Chapter 2 - The Princess and the Cursed Flower
Nonogi Park
One, two, three, four~!!
Five, six, seven, eight!
Excellent! With our stretches complete, we should move on to voice training—but......
Rui's not here yet. And he said he'd bring the script today.
This morning he said "I finished writing it, so I'll head over once I'm done with the final check"...... Oh!
There's Rui-kun! Morning, Rui-kun~!!
That took forever. What exactly were you up to..... Wait.
......so then...... the Rembrandt lighting...... and the finale doesn't fade to black......
Wawah? Rui-kun's heading off in that direction!!
Wh-What the!? What's happening!? Hey, Rui~!!
Oh......
Haha, sorry about that. I was walking while thinking about staging plans, and I guess I completely lost track of my surroundings.
I see... that's very much like you, Rui, but..... please watch out so you don't get hurt, okay?
—So then, how is it? The script?
I believe I gave it absolutely everything I've got right now.
You sound pretty confident.
Fufu. It's my masterpiece, incorporating all the experience and lessons learned from the workshop.
—Wonderful! Let's take a look at it now!
Of course!
"The Princess and the Cursed Flower"........
Ooh~! The princess is the main character!
ArcLand has upheld the concept of "Everyone is a Princess" since it first opened.
This very concept also serves as the theme assigned to us for this production—
How each troupe interprets that theme is where we get to show our skills.
Precisely.
...Hmm.
(The opening has a comedic touch, but...... ah, I see the tone shifts in the middle.)
(We'll need to adjust our performance approach here too. Also—)
(...,,,I see. So this is how the story develops.)
(But what happens to the prince? The continuation is—)
.............
Rui!!
Yes?
This script—it's incredible!!
I was thinking about acting plans while reading the first half, but by the end I was completely absorbed. Amazing work!
Yeah......! The idea that "guiding someone precious to you with love makes anyone a princess" is such a beautiful message.
Hey hey, let's start the read-through! Ah, but we should do voice exercises before that!
......Thank you. Hearing you say that makes all the careful thought I put into it worthwhile.
Well then, once we finish our vocal exercises, let's jump right into the read-through!
—Looks like we're all set, let's start!
Yeah!
(......This time the main character is the princess—Nene in the role of the princess.)
(And I'm the prince, the second lead. If this were conventional, it would be a love story between the princess and prince, but...)
(This show is the story that comes after that.)
"My lady! I've vanquished the demon lord and arrived to save you!"
"Oh, my prince...! My beloved! With you, I could go anywhere!"
"And so the two were united and lived happily ever after. The end."
"—And from here is what comes next. The story after 'Happily Ever After.'"
"—Take this bread. Split it among everyone in your family."
"Phew. I think that's everything I had to distribute today."
"Lady Heart~! Thank you for your hard work today!"
"Providing meals to the poor! Such admirable dedication as our nation's princess!"
"Thank you. Though it's nothing worth complimenting me for."
"Since I'm so new to this country, this is pretty much my only option."
"And with all the resources going toward the disputes with the neighboring country, the number of people who can't get meals keeps growing....."
"...Even so.... sigh. It's been ten days already....."
"He never visits me anymore!"
"Goodness! Lady Heart! If you're so longing for him, perhaps you should take a break from your duties and go see Prince Bless!"
"You have a point, but... it's just a bit irritating!"
"At first he was saying things like "I pledge my eternal love to you!" but lately he won't come see me at all!"
"That can't be helped. The prince has the important duty of succeeding the king and uniting the kingdom."
"I suppose that's true..... ugh. I'm going to take a walk to clear my head."
"Yes! Have a pleasant walk!"
"—Heart! Heart, where are you!"
"Oh? Your Highness, Lady Heart just went out for a walk."
"What......! Just when I finally have some free time......"
"—Your Highness. You still have your official duties to complete. Where might you be headed?"
"Ugh, Nido...! Alright, alright, I get it..."
(—And so, due to the prince's busy schedule, the two keep missing each other.)
(At this time, an advisor who wants to elevate the second prince devises a scheme to seize the throne.)
(The advisor uses the "Cursed Flower" that had been sealed away in the kingdom to curse the prince—)
(Under the curse's influence, the prince slowly falls prey to despair. And so—)
"Alright! That's enough work for today!"
"Huh? Aren't you supposed to discuss mediation with the neighboring kingdom's ambassador after this......?"
"...Even if I do that, relations between our countries won't improve, will they?"
"Going out to enjoy myself with Heart sounds much better!"
"Ah......."
"...Is this really okay? It doesn't seem like something you would normally do, Bless......."
"But I'm happy we can go out together for the first time in ages....."
"You mentioned wanting to go boating on the lake before, didn't you? The weather's nice today, so let's do it!"
"Really? ...Then I'll go change into my new dress!"
(The princess is initially happy that the prince is making their relationship a priority.)
(However, a fairy they encounter at the lake where they're on their date reveals the curse placed on the prince—)
(The princess sets out on a journey alongside the prince to lift the spell. But...)
"Your Highness~! Seriously, please just move your feet~!"
"You have to remove the flower with your own hands, or the curse won't lift!"
".......I know that, fairy! But my body just won't obey me....."
"Something is whispering in my mind. That pulling out the cursed flower is pointless. That nothing will change..."
"Bless......"
(The power of the "Cursed Flower" grows stronger the closer one gets to it.)
(The closer the prince gets to breaking the curse, the more he's tormented by an overwhelming sense of emptiness he can't control—)
(By the time they reach their destination at the mountain's peak, he has fallen into complete despair.)
"......That's enough."
"Thank you, Heart... But I can't do this anymore... There's nothing I can do about it."
"Bless! Come on, Bless! This isn't like you at all!"
"...It's fine. I'm done."
"No matter what I do, people will keep hating each other and nations will continue fighting."
"I can keep pondering about how to bring peace, keep working toward it...... but in the end, nothing will be different regardless."
"—It's all pointless."
"Bless!!!!"
"—I won't allow it!"
"I want to be by your side! I want to live a future that we share together!"
"So...... I absolutely will not let you give up!"
"If everything really is meaningless, then I'll stay by your side until we discover what matters!"
"That's why—stand up!!"
(The princess pushes the prince up the mountain path, somehow managing to reach the flower.)
(And so the cursed flower is pulled from the ground—)
.....Yeah. That's good.
Everyone's already got a solid grasp on their characters just from the read-through. I'm honestly impressed.
Woohoo~!!
That's a relief... Hehe, I really like this role. It's like I naturally get fired up for it.
Absolutely! Heart's stubbornness is so perfectly Nene!
Hey, what's that supposed to mean?
Hah hah hah! Exactly what it sounds like! I'm expecting a passionate performance!
(This really is the perfect role for Nene. She can be stubborn, but she's passionate and has the strength to face any challenge.)
(......The one who needs to be careful this time is..... me.)
(Acting with love and passion... I'm used to playing characters like that. But...)
(Bless gets trapped by the curse and slowly falls into despair.)
(If I can't portray that emotional journey convincingly, no matter how hard Nene tries, the whole show will feel shallow.)
("A prince falling into despair"...... I need to really dig deep into portraying that.)
Hweh? Whose phone is going off?
Ah, that's mine. .....Hm?
What's wrong?
...This is a surprising caller.
—It's Asahi-san.
Huh?!