Because of all the positive response on my first work for this series (Hotel Room Fantasies), I decided that I needed to do at least one more work, even if we all know that when the first time is good, the second always have trouble living up to the standards. I hope it is well accepted though.
The source for inspiration is mentioned in the story. We just so happened to be working with that in English by the time I got the idea and I could hardly attend class without the Fujoshi switch being turned on.
Anyways, I hope you enjoy this story, since it is mainly a work created as I can express my gratitude for all the positive response.
Serinuma came to the table, carrying her lunch with her. Nanashima and Igarashi had been held up in class, so she had gone on ahead without them. Mutsumi was already sitting by the table. He was reading a book with a title in English.
"Hello Mutsumi-senpai, what are you reading?" Serinuma asked as she seated herself at the table, across from Mutsumi.
Mutsumi looked up from the book. "Hello Serinuma-san," he said, smiling. "This is a play by Shakespeare called Romeo and Juliet," he answered her question.
"I've heard the language in his plays should be pretty hard to comprehend," Serinuma said in a slightly impressed tone.
"It is," Nishina said. She had just arrived at the table with Shinomiya following right behind her.
"Where is Nanashima-senpai and Igarashi-senpai," Shinomiya asked as he sat down beside Serinuma, before Nishina could get the chance. Nishina then went to sit beside Mutsumi with a slightly irritated expression, which no one took note of.
"Nanashima-kun and Igarashi-kun had to stay behind for a bit," Serinuma answered Shinomiya's question.
Shinomiya nodded his head at her response before he turned his attention to Mutsumi, or more accurately, his book. "What's that, Mutsumi-senpai?" he asked.
"Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare," Mutsumi answered.
"What's it about?" Shinomiya asked.
"It's a tragedy involving two lovers. Their families fight so they cannot be together. They end up committing suicide," Nishina explained in a dry tone. She didn't really care much for the actual play.
"You know so much, Shima-chan," Serinuma said with an impressed smile at Nishina.
"There is a more thorough summary in the back of the book," Mutsumi said. He put a bookmark in to mark the place he was at before he flipped to the back of the book. He then laid it out for Serinuma, Nishina and Shinomiya to read.
"But Mutsumi-senpai, why would you read something like this?" Serinuma asked as she looked up after having finished reading the summary. "Do you like stories like these?" she asked.
"It's just something we're reading in class," Mutsumi said. "I don't dislike it, but I wouldn't say I like it either."
"But to think that he would poison himself because he thought she was dead, isn't that a bit exaggerated?" Shinomiya asked, only then having finished the summary.
"Romeo is a melodramatic character," Mutsumi said.
"It does seem exaggerated though," Serinuma said in a slightly thoughtful tone. "But Juliet is also taking a huge risk by faking her own death like that."
"Well, she loves Romeo," Mutsumi explained. "It was the only way for them to be together, if it had gone right." He pulled back the book and closed it, deciding that he was done reading for now.
"But… I've heard it wasn't allowed for women to act in England at that time," Shinomiya said. "How did they pull a play like that off?"
"Well," Mutsumi said, well aware that he would get some kind of reaction from his next words. "Juliet, and the remaining female characters, were played by boys."
"So… both Romeo's and Juliet's roles were… played by men?" Serinuma asked.
Mutsumi simply nodded his head. "Modern interpretations does have Juliet's role played by an actress though." He said.
However, it seemed like Serinuma hadn't heard the last part as she turned to Nishina with her eyes shining brightly with excitement. "Could it be possible to take two characters and base a story between them on Romeo and Juliet?" Serinuma asked.
Nishina thought. "It is possible, but I don't think there are any characters to do it with at the moment, at least not fictional ones," she said.
Serinuma looked a little surprised at first, but then it looked as if she had gotten an idea. Shinomiya was starting to feel nervous because her gaze was slowly trailing to him. He was getting a bad feeling, like she was going to think him into Juliet's role.
However, not a word escaped Serinuma's mouth until she was looking at Mutsumi, her eyes were still sparkling.
"Mutsumi-senpai, can I borrow that script until tomorrow afternoon?" she asked.
