Disclaimer: I don't own Ao no Kanata.
Asuka, Masaya, Mashiro, Misaki and Madoka were currently all sitting in a director office. Finally, Masaya got up out of his chair and took out his script for the entire show, and held it up for the director to see after looking over it.
"...This is all I'm used for!?" he questioned with an annoyed voice. "I'm the main character of your material you're making an anime of!"
"Now wait! There's a good explanation for this," the director tried to explain in fright. "You see, we're thinking of replacing your mc role with Kurashina."
"Eh?" Asuka asked in surprise.
"That's why you reduced me to this little bit of importance!?" Masaya yelled, his anger building up. "I'm not a poster boy you can just throw to the side!"
"Yeah, and you have me being nothing but a gag character most of the time while I don't get good relevance!" Mashiro yelled in an equally angry tone as Masaya, having got up and came over to them. "This is nearly all about Asuka and Misaki-senpai! What about the rest of us!?"
"Well we're on a deadline, so that's only 12 episodes we can do," the director tried to reason nervously. "Besides, Masaya, aren't you happy about being able to fly near the end, and opened up to Misaki about your own past? Not to mention you're the coach of this team of girls."
"Yeah, you're correct," Masaya said in a dangerous voice that made everyone tense. "I fly around for two minutes in the entire series, and I tell Misaki of my past, but it doesn't serve any purpose in helping her return to FC. Me being a coach, what is the point if I don't get to bond with my team? This is lousy! You think I'm going to let you throw me off like this on top of Asuka stealing my position!?"
"Um, Mashiro-kun, you became a speeder, right?" the director now tried to appease Mashiro, who gained veins.
"As if it did anything!" Mashiro yelled at him. "You had me dogfighting the entire story besides a few moments!"
The director went quiet, having nothing to fire back to calm her down.
BAM!
Everyone flinched upon hearing the entrance door slam open. Before them was a really angry looking Rika. Walking towards the director, she glared daggers into him.
"I-Ichinose, what can I help you with?" the director asked.
"What is the meaning of treating me this way!?" Rika exclaimed, holding out the story script as well.
"We're only scheduled for 12 episodes," the director said.
"That's the same argument you just used for us!" Masaya and Mashiro pointed out in annoyance.
"Why youuuuu!" Rika raged out and grabbing his tie. "How dare you reduce me to this level of irrelevancy! And why is Masaya scripted to see me in my bra twice? You don't even have us talk to each other! What's more, I'm a heroine in the source material, and you treat me like this to where I'm a weak side-character!?"
"W-wait!" the director panicked.
"Even I'm tempted to knock you clean out!" Masaya said readying his fists while he glared hard at the director. "The hell were you thinking with all of this!?"
"Now now everyone, calm down," Asuka's innocent voice came in.
Reluctantly, they calmed down, and Rika let go of the director's tie.
"Now then, why do you hate Masaya so much for starters?" Madoka asked the director, trying to be a voice of reason. "If you don't want him to be the star over Asuka, can't you do more with him, just like he said? And what's so bad about letting him bond with us and interact with us more?"
"Madoka," Masaya said in surprise.
"Well..." the director trailed off.
"Look, why don't you take out some of the comedy scenes and focus on Masaya in place, or other things that are important?" Misaki wisely suggested. "Won't it be better for your overall story? He doesn't get left out and wasted."
"I understand what you're saying," the director started. "But-"
"And what's the big deal in giving Masaya one of us as his lover?" Misaki further probed. "He may not be your main character in the show, but you can still place some romance in there for him if you're not going to use him much. At least that way you can make it up to people who are likely to get upset at how little he matters in the show."
"Oh, interesting, who would Masaya pick out of us all?" Madoka asked in a grin.
"Don't know," Masaya said. "What does the director think?"
"In theory it's possible to do everything you've suggested," he admitted.
"What about me being so pointless in the show version!?" Rika finally asked, upset about it. "Look at this! You made me friends with Mashiro, but outside that, I'm nothing more but a side-character when I'm supposed to be a heroine!"
"Now Ichinose, I understand you're frustrated with this decision," the director attempted to reason. "But I'm afraid there's just not enough time to get you more involved."
"That's because you have too many comedy scenes!" Rika yelled. "Remove half of it so Masaya and I can do more!"
"And what about my character!?" Mashiro asked. "You leave so much here you could develope on instead of treating me like a gag character while Asuka and Misaki get everything!"
"I don't get everything," Asuka said innocently, but everyone's gaze at her said "Oh that is far from the truth".
"Getting back to which of us gets Masaya, hypothetically who would you choose for him?" Misaki asked the director.
