Act III

            A month has passed since. I know I’m mostly to blame for delaying all of my work, but man this entire month has been brutal, not even including shooting our film after I’m done with classes.

“CUT! That’s a wrap everyone!” The director yelled out.

“WOOOO!”

            Everyone in the room yelled out, with massive claps resonating throughout the entire room. After four months of grueling shooting, we’re finally done with the production stage of this project.

“It’s doneeeeee!” I stretch out from my chair.

            Even though my body feels fine, my mind is hanging on a thread of collapsing. I honestly want to get back home and get some rest.

“Now that everything is over, let’s all go for a drink!” The president enthusiastically yelled out.

            As usual, there’s a massive roar that resounded throughout the entire room, with everyone going up to their circles talking about how glad they are that the shooting is finished. I look to my left, where Nakamura is sitting next to the lighting equipment whilst downing a massive gallon of water bottle with his black shirt completely soaked in sweat.

“Is he going to be okay?”

           Even though we’ve been working together for around a month, I haven’t had a chance to have a talk with him.

“More like I haven’t made an attempt to talk to him…”

“Hideakii. You’re going to come right?” Takahashi said, somehow standing in front of me right now.

“Obviously I’ll come!” I said enthusiastically.

“Everyone’s waiting outside, so let’s go.”

“Actually, I need to pack up my stuff first. Is that okay?” I asked.

“Sure. If you take too long, we’ll leave you, okay? Sugiura already ordered a taxi for us.” Takahashi said as he uses his thumb to towards the door of this room.

“…”

            I look to my left with Nakamura there still cleaning up our lightings and cameras. He awkwardly moves the light out of the set, almost tripping on the messy cables on the floor.

“…You guys should go on ahead. I need to submit my essay after I’m done cleaning up.” I replied.

“If you say so man.” Takahashi shrugs.

“By the way, where’s the president at?” I asked.

“Last I saw him, he was in the backroom cleaning up our supplies.” Takahashi replied.

“I see… Alright, I’ll see you in a few hours.” I said while bringing my right hand up.

“See you later man.” Takahashi gave a slight wave, and jogged out of the room.

            I gave a slight wave as well. Once he’s out of the room, I stood up whilst doing some stretches, and head towards where Nakamura is seated.

“Yo. You need some help?” I asked

            Nakamura’s body shook for a second when I called out to him. He slowly looks up to me and asks,

“H-Help with what?” He asks timidly.

“I got nothing to do, so I thought I’ll help out in packing up all the lighting supplies.” I replied courteously.

“…D-Didn’t you make plans with your friends?” Nakamura asks, avoiding my gaze.

“We’re just going to pub meetup at a later time. Aren’t you coming?”

“A-As much as I don’t want to, I don’t think I can get away from coming…”

            As Nakamura said that, he looks over to our supply room with the president carrying all of the cameras and all of the other set equipment into the storage room.

“I get you.” I replied.

“I’m really not in the mood to drink…” Nakamura listlessly replied.

“Sameee…”

“Why? I thought you already had plans with your friends.” Nakamura asks.

“Ahh right. I did have something like that.” I replied.

“Shouldn’t you go meet up with them?”

“…We should clean up these lightings first. I’m honestly surprised you even want to move all of these on your own.” I said as I slowly stand up.

            I’m genuinely surprised though. Obviously, there’s a few that’s already moved into the storage room, but there’s around four soft boxes, and two umbrellas at the back.

“Huff…!”

            I lift one of the soft box lighting up, only for the top’s heaviness making me lose my balance.

“Shoot!”

           As I struggle along, Nakamura then comes in from my left side to support the weight of the lighting, making it a lot more balanced to hold onto.

“…Y-You okay?” Nakamura asks me.

“Y-Yeah… That was close…” I said as I look up at the light.

            I severely underestimated on how heavy this thing would be. I’m honestly impressed that Nakamura can carry a good amount of these lightings, not considering some of the camera equipments. This makes me appreciate physical workers, and makes me realize that I really need to workout.

