A few seconds later, the man stood up and started walking again—maybe one of his shoes was untied.
We watched as he went by and listened as his footsteps grew quieter and quieter. Roughly ten seconds passed before the hallway went completely silent.
H-he didn’t find us…
The two of us quietly opened the locker door, and I rolled out. I checked our left and right. The coast was clear—there was no one around.
I finally let out a big sigh of relief. I’d been holding my breath the entire time.
“That worked… But what were we gonna do if there was something in the locker?”
“I knew there wouldn’t be.” Minatsu was also catching her breath as she emerged from the locker.
“Why’s that?”
“I remembered.”
“You remembered what?”
“Where this place is.”
“Really?! Where?”
“This is the old theater hall we used to hold our performances in.”
What?!
The two of us checked our surroundings.
She was right—a hallway this long with a curve made sense for a theater.
“I’ve been here a few times before, so I’m sure of it. We’re near where the dressing rooms should be,” Minatsu said, looking relieved.
I’m glad to hear we’re somewhere familiar! Who knows how we’d get out of here without even knowing what kind of building we were in.
“The older students and graduates all performed here… This is where I saw our club perform before I joined the school, and where I decided I would join after I saw Captain Yukimura’s inspiring performance. I’ve always wanted to come back here as an actress… I just never thought it would be like this.” Minatsu ran her gaze over the hallway once more. “I wanted to perform here someday, with Captain Yukimura. That’s why I begged my parents and sister to let me be in the theater club.”
Come to think of it, you did mention that both of your parents work, and you make dinner for your sister.
“But… Yukimura is so obsessed with you…”
Huh?! Wait…were you serious about what you said before?!
“Hold on!” I said. “Yukimura is only being nice to me because I don’t know the first thing about acting. As far as I can tell, she treats everyone pretty much the same. I’m sure you of all people should know she’s not the type to play favorites!”
Minatsu looked down at the ground. Her hair covered her face, so I couldn’t see her expression. “I know…,” she said quietly. “You didn’t do anything wrong… I’m just jealous.”
“No, no. I know I said you don’t understand how others feel, but you need to know how other people feel to act—Yukimura told me that.”
“She did…?” Minatsu looked up.
“An amazing actress like you has to know a lot about how other people feel—there’s no way you don’t. I’m really sorry I said that earlier.” I smiled a little as I apologized to Minatsu.
“M-me too. I’m sorry I’m always so mean to you and the other girls…”
She apologized back, but she didn’t look at me.
“Minatsu… If you ask me, I think Yukimura is really counting on you. That’s why she put you in charge of teaching me without a second thought.”
“Yeah, I know… And when I remembered coming to this theater hall, it reminded me that this was where I wanted to be. When I saw Captain Yukimura and the theater club perform here, I knew this was the club I wanted to join, and I wanted to act my heart out.” Minatsu raised her head. “I’m really sorry for having such a bad attitude all this time…”
She hung her head again.
It’s fine! Seriously!
“We going to be in a play together, so let’s work together to make it great.”
Then, Minatsu gave me a grin.
I think this is the first time I’ve seen her smile!
“Yeah, and thanks again… There’s still so much I need to learn from you.”
“I’m still gonna be a strict teacher, you know.”
“Whaaaaaat?! But I thought we were friends now!”
“Being friends is different from teaching acting lessons. Anyway, I’m pretty sure I know where we are.”
Aw, come on! But at least I have some hope.