 |
| Juza | …I can’t find the right words. |
| Hmm… |
| Kumon | Nii-chan, let’s go to the park! |
| Juza | ——. |
| Kumon | Oh? Nii-chan, are you doing homework? |
| Juza | No. This is just garbage. |
| Kumon | What?! Why are you throwing it away?! |
| Juza | This was supposed to be my graduation essay… but it was too long so I’ve been editing it down. |
| Kumon | … |
| Juza | You said you wanted to go to the park, right? Let’s go. |
| Kumon | Y-Yeah, okay. |
 |
| Announcer | That concludes today's performance. |
| Please make sure not to leave your personal belongings behind and head home safely. |
| Omi | Wow, looks like Yuzo and his troupe’s hard work really paid off. |
| Taichi | Yeah, Juza was holding his own pretty well too! |
| Sakyo | I’m sure he’s proud of his performance. |
| Omi | Well, since we came all the way here we should go greet them backstage. |
| Sakyo | Are you coming, Settsu? |
| Banri | …Yeah, sure. |
| Sakyo | You weren’t going to just head out, were you? |
| Banri | That wouldn’t be any fun, now would it? |
| Omi | Doesn’t that seem like something worth commenting on? |
| Taichi | Yeah, Juza and Banri used to be at each other’s throats all the time, but nowadays? Seems like they’re getting closer little by little. |
 |
| Sakyo | Excuse our intrusion. |
| Taichi | Good work today, Juza! |
| Banri | Yo, Hyodo, let’s talk about that fight scene. |
| Juza | What about it? |
| Banri | Yeah, so I was thinking about that scene and there’s a better way you could’ve done it. You seemed to have the right idea, but it was pretty sloppy execution. Didn’t work at all. |
| But well, guess it was okay since you really hammed it up… Dummy. |
| Taichi | …Nevermind what I said earlier, they haven’t changed a bit! |
| Juza | I see. |
| I get that you’re a lot more experienced when it comes to stuff like this, so I’ll take your advice into serious consideration, Settsu. |
| Banri | …Yeaaahh you don’t have to be that serious. |
| Omi | Haha, seems you were right about them getting closer little by little after all. |
| Taichi | I could almost cry. |
| Juza | If you guys have any observations or advice as audience members, I’d like to hear from you too. |
| Sakyo | Hmm… I suppose one thing would be that there were times where it was difficult to see the action from our seats in the audience. You could have exaggerated your movements for clarity. |
| Taichi | I thought the scenes where you guys clashed swords were super cool! |
| Omi | I think this was the perfect role for you to show your dramatic acting chops. But I think it would’ve been nice to see you take on some of the emotional parts with a bit more confidence. |
| Juza | Gotcha. |
| Banri | The script was kinda all over the place. |
| Taichi | Yeah, it had a lot of filler in it. |
| Omi | Agreed. Anyway, I brought some lemon pie. |
| Juza | Thank you. |
| Yuzo | Yo, you guys really showed up. |
| Troupe Member A | And that’s what really got me fired up. |
| Troupe Member B | I felt like it was a little more difficult than usual. |
| Troupe Member A | It’s not like it’s something I would be ashamed of. |
| Juza | …Hm. |
| Omi | Hey, good luck tomorrow. |
| Juza | Thanks for comin’. |
| I’ll absorb your advice from today and do my best to improve my performance for the finale. |
| Sakyo | Don’t let yourself slack off. |
| Taichi | We’ve got your back all the way! |
 |
| Tsuzuru | Oh, hey Juza, you got lunch set A? That one caught my eye too. |
| Juza | The pork fried with ginger in set B didn’t look bad either. |
| Tsuzuru | Yeah, it was great. I made sure to eat every last piece. |
| On another note, is Yuzo off today? |
| Juza | Yep, he’s off. |
| Tsuzuru | I heard the Autumn Troupe came to visit you yesterday. Seems like you really impressed them. |
| I’m sure you’re doing amazing with all the skills you’ve built up. You have a way of expressing yourself on stage like no one else. |
| Juza | Thanks. |
| Tsuzuru | The finale is next week, right? |
| Juza | Yep. |
