage!”
That’s for sure! I got to be onstage with her before. I felt like she was pulling me into the story with her awesome acting.
“You sure know a lot about Yukimura, Minatsu.”
And I’m just glad you’re having a conversation with me for once!
As soon as I spoke, Minatsu turned her head away from me, almost like she’d caught herself.
“N-not any more than anyone else…! Now c’mon! We need to warm up. Don’t slow us down, okay?”
Hm? Is it just me, or is she blushing? Well, whatever.
I need to get rehearsing!