A few days passed, and the school festival arrived.
The scene at Sekitomo High School was transformed.
Inside the regular gate was another gate, which read
WELCOME TO THE SEKITOMO FESTIVAL! and had been decorated
with colorful paper flowers and garlands. After stepping
through it, I walked down the hallway, smiling wryly at the
signs reading OKONOMIYAKI, GAME CENTER, HORROR! HORROR
CLASSROOM! COUPLE-LAND , and MAID CAFÉ WATANABE, and
headed for my usual classroom—that is, Sewing Room #2.
Even though I arrived pretty early, I spotted a smattering
of students in the hallways and classrooms finishing up
some last-minute preparations. Maybe because of all the
distractions, no one spared me a glance as I headed to the
abandoned wing of the school.
This would be my last meeting with Hinami before the
festival.
Over the past two weeks, I'd considered everything that
had happened and come up with the best answers I could.
I'd only completed two of the three assignments she'd
given me, but the key point seemed to be what I would do
from this point on.
I arrived at Sewing Room #2. As I walked through the
door, I saw that Hinami was already there.
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"…Hey."
"Morning. You're in a good mood today." With that simple
greeting out of the way, Hinami went on. "Well, have you
made up your mind?"
The punch came out of the blue, striking right into the
heart of the matter. The school festival hadn't dulled her
edge at all.
But she couldn't keep me twisted around her finger
forever.
"Yeah…I have."
She nodded, apparently impressed by my succinct answer.
"That's a relief. I didn't know what I'd do if you were still
floundering around."
"Finally managed it." I was getting nervous as I thought
about what I was planning to do.
Hinami smiled. "Well, the rest is up to you. I'm looking
forward to hearing how it goes."
"…Yeah."
We'd checked in on my progress and confirmed what I
still needed to do. Now that we'd each said what we had to
say, I figured the meeting was over—but no.
Hinami wanted to chat for once. "…Have you seen the
script?"
"What?"
I was caught off guard by the change of topic.
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I wouldn't say that we never had casual conversations, but
it was definitely rare for her to suddenly bring up a subject
this unrelated to my assignments.
"Of course I've seen it. Some parts she just told me about,
but I've been helping her out the whole time," I answered
confidently.
"Ah," Hinami said, then fell silent for a moment. "That's
fine then. I was just wondering how much influence you
had."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I know you did those interviews," she said vaguely, then
stopped. This was out of character, bringing it up again after
she'd acted so uninterested.
"All I did was lend an ear when she was unsure about
something… The play is almost entirely her own work."
"…Ah," she replied curtly, then rearranged her expression.
"That's all I was wondering about. Well, today's the big day.
You ready?" A silent challenge was in her eyes; she was
trying to motivate me.
Something about it unsettled me, but to be honest, I was
already feeling really anxious. For now, I'd better focus on
the challenge right in front of me.
"Of course. Gamers want to win—we know better than
anyone how to bring everything to the table when it
matters."
I tried to psych myself up.
Today, I was going to say how I felt, so I could do what I
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wanted to do.
I absolutely couldn't mess this up.
* * *
After the meeting ended, I walked down the hallway to
"Manga Café Banchoo," aka the second-year Class Two
classroom. I'm not sure why we decided to do a parody of
Manga Café Manboo, and no one knows why we chose the
name Banchoo, either—I think Izumi, Takei, or Mimimi
thought it would be funny, and people just rolled with it.
Whatever, it's the school festival; anything goes.
As soon as I walked into the classroom, I heard an overly
cheerful voice call my name.
"Braaaaaaaain!!"
She ran up to me with a smile so wide, even the extra
excitement of the school festival couldn't fully account for it.
Her recent tension seemed to be gone, and the usual
Mimimi was back in full force.
"Morning. You're really loud."
"Ooh, ouch!"
The awkwardness between us was almost completely gone
—probably had skit practice to thank for that. We'd been
obsessively recording ourselves chatting with a "comedy-skit
tempo" and then listening to the recordings and critiquing
them—basically, a two-person version of what I'd done to get
better at talking. So this progress was really a matter of
course.
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We'd kept this up for less than two weeks, but with
feedback from Mimimi the expert, I'd gradually gotten a feel
for what a "comedy-skit tempo" actually was. I was ready to
take on the challenge of the real thing.
But…
"Uhhh…"
I let out an inarticulate noise. What was she wearing?
She didn't miss my reaction. "Can't take your eyes off me
in this, huh?!"
"Uh, that's not true…"
Yeah. Instead of her usual uniform, she was wearing the
class T-shirt.
"So?! How's it look?!"
She stretched it out for me to see. Her figure was already
attention-grabbing, but it stood out even more in that shirt.
Come on, did you do that on purpose? Are you trying to
throw me off-balance?
Since we're second-year Class Two, the shirt was orange
with an illustration of a crab making two peace signs. The
famous haniwa clay figurine took a place of honor on the
back, which I was sure was Mimimi's idea. She'd rolled the
sleeves all the way up to show off her shoulders, and that
plus the unique combo of a T-shirt with her uniform skirt
made for a particularly eye-catching outfit.
"…Awww, cute."
"What?!"
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"The crab, I mean."
"The crab?!"
We were enjoying our silly banter. Compared with a few
weeks ago, it was amazing how relaxed our interactions
were, and I also felt like our practice sessions had improved
my basic ability to joke around.
I glanced at the people nearby. About 80 percent of our
classmates were wearing the T-shirts, and I'd slipped mine
on under my button-down, too. To tell the truth, it was the
first time in my life I'd bought something like this.
"Out of my way, out of my way!"
Suddenly, our festival-committee chair, Izumi, came
barging by. When I turned my head in surprise, I saw she
was hugging a few dozen manga to her chest. She's a gagmanga fan, huh? She was already so off-balance, I was sure
she was going to drop them all over the floor whether we
moved out of the way or not.
