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Acting as a villain
It’s certainly easier said that done
Especially when you have never played role like that
And.. this was tragically Nene’s destiny, simply out of nowhere Rui decided to stop playing the villains himself, and to give the role to nene
”Playing characters you have never done is a way to improve”
Yeah right
Nene’s hands flipped through the entirety of the script, occasionally eyeing the contents of it
But a line caught her attention
She had to kill the partner of the heroine
Seriously, what’s with Rui making scripts about death lately?
Nene had to pick up a knife and stab the partner in the guts
Sounds simple enough
The problem is that Tsukasa had to play that role
Nene’s hands shook slightly, she wasn’t supposed to be this… concerned about a quick scene, it was just meant to be the scene that lead to the climax
But even if it was acted
She didn’t like the idea of murdering Tsukasa
She cared about him like any other friend would do
She just had to act it out
“alright let’s skip to page 46 shall we?” A cat-like smile appeared on Rui’s face, as everyone in the room flipped the pages
46
the killing scene
it was obvious that scene was going to be the one they would have to rehearse the most
Once again, Nene’s hand shook as they reached for the knife
Why?
She has acted fairly violent scenes before
it was simple, easy
Her footsteps echoed trough the stage as she approached the blonde boy
He was just done talking with Emu, who was supposed to be leaving for a mission
The knife was in her hand
She had to
It was acting
Come on
just do it
”can we take a quick break?”
And just like that, the entire tension of the scene was broken, good job nene, keep stuttering your weak excuses
Her hands let go of the knife
And almost immediately she ran backstage, hurriedly looking for the water bottle inside her bag, and chugging some of it
How come she can’t act a simple scene?
She probably could be able to do it, if the person she had to stab was… different
There wasn’t something wrong with Tsukasa’s acting and yet, she just couldn’t-
“OI! NENE”
A familiar loud voice broke through her thoughts, it was in fact the Tsukasa himself
”Are you having problems with the scene?”
”No- it’s just- I just have never played a villain before”
The boy’s face formed that sweet smile he always does for the people he cares about
And nene felt warmth in her chest
Somehow, this absolute clown was making her feel better by giving stupid advice and saying cheesy jokes
But it was working
“Well, I’m going to be with Emu and Rui if you need me!”
And as randomly as he appeared, the star left backstage, Nene’s hand reached for the script once again
Maybe she…
A furious blush invaded Nene’s face
Absolutely no way!
That dude was the definition of a jester, he was stupid, loud, annoying, funny, sweet-
And nene was getting off topic, she needed to find a way to act this out, before they actually had to perform the show
She has to continue rehearsing
So with what’s left of her dignity, she stood up and walked straight to her troupe, ready to rehearse from the start
The story was simple, in a small town, a bunch of people started to go missing, so the mayor decides to contact a renowned heroine to get on the case
long story short: the person responsible for the crimes ends up showing up to challenge the heroine, and she snaps after the murder of her husband, destroying the villain and the town as a result
They weren’t even halfway with the rehearsal
But nene started to feel sick
The play was filled with emu (aka the heroine) being… affectionate with Tsukasa
Its just a play, outside of it those actions literally mean nothing
And yet, nene couldn’t help but to be abnormally bothered by these parts
”Is there anyway we can make these parts more wonderhoy?”
Maybe if u stop being annoying
In a second, everyone’s eyes turned to her, a trail of cold sweat trailing Nene’s forehead as the realization sank in
DID SHE JUST SAY THAT OUT LOUD???
Nene sank her head into her pillow as a long groan escaped her mouth, there was no way she was returning to practice after… that
She loves Emu, she is sweet and caring and very fun to be with, so what was the point of that goddamn insult?
That was very out of character for her, rational nene would never do such thing
But the rational nene somehow disappeared as soon as Rui gave those scripts for the show
Maybe the best was to never show up again, and to practice alone
1:09 Am
And nene was now writing an entire paragraph to apologize to Emu
Can this get even more pathetic for Nene?
Well the universe answered that question for nene, multiple times
She had to show up for practice obviously
And she found Tsukasa on the stage
They we’re 20 minutes early
“Oh, hi Tsukasa”
”Ah nene! Nice to see you!”
