 |
| Citron | So you’re saying the script is really done?! |
| Sakuya | I’m looking forward to it! |
| Izumi | Wait wait, we gotta wait for everyone else to get here— |
| Itaru | Otsu~ |
| Homare | You called? |
| Hisoka | .. *munch munch* |
| Azuma | We got quite the lineup here. |
| Izumi | Okay, everyone’s here. Let’s hand out the scripts now. |
| Thanks to our second act off with God Troupe and our other act off with the first generation, our popularity has skyrocketed. |
| Our individual members have also gained a lot of attention lately and I think we can use this new *+found popularity to our advantage. |
| So with that said, I was thinking why not feature the four members who haven’t been in plays lately for this performance? |
| Itaru | Oh, to get their popularity up. |
| Azuma | And that’s why you called us four. |
| Citron | There is unexpected wood in what others have left behind! |
| Tsuzuru | UNEXPECTED GOOD! |
| Anyway, per the director’s request I wrote the play with six parts. |
| In addition, I took Citron’s request and made the play Kabuki themed. |
| The story is about a protagonist who journeys across the sea and soon finds himself thrown into the world of Kabuki. It is his story of growth as he learns about the traditional Japanese art form. |
| The role of the protagonist, Sahul, will be Citron. We also have Sahul’s teacher, an onnagata named Yukinojou— |
| Azuma | Is that me? |
| Izumi | Onnagata, as in a man in Kabuki who plays female roles. If you want a man who embodies elegance and sensuality there is no one better suited for that than our very own Azuma! |
| Tsuzuru | Whenever I see Yukishiro on stage I can’t help but notice how the audience’s eyes seem to be drawn to him. Not to mention I always feel he has a very unique aura about him. |
| How I imagined it is, Sahul is enchanted by Yukinojou at first sight. So Yukinojou is the character that motivates Sahul to throw himself into the world of Kabuki. |
| Itaru | Damn, that’s some strong power. |
| Azuma | Fufu, that is not something completely out of my scope of expertise. Even though the bar seems pretty high, I will do my best. |
| Izumi | YEAH! |
| Tsuzuru | And for you, Itaru, I was thinking you would be good for the part of Yukinojou’s rival and partner on stage, Matsunosuke. |
| Sakuya | Now that I think about it, Itaru and Azuma have great chemistry side-by-side on stage, good choice! |
| Izumi | And for Sahul’s dance teacher, Fujisaka, played by Homare. He is a man with only the most graceful of movements, perfect for Homare. |
| Homare | Hmm, are you talking about Buyo, the traditional Japanese art of mixing dance with pantomiming? That’s quite an interesting topic. |
| And Sakuya gets the role of the shamisen player, Ogino. I was thinking back to our Quartet play where you prepared a lot for your cello part so I thought a role like this would be a perfect match for your skillset. |
| Sakuya | I’ll do my best! |
| Tsuzuru | And for Sahul’s rival, a man by the name of Fukumaru who is skilled in somersaults, I was thinking of Hisoka. When it comes to somersaults and just overall flexibility, I thought Hisoka would be the perfect fit. |
| Hisoka | ..Somersaults? |
| Citron | Oh! So we got some somersaults in the play?! |
| Tsuzuru | There are some in the action scenes yes. I was thinking it would be a nice addition if Hisoka was going to be in the play. |
| Well, going back to Citron’s character, Sahul. I have the practice scene with him written, but not the final scene. |
| Izumi | This is not something to take lightly, we wanted to avoid any risk of injury. |
| Citron | Ohh well if we’re doing that, I wanna do the mambo. |
| Itaru | You’re talking about something entirely different now. |
| Tsuzuru | That’s quite the hurdle in our performance so we need to make sure not to overdo it in practice. |
| Citron | Wow this is gonna be some top notch play with all these high specs. |
| Tsuzuru | Speak for yourself. |
| Citron | If we can pull off the acrobatics in the final scene, I am sure it will get the crowd excited! I want to show off our kills to the people of Zahra! |
| Itaru | That’s “skills”. |
| Izumi | .. We must make absolute sure we do not injure ourselves, that is our top priority. |
| Citron | I understand, but it’s just I want to do everything. |
| Even if it seems impossible with our current skills now, I think with a little hard work, maybe we can pull it off. I don’t want to give up without at least giving it a shot. |
| Hisoka | .. Citron will be here to make sure I do not overexert myself. |
| Izumi | Alright. If it seems to difficult, we will just cut it from the performance. We must make sure not to over stress ourselves. |
| Citron | Promise! |
| Tsuzuru | Yeah, I can always rewrite the acrobatics scene. |
| Citron | We’ll show you we can get five air somersaults! |
| Tsuzuru | That’s waaay too much! |
 |
| Citron | “Please, take me under your wing!” |
| Azuma | “Huh..?” |
| Itaru | “Hey you, it says ‘No unauthorised personnel beyond this point’” |
| Azuma | “It’s alright. I want to hear what he has to say.” |
| Izumi | (Hmm, it’s just the first day of practice but I can already feel the personality of each of the characters coming to life. I don’t think we’ll have a problem capturing each character’s essence. |
| It’s just I can see Citron, Azuma, and Itaru seem to be struggling with some of the Kabuki vocabulary.. |
| And not to mention the pressure is all on Citron as the lead. |
| We have quite a lot in this play; tons of dialogue, Kabuki themes, shamisen, Japanese Buyo, and not to mention the acrobatics as well. |
| In the beginning, it seems as though Sahul is at a disadvantage because of his foreign origins. However as the story progresses, he begins to show his true talents the more he learns.. |
| This isn’t an easy role to play, Citron will have to put everything he has into it. No matter how you look at it, Citron has quite a large burden on him.) |
| .. What do you say about trying out just the somersault or shamisen parts? |
| Citron | Sure. I will show you I have already perfected everything. |
| Sakuya | I understand your worries, director, but it is only the first practice. Would you mind just giving us a little more time to study? Please! |
| Izumi | .. That’s true, sorry for asking so soon. I shouldn’t be rushing. |
| (I guess I just feel a lot of pressure since this is such a high stakes performace.) |
| I just gotta hang on and believe that everyone can pull this off together.) |
 |
| Citron | .. |
| .. a-ack. oww this is dangerous. I dropped my phone on my face. |
| Oh, good, I didn’t wake Sakuya. Good night. |
| Sakuya | .. |
