Itaru Chigasaki/Banquet of Blooming

Starring "Itaru"

Backstage Stories

Part 1Part 2

Izumi	Sorry I’m late!
Masumi	Director… I was waiting.
Izumi	You’ve finished changing already, Masumi-kun?
Masumi	Hey, how am I today? How do I look to you?
Izumi	Y-yeah. It suits you. You look cool.
	But aren’t you a bit close?
Chikage	Masumi never wavers, whether it’s before a talk show or not.
Izumi	Wow… the costume helps too, but it feels pretty fresh seeing Chikage-san without glasses. You look wonderful as Gawain!
Chikage	Haha, thank you.
	I didn’t think I’d get so much praise.
Masumi	Don’t get carried away.
	If it’s a gap, then I can also…
Izumi	Huh? By the way, Itaru-san is…
Itaru	…
Izumi	(Ah, there he is. He’s staring at his phone with a serious expression…)
	You’re playing games right up until the show?
Itaru	I’m grinding an event to get Lancelot’s limited SSR in the KniRoun social game.
	I’m aiming for a perfect score, so I can’t drop in rank.
	Well, even if that wasn’t the case, I’d still be playing this game.
Masumi	*Sigh*… I haven’t seen this guy without his phone in hand recently.
Chikage	He’s always carrying it in one hand, isn’t he?
	It’s like it’s become a part of his body.
Itaru	Thanks for the compliment.
Masumi	That’s not a compliment.
Chikage	How did you hear a compliment from that?
Izumi	Ahahaha…
Manager	The screening is done!
	You’ll be up soon, everyone~!
Chikage	Roger.
Itaru	‘Kay, it’ll be chill if I’ve ranked up to here for now.
	I’ll leave my phone—here.
	Alright, let’s head out?
Chikage	Why did you need to show such a refreshed look there?
Masumi	What a pain.
Itaru	When I heard about the collab, I was shocked out of my mind.
Chikage	He sure was.
Masumi	The way Itaru got hyped up was abnormal.
Itaru	I loved KniRoun’s works. I’ve been playing them since I was a kid, after all.
Chikage	His passionate speech on the opening day before the curtain rose was also impressive.
Itaru	Well, that’s just how much emotional attachment I have to it…
Masumi	He was playing a KniRoun game in the dressing room earlier too.
Itaru	Now, now, you don’t need to tell them that backstage story.
	Speaking of which—you started it with me, didn’t you, senpai?
	The KniRoun social game, I mean.
Chikage	Right. Chigasaki recommended it to me.
Itaru	Even though he’s got crazy luck and pulled 8 SSRs from the tutorial, he hasn't accepted my friend request yet.
Chikage	Well, it's not like I'm that into it.
Itaru	You liar~.
	You’re actually playing it in secret, aren’t you?
	Oh yeah. It’s a good chance, so wanna try it too, Masumi?
	The KniRoun social game.
Masumi	Ha? I’m—.
Itaru	—"not going to”, is what you’re gonna say, right?
	Even though the audience alllll have their eyes on you?
Masumi	…*Sigh*.
Audience member A	You got this, Masumi-kun~!
Audience member B	I play it too. It’s interesting!
Itaru	Wow, look, the audience members are cheering you on.
	By the way, I’m sure there are those who already know. But there’s a friend invite code to start the game.
	I’ll send you—.
Chikage	Then I’ll send you my invite code.
	You’re down, right, Masumi?
Masumi	…Sounds good.
Itaru	Eh? Even though you won’t become my friend…?
Chikage	Well, we’re brothers in the play.
Itaru	If you pull that card, then there’s nothing I can say…
Audience member C	Ahahaha!
Audience member D	It’s so cute that the brothers get along!

