Monday Evening,
Chizuru strod confidently through the streets heading to her acting class for the first time in two weeks. Most of her acting classmates had landed various roles in various productions and that had resulted in no acting classes for the last 10 days . That had coincided with Kazuya's suggestion to take a break and Chizuru had been able to do just that, and now she was back .
She focused her mind on the singular goal of performing to the best of her abilities , as she walked into the building that hosted her classes.
" I've got to do the best I can and get back to landing roles " , she told herself.
She walked into the break room at the back end of the building, smiling and waving at few of her friends . She sat down with them and chatted a bit , holding down the disappointment she felt as they each described the parts they had landed recently. However she smiled through it as if nothing was wrong .
Suddenly their director walked in . He was not the one who taught them but rather the person in charge of productions put on by the acting school . He would come and watch their classes at times and offer his advice as well.
He was pretty well liked and very respected and so everyone jumped up to greet him. Waving them aside , he waved a printed sheet of paper and announced,
"Results of the audition for the End Of Year production. The ones selected , make sure to come and talk to me privately" .
He walked off soon after pinning the sheet to the notice board . As soon as he had left , everyone swarmed around the board and soon a mixture of various expressions of satisfaction and disappointment could be heard.
Chizuru had sat completely still , however as the weight of failure and disappointment welled up inside her again.
" Just what I needed " , she groaned internally
" Another reminder of my failure " .
Slowly as the crowd thinned , she dragged herself unwillingly and glanced at the sheet, only to find , as expected, her name not next to the part she had tried out for .
" I had done a few lines each for some of the other female characters " , she remembered and glanced up and down the list only to be disappointed again.
" At least the understudy ? " , she hoped and found her name absent there as well and instead found the name of the person whom most had expected to be the lead
"Who got the lead role then ? " , she wondered curiously and cast her eyes to the very top of the list.
" Raina Petkoff " .
The name of the female protagonist .
And the name right next to it .
" Ichinose Chizuru " .
Chizuru stared blankly at the sheet blinking repeatedly, making sure that her mind wasn't playing tricks on her.
But it wasn't.
She was playing the female lead .
The biggest smile broke out on her face. That special kind of indescribable joy that only shone after the darkest clouds .
Chizuru's thoughts first went to her beloved grandparents and then towards the hopelessly optimistic young man who had insisted that she would succeed and with sheer willpower had changed her fate .
" Thank you " , she whispered.
A couple of hours of class later, Chizuru sat once again in the break room , beaming from ear to ear , taking animatedly with her friends, discussing their various roles .
That's when a straw-blonde young man tapped her on the shoulder . She smiled and stepped away from her other friends to talk with him.
"Congratulations, Chizuru-chan " , Umi said immediately, with genuine sincerity.
" Thank you so much " , she replied and continued,
"Didn't you get a role as well ? "
" Yeah , I did " ,he confirmed smiling.
"Let's work well together on this " , she asserted .
" Definitely " , he replied.
Despite giving no outward indication , Chizuru was slightly wary of Umi . After he had confessed to her and been rejected , things had been awkward for a while until Umi apologized to her privately and promised to never bring it up again. She had of course forgiven him and held no grudge but was still slightly wary . Especially because she now spent most of her time consumed with the thoughts of a certain someone.
They chatted for a bit more and then Chizuru returned to her friends and their conversation .
A little while later , just as Chizuru was going to leave , one of her colleagues ,Misaki, approached her holding a printed sheet .
Chizuru saw her hesitating for a second before delicately asking her,
" Uh .. , Chizuru-chan , do you want me to reserve a seat for you " .
Chizuru sighed internally with understanding. Whenever the acting school , had a performance they would reserve seats in the front section, friends and family of the cast . Misaki was the one in charge of these things and she was used to hearing Chizuru say no when asked this question.
She was about to reply her usual no , when his face popped in her mind again.
" No , hold on" , she told herself , feeling the heat spread through her face
" This is way too much and too soon . I can't bring him along like a plus one " .
However her heart knew exactly what to remind her of and promptly brought up the memory of his words at the batting cage.
"Well ...he said he'd come and watch my performances right ? And I shouldn't make him pay for a ticket" , she rationalizd , very pleased at the conclusion she had arrived at .
She cleared her throat and replied,
" Yes , thank you . Please reserve one seat for me , Misaki-chan" .
She waited for Misaki to say something but she didn't. After a few moments of silence, she asked,
" Chizuru-chan, you're bringing someone? "
" Yes , I am ", she replied matter-of-factly.