Mutsumi seemed to consider for a little, but then he smiled and handed her the book. "Sure, just please don't remove the bookmark," he instructed.
Serinuma promised that she wouldn't remove the bookmark and accepted the book. Only a minute later, Nanashima and Igarashi joined them, but at that time, they were already discussing something entirely different.
The following day, Serinuma asked all of them to meet her on the roof after school except Nishina, whom she was to meet with somewhere else before then. So after school, Nanashima, Igarashi, Mutsumi and Shinomiya found themselves standing on the roof together, just waiting for Serinuma and Nishina to show up.
"So, do any of you have an idea of what Serinuma wants?" Igarashi asked.
"No," Nanashima answered. "She's seemed secretive all day, won't say a thing,"
Shinomiya wasn't sure, something told him that he did know, but he wouldn't dare voice his suspicion, hoping that he was wrong.
"She said she would hand me back my book by this time. Maybe it has something to do with that?" Mutsumi suggested, thereby voicing Shinomiya's suspicion for him.
"Your book?" Nanashima asked.
"What kind of book?" Igarashi asked.
"The script for Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare. We are working with it in English at the moment," Mutsumi said. "Yesterday Serinuma-san asked if she could borrow it and so I let her borrow it."
Nanashima looked like he was getting started on thinking. "What could she need that for?" he asked aloud.
"Whatever the purpose, I'm not sure we're gonna like it," Shinomiya said.
"Not all of us," Nanashima said, getting a more relaxed look on his face. "I might, if she suggests that I play Romeo and she's playing Juliet."
"I'd honestly feel better if I was playing Romeo and she was playing Juliet. You would probably serve better as that guy whom her parents want her to marry, Nana," Igarashi said while smirking.
"I-If we're talking about that, I should be romeo!" Shinomiya yelled.
Nanashima and Igarashi laughed.
"No way," Nanashima said. "You'd work better in the supporting cast."
"So would your role, Nana," Igarashi said as if he was pointing out a fact.
"No one named you Romeo!" Nanashima and Shinomiya yelled in the same time.
"I'd personally find it easier to see Shinomiya in a feminine role," Igarashi continued unaffected. To top it off, he even managed to ignore Shinomiya's irritated look after the final remark.
"Well, the female roles were held by younger actors in Shakespeare's time," Mutsumi pointed out, just like he had done on the day before.
Nanashima and Igarashi both turned to stare at Mutsumi. They hadn't been there on the day before when the others had talked about Romeo and Juliet, so they hadn't heard of that minor detail before.
"What-" Nanashima began, but then the door slammed open and Serinuma and Nishina walked out on the roof with satisfied expressions on their faces.
"Sorry to keep you waiting for so long," Serinuma said, unable to wipe the happy smile off her face.
Igarashi, Nanashima and Shinomiya all looked at the two girls with horrified expressions. The idea of playing a female character wasn't exactly appealing, especially not for Shinomiya who had done it once before.
"No need to worry," Mutsumi said, being the only one who sent Serinuma a smile as she and Nishina came over. "We haven't been waiting long."
"That's good to hear," Serinuma said, looking relieved. "So, I finished what I had planned to show to all of you," she began while holding a bunch of papers close to her chest.
"What have you planned?" Igarashi asked, slightly suspiciously.
Serinuma smiled. "I was spending time rewriting the Romeo and Juliet play," she said as she walked up to Mutsumi and handed him back the book. "Thank you for lending me this, Mutsumi-senpai," she said.
"It's no problem," Mutsumi replied as he took back his book, allowing Serinuma to get back at the subject.
"The play is still Romeo and Juliet but with a twist. After a long time of debating with myself, I asked Shima-chan and we agreed that Igarashi-kun and Nanashima-kun are gonna be the protagonists in the story," Serinuma said, relieving Mutsumi and Shinomiya from their worries, but making Nanashima and Igarashi send each other a slightly nervous look.
"So… what will we be doing?" Nanashima asked. "Is one of us… going to… dress up as a girl?" He had a lot of trouble saying those words. He didn't like the thought of dressing up as a girl, much less did he like the thought of anyone having to see him like that.
"It would be too much of a bother to make an actual drama," Nishina said as she stepped forward. "We were thinking of making it a radio drama, like a drama CD."
