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Nene was anxiously pacing in her dressing room waiting for the time of the performance to begin. She kept eyeing the clock on her phone. Each minute was moving so slowly it seemed. Suddenly, she heard a knock on her dressing room door.
“Who is it?” She asked.
All of a sudden, someone barged into the room, which startled her a bit. As soon as the person entered the room, they began excitedly rambling.
“NENE-CHAN! NENE-CHAN! Are you ready for the show?! I'm so so excited! We're gonna blow the audience away!”
That’s when Nene knew it was Emu, her shorter pink-haired friend who was a part of her theater troupe. She sighed with relief once she made that realization.
“Emu, don’t just barge in…” Her tone was slightly harsh due to her nervousness.
“But I knocked!” Emu pouted playfully.
“Are you nervous, Nene-chan?” She tilted her head, noticing her anxious body language.
“Um… Kinda… I’ve never had a lead role before. I practiced the part so much. I just hope I don’t disappoint anyone…” She gently rubbed her knuckles together as she anxiously rambled.
Emu noticed Nene fidgeting with her hands anxiously, so she carefully held both of her hands as she spoke.
“I know you’ll do amazing, Nene-chan! You practiced super duper hard for this show! You’re gonna make the crowd go wild!” She smiled reassuringly.
“Emu…” Her cheeks went pink as Emu held her hands. She was too nervous to make eye contact, but she couldn't help softly smiling at Emu’s words.
“Thank you… I'll try my best. You’ll do good out there too.”
“Awwww! Thank you! We're gonna kill it out there, alright? So don’t worry about a thing! Just let yourself get into character and let each of your lines come out on stage!”
Emu continued to give Nene a pep talk and before the two knew it, it was time for them to start the show. Emu took Nene’s hand and the two rushed out of the dressing room and headed towards one of the wings of the stage.
“You’ll do so so good out there, Nene-chan! I believe in you!” Emu whispered, to which Nene simply nodded in response.
-
It’s showtime.
Nene entered the stage and opened the show with her starting lines. So far, everything was going smoothly. The crowd seemed to be enjoying the show too. Next thing she knew, she got through the first scene without any mishaps.
The play continued to go by smoothly up until the final scene. Emu and Nene were both part of the last scene, which was also going smoothly, until…
Nene had another cue to speak, which followed one of Emu’s lines. Unfortunately, Nene just couldn't think of the line she was supposed to say. Nothing she tried to do to remember it was working, and the character she was playing was starting to get overpowered by her own anxiety. All she could hear was the sound of her own heartbeat getting faster and more intense.
“I can’t remember my next line! What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?!” She thought, trying everything she could to somehow stay in character throughout this internal struggle.
Emu could tell something was wrong the moment Nene froze up. She had to think fast to save the show. With that, she began to improv in a way that would hopefully give Nene a hint as to what her next line was. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. Nene was still frozen from her own anxiety.
Emu huffed in defeat, but still stayed in character, trying to quickly think of a way to end off the show that Nene could easily follow along with. She tried one last time to improv in a way that would allow the scene to end. The other people who were part of the scene did their best to go along with Emu’s improv, and the scene was able to end.
With the end of the final scene came the end of the show. The group did their bows, and immediately after it was over, everybody left the stage and Nene ran back to her dressing room in tears. Emu frowned as she watched Nene dash offstage. Just as she was about to run after her, however, she was stopped by her family, who was still in the audience and wanted to see her. Emu sighed and obliged.
-
The first thing Nene focused on when she entered her dressing room was changing out of her costume and back into her casual clothes. Then, she took a moment to look at herself in the mirror in disbelief. The eye makeup she had on for her character was now running down her face.
Nene just ruined the show.
She knew she ruined the show by freezing up at the very end. How were her parents gonna react to this? How were her troupe mates gonna treat her from here on out? Were the directors even gonna allow her to stay in the troupe? She was about to figure out the answer to one of those questions. Soon, Nene could hear muffled voices coming from outside her dressing room, which seemed to be a few of her troupe mates talking about how the show went.
“Did you hear Kusanagi-san fumble at the end?”
“Duh! Who didn’t? She ruined the most important part of the show!”
“I knew she shouldn’t have been casted as the lead. There’s no way someone as shy as her could ever have the leading role in a production…”
“Exactly! I don’t know what the directors were thinking when they casted Kusanagi-san as the lead… She couldn't even keep eye contact while introducing herself when she first joined the troupe! What made anyone think she could be the lead and not ruin the show? They set us up for failure by casting her as the lead!”
Nene’s eyes widened in shock as she overheard everything from outside her dressing room.
“She ruined the most important part of the show!”
As every word Nene heard continued to echo in her head, she knew she had to get out of there. The show was over anyway, and she knew that after ruining the show, no one in the troupe would be able to see her face without feeling disappointment, rage, and/or betrayal. Hell, she didn’t even know how her parents would react. They were average parents, and they certainly weren’t the type to get upset at Nene for a mishap like this, but her own anxiety was telling her otherwise.