“Haah… haah…”

“Hey… A-Are you actually okay?” Nakamura gave me a concerned look.

“Y-Yeah… I’m okay… Come on, help me out here…” I said as I put more strength holding onto the pole of the light.

“Sure…”

            Nakamura then tighten his grip on the top pole, while I hold down the bottom side of the pole. Both of us then awkwardly lifts the lighting, and starts walking towards the storage room.

“Why do you want to help out anyway? I can do all of this without your help…” Nakamura asks.

“I just… want to help out is all....” I said with a smile.

“…Is that really it?”

“…” I broke my gaze from him and look towards the floor.

“…Had a fight with your friends?” Nakamura asks.

“No… I just, don’t want to see them right now…”

“A-Aren’t you seeing them in a few hours?”

“…Can I ask you a question?”

“W-What is it…?”

“…About what you said last week. That you're scared of what the president thinks of the real you…”

“W-What about it?” Nakamura asks.

“…What is the real us?”

“…D-Don’t ask me those questions. Even I don’t know anything about it.” Nakamura replied in a mutter.

“…Right. Haha… Sorry for the random question… Let’s get this to the storage roo—”

“Personally, I think it’s about being comfortable with yourself…” Nakamura answers.

“…”

“I’m sure I’m completely wrong with that, so don’t take it too seriously…” Nakamura says as he scratches his right cheek.

“Comfortable…”

“…Let’s bring this to the storage room first.” Nakamura cuts in.

“A-Ah… right… sorry about that.” I said as I feebly positioned myself to bring myself up.

            I feel like I just found the right piece that fits in this massive puzzle. Have I always felt comfortable with the things I do? Whenever I’m with my group of friends, it always feels as if I’m watching a show about a group of friends having fun, rather than being apart of that said group. Have I ever felt comfortable hanging out with them?

­­­---

            Once we moved the lighting into the storage room, we head back to where the rest of the lightings were, when we’re greeted with a massive body that is standing right in front of us.

“Tomio? What are you still doing here? I thought you already went with your friends.” The president asks while leaning down towards me.

“I told them that they can go on first, since I needed to submit my essay. I also saw that Nakamura is struggling, so I thought I might as well help him out. Haha…”

“It’s not like I needed it...” Nakamura muttered

            I know that I’m not helping out much, but please don’t say those kinds of things. My chest actually hurts a lot from those words.

“That so? After you’re done, you should come with me instead.” The president says.

“Okay… Thanks man.” I replied.

            Is that really the response I want to give him? Hanging out with everyone in a pub will be a lot of fun, and I can also hang out with my group of friends there. But at the same time, I also don’t really want to go either.

            Unsure as to why, I look to my right, where Nakamura is standing next to me, with his face hidden with his relatively long hair, and his shoulders slouching forward. He then puts his hands inside of his jeans pocket, and slowly walk towards the president.

“…”

             I’m not sure what’s driving me to do this, but I start power walking towards the presidents’ back, overtaking Nakamura in the process.

“…Hey, president.” I said, pressing in my voice.

“Huh? What’s up Tomio?” The president replied with his head turned towards me.

“…Nakamura and I are going to skip out for tonight… Is that okay…?”

“…Huhh? Why did you change your mind? Did something bad happened? Are you feeling sick? Why now of all times?” The president berates me with multiple different questions that I can’t even keep up.

“Ahh no, it’s just… We’re super tired, and we just want to skip out.” I said with my body stiffer than a rock, with my face absolutely drenched in sweat.

            The president stays quiet for a while, scratching his head in the process. Then, he lets out an overly exaggerated sigh, and says,

“I see… That’s too bad… Have you told your friends about it?”

“Ah, right… I told them that I’d be coming… Can you tell them that I’ll be skipping this one out prez?”

“Not only are you not coming, but you’re even asking me to relay a message for you? Aaah~, you’re pretty cruel, aren’t you?” The president replied exaggeratedly.

