Chapter 2: Cultural Festival With Eina (4) |
“’Sup, Casanova.”
Sakai slapped me on my back on our way out of the school gates.
“…Lay off.”
Sakai was practically skipping while I trudged along.
“It’s the truth, right? The President nominated you herself, yeah?”
“What on Earth was she thinking?”
I said, before letting out a weary sigh.
“Exactly what she said, she’s the type to say everything truthfully.”
“Yeah, she always has a fair argument.”
“If I had to say, I’d worry about her using you to get at a jealous guy.”
“Don’t exaggerate.”
“I’m not, she’s the most popular amongst the guys at our school isn’t she?”
“Eh, she is?”
I did think she was pretty, but I hadn’t thought she was that popular.
“You didn’t know? Well, you’re not the type to evaluate the girls I guess,” Sakai gave a sarcastic smile, “She’s fairly popular just from being the student council President, then there’s her looks. It’d be stranger if she wasn’t popular. If we had a beauty contest, she’d easily take first.”
“She’s pretty scary though, right?”
“Of course, some of the people like my boss and part of the class that have interacted directly with her say that her candidness is scary, but on the whole I think people look at her enviously.”
I was getting more and more depressed. If I acted too poorly, I’d be killed socially…
“Well, do your best. I’m cheering for you. You’ve got a thing for her too, right?”
“Bugger off.”
I wanted to think that my face heating up was my imagination.
When I got home, I messaged Eina about what had happened today. About how her script was received, and about how I’d come to have the prince’s role…
Eina: You’re the prince! Waaah, that fits perfectly!
I could tell from just the text that she was excited, but I didn’t really get what she meant.
Shuu: I’m just a normal high schooler though?
Eina: It’s a perfect fit. I mean, I modelled the prince after you, so having the real person play him makes me really happy.
If Eina’s going that far, I’ll do my best, I thought.
I immediately took out the script and read it aloud. Just reading it wouldn’t let me know if I was doing well or not, so I used my phone to record myself.
Once I finished reading through, I checked the recording…
“This… is awful.”
I was so bad you couldn’t have even called me a ham actor.
“I’ll go buy a book on acting.”
I cycled off to a bookstore that was open at that time of night.
After school the next day, we had the initial rehearsal. My study was in vain and my acting was still tragic. Actually, it was about the same level as those in the supporting roles, so it was probably about normal for someone without experience.
But I had a leading role, so this was awful.
“There’s still time, you’ll manage, right?” Sakai said to me, but it was no consolation.
The President was absent, apparently she had to do some work with the cultural festival as a whole. Disappointed, I headed to the literature club’s room. The end of the day was approaching, but I wanted to do some preparations for the literature club. We planned to have the room open on the day itself and distribute the book, so I had to decorate the room.
However, I couldn’t move my mind from the acting and didn’t get much done.
And then.
“Literature club.” I started in surprise at suddenly being spoken to.
The President was standing in the doorway.
“Sorry, I’m going home now.”
I apologised reflexively. It was already long past the end of the school day.
“Am I really that scary,” the President sighed. She seemed to be a little down, and I felt slightly guilty.
“No, I just don’t want to risk losing our room again.”
“I can overlook something like this. I don’t follow the rules to the letter. I know you’ve been preparing for both the class and your club.”
“Right.”
I might have misunderstood what kind of person she was.
“Hey, literature club. Do you have some time now? If you do, would you rehearse a little with me?”
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