Building the Set

Nagasaki got down on one knee as he took Fukuda's hand in his. “My lady, I am happy to see you safe. I apologize on behalf of my father and family.”

“No, Sir Benedict. It was I who caused you so much trouble when all you wanted was to protect me. I hope you can forgive me.”

Takahashi nodded as he watched his students rehearse the final scene of the play from the back of the room. It had been a week since they had started rehearsing, and while the performance was far from perfect, they had certainly come a long way from then.

He glanced at Izumi and was unsurprised to see tears streaming down his face. He sighed and turned his attention back to the rehearsal. At least the other students were too busy watching the rehearsal to notice Izumi crying.

“Marry me, Princess Altera!” Nagasaki cried out, swishing an imaginary cloak. “Together, we can bring peace to our two kingdoms forevermore!”

“Nothing would make me happier, Sir Benedict!” Fukuda cried out in response. She leapt into his arms, and the bit actors around them burst into applause.

“Hooray! Praise be to the union of the two kingdoms!”

“May fortune shine on Geralon and Maltimus for all of time!”

That line signaled the end of the play, and the other students clapped as the rehearsal came to end. As the other actors walked off the stage, Nagasaki and Fukuda remained frozen in an embrace.

“Uh, Nagasaki-kun?” Fukuda called out worriedly. Nagasaki jumped and separated himself from Fukuda.

“Oh, sorry about that!” Nagasaki apologized sheepishly. “I got a little nervous and forgot where I was for a moment.”

“It's fine,” Fukuda replied warily. “It's only the fifth time you've forgotten.”

Takahashi could understand Fukuda's irritation, but he believed that Nagasaki wasn't doing it on purpose. After all, if his high school crush suddenly leapt into his arms, he had no idea how he'd react either, especially if he was as bad with girls as Nagasaki was.

“Say, Sensei,” Izumi called out, grabbing Takahashi's attention. “We've done the whole play from beginning to end several times now. I think we should start doing rehearsals with costumes soon.”

Takahashi nodded. Rehearsing with costumes didn't sound like much of a change, but it was surprisingly difficult to do without some practice. Plus, it was necessary to make sure the costumes fit so there was no chance of tripping or falling over.

“I'll go talk to the drama club's supervisor later,” Takahashi declared. “They've got a lot of costumes, so borrowing a few shouldn't be much of a problem.”

Izumi nodded, then walked over to the actors to discuss their performance. Takahashi couldn't help but smile as he watched him go. He was adamant about not being a part of the play, but now he was a vital part of it.

Takahashi left the classroom and headed over to the drama club's room. On the way there, he thought about the students he had placed in charge of making the set pieces for the play. Since he had a student from the art club in his class, he figured that he could just let them work as they pleased, but he hadn't actually heard if they had made any progress or not. It would probably be a good idea to check on them just to make sure nothing bad had happened.

Since the students were using his classroom as their rehearsal spot, the students in charge of set pieces were using an empty classroom on the lower floor. Takahashi headed down to the room in question and found, to his surprise, that there was only one person working in the classroom.

Takahashi looked in the window and searched the classroom, but no one else seemed to be in the room at all. The only person there was his student Kyoko Yagami, a member of the art club. She was working on a single piece of cardboard that was meant to be a tree. To Takahashi's horror, he hardly saw any finished pieces at all.

He burst into the room, which caught Yagami by surprise. She looked up from her work with a confused expression on her face.

“Takahashi-sensei, what are you doing here?”

“I came to check on how things were coming along. Yagami-san, where are the other students that are supposed to be working on the set pieces?”

“I don't know. I've just been working here by myself since class let out.”

“What? But you're supposed to be working as a group. You can't possibly finish the set pieces by yourself.”

“I don't need help. Just don't bother me while I'm working, Sensei.”

Yagami turned back to her work and continued painting the tree. Takahashi was a little concerned for her, but he decided that it was more important to find out where the other students who were supposed to be working on the set pieces were.

After a short walk around the school, he eventually found a group of his students sitting by the vending machines in the courtyard area. Sure enough, they were the students that were supposed to be working on the set pieces. Takahashi stomped over to them as they continued to chat with drinks in hand. One student, who Takahashi recognized as Shun Oda, noticed him approaching and turned to face him.

“Sensei, I can explain.”

“Can you? Cause you're supposed to be working on the set pieces.”

