Tsuzuru Minagi/Captive Fairy

Inspired Fairy of Tribulations

Backstage Stories

Part 1Part 2Part 3

Izumi	Oh… Tsuzuru-kun! There’s something I wanted to ask your advice about, is now a good time?
Tsuzuru	Sure, what’s up?
Izumi	You see, the troupe got an offer to do a play for an event.
	The commissioner is a fan of MANKAI Company’s scripts, so they wanted me to ask you if you’d like to write for it, too.
Tsuzuru	I’d be happy to! What are the details of the event?
Izumi	It’ll be a museum targeted for kids. The theme itself will be about fairies, but…
	After making your script into a picture book, they requested that the story would be read to the kids along with a play-act.
	They also decided on the kind of fairies they want to make their appearance: one wildlife fairy and one botanical fairy.
	Oh, and they also want someone to act out as a floral fairy as well.
	What do you think, Tsuzuru-kun?
Tsuzuru	Sounds pretty doable to me. The theme sounds interesting too, so I’d like to give it a shot!
Izumi	That’s a relief to hear, thanks!
Tsuzuru	How’s about we talk about who’ll be acting for the parts during dinner time when everyone’s around?
Izumi	Sure, let’s do that!
Muku	Uwaah, that sounds fun!
Kumon	Doing the storytelling while acting it out seems interesting!
Tsumugi	Having a museum as the stage is a lovely idea, too.
Yuki	I’ve got the motivation to draw out fairy-themed outfits now.
Kazunari	It sounds like a picture-perfect event to show off on Inste♪
Tsuzuru	Writing for it will be worth the experience too, I can’t wait to do it!
	So now the problem lies in who would be part of the casting…
Tsumugi	If the event involves interacting with children, then someone who’s got experience with dealing with little brothers would be fitting, don’t you think? Someone like Tsuzuru-kun, I mean.
	Oh, but then again writing the script might be a lot of work already…
Tsuzuru	I’m not really that busy these days, so I think it should be fine!
Yuki	Between animals, flowers, and plants, Tsuzuru would fit with the animal image the most.
Kazunari	Ooh, he does have those vibes!
Izumi	Then, shall I leave the scriptwriting and the wildlife fairy role to you, Tsuzuru-kun?
Tsuzuru	Got it.
Kumon	ME ME ME!! I wanna join in!
Muku	The roles we have left are the botanical and the floral fairy, right?
Yuki	Kumon doesn’t seem to exactly fit the floral fairy image.
Tsuzuru	True, he might get into the botanical fairy more, instead.
Kumon	Then I’ll take the botanical fairy role!
Kazunari	That leaves us with the floral fairy, huh~
Izumi	If it’s flowers, then Tsumugi-san would be just right for it, wouldn’t he?
Tsumugi	Hmm… I’ve been getting busier with my tutoring part-time these days, so the schedule might be too tight for me.
Kumon	What about Muku? Since you were the Floral Prince and all, it might suit you good!
Muku	Sorry… I really want to join in, but I’ve got a load of school work to take care of…
Kumon	Aw man.
Tsuzuru	If there’s anyone else… He’s not here right now, but what about Yukishiro-san?
Izumi	Azuma-san could definitely fit the image.
Kumon	Okay! Let’s ask him them!
Tsumugi	I hope he gives you the OK.
Kazunari	Tsuzuroon, I’ll lend you a hand with making the picture book ♪
Yuki	If you’ll be doing this with a play, you’ll need some outfits, right? Leave those to me.
Muku	If there’s anything I can help with, please let me know too!
Tsuzuru	Thanks, guys! I'll do my best!