"Then, what roles will Shinomiya and I have?" Mutsumi asked.
"You will be the good friends who are trying to keep up a secret romance. Your characters are slightly based of Benvolio and Mercutio from the original play," Serinuma explained. "The primary story is almost a direct copy of the first two acts, ending with the marriage and then a happy ending," she explained.
"Nice…" Igarashi muttered as Nishina walked around among them, handing out manuscripts which she and Serinuma had been copying just before they went to the roof.
Nanashima flipped through the script which he had just received, primarily checking through the actions they would be doing. "Well, at least it's just a drama CD."
"It still has to sound realistic," Nishina said with a smirk on her face.
"But where would we even record. No one has the equipment," Igarashi said.
"Well, anything's easy to get if you've got the money," Nishina replied, revealing just how much she wanted to support Serinuma in doing this.
"I wonder who got poisoned, Romeo, Juliet or Serinuma," Nanashima commented as he and Igarashi were walking home together.
"That's rude to say," Igarashi said in a slightly strict tone.
"But think, Igarashi, think about how she has never been this forceful with her shipping of us before. Don't you think it's a little weird that she's suddenly changing?" Nanashima asked.
"So you're saying that whatever poison she drank, it would have made her shipping more forceful?" Igarashi asked, shaking his head at Nanashima's suggestion. He would agree it was weird, but he was never gonna go as far as saying that Serinuma had gotten poisoned. That was putting it way too rudely.
"Well, yeah…" Nanashima suddenly sounded a bit more hesitant. "Put like that, I see your point. It is a bit rude to say."
"Be glad no one else heard you," Igarashi said, sounding calm.
Nanashima suddenly felt a bit concerned for himself. "You're going to make me pay for it, aren't you?" he asked.
"We'll see," Igarashi replied. "You have noticed that Serinuma didn't specify our roles, didn't you?" he asked.
"Like who is going to play the part based on Romeo and the part based on Juliet?" Nanashima asked. "Now that you mention it, she never said who was who of those two."
"I believe she wants us to decide," Igarashi said.
"I'd rather not." Nanashima said.
"So you're saying you don't mind letting me being the dominating one?" Igarashi asked, looking at Nanashima through the corner of his eye with a smirk on his lips.
"I never said that!" Nanashima yelled, stopping to flash an angry expression at Igarashi. "If anything, I would rather be the dominating one!"
Igarashi also stopped and turned towards Nanashima. "Well, since you don't agree with me, we'll have to decide by rock-paper-scissors," he just said, still seeming calm. "You do remember who won last time, right?"
Nanashima had to swallow while he was considering if he should accept the challenge or just give up before he was forced to do it. He decided that he would rather run the risk of being forced, since it still left the possibility open that Igarashi would miraculously lose.
"If you're trying to make me back down it's not working," Nanashima allowed a smirk to show on his face as well as he put his fist forward, preparing for battle.
"I thought for a moment that you were about to back down, but I'm glad you accepted my challenge," Igarashi said, his smirk turning mocking.
They did one round of rock-paper-scissors, Nanashima lost and demanded a best of three. It didn't help at all. It only made matters worse with the score being three points to Igarashi and no points to Nanashima.
"At least you lost fair and square," Igarashi said as Nanashima turned around and demonstratively walked the other way, opposite of his own house.
Igarashi simply shook his head at his friend. He knew everything would be fine by tomorrow, so he decided not to do more about the matter. Now he had won the fight of domination. He knew Serinuma would be happy, but what if she knew of his motivation for winning this small battle? What if anyone knew of that, what would they think?
Despite Igarashi's believes that everything between him and Nanashima would be fine on the following day, it turned out not to be so. In fact, Nanashima had made a point of getting up even earlier than usual as he could go to school without accidentally running into Igarashi on the way there.
Nanashima was already sitting on his chair when Igarashi entered the classroom with a surprisingly calm expression. Serinuma entered as Igarashi was making his way to his seat. Luckily for Nanashima, Igarashi noticed this and went to talk to Serinuma. Nanashima could faintly hear what was being said and if he hadn't been able to guess it though what he heard, he could guess it from Serinuma's overjoyed expression. Igarashi had simply told her of their decision on how to divide the roles between them.