"Probably Asuka," the director said casually.
"M-me!?" Asuka stuttered with red cheeks, happy about that.
"Yeah, you're the main heroine in your game, so why not?" the director asked.
"Hey now, isn't that really cheap?" Mashiro questioned. "I mean, isn't that too predictable? Why not spice it up and give him someone outside the main heroine?"
"Hmm, that's a good point," the director thoughtfully said. "So that narrows it down to Ichinose, Misaki or Mashiro."
"Why are you bringing me in this!?" Mashiro stuttered with red cheeks herself.
"Because you're one of the heroines," the director pointed out as if she was an idiot. "Anyway, Misaki is thrown out the window."
"What!?" Misaki protested, wanting to be the pick.
"If you were with him, I can bet this show would turn into an 18+ show," the director said doubtlessly.
Misaki went complete red while steam came out of her head.
"And the other two?" Masaya asked.
"Huh, that's tricky," the director said, putting a hand to his chin. "Mashiro is lively and has much that can be done with her character, but now I feel really bad for wasting Ichinose as much as I did Masaya."
"I see," Masaya said. "In that case can I suggest something? Why don't we redo the entire story script and make something better with the suggestions?"
"Very well," the director said. "But I want to keep a back up of the original script."
"Fair enough," Masaya said.
Before the script was changed though, Masaya and co were told to read it one last time, as the director was insistant he wanted the story to stay as is, but nobody was on his side and wanted it changed. Looking through the story, Masaya got annoyed at the amount of issues he saw this time.
"Alright, everyone stop!" Masaya yelled in a not so happy voice.
"Huh? Why?" Misaki asked, curious.
"There's more problems I found," Masaya said.
"What seems to be the problem now?" the director asked.
While Masaya begun to speak, the girls looked back at the story script they were holding. "The second episode you produced," he pointed out.
"And?" the director asked. "Get to the point please."
"I can't believe I'm having to explain this to you," Masaya sighed. "You have it written where I refuse to stay as their coach, and then you display Asuka look at me with interest. If I may, why did you write it like that? She didn't ask me later in as to why I'm hesitant about coaching her."
"Eh?" the director asked in surprise, having not caught that.
"I'm not done," Masaya continued. "Misaki seems to suspect something about me, but you have her do nothing with me in the same scene. Furthermore, the girls don't seem to really even care about me much. On top of that, I'm written as if I don't really care much about them either."
"That's..." the director trailed off.
"And worst of all," Masaya said as a vein showed up on his head. "Do you want to explain why I'm just caving in to being their coach when I was very adamant about not doing so? You have them hardly say anything, and it's enough to make me join! What do you think I am, a push over!? And what was with there being so much focus on the girls while I'm ignored a lot? You gave them so much, but what about me!?"
"Uh..." the director said, becoming nervous of his rising temper.
"M-mr director!" Asuka suddenly voiced in a klutzy voice, walking up to him.
"Hmm? Ah Kurashina, how do you like being the star?" the director asked, thinking she'd be thrilled.
"That's, um..." Asuka started. "I, I'm grateful to be in such a spot, but..."
"But?" the director asked.
"You didn't really give me much importance to the story," Asuka started timidly. "The premise is I transferred to Kunahama School, learn of FC, and I start to play and get better. But, I'm really not that important compared to Coach or Misaki-chan."
"Sure you are," the director said positively.
"...Then explain," Masaya said in an irritated voice.
"EEE!" the director jolted. "Er, she caught Shindou's interest."
"Not important, and why did that happen anyway?" Masaya asked with a sweat drop.
"She performed what you would call begginers luck against Satou," the director explained. "The idea that a person who just started out, and does a pro move, interested Shindou, who thought Asuka had potential."
"But then why is he doing more against her than he did Misaki, when Asuka wasn't actually doing good against him yet?" Masaya asked. "Don't you think that's insulting to Misaki's credibility as a player, and he's expecting too much that Asuka hasn't delivered yet? He shouldn't be trying this hard against her when she's doing worse than Misaki until near the end."
"Interesting, I didn't really think about that," the director said thoughtfully with a finger to his chin. "That would make for better storytelling."
"Anyway, anything else?" Masaya asked.
"Then what about when she lost to Saki and had to regain her own strength from doubt?" the director tried to say. "I even gave her a glimpse of her past."
"Okay that's one and she learned from that ordeal, another?" Masaya inquired as he looked over the script.
"..." the director was out of stuff to say.
"See? I'm not that interesting a protagonist," Asuka said in a hurt voice.