| Kumon and Muku are coming to the soiree before the finale, and Azami and the director are coming for the finale ‘cause they can’t attend the earlier performances. I’m gonna do my best to stay focused until the very end. |
| Thing is, I’ve been so engrossed in each performance that I’ve made mistakes because of it… |
| Tsuzuru | You’d think being engrossed in your performance would be a strength for an actor rather than a disadvantage. |
| I don’t think it’s a bad thing to be intense about your work, but take care not to overdo it, either. |
| Juza | Noted… |
| Tsuzuru | Now that I think about it, you’re going to have to dive right into Autumn’s 8th play after you finish with Yuzo’s. |
| Let me know if you have any requests as the lead. |
| Juza | Yeah. I haven’t really had a chance to sit and think about it. |
| I’ve been learning a lot as a guest performer so I wanna make sure I get an idea of what to take into Autumn’s show before I forget. |
| I don’t want to embarrass myself in front of all the people who’ve gone out of their way to help me out. |
| Tsuzuru | Sounds like some good motivation. |
| Juza | Practice is fun, but the trouble is trying to balance performances with my school work…. |
| Tsuzuru | Ahh. What was that you were working on? We’re both in the literature department so I might be able to make things easier on you. |
| Juza | That lecture from Literature Studies class the other day was pretty interesting. |
| Tsuzuru | Yeah, it was. |
| Juza | I know we were told about some of the topics for the midterms during orientation, but they haven’t made a formal announcement. I was wonderin’ if you knew anything? |
| Tsuzuru | Oh… Well I only remember what was on the final but hmm... |
| For midterms, I think it was like a 10 page essay on an original topic or something. |
| Juza | N-No way… I can’t… My essays suck. |
| Even when I spend a long time writing for the troupe blog, it turns into some kind of boring anecdote… |
| Tsuzuru | Nah, I think you’ll be fine whether it’s an essay or even a poem. |
| Besides, the midterm is just something the professor does to get a feel for the students. If I recall it doesn’t have much bearing on your final grade. |
| Juza | Is that right… Okay. If I ever struggle with writer's block, I’d be happy if you could help. |
| Tsuzuru | Don’t even worry about it. |
| Oh, that reminds me. Would you wanna read this as a sample? |
| Juza | “A Guide to Simple Writing”...? |
| Tsuzuru | I don’t know if you remember, but my younger brother Tooru wanted to be a writer, right? I was thinking about giving this to him as a gift. |
| I thought I could lend it to you first since he won’t get it until the next time I stop by home. |
| Juza | No, it’s for your brother, I can’t possibly— |
| Tsuzuru | Juza. I will like anything you write. In exchange, how about you read this for me? |
| Juza | Alright then… Thank you. |
| Tsuzuru | Good luck. |
 |
| Izumi | (I’ve come here to see Yuzo’s troupe in the past, but the venue is completely different when there’s a full house.) |
| (No matter how many performances they do, their popularity remains steady.) |
| Wow, the main cast is full of veterans! I’m sure Juza’s learned a lot from his time here. |
| Azami | This decked out venue would make anyone nervous. |
| Izumi | Didn’t you perform a portrait here before? |
| Azami | Ahh… Yeah, I remember being all over the place. Most of it is a blur. |
| A venue like this is perfect for getting into the zone, so no need to worry about Juza getting stage fright or anything. |
| Izumi | That’s right. |
| Azami | I bet the hair and make up are gonna be stunning. |
| Announcer | Thank you all for coming to Furinkazan Troupe’s performance, “The Castle of the Dragon.” |
| Before we begin, there are a few things we ask of our audience. |
| Izumi | … |
| (Hmm, now that I think of it, I remember being pretty surprised when Juza got the initial offer from Yuzo...) |
 |
| Izumi | Oh, Yuzo, what was it you wanted to talk about? |
| (He implied it was something about Juza…) |
| Yuzo | The main cast wants to know if Juza’s available to make a guest appearance in one of our shows. |
| Izumi | Huh!? The main cast asked!? Wow, what an honor! |
