"Miss Loretta, my friends and I are planning to produce a play for the girl with black hair and red eyes. Could you prepare a room for us to work in? Perhaps one of the living rooms?"

Loretta nodded. "Would the living room on the 3rd floor be alright? It has a plain couch and some bean bags."

"I... don't quite remember that room. How big is it?" Maki asked.

"It's about the size of your bedroom, Miss. Perhaps a little larger."

Maki nodded. "Alright, let's use that room."

"I shall prepare some refreshments." Loretta bowed to Maki and slipped away.

Maki turned to Rin, Hanayo, and Honoka. "Follow me."

Maki led the gang up to the third floor, into a large spacious room filled with space. "Here it is."

Rin and Honoka immediatly dove into the bean bags.

"YAY! BEANBAGGY!" They shouted in unison.

Maki stared at them. What? "Um, guys... let's stay on task."

Honoka sat up. "Okay! What are we doing first?"

"Let's start by acting out our characters. Rin, sit up."

Rin sat up. "Aye, sir!"

"Okay, now, your name is Bob. And you're the manager of the haunted house."

"Yes!"

"And...hm... Actually, let's get Eli and Umi to come here as well. We need to know what the characters will be like before practicing." Maki grabbed her phone and called Eli.

"Yes, Maki?"

"Eli, we're working in a room on the third floor. Where are you?"

"We're in my room."

"Okay, so can we work together? It was a bad idea to separate."

"I agree since I don't want to create characters without your opinion. Where are you?"

"In a room on the third floor. Come up the stairs and I be standing in the hallway."

"Alright."

Eli hung up, and Maki turned to Hanayo. "Hanayo, watch these two for me. I'm going to bring Eli and Umi here."

Hanayo nodded.

Maki exited the room and waited in the hallway for a while.

"Maki!" Eli walked up the stairs and to Maki. "Where is the room?"

"Right here..."

Maki opened the door, only to see bean bags scattered across the room.

Somehow, Rin and Honoka managed to have a full bean bag fight in the mere seconds that Maki was gone.

"KYAA! OH RINNN I'M GONNA KILL YOUU!" Honoka threw multiple pillows at Rin.

Rin ducked and flung a beanbag at Honoka. "Nyaa!"

Hanayo cowered in the corner. "S-sorry Maki..."

Eli, Maki and Umi sighed in unison.

Eli clapped her hand twice. "Excuse me! Honoka! Rin! Clean up this mess so that we can begin!"

Honoka and Rin hung their heads.

"Yes, ma'am."

Eli sat on a sofa cross-legged next to Umi. "Alright so now we have an hour and a half until Nico comes back. I already called Nozomi and she's going to call us when Nico is close to the house. I think that we should establish our characters' personalities first so that Umi and I work on the script."

Maki nodded. "Sounds good."

"So, Maki, what kind of person do you have in mind for Princess Amornia?" Umi asked.

"Hm... perhaps an intelligent young woman who never loses hope during her time being kidnapped. And, maybe she tries to escape?"

Eli started writing notes. "Okay. We'll keep that in mind when we write the script. What about Elise?"

"A brave young man who loves his kingdom. He goes on the journey because he genuinely cares for the well-being of the royal family."

Honoka nodded with an approving expression. "A personality that probably won't exist in real life. Perfect!"

Eli wrote some more notes. "Okay...And the evil prince?"

"A true jerk to the core. He thinks that the princess is pretty and want her to be his concubine. When the king and queen refuses, he kidnaps the princess and...stuff."

Rin raised her hand. "Question! Why does he kidnap her."

"Because he can force her to become his concubine. Oh, and the evil prince is really good at fighting with a sword."

Rin cheered. "YAY! MY CHARACTER CAN FIGHT! Can I fight Eli?"

Eli nodded. "A fight between the protagonist and the antagonist is important. Maki, what do you think about the king and queen?"

"They both love their daughter, of course. The king is desperate and willing to pay any price, while the queen slips into a depression."

Eli wrote down more notes. "Right... now, Honoka!"

Honoka saluted. "Yes?"

"What is um... Bread like?"

Honoka's eyes lit up. "Bread is a legendary competitive eater, he has trained for countless years... He was destined to eat ever since he was you-"

"Okay, Hanayo?" Eli cut Honoka off.

Honoka pouted.

"Um... Rice is very nice. She likes to eat rice. And she has a talent for eating."

"Alright! Now, lastly, Rin?"

Rin started jumping up and down. "Oh! Oh! Bob is cool! He's a cool dude!"

Eli nodded slowly. "Okay." Eli closed her notebook. "Now, Umi and I will write the script with these characters in mind. Maki, I will work on the table. You guys can stay on the beanbags and make a shopping list for the supplies we'll need."

Maki nodded. "What do you think we'll need?"

"Probably...fabric, prop making tools, set making tools, paint, and more. You figure it out."

Eli and Umi sat down at the table and began to discuss urgently.

Maki turned to Honoka. "Where is Kotori?"

"Uh... I think she's in her room?"

"Can you go get her?"

"Sure!" Honoka bounced up and out of the room.

Maki opened up her notebook. "Fabric, props, set... Is there anything else we'll need?"

"Snacks!" Rin exclaimed.

"Uh...do we really need that?" Hanayo asked.

"Of course we do! Food is life! We can't work if we're dead!"

Maki frowned. "While it's true that we humans need food to live, there is plenty of food here. Why would we need to buy more?"

Rin pouted. "Weeell! The food here is boring! We need some potato chips! Spread the trans fat!"

"Rin, there isn't always trans fat in potato chips," Maki said.

"Then we'll buy some pie! Spread the CREAAM!"

"..."

"Makiiiiii-"

"Rin, please don't act like Yazawa Nico. One of her is enough to make me die inside." Maki smiled. "We'll buy the snacks, okay?"

"YAY! THANK YOU MAKI I LOVE YOU!" Rin cheered.

Maki nodded. "Alright, then once Kotori comes up we-"

"She's here!"

Honoka's loud voice made Maki wince, as Honoka burst through the door with Kotori behind her.

"Ah, perfect timing Kotori. We are going to work in this room from now on, so feel free to leave any designs or whatever in here." Maki stood up. "We are going to go shopping for some materials. Is there anything you need at the moment?"

Kotori blinked. "Uh...oh! I need some bobby pins and hair bun makers!"

Maki nodded and wrote in her notepad. "Alright, then we should go."

Maki left Rin to get her snacks, while Hanayo and Honoka followed her through the supermarket. Maki pushed the trolley to the hair accessories section. "Bobby pins...Hair bun makers." Maki grabbed the items and dumped it into the trolley.

"Maki, can we get some bread?" Honoka pleaded.

"No! Maki, can we get some rice?" Hanayo begged.

Maki frowned. "We have both bread and rice at the house. Why would you need more?"

Honoka and Hanayo pouted at the same time. "It's not enough!" they shouted in unison.

Random passersby glanced at Maki, who cringed inwardly.

"Alright, alright. We'll get bread and rice. "

"Yay! We can have a bread party!" Honoka cheered.

"I think you mean rice-not bread, but yay!" Hanayo cheered.

Maki started to push her trolley towards the cashier.

"Maki!" Rin, who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, jogged up Maki's trolley and dumped at least 8 bags of chips into it. "Are we going now?"

"Yes."

Happy late Valentine's day! I apologize for not updating for almost a month. Thank you to all that reviewed!