| Yuzo | A'ight, we're goin' home now. We just came by to say hi today. |
| Sakyo | Just letting you know, we ain't gonna lose. |
| Syu | I see that shrimp brat from back then can run his mouth now. |
| Hiro | Damn right, he's totally turned into a delinquent now. |
| Sakyo | Don't make it sound like I'm a brat. |
| Izumi | (It's so refreshing to see Sakyo-san being treated like a kid…!) |
| Sakyo | Y'all completely said whatever you liked just now, but what are you gonna give us if we win the showdown act? |
| Yuzo | For the time being, we've prepared a treasure-grade prize for you. |
| Reni | We still don't have all of them, you know. |
| Yuzo | Well, it'll work out somehow. |
| Izumi | (I wonder what the prize is…) |
| Syu | Speakin' of, which one of you is Tsuzuru Minagi, the one in charge of the script--. |
| Tsuzuru | It's me… |
| Syu | So you're… the one labeled as the next Hakkaku Ikaruga. |
| Tsuzuru | Eh!? |
| Syu | I read Yuzo's interview on "Spotlight", and watched all of the newborn troupe's plays. |
| A company's characteristic is decided by the scriptwriter attached to that troupe. Your scripts aren't bad, but the conclusions are always weak. |
| The conclusions you wrote were all naive and self-serving. |
| Tsuzuru | --. |
| Syu | I assume the reason why you can't write a heartbreaking tragedy is b'cause you don't know the sorrow and loneliness of life. |
| The shallowness of your input is showing. I've also watched your performance, and lemme tell you this, quit acting. |
| Tsuzuru | Eh… |
| Syu | I acknowledge your flair for screenwriting, but you're just a mediocre actor. You don't have the heightened talent that only a handful of actors have. |
| If you wanna catch up to Hakkaku-san as a scriptwriter, you shouldn't have any time to do some temporary acting jobs. |
| Keep putting your ideas down until you feel like vomiting blood and write more. |
| If you don't do that, your stories ain't no match for the world Hakkaku-san created. Don't drag the actors down with your scripts. |
| Tsuzuru | --. |
| Izumi | Why do you have to say... |
| Tsuzuru | Nah, it's fine. |
| Yuzo | Heh, so the one who can't let the next Hakkaku Ikaruga pass is only the Hakkaku enthusiast. |
| Syu | Well, I don't want you to use that word carelessly. |
| Izumi | … |
| (This alone shows how impactful Hakkaku-san is. I hope Tsuzuru-kun is not too depressed about this…) |
| Yuzo | A'ight then. I'll contact you again. |
| Sakyo | Please go home quickly. |
| |
| Tenma | I'm home. |
| Izumi | … |
| Tsuzuru | … |
| Tenma | ? |
| Kazunari | Oh! You're back, Tenten~! |
| Muku | Welcome home, Tenma-kun! |
| Kumon | Grats on your discharge! |
| Misumi | I'm glad you've been discharged, Tenma~! |
| Yuki | Welcome back. |
| Tenma | Y-Yea, thanks. |
| Izumi | ...I feel like it's too early to tell you this given that you've just discharged, but there's something I need to tell you, Tenma-kun. |
| Tenma | ? |
| |
| A showdown act with the first-gen members… Furthermore, Hiro-san will take on the lead role. |
| Hiro-san asked you to tell me that he's the lead role, didn't he? |
| Izumi | Yep. |
| Tenma | ...I see, that's a personal challenge. I want to take on the lead role too. |
| Izumi | (I knew it…) |
| But your injury--. |
| Tenma | No need to worry. My recovery has been going smoothly. I've been told it won't take a long time for me to completely recover. |
| I still need to go for rehabilitation, but I'll make sure it won't interfere with our rehearsals. |
| Banri | Well, if I were in Tenma's position, I'd also say the same thing. |
| Juza | We can't just stay quiet if someone's lookin' for a fight with us. |
| Izumi | I understand how you feel, Tenma-kun. |
| Tasuku | Don't push yourself too hard to recover; we're gonna support you. |
| Tsuzuru | Um--. |
| Izumi | ? |
| Tsuzuru | Can I join the cast too? |
| Izumi | Tsuzuru-kun… |
| Tsuzuru | After being told that I'm doing a half-assed job in balancing acting and screenwriting, I was wondering whether I should devote myself to just one. |
| To be honest, back when I first joined the troupe, I was more interested in writing rather than acting. |
| I won't deny how I felt that becoming an actor would be helpful for my scriptwriting. |
| However, I also gained a lot of other things from standing on stage and performing with the Spring Troupe members and other troupes. |
| The things that I noticed and the things that I learned… |
| I won't be able to share the stage with everyone if I'm only writing the script. We can't line up side by side nor act together. |
| Now, acting is just as precious to me as writing. |
| That's why I want Otomiya-san to acknowledge me not only as a scriptwriter, but also as an actor. |
| Izumi | (Even though this play would put pressure on him with Hakkaku-san being his opponent, Tsuzuru-kun has decided not to throw away acting. His feelings are real.) |
| (If that’s the case, I want to support these feelings of his.) |
| ...Okay, got it. |
| Kazunari | ...It's a lie when one says there's only one real thing. I don't think you have to focus on just one thing. |