It was only then that Chizuru realized that all her friends were silent as well .
One of them finally asked her,
" Is it someone from your family? "
" No " , Chizuru replied, slightly puzzled .
The confusion lasted for a few seconds. And then her friends exploded ,
" Chizuru-chan is bringing her boyfriend ! "
Chizuru immediately flustered waved her hands around and tried to deny it ,
" N... no . I don't have a boyfriend. He's just.. "
"Oh , so it is a guy? "
" Uh ... I mean .. " .
" Wait it's not an older man is it ? "
"No " , Chizuru shrieked .
"Not at all . He's our age . "
"So he is your boyfriend then ? "
" No . He's my friend . We go to the same Uni. And he's interested in plays . That's all " .
Disappointed, her friends calmed down. Before they could interrogate her further , Chizuru grabbed her handbag and bolted out of the building.
She had just gotten out when a text pinged on her phone. A text from Nakano Umi which read ,
" Just heard that you're bringing someone to the play . Is it safe to assume that your mysterious guest is you-know-who ? "
" The nerve of him ", she thought as she became more and more flustered by the second .
" He knows exactly who it is " .
Before Chizuru could attempt to deny it , a second message popped up from him .
" All the best. This time , I'm rooting for you " .
At the same time,
Kazuya lay on his bed ,scrolling through his phone, trying not to think about the questions in his mind. Questions about her.
He eventually gave up and put his phone away. He pulled out the photo he had of the two of them on the uniform date . He sighed before diving into the questions.
"What's up with Mizuhara ? She's been acting so strange for a while now. Spending way more time with me than she used to do . Talking with me frequently, inviting me to her apartment, having a couple of meals with me outside the rentals.
And yesterday. What on earth was yesterday. I know I didn't treat her well ,but I would never in a million years have thought that she would get so angry because I avoided her . And then she makes casual plans with me to go see a movie together. Why ? "
The thought that had popped up ever so often in his mind, made another appearance. A thought that he knew was more fantasy then anything else .
" Don't be stupid. There's no way she's fallen for you " , he told himself with a pang of sadness.
He thought over things again and realized the point where things had changed,
"It started to change during the time we made the movie but, the significant turning point was"...
His mind brought forth an extremely painful memory.
Mizuhara sobbing, weeping, wailing, into his chest, completely breaking down as she screamed for her precious grandparents who were no longer with her.
" It was that " , he decided as his chest tightened with pain .
" That moment changed things between us . In the end , I can't pretend like that didn't happen. I guess that moment ended up unknowingly bringing us both a bit closer " .
With that in mind, he went through the past few weeks and found them to make perfect sense. He was even able to explain the events of the previous day .
" Nobody likes to be treated like that. It obviously made her mad . I shouldn't be selfish and assume that it's because she has feelings for me . She doesn't. Being treated like that is wrong and would make anyone mad .
As for the movie plan , she probably assumed that I meant a rental. And once we get closer to the day , she'll probably confirm it " .
Satisfied, but not pleased with the results , Kazuya was about to return to his phone when he heard a rather forceful knocking on his door , accompanied by a familiar voice ,
" Hey , are you home ? " , he heard Mizuhara's voice.
" Mizuhara? What's she doing here ? " , he wondered before supposing,
" It's probably to confirm that the movie plan is a rental " .
He walked towards the door and was opened it , bracing for disappointment but was instead greeted with a smile warm enough to neutralize the cold late-November wind .
" H... hey what's up " , he asked after remembering how to talk again.
She was slient for a second, eyes darting between him and her handbag, before she blurted out ,
" I got it " .
" Huh ? Got what ? "
"The role. I got a role " .
Kazuya blinked for a few seconds before her words made sense .
" You got it ? A role ? In a play ? "
She nodded enthusiastically and continued,
" And not just any role. I'm the female lead " .
"What ? " , Kazuya yelled so loud all their neighbours must have heard it .
" You got the lead ? That's amazing! Congrats!" , he exclaimed.
She nodded again, still shining with happiness.
Kazuya hurriedly invited her in and the two were soon sitting at his table .
" I'll admit that it's not a major production " , she told him .
" Actually, it's a year end production that my acting school puts on every year . So it's not a big deal or anything " .
" Are you kidding me ? This is a huge deal " , he insisted.