Without thinking and with tears still streaming down her face, she quickly left her dressing room and left the building as quickly as she could through an uncommonly used exit.
The troupe mates who were talking near Nene's dressing room saw this. Instead of stopping her, they chose to ignore her, continuing on with their conversation.
-
“Nene-chan! Where did you go?!”
Emu quickly began searching for Nene as soon as her family left her to get ready to go home. She looked everywhere and asked everyone she could, though nobody claimed to have seen her, nor did they seem to want to see her. This didn’t make Emu give up, though. In fact, quite the opposite was the case. She knew she needed to find Nene. She couldn't even begin to imagine how Nene felt at the moment, but she knew that she needed somebody to support her.
Emu searched in Nene’s dressing room, only to see that she wasn’t in there, yet her bag was still there. Emu went ahead and took it, just in case she found Nene and was able to return it to her. She left the dressing room quickly after that and began looking in every other room of the building. Nene was still nowhere in sight.
Finally, Emu reached the last resort and decided to look outside, even though she could hear the rain pouring from inside the building. This didn’t stop her though, and lucky for her, she had an umbrella! She had checked the weather earlier in the day, so she expected the rain. With that, she quickly pushed the door open and opened her umbrella as she quickly stepped outside.
“Nene-chan!!! Are you out here? It’s me, Emu! Please come talk to me!”
-
Nene ended up leaving her belongings behind in her dressing room, since those were the least of her concerns at that moment. She sat against the back of the building and buried her face in her knees, letting herself accept defeat as tears continued to pour from her eyes. Much to her luck, the clouds in the sky were pouring rain in the same fashion that her eyes were pouring tears. Great. This was definitely going to get her sick; however, she felt so ashamed of herself that she didn’t care about that. In fact, she felt that she deserved to get sick after how brutally she ruined the show. At the same time, she felt so panicked. This was a different level of anxiety that she has rarely ever felt before.
“I don’t know what the directors were thinking when they casted Kusanagi-san as the lead… She couldn't even keep eye contact introducing herself when she first joined the troupe!”
She just shunned herself in front of her entire theater troupe, the people in charge of the troupe, her parents, and the members of the community who came to see the show that everyone worked so hard on.
“What made anyone think she could be the lead and not ruin the show?”
Nene’s sobs became breathless as her thoughts continued to spiral.
“They set us up for failure by casting her as the lead!”
How was she possibly going to redeem herself from such a fatal mistake?
“She let everyone down tonight. There’s no way she’ll be allowed in the troupe anymore after th—”
Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of a nearby door quickly opening, followed by a familiar voice.
“Nene-chan!!! Are you out here? It’s me, Emu! Please come talk to me!”
Nene could hear Emu call out to her. As badly as she wanted to respond and let her know she was here, the lump in her throat felt as though it was choking her. She was unable to utter any words. All she could do was keep sobbing desperately.
Emu began to hear the sobs of a girl nearby. Oh no… That can’t be Nene, right? She’s never seen her cry before! There was no time to think about that, though. Emu just wanted to help her.
She quickly followed the direction of the sobs and before she knew it, she was standing directly in front of Nene, who was bawling alone in the pouring rain. All she could do at first was gasp at the sight.
“Nene-chan… You’re gonna get sick out here!” She softly whispered as she lowered herself down to Nene’s level, sitting next to her and holding the umbrella up so both of them were shielded from the rain.
Nene was wordless for a moment as she stared at Emu in disbelief. Emu was the one that tried to save the show after Nene’s mishap on stage, and she still wants to talk to her? She was in shock. She truly couldn't believe that there was still somebody within the troupe who was willing to talk to her like this, even if there wasn’t currently much being said.
“E-Emu…!”
All she could do was mutter out Emu’s name before choking through her own sobs. She covered her scrunched up face with her hands since that was all she felt like she could get herself to do.
Emu moved to sit closer to Nene and gently embraced her with the arm that wasn’t holding up her umbrella.
“You’re not alone, Nene-chan… I could never leave you alone! You did so amazing out there before your mistake, you know? And even after, you stayed in character as best as you could! You’re super duper strong for that, Nene-chan! And I wish you knew that! You’re so so talented!” Emu reassured her as best as she could, making an effort to say every possible thought that was on her mind. She really meant every word she said.
All Nene could get herself to do in response is embrace Emu tightly and sob some more into her shoulder. All she needed or wanted right now was a hug. She needed a hug so badly, and it felt so good to have somebody to hug, especially Emu. In fact, she couldn't think of anybody else that she would rather be hugging. Not even a particular someone who she had grown up with, who she now hadn’t heard from in about two years.
Though she was hesitant to do this, Emu spoke up.
“If there’s anything you wanna talk about, I'm all ears! If not, that’s okay too! I'll stay right by your side!”
“B-By my side…?” Nene echoed back. Just hugging Emu seemed to be calming her down enough for her to be able to properly speak again. “Even after… I ruined the show…?”
