| Izumi | (I finally made it here…) |
| (I had to take the bus to get here from the airport… It was a pretty long journey.) |
| (Looking at the buildings in this town, I feel like I'm in a movie set, not to mention they're all speaking English. That’s a given, though.) |
| Yukio | Izumi! |
| Izumi | Dad…? |
| Yukio | Long time no see! You've grown so much, huh! |
| Izumi | (It's really Dad… I can’t believe he’s standing right in front of me, alive and well…) |
| Dad… You look old now. |
| Yukio | Here I thought you'd run and hug me. |
| Izumi | I'm not a child anymore. |
| Yukio | Well, you're right… |
| Izumi | I'm hungry. |
| Yukio | I'll take you to my favorite restaurant. Let's go. Their stew is delicious. |
| Izumi | Do they serve curry? |
| Yukio | Haha. You haven't changed at all. |
 |
| This place is our theater building. |
| It's the only one in this town. It's become too dilapidated though, so they’ve decided to demolish it. |
| I always hold rehearsals here since we don't have any other place to do it. |
| Citizen A | Yukio! |
| Yukio | Oh, perfect timing. I'll introduce you to everyone. |
| She is my daughter. Comes from Japan. |
| Izumi | Uhh… |
| Nice to meet you. |
| *the townspeople clap* |
| Townsperson A | << I didn't know you're married, Yukio! >> |
| Townsperson B | << Welcome! >> |
| Townsperson C | << You travelled so far! You must be tired now, right? >> |
| Izumi | Are they all involved in your play? |
| Yukio | Yes. All the actors and staff are from this city. |
| Izumi | (From eldery to children, there are all kinds of people here. It's a theater building that's rooted in this city.) |
| Yukio | Can you wait a little bit? I have a rehearsal after this. You can always rest in my room if you're tired. |
| Izumi | It's okay. I'm going to stay here and learn. |
| Yukio | Alright, then. I'll be back. |
| Townsperson A | << Hey, Yukio, there's something I'd like to ask you about Act 2 Scene 2… >> |
| Yukio | << For that part, you have to slow down the timing and make it loose. >> |
| Townsperson B | << Yukio. I want to discuss the lighting in Act 1. >> |
| Izumi | (Dad is producing a play with so many people who speak a totally different language from him… So amazing.) |
| |
| Townsperson A | << Good job. See you tomorrow. >> |
| Townsperson B | << Bring your daughter to our store. >> |
| Yukio | << Will do. See you tomorrow. >> |
| Thanks for waiting. |
| Izumi | Good work. |
| Yukio | I'll take you to the room. |
| Izumi | I guess you're really staying in this building's dressing room. |
| Yukio | I've actually prepared another room for you to sleep in, but don't expect too much, okay? |
| Izumi | Sure. But just thinking about staying in a theater building is already getting me excited. |
 |
| Yukio | I've actually dreamt of having this moment with you for so long. Here you go… |
| Izumi | Beer? |
| Yukio | I've always wanted to drink with my daughter. |
| Izumi | I was left alone for a long time, though. |
| Yukio | Ugh… I'm really sorry about that. |
| Izumi | It's fine. Let's have a toast. |
| Yukio | To the success of our plays… |
| Izumi | Cheers! |
| Yukio | Cheers. |
| Izumi | You know, this theater building is quite nice despite its age. |
| Yukio | I agree. Both the building itself and the red curtain remind me of MANKAI Company. They caught my eyes right away. |
| It's sad to see it be demolished, but there's nothing I can do since the building itself is old and dangerous. |
| Izumi | What are you planning to do after this? |
| Yukio | Someone from a theater troupe in another city recognized my work here. So they asked me to join them. |
| They don't even have a drop curtain there, though. |
| Izumi | Have you ever felt anxious about doing theater in a new environment? |
| Yukio | Hmmm, I do have various things I'm worried about, like the language barrier or whether or not they’ll accept my work. …But in the end, it always comes down to "love and passion." |
| No matter how horrible I am at a language, I believe we can communicate well as long as both of us share the same goal: producing a great play. |