"B-be carefu—!"
I'd better prop her up instead of getting out of the way.
"I gotcha!" I called, successfully catching her.
Supporting her with one hand on her shoulder and the
other on her side, I managed to prevent Izumi and her books
from flying onto the floor, but…
"Ah, thanks."
"Uh, um…"
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Her shoulder and her side. As the sensation of her soft,
warm body spread through my hands, her usual vanilla-y
perfume tickled my nose. Her shoulder and side. Her pretty
face was just centimeters away from my own. Shoulder and
side. I didn't know exactly what was different, but maybe
she'd put in some extra work on her makeup, because she
was even more dolled up than ever—shoulder and side—and
her hair had some extra bounce in the curls for a kind of
party-ish look. All of it suited Izumi's cheerful personality
perfectly and at least doubled or tripled her attractiveness,
but she was Nakamura's girl.
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There was a vivid, electric sense in the air. Our eyes met,
and my brain went blank.
Just then…
"…Huh?!"
Feeling a pair of sharp eyes on my back, I turned around,
and a chill ran down my spine. There was Nakamura, glaring
at me in full force; I think his anger had even turned his hair
bright red.
Wait, what?
"R-red…?!"
I stared at him in surprise. This was no metaphor or
mistake. His usual bleach-blond hair had been dyed bright
red. Wait, what is going on?
"Hey, Tomozaki." He walked toward me, his usual
intimidation factor increased significantly by his scary face
and bright hair. He grabbed the back of my neck. "Let's tear
it up!"
"Yeah, ow, ow, ow!"
"Okay."
He was obviously pissed that I'd touched Izumi, but he
didn't say anything. Guess it was his pride as the top of the
class. Stuff like this was what made him a power-normie.
"Ooh! That looks pretty good on you, Shuji," Izumi
remarked, with no sign of surprise.
"Thanks."
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They were talking like everything was normal. Um, wait a
second, guys.
"Wait, wait, wait, is that allowed?" I asked timidly.
I mean, he might be able to get away with it now because
of the school festival, but didn't hair dye last for a while? No
way the teachers would put up with it after today. Although,
they did put up with his bleached hair; did that meant they'd
let this go, too? I had zero experience with the rules of dyed
hair, so I didn't have a clue.
"This? Ya know…"
"Farm Boy's here!!"
A loud voice interrupted Nakamura's answer. Of course,
the idiot behind the voice was Takei, and Mizusawa was
walking behind him. But.
"'Sup."
The two of them didn't seem surprised by Nakamura's red
hair, either.
"H-hey, i-is that…?" I said, pointing an unsteady finger at
Nakamura's face.
Mizusawa laughed. "Heh-heh. Count on Fumiya for a
good reaction."
When I looked over at him, I noticed that his bangs were
pushed up off his forehead, which somehow made me think
of a bar or club. Takei was just Takei.
"Y-you look really different, too, Mizusawa…"
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"Ha-ha-ha. Meet Takahiro Mizusawa the bartender."
He bowed, seeming extremely used to the gesture. I'm
sure if he actually was a bartender, he'd be hugely successful
at it. I didn't get why the hairstyle was necessary to begin
with, but I guess this was just part of the school festival.
Anyway, when the red-haired Nakamura and the slickedback Mizusawa stood next to each other, they really stood
out. And Takei was so buff, it was like he was their private
security guard or something. Quite the trio.
"Hey, would you help me carry these?"
"Huh?"
"Please!"
I listened to the conversation between the couple next to
me. Izumi wasn't the tiniest bit scared of Nakamura's
intimidating voice. Well, she was his girlfriend. Maybe she
knew a side of him no one else did, so she wasn't not afraid
of him anymore or something.
"Come on, just help me out!" she said, giving him a big
smile.
Izumi basically has no dark side, and as far as I can tell,
she's a really good person—but sometimes, I suspect she
purposely uses her girliness as a weapon. Not many guys
would say no to that smile.
"…God. Fine, I'll help you."
Apparently, Nakamura was no exception.
Nakamura glanced at me as he took some of the books
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from her, then handed them over to me like that was the
obvious thing to do. The hell, dude?
"You take some, Takahiro and Takei!"
"Sure," Mizusawa said, casually taking a stack.
Somehow, everyone had been pulled in. Whatever, this is
just part of the school festival. And we're all on the
organizing committee.
Izumi was now empty-handed, and of course, she was
wearing the class T-shirt, too. Unlike Mimimi, she'd
bunched up the bottom of the shirt with a hair tie, and upon
closer inspection, I noticed it had little red crab-claw
decorations on it. She's very attentive to detail. The hair tie
shortened the shirt, so every time she took a step, a glimpse
of her stomach showed. Apparently, in normie language, this
is considered "cute," not "sexy" or "hot." Native speakers use
the same word in many different contexts, you know.
"Yuzu…you're not ready yet? Everyone's gonna be here in
two hours!"
"I know that! Instead of telling me about it, how about
helping me out, Aoi?!"
"Okay, okay."
Hinami walked over, livening up the atmosphere even
more.
Once the six of us finished chatting and setting out the
manga in an aesthetically pleasing display, Hinami and
Izumi went flying down the hallway, apparently to finish
some other work. Well, they are the student council
president and the festival chair. As I watched them absently,
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Tama-chan passed them, coming into the classroom.
"Morning."
When our eyes met, she greeted me in a completely
natural, straightforward tone, which told me it had no
hidden meaning whatsoever other than This is a greeting.
Typical Tama-chan. Not only was she wearing the class shirt,
but she also had a pair of bear ears on her head. She
bounced over and stopped in front of me.
"…What are you looking at?"