As both Igarashi and Serinuma walked to their seats with happy expressions on their faces, Nanashima found himself wondering for the hundredth time why they were even doing this drama CD-thing.
"You have read the manuscript, right Nana?" Igarashi dared to ask just before class began.
Nanashima frowned. He had, and he actually didn't mind most of it, except the alternative ending which Serinuma had written. He didn't dislike it because it was her, that was actually the one and only thing that kept him from tearing the entire script to pieces. He disliked it because of what he was going to do in that part.
"Well, I'm glad it turned out the way it did," Nishina said at lunch break once she had heard of how Igarashi and Nanashima had decided to divide the roles between them. "Senpai did say the character based on Juliet actually shares a few character-trades with Nanashima."
"Seriously? Why is everyone on his side?" Nanashima yelled while pointing at Igarashi, whom he had seated himself as far away from as possible.
"Because it turned out like they wanted, Nana," Igarashi said, still smiling like nothing was bothering him.
Nanashima simply frowned at that. He didn't want to hear another word Igarashi had to say, not today, not tomorrow, not ever if at all possible.
"Now, is it that bad?" Mutsumi asked. "It's nothing more than a role."
"If you haven't noticed, I'm not a girl and I'm not gay, Mutsumi-senpai," Nanashima asked in a dark tone.
"Well, Mutsumi-senpai and I are supposed to be the slightly homosexual supporting cast, and we aren't complaining," Shinomiya said.
"Well, no one expects for Mutsumi-senpai to mind and you've dressed up before, you've gotta be used to it," Nanashima said, his tone cold.
Shinomiya glared at Nanashima. He really didn't like having stuff like that brought up too often. It wasn't one of his best memories, to put it nicely.
"Anyway, if everyone has read through the manuscript overnight, maybe we should start practicing at Shima-chan's place today?" Serinuma asked.
"That's a good idea, Senpai," Nishina said, smiling approvingly. "Nanashima's gonna come too, right?" she asked.
Nanashima really didn't want to, But he could feel as everyone else were looking at him with a slight demand behind their gaze. The only one that stood out from the others was Serinuma whose eyes were large and pleading for him to come. That, and Igarashi's slightly mocking smirk was enough to make Nanashima make up his mind.
"What do you expect, of course I'm gonna be there," he told Nishina while keeping all signs of enthusiasm out of his voice.
The first thing they did when arriving at Nishina's place was to go into one of her many rooms and start reading the manuscript with their assigned roles. Half way through the first act of the play, which some thought to be embarrassing, Nishina's maid knocked on the door and asked if they would like some tea. Nishina accepted the offer and within five minutes, everyone sat with a cup of tea in front of them.
The idea should prove to serve Nanashima and Shinomiya especially well. Whenever one of them dropped a slightly uncomfortable line, they would raise their teacup to their face and use it to hide their facial expressions.
They reached the end of the manuscript, or at least the point where the original manuscript stopped. The manuscript Serinuma had written continued with Nishina wedding Nanashima and Igarashi. For this scene, Shinomiya and Mutsumi moved slightly away while Serinuma said and held herself back as she wasn't going to lean too much forward.
"Is this really just a play?" Nanashima asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.
"It seems a little too real, doesn't it?" Igarashi said.
Nanashima nodded his head. "That's what bothers me."
"You two should get back in character," Nishina said in a demanding tone. "Do you want this over with or not?" she asked, knowing which one the two boys would pick.
Igarashi was the one with the following line and he spoke it, thereby making them resume the play. It went way smoother than he and Nanashima had expected.
"How did you like it?" Serinuma asked as soon as the final line had been said. She was looking from Igarashi to Nanashima, to Shinomiya to Mutsumi with eyes filled with excitement and a happy smile on her face.
"It was a good play," Mutsumi said. "It would be very popular in modern times like these. Good job, Serinuma-san." He smiled encouragingly at Serinuma, who felt completely light with happiness.
"It wasn't bad and I actually didn't mind my part as much as I had feared," Shinomiya said.
"It was a good play," Igarashi said. "There might be a lack of something humorous but aside from that, I didn't mind playing this at all."