“We were working on the set pieces – until Yagami told us not to bother.”

“Yagami said that?”

“Initially, everyone was working together on the set pieces. We even got some pretty good progress done. But then Yagami suddenly freaked and trashed the stuff we'd made, and told us she'd do it all herself. Naturally, we got pissed off, and that's why we haven't been working lately.”

Takahashi was pretty surprised. Yagami seemed like a pretty well-behaved girl, so for her to have an outburst like that was shocking. He wondered why she'd go so far like that.

“In any case, leaving her to do it alone wasn't the right move. You know that she can't possibly finish in time for the festival.”

“We know. We just didn't think she'd be so stubborn.”

“I'll figure something out, so for the time being, find some way to keep working on your own, okay?”

As the students got up and left the courtyard, Takahashi wondered how exactly he was going to achieve that. Yagami was someone he'd had little interaction with, so if she was having some sort of problem, he didn't think she would consider confiding in him. She honestly reminded him a lot of Fukuda, though he wouldn't say that to either of them.

Soon, Takahashi found himself back in the classroom, where the students were discussing their parts in the play. Izumi noticed Takahashi coming in and walked up to him.

“What'd they say about the costumes, Sensei?”

“Huh?”

“The costumes! Isn't that what you left to check on?”

Takahashi slapped his palm against his forehead. “Oh, right! I totally forgot about that! Sorry, I'll check in with them soon!”

“How did you forget? You were only gone for about ten minutes, weren't you?”

Takahashi groaned. “Another problem came up.”

Takahashi relayed the issue with the set piece team to Izumi, as well as some of the other students who were sitting nearby.

“Yagami said that?” Izumi remarked. “That seems out of character for her.”

“I thought so too. I wonder if Oda was just lying to cover up his slacking.”

“I wouldn't say that,” Yada remarked as she came up to the group. “I don't know Yagami that well, but I have heard some things from my friend in the art club.”

“Things? What kind of things?”

“Well, that she was a huge perfectionist, for one. She just hates making mistakes of any kind, and she'll dump any work that's gotten even a little bit smudged.”

That didn't sound out of the question to Takahashi. Yagami was always at the top of the class, but she only ever seemed satisfied when she got full marks. Even if she only got one problem wrong, she would get a complicated expression on her face that clearly showed that she was irritated.

“So she doesn't like how the other students are doing their pieces?” Izumi asked. “That's a little selfish if that's the case.”

“Sure, but it's not just them,” Yada remarked. “You know how the art club does a gallery showing off their work at the end of the year?”

“Yeah.”

“Apparently, last year Yagami didn't submit anything to the gallery, even though she was in the club all year.”

“What? Why is that?”

“She didn't think her work was good enough.”

Takahashi hummed as he thought about the situation for a moment. Clearly, Yagami was dealing with some tough issues that couldn't be easily solved. However, if he did nothing, then the set pieces wouldn't be finished in time for the play. The students had been pretty apathetic at the start, but now that the play was coming together, they had actually started to show some excitement. He didn't want to put a damper on that by messing up at the preparation stage.

“Yada-san, can you speak with Yagami-san? Maybe she'll be more likely to open up to another student.”

“Ehhh, sorry, but I can't. I've got plans once rehearsal's over, Sensei.”

A tiger never changes its stripes. Takahashi was suddenly reminded of that old axiom.

“What's going on, everyone?” Fukuda asked, walking up to the group. “I thought we were going to do one more run through of the script.”

“Fukuda-san!” Takahashi called out desperately. “Actually, there's a change in plans. I need you to do a favor for me.”

“Oh no. Can I refuse?”

“Fukuda-san, please!”

“I'm joking, Sensei.” Fukuda sighed. “What it is going to be this time?”

“Yagami-san is working on the set pieces by herself and is apparently refusing everyone else's help. Can you speak to her and see if you can change her mind?”

“I don't know Yagami-san that well. Why do you think I'd be able to do that?”

“It's all right if you can't! Just get her to open up a bit!”

Fukuda sighed once more. She'd been doing it a lot more lately for some reason. “Alright. I'll be right back, then.”

Fukuda walked out of the classroom and headed straight for the classroom where the set piece team was supposed to be working. As Takahashi had explained, Yagami was working all on her own. Fukuda watched awkwardly from the window as Yagami seemed to be furiously working on a bush.

“Go on,” Takahashi suddenly whispered from behind her. Fukuda almost jumped a foot into the air.

