| Muku | Well then, Masumi-kun, please start us off. |
| Kazunari | Massu, don’t fill up all the pages on your own, okay! When you’re done with one page, pass it to someone else! |
| Masumi | ...I know. This is a serious battle limited to one page. |
| Muku | Y-you’re really full of fighting spirit. |
| Kazunari | Then good luuuuck~! |
| Masumi | .... |
| A message to Director... |
| (So it’s only been a year since I first met her.) |
| (One year since I saw her street act on the street corner of Veludo Way...) |
| (At first I thought, what a boring performance. But for some reason, I couldn’t take my eyes off of her, and...) |
| (Because she was trying so hard, my heart began to warm up as I watched. It felt like it was knotting up, like someone had grabbed it.) |
| (It was the first time I felt this sort of irresistible gravity towards someone. For the first time in my life, I wanted to know more about someone else.) |
| (Since that day, my life changed. I started theater just for Director. But before I knew it, it had become a part of my own life.) |
| .... |
| (“The Boy Alice,” where I was the lead—I was only going to work hard because of Director, but I ended up enjoying it.) |
| (I think my acting has really improved since I first started theater. But...) |
| It’s not enough. I need to be better for Director to recognize me... |
| (I need to improve even more as an actor, more than anyone else—.) |
| Tsuzuru | Zz... Mn...mn.... |
| Masumi | ....Sigh. Tsuzuru is loud when he’s asleep, too. |
| (This too; before I knew it, this loudness had become a part of my daily life.) |
| (I used to always come back to a quiet home, where I was alone, but...) |
| It used to be quieter, but... well, this sort of life isn’t bad, either. |
| (She’s the one who changed my life. She’s the reason I see more fun in this world; it’s all thanks to her—) |
| |
| Masumi | “I loved your street act performance I saw on Veludo Way, so I tried my best, just like you.” |
| Izumi | “My acting...? Even though it’s such a terrible daikon act?” |
| Masumi | “That doesn’t matter.” |
| Izumi | “——.” |
| “Thank you, Masumi-kun.” |
| |
| Masumi | ...Thanks, Director. |
| |
| Tsuzuru | Yaaawn... huh, what, it’s so late!? Crap, I’m on morning shift today—. |
| No I’m not... I have the whole day to myself. Guess I’ll come up with more ideas for our next script... |
| Masumi | Zzz.... |
| Tsuzuru | Hm? |
| Oi, Masumi, you’re gonna hurt yourself if you fall asleep at your desk—. |
| (Oh, he was writing his message to Director. Did he pull an all-nighter...?) |
| Masumi | Zzz... |
| Tsuzuru | I’m next, so I’ll take this. |
| (He didn’t fill up every page, right?) |
| —Your letters are tiny!? |
| You did fit everything on one page, but she can’t read this! What are you, Hoichi the Earless[1]!? |
| Masumi | Zzz... |
| Tsuzuru | Sigh.... |
| (The back of the page is all bumpy thanks to his pen pressure. It’s hard to write on the back of this heavy thing...) |
| (Well, let’s start off with, “Dear Director”—.) |
| .... |
| (A special message to Director, huh. Now that I’m facing it, I don’t really know what to write...) |
| Hmm.... |
| (Pathetic; I’m supposed to be the scriptwriter.) |
| (The scriptwriter... one year ago, I never imagined I’d be writing the scripts in a theater troupe.) |
| (I mean, it was my dream, but there are tons of people who want to become scriptwriters, so I never thought it’d actually come true.) |
| (Plus, even though I’d say it was my goal, I’d never even completed a full script till then. In retrospect, I was really pushing it, huh...) |
| But Director believed in me and left it to me... |
| |
| Tsuzuru | “One week... Could you give me just one week? If I can’t finish it by then, I’ll give up. I’ll come to practice too.” |
| Izumi | “Tsuzuru-kun...” |
| “I understand. You don’t have to attend practice for one week. But make sure you finish a full script by then.” |
| Tsuzuru | “Eh... can I really?” |
| Izumi | “If you give me something halfway-done, I’ll be mad.” |
| |
| Tsuzuru | (The conditions were desperate, but—no, even though we were in a desperate situation, she believed in me, and gave me this opportunity.) |
| (Thanks to that, I’m still writing scripts today.) |
| (If she hadn’t trusted me back then, or if I had given up mid-way, I might not have finished a single script today.) |
| (When I think of it like that, it was a huge turning point in my life...) |
| (This past year, all I thought about was scriptwriting and theater.) |
| (I ran into walls, and it was rough at times, but thanks to everyone, I managed to make my way.) |
| (Creating the stage with everyone as the scriptwriter is really fun; I’m so fortunate.) |
| (When I’m with everyone here, I can think of all sorts of things—much more than when I think of stories on my own.) |
| Oh, yeah, didn’t she mention wanting to do a school-themed play? “Director, if we’re going to do a school-themed play, I have an idea—” |
| And if we’re gonna do a classical Japanese play, a heavy theme would be good. |
| |
| Tsuzuru | —Oh, the page is full. |
| (I ended up writing about our next performance for the whole page. It’s the same kind of talk as usual, and it doesn’t really seem like an anniversary message, but...) |
| Well, I guess that’s fine. |
| —Okay. Next is Itaru-san. |
Tsuzuru I’m done with my message, so I’ll bring the notebook over to your room. |
|
| Tsuzuru | (He’s glued to his games from morning to midnight on his off days; I wonder if he’ll really write a proper message...) |
