“…W-Why did you come all the way here?”
Rin asked the two in a somewhat frightened voice after taking a light breath.
“Isn’t it obvious? When we found out the other day that you, who used to flirt with guys all the time, were pretending to be a good girl at Eika, we just had to come and play~”
Then, as if suddenly realizing something, the other female student added.
“Since you’re wearing the festival committee armband, that means~~~”
She paused there deliberately and then pretended to look through the pamphlet.
“You’ll be doing some kind of performance at the end of the festival, right Kohinata-chan? We’re so looking forward to it~”
“Oh man, that’s gonna be hilarious.”
Hahaha, hahaha, hahaha.
Ugly smirks assaulted Haruya and Rin several times.
Haruya clenched his fist, but Rin tugged at his sleeve.
………Don’t do anything. Please.
It seemed like she was pleading that way, so Haruya couldn’t intervene.
“She… clearly doesn’t want this, and neither do I, so please stop talking to us.”
However, he did at least try to restrain them with a stern voice.
“Huh? We just came to enjoy the festival.”
“We’re just saying hello and not laying a hand on her, so it’s fine, right?”
Throwing a final “Gross” as they left, the two girls walked away.
Watching the backs of the departing female students, Rin collapsed to the ground as if her legs had given out.
“Are you okay… No, of course you’re not okay.”
“…No. Thank you.”
“If you don’t want to perform at the live show, I’ll tell the other members myself.”
It was the first time I had seen Rin so frightened.
That’s why I couldn’t help but worry.
“…Thank you. But I’ll do it. I’ve already decided… This is my battle.”
With a sigh, she stood up on her own without taking Haruya’s hand.
“…Alright, Akasaki-kun, let’s head to our class for the final adjustments of our play…”
Hurry, hurry.
As if urging him, Rin rushed to the classroom.
Haruya followed her, unable to shake the feeling that Rin was pushing herself too hard.
When they returned to the classroom, folding chairs were arranged here and there.
It seemed they were finally going to perform the play.
As the stage was set, a wave of tension swept through the room.
Looking around, each student was striving to fulfill their role.
Is this what they call class unity?
Compared to the other students, the executive committee members were busier with their own tasks than class work, so it didn’t feel quite as unified.
“Oh, you’re back. Could the executive committee members handle the promotion and reception? We have enough people inside. You too, Kohinata-san.”
“Got it.”
“…O-Okay, understood…”
The two of them replied and stepped out into the hallway, holding signs that read [The performance will begin shortly!].
Passing students noticed the signs and began to form lines.
As things settled down with everyone seated, Rin’s expression remained gloomy.
She was probably still concerned about the two female students they had encountered earlier.
Though Haruya wanted to ask about the details, it seemed better to leave her be for now.
“Himekawa-san and Takamori-san need to give greetings, so could you both come inside for a bit?”
A student peeked out from the classroom door and called out to us quietly.
“C-Come on, Kohinata-san, let’s go.”
“…Huh? Oh, yeah.”
Haruya stood up with Rin and returned to the classroom.
He thought about mentioning Rin’s subdued mood, but the class was already addressing it.
“I hope we can show the results of all our hard work in practice. Let’s do our best, everyone!”
Sara spoke up first, followed by—
“…Thank you all for working so hard for this day. Let’s show what we’ve practiced. No, let’s surpass even that. Let’s do our best together.”
Yuuna said, looking around at everyone.
“Yeah!”
The classmates cheered loudly.
Amidst this, Haruya remembered the messages he had received yesterday.
Nayu: Haru-san. My class is doing a play. The title is [Pure White Cinderella and the Raven Prince]. The classroom should be listed in the program… And, I worked hard, so I hope you’ll come see it.
Akasaki-san. I don’t think you’ve been able to see much of the play due to your executive committee work. But I’ve worked really hard, so I’d love for you to see my performance.
The former was a message from Yuuna, or rather Nayu.
The latter was a message from Sara.
Both of them had sent Haruya these messages yesterday.
He had never actually seen the entire play. The same was probably true for Rin.
Being busy with executive committee work, they had always been behind on class play activities, mostly doing behind-the-scenes work…
Honestly, Haruya was quite looking forward to it.
But more than that… he couldn’t help but worry about Rin.
“Let’s make sure we watch the play properly.”
“Y-Yeah.”
Though her expression and complexion had returned to normal, her voice still sounded different from usual, likely still concerned about those two girls.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT gadgetizedpanda.net
[Pure White Cinderella and the Raven Prince]
It was a story that incorporated original elements from shojo manga into the well-known Cinderella fairy tale, with Yuuna in charge of the script.
Takamori Yuuna and Himekawa Sara were playing the lead roles, and this information seemed to have drawn people in. By the time the performance was set to begin, the classroom was quickly filled to capacity.
As a result, guiding people became quite challenging.
After placing a barrier in front of the classroom to prevent any more people from entering, Haruya and Rin also went inside.
As the curtains were drawn, a spotlight suddenly fell on Sara, and the stage curtain rose.
The story unfolded, beginning with Sara’s monologue in shabby attire.
The gallery held its breath.
Many people seemed captivated by Sara.
It was a testament to how attractive she appeared.