“Nene-chan… You didn’t ruin the show at all!” Emu frowned.
“B-But… I did…! Some of the others said so…” Nene replied as she wiped her eyes.
“They don’t know anything! Who cares what they have to say about this? You did super duper amazing out there! In fact, you know what you need?”
Emu rummaged through Nene’s bag, to which Nene tilted her head in confusion. Soon enough, Emu found a container of grapefruit slices. She got it out and held the container towards Nene.
“Want some?”
Nene’s eyes lit up as she saw the container of grapefruit in Emu’s hands.
“G-Grapefruit…?” Tears formed in her eyes again.
“I forgot I packed that…! Th-Thank you…” She took the container from Emu with much gratitude and through more tears.
“Nene-chan…” Emu wiped the tears away from Nene’s eyes with her free hand.
“Eat as much of the grapefruit as you can. I know how much you love love love it! Maybe it'll make you feel a little better!”
Nene nodded and slowly started to eat one of the grapefruit slices. She physically relaxed slightly just after her first bite. Grapefruit was a massive comfort food of hers, despite the peculiar bitterness. In fact, that’s exactly what she loved about grapefruit.
She eventually finished off her grapefruit slices and wiped away her tears one last time before speaking up.
“Thanks for helping me even after what I did, Emu. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” She frowned.
“Don’t thank me, Nene-chan! You’re a dear friend to me, so if you have a problem, then I have a problem too! And what’s that problem, you may ask? That you’re feeling down! I always wanna help you feel happy! I love seeing you smile! In fact, your smile suits you so much! You’re always pretty, but your smile is so beautiful!” Emu rambled, admittedly more than she should've.
As if it was a reflex, Emu’s words brought a slight smile to Nene’s face. It was as though Emu was magic. She was always good at making Nene smile, even if right now, it felt impossible for her to feel even slightly happy.
“Are you ready to go home, Nene-chan? Your parents must be worried sick!” Emu spoke up after a moment of admiring Nene’s beautiful smile.
“My parents… You don’t think they’ll be… upset at me over this, do you?” Her frown returned.
“Your parents are supposed to love you no matter what! Of course they won’t be mad! They should be super duper proud of the work you did on that stage! You conquered your fears! What’s there not to be proud of?” Emu accidentally rambled her way into another pep talk, to which Nene’s smile returned.
“I guess you’re right. Let’s go find them…”
Emu stood up, then held her hand out for Nene to grab so she could get up as well. Now that the two were both standing, Emu kept holding Nene’s hand as she led her back inside, where both their families were waiting. Emu was careful to keep Nene away from anywhere that any further conflict would begin. Soon enough, the two went their separate ways to their families and Nene thanked Emu for all her help one last time.
Of course, Nene’s parents expressed their worry with how long Nene was taking to get back to them, but they seemed to ignore the mistake she made at the end of the show and instead expressed how proud they both were of her for blowing them away with her first ever lead role. Nene sighed with relief. She knew she messed up horribly at the end, but her parents didn’t seem to notice, which made her glad. At least they couldn’t be disappointed in her performance. All of a sudden, Emu came running towards the Kusanagis.
“Nene-chan! Nene-chan! Guess what? My family said we could have a sleepover! Let’s do it!” It was then that Emu noticed Nene’s parents were present. They had never met Emu, nor had she ever met them.
“Oh! Hi Nene-chan’s parents! I'm Ootori Emu! Nene-chan’s a dear friend of mine! Can I sleep over tonight? Pretty pretty please?”
Nene’s parents exchanged a confused look at one another, while Nene shared an equally confused look towards Emu.
“A sleepover…?” Nene echoed back to Emu in confusion.
“I don’t see why not. I'm glad you’re getting yourself out there more, Nene. Rui couldn’t be the only person for you to rely on!” Nene’s mom remarked, to which Nene’s dad nodded in agreement.
“Rui? Who’s that?” Emu asked.
Rui… Although Emu asked an innocent question and Nene’s mom made an innocent remark, Nene froze for a moment. She hadn’t thought of Rui in quite a while. In fact, the thought of him hurt her nowadays, especially since he began ghosting her and left her life without a word. Nene blinked her way back into reality once she noticed Emu waving a hand in front of her face.
“Oh! Um… just an old friend… Anyway, it looks like you can stay the night, Emu. There’s not much to do, though. All I do at home is play video games by myself…” Nene said to Emu with a weak smile on her face.
“That’s totally fine! I'm sure we'll find a bunch of ways to make tonight extra fun! This is a reward for all your hard work tonight, Nene-chan!” Emu smiled brightly.
Nene exchanged a soft smile with Emu before the two followed Nene’s parents out of the building and headed back to Nene’s house.
Instead of spending the rest of the night drowning out reality through video games and more tears as Nene intended to, she spent it talking with Emu. They unintentionally stayed up late into the night sharing everything on their minds.
Tonight, Emu taught Nene that it’s okay to make mistakes.