“What are you doing here, Sensei?!” Fukuda hissed under her breath.

“I got worried, so I ended up coming after you.”

“Really? I didn't hear a thing.”

“I won two hide-and-seek competitions while studying abroad.”

“That's not impressive!”

“Anyway, go on in. I'll listen from outside.”

Takahashi stepped back and waited quietly for Fukuda to enter the room. Fukuda sighed again. It really was becoming quite the bad habit.

Fukuda knocked gently on the door before coming in, but Yagami didn't even bother to look up. Fukuda hesitated for a moment, but eventually she decided to walk into the room, closing the door behind her gently.

“Do you need something?” Yagami asked abruptly. “I don't think the play's lead needs to be here right now, does she?”

“Well, no,” Fukuda answered nervously. “But I thought I'd check to see how the set pieces were going. Just my curiosity getting the better of me.”

“Is that so?” Yagami sounded doubtful, but continued working on the set pieces without questioning Fukuda's reasoning.

Fukuda walked up close and inspected the bush that Yagami was working on. She was quite surprised; it was a very detailed work. Perhaps too detailed; after all, it was just going to be a bush. People wouldn't really pay attention to it.

“That looks really good!” Fukuda said earnestly, clapping her hands together. “Are you putting the finishing touches on it?”

“No, it's far from done,” Yagami answered. “It's not even close to where I want it to be.”

“Really?” Fukuda glanced at the bush with a quizzical expression on her face. “I can't say I understand. It looks just fine to me.”

“That's your opinion,” Yagami shot back with a bitter tone. “I'm the one making it, so I think I have a better idea of whether it's satisfactory or not.”

Fukuda moved back slightly when faced with Yagami's aggressive tone. She didn't expect her to bite back so ferociously at her relatively gentle suggestion. She glanced back at Takahashi who was still watching from outside the classroom. Takahashi motioned for her to keep talking to her. It should have been a crime to be this nosy.

“Yagami-san, surely you don't need to be so hard on yourself.” Fukuda tried to be a bit more chipper this time around. “No one will have any problem with the work you've done.”

Yagami stopped moving her brush. Fukuda started to worry, but eventually Yagami spoke up again.

“You know, I'm aware of the fact that I have no talent.”

“Huh?”

“Even so, I want to be an artist. I've always wanted to. But when I see everyone else's work, it only makes it clear to me how talentless I truly am. So I have to work to make sure I can make something as good as them.”

Yagami's brush began moving again.

“Even so, it never works out. Every time I draw something, I can only notice all of the different imperfections and mistakes. No matter what I do, it's never enough.”

Fukuda didn't know what to say. She glanced at Takahashi again with eyes asking if she could leave, and Takahashi nodded.

“It's a complicated situation,” she remarked once she was outside of the classroom. “I don't know if you could convince her to change her mindset just by talking to her.”

“I'm aware of that myself,” Takahashi groaned. “But we won't be able to finish the set pieces like this.”

“Wouldn't it be best if you removed Yagami-san from the set piece team?” Fukuda suggested. “It'd be a little heartless, but the set pieces would be done on time.”

“I could, but I'd like to avoid that if possible.” Takahashi rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Having said that, what could he even do? If he couldn't find a solution soon, they really wouldn't make it in time for the play.

*****

The next morning, Takahashi walked into the school, still stressed from yesterday's problems. He still hadn't figured out what to do with Yagami, and it was making him a little nervous.

However, he did understand that he needed to know more about Yagami before making a decision, and there was no one better to talk to than Arima, the art club supervisor. If there was anyone who would know the most about Yagami and her art issues, it would be her.

Takahashi headed to the art club room and found Arima organizing some art supplies. She was an older woman who had taught at the school for more than twenty years, and she had a reputation for being a kind and motherly mentor to her students. Arima noticed that Takahashi had entered the room and turned around to greet him.

“Oh, Takahashi-sensei! To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Sorry to bother you while you're busy, Arima-sensei, but could I talk with you for a bit? It's about Yagami-san.”

“Oh my.” Arima seemed to understand what Takahashi was referring to. “Is she causing trouble, Sensei? I wouldn't have expected it of her.”

“Well, not exactly.” Takahashi explained the situation to Arima, whose face changed quickly from confusion to understanding. When Takahashi finished, Arima walked over to one of the cupboards and pulled out a few large sheets of paper with drawings on them. She placed them on a nearby table and spread them out.

