The Play's The Thing
The Toomi East High School student council, along with their assistant advisor, Riko Hakozaki, and their unofficial playwright, Koyomi Kanou, held a meeting to discuss their next play. A brainstorming session came up with many ideas, but few that a cast of three girls and two boys could perform without doubling up on roles or switching the characters' genders.
"Looks like we don't have any choice but to write a new play again," Doujima said, "assuming, of course, Kanou-san is up for it."
"I actually have an idea," Koyomi said. "It's only preliminary at this point, but I thought you might want to put on another play, so I came prepared."
"We'd be interested in hearing it," Touko said. "You came highly recommended, and your last idea worked quite well."
Yuu turned to Koyomi, and gave her a reassuring smile. Koyomi nodded, then took a deep breath and began to make her pitch.
"All right," Koyomi said. "It's a play that, like 'I Only Know You', deals with the themes of identity and how one may be perceived by others. The main character, whom I'll call A-sensei, is a young but highly respected and skilled teacher at a local high school, XX High. Unbeknownst to everyone else, A-sensei is also in a relationship with B-san, a woman who runs a local cafe that students at XX High frequent, and who is looking after her nephew, C-kun, after his parents died. Meanwhile, C-kun, who's known A-sensei for some time before coming to her class, has a forbidden crush on his teacher, not knowing that she's an entirely different person around B-san. There's also D-sensei, who's known A-sensei for a long time, but the two of them have to keep their relationship professional while on the job at XX High. Principal E, A-sensei and D-sensei's boss, is well-meaning but strict, so they obviously have to be careful about how they present themselves on the job. What do you all think of this concept?"
"That sounds fairly promising so far," Yuu said. "Have you thought of actual names for the characters?"
"Not yet," Koyomi said. "I'm trying to think of names that fit the characters and won't cause them to be mistaken for anyone around here. It won't take me too long if I seriously pursue this idea, though."
Riko furrowed her brow. She had no reason to believe that Koyomi knew about her and Miyako being a couple, but the play still was uncomfortably close to reality.
"Just a question, Kanou-san," Riko said. "Does A-sensei have to be a teacher?"
Koyomi nodded.
"I think it would work best, sensei," Koyomi said. "At almost any job, you have to keep up a certain amount of professionalism and leave your personal life at home, but in the case of a teacher, you also have to consider how you come across to your students. As such, A-sensei is motivated by a sense of responsibility, not just by a desire to keep her job, which helps make her sympathetic. Besides, the play being set in a high school would make it easier for students to relate to what's going on."
Despite her personal misgivings, Riko had to admit that Koyomi had a point. While she and the rest of the student council knew that Koyomi and Yuu were friends, since Koyomi had written (and rewritten) her play partly as a personal favor to Yuu, the two were significantly more formal with each other on student council business, addressing each other with the same formality reserved for acquaintances.
"I see," Sayaka said. "And what about the fact that A-sensei and B-san are both women?"
Doujima briefly looked a bit disappointed, knowing that Sayaka had beaten him to the punch. He couldn't help but notice the possible start of an emerging trend in Koyomi's work, and was outspoken enough that he didn't mind how the question made him come across.
"There are two reasons for that, Saeki-senpai, depending on why you're asking this question," Koyomi said. "If you're asking why A-sensei and B-san are the same gender, it's so that there will be a little extra pressure to keep their relationship secret. As for why they're female, I was hoping Nanami-senpai would play A-sensei, while Koito-san plays B-san."
"So just like 'I Only Know You,' then," Sayaka said, "only this time, Koito-san and I have swapped roles."
"What about the others?" Maki said.
"Let's see..." Koyomi said. "I was thinking that you might be good as Principal E, while Doujima-kun would play C-kun, and Saeki-senpai would play D-sensei."
"In other words, just a friend to the main lead," Sayaka thought. "Maybe I was overthinking things when I thought Kanou-san knew I was in love with Touko, but might she know that Touko likes Koito-san?"
"So, how will the play end?" Touko said.
"I haven't decided yet," Koyomi said. "I do know that eventually, the rest of the cast will find out about A-sensei and B-san being an item, but beyond that, I'm not sure. I'd like to come up with an ending that we're all happy with in advance, so I won't have to rewrite it."
"I see," Riko said. "In that case, Kanou-san, if you believe this idea will make a good play, please work on a preliminary outline and bring it in for us to discuss at your earliest convenience- while keeping up with your studies, of course. If you don't think it'll work, just let us know, and we'll discuss other possibilities. Can you do that?"
"Yes, ma'am," Koyomi said.
Riko nodded in approval, before letting the meeting move on to other subjects. Despite her misgivings about the play, which seemed uncomfortably close to reality for her, she had to admit that it was a potentially worthwhile idea. Just as Touko had approved the rewrite of "I Only Know You" despite her personal feelings and the fact that many of her lines would change, Riko would watch over this new play and support it as long as it seemed viable, come what may.
Leaving school, Touko walked part of the way home with Yuu and Koyomi.
"After discussing the play today, I'm curious about one thing, Kanou-san," Touko said. "How did you come up with the idea for 'I Only Know You?' and how did you make the character so much like me?"
"I asked Yuu about you," Koyomi said, "but she only told me what everyone knew about you. It was just intuition, but I suspected that there were many things she didn't know about you, that knew something about you that most others didn't, or both."
"It's a little bit of both, Koyomi,," Yuu said. "I already knew Nanami-senpai wasn't really the perfect student council president everyone thought she was, but wasn't comfortable telling you. Of course, I wondered if there were things I still didn't know about her."
