Touma seems a bit nervous at first but Shiori helps him by starting off.
Shiori "Hello. The storm is really picking up, would it be possible if I seek shelter here with you for the night?"
Touma "O-of course. Come on in…"
Mr. Blonc lifts an eyebrow at Touma's lines as they step back a bit.
Shiori "Thank you so much. I greatly appreciate it."
Touma "I-it's no problem at all. B-but why would someone like you be-"
Blonc "Stop stop stop! What's going on here? Aren't you supposed to be a seasoned woodsman living on his own? Where's the emotion? Where's the dedication? Don't you want to be a star?!"
Touma pauses as Blonc dramatically lifts his arms in the air. He shakes his head 'No.' in response to Blonc. He looks surprised a bit and lowers his arms.
Blonc "Oh. Well too bad, because by the time I'm done with you, you'll all be stars!"
Samuel "To warn you, Touma has anxiety issues, Hisana can be a little lost sometimes and Shiori and Hikigaya would rather-"
Blonc "If I wanted advice from a high school teacher, I wouldn't have become so good at my craft. Now shoo."
He gives her a belittling look before waving his hand at her. She gets an intensely offended look as Blonc continues to shout at the students. Over the next few days, he continues to direct and command the students as they learn their lines and perform them for him. One day, as the class makes their way to the theater.
Hikigaya "Man, this Blonc guy is really starting to get on my nerves."
Haru "Hey, 'that's mister Blonc to you!'"
He says sarcastically mimicking Blonc with his voice and stature. The others laugh.
Lucy "Right, you don't want him to go on another 15 minute rant about the importance of addressing someone higher than you with the utmost respect."
Touma "I don't know if I can take much more of his yelling…"
He says droopily while sweating. Chizuru and Suiyoubi rub his back.
Shiori "Yeah, me either."
She says with an upset look. The students all come on stage like they usually do as Blonc sits in the front chairs.
Blonc "You are all two minutes late. Hurry up and get on stage before you waste anymore of my time."
The students get irritated looks as they get on stage.
Blonc "Alright, let us pick up where we left off. Crying girl of royalty comforted by servant. Action!"
Milo and Chizuru stand on stage with their scripts in hand for a moment before they put them down and Milo starts pretending to cry.
Milo "Oh Prince! You were such an amazing man! Always helping those in need! And you were always… my one true love!"
Chizuru looks at Milo confused.
Chizuru "Wait, but aren't you married to the Knight?"
Milo "Yes but I cannot deny how much my heart yearns for the Prince!"
She says dramatically and seductively. Mr. Blonc looks at his script and back at the stage in confusion and frustration.
Blonc "Cut! Cut! What is going on? That's not in the script!"
Milo "I know, but I figured adding in a forbidden love side story would be fun for the audience."
She says confidently.
Blonc "No, no, no! This isn't supposed to be fun! It's supposed to be dramatic! And if you add in new scenes like that on a whim, how is the rest of the crew supposed to react? I can't do this with you anymore! Get lost, I need someone else to fill this role."
He waves his hand at her dismissingly as she looks offended. Ms. Samuel steps forward.
Samuel "You're okay Milo. You stay. Mr. Blonc, I believe there's no harm in letting the scene go. Either we don't do it or see if it even affects the script at all?"
Blonc "You believe there's no harm? Well then by all means, let's just let it go! In fact, why don't we all just start believing what you believe then, huh? Since you're so confident in your beliefs. You have no idea what you're talking about. You are nothing but a high school teacher. So do not speak to me again about directing this production or I will have you fired."
He says intimidatingly. Samuel stares at him in disbelief.
Samuel "Excuse me? I think you need to get that oval shaped head checked because last I heard, you were the temporary one here, not me. And don't you dare think for one second you can speak to me like that again you pompous, short stacked, eye vomit, too small for the grownups table looking weirdo!"
She points her finger at his forehead as she stands over him. He gets an offended look as even his assistant looks shocked. The students all laugh and are shocked by her words.
Haru "Yeah! You get him Ms. Samuel!"
Lucy "Tell that jerk how it is!"
Alice "Beat that villain!"
They start cheering for her as she smiles and gives Blonc an angry look.
Blonc "Weirdo?! Well I've never! Fine then! Do this whole stupid production on your own! I'm out of here!"
He grabs his coat and marches out of the auditorium with his assistant following him. He turns around to the class as he gets to the door.
Blonc "And I'll have you know, people love the way I dress!"
He says before slamming the door behind him. Samuel looks happy and accomplished as the class cheers for her.
Chizuru "That was awesome Ms. Samuel!"
Daiki "I don't think that guy expected to get his by a train like that today."
Hikigaya "Literally."
Airi "You're the best Ms. Samuel!"
