“…So I literally did nothing to Reona.”
“Hmm — so Ryouya did nothing.”
“A rare chance to put your hands on me and you wasted it.”
After escaping the storage, on the walk home, I was getting unjustly cold looks from Reona and Riona, who had gone inexplicably grumpy.
I had clearly picked the correct option. The penalty was unfair. Even after months of operating with them, I could not reverse-engineer the correct path through scenes like this.
“By the way, you’re coming to the after-party, no objections.”
“Ehh — that’s a normie event, the energy will eat me alive.”
“No — Ryouya participating is already locked in.”
A lot of schools don’t even have the after-party anymore, but ours does. Predominantly attended by the school’s popular kids; a mob character like me does not participate. But once Reona and Riona had locked in, there was no escape.
“What’s the after-party even consist of? Last year I went home and grinded gacha, so I have no idea.”
“Two parts. Part one is in the gym — band performances, karaoke contest.”
“Part two is the campfire dance on the schoolyard.”
”…That is peak youth energy.”
The campfire dance is for couples to be couples publicly. Are we allowed to do open-flame events in this era?
Anime and manga always show festival-night campfires, but supposedly in real life they’re rare now due to safety regulations. The student council must have negotiated.
“Also a confession contest during part one.”
“Public confessions sound like the worst kind of stomach pain. Getting brutally rejected in front of everyone is guaranteed catastrophe.”
“Apparently lots of couples form there, so it’s a popular event every year.”
Reona and Riona would probably love this; jaded loner me would derive zero entertainment from public-confession-couple-formation.
“Speaking of — tomorrow is play rehearsal. Reona, ready?”
“Mm-hmm, lines and blocking mostly memorized.”
“Impressive — I’m still grinding lines.”
“Looking forward to your Snow White.”
The option of female-VA-from-offstage-while-I-perform-blocking had been discussed but rejected. They were going with my actual voice. Reona’s argument — visual-audio gap creates impact — had carried.
It was the lead, with tons of lines, and acting-coaching would extend the runway significantly.
“Oh — one scene I’m shaky on.”
“Where?”
“The waking-Snow-White-with-a-kiss scene doesn’t feel right. Can we go to your room and rehearse kissing?”
“No — that is no in every conceivable way?!”
The line was so unhinged I yelped. The kiss is performative — no practice is required.
“Aw, you kissed me last time.”
“Accidental — that was the gondola.”
“Then practice with me instead.”
“That’s also not okay.”
Please stop teasing the virgin. If I miscalculated and actually went for it, what was the plan?