"What Yuu said made me think," Koyomi said, "about how people tend to operate in three different spheres- among their family, at school or work, and among friends and lovers- and then came up with the idea of a girl who comes off three different ways."
"That makes sense," Touko said. "At the time, I didn't realize it, but the main character could just as easily have been my late sister. I saw her as an ideal role model, while Ichigaya-san, her friend and colleague from the student council, considered her something of a slacker. That's why a part of me was surprised that the main character's brother saw her as cold and distant."
"It's not really that surprising, senpai," Yuu said. "I see Rei-chan's more annoying side at home, but a lot of the people who know her at university probably see her as reliable and upstanding. And, of course, Hiro-kun has a third perspective on her."
While Yuu typically felt free to be herself around others, after getting to know Touko and hearing about Touko's sister, Yuu had to acknowledge how people could perceive others differently based on the contexts in which they knew one another. This realization forced Yuu to question how well she knew most of the people close to her, especially after Touko had been surprised to learn about her sister's less admirable qualities.
"When Koyomi chose to make the main character this time a teacher, was she thinking about Hakozaki-sensei?" Yuu thought. "Or was she thinking any of the other female teachers here, none of whom we know on a personal level? I don't know, and I'm not sure even Koyomi does."
"Anyway," Yuu said, after a pause in the conversation, "do you really think this is a good idea? Hakozaki-sensei and Saeki-senpai seemed a bit uncomfortable about it."
"Hakozaki-sensei approved Kanou-san's idea," Touko said, "and while something is on Sayaka's mind, I'm sure that she'd have told us if she thought the play wasn't worth pursuing. If they'd had any objections, they would have let her know."
"Well, she did only give me permission to explore the idea more," Koyomi said. "I'll work on it some more, and let you know how it goes."
As a writer, Koyomi knew that fiction often had basis in reality, and many writers' personal lives helped influence their writing. Her favorite author had turned out to be an entirely different person than she'd imagined, so she knew that the way others perceived someone were often far removed from the way the person was in reality... if people had a "real" self, that is. Because of those feelings, she believed this story was worth telling, and so strived to write a play that the whole school would enjoy and find meaningful.
After work, Riko returned home to her apartment, where Miyako was waiting.
"I'm home," Riko said.
"Welcome home, Riko," Miyako said. "You seem a little tired; how was work today?"
"Mostly the usual," Riko said, "but the student council's putting on another play. It's about two women- a high school teacher and a coffee shop owner- who are in a secret relationship... you know where I'm going with this, right?"
Miyako shrugged.
"I do," Miyako said, "but I don't know if your playwright does."
"Who knows? Anyway, Miyako, have you told anyone about... us?"
"Only one person. Your vice president came up to me and asked me if you and I were going out. Since she'd asked me directly and referred to you by name, I couldn't deny it. She's kept our secret thus far, so we can trust her."
Riko let out a sigh of displeasure, a less extreme reaction than Miyako had anticipated, but still enough to make Miyako feel guilty for her breach of her lover's trust in her.
"I wish you hadn't," Riko said, "but if Saeki-san already figured it out herself, I suppose you didn't have any choice. It's better to be honest with her than to make a futile attempt at covering it up."
"I'm sorry," Miyako said.
"It's all right. We'll need to be a bit more careful from here on out- I had thought that just saying we were old friends was enough for most people, so I'm not sure how Saeki-san found out."
"Just between us, she seems like the kind of girl who knows that the line between friendship and romance can often blur, especially when one person's desires for the relationship are very different from the other's. It might seem like a lucky guess, but it's also one that only a girl like her could make."
"That's possible. Since I have to keep a certain distance from Saeki-san as a teacher and club advisor, you probably know her much better than I do... which Kanou-san probably had in mind when she came up with this idea."
Miyako nodded. Sayaka had barely attained the status of "regular" at her shop, but few people made such a personal confession to her. In any case, Miyako knew that while Riko saw Sayaka every day, Riko had her professional reputation to think of, while Sayaka would show Riko the politeness and respect that she owed to all her teachers.
"Anyway, Riko, do you know how the play ends?" Miyako said.
"Kanou-san said that while she planned for the couple's relationship to come to light, she hasn't decided what would happen after that yet," Riko said. "To be honest, I don't blame her. I can't imagine what would happen if people found out we were seeing each other... or maybe I don't want to."
"I understand. Still, 'I Only Know You' had a pretty good ending, so I'm sure she'll think of something."
"That wasn't the first draft. Originally, Kanou-san was going to have the main character act the way her lover thought she had. I honestly prefer the revised version."
"Yep, it definitely fits the story better. It presents a hopeful tone, about a girl who can be herself and still be accepted by those closest to her, even if they see her as being something else. I hope she'll make an ending like that this time, too."
Riko nodded. Perhaps she had good reasons to keep her relationship with Miyako secret, and good reason to be concerned with what others would think. Still, a part of her also hoped a day would come when they could confidently say they were a couple, without fearing what people would think, even if she knew something would have to change first- possibly the world, or perhaps her and Miyako. All the same, she knew what sort of ending she wanted for her and Miyako's story, and what sort of ending she'd suggest that Koyomi write for her play.
Author's Notes
Thank you for reading this fic.
It's interesting how well Bloom Into You's play works in the context of the story and characters' arcs. As such, I wondered if eventually, someone would make a play that inadvertently touches on Riko and Miyako's relationship.