| Yuzo | All of us had a grand ol’ talk and agreed that Juza would be the best choice. |
| Izumi | What do you think, Juza? |
| Juza | I don’t want to disappoint you. I really want to participate. |
| But Mankai is my top priority, you know. I’m putting our plans first. |
| Yuzo | O-Of course, yes, well that’s why I came to speak with the director. Anyway, here’s the schedule. |
| The writer’s still in the process of finishing up the script, but there are quite a few on stage sword battles. It requires a lot of difficult, intensive practice. |
| Izumi | Umm, well to be honest our troupe has already made some plans for Autumn’s next play… |
| Ahh, it looks like the practices will overlap a bit. |
| Well, we still haven’t finalised the script yet so I guess we can push our practices back some for this. |
| Yuzo | Hold on a sec. Not a problem. |
| “—Hello, hello?” |
| “Yeah, about the schedule—oh, yes.” |
| Izumi | (Yuzo sure is scrambling around…) |
| Yuzo | “Alright then, let’s do that.” |
| …Good. |
| Decision made. We’re gonna switch the order of our plays. The plan was for Juza to guest star in the play after next, but now we’ll have him guest in our next play. |
| Izumi | HUH!? |
| Juza | This is better though, right? |
| Yuzo | Already passed things to the department head. Mankai’s been pretty busy lately, hasn’t it? |
| No need to worry, we left room for adjustments in the schedule from the beginning. |
| Anyway, you'll be a real lifeboat for our writer. Practice starts next week, but the script isn’t even complete. |
| Juza coming in as a guest performer might be exactly what our writer needs for motivation. I’m sure once they get to writing, they’ll be able to come up with something good for both this show and the next. |
| Izumi | (Sounds like a classic bout of writer's block. They want to write, but they can’t find the words. Now where have I heard that before…?) |
| Yuzo | I said on the phone that we were going to be switching the order of the plays, so it gives us a good chance to hype up the fans. |
| Clothes and make up won’t be an issue. The actors have already skimmed over what we have of the script. |
| We’ll confirm the change in schedule soon. |
| By the way, the practice and performance schedule is from here to here. |
| Izumi | Oh! This won’t overlap with Autumn’s play at all! Wow, this is great news, Juza! |
| Juza | … |
| Yuzo | What’s wrong? |
| Juza | Nothing… I understand you and your troupe’s situation. I just can’t help wondering if you guys really need an actor like me. |
| Izumi | Juza… |
| I understand your hesitation, but this is a great opportunity. It’s a once in a lifetime thing, right? |
| You shouldn’t pass up this kind of chance. |
| But I’ll respect your decision regardless. Just say the word. |
| Juza | …I’ll do it. |
| Izumi | Alrighty. |
| Yuzo | So it’s decided. |
| Izumi | By the way, from the looks of it your script writer seems really interested in Juza. |
| It fills me with so much gratitude and so much joy. Juza Hyodo is the pride of Mankai Company, after all! |
| Yuzo | Yeah, I know. You’re starting to talk about him like he’s your little brother. |
| We were doing portraits for our opening performance at the same time as Autumn Troupe’s debut play practices. |
| Our script writer saw Juza and had nothing but praise for him. |
| Juza | —— |
| Izumi | All the way back then?! |
| Wow, that’s amazing, Juza. One by one, you planted seeds for your future. |
| The reason an opportunity like this came up was because you’ve diligently put in the work over these past few years. |
| Juza | …Now that I know that, there’s no way I can say no. |
| Izumi | Yeah, I’m supporting you. |
| (But somehow I get the vibe that Juza still isn’t completely onboard. It makes me a little nervous.) |
|
| Izumi | Everyone’s been enjoying Juza’s acting. |
| Azami | When Muku and Kumon came to the show before this, they sent me walls and walls of text on LIME. |
| Izumi | Ahaha, yeah! It made me excited to see things for myself. |
| (It’s good to know my worries back then were just groundless fears.) |