Izumi	The talk show wrapped up without a hitch.
	Great job, everyone.
Chikage	Good work.
Itaru	Senpai, please add me as a friend later.
Masumi	He still won’t let that go?
Chikage	Well, I’ll think about it.
Itaru	That’s a promise. I heard it, alright?
Izumi	(These three are the same as always.)
Itaru	Alright then, I gotta get home quickly and grind the event.
	First, I’ll go change…
Izumi	Ah, Itaru-san. You still have your polaroid to take, so please wait!
Itaru	Polaroid? Ahh, the present project that Sakyo-san was talking about?
	Got it. We can take it on the stage, right?
Izumi	Yeah!
	Alright, then without further ado~.
	*click*
	…Yep, it’s perfect!
Masumi	He looks shady as hell.
Chikage	Perhaps you should consider your age a little more.
Itaru	They really just say whatever they want, don’t they?
	How can they treat me like this?
Izumi	Ahahaha…
	…?
	(What a beautiful forest… Just where in the world is this?)
	I’ll head forward for now… huh…)
	(EH!? I’m floating…!?
	Also, my body shrunk!)
Monster	Grrrrr…
Izumi	!?
	(A monster!? And he’s coming right at me…!)
Monster	GWAHH!
Izumi	(I’m done for—!)
???	AQUA SWORD!
	*slash*
Izumi	…!
???	Gwen!
Izumi	Eh?
	(By Gwen, could he mean from KniRoun…?)
	(Which means that person is Lancelot… and I’m Gwen?)
	(I’ll just go with the flow for now.)
Lancelot	You’re not hurt, are you?
Izumi	N-no. I’m alright.
	Thank you very much.
Lancelot	Thank goodness…
	If something happened to you, Gwen, then I’d…
Izumi	Lancelot…
Lancelot	…Gwen, you’re really precious to me.
	I’ll never let you go again, Gwen.
Izumi	—.
	—!
	(A dream…?)
	That was a pretty strange dream…
	I see, I dozed off in the middle of my task.
	I still have some work left, so I’ll brew some tea…
	Huh, Itaru-san?
Itaru	Director-san?
	You’re still awake?
Izumi	I was in the middle of doing work, so I came to make some tea to keep myself awake.
Itaru	I also just came since I thought I’d procure some onigiri as a midnight snack.
Izumi	You don’t let go of your phone even when you're heating up the onigiri, huh?
Itaru	That’s right.
CHOICE 1: I’ll make tea [+] Izumi I’ll make enough tea for you too, Itaru-san. Itaru Are you sure? Thanks. I wanted to go back to my room and eat these once they were warmed up. But if you’re here, then maybe I’ll eat here too? I have a couple onigiri, so you can have half. Izumi Are you sure? Okay, I’ll have some then. But weren’t you in the middle of your game? Itaru Well, yeah. But once I clear this part, it’s chill. …I’d like to kick back and relax with with you. In other words, this is my friendly midnight snack time with Director-san. Izumi Ahaha. Midnight snack time, huh?
CHOICE 2: In my dream, Lancelot… [+] Izumi Actually, I dozed off earlier and in my dream, Lancelot appeared. Itaru Say whaaat—I’m jelly. I wanna see him too. …I wonder if I’ll be able to see him if I sleep together with Director-san? Izumi Uh, no, there’s no way that’s going to happen! I’m pretty sure I had that sort of dream since I saw you in your Lancelot getup. Itaru Eh? …So you’re telling me the Lancelot in your dream looked like me and not the one from the game? Izumi Yeah. Itaru I see. …It's a weird feeling, like I feel happy and ticklish. But I guess it's safe to think that I've become a memorable enough Lancelot for people to dream about. Izumi Fufu, that’s right. Itaru Thanks. I'll do my best to become an even cooler Lancelot if I get the chance to play him again.
Izumi	Speaking of which, did you get the reward Lancelot you were playing for?
Itaru	I’ve already gotten enough for the points bonus. Here’s the boy.
Izumi	Oh, you did.
	Heh… he looks amazing.
Itaru	I know, right?
	Wanna start the KniRoun social game too, Director-san?
	I’ll send you the invite code.
	Of course I’ll thoroughly teach you how to play.
	Now then, welcome to KniRoun mania.
Izumi	I feel like there’d be no turning back, so I’ll have to pass!

Anna