章 15: 15. Not me, Shuu will

Extra in the Student Council

Author's note:

Now that Hoshino Ai has shown up, I have some explaining to do.

First, in the canon, Ai should be much older than Kaguya and others because Kaguya showed up in her twenties when Ruby was more or less sixteen.

But here, Ai is only two years older than Kaguya. Her timeline didn't change, but I only made Ai born a little later. which means Akane and Kana might or might not show up a bit younger than Kaguya.

In the end, it's only fanfiction, so I'm going to do what I wanted to do and not be chained by the original story timeline.

But I will at least try my best to understand their personalities, hoping I won't butcher their character without knowing.

(P.S.: How many times do you think I watched Ai's death?)

Actually, at the beginning, I had a choice whether to choose Ai or Ruby/Aqua.

I mean, if you were asked to choose Ai or Ruby/Aqua, is that even a choice? There's no other answer than Ai, isn't there?!

Well, enough joking, back to the point. Even with my twisted common sense, I'm unable to make them all appear without Ai being much older than she is now. And it will also make it almost impossible to raise her flag.

However, the real reason is that if I were to choose Aqua/Ruby then one day I'll have to write about the confrontation between Aqua and his father, no?

Well, not to brag about it. But I'm not good with that kind of high-intelligence warfare. I know the limits of my ability.

I already had my hands full with Miyuki and Kaguya. Even that already made me do a somersault twice just to scratch a bit on their brain warfare surface.

So yeah, Aqua and his father are a no-go.

And as for other questions, I think they would be best answered in the story instead of me answering them. Though, I will correct it if it is confusing or has grammar mistakes, And thanks to the one who helped me point out that mistake.

Then, lastly. I hope this will be my last note to avoid breaking the immersion of the story.

And once again, thank you for supporting me in this journey.

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Extra in the Student Council

15. Not me, Shuu will

They say a person who's deceiving others wouldn't realize when he was being deceived. A person lying would believe others lie.

But it was only the truth to a certain degree.

To those who used a lie as their main weapon to live in this cruel world called real life, it wasn't the same.

A professional scammer who understands human physcology could sell trash for ten to ten thousand times its original price. It would be unlikely for them to be deceived. They could even tell someone worked in the same department just from a few words on the call.

It was the same with Shuu and Ai. With one look at each other, they quickly realized their natures weren't that different.

***

"Excuse us," Shuu said. After showing his old member card, Shuu and Ai were quickly approved to enter the training room of the lalalir theater. They were also told that their director was over there.

When the cast turned to them, many were confused to see Shuu.

"Long time, no see." Shuu smiled as he waved his hand. "Kindaichi-san too, hi there."

Kindaichi Toshirou is the founding member of the Lalalie Theater Troupe. He walked toward Shuu. "I'm quite surprised to see you here; I thought you had already quit the entertainment world."

"Well, I do have a reason for coming here." Shuu smiled.

"Director, Ya-hallo~ we've come to play~" Ai peeked her head from Shuu's back and greeted them.

"??" Kindaichi was a bit confused to see a girl he didn't know talk so familiarly with him, and he realized her gaze was quite familiar. He turned his gaze to Shuu before turning to Ai again. After he did it a few times, his eyes widened in surprise. "Wait, are you—"

"We have nothing to do today, so we came to this nostalgia place." Shuu cut his words and showed Kindaichi their connected hands before he showed another knowing smile at him. "I didn't see Himekawa; is he not here today?"

"A, aa…" Kindaichi was overwhelmed a bit, but he quickly recovered and nodded. "He has another job today."

"I see. It's a pity we can't see him today; we used to play together on the stage." Shuu looked disappointed.

"By the way, director," Ai called, "what show are you going to put on next?" As their director handled Shuu and Ai, the other cast members went back to their own training.

"Ohh, I'm also interested in that Kindaichi-san." Shuu added, "I also want to see what kind of broke people with talent you gathered."

"The way you say it is like I'm some kind of freak." Kindaichi replied, and seeing how excited they were, Kindaichi let out a sigh unconsciously: "Sigh... you two really didn't change."

"Hehe, they say people are hard to change, aren't they?" Ai replied. "And we are just a real-life example of that," Shuu added.

Kindaichi held himself from sighing again before he looked to Ai for a moment. (Maybe you guys did change,) he thought.

"The story we're going to show is called 'The Princess and the Blue Heron," a comedy story revolving around a tomboyish princess and her attendants."

""Hee~"" Shuu and Ai listened to his explanation.

"And as for the cast, you guys already know Himekawa other than him. There are only two other people who I could say are far above the rest. One is a middle schooler named Kurokawa Akane, but she's not here today, as is the other, a college student…. Oh, perfect timing." Kindaichi then pointed at one of the cast members. "It's her"

With his words, Shuu and Ai turned toward the girl. It was a beautiful and cute girl, one that wouldn't lose to Ai in terms of beauty. As they started to watch her… Another cast member suddenly ran toward the girl, and another cast member hindered their training. Before long, they quickly became disoriented and turned their gaze toward Kindaichi.

"It seems there's a problem," Kindaichi said as he went toward them, with Shuu and Ai following from behind. When they arrived, they quickly understood the problem. One of the main cast members was suddenly unable to come today because he was scheduled to appear today; they also didn't prepare the stand-in to take their place.

"Then, can we become the stand-in?" Ai suddenly interrupted them. As others attention started to gather on her, she asked, "Do you want to do it?" Shuu asked. But… Ai shook her head lightly. "Not me, Shuu will. It's been ages since I saw you act."

"...." Shuu showed a difficult face after he heard her request: "Aren't the ways we acted almost the same? Every time I saw you act, it was like watching myself act."

"Still, I want to see you act." Ai replied, "Also, did you forget what you promised yesterday?" She smirked at Shuu.

With that last nail, Shuu was unable to avoid it anymore. So he turned to Kindaichi, asking his opinion about their decision. As it solved the problem, Kindaichi also didn't have a problem with that, so he quickly accepted that request. Then Shuu joined the training as a stand-in.

Before the rehearsal started, Shuu spent a few minutes with Ai deciphering the shogun's personality and how to act as the shogun. Even if it's just training, now that Shuu has decided to become a stand-in, he won't pull his hand and won't do sloppy work. Fine-tuning his expression, the way he talks, the way he walks, etc. They calculated everything.

"Katsuragi Shuu, I'll become the Shogun's stand-in just for today; please take care of me." He looked at them with a friendly smile. People say don't judge a book by its cover, but that's mostly bullshit; most people will judge everything from its cover, no matter if it's food, people, a place, or everything else.

If you look neat and clean, people will not avoid you or might come to you, and if you look dirty and untidy, people will avoid you. It's the simple rule of society.

That's why Shuu didn't have trouble mingling with strangers.

After Shuu introduced himself, the others also introduced themselves, and lastly, the one Kindaichi praised above the others also introduced herself. "Ichinose Chizure, please take care of me."