| After graduation, I decided to continue doing theater with Tachibana. My family couldn't forgive me for breaking my promise, and thus they gave me some money before kicking me out of the house. |
| Before long, that guy moved into my apartment and we started living together. |
| Every day, we spent all of our time doing part-time work to save up funds to build our own theater troupe. Whenever Tachibana had free time, he would talk about his plan for our theater troupe. He said our company would consist of four units—Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter—taking turns to perform their plays in our personal theater building. It was such an outrageous dream. |
| However, if that dream did come true, I might be able to see him on the stage once again. Having thought that, I didn't mind doing part-time jobs that I didn't like. |
| With the help of Hakkaku Ikaruga, we managed to get a connection to establish a theater troupe in Veludo Way and moved on with the preparation. During that time, we also received a script from Hakkaku. It seems like he was telling us to hurry up as he got tired of waiting. It was an expansion from the line we performed in the cultural festival. Both of us got completely absorbed into that person's world, which was completely different from what Tachibana wrote. |
| In order to perform this play, we needed to gather members first. Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter units did not matter here. |
| "How about our personal theater building?" |
| "Oh no, what should we do… I've been working hard doing part-time jobs, but the money is still not enough." |
| "We can't rehearse if we're working part-time jobs all the time… That'll defeat the purpose of the plan." |
| "I know…" |
| "Sign this." |
| "What's this…?" |
| "A promissory note. I'll pay the construction cost with the money I got from my parents." |
| "But aren't you saving this money for when it's absolutely needed—." |
| "But we do need it right now, right? Besides, I also want to see this script being performed on stage. Our commemorative debut show should be spectacularly held at our personal theater." |
| Tachibana was a little bit unsure, but he eventually agreed. |
| With that, we started the construction of our theater building. As Tachibana seemed to have a connection to help us gather troupe members, I entrusted that part to him. As for me, I took charge in planning the theater building's design. |
| While fulfilling his requests, I paid attention to every detail so that we could comfortably use the building as long as possible. |
| Then, when all I had to do was just wait for the construction to be finished, I asked Tachibana about our troupe members. The answer I got from him was unbelievable. |
| "An amateur you met at your part-time job… and an actor you found on Veludo Way stage, you say?" |
| "Yup. They seem very nice." |
| "The actor is fine, but an amateur you met at your part-time job? What kind of a joke is this!?" |
| "But—." |
| "That's enough. Hold an audition." |
| I made a mistake by leaving this thing to Tachibana. In the end, I decided to make flyers for auditions and distributed them. |
| The day of the audition finally came. |
| "Nobody is coming." |
| "Looks like it." |
| "It can't be helped. We're just an unknown theater troupe that's barely established—." |
| "...Is he not going to come?" |
| "Eh?" |
| "I came, Reiji." |
| "You're late. One usually would come five minutes before an audition, you know." |
| "You know him, Reni?" |
| "He's Syu, my childhood friend. He's been doing Taishu Engeki[1] since childhood." |
| "Oooh!" |
| "Hey, you guys should come in too." |
| The ones Syu pushed in front of us were a duo we were familiar with. |
| "Wh-Whoa!" |
| "Just go in, quick! You're gonna make me fall too!" |
| "Huh… Kasumi and Yuzo?" |
| "They have been standing in front of the building for God knows how long hesitating whether to go in or not, so I brought them." |
| "U-Ummm! I want to help out at the troupe! I don't mind doing anything, even odd jobs! This guy, I mean, Yuzo will also do anything, be it lighting or stage setting!" |
| "Hey, hold on. You only asked me to accompany you!" |
| "I see. But we're only looking for actors now." |
| "Eh… really…" |
| "Alright. I'll take my lea—." |
| "Ah, wait up, wait up. You two have come all the way here, so why don't you participate in the audition?" |
| "Eh!?" |
| "Hah?" |
| "Let me introduce myself again. I'm the chairman and general director of MANKAI Company, Yukio Tachibana. We're about to start the first audition now." |
| With that, we half-forcibly started the audition with those three as the participants. |
| Syu completed his mission with his overwhelming skill. Given that he was born into a show business family and had been trained since childhood, his talent is the real deal. I reached out to him with the thought that dragging him in would reassure me, and it turned out I was right in my conjectures. |
| Even though Yuzo Kashima was an amateur, he appeared comfortable. His acting was also not bad. I'm sure he could shine if we polish him. |
| Last, Kasumi Hinamori was simply out of the question. In addition to his hammy performance and the way he read the lines in a monotonous voice, he couldn't speak clearly due to his nervousness. The result was clear. |
| "All of you passed!" |
| "Hah?' |
| "Oh, so we all passed. Ain't that a call for celebration?" |
| "M'bad, I just tagged along with Kasumi so I gotta decline—." |
| "There's no way I can join the troupe alone!!" |
| The three joined the troupe per Tachibana's own decision. |