“Takahashi-sensei, please take a look at this.”

Takahashi walked up to the desk and looked at the artwork. Some of them were just pencil sketches, but there were a few fully painted pieces. The artwork was rough, but he could tell that the person drawing this was very skilled.

“Is this Yagami-san's work?” he asked as he looked through the different pieces.

“That's right,” Arima confirmed. “She drew all of this last year in the club.”

“Last year, huh? But she didn't submit any of this to the gallery.”

“So you know about that. Yes, she didn't choose any of her work to display for the art club's end-of-year gallery. In fact, she even told me to throw them away. But I kept them, because I knew she'd have regretted it if I actually did.”

“Arima-sensei, do you know why Yagami-san is so strict with her own artwork?” Takahashi asked.

“Well, if you were to ask me, I think it's because she loves art so much.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“The girl has a particularly keen eye for art. When she first joined, she spent a lot of time admiring all of the work her seniors and predecessors had done. I think having an appreciation for that sort of thing is important, but I think that it also made it hard for her to appreciate her own work.”

“She keeps comparing her work to others?”

“I'm afraid so. She's very much the introspective sort as well. I'm sure if she spoke to her fellow clubmates, her perspective would change for the better, but...”

Takahashi silently glanced over the artwork once again. He was starting to get a better understanding of Yagami's mindset.

“Takahashi-sensei?”

“Yes?” Takahashi snapped out of his trance.

“Please understand that Yagami-san doesn't have any ill will. She's a very earnest girl, but sometimes that works against her.”

“Of course,” Takahashi replied. “I understand that perfectly.”

As Takahashi left the art club room, he decided on what he would do. It might end up backfiring on him, but he really had no other options. He needed to show Yagami that she could have some confidence in her work.

*****

As classes ended for the day, Takahashi's students moved to begin rehearsal for the day. Yagami left the room almost immediately and headed straight for the classroom where the set pieces were stored. To her surprise, when she got there she immediately noticed that all of her work had disappeared. She furiously searched the room just in case they were placed in a different location, but she couldn't find anything.

The thought of the set pieces having possibly been stolen crossed her mind, and she quickly ran out of the classroom back up to Takahashi's classroom. She threw the door open panting and heaving, a surprising sight for her classmates.

“Yagami-san, what's the matter?”

Yagami raised her head to speak, only to realize that the missing set pieces were right here in the rehearsal room. They were being set up as part of the stage, and even the pieces the other students made were being used. It was clearly unfinished, but since it was a rehearsal nobody really seemed to mind as long as they could tell what was what.

Takahashi noticed Yagami looking at the rehearsal stage and gave her a reassuring smile. “Oh, yeah. The students wanted to perform the rehearsal using the set pieces this time around. They'll have to switch it all around between scenes pretty quickly during the real deal, so they wanted to practice doing it at least a couple of times.”

“B-But the pieces aren't finished yet!” Yagami blurted out. “They still need to be touched up before-”

“It's okay, Yagami-san,” Takahashi interrupted. “It's only practice. Come on, sit down and watch the rehearsal with me.”

Takahashi pointed to a desk near the front, motioning for her to sit down. Yagami reluctantly sat down as Takahashi slid into the adjacent desk. The rehearsal soon started as the crew in charge of the set pieces quickly set up the scene. As the narrator began the introductory monologue, a roughly sketched cardboard castle rose up on the backdrop.

“Kuroda-kun made that, if I recall correctly,” Takahashi noted casually. Yagami didn't respond.

The rehearsal continued through the opening scenes, and as the scene shifted towards the forest, the crew switched out the castle and quickly set up a row of cardboard trees and bushes. Takahashi pointed at one of the trees in the middle to Yagami.

“That one's yours, right? It looks really good.”

The difference was astounding, to say the least. While the other trees were amateurishly painted at best, Yagami's tree could almost be mistaken for the real thing if you weren't looking closely. The delicate brushwork elegantly simulated the appearance of a leafy green tree in mid-spring.

Despite all that, Yagami seemed to sport an unsatisfied look on her face. “No, it's not good enough. The paint is uneven, and the trunk lacks depth.”

Takahashi wasn't skilled enough in art to know how accurate those statements are, but he didn't try to argue. He wanted Yagami to focus on the rehearsal.

