Chapter 51

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Volume 1: First Performance: A Tragic Love Story Of A Young Lady And Spring Cherry Blossoms

Chapter 51: The Cross-Dressing Boy Joins The Fight

[From Akane Tsukishiro’s Point Of View]

“…Huh? Where… where am I…?”

When I opened my eyes, I found myself in an unfamiliar room that looked like a warehouse, with cardboard boxes piled up against the walls.

There were no windows, and the fluorescent lights mounted on the ceiling dimly illuminated the surroundings.

In this spacious room, my arms and legs were bound with ropes, and I was sitting on the ground.

Unable to grasp the situation, I couldn’t help but let out a voice of confusion.

“What… what is this? What’s going on…?”

“Oh, it looks like you’ve finally woken up”, came a voice.

“Huh…?”

At that moment, the door suddenly opened, and several men and women emerged from outside.

Among them were students wearing the uniforms of Hananomiya Girls’ Academy… Seniors from the acting department and first-year acting classmates who had been harassing me for a while.

Seeing them, I finally remembered how this situation had come about—this morning, they had attacked me, forced me to inhale some sort of drug, and made me get into a car against my will.

“You…! What is this supposed to be!! What do you plan to do by putting me through this!?”

“Seriously, do you even understand the situation?”

“Situation…?”

“I told you before, right? To use respectful language with seniors. So why do you keep using casual language with us? Are you mocking us?”

“I’m sorry, but I only use respectful language with people I genuinely respect. I don’t have a shred of respect for people like you who engage in such despicable acts!!”

“Damn you…!!”

The girl with medium straight brown hair grabbed my hair and slapped me hard across the face.

Blood flowed from my mouth, and I glared fiercely at the brown-haired girl.

“Are you done? If so, can you let me go now? I’m not so free that I can waste time on this nonsense. I need to focus on my acting practice for the play in three days. I have to make ‘Romeo and Juliet’ a success for Fuuma’s sake!!”

“…Ha! In that case, I’ll make sure you can’t even appear in the play by beating you up! Take this!”

“Ugh!!”

Kicked in the stomach, I coughed and fell to the ground.

Still, the brown-haired girl’s assault didn’t stop. She continued to target my solar plexus and kicked me relentlessly.

Seeing this, three of my classmates from the first year twisted their faces in fear and hesitantly spoke to the seniors.

“Uh, um, maybe it would be better to stop… I mean, isn’t this too much…?”

“Huh!? Why? Didn’t you also say you disliked her!!”

“Well… we’re satisfied now… and, well, we’d rather not use violence…”

“Tch! What boring people! Everyone! Hold those three back!”

Other senior female students surrounded the three first-years.

After watching this scene, I forced myself to stand up despite my aching body… and shouted.

“This is… utterly ridiculous!!!!!!!!!!”

“…Huh?”

“You people are really pissing me off!! And you three there too!! If you’re going to hesitate, then don’t bother messing with me from the start!!!!!! This is why things like this happen!! Use your head a little!!”

I spat out the blood that had gathered in my mouth and glared at the seniors.

“No matter what happens, I will never give in. I am the rival of the monstrous actor, Fuuma Yanagisawa. I will one day surpass him and stand at the top of the acting world alongside him… So you’re not my enemies. You’re just minor roles… no, you’re even less than that, you’re nothing but insignificant!”

As I said this and glared, the seniors began to show expressions of anger.

Then, the leader of the group, the brown-haired girl… grinned menacingly and let go of my hair.

“So you’ll never give in, huh? Then let’s put it to the test. —Everyone, go ahead and deal with her!”

As if waiting for those words, male students from another school appeared behind her.

Dressed in shady outfits, they all wore lecherous smiles and… slowly approached me.

“Okunosaka, are you really sure about this? Isn’t this woman a famous actress? Will it not cause big trouble later?”

“It’s fine. I think my dad can handle the aftermath without any problems.”

“Huh… Okunosaka…? —Wait, could it be…?”

“Yes. The president of Tsukikage Productions, the agency you’re with, is my father. Did you just realize that?”

She said this with an evil grin.

I was shocked to learn that the president of the production agency I belonged to was this girl’s father… It was a complete surprise.

I hadn’t even bothered to learn his name, so I hadn’t noticed at all.

“Well then… let’s film your disgraceful state and make sure you can never resist us again. Become our slave, Tsukishiro! Ahahahahaha!”

Saying this, the brown-haired senior, Okunosaka, aimed her smartphone camera at me.

One of the excited male students approached… and began to unfasten the buttons of my uniform.

“Hehe… I’ve been a fan of yours for a long time. I never even dreamed that I’d be able to do it with Akane Tsukishiro.”

“No, stop… s-stop it!!!!!!!! Don’t touch me!!”

“Hey, don’t struggle!! You’re not getting away anyway!! Let’s have some fun, Akane-chan!! Gahahahaha!!!”

“No, no no, nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!”

“Ahahahahaha!! That’s it!! That’s the face I wanted to see!! How pathetic, Akane Tsukishiro!! Always looking down on us… it feels so good to see you like this!!!!”

