#mugu

Been wanting to post this since last week but I only managed to finish writing this post today ><” Sorry for the long wait, finally the finale for Episode 1 is done~ 

Anyway as always, the summary of the story can be found below. Translation may not be 100% accurate due to my poor Japanese skills~

Chapter 29: 恋について.春 / Regarding Love. Spring

Tsuzuru was all pleased and excited as he wanted to know whether we had patched up after Masumi and “my" shopping trip together. But seeing our faces, he knew straight up that something must have happened since even the other members could see that our relationship seems to have worsened after the shopping trip. 

Itaru noticed that “my” cheeks were red and asked about it, but “I” told him it was nothing as “I” didn’t want to reveal what had caused it. (Being slapped by Masumi accidentally TWT) Seeing both of us were not willing to talk about what that had happened, Tsuzuru urged us to do so in order to clear up the atmosphere. “I” felt that perhaps Masumi would find it easier to express himself if “I” wasn’t around, and thus excused “myself” from the living room.

After “I” had left, Masumi finally revealed what he was thinking about. He wanted to... die?! OAO” He said that he could not live on anymore since he had now fallen out of love. Tsuzuru asked him if he had already confessed to “me”, which Masumi answered that he hasn’t. Itaru guessed that perhaps Masumi had known that “I” had a love and thus fallen out of love, but Masumi was fierce when he remarked that if “I” really did have a lover, he would kill that guy instead. (Scary Masumi! D:) Citron joked that perhaps “I’m” already married, which made Masumi collapsed as he answered that if that ever happens, he would kill himself instead.

After much urging, Masumi finally revealed what that had happened between him and “me” the night before, and Sakuya heaved a sigh of relief as he told him that isn’t something that would lead to falling out of love. For now, the guys could only confirm that Masumi was now suffering from unrequited love and started to talk about it. Tsuzuru said that he could remember the times he was having unrequited love, saying that one would tend to overthink alot and think about negative stuff more than usual. (Wait... so Tsuzuru had already fallen in love before?! I’m heartbroken T////T) 

Citron remarked that he had never had an unrequited love, to which Tsuzuru took it as Citron never falling in love before. However, Citron answered wittingly that it was usual girls who approached him instead when it comes to relationships. (I guess Citron is very popular in his home country ^^;)

Itaru remarked that he found it surprising that Tsuzuru actually had unrequited love before (I found it unexpected too >///<), to which the latter replied that his unrequited love had always ended in the past with him just looking at the girl he likes. (Tsuzuru should be more forward and proactive~! +W+) Itaru smiled and remarked that unrequited love is actually the happiest moment when it comes to love relationship, which Tsuzuru felt that it was a very mature comment from him. But what comes out next from Itaru’s lips was that he found that once people got into a relationship, they won’t have much time for gaming anymore, to which Tsuzuru felt that Itaru had just said something that sounded really otaku-like instead XD

Masumi had collapsed onto the couch in the meantime, and Sakuya joined him, warning him that if he continues to behave this way, he won’t be able to talk to “me” anymore. Masumi expressed that he doesn’t know what he should talk to “me” about and felt that he was already being disliked by “me” by now.

Sakuya encouraged him to apologise to “me” and even offered to accompany him, to which Tsuzuru remarked that Sakuya seems to be acting like an elder brother to Masumi. This compliment made Sakuya really happy as he commented that he felt glad about it as he never had any siblings before. But Masumi doesn’t seem pleased about it and decided to find “me” alone instead. Sakuya still ended up tailing after him though XD As the rest of the spring troupe watched the two of them, they smiled and remarked that perhaps Sakuya’s and Masumi’s relationships are getting better due to them acting together as Romeo and Julius ^^

Masumi came into “my” room and apologised for all the things he had done -  slapping “me” and ignoring “me” since yesterday. “I” told him not to mind much about it as “I” knew that he had accidentally slapped “me” when in fact he was getting angry for “my” sake. “I” asked Masumi whether he was being troubled by what “I’ve” said the night before, the part where “I” told him that it can’t do for him to act just for “my” sake. Masumi admitted and revealed that he doesn’t know what he should do then, what should he act for if not for “my” sake?