“Sorry…”

“H-Hey, I was just joking. I’ll tell them about it, no worries.”

“Thanks.”

“Still though, this is the first time I’ve heard you make an initiative for yourself.” The president says with a smile on his face.

“What do you mean?”

“How should I say this… It always feels like you’re just following along with the things I say, so I always thought that you secretly hated me for it…”

“…”

            Shoot. I got nothing to say to that. Is the president secretly a perceptive person?

“Also, you’ve never said my name once…” The president curtly says.

“…!”

“Hey… The fact that you’re staying quiet is hurting me even more you know…” The president says in a sulk.

            Sounds of footsteps comes from my back, with it followed by an empowering voice,

“I-It’s true that at least I find you annoying...”

“…That so. I’m sorry Nakamura…” The president says in a low voice.

“But! I don’t hate you as a person… If anything, I look up to you as a leader…”

            Nakamura’s back is straight, and looking at president directly in his eyes. His right hand is shaking a bit, but he clenches them, which stops his hand from trembling.

“…There really isn’t anything for me to say here, so I guess I’ll just believe you guys, hahaha…” The president replied whilst scratching his head.

“…”

“…”

“...You two get some rest. I don’t want to be late, so I’ll be going now.” The president says with a soft smile on his face.

“Alright. You take care too pres.” I replied.

“Yeah! See you guys next week!” The president loudly proclaimed.

“God, is there a way to suppress his voice?” Nakamura says in a mutter, followed up with a sigh.

“I wonder how Kazuto can have so much energy hanging out with the president…”

---

            We were walking along in a neighborhood in silence, with the sun slowly taking away the sea of orange that lays before us. As we continue to walk, we stumbled a nearby vending machine, so we took a break from walking to get something to drink.

“Nakamura, what do you want?”

“I’ll take chocolate milk. Any brand is fine.”

            As I press the buttons for a canned chocolate milk and a bottle green tea, a massive plonk sound resounded the relatively quiet and dark neighborhood. With the only thing lighting its environment are a bunch of lamp poles that just barely gave light.

“Hey man, what was that about?” Nakamura asks, breaking the silence.

“About what?” I asked again.

“Do you really need to play dumb?” Nakamura curtly asks.

“Sorry…”

“…So?”

“I’m… not so sure to be honest.” I replied.

“Huhhh?” Nakamura gave an exasperated reply.

“All that I know is that, I felt glad that I said that to him… As if a weight was taken off of my shoulders…” I said as I spin around my half drunken bottle in my hands.

“…I get what you mean though. It feels pretty good to finally say what I thought of him this entire time…” Nakamura replied as he finished his can of milk in one go.

“I’m still surprised you can say that to him…” I said with an exasperated sigh.

“It’s not like you denied him either when he asked you about it.” Nakamura replied looking at me with his eyes narrowed.

“T-That’s… Uhh…” I downed what remains that exists in my bottle in one go, drenching in my throat with jasmine like sweets.

“Still, I’m really glad that I didn’t have to go to an izakaya with them. I’m honestly not a fan alcohol. Nakamura says as he stretches his arms out.

“Sameee… By the way, what time will your class ends on Monday?”

“Mine will end at one pm. What about it?”

“O-Ohh, I was thinking maybe we could hang out once in a while outside of club activities, you know.”

“S-Sure… that sounds like fun.” Nakamura mutters.

“Alright. See you on Monday man.” I said as I finished my drink, and threw away the bottle at the bin next to the vending machine.

“Ah… yeah…” Nakamura replied.

            As I said that, I start walking towards the opposite way where we initially came from, and head towards my house.

---

“…”

            Hideaki’s back gradually fades into darkness, whilst I stood still next to the vending machine. Still waving slightly at his back that is gradually going out of sight.

“…Guess I’ll go home.”

            I threw my can into the vending machine, and I finally start walking towards a nearby train station.

“I wonder if I’ve grown a bit from today...”

The End