For some reason, she sounded sullen. Um, what do you
mean? If you wear something like that, of course people are
gonna look. It's your own fault for wearing them. Mizusawa
and Nakamura were staring, too.
I decided to give an honest opinion.
"They're perfect for you."
"Shut up! That's not a compliment!"
Nakamura and Mizusawa laughed. Which is to say,
Nakamura and Tama-chan were still on good terms, and I
was happy to see that their relationship had stabilized with
no sign of their former friction.
"Why are you getting mad at me…?" I protested.
It seemed that Mimimi had made her put them on despite
Tama-chan's misgivings. So take them off already!
"But she said she thought they'd look cute on me, and she
bought them with her own money. So I'm wearing them for
her. Just for today."
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"…Hmmm."
The only comments I could think of were They're
adorable, They're silly, and I wish you'd wear them for the
rest of your life. But they did suit her, and there was no
harm, right? Mizusawa teased her ("How sweet…") and was
promptly told to shut up. All was going well.
Finally, Tama-chan turned to me and stared at my
uniform. "…Tomozaki, where's your T-shirt?"
She sounded worried. I didn't fit in with the class much
before, and she and I both had really individualistic
personalities, so I'm sure she was imagining all kinds of
explanations. I'd let out a sigh of relief when I saw her
wearing the shirt, so she'd probably hoped for the same from
me.
"No worries. I'm wearing it underneath."
She gave me a relieved smile, then turned her head away
in apparent disinterest. "Good."
"What's that mean?"
"What do you think?"
The odd rapport between us, like old friends, was pleasant
and comfortable. I bet Nakamura and those guys wouldn't
get it. Tama-chan giggled.
"I'm glad. I think we'll both be able to enjoy this festival."
Her eyes were straightforward and honest as always; there
was more between the lines of that comment, but only
members of our unique species would catch it.
We didn't always fight alongside each other, but I think
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we did fight in the same way.
I smiled as strongly with as much normie energy as I
could and said, "Me too."
My reply meant more than I'd said as well. She nodded,
waved, and disappeared down the hallway.
Takei, who hadn't been part of the conversation at all,
waved at her the most energetically of anyone. "Man, Tama's
really my type!"
That was a real shock to hear. I glanced over at Mizusawa
and Nakamura. They were surprised, too.
"So that's the kind of girl you like?"
For once, Mizusawa sounded confused, but without losing
his trademark sense of fun. Nakamura jumped on the
chance to tease him.
"That tracks, since you act about as young as she looks."
"Good point!" Takei said, ignoring the fact that Nakamura
was making fun of him. He just seemed happy to hear they
were a good match. The three of us smirked. Better run fast,
Tama-chan.
"Anyway…" Mizusawa thumped my shoulder, changing
the subject. "Ready to go, Fumiya, like we talked about?"
"Uh…yeah."
Following the three of them, I headed off to the detached
guy's bathroom, which not many people used.
The night before, I'd gotten a LINE message from
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Mizusawa saying, [Come to school without wax or anything
in your hair tomorrow]. So you can probably imagine what
was about to happen.
* * *
"What is this…?"
Fifteen minutes or so had passed.
My hair was as perfectly coiffed as a model on the front of
one of those magazines you read at the hair salon. After you
got a cut, they usually styled it at the salon so it looked all
cool, but this was on a different level. I could've stepped out
of a CG illustration.
"Well, if you really must know…it's a classic inner-outer
bubble mash."
"A classic inner-outer bubble mash…?"
"Wow, you remembered it the first time."
Hinami has trained me well in the arcane language of
fashion. I have no idea what any of it means, but if all I
have to do is parrot words, I'm your man.
But seriously, what was going on with my hair? He'd
curled it with some superhot tong things, worked in some
wax, exploded my whole head, mashed it all down, and
coaxed everything into place with his fingertips to complete
his masterpiece.
"…It's amazing," I muttered as Mizusawa applied a final
mist of hair spray.
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Curls were scattered around my head in bunches, like I'd
gotten a perm. This wasn't your average everyday stylish
hairdo. And yet, it felt like a logical next step in the path I'd
been growing along, so it wouldn't give a tryhard
impression, either. I had zero confidence in my appearance,
but this was so amazing, it made even me think I actually
looked cool. Seriously, I doubt anyone would see me and
think, There's an Atafami nerd.
"Takahiro, you're incredible!!"
"You could charge for this. Tomozaki the playa!"
Takei was excited about my hair, and Nakamura was
grinning and giving his approval, too. I didn't like being
called a player, but at least the reaction seemed to be
positive… I mean, my hair was amazing.
Mizusawa nodded with satisfaction as he surveyed his
work.
"It's a little behind the times, but it's still a classic, and I
think it suits you better than something more casual like the
spiral perms, even if they are in right now."
"Uh, I have no idea what you just said, but I guess so?"
I'm good at remembering new words, but I'm bad at long
passages, so I gave up on that one. Guess I better work on
my listening skills.
"Right. That color wax looks better on Shuji than I
expected, so we're all good for today."
"Color wax…?"
I didn't know that exact term, but that one I could guess.
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A styling product with color, right? Which meant…
"Oh…you didn't dye it, then."
"Ha-ha-ha. 'Course not." Nakamura smiled goodnaturedly and poked me in the shoulder.
"Why didn't you say so before?"
I slumped my shoulders, and Nakamura wrapped his
arms around me and Mizusawa. "No big deal, right? So…let's
go out there and get ourselves some LINE info!"
"Yeah!"
"Yeah!"
"Wait, wait, wait!"
Mizusawa and Takei answered Nakamura in unison—I
was the only one to protest.
"Ha-ha-ha, what's wrong, Fumiya?" Mizusawa laughed.
Glad you're enjoying yourself, dude.
"What's wrong? …Oh, never mind. That's just what this
thing is like. I get it." As I resigned myself to my fate,
Nakamura flashed a toothy smile.