The boy moved a bit aside in the bench he was sitting on, leaving some space for nene to sit
”You’re still troubled with your role?”
”You could say so”
Nene buried her own face in her hands “I’m just… afraid our relationship will change after this role”
”Our relationship?”
”As friends!” Her entire face burned red “I don’t feel very comfortable stabbing someone I care about, that’s all!”
Tsukasa’s eyebrows furrowed a little “At the end of the day it’s just a role, outside of the character we’re gonna be friends after all, nothing we say in character matters”
”You’re right, I’m just spouting nonsense” Nene stood up from the bench and went backstage
Friends
That word suddenly felt foreign, she didn’t want Tsukasa to be her friend, of course she didn’t want to become enemies or to lose him
She just, wanted something more
Her head turned once again to face Tsukasa, Emu was now with him, they were both laughing and doing the goofy things they usually did
She noticed how happy they both seemed
How perfect of a match they were
It seems Tsukasa’s story already had a heroine
They were taking a rest after rehearsing multiple times, And nene was quite satisfied as she avoided THAT scene for the whole that and- is that Tsukasa’s cardigan?
It was on the dusty and murky floor
A good friend wouldn’t allow that
And nene as the good friend she was, decided to steal it and put it on
A completely platonic interaction isn’t it?
”IS THAT MY CARDIGAN???”
Nene let out a loud chuckle at the dramatic scream of the blonde boy, her cheeks turning a bright tomato red when she realized what she was actually doing
”I- I just saw it on the floor and didn’t want it to get dirty!”
And the award to the worst excuses ever goes to Nene Kusanagi
She got caught red handed, what’s next? She handed the boy his cardigan back, picked up her bag and rushed out of the backstage
And once again she considered missing all of the practices
”fufu, you seem quite rushed”
Of course, she had to wait for Rui, she couldn’t just run away from her mistakes
”Soo… what’s going on between you and Tsukasa-kun?”
”ABSOLUTELY NOTHING” She wasn’t the type to scream, but she could swear that resounded through the entire neighborhood
“Well, I just saw him run out of the stage blushing really hard”
No, That couldn’t be, Tsukasa seemed more in love with emu
Nene had enough, so like a professional athlete she ran away from Rui and sprinted all the way to her house
Her body paused right before the entrance, catching her breath
She wasn’t dealing with Rui’s teasing today
“3,2…”
”Wonderhoy!”
And the dreaded day finally came
The show
And… she still couldn’t play the scene
Really sad for a self proclaimed actress
Bit she promised herself she would do her best today, despite the amount of cringe worthy moments she had all of these days
The curtains raised and Nene simply had to re-read her lines while waiting her turn, she wasn’t going to embarrass herself in from of a bunch of people
She can do it
Come on Nene
her breath hitched as the bgm slowed down and a sunset lighting engulfed the stage
She felt like almost no time had passed, but it was already “her time to shine”
Her hand reached for the knife
she walked on scene
and the spotlight illuminated both nene and tsukasa
This was determined from the start
Nothing said or done in character mattered outside of the play
”Who are you?” The heroine’s husband stopped sweeping the floor with a simple gesture
”No one important”
Come on Nene
Almost as if she was possessed, she charged against the boy, who let out a loud agonizing scream
And she
Clank
With an almost silent sound, the knife dropped to the ground
She couldn’t do it
Before she noticed, she started to tear up
”You are clearly in love with that heroine right?”
“W-what?”
A bitter smile creeped on her face “you two are so cute together, you must hate me for trying to murder you”
”That’s not true!”
Her eyes widened
“I wouldn’t be able to hate you in a million years!”
She was the villain of the story, the one who got in the way of the romance story line and yet, he was treating her so nicely
”I hope we never see each other again” the whole room was silent, even her quiet footsteps could be heard through it
“DONT GO!”
Someone was pulling her costume: Tsukasa she turned her head towards him, his eyes now looking red and slightly puffy
Have I become “terrible” enough yet?
“I have always loved you”
Nothing said in character mattered outside the play
He was probably trying to improvise, nene clearly went off character
She pulled Tsukasa closer to her
The curtains unexpectedly began to fall down
Just as the pair sealed their lips