Tsuzuru	Ugh… This isn’t coming out right at all.
	(Writing with a fairy theme is more difficult than I would’ve thought…)
	Haaah… Maybe I need some change of pace…
Tsuzuru	(exhales)
Itaru	Hey Tsuzuru. Working hard? Your eyebags sure look like it.
Izumi	Are you alright, Tsuzuru-kun? You should really rest a little.
	I could make you a hot drink so wait a bit, okay?
Tsuzuru	Thanks.
Itaru	So then? What brought those eyebags out?
Tsuzuru	The script that I’m supposed to write for the job offer isn’t working out well.
Itaru	Ah, you're writing a book about fairies, right?
Tsuzuru	Yup. It’s required that I put three fairies into the story: A wildlife one, a botanical one, and a floral one…
	But the more I think about what makes up a fairy, the more I end up being careful about the littlest of details.
	I’ve got the gist of the story’s summary that I want to have, but it’s not coming out as coherent as I want it to be…
Itaru	Hmmm.
	Ah.
	I’m not too sure if this will be of any good use, but how about we try this out together? Director-san, too.
Izumi	By this, you mean this mobile game?
Itaru	Yep. It’s a downloadable action RPG where you can become friends with fairies.
	You can play just fine as a solo, but you can also play it together with a team of three.
Tsuzuru	What is it about?
Itaru	Long story short, you have to save the world of fairies from the forces of evil.
	The player, who lived in the present world, was summoned by the fairies to become their hero. That’s the premise.
	Since it’s also about fairies, you could probably use it as reference, who knows? Just try it out for now.
Tsuzuru	Uwa, we’re under attack!
Izumi	What should we do, Itaru-san!?
Itaru	Calm down, you two. I’ll take the offense, so you guys just back me up.
Izumi	O-Okay!
Itaru	Ha, you’re dust!
Tsuzuru	We get some advice from the fairies even here, right?
Itaru	Yep yep. If you wanna get good progress in this game, you have to make the best out of the fairies’ advice.
	Keep at it and we can advance thru the quest.
Izumi	(I feel like we're smoothly getting dragged along to Itaru-san's pace…)
Itaru	Alright! Got the mega-rare drop~♪ You really can’t get this item without playing as a party of three.
Izumi	WHAT?! Was that your goal all along?
Itaru	Ah……. No, no. Of course not.
	I thought that if Tsuzuru played a game about fairies, he’d be able to get some inspiration from it. I wasn't lying about that. No cap.
Tsuzuru	I mean, I was already suspecting there’d be some underlying motive the moment you invited us to play the game with you.
	But hey, I feel like I actually did get a struck of inspiration there.
Itaru	Fairies are more fantasy than they are non-fiction, so I think you can give yourself some freedom of imagination when writing it, don’t you think?
Tsuzuru	… You have a point.
CHOICE 1: I’m excited to see your world-building, Tsuzuru-kun. [+] Izumi I’m excited to see the kind of world you’ll make, Tsuzuru-kun Tsuzuru I can’t say I have a good overall image for the kind of world that would have fairies in it, but… After trying out the game, it’s somehow become much clearer for me. Itaru See? Told you games can be useful too. Tsuzuru Sure. But you can’t just go and force people to keep playing until you clear it, y’know. Izumi Ahaha, you said it. Itaru You two still have much to learn about the profoundness of video games.
CHOICE 2: Fantasy must be difficult, huh. [+] Izumi Writing fantasy must be unexpectedly difficult, huh. Tsuzuru With so much freedom, rather than saying it’s harder to paint a picture of the world’s layout… Maybe it’s more of me thinking about it too much, instead. Itaru Not a bad thing to trust your gut a lil' bit, right? Izumi If it’s you, Tsuzuru-kun, I’m sure that you’ll come up with a really wonderful story!
Tsuzuru	Thanks so much for the help, Director, Itaru-san. I’ll keep working hard on the writing!
Izumi	Make sure you don’t overexert yourself, okay!

Tsuzuru	This outfit is giving me flashbacks to the Alice play………
	They’re no animal ears, but just wearing these antlers is giving me that same reluctant feeling.
Azuma	But it suits you so much, Tsuzuru.
Kumon	He’s right! Man, Yuki’s so amazing! He really was able to make outfits that perfectly fit the script that Tsuzuru-san wrote.
Chief Librarian	Everyone, it’s almost time for us to open. Good luck with today.
Tsuzuru	Yes, thank you!
Tsuzuru	“... And bit by bit, the forest where all the fairies lived in was slowly being burned away by the fire fairy.”
Kumon	“Aah, the plants have all caught on fire…!”
Azuma	“Even the flowerbeds have been swallowed by the flames too—”
Tsuzuru	“Everyone! We should all work together to protect the forest!”
Kumon	“He’s right! We can’t let the forest be reduced to ashes!”
Azuma	“Even the insects can help us out too!”
Tsuzuru	“... It was then that all of the fairies came together to face off with the fire fairy.”
	“All of the trees of the forest, the insects, the wind, and the sky— They all gave their support to the fairies.”
	“The insects stabbed away, the wind blew with its might, and the rain came pouring down. Until finally, the fire fairy couldn’t fight back anymore, and ran away.”
	“Thus, peace was restored in the fairy forest.”
	All's well that ends well.
Child A	That was really good!
Child B	One more! One more!
Kumon	Looks like your story is a big hit with the kids, Tsuzuru-san! That’s great!
Tsuzuru	I wasn’t sure how the script would turn out since I had a hard time writing it, but it’s good to hear you guys enjoyed it.
Azuma	Fufu, I’d call this a huge success.
Chief Librarian	Thank you so very much. Even the script itself was so wonderful, I’m so glad that I reached out my request to you.
	I’ll make sure to watch MANKAI Company’s next performance.
Tsuzuru	Thank you! Please do!
Chief Librarian	Oh, that’s right. To commemorate this, would it be alright if we take a picture of all of you together with the kids?
Tsuzuru	Of course!
Chief Librarian	Everyone, we’re taking pictures, so gather up~!
Children	Okaaay!
Child C	Mister, this flowy thing on your sheep outfit is so cute!
Tsuzuru	O-Oh, you think so?
Child D	Are your horns real? I want to touch them! Let me touch them!
Child E	I wanna touch them tooooo!
Tsuzuru	H-Hey, hold on—!
Child D	Waah, so smoooooth!
Child C	That's so cool~!!
Kumon	Uh oh uh oh, they’re swarming all over Tsuzuru-san…!
Azuma	Fufu, the wildlife fairy is really popular, isn’t he?
Tsuzuru	H-Hellooo? Can you two please not just stand there and save me from this…!

Dita