Yuki Rurikawa/Tehepero Funny Guy

The Hard Fight for Triangle Jokes!?

Backstage Stories

Part 1Part 2

Izumi	Misumi, Yuki, you two will be participating in the Grand Prix this time, right?
Yuki	Yeah. So we got together planning to have a prep meeting, but—
Misumi	Hey, hey, let’s make our duo name “Sankaku”~!
Yuki	No. I mean, I rejected it earlier, too.
Misumi	Then, “Triangle”~!
Yuki	That’s just triangle in English. You thought I’d allow that?
Misumi	Yuki’s harsh... boooo.
Izumi	N-Now, now. Misumi-kun’s just throwing out ideas, right?
Yuki	Sigh... I guess I should say, the manzai routine should come before the name.
Misumi	Oh, gotcha! Then, okay! I wanna do a triangle skit!
Yuki	What? What’s that?
Misumi	Um well, it’s like this~!
	—Yes! Triangle love!
	Well? Well? Doesn’t that seem funny?
Izumi	Umm... you got your incredible love for triangles across, but...
Yuki	Rejected.
Misumi	Whaaaaat?
Izumi	(Looks like this is a hard fight...)
Kazunari	Ah, Yukki and Sumi! That was fast, you’re already practicing your manzai?
Yuki	Not yet. We’re in the middle of getting a routine out now.
Tenma	Huh. Going well?
Misumi	I made up a part~! Look look—yes! Triangle love!
Kazunari	Ahaha, Sumi, that’s great! Mega funny~!
Yuki	...does that look like it’s going well?
Tenma	Oof...
Misumi	Hey, hey, Yuki, why don’t you like it?
	I showed it to the cats earlier and they said it was funny~?
Yuki	Get back to me when humans find it funny.
Kumon	Ahaha, this back and forth is kinda already like manzai! It’s funny~!
Kazunari	Yeah! With this, could we seriously aim for victory!?
Muku	That would definitely be funny enough, but... I kind of want to see Yuki in the funny guy role.
Yuki	The hell?
Kumon	Oh, I kinda get what you mean! Like, Yuki’s always had the impression of the retorter, right?
Yuki	That’s because a certain hack is a hack.
Tenma	Hey! I keep telling you I’m not a hack!
Yuki	I never said the hack was you.
Tenma	Ghk...
Izumi	But Yuki-kun’s funny guy side is certainly something we don’t see too often, so it could be fresh and entertaining.
Kazunari	After talking about it, I’m kinda interested in that too~!
Kumon	Then, this time, Yuki will be the funny guy, and Sumi-san will be the straight man!
Yuki	WHAT!? Hold on, why are you making that choice on your own!?
Muku	Ah... could it be, Yuki-kun, you hate the funny guy role? I-I’m sorry... it’s my fault for running my mouth.
	Ughh... I’m an idiot that can’t read the mood, stupid, sloppy, my brain is just the dust that floats in your house...!
Yuki	Nobody’s saying that. ...I complain, but it’s not like I hate it or anything.
Muku	R-Really? ...thank goodness.
Yuki	Well, now that I think about it, I haven’t really been the funny guy much, so it might be a good experience.
Tenma	Then, that’s settled.
Misumi	Oka~y, I’ll do my best as the straight man~!

Tenma	The funny guy and straight man have been decided, so next is the actual routine.
Misumi	I still want to do a manzai routine with triangle jokes~ Tri-tri-triangle~
Kazunari	It’d be funny, but if there’s only one joke it could be restricting. Maybe it’d be good to have other ones that you can smoothly sprinkle in?
Kumon	What about prop comedy or something?
Yuki	No, Citrun does that.
Tenma	How about song jokes? Like a parody, or funny lyrics.
Yuki	If the championship comes down to lyrics, we’d be overshadowed by the shameless poemer. At least consider that.
Tenma	You’re being real harsh even though people are giving you their thoughts!
Izumi	A routine that won’t feel like it overlaps with the other teams... hmm.
Kazunari	—ah! Hey, hey, what about this?
	Every time Sumi retorts to Yuki’s goofing, he changes between three different personas!
Muku	Wow, that sounds pretty interesting!
Kazunari	Ooh, and what’s more, isn’t rotating between three characters kinda triangular!?
Yuki	No, that’s too much.
Misumi	Whoaaah, it’s a triangle~! Kazu, you’re a geniu~s!
Tenma	Does that make it a triangle!? What are you guys seeing!?
Izumi	A-Anyway, Misumi-kun likes Kazunari-kun’s idea. Yuki-kun?
Yuki	Well, if the person who’s doing it wants to then I guess it’s fine. The trianglian should be able to handle the different roles too.
Misumi	Ya~y!
Muku	Then, should we think about the three patterns the straight man’s character will have? What sort of characters do we think would work?
Kumon	Hmm... oh, like a high-and-mighty type!
Yuki	Ahh, so like the hack?
Tenma	Who are you calling a high-and-mighty hack!?
Izumi	Ahaha... um, in that case the others should be easy to understand too, right?
CHOICE 1: Like a sharp-tongued type? [+] Izumi Like a sharp-tongued type? Like, they harshly cut you down. Tenma I see, so a cheeky impression like Yuki? Yuki Shut up, hack. Also, that’ll overlap with my character so no.
CHOICE 2: Like a timid type? [+] Izumi Like a timid type? Like, they nervously retort. Kumon Like Muku! In that case, you also need negative wild fantasies! Yuki We’d certainly have the element of surprise, but I think it’d be tough since one mistake would turn it into the funny guy.
Kazunari	Ooh, ooh! I suggest a straight-laced type!
Muku	The image of a tough guy like Juchan or Sakyo-san! Misumi-san seems like he’d play that so cool...!
Kumon	In that case, for the last one, what about a super-cheerful character, like a party person!
Tenma	Ah, a trend-following type like Kazunari?
Yuki	Got it... yeah, works for me. They’ll be easy to tell apart, so the switch should be easy to make too.
Izumi	Then, the straight man’s characters will be a high-and-mighty type, a straight-laced type, and a trend-following type.
Kazunari	Oh~! Sounds like this’ll be a manzai we’ve never seen before! Ya~y, it’ll be a smash hit~!
Misumi	Smash hit~!
Yuki	Thanks for the help. We’ll come up with the rest, so you guys are off the hook.
Tenma	Got it. All that’s left is to enjoy the performance.
Kumon	Ah~ now I’m SO excited~!
Kazunari	Right? Will the champion finally come from the Summer Troupe this year!?
Muku	Wow, it’d be amazing if that happened...!
Izumi	We’re cheering for you, so do your best, you two!
Yuki	Yeah, yeah. ...well, grabbing the victory on our first try would be fun too.
Misumi	Oka~y, we’ll take first place with triangle manzai~!

Noodle