"I like how you gave in so easy, Fumin."
"I'm used to it. This is how you guys roll."
"Ha-ha-ha. You know it."
His grin widened. He seemed to be in a better mood than
usual. Must be that school-festival spirit.
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"Ready, men?" Mizusawa said, wrapping his arms around
our shoulders to pull us into a circle. "We've got me in
charge of nightlife, Shuji in charge of cutting loose, Fumiya
in charge of salon-dos, and Takei. I think we're good! Let's
go!"
"Whoo-hoo!" the four of us hooted. Takei didn't seem to
notice Mizusawa's little dig and actually grinned and
shouted louder than anyone else. Yeah, Takei is just Takei.
Also, what's a salon-do?
* * *
After the formal opening ceremony in the gym ended, we
had free time.
Kids from other schools wouldn't be let in for a few more
hours, so this was when Sekitomo High natives were
supposed to visit one another's stands. The four of us
wandered around, checking out the other classes. Nakamura
and Mizusawa were hard to miss when they were by
themselves, so with the two of them together, we became the
center of attention everywhere we went. I figured that as
long as I kept my mouth shut, I should give a pretty good
first impression to people standing a couple meters away,
which made me confident enough to implement the perfect
strategy: standing around with cocky body language and
saying nothing. Surprisingly, several first-year girls got
swept up in the excitement when Nakamura and Mizusawa
asked to exchange LINE info and asked if they could have
"their friend's" info, too. I can't claim much credit since I did
absolutely nothing, but wow, appearance sure is powerful.
We spent the morning doing that until—
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"Oh, Mizusawa-san! Tomozaki-san!"
Lunch was over, and students from other schools had
been filtering in for twenty minutes or so.
The manga café in the second-year Class Two classroom
was already turning into a lazy spot for hanging out when
the laziest girl of all showed up.
It was Gumi-chan, wearing an oversize black hoodie with
a white print on the sleeves. Apparently, she'd brought along
two of her flawlessly cool friends.
"Hey, Gumi…and?" Mizusawa said, pausing for a second.
"Oh, it's Yoko-chan and Hitomi-chan!"
Nakamura and I exchanged glances at his smooth
greeting. If Takei had a tail, it would have been wagging in
excitement at the cute girls who'd just arrived.
Wait. What did Mizusawa just say?
"Uh, Nakamura…," I said. "He just called those two by
their first names, didn't he?"
"Yup," Nakamura replied. "Sounds like you know the
other one already?"
"Well, her name is Gumi-chan, and she works at the same
place as Mizusawa and me…but the other two don't."
"Tomozaki…I have a bad feeling about this."
"I believe you're right, Nakamura."
Nakamura and I were engaging in a historically
unprecedented level of buddy-buddy conversation, letting
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Mizusawa and his friends know we had our eyes on them.
"Hey, Takahiro. Those your friends?" Nakamura asked.
Mizusawa threw us an obnoxiously triumphant smile, but
all he said was, "Yeah." Apparently, the a-hole was keeping
us hanging on purpose…
"I have a bad feeling about this," I said, parroting what
Nakamura had just said in a loud voice to poke at Mizusawa.
"Ha-ha-ha. Not quite… What would you ladies call it?" he
said, turning toward Gumi-chan's friends. The two of them
exchanged uneasy glances.
"Um…"
"I'm not sure…"
They laughed nervously.
Mizusawa laughed, too, and turned back to us.
"Well, if I had to put a name on it…," he said, raising one
eyebrow. "I think I'd call them customers."
""…What?"" Nakamura and I said in unison.
The three girls burst out giggling.
"Let's just call us acquaintances and leave it at that," said
Mizusawa. "Take your time here, you three!"
"Sure," Gumi-chan answered listlessly, and the three of
them sat down at a table.
The "Banchoo" classroom, as it was called, had been
divided into four with soundproofing panels, and it had
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different spaces in each quarter.
In one, little tables and legless chairs had been set out so
people could laze around on the floor.
In another, there was a tall bar counter where people
could laze around side by side.
In the last two, there were regular tables and chairs for
regular lazing around.
Essentially, it was designed for being lazy wherever you
sat, which made it the perfect place for Gumi-chan.
At some point, the concept had morphed into one where
the kids in charge of the café were goofing off and reading
manga with the customers. What a lazy bunch we were.
Gumi-chan and her friends were seated at a table made
from four pushed-together desks. And then…
"So you're friends of Takahiro's?"
With that slick line, Nakamura sat down next to them.
What the hell was this guy doing? Wasn't Izumi his
girlfriend?
"Yes!"
"N-nice to meet you!"
Gumi's friends both sat up straighter as they answered
him.
He gave them a crooked smile. "You guys are too
nervous," he chided.
They both smiled but seemed flustered at the same time,
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and eventually, their eyes landed on Gumi-chan. Nakamura
followed their lead.
"And that one is too relaxed."
"Huh?"
Everyone laughed, including me, and the mood eased.
Damn Nakamura… I guess there's more to him than a scary
face and a cool-guy persona.
"Oh, hi. I'm Tsugumi."
I couldn't help smiling at Gumi-chan's oddly timed, tepid
self-introduction. What the heck was she responding to?
"Wait, now is when you decide to introduce yourself?" I
interjected with the comedic timing I'd developed with
Mimimi.
It went over well, and everyone laughed. Not bad.
"Anyway, you guys sure are acting like players today," said
Gumi-chan.
"Just today? I'm always a player," said Nakamura.
"Uh, that's not exactly a good thing, you know."
I laughed again at the conversation. How do these people
do it naturally when it took me so much practice to finally
manage a few jokes?
"Why don't you get yourself a girlfriend and give it a
break? I bet you could find one if you wanted to," she went
on lethargically. Her friends nodded, although they still
seemed nervous. Wait, did they ever introduce themselves?
