Chapter 1

“—Welcome to Tokyo ArcLand. A place where anyone can dream the most special dreams.”

Ooooh…!?

Waaah~!

The floor’s all sparkly-sparkly~!

That’s interactive projection mapping for you.

The sensors detect how people move and create a two-way projection accordingly.

Oh, it really does.

The shapes and colors shift when you move…

So cool, so cool!

If you go boing-boing-boing, the lights go all wibbly-wobbly too!

And where exactly do you think you’re going!?

We didn’t come here to play around, you know!

Oops!! I totally forgot~!

Good grief…...

Still….. we’ve been to plenty of amazing places before, but I never thought we’d be training here.

Yeah.

ArcLand is one of the world’s top theme parks, right up there with Riley Dream Park.

Naturally, it’s not a place that just anyone can get access to—

We really owe Keisuke-san and Shosuke-san our thanks.

Our fourth training spot!?

That’s right. It’s that ArcLand you’re all familiar with.

What…!?

ArcLand….. That’s where Asahi-san and his troupe are, isn’t it?

Indeed… But ArcLand is known across the globe for their world-class performances.

We’re going there? I mean, sure, we did get to do a joint show before, but still…..

We’d been sounding them out for quite some time now.

But unlike the cultural exchange last time, this time we’re basically asking to learn from them outright.

They didn’t say yes for the longest time, but just recently, they reached out to us.

I see. But why now, I wonder…?

As you’re aware, ArcLand is home to many young performers and directors with real talent.

To help them grow and expand their opportunities, they’re holding an in-house workshop.

A workshop…!?

Could it be… that we’ll be allowed to join that as well?

Yeah. They told us they’d love to have you, if you’re able.

So if it’s in-house, the other participants will all be ArcLand’s actors and directors…

Which means, naturally, the workshop’s content will be quite advanced.

True enough. But I’d say it’ll be a valuable experience for you.

What’ll it be?

It’s your call from here on out.

—If that's the case, then it's obvious by now!

(Back when I turned down their offer… I never imagined I’d be involved with ArcLand again like this.)

Nene-chan, what are you looking around for?

Oh… yeah.

They said someone would come meet us, so… I figured it’d be about time now…

Hey—!

Talk about perfect timing—looks like our guide’s arrived!

Sorry to keep you waiting! Long time no see.

Welcome, everyone, to Tokyo ArcLand!

Ahh……………………………………

Asahi-san…!?

So our guide was you, Asahi-san?

Yeah! When I heard everyone from Wondershow was coming, I volunteered!

The others wanted to tag along too, but… all of us together would stand out way too much

Oh! Of course, we decided it fair and square with rock-paper-scissors!

So… you decided by rock-paper-scissors…

…You haven’t changed at all, Asahi-san.

Even though you must be swamped with work, doing not just stage plays but movies and dramas too

Yup! You’re still our super smiley, cheerful big brother!

Today’s the big orientation for the workshop.

Let me show you to the venue right away.

Yes! Please take care of us!

Worky-worky workshop time, yay~♪

What fun things are we gonna do, I wonder☆

Haha. Looks like you’ve been looking forward to this a lot

Yes! More than anything!

Will you be participating in the workshop too, Asahi-san?

Yeah. I plan to join in on everything except when work clashes.

It’s a rare chance to work with all of you from Wondershow again— plus, this workshop is more packed than any we’ve had before.

And by that, you mean…?

The workshop instructors are veteran actors and directors from ArcLand—

But that’s not all — we’ve got special guest instructors from outside too.

Guest instructors, you say?

Yeah.

...…I bet even you’ll be surprised, Rui-kun

(“Even me”...…?)

—We’re here. This is the venue

Before anything else, I need to introduce Wonderlands×Showtime to everyone meeting you for the first time.

Heeey, everybody—!

—This is the first time ArcLand has ever held such a large-scale workshop

As this runs between your usual rehearsals and other jobs, your schedules will be quite demanding.

Still, we’ll do our utmost to run and support this so you can say it was meaningful to take part

(…Just like Asahi-san said, they’re really putting serious effort into this.)

(They’ve prepared separate courses for actors and directors alike)

(They said there’d be joint tasks too… so we’ll probably get to have the actors perform a show we directors create)

(Fufu. Just imagining it is exciting)

Now, let me introduce the special instructors who’ll be teaching during the workshop.

First, for the acting course—

Natalia Santi, Glenn Birkin, and Elio Sakurai.

These three will be working with you.

Wha...…!?

Natalia Santi—she’s a renowned actress who’s won countless international awards for musical films.

I’d heard she’s been focusing on mentoring the next generation lately...… but I never imagined I’d hear her name here.

Yeah..… Glenn Birkin’s an active actor on Broadway too, right?

He’s not the leading-role type, but he’s amazing at playing unique parts and his acting skills are highly praised…

Whoa~ They’re all incredible people…!

Yeah. And Elio Sakurai’s a world-famous dancer.

If I recall, he also runs a studio specializing in musical dance lessons

Tsukasa, you sure know a lot about this, huh?

When I was taking ballet lessons in Morinomiya, I was looking up helpful videos and happened upon one of Elio’s tutorials.

He didn’t just have ballet, but also jazz and theatre dance videos...… and they were all so good I lost track of time watching.

Indeed. They’ve gathered top talents from each field

I can’t wait to meet them~!

(Gathering a lineup like this… it’s not something money alone could make happen)

(It proves how much ArcLand values their productions… and the development of the performers who make them possible)

Now, let’s move on to introducing the special instructors for the director course.

…Ah! Next up are the people Rui-kun will be learning from!

After hearing who’s teaching the actor course, I’m kinda nervous now…

Yeah.

(A chance to learn in a place like this will likely never come again.)

(I can’t let this opportunity go to waste.)