The director jolted, feeling bad. Before he could say anything, Mashiro came up to him.
"You! Why am I losing in the first day of every tournament!?" she yelled at him. "Do you have something against me!?"
"It's just, you're not that good-wait!" the director panicked as Mashiro glared at him and grabbed his collar. "F-forget what I said, I just didn't have enough time to do a lot with you like I said. I only have enough time for 12 episodes, and most of that is reserved for Misaki and Kurashina."
"As if!" Mashiro yelled, not taking that. "You took your sweet time with episode 4, having Rika and me talk a lot outside of FC in a meaningful way! And you tell me you couldn't do more!?"
"Sorry," the director said. "Can't be helped."
'Is he for real with that excuse!?' Masaya thought, his temper starting to boil.
Rika walked up to the director thoughtfully. "Why are you making it look as if Mashiro is my rival?" she asked.
"Now that I think about it, shouldn't mine be Satou?" Mashiro said as everyone looked at her. "She's always the person that I lost to in this script right? Besides Rika is my friend who simply taught me a few things."
"That's a good question," the director said. "I could make some edits to the original script, but it's just too much of a hassle. You're better off hoping for another season where you're the protagonist, Mashiro."
Mashiro pouted, while Rika sat back down in defeat. Finally, Misaki came up, shocking the director.
"I didn't expect Kurashina to be unsatisfied with my script, but not you too!" the director yelled at her.
"I'm made out to be not so nice to Mashiro," Misaki glared at the director. "Look, you have her taking care of me even at times, but you have me act as if Mashiro is just extra space I let stay around."
"That's just for comedy though," the director tried to reason.
"Even so!" Misaki yelled with an angry voice before her face turned sad with tears. "Even so...don't write me like that all the time. The parts where she took care of me wasn't for comedy after all. So can't you write me out as acting more grateful to her for it by perhaps putting in a few bonding moments?"
The director was at a loss for words. Misaki felt hurt by how the script was making her seem, and he felt guilty about that.
"Look-" the director started but Misaki cut him off, her temper having rised.
"And why are you writing me out to do worse against those Asuka beats, yet you have me beating Asuka!?" Misaki asked in anger. "I shouldn't be beating her in the 9th episode of your story, because she's better than me by that time!"
"Er...I was hoping you wouldn't notice that," the director said nervously while Misaki gained a vein on her forehead. "Do you want to edit that to where you lost to her?"
"Of course!" Misaki yelled as if it was obvious. "As much as I want it to stay, I don't want to be written out as beating her just because! I want to beat her legitly!"
While this was going on, Masaya came across something in the script that really made his anger blaze. Everyone gained looks of fright when they saw the dangerous comical aura about him. In an instant, Masaya grabbed the director with so much force he held him above the ground.
"C-Coach!" Asuka pleaded.
"What's got you this upset!?" Mashiro asked, hiding behind Misaki and peeking out.
They watched as he formed a smile, which terrified them all the more in this situation. "Depending on how you answer this, will determine if you go through the wall!" Masaya said in a very dangerous voice.
"W-what is it!?" the director panicked as he let him down, but still held his grip on him.
"Take a look at this," Masaya said, holding out part of episode 9. "You told a good story here, but what you did at the end to me, I demand an explanation now!"
"The part that reads them talking about a kid version of you, and you're dismissed with 'and who really cares' by Misaki?" the director unwisely chuckled.
"Oh so you think this is funny!" Masaya exploded in a comical rage.
"H-hold on please!" the director freaked out.
"I've never seen him like this," Rika stared in awe.
"Help me out here!" the director pleaded to her spasticaly.
"Now now Masaya, calm down-" Misaki stopped mid-sentence as he glared at her to terrifying levels.
"'Calm down'...YOU EXPECT ME TO CALM DOWN AFTER THAT BULL AND HIM LAUGHING ABOUT IT!?" Masaya completely flipped in a rage.
"EEEEEE!" Madoka yelled, scared by this scary side of him.
"Woah, I don't want to make him mad!" Mashiro exclaimed in fright, still hiding behind Misaki.
Misaki froze in fear, having NEVER seen Masaya like this before.
As Masaya lifted the director up, Asuka embraced him.
"Stop it!" Asuka yelled in a pleading voice.
Masaya glared at her, but his expression softened up on seeing Asuka was in fact on the verge of tears. Had he been that bad?
"Asuka," Masaya muttered, and let go of the director. "I'm sorry."
He then excused himself and left. Madoka breathed a sigh of relief, as did Mashiro, Misaki and Rika. In a few moments, Asuka went after Masaya while the director took out a mini-towel to wipe his head with.