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I decided to ask their names. Partly because I wanted the
EXP, and partly because I wanted to properly meet the
friends of a friend. Since they were younger than me, I made
an effort to play it cool.
"By the way, what are your names?"
I managed to say it smoothly. I'd gotten some training in
talking this way to a girl I'd just met when Kikuchi-san and I
interviewed Maehashi-san, and I think I did a fairly good job
of it this time.
"Oh, I'm Hitomi."
"I'm Yoko."
Even though I was older, I was way worse at being cool
about it. They're introducing themselves using only their
first names! Should I copy them and use my first name,
too?
"Nice to meetcha. I'm Shuji."
"Uh, I'm Fumiya. Pleased to meet you," I said, hiding in
Nakamura's shadow. When everyone else was on a firstname basis, I knew better than to introduce myself as
Tomozaki.
"Hi! I'm Takei!!"
Or so I thought, until Takei jumped in with his last name,
waving his hand energetically. Well, in Takei's case, "Takei"
is more Takei-ish, so you keep doing you, Takei.
Just then, when we'd finally managed to get a
conversation with all three of them rolling—
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"Braaaaaaaain!!"
—I heard that overly excited voice for the second time in
the same day.
"…Hey, what's going on here?!" Obviously surprised by
the situation, Mimimi surveyed the three girls. "…Am I
interrupting something?!"
"Oh, definitely not," Mizusawa jumped in, and everyone
laughed again.
"Whatever. Brain! We better do our final practice soon!"
"Oh right."
Our skit would be in the evening. We'd be using a little
performance space where people could come and go as they
liked, and it would only last five minutes, but I was still
nervous. I was hoping as few people as possible would show
up.
"You're doing something, Tomozaki-san?" Gumi-chan
asked.
"Uh, yeah. It's just a comedy skit."
Her eyebrows rose. "Ooh, that sounds really fun! I'm
going to come watch you!"
"Shit."
"Mizusawa-saaaaan," Gumi-chan whined, "did you hear
what he said to me?!"
"What do you want me to do? He's honest that way."
Mizusawa had taken my side, I jumped right on the
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chance. "Yeah! 'Shit' was just the word that came to mind.
And I say what I mean."
"Ugh, what the heck?! You need better words to come to
mind, then."
We were having one of our usual lethargic, contentless
conversations, just like we did at Karaoke Sevens. Since I'm
not a natural normie, I'm good at assessing the battlefield,
and once I realized Mizusawa was on my side—that I had an
advantage—I was able to go on the attack. Although, I
personally thought I sounded like a real jerk.
Mimimi was peering at us with a puzzled expression. "The
B-Brain is acting like a real upperclassman…"
Mizusawa chuckled at her surprised reaction, which I
didn't really understand.
"Fumiya's a good big brother, isn't he?" he asked Gumichan.
She nodded and said, "Yes, he is!" then looked at Mimimi.
"When I'm hanging out on the sofas in the karaoke rooms,
he always comes by and tells me to get to work!" The nerve
of this girl.
"Oh, so you do know you shouldn't be hanging out on the
sofas!" I butted in.
"Yeah, yeah."
Mimimi listened to our conversation, laughing a little, but
she didn't really join in. I guess even Mimimi gets nervous
when she's around three people she doesn't know.
"There's more to Tomozaki-san than meets the eye,"
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Gumi-chan said.
"What's that mean?" I asked. She turned an intense gaze
on Mimimi before answering:
"Can you believe he was picking up girls at my school
when he had such a cute comedy partner in his own grade?"
Mizusawa burst out laughing at her little speech, and her
friends both made shocked noises.
I panicked at the sudden turn of events and avoided
looking at Mimimi.
"W-we weren't really picking up girls…"
I tried to think of an excuse to cover up my crime, but
since everything Gumi-chan said was 100 percent accurate, I
couldn't come up with anything. Everyone knew I'd been to
a festival at a girls' school, but I was hoping to keep the part
with the girls secret. Too late now.
"Explain yourself, Brain! Going to a girls' school to flirt?!"
"W-wait, Mimimi, it wasn't like that…!"
"Brain! S-s-since when did you become so sh-shallow?!"
"N-no, it's just that Mizusawa…"
"You were with Takahiro?! Then I know it's true, Brain!"
"His name is enough to make me guilty?!"
Contrary to my intentions, I apparently dug my own grave
by involving Mizusawa, and now her suspicions were even
deeper. Or maybe I should say she'd gotten a step closer to
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the truth.
"…Okay! Let's go! Time to practice!" I said.
"Answer the question!" she shouted as I ran out of the
classroom to escape her. Of course, then I realized it was
pointless because we'd end up together to practice anyway.
* * *
Twenty or thirty minutes had passed since I explained
myself to Mimimi and we had our final session.
"I-it's finally time…," I mumbled.
We were in the multipurpose hall next to the main school
building.
It was about a fourth of the size of the gym, smaller than it
looked, and it was where we usually had meetings with the
other classes in our grade. Mimimi and I were waiting in the
wings off the stage.
"Why are you so nervous?!"
"W-wouldn't anyone be…?"
I mean, we were about to stand up in front of an audience
and do a comedy skit. Characters at my level just don't do
this stuff.
She was wearing an embroidered satin baseball jacket
with her uniform shirt and skirt, (very school festival–ish),
and I was wearing a sort of gaudy jacket she'd lent me. The
usual haniwa charms were sticking out of both of our
pockets. Of course, all this was Mimimi's idea.
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"We'll be fine! I mean, no one expects much, and it
probably won't go that well anyway!"
"What is 'fine' about any of that?" I shot back.
She grinned. "Perfect! That's all you have to do! Just like
we practiced!" She slapped my shoulder.
"Ouch!"
