| "That guy was my hero." |
| I have always loved the heroes on hero shows since childhood. My old man was a hardcore fan of hero shows. We watched videos from the shows and even went to see them live together. I was named Hiro because my dad wanted me to be a hero. It was such a simple reason, but I was happy when I found out about it. |
| I was born to be a hero. Believing that, I started learning how to act. I vowed to myself, I'm going to be a live-action hero. |
| Using my dream as a motivation, I spent days and nights practicing with all my might. I managed to get into an entertainment agency through an audition. I gained experience by acting as extras on various shows. |
| Then, in my senior year of high school, I passed the audition that I had been dreaming of and was chosen as the lead actor on a live-action hero show. |
| After pouring in all that effort, setting my foot on the drama set was like a dream. Not only did I get to run through the set avidly, but I also garnered attention from people all around the world. |
| However, once the filming and broadcast ended, and when my agency expected me to be even more popular, my feelings suddenly withered. The dream that I had always thought would be my lifetime dream came true in my teens. I didn’t have the slightest idea about what kind of dream I should have next. |
| After all, the only thing that I'm hopelessly interested in is becoming a hero. |
| Having completely burned out, I rejected all the auditions and job offers related to TV and movies. Then, the number of job offers decreased all of sudden. This industry is tough. Once you’ve been branded a young actor who got cocky after being praised for your first leading role, a second chance would never come around anymore. |
| Ever since I played the leading role on the hero show, my parents, my teachers, and my classmates naturally thought that I'd choose the acting career path. I thought so too, and thus I decided not to go to college. |
| After high school graduation, I became an actor with a few jobs. Aside from only taking on jobs in fits and starts as extras and side characters, I didn't gain motivation at all. |
| One day, I was summoned by the president of my agency. |
| "Hiro, will you appear in this next?" |
| "A stage play?" |
| "You'll act as the side character, but this play will be performed at Veludo Way. It's a hero-themed play." |
| "Heh…" |
| "What do you think?" |
| "...I'll give it a try." |
| Getting attracted by the word "hero”, I nodded. |
| Then, on the day of the final show, which marked the end of this play after several days--. |
| Even though it was fun, I couldn't recall the burning passion I previously had for acting. Perhaps, I should have given up on becoming an actor. |
| I left the dressing room while thinking such a thing, and that was when a man came in my direction. "Is he waiting for the performers to come out?" I thought to myself as I put myself on guard. Then, that man started a conversation with me in a friendly manner. |
| "Your performance today was so good! You changed it a little bit from yesterday, right? Your feelings were thoroughly conveyed, even more so than yesterday. The character's personality shone through." |
| "Well, thanks…" |
| "But I think it's better if you put in more anger in the last scene. That way, it'll leave a strong impression of departure and highlight the lead actor's performance." |
| "Oh, okay…" |
| "But if I were the director, I'd give you a more different role." |
| "Like the lead role?" |
| "Nope, the villain commander." |
| "Haah?" |
| "I'm sure you'll deliver a very nice performance! Making you take sides with the hero in the later part also sounds good!" |
| "..." |
| "You see, I just established a theater troupe. I'm currently looking for actors. I feel like I can absolutely make you bloom in "your own way”. What do you think? Do you have any interest in stage plays?" |
| I had a lot of things going through my mind when he said that, like ‘what is this guy saying all of sudden’, or ‘I can't believe this man just carelessly scouted an actor that once played a leading role in a series’. Drawn to his very guileless look and mysterious vibes, I unintentionally showed my true colors. |
| "Sorry, but I'm considering quitting acting." |
| "Why?" |
| For some reason, I became interested in the man who asked me details about my plan. Thus, we stopped by a nearby cafe to talk about this. He listened in earnest as I told him that I could not recall the passion I had for acting after I had fulfilled my dream to become a hero. |
| "Hmm… But you see, don't you think “hero” can be a very wide term depending on the definition?" |
| "Definition?" |
| "For example, there are always phrases like, 'You are my hero,' or 'Everyone is a hero to someone' in song lyrics and the like, right?" |
| "Well, yeah…" |
| "Even without fighting evil, anyone can be called a hero depending on one's way of thinking--like a character who saves people's hearts with a small comment or a character who guides people." |
| "You have a point…" |
| "You see, if Hiro-kun becomes the drawing card of my newly-established theater troupe, you'll become my hero!" |
| Before I realized it, I got caught up in that person's pace. Maybe there's a chance for me to be a hero again. No, "again" isn't the right word. If I change my way of thinking… I'll become a hero that protects and saves people with style any number of times. |
| "Come to think of it, Hiro and hero have similar nuances." |
| I asked that laughing man to let me join his theater troupe. |
| He was the general director of MANKAI Company, Yukio Tachibana. Yukio, who innocently rejoiced at my decision to join the troupe, broadened my horizons right away. He showed me a new goal. |
