Chapter 2: Gekidan Shiki, Naruse Shisuto
Gekidan would love for there to be some group work during the play. Maybe a brief dance number. She had received permission from Takaradzuka (the writer) and Najimi (the glorious leader of 2-1 who will bring the class to the top), so now all she had to do was write the music, play the instrument, create the dance, and lead the choreography.
Easy.
The hard thing was Naruse.
He did a squat and moved his hands as if he was trying badly to signal to a faraway ship using flags. "That was the Naruse Special." He moved his legs as if he was trying to stomp an invisible, rapidly-moving cockroach. "That was Naruse Supreme." He stood straight and stiff like a flagpole, before brazenly moving his blue hair back with his slender fingers. "Naruse Finish!"
Gekidan clapped. "Wait. Can you do the Naruse Finish from lying down?"
Naruse did it.
"Dang, that's some incredible strength. Alright, we'll use it."
"What about the Naruse Special? And the Naruse Zenith?"
"We'll throw those to the side."
Few hours later, the dance was finished and Gekidan wanted to show it to the rest of the class. Someone from the school council was there to make sure everything's alright, as a certain renowned cheater from last year's Cultural Festival was now in this class.
On the stage was Naruse, dressed as a tree so that you could only see his face, with Gekidan and someone else dressed in green body suit, with large circular foliage on their backs. Two stagehands were there to act as stand-ins for the main roles.
As the music recording started, Gekidan and her partner started dancing. It was a harmony of green. The two started on the far ends of the stage, and they approached the middle in a wavelike motion, their hands moving so smoothly that it looked exactly like a living shrubbery.
In the middle, Naruse was a collapsed tree. He couldn't really move his face or his hands, so all he did was wait. Exactly as Gekidan predicted, if you stop Naruse from moving any part of his body he's a perfectly likeable actor.
In the climax of the dance, the two dancers stood on both sides of Tree Naruse and as they turned around and sat down, becoming a perfectly spherical bush, Naruse moved up, carrying all that tree costume weight with the sheer strength of his Naruse Finish, and stood up, giving his best smile. The two stagehands then moved in front of the tree. One of them said his line: "Welcome to the Magic Forest!"
There was a sound of clapping. First from Tadano and Komi, then to the rest of the class. Three people were clapping particularly loudly.
"Rejected," the school council person said.
"What! Why?" Gekidan asked.
"Have I been too beautiful? Maybe I should reduce it? Make a slightly worse smile? Impossible."
"Too phallic," the school council person said. "A straight tree going up with two spheres around it? The President would eat you alive."
"That's the best part!" One of the 2-1 students said.
"No is a no." As if trying to avoid the sullen mood, the school council person left the room.
Gekidan felt a tree costume was brushing against her costume. She turned around and saw Naruse. "Sorry it didn't work out, Naruse."
"A master makes a thousand masterpieces, but only after a million mistakes," Naruse said. "What's done is done. I don't feel bad at all. Thank you for your hard work, Gekidan. I'm sorry I couldn't do better."
"Yeah, you couldn't do better."
[break]
"You know, I'm still very surprised Naruse accepted that rejection that easily," Tadano said.
"Ase was there," Komi said.
"Ah, of course!" Tadano said. "I guess for Naruse her approval is enough."
"She really is special for her," Tadano said.
Komi wrote down 'your approval means a lot to me too' on her notebook, but for some reason she couldn't show it to Tadano. There was a bit of silence. Komi looked at Tadano and realised for the nth time that he didn't look bored at all. "Tadano is really patient."
"Hmm? I think it's just normal. I'm not like Otori."
Komi's ears perked up. "I remembered something."
"Oh?"
"It's something Kato said to me..."