"You weren't getting picked at all and now you've got the lead . That is huge . And your classmates are the same people you're competing against when you do outside auditons right? "
" Well some of them . Other people do try out " .
" But you're already beating a lot of them " .
Chizuru chuckled a bit, his infectious optimism rubbing off on her as well .
" It is definitely a step forward " , she relented.
"It definitely is " , he asserted.
She then pulled out a small booklet and showed it to him.
" What's that? "
" The script " , she replied before explaining further,
" The play we're doing is called "Arms and the man" and it's written by a 19th century author called George Bernard Shaw . Have you heard of him ? "
" No . Name sounds English though " .
" Irish " , she corrected and continued,
"We're doing it in Japanese . Either way , would you be interested in watching something like that ? "
" Me? Why ? "
She shifted a little in her seat before explaining,
" Remember at the batting cage , you said you'll come and watch my plays . So I... uh .. reserved a ticket for you. If you're free on December 1st , you can...
" Totally free. I'll be there " , he replied without blinking .
" That's great " , she smiled again, enthusiastically and continued,
" I'll send you the ticket and the rest of the details later , okay ? "
Kazuya nodded and then she got up , telling him,
" Well I better get going " .
Inside Chizuru smiled happily to herself. She had never imagined this turn of events. Not only was she going to be in a performance again, but he was going to watch her. Her heart began shooting little love guns inside her as she began to tidy up her apartment , humming to herself.
Ten minutes later she heard a banging on her door . She went to open it and was greeted with a bouquet of flowers seemingly floating in the air .
" Huh ? What's this? " , she asked confused .
Then she refocused and realized that Kazuya was holding the flowers.
" I bought this for you " , he explained .
"That's what you do right ? Give flowers to an actor, when they're going to perform ? "
She looked up and down at him before laughing a bit and telling him ,
"That's after the performance, you idiot " .
She watched as a crestfallen expression formed on his face.
Hurriedly, he began to apologize , embarrassed,
" I'm sorry . I got caught up in the moment " .
Chizuru smiled again before taking the flowers from his hand ,
" That's okay . I'm really excited too. And this is wonderful. Thanks for the flowers " .
He scratched his head in that nervous way of his before making his exit .
Chizuru walked into her bedroom and set the flowers down on the table.
" He's too generous ", she thought to herself happily.
Inside his apartment , Kazuya rolled on the floor for a while overcome with embarrassment, before finally picking himself up.
" I'm so happy for Mizuhara " , he thought to himself.
"She deserves it so much " .
He thought back to the script she had shown him and grinned,
" I know how she gets . That script will look like it met a bulldozer, once she's done with it . She'll spend every waking moment preparing so that she can give her all " .
His mind prompted a question,
" And then what for her? " .
" That's right " , Kazuya realized, sobering slightly
" This time , she won't be able to see Sayuri-san and tell her about her performance. This time it'll only be me . She'll work so hard and at the end ... what ? "
His mind spoke again and he got an answer ,
" Then I'll do it. I'll make sure she gets the reward of a job well done . I'll take it on myself to give it to her . I know it won't come anywhere within a million miles of how she felt when she would tell Sayuri-san about the play , but I'll do what I can , to make her enjoy herself ,just for a bit "
Kazuya glanced at his calendar, focusing on the reminder for a shift at his job .
He sighed out aloud ,
" I just got out from underneath my boss's thumb .
Looks like he's going to own me for quite a while".
The Day Of The Play ,
At The Venue ,
Backstage Chizuru stood , watching the chaos that always preceded a performance. It was always like this. No matter how well planned it was , the preparation always went from disaster to disaster.
Like now , the dress for her first scene was missing , or rather misplaced as several people tried to assure her . Now a mad search was on for it and a hundred other things that had disappeared.
Chizuru walked out of the hustle and bustle, hoping to find a small pocket of calm and ended up walking almost to the stage . She saw the understudies there, engaging in one of their favorite past times , watching the crowd as they came in, specifically looking for the attractive men and women that came in and ranking them .
However since it was quieter there , Chizuru sat on a chair and calmly rehearsed her lines . After some time , she glanced at her watch .
An hour and a half to go .
She then remembered that it was about the time that Kazuya had said that he would come .
Pushed on by curiosity, she joined the understudies and scanned the crowd ,looking for him but she couldn't quite spot him .
Suddenly one of the girls beside her , pointed at someone and exclaimed loudly,
"Look at that guy " .
The others also seemed to zoom in on the person and also began to talk excitedly about him .