“I” told Masumi that “I” hoped that he would end up taking a liking to acting, and thus hoped that he would be able to find a reason that would encourage him to keep acting other than “me”. This was why “I” had encouraged Masumi to find a play which he had enjoyed the last time. Masumi answered that he did have a play that he likes, and that play was the story act acted by “me” the first time he met “me”. That was the reason why he wanted to work hard and act. 

“I” felt touched by Masumi’s words, and felt that perhaps “I” still have something left in “me” as an actress since all this while “I’ve” felt that "I’m” not fit for an actress at all. “My” acting had become something that allows Masumi to find his talent, and also became the reason why he had started acting. 

“I” replied to Masumi that “I” still hoped that he finds a play that he really likes in the future, but when Masumi heard the word “like”, he started to lean in really close to “my” face... O////O Sakuya who was peeping at us from outside the room quickly rushed in to stop him, telling him that this is not allowed and that Masumi should only do this when the other party was willing. (Seems like Sakuya knew exactly what Masumi was trying to do XD) In the midst of them tugging, Masumi called Sakuya by his name which surprised the latter. He was really glad that Masumi had finally called his name for the first time ever but still pulled Masumi out of my room nevertheless.

“I” was shocked by Masumi’s action earlier and even wondered to “myself” that perhaps he was about to kiss “me” just now... (Just like what I expected >////<) “I” was glad that the conflict between Masumi and “me” was resolved and he had even managed to get along well with the other troupe members now. This was indeed a good sign for the future ^^

Chapter 30: 初めてを楽しむ / Happiness of the First Time

In the end, we still didn't manage to sell all the tickets for the last performance by the starting day of the play. It was finally the day before the starting day of the play, and since it's our last practice for the day, "I" requested everyone to act as if there were an audience watching them at the theatre. 

Watching their acting, "I" realised that they still have many small mistakes, but this was to be expected as they lacked experiences. But "I" knew that they themselves being the actors realised their mistakes and were bothered by it the most. "I" was worried since tomorrow was already the day of the actual play, and thus hoped that their confidence doesn't get affected in the end. As the cast seems sullen by how their play isn't proceeding smoothly along like what they've expected, "I" advised them that they had to change their mood and that it was normal that there are times when they do not perform as good as they expected. The members soon get pumped up again, feeling encouraged that they'll get even better with their actings through the days of the play and that they've planned to act in slight changes in the play in the different days to make the audience feel that it was interesting. Hopefully, that would make the audience enjoyed themselves and want to watch the play again for the second time. "I" was impressed that Sakuya had managed to cheer up everyone with his words, and felt that he was really reliable being the leader of the Spring troupe ^^ (Go go Sakuya~!)

Finally, it was the actual starting day of the play! The manager was very nervous and told us that the turn out was really good at the theatre, thanks to the promotion by the TV broadcast. "I" turned to the members and tell them to enjoy themselves since this was the first play~ ^^

(Look at them being all ready and smiling to get on stage~ *Wipes happy tears* TWT)

Yuki had come to watch the play and was impressed that seats were mostly filled up. Yuzo and Furuichi had come too and wondered how the play would turn out to be.

Chapter 31: 初日 / First Day

The play started with Romeo (acted by Sakuya) wanting to ask out "Rozaran" but he unexpectedly met Julius (acted by Masumi) who had wanted to give a bouquet to roses to "Rozaran" too. The two realised that they're love rivals and ended up battling each other but in the end became friends with each other. Julius claimed that with Romeo's power and his brains, the two of them could do anything together.

