Hm? What does she think?
“Asuka, you’re still not using your stomach to project your voice. You’re gonna hurt your throat, and then it’ll be hard to keep your voice stable. When you move around onstage, it is hard to keep it the same pitch if you speak from your throat.”
“Y-yeah, it is hard sometimes.”
“Speaking with your stomach will definitely fix that.”
“Huh, I always thought my voice was louder than most.”
Kei is always sure to let me know when I’m being loud, after all.
“Speaking with your stomach isn’t the same as increasing your volume… Actually, it’s probably hard to understand if I just explain. Here, let me show you. Listen.” Yukimura went to the far corner of the gymnasium, near the entrance.
The other club members stopped what they were doing and watched, too.
“Ah, eh, ih, ooh, eh, oh, ah, oh, ka, keh, kih, kooh, keh, kah, koh, sah, she, shih, sooh, she, soh, sah, soh…”
Yukimura didn’t fumble a single word. Her voice resonated throughout the entire gym.
Wh-whoa…
She wasn’t just loud; she was extremely clear.
And she’s so far away!
“The captain really is incredible…,” Minatsu said, looking on at Yukimura with passion in her eyes.
“See what I mean?” Yukimura asked as she walked back over.
“I wish I could say yes, but I still don’t quite follow how I’m supposed to speak like that.”
“You’ll figure it out soon enough. First, you need to learn to breathe with your stomach. Try putting your hand on your belly and focus on expanding your stomach to breathe. That alone will make a big difference.”
I put my hand on my stomach, took a deep breath, and…
Wow! There it goes!
“When you can do that automatically, it will be a lot easier to project your lines, and the audience will be able to hear you better. This role is meant for you, so I want you to really get it down!”
Breathing with your stomach, huh? I’d better master this before we finish our summer camp.
“Remember, everyone, this is Asuka’s first rehearsal, so I want you to really teach her the basics. We can’t rush her just because we don’t have a lot of time. Got it?”
“Yup!” The older students all nodded.
I can tell I’m kinda dragging them down… I mean, I’m the worst one at acting out of anyone here by a long shot.
“Captain, we should probably get ready for lunch soon,” Minatsu said, and Yukimura checked her watch.
“Wow, look at the time. I’ll leave you to it then, first-years.”
✦ ✦ ✦
During our summer camp, it was our responsibility to prepare our own lunches. Since it would be difficult to leave the school grounds to go get lunch every day, we received permission from President Shiori to use the home ec club room. There, we would make everyone’s food for the week.
Today was the first day, and it was the first-years’ turn on lunch duty.
There were ten first-years, including Minatsu and me. We would be making food for almost fifty people, which included home ec members who would be helping us with the play preparations.
I’m anxious to see if we can even do this. Especially with me on the job—I’m terrible at cooking.
It wasn’t just me. All the first-years seemed nervous. Well, except for Minatsu. She seemed perfectly fine.
She must be confident in her cooking skills.
As soon as we entered the home ec classroom, we all put on aprons and laid out the ingredients we would be using for lunch that day.
I think we’ll need three large pots for this many people.
“We don’t have a lot of time, so let’s each work on something different. Asuka, could you peel the vegetables for us?” one of the other kids asked me.
“S-sure…”
Okay, peeling, huh…
Me, Minatsu, and the other students began washing a giant mountain of potatoes.
I picked one up and carefully began peeling it with a knife.
Slice.
Whoops… I accidentally cut out a big chunk of the potato.
I tried again, doing my best to keep the knife against the skin of the potato, but every time I would accidentally cut out more and more of the potato itself.
By the time I finished peeling my potato, it was almost half the size it was when I first picked it up. And it took me forever, too.
“Asuka… You’re not that great of a cook, I see.” One of my fellow potato-peelers was staring at me with an eyebrow raised.
I didn’t know what to say to that.
“What did you do in elementary school when you had to cook stuff during home ec?”