I made sure my voice wasn't loud enough for the audience
to hear.
"It comes natural now! So you'll be fine. Got it?"
"…Got it."
She did have a point. We'd practiced so much that the
patterns must have sunk in. Leaving aside the question of
whether this stage was beyond my level, I was fairly sure it
was impossible in the game of life for a good effort to lead to
no results at all. Fairly sure.
"Okay. Let's do this."
"Let's do it!"
We grinned at each other.
A few minutes later, the moment arrived.
"Next up is a comedy skit by TM Revolution! Break a leg,
guys!"
Uh, when did we get a name…?
"What did he just call us?!"
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"Oh, I got the 'TM' from 'Tomozaki' and 'Mimimi'! Here
we go!"
"Typical…"
Letting her sweep away the last of my nerves, I leaped out
onto the stage.
* * *
"Hello out there!"
We jumped out together and walked over to the stands,
where two regular old mics were set up.
A light several times stronger than what I'd expected
beamed down on us. With this light in my eyes, I couldn't
see the audience very well.
"Okay, let's do this!" Mimimi cheered. Maybe because she
was in front of an audience, she sounded even more
energetic than usual, almost like she was talking to the
people watching us. "Guess what, Tomozaki-san?"
"What is it, Nanami-san?"
"They're letting us perform a skit as a couple! How about
that?"
I took a breath and focused on a natural delivery. "Funny
how we have different last names, then."
That line got a laugh from about a quarter as many people
as I'd hoped for. Uh, that's showbiz?
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But so far, we were just testing the waters. We could get
the audience back with the main skit.
As the little ripple of laughter continued, I thought about
the situation. My line was next, but Mimimi seemed to have
set the right tone, like she was chatting with someone out in
the audience.
Normally, it was just the two of us going back and forth,
but we probably should talk to the people watching
sometimes. That fit with our goal to sound as unscripted as
possible, and the audience would probably have an easier
time following along. The way Mimimi had slipped in that
little improv bit so easily was another sign of how good she
was in front of a crowd.
I swiveled toward the audience, making an effort to adapt.
That's when it happened.
I hadn't been able to see the audience before—but
suddenly, I could see several dozen people looking straight
at us.
That instant.
The worst imaginable scenario happened.
It was simple.
"…Gulp."
My mind went blank.
I broke out in an oily sweat, and the world went dim
around the edges.
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My hands were shaking so much that even I was
surprised, which made me even more nervous.
Flailing for some kind of life preserver, I visualized the
flash cards I'd used to memorize the script, but I couldn't
remember anything—even though I'd rehearsed the gist
until it should have been beyond perfect.
To be absolutely sure I didn't forget, I'd practiced it over
and over during breaks and after I got home from school
until I knew it backward and forward. Even on the train to
and from school, I'd used flash cards with our lines written
on them.
Of course, I didn't memorize specific words or phrases,
just the general sort of thing I was supposed to say. I didn't
want to sound like I was acting. But whenever I reviewed it, I
only gave myself a pass if I was able to turn those abstract
concepts into concrete lines, so I'd even gotten practice in a
certain level of improv.
That's why my blank mind was so unexpected.
I'd assumed that if my nerves made me mess up, it would
be because I couldn't come up with a natural-sounding line
on the spot, or because I ended up reciting exactly the lines
I'd memorized, like I was reading a script out loud. Those
were the mistakes I expected.
But at that moment, every last hint of what I should say
next disappeared from my mind.
"So…"
I smiled, saying anything just to fill the silence. It was my
turn to talk. The audience probably didn't realize yet what
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was happening, but I was fairly sure that Mimimi sensed
something was amiss.
Just then.
"But anyway, Tomozaki-san!" Mimimi abruptly went off
script. "Do you know where the name 'TM Revolution' came
from?"
This wasn't a minor change in the script; it was total adlibbing.
"The name? No, I don't."
Desperately trying not to break the rhythm, I completed
my half of the call-and-response.
"Well, 'T' is for 'Tomozaki.'"
"Uh-huh."
"And 'M' is for me, Minami-chan."
"Yeah, yeah."
"And…"
Mimimi turned her palms toward her face and struck a
pose.
"…Revolution!"
No one laughed.
Of course they didn't—she was just running in place.
But I still knew what she was doing—she was throwing me
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a lifeline.
I had to save us from our plight.
We only had this one chance. I was the one who'd messed
up by forgetting the script, and the whole thing would be
crap if I didn't fix it. All our practice and all the ideas she'd
thought up would be wasted, leaving Mimimi alone to spin
her wheels.
I couldn't let that happen.
I took a breath and tried to think of some words.
What should I say?
I considered following Mimimi's lead and giving some
exaggerated, obvious comeback.
But that didn't seem right.
Mimimi had said we should be as natural as possible, like
one of our normal goofy conversations.
So I thought about what my usual reaction would be if
Mimimi did something like this.
"So anyway, we're doing a comedy skit…"
"Are you ignoring me?!"
The audience laughed.
I'd decided to ignore her. Or I should probably say, the
part of me who always talked to Mimimi was used to not
giving her a reaction. After all, she'd said our normal
conversations were practice, right?
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Well, they sure had come in handy.
More than the laughs, though, it was Mimimi's attempt to
rescue me that did the trick—my nervousness disappeared
completely.
"But anyway, Nanami-san. I got some time off work, so is
there anywhere you want to go?"
Mimimi gave a small nod and turned her lips up in a
confident smile. That was the cool Mimimi I knew.
I can't even tell you how grateful I was for her. Just to
save my butt, she'd taken a bold fall in front of all these
people. She'd embarrassed herself to help me recover.
"Well, I'd love to go to the zoo!"
"The zoo? But…"
Under the overly bright lights and too many eyes, we
managed to make it through the rest of our skit together
without any more mishaps.