The men removed my blazer, then quickly stripped off my shirt.

I scream as I am stripped down to my underwear.

“No!! No!! Don’t look, stop!! Stop this already!! I’ve decided to give my first time… to Fuuma!! So… so please, stop, please…!!”

“Wow, amazing. As expected of an actress. Your skin is so smooth, like silk… Slender, with a beautiful figure too.”

“Hehe, now just accept it and let’s take off those underwear too… right, Akane-chan?”

“Noooooooo!! S-someone help me… help me!! Fuuma, please help me!!!”

How did it come to this?

Did I do something wrong? Did I hurt someone?

I always wear a confident smile, acting like I’m full of self-assurance… but that’s just another performance.

The real me is nothing more than a weak, timid girl with not a shred of confidence—just an ordinary, fragile girl, like the one crying and screaming as these men tear off my clothes.

If I’m going to be Fuuma’s rival, I have to always be strong.

I’ve always tried to act like how I thought Fuuma would act… so I’ve been portraying my ideal self.

But the real me is a girl who wears glasses because of poor eyesight, doesn’t really know how to interact with people, and is just a plain, dark-haired girl with pigtails.

I’m just a hopeless, no-good kid who joined the entertainment industry to try to change myself.

“But… I fell in love with him…”

I admired a person named Fuuma Yanagisawa.

I admired someone bold and fearless, always wearing a cool, nihilistic smile, like him.

So, I… Akane Tsukishiro, must be strong.

I must be a strong girl, worthy of standing by his side.

“But… maybe it’s no use anymore…”

Tears blurred my vision as the excited men reached for my underwear.

I closed my eyes and thought of the boy I met in my childhood, shining on stage.

“――――――――――――――Akane!!!!!!”

“Huh…?”

At that moment, the door suddenly burst open, and light flooded in from outside.

When I looked in that direction, I saw… a girl with long platinum hair and a tall girl with short hair standing side by side.

The one who suddenly entered the room was… Kaede Kisaragi.

But for some reason, in my eyes, she looked… like Fuuma Yanagisawa.

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As I stepped into the empty tenant space and walked into the back storeroom, there I saw… Akane, stripped of her clothes, pinned to the ground by unfamiliar men in her underwear, while students from Hananomiya Girls’ Academy filmed the scene with their smartphones.

The moment I saw that sight, I couldn’t help but forget that I was dressed as a girl… and completely, as Fuuma Yanagisawa, I shouted at them in anger.

“You bastards!! Do you even know what you’re doing?!?!”

At my angry shout, the upperclassmen from Hananomiya Girls’ Academy flinched for a moment, but… they put their hands over their mouths and started laughing mockingly.

“I thought it was the police, but it turns out it’s just the first and third-year Onee-sama combo from Hananomiya Girls’ Academy! Don’t scare us like that!”

“Seriously, seriously! Shouting in such a manly way! Do you really think that’s going to scare us?”

The second-year girls started laughing louder and louder, completely mocking us.

Among them, the girl who seemed to be the leader stepped forward and addressed us.

“If you turn around and walk away now, as if you saw nothing, I’ll forgive you. But if you plan on telling anyone… you’ll end up naked like that red-haired girl over there—Onee-sama.”

“…Are you the ringleader of this bullying?”

“And what if I am?”

“…Normally, I’d hesitate to hit a girl, but… right now, I’m undeniably a girl too. There’s no problem with the optics, right? Yeah, no problem at all.”

“Huh? What are you even saying… ah!?”

I mercilessly punched the brown-haired girl in the stomach.

She clutched her stomach with teary eyes… and quietly collapsed to her knees without a sound.

Seeing that, the men holding down Akane clicked their tongues and approached us.

“Hey, hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“You wanna get stripped and done in too? Foreign chick?”

“I might actually like this girl better. I’m into this kind of loli type, you know?”

Laughing vulgarly, the men walked toward me.

I cracked my knuckles and glared sharply at them.

“Fine, come at me, you bastards. I’ll knock every single one of you out.”

“Wait, Kisaragi-san.”

Ginjou-senpai called out to me from behind.

I glanced at her and quietly spoke.

“What is it? If you’re trying to stop me, it’s useless. I can never forgive them.”

“You’ve got it wrong. Did you think I’d forgive them?”

“Huh…?”

Ginjou-senpai stood beside me, clenched her fists, and took a boxing stance.

Then, with a smile over her shoulder, she spoke.

“I learned kickboxing when I was a kid. I can handle myself in a fight.”

“Ginjou-senpai…”

“I remember reading in the school paper that you fought off a molester right after you entered school. Judging by that, it seems safe to assume you have some skills. But if you’re not confident… I’d appreciate it if you stayed back. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“Sorry, but… I have no intention of falling behind.”

“Good answer.”

I nodded to her and took the same boxing stance, raising my fists in front of me.

Seeing this, Ginjou-senpai narrowed her eyes and then glared sharply at the boys approaching us, letting out a fierce roar.

“Well then… let’s go!! Kisaragi-san!!”

“Yes!!”

Ginjou-senpai and I charged at the boys… and the battle began.