The second scene of the play has Romeo attending a party after being requested by a close friend - Mercutio (acted by Tsuzuru), who was comforting him to get over his lost love. (Possibly "Rozaran" ^^;) At the party,  Romeo realised that Julius was the son of the family that his family were in a feud with.  The two of them were shocked to know this truth, but Romeo requested Julius to abandon his family and name and proposed that they head for a journey together to realise their dreams.  However, Julius replied that he can't abandon his family. The two of them ultimately went to find a priest to talk about their problems with and decided to escape from this town in the end. 

The third scene had Tybalt (acted by Itaru) caught news of Julius wanting to escape this town with Romeo and was furious. He told him that Romeo's family was a cursed family, and they had to get rid of them. He was worried about Julius and thus felt that he had to protect him as he had considered him as his brother. (I think they're cousins?)

On the day when the duo was about to set off on their journey, Romeo received news that his family was being attacked and quickly rushed home. But when he arrived there, he realised that he was too late as he was unable to stop Tybalt from stabbing Mercutio. Romeo then attacked Tybalt, killing him and ended up being caught by the police and thrown into the jail. The town then decided that Romeo should receive a death penalty...

Continuing to the fourth scene, Julius who had later heard the news of Romeo being given the death penalty,  wanted to save him and thus started to look for ways to help him. He approached the priest once again asking him if he had any idea, which the latter requested him to make a medicine that can enable one to fake his death, and using it, he could cheat the general public and save Romeo. Julius then set off on a journey to look for a certain flower that could make the medicine, praying that Romeo would not get killed in the period of time when he's not yet ready to save him.

On the day when Romeo was about to be prosecuted, Julius barged into the venue and ended up in a sword battle with Romeo. This was the climax of the play, with "me" even feeling the tension between Romeo and Julius, and was impressed at how Masumi was guiding Sakuya along during the swordfight. In the end, it was still ultimately decided that Romeo was to be prosecuted, but before that, Julius drank the poison first leading to his death. Romeo was allowed to attend Julius's funeral and ended up drinking the fake poison to fake his death just like how Julius did earlier on. This was all a plan set up by them and thus after successfully cheating the townspeople, Romeo and Julius finally set off on their journey. 

The play ended with Romeo jokingly said that he would be the one to collect the plants needed to make the fake poison for Julius's sake the next time, as Julius complained about how hard it is to collect everything to make it XD

When the play ended, everyone was at the backstage when they heard applause from the audience. They were shocked but "I" urged them to go up on stage again to do their curtain call. 

"Thank you very much for watching the play!"

Chapter 32: 隠しごと / Hidden Matters

The cast members were tired after a few days of acting on stage since they were acting at night as well and even held meetings after that and had thus fallen asleep at the practice room one night. There was still 2 days to go till the last day of the performance, and “I” found it unbelievable that we had made it this far ever since we’ve made it through the first day of performance safe and sound. Thanks to Yuzo who had called upon the other members of the initial spring troupe to watch our performance, the promotion of our blog, and the topic of our performance being widely talked about on Rockomi website, there were many viewers who were willing to come back again to watch our performance again and our remaining tickets who get unsold were getting lesser and lesser because of that. 

Just then, the manager barged into the room yelling out that something had happened! “I” quickly calmed him down and once calmed down, he announced to us that... the tickets for our last performance had been sold out! +W+ This was a really pleasant surprise to us since that would mean that the theatre would not be torn down!~ 

Tsuzuru was so glad when he heard about this that he quickly went and woke Masumi up, informing him of this great news. That only pissed him off though as he told Tsuzuru not to hug him as he found it troublesome ^^; Citron had also hugged onto Itaru too, which while the latter doesn’t mind that Citron hugged him too tightly, he wanted him to let go too XD

“I” told the cast members that there were still 2 days till the final day of the performance, which would mean another 4 more performances, and thus asked them to work their hardest till the end so that there would not be any regrets. Everyone agreed happily, other than Itaru who had shown a worried face instead...