Chizuru wasn't interested and continued trying to find Kazuya till a stray few words caught her attention,
" Orange hair " .
Immediately Chizuru turned towards them, moved closer and asked them ,
"Where ? "
"Chizuru-chan ? What ? " , one of them asked , surprised.
"Where's the guy you all are looking at ? "
She smiled and replied,
" Oh , Chizuru-chan also wants to watch ? . Fine then . Look right there " .
Chizuru followed the direction she was pointing at and then her eyes fell on him .
She suddenly felt her throat go very dry as she gaped at him . Her mouth fell open in shock and she could feel her face start to burn .
" W... what is this ? " , a single coherent thought emerged from the mush her mind had turned to .
She had expected Kazuya to turn up , wearing the casual coat she knew he possessed, on top of a plain tshirt and his usual pair of jeans . As far as she knew , that was the extent of his formal wear.
She had not expected this .
He was wearing a nice new pair of dark jeans, a formal grey shirt that was tucked in and a new dark semi-formal jacket . His hair was slicked back and combed neatly . He had on a nice pair of brown loafers as well.
He was nearly unrecognizable.
Everything fit him perfectly well . He didn't look too thin or too tall.
He looked stunning .
Chizuru ogled at him speechless .
She watched as he walked down the aisle, looking for his seat . He stopped for a second to help an older woman into her seat, an action that was noted immediately by everyone there.
" Berry-chan' s so kind as well " , one of the girls remarked.
Chizuru immediately turned a few more shades of red as she glared at the girl ,in shock and irritation, thinking to herself,
" Berry-chan ? Who gave you permission to give him a nickname ?
But her heart demanded him again and so she turned away from them , ignoring the comments they were making about him, and refocused on him .
He had made his way to his seat by then .
Just before he sat down, he suddenly took of his jacket and draped it over his armrest.
" What's he doing now " , she wondered.
She soon got his answer . He unbuttoned the sleeves of his shirt and nearly folded them till just below his elbows .
Whatever sanity had remained in Chizuru was driven out now. She stared at him , unable to take her eyes off of him, as he sat down and pulled out his phone.
Her mind was now spewing out strings of words rather than sentences ,
" When did he ... How is he... so fashionable...so ,so h...h... handsome ... "
A few minutes of shock later , one of the production assistants found her and pulled her back to the dressing room, telling her that the dress was found.
Kazuya sat in his seat distracting himself with his phone , trying to ignore his itchy collar .
" That's what you get for springing for the cheapest, decent looking, formal shirt you could find " , he told himself.
He glanced down at his attire. He had been nervous about what to wear for a while now. Last time he had come to a play, there was no problem. But this time he knew he was here as a representative of Mizuhara. So he had desperately researched and searched for the right thing to wear . He was pretty satisfied with the end result. He had bought his clothes and Kibe had supplied the loafers .
He had even watched a video about fashion tips for attending a play and he had got the idea of rolling up his sleeves from there.
" Hopefully, I don't look like an idiot " , he told himself.
Soon the seats beside him began to fill and he chatted with a few of them. Everyone in that section was there on invitation from the cast .
Before he knew it, it was nearly time for the play to begin.
Kazuya opened the program and began to read. He ignored the history of the play and only glanced at the list of the cast, noting only the names Ichinose Chizuru and Nakano Umi at the top .
He then went on to the short synopsis of the play .
" While the play Arms and the Man , reads like a romantic comedy, it holds much deeper meaning , criticizing and ridiculing practices of society that were accepted in the 19th century. Class distinctions , war and the romanticization of love are all mocked in a humorous, satirical way " .
"Romanticization of love ? Isn't that a good thing? Being romantic when you're in love? " , Kazuya wondered before his eyes were directed to a note at the bottom of the program .
" Romanticization of love : To deal with love or describe it in an idealized or unrealistic fashion; make it seem better or more appealing than it really is,".
Kazuya sighed with understanding and thought to himself,
" To be honest, I think all of us are guilty of that last one . I guess it's difficult to not see a relationship with someone you have feelings for , in an unbiased way and to imagine it to be better than it actually is " .
Kazuya continued reading the synopsis,
" The play is set in Bulgaria , during the war of 1885 and revolves around the Petkoff family and specifically the heroine of the play , Raina Petkoff. Other characters include Raina's fiance and the servants of the Petkoff household .
Watch as a beautiful play , with significance even in the 21st century, comes to life " .
