Chapter 15 - And the Lead Role Goes To…?!?

The classroom was louder than usual. And that was saying something, considering this was the same room where Kenta once brought in a frog to "study its acting potential."

Mr. Kumagai stood dramatically at the front, holding a stack of papers like he was announcing the nominees for an international film festival. “Everyone! I have completed the casting for our Cultural Festival play.”

Someone in the back let out a groan.

“This better not be another three hour tragedy,” Daiki muttered.

“It’s a romantic comedy,” Mr. Kumagai replied with a twirl. “Written by one of your very own classmates!”

Everyone’s heads turned to Hina.

She blinked. “Don’t look at me.”

I blinked too. “…Wait. If not you, then—?”

Airi sat quietly by the window, flipping through a draft of the script. Her expression was unreadable, but her fingers were gripping the paper a little too tightly.

“Now, the lead roles!” Mr. Kumagai declared. “Our reluctant but kind hearted prince will be played by… Tanaka Yuuji!”

I choked on my own breath.

“And our sharp tongued but secretly sweet villainess… will be played by Fujimoto Airi!”

Someone cheered. Someone else whispered, “Of course.”

Airi raised an eyebrow and lazily said, “Tch. Do I look like a villain?”

Kenta snorted. “Yes.”

She threw a paperclip at him.

-----------------------------

By lunch break, scripts were everywhere.

Daiki was flipping through his copy. “So let me get this straight. You, the ‘grumpy prince,’ fall in love with the girl who keeps trying to assassinate you?”

“Apparently,” I said, trying not to die from secondhand embarrassment.

“It’s suspiciously accurate,” he grinned.

Airi sat a few seats away, reading her script with one leg crossed over the other like she was auditioning for a spy movie. She caught me staring and raised an eyebrow.

“What?” she said flatly.

“…Nothing.”

“I didn’t ask for this role.”

“I didn’t ask for mine either.”

We both looked away at the same time.

Kenta leaned in between us like he was narrating a documentary. “Notice the rare and awkward mating ritual of the high school lovebirds.”

“Do you want to die today?” Airi asked him sweetly with a grin.

“I’ll leave now.”

Later that afternoon, Mr. Kumagai forced the leads to stay behind for a “quick” read through.

The classroom was quiet, just the two of us.

I flipped open my script. “Scene three,” I muttered. “This is where the prince is wounded, and the villainess helps him escape.”

Airi nodded, but didn’t look at me. She was… tense??

We started reading. She delivered her lines neatly, like she wasn’t even trying. But still—

“You’re the only one who sees me, even when I wear my scariest mask,” she said.

I looked up. The line didn’t feel like acting.

Her fingers trembled slightly.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

She glanced at me, eyes narrowed. “It’s just a script.”

But I remembered the letter. The one Usagi wrote.

And now this play. This script. These lines.

Even if Airi didn’t know it.

It felt like Usagi had written this.

She’d written how she wanted to be seen. How she wanted to speak.

And now, Airi was saying them.

After rehearsal, I stayed behind, cleaning up the extra scripts. Airi lingered by the door.

“…You didn’t mess up that bad,” she said.

“Thanks,” I said. “You were… really good.”

She snorted. “Obviously.”

But then she hesitated. Her fingers fidgeted with the edge of her sleeve.

“…Do you think she’d like it?” she asked softly.

I looked up. “Who?”

She didn’t answer.

Instead, she left a folded note on my desk. No sticker. Just plain paper.

When I opened it later, it said:

“Don’t fall for someone just because they’re nicer than me.

I’m still trying too."

– Me.”

For a long time, I just sat there, staring at the note.

It wasn't sweet. It wasn't poetic.

But somehow, it hit harder than anything I've ever read.

Yuuji’s Mental Diary - Rehearsal edition

I’m the prince in a play I didn’t audition for.

Airi is the villainess. But she keeps saying things that sound like real feelings.

Usagi might’ve written this whole script.

Airi’s acting weird. But not in a bad way.

…Is it possible to fall for someone twice, in the same body?

Because maybe I already am.