Juza Hyodo/Give Me Light

New Stage, Old Stage

Backstage Stories

Part 1Part 2Part 3

Omi	How’s the cocoa?
Juza	‘s good.
Omi	I’m glad there wasn’t any traffic today. We were going pretty fast.
Juza	Thought it’d take longer to get here.
Omi	Same. At this rate, we’ll probably be able to make it back before dark.
Juza	‘s nice when the roads are empty.
Omi	It’s great for clearing your mind.
Juza	D’ya ever ride with the members of Wolf?
Omi	Our schedules never match up, so I haven’t been able to recently. Their visit backstage was the first time I’d seen them in a while.
Juza	Right… whenever the Wolf guys drop by, it feels like we always get a lotta stares…
Omi	Ah—well, it’ll be alright so long as they’re not picking fights.
Juza	I get that.
Omi	Anyways, we went drinking afterwards, and I mentioned that the two of us go riding sometimes. They said you ought to join them once in a while.
Juza	If I did, we might get mistaken for a real biker gang…
Omi	Ahaha, everyone’s calmed down since those days, so it’ll probably be fine.
	Well, another time then.
Juza	Mm.
Omi	Everyone was also praising the performance.
	It was strange seeing them support my acting dreams. I got a little self-conscious about it.
Juza	S’pose your dreams and Nachi’s dreams have become theirs too.
Omi	I suppose so.
	Although I doubt I’d be able to support myself as an actor alone. I’ll have to think of some other careers after graduation.
Juza	You have my support.
Omi	Thank you.
	Anyways, it’s about time we head back.
Juza	Mm.
Omi	Let’s invite Kumon along next time. He’d probably wanna join in.
Juza	He’ll have to get his license first though.
Omi	Speaking of Kumon, didn’t he get in trouble with Sakyo for trying to buy tickets to every single performance?
Juza	Mm. He ended up getting staff seats after helping out backstage.
Omi	Ahaha. I guess he really wanted to see his precious brother’s shining moment. Can’t be mad about that.
	We’re home
Izumi	Nice timing you guys! I’ve got so good news for you, Juza.
Juza	?
Yuzo	Yo.
Juza	Yuzo…?

Taichi	Juza’s gonna be a guest actor for Yuzo’s troupe!?
Izumi	You guys remember how he wanted to break out of his comfort zone, right?
	Well, I talked to Yuzo about it, and he brought up guest auditions for his upcoming show.
	There were a lot of new actors trying out for the role, but Juza beat them all fair and square for it.
	Now they’re rehearsing even as we speak.
Azami	Oh? That’s pretty impressive.
Omi	This’ll be Juza’s first guest performance won’t it?
Taichi	Yuzo can be totally brutal… I hope he survives…
Sakyo	It’ll be a good learning experience for him.
Izumi	I requested tickets for everyone in the Autumn Troupe, so make sure your schedules are free that day
Taichi	Lookin’ forward to it!
Omi	I wonder what kind of play it’ll be. Something outside of his comfort zone…
Banri	…He never knows when to quit, does he? Stubborn bastard.
Izumi	You’re going too, right? Banri?
Banri	Might as well. It’ll make for a good laugh.
Sakyo	Haven’t been here since the boy did his portrait.
Omi	I don’t often get the chance to see plays.
Azami	Comin’ here again makes me realize how huge this place is.
Sakyo	Oi, focus. Don’t forget the point of bein’ here at all is to learn.
Taichi	I wonder what kinda role Juza will be playing this time.
Izumi	I haven’t heard anything either. I wanted to be surprised.
Banri	Hope he doesn’t flake out in the middle of the performance.
Actor A	“Bastards… strike them all down!”
Actor B	“Hraaah!”
Actor C	“Hah!!”
Izumi	(So it’s a period drama filled with fierce battle scenes… as always, the staging is fantastic. It draws you right in.)
	(This theme is perfect for Juza, but how will it push him out of the ordinary…)
Juza	“Leave it to me! I won’t let anyone lay a finger on you!”
Actor A	“Bold words from someone shaking in their pants.”
Juza	“Ahaha! Yer not wrong there!”
Izumi	(Ah, I get it now. It’s his first time playing a bright and cheerful character)
Juza	“E—eee! No! I gotta get it together! I can’t run from here, I swore to it! I—”
Izumi	(Despite being nothing like Juza, his earnesty highlights the character’s genuineness)
Juza	“Look out…! Agh!”
	“I- I told you… I won’t let anyone… lay a finger…”
Actor A	“Oi! Get it together!”
Izumi	(He was only there for one scene, but he still put everything he had into the role. Though it was just a moment, he was shining on that stage.)
	(Juza, you’ve become a truly amazing actor… I can’t wait to see where you go from here.)
Taichi	Juza was crazy up there!
Azami	It was a totally different vibe than usual.
Omi	I’d never seen anything like it until now.
Sakyo	So he’s managed a breakthrough yet again.
Izumi	Since we’re here, let’s go visit him backstage!
Omi	Why not?
Banri	Sorry, but I’ll hafta pass. Got plans, so I’mma head out.
Izumi	Oh, really?
Sakyo	See you, then.
Taichi	Later!!
Banri	Hey Director…
Izumi	?
Banri	Can ya get me a copy of the script?
Izumi	I think I can ask Yuzo for one. Could I give it to you later?
Banri	‘Course, thanks.
Izumi	(He probably wants to act it out himself…)
	(I bet he was thinking about how he would play the character the whole time we were watching Juza.)
	(Banri, you’re also becoming an even greater actor, aren’t you?)