"Does a play need humor?" Serinuma asked.
"Some do," Mutsumi said. "I agree this could use some, but not too much. It is a serious play. If too much humor is added, it may not appear as seriously as it should and the deeper meaning might get lost in laughs," he explained.
"You're right, Mutsumi-senpai," Serinuma said. "Thank you!"
"It was uncomfortable to go through it and pretend to like him," Nanashima said with a reference to Igarashi. "But it wasn't bad. If I had to, I could do it again."
"That's fortunate, because you have to do it a couple more times," Nishina said.
"I'm not gonna do it more than once unless I gain something for it!" Nanashima yelled, standing up and dropping his manuscript on the floor.
"Well, I was thinking that Nana might need to practice speaking his lines with a bit more emotion," Igarashi said. "You sound more like you're just reading them aloud."
"How enthusiastic would you be if you were in my situation?" Nanashima asked.
"Well, one should at least try," Igarashi argued. "Anyways, Serinuma, since you have read a lot of BL, then maybe you could teach Nana how to speak when pretending to be in love with a boy, what mood to use," Igarashi suggested.
"Sure," Serinuma said. "I'd be happy to help!" Her face was shining brightly with joy from that suggestion. She had extra motivation for helping out Nanashima because it was as Igarashi had implied, she was the right person to ask on that matter. Aside from that, she was a person who really liked to help out others.
Nanashima was caught off guard. He hadn't expected that Igarashi would suggest that he was spending time with Serinuma, without the others being around. Why would he suggest something like that? Nanashima couldn't see what the motivation behind it would be. But that didn't matter now. The more important part of the matter was that because of the reward for taking further part in this was involving alone time with Serinuma, it suddenly became something he absolutely couldn't decline.
Already on the following day, Serinuma invited Nanashima to her place alone as she could help him practice his lines. Nishina and Shinomiya both displayed their jealousy but Mutsumi, and even Igarashi, had been completely calm about it. If it hadn't been for the fact that Nanashima wasn't exactly happy about what he was going to do with Serinuma, he would have bragged to try and add something to the jealousy the younger ones were displaying and the Igarashi and Mutsumi seemed to lack.
As Serinuma led the way to her place that afternoon, Nanashima found thimself thinking about why the response among the others had been as it had? He had expected for both Nishina and Shinomiya to be jealous of him spending time with Serinuma. For Mutsumi not to mind anyone spending time with Serinuma was not so uncommon, especially seeing as there was a motive behind today's events. What Nanashima didn't understand, and what kept him thinking, was the way Igarashi had responded, or hadn't responded. If truth be told, Nanashima had expected at least some kind of reaction from the other, one little hint of jealousy or one attempt to join them, but there hadn't been any of that. Igarashi had seemed supportive in a way that made it seem like he was uninterested in Serinuma, like he couldn't care less about what could happen to her relationship status if she spent time alone with Nanashima.
"Is something wrong, Nanashima-kun?" Serinuma asked, suddenly turning around to face Nanashima. "You haven't said a thing all the way," she was really sounded concerned.
"Nah, no," Nanashima put on a smile, not wanting to tell Serinuma about his observations. There was no need. It was all up in his head anyway. Yes, he was just overanalyzing the situation. There was no need to tell her something like that and have her think about it too for no reason.
Serinuma looked suspiciously at him but then put on a smile as well. "We will reach my place in just a minute," she said as she walked on ahead. Nanashima hurried as he could walk by her side and attempted to start a conversation regarding the subject they had been working with in history today. They were still talking about that when Serinuma led the way inside her house and up to her room.
Upon entering, Nanashima suddenly recalled the first time he had been in Serinuma's room when they were studying. Serinuma had tried to hide the fact that she was a VERY big fan of Shion from Mirage Saga and the fact that she liked to read BL. She wasn't so busy hiding anything away now. They sat on her floor by the small table, the manuscript lying there. The BL had been piled up in a corner, whatever couldn't be in the closet or somewhere else. More anime-related goods had been added to all those displaying Shion. Aside from that, nothing had changed.
"Well, let's get started," Serinuma said. "It is the love that's the problem."
