| Izumi | Hurry up, guys! We only have a little bit of time until the curtain rises…! |
| Sakyo | Shit, this kimono is making it difficult for me to walk…! |
| Azami | I could only apply minimal makeup since we were running out of time. |
| Itaru | We didn’t even have time to think of a plan to make the audience drunk and weaken their ability to judge. |
| Azami | ...Hold on; are you planning to do that for real? |
| Izumi | Chikage-san, you're the shogun, right? Come on, give them some compliments. |
| Chikage | ...You all are beautiful, I guess. |
| Itaru | You’re so bad at giving compliments. Do it again. |
| Azami | You didn’t even mean it. |
| Sakyo | If you’re gonna praise us, do it properly. |
| Chikage | ...The inner palace ladies are scary. |
| Izumi | Ahaha… |
| Visitor A | Look! It’s the princesses! |
| Visitor B | Whoa, they’re so beautiful! |
| Azami | ...All this attention is makin’ me nervous. |
| Sakyo | Yeah. I’ve never felt this nervousness before. Maybe it’s because we’ll be takin’ on female roles. |
| Itaru | We’re gonna suffer public humiliation if they realize we’re men. |
| Izumi | (They all look stiff. It’s going to affect our play at this rate.) |
| (I need to do something to ease their tension…) |
| Homare | Fufu. |
| Visitor A | OMG! She’s waving at me! |
| Azami | Hey, stop makin’ yourself more stand out than you already are! |
| Homare | Hm? Is there any problem with that? As an inner palace lady, we need to have not only beauty, but also confidence. |
| I think we’re all beautiful. Don’t you think so, Chikage-kun? |
| Chikage | ...Yes, and I’m not lying. |
| Homare | You heard him. Even the shogun thinks you’re beautiful, so have some confidence. But well, the most beautiful one is still me. |
| Azami | ...That’s some crazy confidence you have there. |
| Homare | If I don’t have any confidence, I can’t live as an inner palace lady who dominates the monsters during pandemonium. |
| As a lady living in the inner palace, you should at least think that you’re the most beautiful person in the world. |
| Now, ladies, be proud and confident! |
| Itaru | Be proud and confident, huh. |
| Sakyo | ...Well, I guess it’s something we need to do when playing a female character. |
| Azami | Yeah, right. I even did my best to put makeup on you guys… |
| Homare | Forget about courtesans parade. This is now the time for inner palace ladies parade. |
| Itaru, Azami and Sakyo | Fufu. |
| Homare | Fufufu… |
| Chikage | … |
| Visitor A | Awesome! Is this a princess parade or something? |
| Visitor B | All of them are beautiful! |
| Visitor C | Even the shogun is beautiful… |
| Izumi | (Whoa, they’re cheering wildly….! None of them seem to realize they’re actually men.) |
| (However… I don’t think we can make it in time if this keeps up.) |
| (I have no choice but to ask Tsumugi-san to postpone the show…) |
| Tsumugi | “Hello?” |
| Izumi | Sorry, Tsumugi-san, can you ask the person in charge to postponeーー. |
| Homare | Can you pass over the phone to me, director-kun? |
| Tsumugi-kun, can you buy us some time? |
| Izumi | Homare-san!? |
| Homare | We promise to enter the venue in tip-top shape. Therefore, I want you to keep the venue in tip-top condition. |
| This is my… our new challenge. I’m sure we can do it. |
| Right, Tsumugi-kun? |
| Tsumugi | “...I understand. Please leave it to us.” |
| Homare | I apologize for suddenly taking over your phone, director-kun. |
| Izumi | No, it’s fine… But… are you sure he’s gonna be alright? |
| Homare | Certainly. Our leader is reliable. |
| Izumi | …You have a point. |
| (Let’s trust Homare-san and Tsumugi-san right now…) |
| |
| Tsumugi | ...and that’s what he said. |
| Muku | Buying time… can we really do that…? |
| Tsumugi | ...Muku-kun, don’t you think Homare-san is more pumped up than before this time? |
| Muku | Now that you mention it, yeah he is… |
| Tsumugi | While Homare-san has always been eager and brimming with curiosityーー. |
| He seems to be having so much fun preparing for this play, be it practicing for his role or resolving our costume issues. |
| It made me curious why he seemed to be all fired up, so I decided to directly ask him just before he went to the kimono store. |
| |
| Homare | To tell you the truth, my column series that has always been published on magazine has recently been moved online. |
| So I’ve considered to completely revamp the content of my column too. |
| Don’t you feel excited when you do something you’ve never done before, or learn something new? I simply enjoy doing that. |
| |
| Muku | ...That just sounds like Arisu-san. |
| Tsumugi | I know, right. Then, I remember this. |
| Muku | This is… a Japanese poem anthology? |
| Tsumugi | Seeing Homare-san have fun to his heart content makes me want to try something new too. |
| I’d like you to cooperate too, Muku-kun, |
| Muku | ...All right. I’ll help you out! |