* * *
"Well, that went okay!"
"Ha-ha-ha. Yeah."
The skit was over, and we were standing outside the
multipurpose hall.
Buffeted by the cold wind, we were critiquing our
performance.
"I'm sorry about that! My mind just went blank… You
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really saved my butt."
Mimimi laughed it off like she always did. "It's fine! Pay
me back with a bowl of ramen!"
"Ha-ha…for sure. Thanks, though, seriously."
"Well, let's just say all's well that ends well!" She was
saving me again by laughing off my mistake.
"…Agreed! We did pretty good for beginners…didn't we?"
"Maybe! I'm fairly sure we did okay!"
"Ha-ha-ha. Maybe you're fairly sure?"
But seriously, the laughter didn't sound forced, so I'd say
the skit was a success. Whether it was a hit was another
question, but as one show of many, I think we just barely
made the cut.
To be totally honest, a big part of it was the warm mood of
the audience, thanks to the crowd of friends who showed up
—Gumi-chan had already said she would come, but
Nakamura's group and Mimimi's friends were there, too.
I feel like some of the people who knew about the
situation with Mimimi and me might have been laughing
because we said we were a couple, but I promise not to say
anything about that.
"Well, I better get going soon…"
I checked my phone and saw it was already four. The play
was starting in an hour. The script was in Kikuchi-san's
hands now, but I had to help out with the final check for the
lights and sound system. I turned my thoughts to the
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performance and what would happen afterward.
Suddenly, I felt Mimimi's anxious gaze on me. There was
an odd heat in her eyes as she glanced back and forth
between me and the clock on my phone.
"The play's starting soon?" Her voice seemed to catch on
my sleeve, to flicker like a match in the wind.
"Yeah."
"The play with…Kikuchi-san?"
For some reason, she repeated her question with an
emphasis on Kikuchi-san. It was like she had caught some
glimpse of the future, and the look in her eyes pricked my
heart. Was I reading too much into things, or—?
Well, it didn't matter.
"…Yeah. I'll see you later."
There was nothing I could do for her.
"Right," she mumbled.
The sinking sun shone its orange light on her profile. A
dry wind blew, sending the fallen leaves dancing.
Suddenly, Mimimi smiled, threw her head back toward
the cold, hazy sky—and shouted:
"Aaaaah! It's over!"
Her expression reminded me of a frail, scared little girl.
"Hey, Brain?"
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"…What?"
"That was fun, doing the skit."
"Yeah…it was," I agreed. Why was Mimimi looking off
into the distance?
"…Yeah, that was fun," she said again.
"…Yeah."
She bit her lip for just a second—then nodded slightly,
although I wasn't sure at who. "Well, see you later."
"…Okay."
She definitely meant more than she had said.
I didn't know what she sensed or what she predicted
would happen.
What I did know was that my only option now was to
follow through with integrity on what I'd decided. That was
all.
* * *
An hour later, I'd finished the final light and sound check
and joined the crowd of students in the gym.
Various classes and clubs, like the pop band, were taking
turns presenting performances on a voluntary basis—and
next up was Kikuchi-san's play. It had gotten a lot of buzz
thanks to the starring roles of the student council president
and Mizusawa, who'd been her campaign manager during
the election. I kind of understand why famous actors and TV
stars always get cast in live-action versions of books or
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anime. If you put in all that work, you want a lot of people to
watch!
The gym was filled with rows of folding chairs, and at a
glance, I'd say there were enough to seat three or four
hundred people. About half were filled, which I guess was a
decent turnout.
The crowd of students was chatting noisily as everyone
waited for the show to start, and I got the sense that rather
than watching the play, they were more interested in seeing
a show with famous people in it. I doubt more than a
handful had any expectations for the quality or message of
the play itself.
Well, I'd known that from the start.
If we managed to give the people who came for that
reason something to take home, that would be enough.
"Our next presentation will be an original play by secondyear Class Two, 'On the Wings of the Unknown.'"
The introduction from the school-festival chair, Izumi,
rang across the room. The lights dimmed, and darkness fell
over the gym, soothing the noisy atmosphere into silence.
The only sound was a clattering on the black stage.
The first voice to break the silence was Hinami's.
"Aren't we there yet, Libra?"
There was a hint of exhaustion and anger in her voice. As
she spoke, the lights gradually brightened on the stage.
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"You okay, Alucia? We haven't even walked very far."
Their voices echoed through the speakers. So far, the only
thing on stage was a whiteboard with a big sheet of paper on
it showing a drawing of a castle interior.
"This is exhausting. If I'm going to walk for so long, I'd at
least like to know where I'm going."
"You're the one who said you wanted to explore. You
didn't have to come."
As they delivered their lines, Alucia-slash-Hinami and
Libra-slash-Mizusawa walked onstage from the wings. They
were wearing fantasy-style outfits, which I heard they'd
gotten online for cheap, but you'd never guess. Maybe that's
because they were so good-looking to start with.
As the two popular students appeared, murmurs of "It's
Hinami!" and "Isn't that Mizusawa-kun?" rippled through
the audience, along with some whistles. That wasn't quite
what I'd imagined…but I guess that's what school festivals
are like.
"True, but I didn't know exploring was your only goal."
"In a place like this, exploring is fun all by itself… Hey,
there's a door."
"Well, it is more fun than listening to Granny Mia tell me
stories in my room…"
"Right? Plus, if we get caught, I bet they'll go easy on us
with you here."
"I may be a princess, but I wish you wouldn't use my
status like that."
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Although the conversation was casual, it explained the
situation and the relationship between the characters. I'd
been wondering how Kikuchi-san would incorporate
background information like that from the novel, and it was
impressive to see she'd slipped it in right at the start of the
play. That sort of thoughtfulness toward the audience
reflected her personality.
"You always do that, Libra."