"I don't get how I'm supposed to pretend that I love Igarashi," Nanashima said.
Serinuma gave it some thought. She smiled once she thought she had come up with a bright idea. "Then don't think of it as you loving Igarashi-kun. Think of it as Jull loving Milo." She advised.
Nanashima thought on that. Pretending becoming one with that role and pretend to like Igarashi's role. He wasn't sure if he could do it, but it was worth a try.
"Try it," Serinuma encouraged. "I'll say Milo's lines and you say Jull's."
Nanashima tried, from the first scene where they were having a dialogue. It somewhat helped. He was able to add a bit more emotion to his lines, but he wasn't sure how well he was doing. Some of the lines were still pretty embarrassing, most that fell into that category even made him blush. Serinuma smiled all the way through. However, if that was because he was doing well or because he was blushing, Nanashima couldn't tell.
"You're doing well, Nanashima-kun," Serinuma said as the sun was about to set outside her window.
"You think so?" Nanashima asked.
"Yes," Serinuma said. "In fact, I would like you to try with Igarashi-kun sometime soon."
Nanashima frowned. Serinuma might think he was ready to take that step now, but he thought it was still way too soon for that. He couldn't go say these things to anyone, especially not Igarashi. They were way too embarrassing.
"Let's try practicing with him tomorrow, you can both come here, or we could be at your place?" Serinuma suggested, oblivious to Nanashima's reaction regarding practicing with Igarashi.
"E-either one is fine," Nanashima said, not sure if he was doing the right thing by letting Serinuma decide.
"Then, going to your place might be best, if you don't mind," Serinuma said.
"Okay," Nanashima decided to pretend like it was all fine as he put the manuscript in his bag and stood up, getting ready to leave for now. It was getting late, and he had grown tired from practicing the same stupidly difficult lines so many times. "I will see you tomorrow," he said as he headed to the door.
"Hold on, I'll walk you out!" Serinuma quickly got up and went to walk Nanashima out. They said goodbye and Serinuma went back inside while Nanashima went home, his mind filled with love confessions and thoughts of Igarashi.
That same evening, right after Nanashima had left; Serinuma called Igarashi and told him what she and Nanashima had planned for the following day. So on the following day, the two met up to walk to Nanashima's house together.
"How did it go?" Igarashi asked.
"Nanashima-kun did really good. He has almost mastered it," Serinuma said. They had had this conversation on the night before but Igarashi had wanted to hear it again and Serinuma had forgotten about the conversation.
"What do you mean by almost?" Igarashi asked.
Serinuma thought on that. "He manages to act with emotion now, so I said that I wanted him to practice with you because it is the natural next step."
Igarashi smiled. "I wonder how it'll turn out this time," he said.
They were walking in silence for a bit, until Serinuma couldn't keep in a question that had been on her mind for the past two days.
"Igarashi-kun, how come you seem so enthusiastic about the project. Shouldn't you… be more reluctant, like Nanashima-kun?" Serinuma asked.
Igarashi decided to look at the girls who were walking a dog and heading in the opposite direction as he gave his reply.
"It's your project, Serinuma," he said. "And the story is fairly good. I guess I just like it and it affects my enthusiasm."
"I see," Serinuma said, smiling, although something inside her wasn't entirely convinced that his reply was completely honest.
It wasn't long after that when they reached Nanashima's house. They had barely managed to ring the doorbell before Nanashima was there to let them in. He was trying to keep any trace of emotion out of his face but Igarashi could easily tell that he was nervous. The most notable thing was the fact that Nanashima primarily looked at Serinuma rather than at Igarashi. In fact, they only had a brief moment of eye contact, which made Igarashi wonder if Serinuma had been calling for the next step a bit too soon.
No one in Nanashima's family was home, not even his little sister, which was probably the best possible situation for all of them.
Nanashima led the way to his room where he, Igarashi and Serinuma all sat on the floor. All three were holding their own copy of the manuscript.
There was a slightly tense silence between the three of them which neither Nanashima nor Igarashi dared to break. They were both taking turns looking between each other and Serinuma, waiting anxiously for when something would need to happen.