Izumi	Huh? Where’s Juza?
Taichi	I haven’t seen him since dinner.
Izumi	I wanted to talk to him about today’s performance… maybe he’s in his room?
Omi	Ah, Director. If Juza’s in there, could you give him this? It’s his portion of tonight’s onion gratin soup. Here’s yours too.
Izumi	Whoa, this looks delicious! Thank you!
	(He’s not in his room or the courtyard. Which leaves one more place…)
Juza	“Leave it to me! I won’t let anyone lay a finger on you!”
	“Ahaha! Yer not wrong there!”
Izumi	(As suspected, he’s been practicing this whole time.)
	Juza, great work today.
Juza	…!
Izumi	Here’s your dinner from Omi. If you want to keep practicing, I can just leave it here.
Juza	…Nah, I’ll eat.
Izumi	Great! Let’s eat together then.
Juza	Mm.
Izumi	How was performing with Yuzo’s troupe?
Juza	The actors there and the way they do things were completely different, but it made things interestin’.
	Even though Yuzo went even harder on me than usual, I learned a lot.
Izumi	I see, that’s great to hear.
Juza	Director… thanks.
Izumi	Clearing that audition was all you, Juza.
	Yuzo looked pretty happy with the outcome and the rest of Autumn Troupe seemed hyped about it too.
Juza	Err, it’s not just ‘bout the performance.
	I’ve… always wanted to become someone else.
	The first time I stood on stage, I was happy to finally be someone worthy of respect.
	But whenever the curtains closed, I always went back to bein’ myself. I just couldn’t escape from the life of Hyodo Juza.
	Yet, even after realizin’ this, I didn’t despair…
	…Because of those autumn guys and the interviews they did for me. After watching them, I felt like I could see myself, just a little bit more, as a worthy actor.
	Because people I respected saw the value in me, the actor, Hyodo Juza.
	I believed what you told me, that there are roles only I can play because of who I am. By getting to know Blood, I discovered the similarities between us.
	No, not just similarities, but parts of myself that I had never noticed before.
Izumi	I see…
	(Juza, who used to be pessimistic and self-deprecating, can now recognize his own strengths.)
	(It’s important for actors to be aware of how they appear to an audience. Surely, this will help Juza continue to grow in leaps and bounds…)
	That was some great soup.
Juza	Yeah.
Izumi	Well then, I’ll get out of your hair. Good luck with your practicing!
Juza	…Wait. There’s one more thing I gotta thank you for.
Izumi	?
Juza	When I first joined up with the troupe, I had to be the hammiest actor in existence. Yet, you still gave me a major role in our opening show…
	Thank you, for everything that I’ve learned and all the experiences I’ve gained since.
Izumi	Juza…
Juza	Could you stay and watch somethin’ for me? There’s somethin’ I wanna show ya.
Izumi	Of course!
Juza	…
	“Hello, mom? It’s me. I just checked the results.”
Izumi	(T- these are the lines from the troupe auditions?)
Juza	“Yeah. I passed. Really.”
Izumi	(Juza sure was a hammy actor back then, but I totally related to that.)
	(I used every trick in the book, all of the improvement methods that I had to go through…)
Juza	“Yeah, I can’t believe it either.”
Izumi	(And now he’s become an amazing actor… no, I’m sure he’ll become an even greater actor in the future.)
	(That, I can count on. How exciting.)
Juza	“Thank you.”
Izumi	(No, thank you, Juza. Let’s keep working at it together.)

Circle