Soon the commencement of the play was announced and Kazuya, bubbling with nervous anticipation, sat up straight and watched the curtain carefully.
The curtain rose and Kazuya felt the breath leave his chest as the only one on one stage was Ichinose Chizuru, or for now, Raina Petkoff.
The play began and the narrator described an intricately decorated bedroom but Kazuya's attention was on Raina as she gazed out to the starry night , lost in a beautiful reverie.
Her mother came bursting in and informed Raina that the Serbo-Bulgarian war had been won by their country and that Raina's fiance, Sergeant Sergius Saranoff, was the hero who won the battle and that her father , who was a major , was safe as well .
Both women then burst into a conversation lauding the efforts of the army , praising the supposed nobility and righteousness of war , and overcome with pride over Sergius .
Raina especially gave a stunning monologue about her love of Sergius , comparing it to the words of great poets .
Later that night , an enemy soldier snuck into Raina's bedroom . He soon revealed himself to be Swiss and not a Serbian and insisted that he meant no harm to her or any Bulgarian. His cynical and realistic view of the horror of war shocks Raina . They exchange a hilarious repartee, one which has a deep impact on Raina . She eventually hides him from Bulgarian soldiers, feeds him chocolates and lets him sleep in her bed. As he drifts off to sleep , Raina nicknames him " My chocolate cream soldier " .
At that moment there is a curious warmth on her face that hadn't been seen before, even when talking about her beloved fiancé.
A few days later, Raina and her mother would send the Swiss , named Bluntschli, on his way .
During the next act , Raina's fiance, her father and Bluntschli (who has defected to the Bulgarian army ) reappear at her house , resulting in hilarious situations.
Raina exchanges an ornamentaly dressed conversation with Sergius(played by Umi) about the purity and nobility of their love but Bluntschli (who is at their house , with the excuse of having some work with the Major ) sees through her and ridicules the act she puts on around Sergius, questioning if she really loves him or pretends like it because it's what is expected of her .
She retorts insisting that he is only a chocolate cream soldier.
The sparks of attraction between Bluntschli and Raina start to become more obvious and the changes in Raina are more visible as the play progresses
Sergius himself starts to be attracted to the Petkoff's servant , Louka ,who is quite beautiful herself.
In a hilarious last act , pretences are broken, Sergius admits his feelings for Louka and promises to marry her despite the shackles of class differences
Raina is left red faced and confused waiting for a certain Swiss to speak up but he doesn't and when he is asked by her mother , he insists that he, a 34 year old man should not ask such a thing from a 17 year old girl .
Indignantly, Raina tells Bluntschli that she's not a 17 year old girl , rather a 23 year old woman .
Now Bluntschli is the confused one but soon recovers and asks for Raina's hand in marriage, revealing that he is the owner of a hotel chain in Switzerland and is quite wealthy.
Raina haughtily tells him that she prefers her chocolate cream soldier , sparking one last roar of laughter from the crowd .
As the curtain fell , the entire crowd stood up in thunderous applause . The Play had been a huge success. There had been moment after moment of hilarious comedy but the message of the play had not been lost as well. Everyone had enjoyed it wholeheartedly.
Kazuya's mind was filled with the thoughts of just one person however.
"She was stunning " , he thought to himself.
" She didn't just play the role . Today she was the character. And she was as perfect as possible ".
Special Note : Arms and the Man :-
Arms and the man is a real play and everything I've mentioned about it are accurate.
When I was searching for a play to bring into my story , I rejected several more famous ones before choosing this one. And my reasons for doing so are the similarities with Kanokari.
Like Chizuru , Raina lives her life in a certain way, as is expected of her , hiding her true personality. Like Chizuru , she knows how to put on the act of love . Like Chizuru her life and notions of love are completely turned around by someone she didn't choose to be a part of her life but someone she ended up going against everyone and everything for.
I've tried to keep the description of the play to a minimum and so the plot of the play and the characters may come off a little confusing. Apologies.
A/N :
Earlier release than usual for Chapter 14 . Apologies for the inconvenience.
I've decided to release two chapters this week as well . Chapter 15 will be released tomorrow .
Unfortunately, I have bad news as well . I will be extremely busy for the next two weeks and will be unable to write or publish a new chapter.
So Chapter 16 will be out only after 3 weeks .
My sincerest apologies and I hope you continue to enjoy and support my story .
Next Time : The night continues and Kazuya is left astonished with a realization he never saw coming.