Back at the dormitory, Citron met Itaru and asked him whether his foot was hurting. Turned out that Itaru had hurt his foot though he claimed that it was only a slight sprain, and he requested Citron not to tell anybody about this. Citron agreed though he warned Itaru to inform him straight away if he felt that he can’t go on anymore with his injured foot. 

Chapter 33: 試練の千秋樂 / The Final Performance’s Test

It was finally the day of the final performance, and “I” felt that everything just seems to whizz by in a flash. The theatre was fully seated and the cast members were all really nervous and excited. Itaru and Citron exchanged a look but told “me” that there’s nothing to be worried about when “I” asked them about it. 

The staff suddenly called out to someone as he tried to stop the person from entering the makeup room, and turned out that it was Furuichi and his subordinate. Furuichi told “me” that “I’ve” managed to pass through his first stage of trials for now since “I’ve” managed to create a new troupe, accumulate 5 members in it, and get a full turn out for the final performance. However, everything would be a failure if we weren’t able to get the audience feel satisfied with our performance, as, in order to make a company have a stable income, we need to make sure that we actually have fans. He then started talking on about how to operate a theatre company, which “I” actually feel impressed that he’s giving advice compared to the first time “I” met him, and ended up laughing out in surprise. “I” told Furuichi that surprisingly, he’s actually a person who takes care of people very well, to which he remarked that he was only offering advice today because the performance today reminded him about the past. “I” deduced that perhaps Furuichi knew about the theatre company in the past after he had left... (Perhaps we’ll get to know more about the past later on in the story I guess?)

However, when the final performance started, Itaru started being weird in the middle of the performance. “I” wondered what had happened with him, and noticing that he seems to be wary of his foot and taking small actions than before, “I” worried that the other members would take notice of him as well and lost concentration in the midst of acting. “I” worried too that perhaps Itaru had hurt his foot, but hope that he would make it through since he would be able to get off the stage after another three more scenes.  

As the play continued on till the part where Tybalt was beaten and was supposed to fall to the ground, it came as a shock that Itaru did not fall when he was acting as Tybalt. The audience quickly realized that this was different from usual and “I” guessed that perhaps Itaru had forgotten that he was supposed to fall since he was too hung on being wary of his foot. “I” was worried about how he was going to continue with his lines and wanted to stop the play when...

Chapter 34: ショーは終わらない / The Show Is Not Over

Sakuya called out to Itaru who was acting as Tybalt, yelling at him to stop and that the battle was now already over. It was a new line that had never exist in the script, and “I” deduced that perhaps this was an ad-lib done by Sakuya. Somehow they managed to continue with the play, with Itaru and Sakuya acting out another round of furious battling once again, and “I” felt that the cast members would be alright as long as they continued like this. “I” felt that the Sakuya now was just like the actor he admires a lot in the past, being so much alive on stage.

When the play has finally ended, the cast members retreated to the backstage and realized that the audience had given them a standing ovation! “I” immediately headed towards Itaru as “I” was worried about his foot, but he started shedding tears, making all of us even more worried about him. Tsuzuru worried that perhaps Itaru was in a lot of pain, but Itaru answered that he was only smiling because he had never thought that he had ever felt this passionate in his entire life.

“I” felt glad for Itaru who had said that, since he would definitely felt that the performance he had acted today would be one that he would never forget in his life. (So happy for Itaru~! Finally, it seems that he had fallen in love in acting~! ^^)

Yuzo came to visit us in the makeup room after the performance is over, telling us that he felt that the performance was alright. (Yuzo is so strict =w=“) Itaru answered that this would mean that we still have a long way to go, and from his words, it sounds like.... he’s going to stay in the theatre company longer instead! ^^ (As initially, he planned to stay until the end of our performance period TWT) Itaru remarked that he planned to stay and act because it was rare for him to have found something he thought was interesting other than games. He told Sakuya to take care of him from now on, referring to him as a leader, which surprised Sakuya since he thought that he was only the leader for this performance. “I” told Sakuya that the Spring Troupe needs a leader and all of us felt that he was the most suitable after all ^^ (And that’s how Sakuya became the permanent leader of the Spring Troupe~ ^^)