| As long as you have "love and passion", whether it's the actors, the staff, or even the audience, I have no doubt they’ll all be on my side. |
| Izumi | …I think I understand what you mean. |
| Yukio | I won't deny that you’ll barely have an audience when you hold a play in a new place. However, even if there is only one audience member and one performer, it's still considered a play. |
| No matter how shabby the theater building is, we will be fine as long as we have actors who stand on the stage, and people who watch them. |
| I guess, having a director around will be the bare minimum. |
| Izumi | (One audience member and one actor…) |
| (It reminds me of Sakuya-kun's first performance. He was the only performer, while Sakyo-san and I were the only audience members…) |
| (That performance was the beginning of all of this. To this day, I’m still glad I got to be the first one to watch Sakuya-kun on stage.) |
| (From then on, we had gained more new members, and I've been watching as they all grow day by day. It’s made me really happy.) |
| Yukio | Moving to a new place does make me anxious, but I can't wait to once again witness the birth of many new actors. |
| Izumi | (Dad's eyes are sparkling. I guess he really does have a fulfilling life.) |
| (Looking at him, I've come to believe that all a director needs to do is to take their actors seriously and look at their performance carefully.) |
| (Lately, I've been thinking that I'm the only one who doesn't grow when the others do. It makes me feel anxious…) |
| (I do have confidence that I've been taking them seriously and helping them improve.) |
| (But I just wonder if I’ve been doing it wrong all this time…) |
 |
| Banri | Your position should be around here--Oh, my bad. Here. |
| Masumi | Banri, you're running behind schedule. |
| Banri | Oops, alrite. We'll do it another time. |
| Tasuku | I can't join our next rehearsal. |
| Banri | Seriously? We have to do it now, then… |
| Masumi, can you tell the other guys the next session will be ten minutes late? |
| Masumi | Got it. |
| Banri | (While Director-chan is absent, I've made a rehearsal schedule focusing on scenes where I don't appear. It ain't as easy as it looks, though.) |
| (We have more people than usual, and it's totally different from rehearsing as an actor. I'm still not used to it. In the end, we haven’t been progressing smoothly.) |
| (And while everyone is voicing out their opinions, I don't know how to put them all together…) |
| (Director-chan has been doing this all by herself without any trouble.) |
| Tsumugi | Banri-kun, what should we do about the timing in this part? |
| Banri | Uhhh, you can decide it by yourself. |
| Tsumugi | Hmmm. I don't mind, but I think it's better to have the assistant director make the decision, since this can affect the entire stage production plan. |
| Banri | I'll call Dire--. Ah, no, I'll decide before our next rehearsal. |
| (Since I've already told her to count on me, I can’t just give up so easily.) |
| (Still, we've been making slower progress than I’d expected.) |
| Guy | "Tell me everything you know. Why does the pirate have this specimen? Where did you get it?" |
| Sakuya | "…I have no idea. It's always been in my treasure chest ever since I was a child." |
| Banri | Oh, Sakuya, for that part I think it's better if you go like this--. |
| Tasuku | I think your interpretation is just different from him? |
| Tsumugi | Agreed. I think Sakuya-kun's interpretation of his character's feelings during that scene is not wrong. |
| Banri | Oh, okay… My bad. |
| Sakuya | Don't be sorry. I know what you mean, Banri-kun. I'll try to change it a little bit, then! |
| Banri | No, we'll just go with your interpretation. |
| (I got impatient and ended up thinking it'd be faster to just show them how to do it. Director-chan would never do that kind of thing…) |
| (It ain't like I'm opposing the other guys, but I feel like I'm the only one who seems out of place because this is different from practicing as an actor.) |
| (I wonder what Director-chan usually does during rehearsals…) |
