| Azami | Is everyone in Autumn Troupe here? Then let’s begin. |
| Now that the performance is quickly approaching, I have something to say to you all so we can make it through the full run. |
| —Ken-san. |
| Sakoda | Here you go! |
| Izumi | (I feel like I saw the same thing happen just about a year ago....) |
| Taichi | I’m getting some déjà vu here! |
| Juza | Me too. |
| Sakoda | Ta-da! |
| Banri | The beauty slogan for the run of our performance...? |
| Taichi | Sleeping・Moisturizing ・Skincare Lifestyle...? |
| Sakoda | Written by me, Sakoda Ken! |
| Omi | ...Sakyo-san sure raised him, all right. |
| Sakyo | What are you talking about? |
| Azami | During the run of the performance, we’ll be in full makeup for hours every day. It’ll take a toll on your skin no matter what. In order to maintain the best skin possible, you’ll need to be even more careful than usual about your care. |
| Don’t forget your moisturizing cream, day and night. Take your Vitamin C. Don’t get sunburned. Go to bed by Golden Time[1]. |
| And then... et cetera, et cetera.... |
| Izumi | (He’s exactly like Sakyo-san...!) |
| Azami | I can tell right away if you’ve been slacking by how well the makeup applies. If you have any skin issues I’m gonna make you walk around with a white face pack all day. |
| Taichi | Like that guy from The Ogami Family[2]...! |
| Sakyo | Don’t expect an old man to do skincare like an OL[3]. |
| Azami | Shut up. Your skin’s the oldest, so you should put in extra effort, old man! Learn from Azuma-san! |
| Sakyo | Stop being unreasonable! |
| Banri | Azuma-san’s level will be hard to reach.... |
| Juza | Azuma-san, huh.... |
| Sakyo | You two need to stop staring at my skin! |
| Izumi | (Azami-kun and Sakyo-san haven’t stopped arguing, but there’s no harsh atmosphere like before.) |
| (This must have been what their relationship was really like....) |
| |
| Sakyo | .... |
| Izumi | ...Sakyo-san. |
| Sakyo | Hm? |
| Izumi | What are you doing? |
| Sakyo | Just taking a break outside. |
| Izumi | You need to hurry up and go to bed or else Azami-kun will put a face pack on you. |
| Sakyo | Don’t remind me. I don’t want to think about it. |
| Izumi | His professional attitude makes him reliable. |
| Sakyo | ...Sorry for getting so upset when we heard about the accident. You really helped me out there. |
| Izumi | Of course you’d get upset if someone important to you got into a car accident. |
| Sakyo | ...And I’m glad I could apologize to him. I feel like a weight has been lifted off my heart. |
| Izumi | I’m really glad you two made up. |
| Sakyo | Though he was in a bad mood for a while afterwards because I exposed all those stories. |
| Izumi | You really remember all sorts of things, Sakyo-san. Like the numbers for each and every performance in great detail...! |
| Sakyo | It’s important stuff, right? |
| Izumi | That’s true, but I think you can afford to forget some of it.... |
| Sakyo | Aah? |
| Izumi | ...Nevermind. |
| Sakyo | Well, I do remember everything you’ve forgotten from when I babysat you. |
| Izumi | Eh!? Please don’t dig up weird stories from my past!? |
| Sakyo | We’ll see about that. It all depends on you. |
| Izumi | I’ll stick to our budget. |
| Sakyo | Good. |
| ...I also remember what I said when I gave you the conditions to save the troupe. |
| Izumi | What you said? |
| Sakyo | That Yukio-san must have tossed aside the troupe and ran away. I was supposed to take it back if you didn’t run away from your job as General Director. |
| Izumi | ...Ah. That did happen, didn’t it. |
| (I didn’t know Sakyo-san’s feelings back then, so I detested him for speaking so poorly about father, but... Now I know.) |
| (Sakyo-san never wanted to see MANKAI Company become desolate again....) |
| Sakyo | I kept missing my chance to say it, but... I always thought I needed to take it back. You didn’t run away—you’re doing an excellent job. |
| Yukio-san, too... He would never toss aside the troupe and run away without a reason. |
| There must have been a reason he had to.... That’s what I want to believe, too. |
| Izumi | ...Yes. |
| (What in the world could that have been?) |
| (I just can’t think of a reason to toss aside the troupe and run away because I’ve been General Director for over a year.) |
| (Creating a performance with everyone here makes me happier than anything else. I want to keep doing this forever. I’m sure father must have felt the same.) |
| (But he still had to leave the troupe... Father, what in the world happened?) |
| Sakyo | Well, I guess there’s no use thinking about it. |
| Watching the chairman makes me think that there’s no father who doesn’t care about his child. |
| I’m sure Yukio-san is still thinking of you. |
| Izumi | ...Yes. |
| (What I need to do right now is work hard with everyone so that I can proudly show father MANKAI Company when he returns.) |
| Sakyo | Though the chairman and Yukio-san are pretty different. I bet Yukio-san rarely scolded you. |
| Izumi | You’re right... Though my mother scolded me often. |
| Now that you mention it, the chairman looked really kind, but he’s actually pretty strict, isn’t he—throwing away Azami-kun’s makeup and cards like that. |
| Sakyo | ...I think he’s pouring his heart into it so that ane-san can rest peacefully in heaven. |
| Izumi | Azami-kun’s mother? |
| Sakyo | Yeah. She passed away when bon was five. I hear she had always been sickly. |
| They were always worried about whether she could give birth to a healthy heir. |
| That’s why they were overjoyed when bon was born as their first child. |
| The chairman spilled when he was drunk that he wanted to raise bon as a respectable heir for ane-san’s sake. |
| That’s why I can’t disregard the chairman’s feelings. |
| Izumi | I see.... |
| Sakyo | The chairman is a stubborn man. I said I’d help convince him, but... it’ll be a difficult task. |
| Izumi | (It’s not just a difficult task. It must be hard for Sakyo-san because he understands how both the chairman and Azami-kun feel....) |
| |
| Sakoda | ...Uhh, where’s his calligraphy kit. |
| Must be tough for Azami, handling both the troupe and school. The flyer is done, and the performance is right around the corner, after all~. |
| Oh, is it this? I’ll take this to the dorms.... |
| Chairman | Oi, Sakoda. |
| Sakoda | Y-yessir!? |
| Chairman | Why are you so surprised? |
| Sakoda | U-uh, it’s nothing! Is something wrong? |
| Chairman | Sakyo’s next performance is coming up soon, right? Get us tickets for the guys in the group. |
| Sakoda | Eh!? |
| Chairman | What? We’ve got a lot of people, so you don’t need to ask Director-san. |
| Sakoda | N-no, well, the show is really popular this time round, so it might be hard to get tickets.... |
| Chairman | Then use the guys in our group. |
| Sakoda | W-well, uh~.... |
| Chairman | Oi, Sakoda, what is that? |
| Sakoda | !! Th-the flyer...! |
| Chairman | Lead, Izumida Azami...? |
| Oi, Sakoda. What’s the meaning of this? |
| Sakoda | E-eeep...! |
