| *door opens* |
| Izumi | I'm back! |
| Citron | Welcome back! |
| Muku | Welcome home! |
| Masumi | … |
| Izumi | Masumi-kun…? |
| Masumi | Let me use you to recharge my energy… |
| Tsuzuru | Hey! Who's the one who said he's gonna wait!? |
| Izumi | (Now that I think about it, it's been awhile since I went away by myself for such a long time.) |
| Tsumugi | How was Yukio-san's play? |
| Izumi | It was really great! It was filled with homey vibes and the townspeople's feelings… |
| Hisoka | Souvenirs… I smell marshmallows. |
| Izumi | Wow, you noticed!? I bought a lot. |
| Look! I got big marshmallows! |
| Hisoka | I'll make it my futon and sleep on it… |
| Chikage | Quit it. You're just going to ascend to Heaven and never wake up. |
| Homare | For Hisoka-kun, that is basically a supreme bliss. |
| Izumi | I also have a marshmallow gun! |
| Chikage | Heh, a toy gun with marshmallow bullets, huh. |
| Muku | It's something children will definitely enjoy! |
| Hisoka | I'm going to put them all in my mouth… |
| Itaru | That's gonna be an extremely graphic sight. |
| Izumi | Hahaha! |
| (At the end of the day, I feel the most at ease when I'm back at the MANKAI dorm.) |
 |
| Sakuya | "Did you come all the way here to save me?" |
| Banri | "I'm here for the confiscated treasure." |
| Sakuya | "S-Sorry. I should have known about it." |
| Banri | I think it's better to bring out a little bit more tension in this scene. |
| Sakuya | You're right. It's easier to express Saku's emotion if there's more tension between the two. |
| Izumi | (I was worried about how rehearsals would go while I was away, but… it looks like I got worried over nothing.) |
| (There's an active discussion among the cast, and they don't look like they're having a hard time, unlike when they were still doing the read-through.) |
| |
| Banri-kun! Looks like you did a good job fulfilling your duties, huh! I expected no less from you! |
| Banri | Easy peasy…is what I wanted to say, but I was rushing things too much in the beginning. It was hell. |
| After our call, I began to change how I did things and started to really "look at the actors." Things got better from then on. |
| Izumi | Still, that's really awesome of you. In the end, you’ve managed to lead this many people at once. |
| Banri | I’ve just been copying what you do. |
| Thinking about how you usually deal with us, how you watch over us… |
| I once again realized how important you are as the first person to watch our performance, and how important the presence of people who come to see our play is. |
| I know it sounds like I'm taking it for granted, but you're really awesome, Director-chan. |
| Izumi | --. |
| (What I've been doing isn't wrong.) |
| (As their first audience member, I watch over every one of them until the moment they fully bloom on the stage.) |
| (I believe that is my role as the director.) |
| (From now on, I'm going to continue to use my own methods to deal with them and produce plays.) |
| (I have no doubt it can lead to my own growth. Let's grow together with everyone.) |
| Thank you, Banri-kun. |
| Banri | I should be the one thanking you. |
| Izumi | (I have to admit that Banri-kun is now also able to see things from the play production side, in addition to his initial perspective as an actor.) |
| (He’s managed to grow this much within such a short time!) |
 |
| Sakyo | Now that we’re making good progress in our rehearsals, it's time to put more effort into promoting our play. |
| Kazunari | We caused quite the sensation with our live-streaming announcement yesterday. |
| Itaru | The server even went down after we released details about the play. |
| Manager | That one was surprising~. |
| Banri | That's 'cause you're using a weakass rental server… |
| Itaru | But that's basically proof of how popular we are. |
| Kazunari | Oh! Our play is currently featured on the "Spotlight" website. |
| Izumi | Kasumi-san works fast. |
| I truly didn’t expect that we would get this much of a response just from the teaser alone. We haven't even done any interviews yet. |
| (Well, we did announce that the concept is written by Hakkaku-san, so there's also that…) |
| (Though in general, MANKAI Company itself has been gaining more recognition with our increasing number of achievements.) |
| Muku | Once the costumes are done, how about we take solo shots of each character and post them one by one on the site's top page? |
| Kazunari | Very berry nice idea, Mukkun! |
| Misumi | So it's like a countdown~? |
| Kazunari | I like that! |
| Izumi | (Everyone is getting more motivated after receiving such an overwhelming response. I have to keep this up and do my best until the opening day!) |
 |
| Amadate | "Expectations are growing for the timeless collaboration between Hakkaku Ikaruga and new talents." Hmm… |
| (So there's another concept he left besides "Traces of a Dream.") |
| …And yet he never ever once wrote a script for me. |
| |
| "I'm begging you. Can you please write a new script for my theater troupe?" |
| I had somehow managed to book an appointment with Hakkaku Ikaruga through my acquaintance's connection. I remember bowing my head at that time. |
| The first time I encountered one of Hakkaku Ikaruga's scripts was before I founded Hyakka Troupe. Ever since then, I was determined to make him write a script for my theater troupe in the future. I did not know why, but I believed Hakkaku Ikaruga's scripts were necessary for my troupe. I believed I was the only person who could perfectly turn his scripts into a play. |
| I never had a single moment of worries. I could understand everything in an instant. I did not ever need to feel uncertain because I could make decisions right away. I could instantly draw out the most appropriate delivery, lighting, sound, production plan--everything. The best script to be performed on my stage is the one written by Hakkaku Ikaruga. I did not need any reason or emotion to come to that conclusion. |
| Despite that, Hakkaku Ikaruga rejected my request not just once, but thrice. |
| "I already have a certain theater troupe in mind." |
| I told him I did not mind if he worked for another troupe, and promised to give him the best treatment ever. However, his answer did not change. |
| Then, I asked Hakkaku Ikaruga's son, who was still a rookie, to write scripts for my theater troupe. However, the result was disappointing. |
| His work was nothing compared to Hakkaku Ikaruga's. I was expecting him to have inherited his father's talent and have a similar writing style as his, but it was nothing but a mere wish. In the end, he was as useful as a chess piece that you would throw away almost immediately. |
| Because of that, my plays stayed incomplete. |
| |
| *door knocks* |
| Amadate | Come in. |
| *door opens* |
| Amadate's Employee | Pardon my intrusion. |
| I have investigated what you asked for. |
| Amadate | … |
| There's quite a difference between the results. |
| Amadate's Employee | Other than changing his address from time to time, the first one does not have any conspicuous personal history. |
| Meanwhile, the other one is quite the rebellious fellow. I kept finding new things the more I investigated. |
| Amadate | …Heh. |