Yuki also came and visit us at the makeup room, and when asked about what he thought about the performance, he answered that the outfits were great XD (Since they’re made by him after all XD) Yuki continued on that he felt that the other parts (meaning the acting, script etc) were just “alright”, but did remarked that it seems fun putting on these outfits and getting on stage. Tsuzuru suggested to him to become an actor too, but Yuki affirmed that he’s only in charge of making outfits. From their conversation, “I” started to wonder that perhaps Yuki seems to be a good choice in being an actor~~ 

Kazunari came and visit us too, and “I” took this chance to thank him for helping us with the TV broadcast opportunity. He replied that it wasn’t such a big deal, and in fact complimented us for giving such a great performance. He even joked that there were fangirls cheering for Tsuzuru, which Tsuzuru remarked that they definitely didn’t call him as “Tsuzurun”. (So he admits that there might be fangirls of his? XD) Kazunari continued that he wanted to be complimented and admired too which made “me” wonder perhaps he was interested in acting as well~

Tetsuro came into the makeup room as well, and I” thanked him for helping us to make such a wonderful set up for the stage. Tetsuro was silent and we struggled to understand what he was trying to express, and thus Tsuzuru decided to get someone to call the manager to help us translate. However, Tetsuro just smiled and told us that he’s glad that everything was alright in the end, which surprised us since he’s speaking for the first time ever OWO

Chapter 35: これからのこと / What Happens From Now On

At night, “I” paced around the theatre, feeling nostalgic as “I” remembered what that happened ever since the first time “I” stepped in here, remarking that everything had seemed like a dream to “me”.

“I” looked at the set that Tetsuro had made for the play Romeo and Julius, feeling sad that “I” had to say goodbye to it today, as “I” felt that it seems such a waste to disassemble it after the play.

Just then, Furuichi entered the theatre, and when he noticed “me” there, he asked “me” why didn’t “I” on the lights, as he had thought that someone suspicious had entered the theatre. (You sir seems suspicious to be here too in the middle of the night =w=“) Furuichi told “me” that now is not the time to relax when the company had only ended one play performance, there was still three more play performance to prepare for, and “I” would still have to look for at least five members for the remaining three troupes too. “I”realized too then this is perhaps not the time to indulge in sadness or nostalgia, as “I” do not have a lot of time left.

Furuichi smiled as he told “me” to remember these missions and encouraged “me” to continue with this energy of mine. (At this moment, both “me” and I really felt that Furuichi could be a really nice guy after all since he does care a lot about the theatre.)

He asked “me” whether “I” have anyone in mind for the Summer Troupe, in which “I” answered that though “I” planned to recruit from the public, there are candidates which “I” wanted to approach to from “my” side...

A guy who seems weak was walking outside Veludo Station, feeling impressed by the Romeo and Julius play he had watched earlier on. He noticed there was an advertisement pinned on the notice board over there and realized that a company was recruiting new members. And that company is... Mankai Company~

(Both Mugu and Tenma had shown interest to the advertisment~! Does that mean they’ll come and join from the story onwards? +W+)

And... that’s finally the end of the first episode~! Gosh, finally after 10 long months, I’m done writing and reading for episode 1 T/////T Thanks and sorry for those who might have waited so long for me to complete this Orz

Storywise, the spring troupe might have it the hardest to start everything from scratch, but thanks for all the help that came in midway, they were finally able to give a great performance ^^ I sincerely hope that the latter troupes would make it easier for them since, with more people around, they’ll definitely be able to do things alot better~! But... I heard that the later episodes seem a whole sadder than Episode 1, makes me really wonder what could have happened ~ 

And thus I’m really excited to start reading Episode 2 since they’re my favourite troupe - The Summer Troupe~! Yuki, Kazunari, Mugu and Tenma had pretty much made an appearance by now, so all I’m waiting for was for Misumi to appear ^^