Chapter 51
(A/N Notes: Today we say goodbye to a short-lived character)
"Phew... Today sure is hot"
Takeru had just returned to his apartment in around 30 minutes as he had predicted, but he had to walk on an unusually hot autumn day, so he was sweating
"... I'll first remove the makeup and then change my clothes"
With that he went to the bathroom and removed the makeup from his face, ending the short screen time of Handsome Takeru (A/N Notes: RIP Hansome Takeru Chapter 50-51 or 05/29/2021-05/29/2021, you'll maybe be remembered)
"Way better now let's get myself changed"
Although he knew how to use makeup to look handsome, he still preferred to not use it. Then he went to his bedroom and opened his closet, and searched for the clothes he needed
"This one... This one too... That one as well... Should I take the walking stick with me?... Yes, it's part of the clothes set"
He picked the set of clothes he needed and began changing his clothes. He took around two minutes to wear the necessary, with most of the time being spent on putting the pins that imitated war medals
*Finish putting his long black overcoat* "... ... ... Yup, it still fits me perfectly..."
If you ask yes, the set of clothes he was wearing was very similar if not outright equal to the prince costume Yuriko was supposed to wear because he just recommended what he thought looked cool
"Now time to reapply the makeup"
And when he was about to leave his bedroom, his phone rang so he picked it up and attended to the call
"Hello?"
"Where are you!?"
It was the desperate voice of the director girl
"I'm already at my apartment and just finished changing to the clothes I said I had"
"Good! Now come back quickly! We might be able to give you around 15 minutes to come back without screwing with the play!"
"... I'm on my way"
They both hung up the call, Takeru picked up the walking stick and hurriedly left his apartment, as he had to make a mad dash back to his school
Around 15 minutes later
"... And then prince Takehiko saw the beautiful Yukihime, as she watched everyone's attention at the dancing hall"
The narrator was doing a great job at prolonging the play for as much as she could, but there was a limit to how much she could do without angering the audience or messing up the play. With Yuriko and Mitsuto doing their part by perfectly playing along with the narrated scene
"May I have this dance with you, milady?"
"*Smiles* I would be glad to, you just need to approach me so that we can have this dance together, like two free birds flying a dance in the open skies of the world"
"Oho, then I'll come as close as you like"
Yuriko and Mitsuto slowly walked to each other with a pressuring aura around them
"Where is he? Where is he? Where is he?"
The director girl was getting more anxious as their time limit was running out for Takeru to come back and at least read his part of the script once
*Cellphone ringing*
The director girl quickly attended her cellphone
"Where are you!?"
"Almost there!"
"How almost!?"
"I can just see the school's stage door!"
"Phew! Then it's fine... Hm? You meant the backstage door, right?"
"Nope, it's definitely the stage's door. I'm about to open the door!"
"..."
And one of the double doors of the school's stage was open with a bang and the director girl who felt like everything was going in slow motion, quickly looked to her side where she saw all the light switches, and she quickly turned off all the lights
"*Gasp*"
" "!?" "
The audience gasped at the sudden darkness while Yuriko and Mitsuto stopped walking and remained still, as the only things they could hear was the classic music in the background and loud running steps
"And then the light went out! Making everyone in the dance hall surprised as the sound of someone running amidst the darkness could be heard!"
The narrator girl was quick to improvise at the sudden development, as she was the first one to notice Takeru opening the door with a bang as he ran forward in the corridor between the seat rows, there was still a dim light aimed at the stage that allowed him to see how high the stage platform was and since he was already too fast to stop on time, he decided to jump... But since the platform was higher than he could jump, he had to jump in a way that made him roll sideways
"Gah!"
Which made Takeru accidentally making Mitsuto completely lose his balance and fall onto the stage floor, then when Takeru stopped rolling and quickly got up, he accidentally ended up hitting Yuriko in the knee from behind making her lose her balance as well
"Uwaaaahhh!!!"
"!"
Takeru quickly noticed it and spread his right arm to catch Yuriko, making him get in a posture that resembled one of an ikemen catching the falling heroine in a shoujo filled with drama and flowers manga
"..."
The director girl prayed as she said that to herself as she turned back on the lights, and she regretted having turned on the lights
"*Gasp*"
The audience gasped when they saw the princess, aka Yuriko, in the embrace of a plain too boring looking man as he wore clothes fitting of an evil dark prince as he had a menacing pose as he pointed his black walking stick towards the prince, while the prince, aka Mitsuto, was on one of his knees as he got himself up
"Eeerrmmm... And when the lights came back on, prince Takehiko saw Yukihime in the embrace of prince... Eeeerrrmmm..."
"*Gasp*"
The audience gasped again at the narrator girl well-timed follow-up
"..."
Takeru was still silent as he didn't payed attention to what the prince was actually called, the other problem was that he hadn't memorized the script, because a) He didn't really read it a lot when he was rehearsing with Yuriko and b) Because he didn't think he would actually need to remember it
"Takehiko..." *Low voice*
"Hm?"
"His character name is Takehiko" *Low voice*
Yuriko who could guess what Takeru's problem was helped him by saying the name of Mitsuto's character in a low voice that only she and Takeru could hear
"Ah, yes. That's right... Looks like we meet again, prince Takehiko"
Takeru at finding out the answer for the worst problem, quickly put his acting skills to work with great proficiency
"Yes, we're certainly meeting again, prince Takeru"
And Mitsuto wasn't any worse either
"You held this glamorous party and didn't even invite me, this makes me really sad" *hits his walking stick on the floor*
"Yes, yes. I am sorry, about that... Now, could you please return me, my dancing partner?"
"..."
"..."
The two glared at each other, making everyone get tense at this strange turn of events, with the director girl cheering for Takeru to let Yuriko dance with Mitsuto so that the play could go back on track, while Yuriko was only getting more charmed by Takeru's cool acting as she stayed in his embrace. Then Takeru lowered his head enough to hide his face, then he lifted it again with his follow up line
"I refuse"
"?!"
The director girl screamed in her head
"Hoh? bold of you to do something so discourteous towards me, and to the girl in your embrace"
"Kukuku... That's where you're wrong, kiddo"
"Hm?"
Everyone, the audience, Mitsuto, the director girl, and narrator girl, all got confused when he said that
"Because Yuriko is my girlfriend!"
"!?"
everyone, literally everyone didn't expect him to go and say that during the play and got surprised
"..."
"..."
Then Yuriko gently put her hands on his cheeks and made him face her, then she gave him a passionate kiss, as she was unable to hold back her urge of kissing Takeru that was just looking too cool in her eyes
"!?!?!?"
And that kiss surprised everyone even more, and because of their position, the audience could clearly see that it was a very real and passionate kiss. And when Yuriko finished her kiss she called him with a lovestruck voice and face
"Takeru~..."
"..."
Takeru simply stayed silent with his eyes closed as he did his best to keep his poker face that was on the verge of breaking
(A/N Notes: Is this what they call a theatre break?)