| Yukio is a hero in my life. At the same time, I wanted to be his hero--to be the hero of his theater troupe. |
| With that, I once again got completely absorbed in acting so that I could stand as the star performer. Together with my friends, we continued running towards our goal, the Fleur Awards, with all our might. I grew to love a place called MANKAI Company, which gave me a passion that never cooled off in my life. |
| That's why, when Yukio suddenly disappeared, I thought to myself, I had to support this theater troupe as a hero. |
| Even though my friends left the troupe one after another, I believed that a day would come when all of them, along with Yukio, would return to the troupe. Even when the troupe declined due to Isuke's management and we weren't able to hold performances, I still put my name as a member of the troupe. |
| If I worked hard at my video production jobs, all of them might come back once again and the troupe might recover. With that thought in mind, I began accepting TV jobs again, though my priorities were still MANKAI Company's shows. However, the quality of our plays was uneven as the cast mainly consisted of guest performers. My motivation got nowhere and we couldn't rehearse well. |
| Naturally, those struggles were conveyed to our audience. More and more seats were left empty, till one day, I became the only first-gen member left--. |
| "I apologize, president. I had a show on that day--." |
| "Until when are you going to keep doing this?" |
| "Huh?" |
| "While I do admit MANKAI Company gave you a chance to recover, what's the use of clinging to that forever? Is there anything you can gain from your current activities in that troupe?" |
| "--." |
| "You may plan to be a hero protecting that crumbling theater troupe, but your old friends are no longer there, aren't they? You no longer have anything to protect." |
| "..." |
| "You've done more than enough to return the favor. As long as you're there, you're stuck in a dead end. You can't go anywhere." |
| I couldn't respond to the president. After thinking it through, I decided to leave the troupe. |
| Then, at that time, a packet arrived at my agency. |
| The name of the sender was Hakkaku Ikaruga. Inside, I found an envelope and a letter. |
| In the letter, it was said that the thing inside the envelope was something that Hakkaku-san and Yukio entrusted to MANKAI Company in the future. If I happened to get involved with the troupe again, they wanted me to give this to the future members. They also asked me not to open the envelope until that time came. |
| Hakkaku-san's nostalgic handwriting, which I had become familiar with after reading his handwritten scripts so many times, was carved into the letter. Considering this as a way to return the favor, I vowed to hand this envelope to the future members if MANKAI Company were to be resurrected. |
| I actually wanted to stand on that theater's stage again, but now that I left the troupe, I had no right to that. |
| However, in order to prove that my decision wasn't wrong, I frantically worked hard. After changing my field of activities to TV, I relearned how to act in video productions. Thanks to that, I could achieve my current status as an actor. |
| |
| Yuzo | Well, I understand your emotional attachment, and as much as I'd like to make that wish come true… |
| That theater belongs to the current members. |
| Reni | I feel like Tachibana's daughter will readily agree to that. But that is absolutely why we should not ask so rashly. |
| Yuzo | I see that you appreciate her quite a lot now. |
| Reni | I'm just judging objectively. |
| Yuzo | But well, just as Reni-san said--ah. |
| Hiro | Huh? |
| Yuzo | Hehe, I have a good idea. |
| Reni | You're making a sinister face, you know. |
| Zen | You totally look like a bandit. |
| Hiro | A thief. |
| Syu | He truly has the face of a villain. |
| Yuzo | The hell? Y'all just say whatever you like. |
| Syu | So what d'you come up with? |
| Yuzo | Lend me your ears. |
| |
| Reni | Goodness, what kind of idea is that? |
| Yuzo | What do you think? |
| Hiro | I'm down! I absolutely wanna do that. |
| Syu | Well, why not? It sounds fun. |
| Reni | That's the only thing you care about. |
| Zen | There's no point in trying to stop you, anyway. |
| Yuzo | Well, it's been decided by the majority. We gotta storm in for a fight with the new bunch. |
| Syu | This is an opportunity to act out Hakkaku-san's script again. We absolutely can't afford to lose to the youngsters. |
| Yuzo | Speaking of Hakkaku-san--. |
| Reni | What? |
| Yuzo | I got this from Kasumi the other day. |
| It seems like Hakkaku-san entrusted this to him after he left the troupe. He was told to give this to the new members without opening the contents… |
| Reni | In that case, why don't we hand it to them right away? |
| Yuzo | Take a look at this. |
| Hiro | "Introduction"? |
| Reni | It's… not a scribble. It's Hakkaku-san's handwriting. |
| Yuzo | I'm guessing… this is probably the introduction part of the classic narrative structure[1]. |
| Hey, you three, did you receive anything from Hakkaku-san after you left the troupe? |
| Hiro | I did! I received a similar envelope at my office. Now that I think about it again, "development" was written on it. |
| Reni | "Introduction" and "Development" then… |
| Zen | ...I got it. Mine is "twist." |
| Yuzo | I knew it. |
| Hiro | That means the "conclusion" is… |
| Syu | I didn't receive anything. |
| Yuzo | Huh? |
| Syu | After I left the troupe, I took over my father's position and held performances here and there. Ain't it natural that I didn't get it? |
| Yuzo | How about you, Reni-san? |
| Reni | I didn't receive anything beside his posthumous work. |
| Yuzo | If that's the case, who the heck has it? |
| Syu | ...How should we know? |