| Because you know, don't we have a lot of ways to do both things? |
| Yuki | Show him that both things are important to you and that you want to do both. |
| Azami | Tell him not to look down on your side job. |
| Tsuzuru | --. |
| Kazunari | Isn't it fun to have a lot of important things? We still have a lot of potential, after all. |
| Yuki | Work hard so that he'll acknowledge you. If you can't do that, we're gonna be looked down upon too. |
| Tsuzuru | Haha, that's scary--. |
| Citron | Let me help you stock ideas for the play! I have anchovy stock, bonito stock and kelp stock! |
| Masumi | It's not soup stock. |
| Chikage | We can't afford to stand idly by and stay silent if our star scriptwriter is being made fun of. |
| Itaru | Coming from your mouth, that line reeks of crime in one go. Please don't act rashly. |
| Sakuya | Feel free to tell us if you need any help! |
| Tsuzuru | Thanks. |
| Guy | I think it's better to choose those who feel strongly about this show as the cast, just like last time. |
| Tsumugi | A showdown act is a one-time thing, after all. There are things that you can only get through this show. |
| Taichi | I'm also super glad I decided to join the previous play. We should do that again for this play, casting peeps who want to join. |
| Izumi | Is there anyone else who wants to join? |
| Misumi | Meee! |
| Since I've watched Madoka's play, I want to show him my performance this time around. |
| And just like what grandpa wished, I want to show Father my performance. |
| Izumi | I agree… |
| Muku | Let's grant your grandpa's last wish! |
| Kazunari | I'm sure Madochin will be happy to see you perform! |
| Kumon | Yupyup! |
| Tenma | The OG members, including Hiro-san, are all talented people. Having Misumi with us is reassuring. |
| Misumi | Ehehe. Tenma, let's do our best together~! |
| Masumi | I want to appear too. |
| Izumi | Masumi-kun? |
| Itaru | Why? |
| Chikage | That's unusual of you. |
| Masumi | Your dad is handling their production, right? |
| Izumi | Eh? Y-Yea. |
| Masumi | I'll show him that his future son-in-law is a talented actor, then I'll ask him for your hand in marriage. |
| Izumi | Don't you think you should ask me first!? |
| Itaru | So it led to that in the end? |
| Chikage | He hasn’t changed at all. |
| Taichi | I find it hard to cheer for him! |
| Sakuya | But he has enough motivation! |
| Tasuku | That aside, even when our opponents are the first-gen members, Usui will probably not be affected by it. |
| Izumi | (Judging from what I heard from Yuzo-san, I think it'll be difficult for Dad to watch the play in person, though.) |
| (But I hope he will watch the new members' play too after we send him the footage.) |
| Sakyo | With this, the confirmed cast so far are two members of Spring Troupe and two members of Summer Troupe. |
| Hisoka | Spring-Summer mixed play… |
| Homare | I see. We can turn this into a mixed play. |
| Since we had the Autumn and Winter troupes join forces for our last Showdown Act, how about making it a mixed play between the Spring and Summer troupes this time around? |
| Omi | Then, each troupe has one member left. |
| Kumon | Me! I wanna join! Yuzo-san will take nii-chan away if we lose, after all! |
| Juza | There's no way he'll do that. |
| Kumon | We’ll never know! |
| Banri | Once a brocon, always a brocon. |
| Muku | I think he's similar to Masumi-kun in terms of having motivation to go on stage? |
| Kazunari | We're gonna cheer you on! |
| Yuki | Well, given our utility bills are also on the line here, I'll support you. |
| Izumi | That means we only have one more person from the Spring Troupe to join. |
| Sakuya | I actually want to join, but… |
| Izumi | You must be busy rehearsing for your guest performances, right? |
| Sakuya | I don't have the confidence to say I can do both at the same time… |
| Izumi | In that case, the remaining ones would be Citron-kun, Itaru-san and Chikage-san. |
| Citron | Ehem, I can go on stage! |
| Izumi | Since the theme for this play will be Genpei, there may have to be some innovation for Citron-kun's role. |
| Itaru | The sword fight will be the death of me. |
| Tsuzuru | We're gonna have to pay the utility bills if we lose… |
| Sakuya | Part-time jobs… |
| Chikage | Shall I join? I think I can manage the sword fight. |
| Itaru | If we put the sword fight into consideration, senpai is certainly the most qualified one. |
| Hisoka | He's used to it. |
| Omi | That sounds frightening. |
| Izumi | Alright, that means we've decided on the cast. |
| Kazunari | Shall we hold a party to celebrate Tenten's discharge from hospital and to kick off the Showdown Act? |
| Taichi | I support that idea! |
| Tenma | Shall we start practicing tomorrow? |
| Izumi | But don't push yourself too hard, 'kay? You just got out of hospital. |
| Tenma | I'll recover quickly. Don't worry. |
| With all my schedules being canceled, I need to take this chance to re-examine my acting down to the basics. |
| Izumi | (I know he's excited to have a showdown with Hiro-san, but he needs to be careful not to overdo it…) |
