Itaru | Footgear obtained! Victory is mine! |
Tsuzuru | Itaru-san, I brought the notebook. |
Itaru | I’m busy rn, so just leave it there. |
Tsuzuru | Sigh... I’m coming in. |
| Ugh, you made a mess again.... |
Itaru | I’ve been busy with work lately. |
Tsuzuru | No, it’s because all you do when you come home is play games... You should clean up a little. |
Itaru | It’s fine. I know where everything is, and I’ve arranged stuff so it’s as easy to use as possible. |
Tsuzuru | And now you’re bringing out the same logic as my older bro... |
Itaru | ...Which one? The eldest? |
Tsuzuru | Yeah. He’s always traveling and wandering and never comes home, but if I clean up his room, he yells at me because he can’t find anything. |
Itaru | Sounds like we’d get along. |
| —Armgear obtained! |
Tsuzuru | Please just hurry up and write your message. We’re not gonna finish in time. |
Itaru | I’ll do it later. |
Tsuzuru | I don’t want the notebook to get buried in this room, so I’m going to watch till you start writing. |
Itaru | Boo. |
Tsuzuru | Please hurry up. |
Itaru | Yeah, yeah. Fine. |
| —Here, I’m holding the pen. Satisfied? |
Tsuzuru | When you’re done, hand it to Citron-san and Sakuya. |
Itaru | You know, I’m bad at writing stuff by hand. I’m on a computer all the time, so I forget my kanji. Doesn’t that happen to you, too? |
Tsuzuru | I don’t know! |
Itaru | —That’s right, Tsuzuru. |
Tsuzuru | Yes? |
Itaru | Since you’re used to cleaning onii-chan’s room, feel free to clean this one too—. |
Tsuzuru | Even if I clean it, you’re just gonna make a mess of it in no time, Itaru-san. I wouldn’t do it even if I got paid. |
Itaru | So cold... |
| *Door closes* |
Itaru | Now for the message. What to do... |
| What did they write? |
| —Masumi’s page is hurting my eyes. |
| Tsuzuru’s is a private letter... guess I’ll go with something like that too. |
| .... |
| (First anniversary, huh... I didn’t think I’d stay here for so long.) |
| (Three meals a day sounded great, but we all lived way too close for my comfort, and most of all, I had no intention of doing theater seriously.) |
| (I joined the troupe to save on living expenses... even I can admit that’s pretty awful.) |
| (It’s such a huge difference from Sakuya and Tsuzuru, who joined because they wanted to do theater. That difference in passion frustrated me during our first performance...) |
| |
Itaru | “It's better for me to quit now; that way, you'll have time to search for a replacement.” |
Izumi | “......" |
Itaru | “So I'm thinking of telling everyone tomorrow—.” |
Izumi | “—Please wait!!” |
| “Are you still not interested in theater? Do you not care about standing on stage with everyone?” |
| |
Itaru | (When Director-san stopped me back then, I couldn’t push her away. I don’t know why, but...) |
| (I was left hanging, and then they came along with a weird street act and stopped me. That act was really terrible.) |
| (But in the end, that’s what moved me...) |
| (No, maybe—somewhere in my heart, I wanted to stay. I wanted to stand on stage with them until the end...) |
| .... |
| (Yeah, I’m glad I stayed.) |
| (I was happy that they told me the troupe needed me; I’m glad I stayed. Thanks to that, I found all sorts of interesting things other than games.) |
| ...I guess this is thanks to Director-san, too. |
| “Take care of me from now on, too.” There we go. |
| There’s still some space left... I’ll doodle a game character or something. |
| |
Itaru | Sakuya, Citron, you here? |
Citron | Ye—s. |
Itaru | The notebook. Tsuzuru wouldn’t stop nagging me to write it and pass it on, so I finished in a flash. |
Citron | Oh, the loot! I’ll deal with it! |
Itaru | Suddenly it sounds fishy. When Sakuya is done, pass it on to the Summer Troupe. |
Sakuya | All right! |
Itaru | —Oh, this. You left it on your desk? |
Sakuya | Yes! |
Itaru | Morning, Robo Number One. |
Citron | Now I’ll finish it in a bash, too~. |
Sakuya | You mean flash. |
| Citron-san, what kind of message will you write? |
Citron | Fufu... I have a secret weapon. |
Sakuya | A secret weapon? |
Citron | Ta-da! |
Sakuya | ...A brush pen? |
Citron | I can’t differentiate myself if I just write with simple letters. Now is the time for me to show off the special techniques Sakoda taught me... |
| Ultimate move... shashashashasha! |
Sakuya | Wow, amazing, Citron-san! Your penmanship is beautiful. What did you write—. |
| “One cent at a time....?” |
| That’s, um, rather cheap. |
Citron | It’s a phrase to express how fortunate you are to meet someone. |
Sakuya | Maybe you mean “Once in a lifetime”... |
Citron | .... |
| (By chance, I saw the Spring Troupe’s street act on Veludo Way, and Director invited me to join this troupe....) |
| (I don’t think it was chance. I think it was fate.) |
| (Even when my pursuers came all the way to this town, and I tried to leave the troupe to keep everyone out of trouble, Director accepted me.) |
| (She stopped me because I was a member of this troupe.) |
| |
Citron | “...Why would you go so far for me?” |
Izumi | “Because I need every single one of you to stand on stage together for the performance.” |
| “Citron-kun, I know that you’re working really hard on your articulation and intonation. Your acting keeps getting better and better.” |
| “But most importantly, I love seeing how happy you are during practice.” |
| “Plus, Citron-kun, you lighten up the air, and influence everyone around you in a good way.” |
| “I’m not the only one who feels this way; I’m sure everyone else wants to keep working with you as well.” |
| |
Citron | (She accepted me without regard for my status—she accepted me for who I was as a person. That made me truly happy.) |
| (One day, I’ll have to say goodbye to everyone. But...) |
| (I won’t forget about this troupe. I won’t forget about everyone, no matter what. I can’t forget.) |
| ...Director, my meeting with you will last a lifetime. |