Samuel looks at the class blushing a bit.
Samuel "Okay, okay, that's enough. Thank you all but we still have work to do."
Hisana "But who's gonna direct us now?"
Samuel "Oh yeah. Hm… Well I suppose I'll just have to do it."
Sugawara "Really? You will?"
Samuel "Yeah, why not? If that menace can then surely I could, right?"
Everyone "Right!"
Samuel "Okay then! Let's get started!"
They get excited as Samuel begins to guide them through their lines.
Over the next couple weeks, Samuel guides and directs the class through their lines and scenes until eventually the day of the show comes. The group comes to school like normal. Sugawara stops when he sees a poster on the bulletin board.
Sugawara "Hey, look at the poster Ms. Samuel made for the show."
Haru looks at it with excitement as Tsuki pouts.
Haru "Oh man! This is gonna be so exciting! Why are you so bummed Tsuki?"
Tsuki "My role sucks! It's so boring and I don't even get to kiss Shiori…"
Sugawara "I heard you did plenty of kissing Shiori already."
He says with a snarky tone. Tsuki rolls his eyes as they continue into school. They go about the day like normal. While they sit at lunch, a few different students would approach them.
Student "Hey, I look forward to the play later."
Student "I heard you guys kicked out that weird director. I can't wait to see what you guys do without him!"
Student "I heard lots of people talking about the play this year. It's gonna be packed!"
As different students give them words of encouragement throughout the day, they get more excited yet more anxious for the performance.
Lucy "It sounds like the play is the talk of the town."
Shiori "But why? The school does a play like this every year."
Chizuru "Well it's not every year that the mean school play director is kicked out and the script is almost entirely written by the class."
Ryuji "Maybe that's why everyone is talking about it."
Shiori pouts a bit with a worried look.
Shiori "Yeah well they're getting their hopes up for nothing… It's not like it's that good or anything…"
Hikigaya "Give yourself more credit. You worked hard on that script, it's great because you made it. I don't care what anyone else says!"
Haru/Chizuru "Yeah!"
Shiori brightens up a little and smiles at Hikigaya as he gives her a confident smile back. As the day eventually comes to an end, many students are leaving as the cast of the play all meet back up in their classroom.
Samuel "The performance starts in about two hours so get your pre-show jitters out and make sure you're all ready to go in the performance hall. Makeup and costumes are on in 20!"
The class all understands the instructions and heads out. The students hangout in the changing rooms as most of the students get changed. Shiori sits, now in her costume, against the wall with her head in her hands. Hikigaya sits down next to her.
Hikigaya "You nervous?"
Shiori "Yes! I've never done anything like this before! I think I'm actually freaking out…"
She lays her head back in her hands. Hikigaya giggles a bit at her as she looks at him upset at his giggling.
Shiori "Why are you laughing at me?.."
Hikigaya "I'm not, I swear. It's just that, we've literally fought for our lives before. We've pretended to be entirely other people and acted like it's been that way for our entire lives. To me, this doesn't even come close to how hard that was."
Shiori looks surprised a bit and calms down. She smiles softly.
Shiori "Yeah, I guess you're right. I'm just scared I'll mess it up… Not even for me, but for the others. If I make a mistake, it'll ruin it for them. I just… don't want them to hate me for that… That's what I'm scared of…"
Hikigaya smiles softly at her.
Hikigaya "You have to trust your friends more. No matter what you do, they'll never hate you. Especially not here. If you mess up, we'll help you get back on track. And if not, then we'll all laugh about it together. Besides, we've been working hard on this for weeks now. We got this, trust yourself."
He places his hand gently on her shoulder before standing up and going back to finish his makeup. She looks in awe at his words and smiles a bit.
Shiori "Right. I got this. We got this."
She gets up and approaches the others who are getting ready. In the auditorium, people are beginning to take their seats. The whole groups families are here, including Jun and Fuyuko, Ryuji's parents. Fuyuko looks tired but still excited as Jun looks slightly irritated.
Jun "I can't believe you talked me into letting you come."
Fuyuko "I couldn't make it to his Sports Festival, I am not missing this. Now be happy, he's been working really hard on this."
She gives him an intense look as he sighs.
Jun "Of course."
He gives a soft smile. Elsewhere, Asami, Hamasaki, Takanou and Riku take their seats. Asami has a camera in hand ready to record the performance.
Asami "First play of his life. I can't wait to see it!"
Hamasaki "Are you excited to see your big sister up there Riku?"
Riku "Yeah! And Hiki too!"
He says excitedly. They smile at him as he looks around.
Takanou "Shiori wrote the script for this, didn't she?"
Hamasaki nods happily. Takanou smiles proudly.
Takanou "She's always working so hard on her writing. I can't wait to see how far she's come."