"I thought I was going to die," the director said.
"Just be thankful you're still standing," Rika went and patted him on the shoulder.
The other girls went quiet as they wondered if Masaya was feeling okay. It's not as if they couldn't understand why he would be so upset.
Meanwhile Masaya walked in the hall with an angry expression. "Geez, I can't believe how I'm portrayed in that show!" he voiced.
"Coach!" Asuka called out, rushing over to him.
"Asuka," Masaya said. "If you want to insult me, go ahead, I deserve it."
"I would never do that!" Asuka yelled, to his surprise. "And, I wouldn't want to be in the show without you. So if you don't want to, neither will I."
"You," Masaya, touched by that. "I just don't know what to do. It upset me seeing my overall role in that show, but I couldn't stand that script part in episode 9, and snapped. Then the director's laughing about it pushed me over the edge. I regret it."
Asuka listened carefully to each word he said. "I'm sure it'll work all out," she said gently, taking him into a soft embrace. "I don't know how, but I know there's a way."
"Hey now, you sure you can speak so easily?" Masaya asked. "You yourself admitted you're not that good of a protagonist."
"Mmm," Asuka said. "But it's fine, because I still get to be with all of you, and that's the most important thing to me. And...if my lover won't participate, that's worse than my role."
"...True, you're right," Masaya said.
The two stared at each other, smiling with glazed eyes and red cheeks.
"*Ahem*" a person's voice drew them out of the moment.
"I know you two may be a couple, but please think of your surroundings," a man said with an annoyed look.
Masaya and Asuka steamed in embarrassment.
Going back to the director office, they saw Aoi, and she did not look happy.
"Any reason why you cut out me training Masaya and the others?" Aoi questioned with a dangerous air about her.
"Time constraints unfortunately," the director said with sweat. "I wanted to insert a scene after the end credits with you and the others training, but there was not enough time to do it."
Aoi's mood wasn't changed. "But what if you cut out the intro for episode 11 of this and focus it on a bit of the training?" she suggested. "I don't take kindly to cutting out training my students."
"Nothing I can do about it," the director. "We're on a tight schedule as I've tried to say to the others in the room-M-Masaya! When did you get in here!?"
"Relax," Masaya started. "I'm feeling better for the most part."
"Listen, I think I owe you an apology," the director said. "The purpose of that scene that got you upset, is Misaki couldn't make the connection it was you she faced as a kid, so she just dismissed it due to not knowing for a fact it was you. But when I think about it, you could have been given more besides just coaching them in the original script."
"Can I ask a request?" Asuka asked with a raised hand.
"What is it?" the director asked with interest.
"Could you write in Coach and I falling for each other?" Asuka asked shyly. "I, really want that."
"Of course you want that-you're his lover right now," the director chuckled at the girl. "But-"
"Come on now, why not allow that much?" Madoka asked with hands to her hips after standing up. "In fact, why don't we just forget about the original script?"
"And," Asuka started again. "Maybe add in how I was able to do the delta force in the 9th episode."
"Oh that?" the director asked. "It's quite simple, you were training."
"...But you didn't explain how or when she started trying to learn it," Masaya said. "Right here it says an assumption from myself that she did it on the spot."
"Don't you have anything else to bring up Misaki?" Madoka asked her.
"Yeah, you and Asuka are the show's stars," Rika added in.
"Hmm, I'm pretty happy with my stuff," Misaki said in a good mood. "For the most part."
"I'm glad you enjoy it," the director said to her. "Now then, maybe we can make an edited version of the story after these changes-"
BOOM!
The door slammed open, and one of his men ran up to him.
"Hurry, get your script!" he yelled.
"Wait, slow down, what do you mean?" the director asked. "We're in the process of considering changing the-"
"No time for that!" the man yelled at the director. "The release schedule was pushed back way further!"
"What did you say!?" the director asked in surprise, the others having the same expression.
"All of our guys doing the footage work and investors have demanded it be released by late today!" the man said.
"No way!" Madoka exclaimed.
"Quick, get it ready!" the man yelled.
"Yeah!" the director said, and then faced everyone with a nervous smile. "I'm afraid you're all going to have to deal with the one I made. There's no time to discard my script and do the new one now."
"...EEEEEEEH!?" they all yelled but Aoi.
Masaya twitched as did some of the others. 'I better get payed so much for dealing with this role treatment in the show!' he thought.
The others didn't look too thrilled about the director's script being released, outside Misaki who seemed fairly content.
THE END.
A/N: As you can tell by this and a few of my A/Ns, I don't think the show was written too well.