| Right after they went home, I grilled Tachibana. |
| "I'm fine with the other two, but why did you also accept Hinamori…" |
| "I'll make Kasumi the lead actor for our debut show." |
| "Hah!? Did you even listen to me?" |
| "Yup. I got inspired after watching those three." |
| "In the first place, aren't you the lead actor of that pla—." |
| "I had no choice but to do it during the cultural festival. After all, rather than standing on the stage, I want to produce something that lets the actors bloom." |
| "You're joking, right… I've always thought you're more suitable for that role rather than Hinamori." |
| "I won't go on stage anymore." |
| Hearing what Tachibana said, I felt like I was betrayed. |
| During our cultural festival play, I thought Tachibana was someone chosen by God. I've made it this far in order to fulfill Tachibana's wishes and make his talent bloom on the stage. I simply wanted to see that perfectly harmonious, beautiful play again. |
| "The only ones who can bloom beautifully on the stage are humans who are gifted by God." |
| "I don't think so." |
| "What I want to do as the chairman and general director of this troupe is to make the actors bloom in their own way, using the things they were born with and the things they got through each of their lives. A stage isn't a place where only beautiful people and humans with talent can stand. It doesn't matter if you lack confidence or have an inferiority complex. What you do on the stage is to show somebody else's life." |
| "We don't need any qualifications for such simple things like that. You can do what you want, be what you want, and bloom in 'your own way.' To me, that is what a play, a theater and an actor are." |
| I felt like the ideal perfect play that made me throw away everything had been smashed to pieces by Tachibana. |
| "You… You're the only one who gets in my way." |
| "Reni?" |
| "It's nothing. Let's do what you want." |
| Now that I've come all this far, I couldn't give up on a human called Tachibana, whose talent is almost as good as God's—a talent that I witnessed in the play that day. |
| |
| Shifuto | … |
| Haruto | Hey. |
| Shifuto | Huh? Did you wait for me? |
| Haruto | Why would I!? What did Reni-san say to you? |
| Shifuto | What, you ask… He just made me recite the first and last long lines over and over again. |
| Haruto | Aaah, I see. |
| Those lines were added at the last minute. It's the part that Reni-san wants to be particular about the most. |
| Shifuto | Wow, you realized that? |
| Haruto | I've done a thorough research on Reni-san's productions. |
| Shifuto | That's incredible. |
| Haruto | Since you're the top actor, you need to exemplify Reni-san's ideals. If you can't do that, I'm more than willing to replace you anytime. |
| Shifuto | Haha, thank you for supporting me. |
| Haruto | I'm not supporting you! |
| Shifuto | But those lines just don't feel right to me somehow. |
| I don't know whether this is because the lines were added last, but I feel like they are the only ones that feel a little bit out of place than the rest. |
| Haruto | Don't complain about the script Reni-san approved, you third-rate actor. |
| Shifuto | But it'd be difficult for me to act out the lines if I don't understand it. |
| Oh, yeah! Let's go ask the writer himself, the undisclosed one! |
| Haruto | Hah? |
| |
| Madoka | Who is there? |
| Shifuto | Hey, g'night. |
| Haruto | … |
| Madoka | —Why are you here? |
| Haruto | I'm in charge of contacting the writer. |
| Madoka | ...Please go home. I've been told not to let anyone in unless you have appointments with father. |
| Shifuto | Let's go to my home, then. How's that? |
| Madoka | Eh…? |
| |
| Kumon | Shifuto's next shift is tomorrow… It's the same as mine. |
| What should I do… |
| (Should I tell him about Azami? But I don't know what I should talk about. He probably doesn't know I've already heard a lot from Azami…) |
| (Rather than talking, should I make Azami and Shifuto meet?) |
| (But I don't know whether or not they'd be happy about it… It'll be meaningless if I end up making things worse than before.) |
| (Or even worse, if they cut ties because of my interference...) |
| (But Azami looked like he wanted to have a talk… And maybe I was meant to meet Shifuto by chance like that.) |
| Aargh!! |
| Izumi | Kumon-kun? Why are you yelling like that? |
| Kumon | Ah, that’s right! Director! |
| Izumi | ? |
| Kumon | Umm, this is about Azami—. |
| Izumi | Azami-kun? |
| Kumon | (Ah, but I can’t just go into details as I please…) |
| Uhh, so if this were baseball and I was the catcher while my two friends were the pitcher and the batter…! |
| Izumi | Hm? |
| Kumon | Let’s say that we were in a match, and the scores remained tied with two outs in the last extra inning. In such a situation, the pitcher naturally wanted to play with all their might. |
| But the batter thought otherwise and wanted to have a strikeout. If the game were to end in a draw, what would you do, director!? |
| Izumi | U-Uhh… I'm not very familiar with baseball, but… |
| Kumon-kun would rather want the game to end in either victory or defeat, right? |
| Kumon | Yup! |
| Izumi | In that case, why don't you do something that will prevent the game from ending in a draw? |
| Rather than regretting not doing anything, I think it's just so Kumon-kun to do something and regret it later. |
| Kumon | I see… that's right! I think so too! |
| Thanks! I'll be going ahead, director! |
| Izumi | See you later. |
| |
| Kumon | Azami! |
| Azami | ? |
| Kumon | Are you free tomorrow evening? There's a place I wanna go to with you! |
| Azami | I don't mind if it's after my rehearsal… |