But Hinami was equally impressive. Even with her
shortest lines, she expressed so much with her hands, voice,
and face, not to mention her simple presence onstage. Just
by standing there, she emanated Alucia's strength. This was
more than acting skill; you might call it Hinami's inherent
ability.
"Let's go!"
Libra's honesty and awkwardness came through, too, but
given that Mizusawa was the one playing him, I wasn't sure I
could say he'd completely stamped out his own easygoing
smoothness. He'd put his bangs back down again, and his
performance was flawless, but he was just too damn
handsome.
The two of them went on poking around the castle, Alucia
complaining about this and that while Libra was obviously
excited—until they reached the play's first turning point, the
scene in the garden.
The stage went dark.
Libra and Alucia had reached the door to the garden and
were debating whether they should break the rules and open
it.
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"I think I want to see… I'm curious," Libra said.
That was the final push that decided it—they'd look
inside.
A creak played to simulate the door being opened. The
lights went on, revealing Tama-chan in a white dress. The
otherworldly outfit suited her small form perfectly, and her
usual strong aura was skillfully neutralized by her
expression and delicate gestures.
The backdrop had been changed, too, to a picture of a
dragon that filled the whole sheet. The layers of vellum
paper on the whiteboard were like a page-a-day calendar
that could be peeled back one sheet at a time to convey the
information that the actors and minor props couldn't. It was
low-budget but effective. Impressively, this was another one
of Kikuchi-san's ideas.
"When they opened the door, they found a flying dragon
five or six meters long, and a girl standing quietly beside it."
As Izumi narrated the scene, the three characters faced
one another onstage.
It was one of the play's most iconic scenes, with all the
main characters together for the first time.
At that moment, Alucia-slash-Hinami moved.
The gesture was practically nothing—she stared at her left
palm and bit her lip. Then, as if she'd made a decision, she
clenched her hand into a fist and shot a spine-chilling gaze
up at the dragon.
Every motion was exaggerated so that the audience could
see it, and by pausing for a few seconds between each one,
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she helped the audience track her moves.
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She hooked her fingers into a threatening claw, pulled
back her arm to strike, and walked several steps in the
direction of her gaze.
Libra grabbed her.
"Alucia. What are you doing?"
When the audience saw that Mizusawa had grabbed
Hinami's wrist, some of them began shouting shrilly,
apparently unable to contain themselves. Huh. I guess
having a handsome leading man and a beautiful leading lady
is enough to qualify as entertainment. My feelings about that
are kind of complicated, but I won't dwell on that.
"Let me go."
Hinami's hard-edged voice filled the gym. I bet none of
them had heard her this way before. The audience fell
completely silent at the difference between the Hinami they
knew and the one onstage.
"If I don't do it now, they'll kill you." Her delivery left the
auditorium spellbound. "Let me do it."
The powerful words sliced through the silence.
"Ooooh…"
I let out a soft gasp as I watched from my seat.
This was the scene Hinami had acted out on the first day
of rehearsals. Her performance had been almost perfect
already, but I was surprised that she'd added even more
power to her delivery. Casting her as Alucia was the right
choice after all.
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This wasn't even a scene with a lot of action, but she'd
already used her presence and ability to wrap the audience
around her finger. She'd done the same thing during her
speech for student council president, so I knew she could do
it—but back then, she'd only been able to speak as Aoi
Hinami. A situation like this, where she could do anything—
where she could stab people in the heart without concern for
her image—was her strong suit.
But Mizusawa-slash-Libra didn't budge.
"No."
"Just let me go. I have to break that dragon's wing."
"I knew it. I won't let you. You'll die otherwise!"
"Don't worry; I'll be fine. I'll say it was an accident. And
I'd have to do much worse for them to execute a member of
the royal family."
"I still won't let you."
"Why not?"
"Because even if they don't kill you, Alucia will die."
I'd read this part of the script countless times, but it was
still fun to see it onstage, with Hinami and Mizusawa
breathing new life into it through their performance.
After that scene, Libra and Alucia became "siblings," and
the relationship between the three characters began to
develop.
We were a few minutes into the play. At first, it seemed
like the audience just wanted to see something weird, but I
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could gradually feel them getting pulled in by the play itself.
Hinami's powerful performance was the catalyst, but I think
the appeal of Kikuchi-san's script, with its subtle but
intricate layers of meaning, was slowly reaching them, too.
In the next part of the play, Alucia became Kris's tutor,
and Libra became her caretaker. Then together, through
trial and error, they worked toward getting the dragon to fly.
"Go on, eat! Yes, that's it! What a good dragon!"
"Okay! So maybe it'll fly now…?"
"…It won't? Libra?"
"Wh-what? Kris, don't look at me like that."
"Libra, remember what we talked about."
"Hey, don't pinch me, Alucia!"
They tried feeding the dragon special plants from the
Valley of the Flying Dragons.
"Look how pretty you are!"
"O-okay, I'm sure this time it will…?"
"…S-still nothing? Libra?"
"Wh-what? That's odd…"
"…Hmph."
"Ouch, Alucia."
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They groomed each of the dragon's scales with a special
magical cloak.
"If we stroke it, it should lift off the ground… Libra?"
"It's not going to fly, is it, Kris? I was worried this might
happen!"
"Hmph…"
"I said I'm sorry, Alucia!"
They read to it old books about how to fly.
Still, the dragon would not take flight. But all the same,
Kris gradually came to accept the two intruders she'd feared
at first.
Little by little, the three of them came to understand one
another—but…
"Alucia, I heard you won the Magic Arts Tournament!
Congratulations!"
"Ah-ha-ha. Thanks, Kris."
"And you're the youngest person ever to win?! That's so
amazing!"
"You're good at everything, Alucia."
"Well, I worked for it."
Alucia's answer was curt.