"So…" Serinuma said, also feeling the awkward tension in the air. "Why don't we start from your first dialogue in the first act?" she suggested. "Nanashima-kun, remember what I told you yesterday." She was slowly starting to fall back into the role as director, instructing the two boys in how to act out their roles as best as possible.
Nanashima and Igarashi both flipped to the page where the first dialogue began and stared at it in silence. Nanashima was the one with the first line, but he had trouble remembering what to do exactly. When he finally began speaking, his voice sounded stiff and shaky and his face soon turned red. He was staring very intensely at the papers, focusing only on the letters, but when he had read the same line four times, Igarashi placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him.
"Nana, if you can't do this, then say so," he said.
"I can do it!" Nanashima demonstratively pulled himself away from Igarashi, though there was still a slight shade of pink on his cheeks.
"Do you want me to leave?" Igarashi was staring intensely into Nanashima's eyes.
Nanashima quickly looked away, back down at his manuscript, not wanting to face his best friend. He took in a deep breath to calm himself before he looked up, staring at a spot on the wall, a little next to Igarashi's head.
"It's fine," he said, any trace of nervousness gone from his voice. "Let's start over."
And so, they started from the top. Nanashima did way better. He managed to pull in all the emotion his character would need to display and Igarashi did the same. Serinuma sat and listened with her eyes sparkling with excitement and a smile on her face. She was happy to see her friends make progress with their acting skills.
But the good acting stopped as soon as they reached the actual love confession and the more embarrassing lines in the play. Nanashima blushed and stuttered often and had to look at his manuscript all the time to cover up his facial expression. He had just finished a line when Igarashi decided to interrupt the play again.
"Nana, we can stop if you want," he said.
"I don't," Nanashima said, sounding like a stubborn child.
"Do you want me to leave?" Igarashi asked, being pretty sure that it was his presence that made Nanashima worse at acting.
"No," Nanashima said, lowering the manuscript from his face. He still wasn't looking Igarashi in the eyes.
"Would it help if Serinuma-san left?" Igarashi said, wondering if her presence was what troubled Nanashima.
"I can leave if my presence is distracting," Serinuma said quickly.
Nanashima hesitated. He didn't feel like being let alone with Igarashi, but on the other hand, he felt like they had something to talk about which Serinuma absolutely didn't need to hear.
Igarashi turned to Serinuma. "Maybe you should go take a break and stretch your legs. We have been at this for a while now," he said.
Serinuma smiled, being happy with Igarashi's politeness.
"I will go for a short walk then," she said and she stood up to go out for a short walk while wondering what was going to happen while she was gone. That was all left up to her imagination, which meant that basically anything could happen.
Once Serinuma was gone, Igarashi turned to Nanashima, reading from his own manuscript. He continued with the line they had reached, putting as much of his feelings into it as he possibly could.
Nanashima stared, and then got back to his own manuscript to read the following line. They kept at that for about a minute until Nanashima stopped again, blushing from embarrassment.
"Why do you blush like that?" Igarashi asked.
Nanashima looked up, surprised. He had thought he had managed to hide it, seeing as he had raised his manuscript all the way up to his face as he felt the heat in his cheeks.
"Don't look surprised," Igarashi said. "And don't try to hide it, it's obvious," he said, leaning backwards as his back was resting against Nanashima's bed.
That remark only made Nanashima look even more surprised as he stared at Igarashi. "I wasn't…" he started, but from the look Igarashi sent him, he realized there was no point in lying. "The lines are embarrassing," he said, refusing to look at Igarashi at all.
"They're pretty straightforward," Igarashi said in agreement. "I'd say they suit you though."
"Are you saying I'm straightforward?" Nanashima asked.
Igarashi shrugged. "Sometimes," he said. "But Serinuma-san said you were doing well yesterday. What changed?" he asked.
Nanashima thought on that. "Her method isn't working as well today as it did yesterday," he said, honestly.
Igarashi raised an eyebrow. "What kind of method did she tell you to use?" he asked. He figured that Serinuma would seriously think up a method that would work and not something that would only work for one day.
"I had to think of myself as Jull and you as Milo. I can't seem to focus on it today," Nanashima said, turning slightly away. He obviously didn't want to talk more about it, but Igarashi had gotten curious.
