Muku Sakisaka/Fun School Life

The Blue Fellow and Ephemeral Red

Backstage Stories

Part 1Part 2

Muku	…
	*flips page*
Homare	Good morning, Muku-kun.
Muku	Good morning!
Homare	What are you reading there?
Muku	I’m reading a gymnasium manga to prepare for my role as a guide in the doll exhibit that you told us about the other day.
Homare	Wonderful!
	It delights me to see you tackling it so zealously.
Muku	I’m looking forward to it too.
Homare	When you speak of Muku-kun, the image of shoujo manga comes to mind. However, I see you also have manga about gymnasiums.
Muku	I do own a few books myself, but that’s due to my older sister’s influence.
	My sister loves gymnasium stuff, so I borrowed this from her.
Homare	What a great older sister you have.
	So, was there anything you would grasp from it?
Muku	Well…!
	In volume 1, page 25, the main character visits a certain greenhouse…
	And then there’s a scene where their classmate, who they met for the first time, was tending to the roses…
	The way the classmate’s side profile was drawn was really ephemeral. When they noticed the main character, they smiled and said, “welcome to my garden”!
Homare	Oh my, that depiction is very easy to imagine.
Muku	But I feel like it would be better to actually go to that sort of place for my role study…
Homare	If that’s the case, there is a fitting location.
Muku	Wait, really!?
Homare	It’s the botanical garden I visited in the past to write a column…
	It has a joint greenhouse café and the flowers are all in beautiful bloom.
Muku	A place like that exists, huh?
Homare	If you’d like, why don’t we go together?
	If it can also aid in your role study, then allow me to help.
Muku	Thank you so much!
	Please take me with you!
Homare	Very well. Let’s go on the weekend.
Muku	Okay!
Homare	…Speaking of that place, I wonder if that beautiful blue fellow will still be there?
Muku	?
	(I wonder if he knows someone with blue eyes…?)

Muku	Wow! The flowers are beautiful, just like you said, Arisu-san.
	It’s close to the image of the location I read in the manga.
Homare	This is the first time I’ve been here in a while as well, but its beauty hasn’t changed.
	Now then, you were talking about preparing for your role?
	Why don’t we try to recreate that scene from that manga?
Muku	I actually brought that manga with me.
	Arisu-san, could I ask you to play the classmate tending to the roses?
Homare	Why, of course.
Muku	“What beautiful roses. Is there someone taking care of them?”
Homare	“Now then, let’s give them some water.”
Muku	“That person…”
Homare	“…Oh my, I believe this is the first time we’ve met.
	Did you come here because you were attracted to these beautiful roses?”
Muku	“Ah…! H-hello.
	…I had no idea there was a greenhouse here.”
Homare	“That’s to be expected. Normally, not many people come to this room detached from the school house, after all.”
	“Welcome to my garden.”
Muku	Wow…!
	You were just like the classmate in the manga, Arisu-san!
Homare	You think so?
	I hope this was of help to you, Muku-kun…
Muku	…Ah.
	(There’s a blue butterfly on Arisu-san’s head…)
Homare	Oh?
	…It’s you. Hm, it appears you love my head.
	It seems beautiful things are naturally attracted to beautiful things.
Muku	(UWAHH…!! Arisu-san looked even lovelier just now!
	It’s like I wandered into the world of a manga…)
	Ah, the butterfly…
Homare	It went on its way.
	Now then, were you able to grasp the image?
Muku	Yes, thank you very much!
	It’s because you embodied my ideal gymnasium.
Homare	I am glad to hear that.
	…However, when I think about it, perhaps it would have been better for you to play this role.
	Would you like to switch and act it out once more?
Muku	It’s okay. Being able to experience that scene in person, I was able to visualize that fleeting ideal perfectly.
	Thanks to that, I bet I’ll be able to express it!
Homare	I am delighted you found it useful.
Muku	Ehehe, it was lots of fun.
Homare	…Ha!
Muku	What’s the matter?
Homare	Thanks to that blue fellow, my poetic inspiration is overflowing and cannot be stopped!
	I must return home and write it down posthaste.
Muku	Oh no! Let’s hurry back!
	We’re home.
Yuki	Welcome back.
Homare	Alas, I shall go pen my poem right away.
Muku	Sure, thank you so much for today!
Kazunari	Where’d you guys go~?
Muku	I asked Arisu-san to take me to a botanical garden for the gymnasium event.
Yuki	Oh, that thing Kumon also did?
Kazunari	You were reading a manga about gymnasiums in our room too, right!
Muku	I was having trouble expressing the image…
	But I feel like I can pull it off now. Would you two have a look?
Yuki	Sure.
Kazunari	Show us!
Muku	(Remember that fleeting moment of playing with the butterflies…)
	…
Kazunari	Ooh~!
Yuki	Not bad at all.
	Was that thanks to the manga?
Muku	That helped too. But I was trying to imitate Arisu-san just now.
Yuki	Eh?
Kazunari	Aririn?
Homare	Fluttering butterfly, glittering rose…
	Emotional collaboration on the back of my head!!
	Mhm, a splendid poem indeed!
	I am a genius, after all!
Yuki	Him? Really?
Kazunari	Which part was he imitating…?

Anna