“I was in charge of tasting the food! …Ha-ha, not really, but sorta? I was in charge of adding the final spices—I have a knack for getting flavors right.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Really? Then we can have you do that for our curry, too.”
“I might be able to do that! That’s the one thing I know I can handle when it comes to cooking.”
“You still have to work while we are making the actual food, though. Here, I’ll peel the potatoes, and you can focus on washing them. You’re only getting in the way here.” Minatsu didn’t even look at me as she focused on peeling a potato.
Ouch, that hurts. But Minatsu does peel about two times faster than any of the rest of us, though.
“O-okay. Sorry, everyone.” I put my things down and I went to leave, and noticed the other students give me a look of sympathy as I left.
Over at the sink, a girl who seemed to be watching the entire scene whispered over to me. “Minatsu is so mean, isn’t she? She thinks just because she can act a little that she can boss us around. She never has anything nice to say.”
“I think she sees you as a rival because she was the only first-year student to get a speaking part until you came along. She could be a little nicer, though.”
So Minatsu isn’t very popular with the club in general. It looks like I’m not the only one she’s mean to.
Come to think of it, I haven’t seen her hanging out with anyone else in her year. When I showed up at the cooking station earlier, she was already quietly peeling potatoes.
I glanced over at Minatsu, who was busy at work without paying attention to us.
Sliiiiiice…
In an instant, she had peeled it as thinly as possible—and all at once. The skin looked like a long string on the cutting board.
“Wh-whoa!”
I’d seen my dad do that before, but he’s a professional. Minatsu was my age.
I realized the other students at the station were all captivated by her ability.
“How did you get so good at that?” I said without thinking.
Minatsu flicked her gaze over at me. “I’ve always had a knack for it. I have to cook for me and my sister because my mom works late. You’re pretty awful at it.”
Agh. I mean, I am, I guess. I just can’t seem to get the hang of it no matter what I do. I’d better not tell her that my dad is a professional Italian chef. I really would rather eat food than make it.
“Now get back to work!”
O-okay!
I scrambled over to the sink to wash the dirty dishes and utensils. This was something I was much more used to.
After about an hour, we finished the curry. And by we, I meant Minatsu—she took charge halfway through.
The rice finished cooking as soon as I was done with the dishes.
“Good job, Minatsu!” I called to her, and she looked over at the sink with surprise.
“Did you finish washing all those dishes…?”
“Yeah?”
I hope I didn’t forget anything.
“Your dishwashing is much better than your cooking, then.”
You think? I’m the one who always washes them while my dad cooks at home.
It’s good to wash everything while dinner’s in progress to keep the sink nice and clean—it makes it easy for the people doing the actual cooking. I’m glad my dad taught me that.
I was more excited about testing the flavor than doing the dishes, though.
“Asuka and Minatsu! We’re bringing the food down to the gym!”
“Coming!”
We worked together as a group to carry the big pots of curry and rice down to the gymnasium.
“Wow! That smells delicious!”
The moment we stepped through the door, everyone rushed over.
I bet they’re really hungry. I sure am!
Man, we cooked for fifty students. This is gonna be a sight to see.
“This tastes great!”
“I was worried when we left the first-years in charge of lunch, but this might taste better than anything we could’ve made.”
From what I could hear, people were happy with our work.
I looked over to Minatsu, who seemed relieved.
“Wow, Minatsu. This does taste really good,” I told her.
She glanced over at me before sighing. “I wasn’t the only one who made it, you know.”
“I mean, all I did was the dishes.”
“That’s an important job too… Although I wish you were a little better in the kitchen.”
“Ha-ha-ha… I’ll try to figure it out. Maybe I’ll be able to peel a potato before the camp’s over.”
“I hope you’ll at least be able to do that,” Minatsu said with a shrug. “The same goes for your acting, too.”
Yup! I’m already prepared for our afternoon rehearsal!