"So, what didn't work today?" Igarashi asked as casually as possible.
"Just some stuff," Nanashima replied, raising his manuscript to his face to make sure that no one could see the red in his cheeks.
"Couldn't you think of yourself as Jull, or was it me you couldn't see as Milo?" Igarashi asked, still doing his best to sound casual.
"You're not hiding your curiosity well," Nanashima said, moving the manuscript from his face, though he still wasn't turning around or even looking at Igarashi over his shoulder.
"I can't help it, you peeked it," Igarashi said, smiling.
Nanashima sighed. He still wasn't looking at Igarashi as he gave his response. "I guess it's a little bit of both, but primarily the latter," he said.
"Why is it problematic to say it to me, and why is it a problem to say it as you?" Igarashi asked, trying to get to the bottom of the problem.
Nanashima didn't respond right away. He was trying hard to come up with a response, but he couldn't seem to come up with a good lie, so he had to speak the truth.
"Because it feels weird for someone else to say that kind of stuff to you and just as weird for me to say it to someone else. To say it to you just… makes me feel funny," he said.
Igarashi was close to laughing, but he kept it down. He wasn't one to claim that he knew a lot about romance, but he had felt it, how it was to be in love with someone. He could easily recognize the feelings Nanashima was speaking of because he had felt them himself, and he still felt them whenever he read those lines.
"I bet you Jull feels funny too, when saying those lines to Milo, like he is free, like he is doing the right thing, confessing his love like that. Milo feels the same way when saying those things to Jull. I've come to terms with that and I understand completely how Milo feels." Igarashi said.
This made Nanashima turn his head to look at Igarashi. He raised one eyebrow, staring at the other in slight confusion. It was getting a little complex.
"Start making sense," he said.
"Okay, I'll explain it in a way you can understand," Igarashi said as he snuck a hand behind Nanashima's head, forcing their faces close as he pressed his lips against the other's. Nanashima didn't respond right away, being caught completely off guard by the other's actions.
When Igarashi pulled away, he simply looked at Nanashima's face and smiled as he watched the pieces fall into place. What he had said earlier, was slowly starting to make sense in Nanashima's mind.
"How does that feel?" Igarashi said, as he figured that Nanashima had comprehended everything.
Nanashima seemed to think. "Not so bad," he admitted. "I might actually… say it feels right."
Igarashi smiled. "Exactly what I wanted to hear," he said. "So just act as you."
"And you'll act as Milo," Nanashima determined.
Igarashi smirked. "No way. I'll act as Milo until you return the kiss I just gave you," he said.
Nanashima frowned, but then turned around completely and threw himself at Igarashi, forcing their lips together. However, he had too much force behind his body and Igarashi landed with his back on the floor, with Nanashima resting on top of him. The other didn't mind it though. He just placed a hand on Nanashima's neck, allowing his fingers to mess with the other's blonde hair.
Once Nanashima and Igarashi had finished kissing and gotten back to reading the manuscript, Serinuma opened the door as silently as possible and went to sit with them without saying a single word or making any kind of noise.
Nanashima and Igarashi took turns looking at her, but Serinuma didn't let anything on, aside from that little knowing smile on her lips, that appeared whenever she met the eyes of one of them.
Igarashi and Nanashima didn't need to talk it over to know that Serinuma had probably heard part of their conversation and that this was the reason she was smiling. Luckily for them, she never told anyone about her discovery. She didn't even hint at it. The only thing she did was send them that small knowing smile whenever no one else could see it.
Nanashima and Igarashi didn't tell anyone of what had happened either. They continued to act exactly like they normally would. They pretended to be in love with Serinuma. In reality, it would be safe to say that they were out of that race. However, they had gotten closer to her than the others. The three of them were sharing a secret. The question was how long it would take before that secret got out.
I might write more stories related to this one in the future, but right now, I'm really busy with schools since I'm graduating in June and exams are coming up. Within a short period of time I will also start publishing a crossover between Free! and YOI. It's not that long (less thatn 25 chapters) but I took more than three months writing it.
Anyways, thank you for reading this story and to everyone who read, favorited, followed or left a review for Hotel Room Fantasies.
Jackie