The performance continued, and the set pieces would rotate as the settings and location changed. This time, the set pieces portrayed a small village, and once again one of Yagami's works was being used: a fence placed in front of a farm.

“There's not enough detail,” Yagami complained. “I was planning on finishing it up eventually.”

This continued a couple more times until the performance was now halfway through the script. Takahashi noted a complicated expression was beginning to grow on Yagami's face.

“What's the point of all this, Sensei?” Yagami asked. “I just wanted to work on the set pieces in peace.”

“I just wanted you to see something,” Takahashi explained. “You said your work on the set pieces isn't complete yet. I don't want to dismiss your opinion, and having a strict work ethic is admirable.”

“Then what is it? Why interrupt my work like this?”

“Because I wanted you to understand that it isn't the end of the world if you don't get it perfectly. You saw Fukuda-san's performance during the acting contest, didn't you?”

“I did. She was amazing, frankly.”

“Right?” Takahashi beamed with pride. “I knew she was a one-in-a-million talent in an instant.”

“And?” Yagami seemed a bit annoyed. “Why are you rubbing it in my face?”

“The point is this.” Takahashi put a finger up in the air. “Do you remember Fukuda-san's last line?”

“Yeah. She said 'I must bring peace between the two kingdoms'.”

“Right. Except she was supposed to say 'I must broker peace between the two kingdoms'. She messed up her line.”

“Did she? I didn't notice.”

“It's not just her. Yada-san was supposed to come in after that line for her first appearance, but she was a few seconds late. And Nagasaki-kun... well, the less said about his performance, the better.”

“And? It's a rehearsal. People are bound to make mistakes.”

“Exactly. Mistakes are a fact of life. There's no such thing as a person who's never made a mistake, you know.”

Yagami fell silent and turned away. “I know that. But it's not so easy to ignore when you know you've messed up.”

“I'm not telling you to ignore it. Everyone I just mentioned surely knows that they messed up. But they won't let it stop them during their performance. And afterwards, they'll make sure to avoid making the same mistake next time.”

Takahashi gestured towards the set pieces once again. “You said you can't help but see mistakes in your work. I won't deny them. But at some point, you have to accept your work as it is. It might be a little embarrassing at first, but I promise you that it will become easier with time.”

Takahashi then turned to the other students. “Look! No one's saying anything about the set pieces, even though a large number of them certainly look bad. Do you know why?”

Yagami didn't answer, so Takahashi continued.

“Because they know there was effort behind it. The set piece crew worked hard on these pieces so they could be used to bring the play to life. There's no value in making fun of something like that.”

He hoped that was the case, anyway. He was surprised that his students were unusually well-behaved today, but it helped to hammer the point home to Yagami. She stopped watching the play with downturned eyes and began to watch it more vigilantly.

Eventually, the rehearsal finished, and the entire class clapped for the performing students. As the room began to fill with excited chatter, Yagami awkwardly stood around, not sure what to do. When she began to consider grabbing the set pieces and heading back down, she was suddenly confronted by the other students who were working on the set pieces, with Oda heading the group. Yagami seemed bewildered by the whole situation.

“Insulting our work was one thing. But trying to trash it was too far,” Oda declared.

“I'm sorry,” Yagami replied. “I was out of line.”

Oda still had an annoyed look on his face, but he seemed to cool down after her apology. “Well, I admit that you're the best artist out of everyone in the group. But that doesn't give you the right to do that.”

“I know.” Yagami bowed deeply, tears starting to come out of her eyes. “I'm really sorry.”

“If you've got a problem with how we're doing, just tell us. That's the only way we're gonna get better, right?”

Yagami suddenly looked up, a little surprised. She wasn't expecting to be forgiven so easily. “Are you sure?”

“Just cool it with the criticism and we'll be good. I know we aren't the best at this kind of work, so just let us know what you want us to fix.”

“Okay,” Yagami responded. “I'll try.”

Takahashi smiled as he watched the set piece crew make up. While he was still worried about the progress of the set pieces, he was sure he could leave it to the students. As he beamed at the sight of camaraderie between his students, he noticed Izumi coming up to him with an irritated look on his face.

“Oh, Izumi-kun! Is something the matter?”

“Yeah, something's the matter. You forgot to ask the drama club to borrow costumes again!”

“Oh, that's right! Sorry, Izumi-kun! I'll get right on that...”

Takahashi dashed out of the room as he apologized profusely. There really was no shortage of problems.