Chapter 57
Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW
Volume 1: First Performance: A Tragic Love Story Of A Young Lady And Spring Cherry Blossoms
Chapter 57: The Cross-Dressing Boy Understands A Mother’s Feelings.
As I arrived in front of the Civic Center, I noticed several students from Hananomiya Girls’ Academy scattered around.
Among them, near the entrance, were Miyauchi and her entourage, chatting away. When they noticed me, they ran over and cheerfully called out.
“Good morning, Kaede, Onee-sama!”
“Do your best today! We’re cheering for you!”
The five students looked up at me with sparkling eyes.
Although I was hesitant to speak to them, I managed to respond to them.
“Ah, thank you… But, um, I’d be happy if you just called me by my name instead of calling me Onee-sama. I’m not your senior, I’m your classmate after all.”
“I, I can’t do something so presumptuous! Kaede, Onee-sama, you’re the face of us first-year students at Hananomiya Girls’ Academy, our leader!”
“Yes, that’s right! Onee-sama, you’re our goddess!”
Wait, when did I become their leader? This is the first time I’ve heard of it.
And could you please stop calling me a goddess while clasping your hands in prayer? It makes us look like a suspicious cult from the outside.
“Oh? Is that, by any chance… Kaede-san?”
“What!? Kaede, Onee-sama is here!? Where, where!?”
From inside the Civic Center, classmates from the first-year acting department began to trickle out.
When they saw me, they all greeted me at once.
“Good morning!! Onee-sama!”
“Let’s make this a great play today, Onee-sama!”
“Y-yes! I look forward to working with everyone today!”
I mean… at first, only Honoka and Miyauchi called me Onee-sama, but now nearly the entire class is doing it… What on earth is happening?
As I looked at my classmates clasping their hands in prayer with tearful eyes, I couldn’t help but force a strained smile.
As I stood there bewildered by the scene before me, a voice suddenly called out from behind.
“Kaede.”
I turned around and saw… a red-haired girl, Akane.
But for a moment, I didn’t recognize her.
The reason was that her usual distinctive twin-tails were gone, and she had let her hair down.
“What? Why do you look so surprised? What’s wrong?”
“Oh, um… I just noticed you’re not wearing your twin-tails today.”
“Oh, this? Yeah, I just felt like changing things up a bit. It’s not weird, is it?”
“No, not at all. It looks very good on you.”
When I smiled, Akane returned a smile as well.
“You really helped me the other day. Thank you so much.”
“I did what I wanted to do, so don’t worry about it, Tsukishiro-san.”
“Just call me Akane.”
“Huh?”
“From now on, I’ll call you Kaede. That’s okay, right?”
“Of course, Akane-san.”
As I nodded, Akane extended her hand to me with a serious expression.
“Let’s make sure today’s play is a success. To achieve the best results, we absolutely need your help, Kaede.”
“I’m surprised. Coming from you, I thought for sure you’d be declaring war on me.”
After saying that, I shook her hand. Akane, looking somewhat embarrassed, turned away.
“Hmph. I have no intention of losing to you. But… I realized three days ago when you helped me that my strength alone is insignificant. I’m weak. That’s why… I want to work together with you and the rest of our classmates here to make ‘Romeo and Juliet’ a success. Even someone like me… would you all be willing to help?”
In response to Akane’s question, the classmates behind her quietly nodded.
Seeing this, Akane’s face softened, and she smiled gently as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
“Thank you. Let’s make sure this play is a success.”
After lowering her gaze and then looking up again, Akane squeezed my hand tightly and gave me a challenging smile.
“But like I said before, Kaede… I have no intention of losing to you. On this stage, I’ll give it everything I’ve got to defeat you… and to captivate him with my performance!”
“I look forward to it. Let’s give everything we’ve got and clash with our full strength on stage.”
I firmly shook her hand back, smiling at Akane.
At that moment, the sound of clapping came from behind.
Wondering what was going on, I turned to look and saw our classmates, eyes glistening with tears, moved by the scene.
“Sniff… Kaede, Onee-sama and Tsukishiro-san have reconciled and acknowledged each other’s talents… It’s so beautiful.”
“It really is. Just three days ago, things were so tense between them, but relationships really can change.”
As I stared, dumbfounded at my classmates, trembling with emotion and pressing handkerchiefs to their eyes, but Akane blushed, let go of my hand, and walked over to them.
“Y-you guys are so annoying! If you have time to be doing that, go review your scripts or something! Ugh, seriously!”
“Tsukishiro-san, your blushing face is so cute~!”
“Shut up, shut up, shut up!”
“By the way, when you said, ‘I’ll captivate him with my performance’, who were you talking about? Do you… have a boyfriend or something!?”
“What? Is it true, Akane-san!? What kind of handsome guy could win over someone like you!? Show us a picture!”
“I’m not showing you anything, Suzuka! Ugh, you’re all so annoying! Come on, let’s head to the dressing room! If we waste any more time here, Professor Yanagisawa is going to scold us!”
While fending off a barrage of questions, Akane led the group into the Civic Center.
Yesterday, during the morning homeroom, Akane stood in front of the class and apologized to everyone for her past behavior and rude attitude.
At the same time, Miyauchi and her group also sincerely apologized to Akane in front of everyone for the harassment they had caused.
Perhaps due to that, the class gradually began to accept Akane… Now, she was even being doted on by everyone as the class’s ‘tsundere character’.
Surprisingly, Akane and Miyauchi seemed to have hit it off, and they were now on a first-name basis.
Yesterday after school, they were even seen hanging out somewhere together, so maybe that helped bridge the gap.
Finally, Akane had someone she could truly call a friend.
“…It really does feel like watching a child leave the nest.”
Breaking away from the shadow of her past idol known as Fuuma Yanagisawa, she was now building new relationships.
I felt a mix of pride and sadness that was hard to describe.
“Good morning, Onee-sama!”
“Oh, good morning, Honoka-san.”
“Huh? What’s wrong? You’re just standing there spacing out.”
“No, it’s nothing. Shall we go, Honoka-san?”
“Yes, let’s!”
Together with Honoka, I took a step forward, following Akane and the others.
From here on… there’s no time to worry about others. This is where my own battle begins.
This is the first step for Kaede Kisaragi, the actress.
And the first step to cutting ties with my past as Fuuma Yanagisawa.
…I can’t let myself be defeated.
From this day forward, I’ll regain my wings as an actor.
I’ll overcome the trauma of the past.