In the beginning, bullies appeared and started tormenting Sara.
Of course, it was understood to be acting, but it wasn’t pleasant to watch.
The actors’ performances were of high quality, and Haruya found himself naturally drawn in.
During the scenes where Sara was being bullied, he could feel Rin beside him catching her breath.
Then, in the middle part, it was Yuuna’s turn to appear.
The prince in military uniform made his entrance.
This scene also caused a brief stir among the audience.
“I’ll never let you go again…”
“My prince…”
Eventually, the two were drawn to each other, and just as they were about to kiss—
The spotlight faded out.
The audience suspected a technical issue with this direction, but suddenly the lights returned, and all the staff lined up in front of the audience to express their gratitude.
“Thank you all for watching~”
The audience stood up and applauded.
Haruya found himself clapping along without even realizing it.
He was moved by how well it was done. It was strange; he should have seen the script before, but it must have been revised and improved without his knowledge.
“You were amazing, Himekawa-san!”
“Takamori-san was so cool too!”
“Wow, this is going to be a hit!”
“With these two, our class is set!”
Such praise from classmates erupted around the two of them.
Sara, blushing deeply, lowered her head and whispered, “…Thank you very much” in a small voice.
Yuuna, with her cheeks slightly flushed, added, “It’s all thanks to everyone’s efforts.”
Just then, the sound of retreating footsteps caught Haruya’s ear.
Rin was backing away, her eyes wide open.
She was staring at Sara and Yuuna, who were basking in praise, with fearful eyes.
[…Are you okay?]
Just as he was about to ask, Rin dashed out of the classroom.
Caught off guard for a moment, Haruya quickly pursued her.
(I probably shouldn’t leave her alone right now…)
“You didn’t need to chase after me.”
“You seemed off, so I couldn’t help it.”
Although he almost lost sight of her in the crowd, Haruya managed to find Rin.
She had run into the conference room.
It was the room where the executive committee had always worked, now a familiar place.
She probably wanted to go somewhere out of sight.
Indeed, this conference room was off-limits to non-members, and now only Haruya and Rin were in the room.
“I intend to perform at the live show and sing properly. You should understand that since I came to this room, right, Akasaki-kun?”
“…Well, yeah.”
If she didn’t intend to perform, she wouldn’t have hidden in the conference room.
If she really wasn’t going to perform, she would have gone somewhere she absolutely couldn’t be found.
“Then leave me alone for now. I just lost my composure for a moment.”
Surely, quietly backing down here would be the right thing to do.
He shouldn’t pry too deeply.
After all, Rin’s voice was trembling.
Even so, he felt compelled to press on.
No matter how he looked at it, he couldn’t imagine her pulling herself together and successfully performing at the live show in just two hours.
Of course, not performing was an option.
But she had declared that she would perform.
So, Haruya spoke up.
“…Can you tell me what happened?”
“What good would talking about it do? Besides, it wouldn’t be fun for you to hear, so don’t worry about it.”
She fidgeted with her nails while trying to act tough.
Haruya, having observed Rin up to this point, voiced his suspicion.
“Could it be that you feel inferior to those two?”
“…!”
For a brief moment, she held her breath before quickly shaking her head.
“No, no. Not at all…”
But that momentary silence, the way her eyes widened in surprise, and how her fidgeting fingers stopped—seeing all this, Haruya became certain. Ah, so that’s really it.
“If you say you’re not going to perform, I’ll leave you alone. But if you say you’re going to perform, I want you to talk to me. No, please talk to me.”
“Haha. That’s quite a selfish thing to say.”
“But if you perform in your current state, you’ll definitely regret it. Those two girls said they’d be watching, so I’m really worried.”
At the mention of “those two girls,” Rin’s shoulders visibly flinched.
As if something had snapped, Rin’s half-smile faded away.
Then, receiving Haruya’s direct gaze, she seemed to realize there was no escape. She let out a big sigh on the spot.
“…Sigh. So what?”
She gave Haruya a cold look, as if to say, “Is it wrong to have regrets?”
“Yes, Akasaki-kun, as you say, I feel inferior to those two. Yeah, but so what? It’s because I felt that way that I’ve worked so hard until now. But I’m done with that. I’ve decided to settle for mediocre quality. That’s why I wanted some time alone to solidify that decision…”
“That’s not true. I’m sure you can deliver the best quality performance at the live show.”
Though he said this decisively, Rin remained silent for a while.
Seeing that Haruya’s expression was dead serious, she sighed and said:
“…Ah, this is such a pain. Fine, I’ll spill everything. Alright. I’ll go along with your talk. I’ll tell you just how ugly this woman called Kohinata Rin really is.”
She started speaking in a cold voice.
It wasn’t a deceptive expression or a put-on voice.
This must be the real Kohinata Rin.
“You’re not surprised? Even though I’m speaking like this.”
“…Well, I had a feeling that even your behavior at karaoke wasn’t your true self in the real sense.”
“So you saw through me? Well, whatever. I’ll talk then.”
The atmosphere suddenly became tense.
Haruya was determined to accept whatever story Rin had to tell.
No matter what came out of Rin’s mouth.
After all, it was true that Haruya had been saved by her cheerfulness at the café, even if it had been an act.
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