Act 3
Delusion
The day of the debut show was coming up in less than one month. The Autumn Troupe started rehearsals in early mornings, just as did Spring and Summer Troupes before them. It was agreed to gather at 6:00, and the next morning Juza woke up at 5:50. Settsu was still asleep with his blanket pulled over his head. Juza quietly called him to the rehearsal, but Settsu's muffled and sleepy voice answered that he would wake up when he felt like. There was not much Juza could do about this. Casting a thoughtful glance at the blanket cocoon with Settsu, he headed to the rehearsal alone.
After the rehearsal, the Autumn Troupe except Banri came for a well-deserved breakfast. Omi was serving a delicious Spanish omelette he had made for them when Banri walked into the dining room, yawning. Everyone looked in his direction, and director Izumi asked why he didn't come to the morning rehearsal. Banri just told the truth – it felt so nice and cozy in bed he didn't want to get up. Why wake up so early if he could perform way better than anyone in the Troupe without as much practice? No, he wasn't going to change his sleeping habits.
Juza looked at Banri askance. He was annoyed with Settsu's cheeky behaviour, his dismissive remarks about the troupe, his overconfidence and bragging about himself despite not coming to the rehearsal. Finally, Settsu asking Omi to serve him an omelette and coffee was just too much. Juza got up off his chair and slammed his hand on the table: Settsu was acting like a spoilt brat, and Omi was no servant! Juza was about to chastise Banri when Sakyo told him to leave it – there was no point in teaching Settsu good manners before he figured everything out himself.
The next rehearsal of the Autumn Troupe was with its full complement. Banri's acting was good indeed, but something didn't feel right. Something subtle yet very important was missing, and director Izumi couldn't pinpoint what it was. She tried to tell this to Banri, but he was totally absorbed in watching Juza rehearse under Sakyo's supervision.
A few days later, the troupe received costumes for the show. Yuki Rurikawa from Summer Troupe was both an actor and Mankai's costume designer. Donning the costumes, Juza, Banri and the rest of the troupe stood before director Izumi. Everyone looked great, especially Juza and Banri – they were so dapper and cool in their gangster suits and hats!
- Neo gangster and standard gangster, stand next to each other, - Yuki pushed Banri closer to Juza: he wanted to make sure that the main characters looked balanced.
And they did look balanced together! Both Juza and Banri were handsome and attractive, but in a different way: Juza was a strait-laced and manly type of delinquent while Banri was a sassy and glamorous rogue. Unintentionally, Banri and Juza made eye contact and hastened to look away: each of them thought that the other was very good-looking, but no way in hell they were going to admit it.
The rehearsal continued well into the evening when an unknown middle-aged man barged into the practice room and cheerfully called Sakyo a little brat. Sakyo had known him since childhood - it was Yuzo Kashima, formerly an actor of Mankai Company's first Spring Troupe, and currently a director and acting coach at another theatre. And although Sakyo wasn't particularly happy to see Yuzo, he knew there was no way around listening to him if they wanted their show to be a success.
After watching the Autumn Troupe's rehearsal from the start to finish, Yuzo frowned with dissatisfaction: he had a lot to criticize, but the main issue was that Banri and Juza didn't put the slightest bit of themselves into their characters. They just didn't put their own feelings and emotions into the play, and that was why it felt so shallow and bland. Juza, Banri and the rest of the troupe had to put more of their own personalities into their performance, and Yuzo knew a good exercise: each of them doing a portrait, a one-man show based on his own life. The portrait had to be five minutes long, and the topic was their life's biggest regret – Yuzo knew it was bound to be dramatic. Each of them had to write the script and direct it themselves, and once they were ready, they would perform their portraits as the opening act at Yuzo's theatre. After that, the audience would rank them through a poll.
Yuzo grinned, slyly looking at Juza and Banri – he had noticed there was some kind of tension between them, and this tension had to be turned to the show's benefit. Other than that, Juza and Banri had quite a potential that still had to be unlocked.
- I'll show you how much better I am than you, Hyodo, - Banri taunted, looking sideways at Juza.
- I'm not gonna lose, - turning to face Banri, Juza looked into those mocking blue eyes. He accepted the challenge without hesitation.
The next few days, Juza spent writing the script. He knew what he wanted to tell from the stage: his endeavour to change himself through theatre. However, writing a good script that would engage an audience wasn't so easy. The result still wasn't as good as he would like it to be, and Juza was brooding over this when Sakyo gave him some good advice: to write down everything he wanted and then remove unimportant parts. And it worked out - the next morning Juza had the script ready.
Meanwhile, Banri was spending most of his free time playing mobile games. He was 100% confident of his victory, because he was good at writing essays, as well as just about everything he did. And although he had no clue what his life's biggest regret was, it wasn't a problem: a sad love story was definitely going to have a sentimental appeal. Figuring so, Banri quickly typed out on his smartphone a made-up story of his love for a made-up sick girl.
A few days later, he performed it in front of director Izumi and Yuzo. When he finished, he had no doubt that his portrait was the best, or at least better than Hyodo's. But as soon as he left the auditorium to call everyone back, director Izumi sighed: Banri's portrait felt the most unsubstantial, although his acting technique was pretty good.
In a couple of minutes, the Autumn Troupe lined up on the stage before Yuzo and director Izumi to hear their preliminary ranking. Banri smiled complacently in anticipation to hear his name first when Yuzo suddenly announced that Juza was at the top. Stupefied, Banri looked over at Juza while Yuzo went on saying that close runners-up were Sakyo and Omi, with Taichi being in the fourth place.
It was unthinkable. Hyodo took the first place while he, Banri, who had always been the best at everything, was ranked the last! What the hell was that? This old man Yuzo must have been joking. It just couldn't be true that he lost to this hammy daikon!
Yuzo scoffed, looking at Banri with a mocking smile. He wasn't joking at all. Banri's conceited attitude had predictably failed him, but still… his obsession with Juza was the only thing that could compel him to take acting seriously.
Meanwhile, Juza was standing expressionless. He didn't think he could win the first place. It was great, of course, but for some reason he didn't feel gratified now when Settsu was so frustrated. He didn't intend to trounce Settsu; things just turned out the way they did.
Banri stared at Juza resentfully before director Izumi and Yuzo asked him if he actually made the whole thing up. This caught Banri off guard. How could they tell if the content and composition of his story was so neat and logical? How could it be the most unsubstantial?.. Banri was starting to lose his temper. How the hell could they know about his life?! Weren't they taking too much credit on themselves? They just sucked at judging!
Utterly annoyed, Banri turned and walked out of the auditorium as everyone stared at him with either concern or disapproval. Strangely enough, Juza wasn't disapproving or angry. Deep down, he was unsettled. Settsu had been causing trouble for him from the start, and now he was in trouble himself, but this wasn't something Juza could be happy about.
Returning to the dorm, Banri couldn't stop thinking about what had just happened. His failure was so humiliating: not only did he lose to Hyodo, he was behind everybody, even Taichi! That really sucked!
And what was waiting for him next? The next day he had to show his portrait in front of a real audience. He was confident in his acting, but what if it wasn't enough? What if Hyodo could really defeat him, like Yuzo said? Banri was starting to feel nervous. Could it be that Hyodo had hidden potential he didn't have himself? That could really be the case… And he would lose to him for real… And maybe he would also lose to everyone again… That would be so embarrassing!.. No, he couldn't let that happen! There was only one way to avoid this – to leave Mankai Company and forget it all like a bad dream.