I heard it from the horse's mouth:
Mimimi told you she liked you.
Yeah. I'm sorry I hid it from you.
That's all right. So for now...
as you progress through your event map,
you'll be focusing on Fuka instead,
Event 1 Event 2 Event 3 Event 4 Minami Nanami
since you've already met your goal with Mimimi.
Again with that "goal" stuff...
Still, if you'd like,
you can check off the boxes for Mimimi, too.
Event 5 Event 6 Event 7 Event 8 Minami Nanami
Huh? Really?
You do seem to prefer challenges that coincide with
what you want to do.
2nd Stage: Lv. 10 The patterns carved into the stone tablet are connected to the mysteries of the world
Okay, first of all,
we decide who gets what part.
Roles: Libra Kris
Starting with the hero, Libra.
What's he like?
Libra is...
He's good at closing the distance between him and others.
He's considerate, smart, and brimming with curiosity.
That's me! Who else?
Takei: 1 Tachibana: 10 Mizusawa: 23
Takahiro it is!
Huh?! Why?
I'm not entirely sure I'm fit for the role, but since it's mine now...
I'll do it proud.
Libra: Mizusawa Kris Alucia
Next is Kris.
Kris is fearful, but so innocent—a slightly childlike girl.
Seno: 5 Kashiwazaki: 9 Natsubayashi: 20
Tama it is!
Okay. I'll do my best.
The last main character is Alucia.
She's brilliant and quick-witted:
the perfect girl whom everyone can rely on.
Which means, well...
you know.
I see I'm going to have to raise my hand.
Libra: Mizusawa Kris: Natsubayashi Alucia: Hinami
Okay, Aoi it is!
A round of applause for our three main characters!
Good luck!
Break a leg!
Can't wait!
Manga Café | Play
Okay, so this is how we'll divvy things up between the play and the manga café.
Thanks, Tomozaki.
This is kind of fun. Now that we have our actors,
I'm getting all these ideas...
Oh, yeah?
B-Brain!
We need to have a meeting of our own!
I'm not sure we'll make it in time, though!
Oh, right! The comedy act.
That's right, Brain! Did you forget? You little so-and-so!
Sorry... I've been kinda busy.
Well, you are directing the class play, after all.
I'll do you a favor: how about we meet after school today?
How is that doing me a favor?
Is that okay, Kikuchi?
Um, sure.
So, uh, what should we do?
Y-Yeah, Tomozaki... what?
Did you have any suggestions?
Well, um... I was thinking about, like, a married-couple routine...
M-Married couple...
But, um, then I changed my mind.
Oh... okay.
Listen...
Look... I told you, didn't I?
Um... you mean...
That I like you.
R-Right...
What did you think? When I told you... like that.
Um... I was glad. Really glad.
Uh-huh.
But honestly...
It's like I'm still not sure what exactly to do now.
Oh...
Still, you're probably—
Wait, is this okay?! I'm not getting annoying or anything, am I?
No, no, it's fine...
W-Well, good.
Y-Yeah.
Hey...
What do you think it means for a—for a girl and a guy to date?
Wh-Where'd that come from? A girl and a guy—?
Y-Yeah. Like, why a couple would date.
Can I be serious for a second?
Sure.
I told you before how I can't really break into first place,
that I can't be someone special.
I tell myself not to think that way,
but it's so deeply ingrained in me by now
that I can't really change.
But you... you gave me the chance to try.
You mean, the election?
Yeah.
And with Tama and Erika... lots of times, really.
Even though I couldn't do anything at all,
it's like you changed the world to get things solved.
I want to be someone like you—
but that's not something I can do.
So, yeah!
At first it was kinda spur-of-the-moment, saying I liked you—like how I like Tama.
But the more I thought about it...
I started to realize that I felt the same.
The same?
About you.
I really do like you.
So maybe that's it.
Maybe that's... the reason I chose you.
Oh, man—am I getting annoying again?!
No, not at all.
Oh, geez, now I'm all embarrassed.
Forget what I said here today!
Eh?! A-All right.
But I'd be too lonely if you forgot it all, so never mind.
What the heck?
Look, a girl's mind is complicated, okay?
It is, eh? Complicated, huh...
See you later, Brain!
Sleep warm!
Hey... what about our comedy practice?
Tomozaki
So maybe that's it.
Maybe that's... the reason I chose you.
Then what about me?
What are my special reasons?
Here, Tomozaki.
My Unfamiliar Way to Fly Second Draft
Now that the roles have been assigned, I adjusted the dialogue.
In one night?
Yes. I still haven't finished the last scene, though.
Ah... she changed more than just the dialogue, I see.
Since Kris had been caring for the dragons all this time,
she'd never left the garden.
That's the kind of sad girl she was.
But the garden had everything:
a fluffy bed,
fresh, clean water,
a warm bath.
She read fairy tales and books of myths.
She was served the same meals as the royal family.
But what the garden lacked was everything else.
The first change is in the scene where they meet.
When Kris, who lived in solitude —knowing neither joy nor sorrow—
first meets Libra and Alucia,
the first draft had her reacting like this:
Other... humans? Oh! I'm Kris!
What are your names?
It showed her curiosity about the outside world, as well as how forthright she was.
But after the rewrite, it went like this:
Other... humans?
Wh-Who are you? What are you doing here?
Her guardedness and fear came to the forefront.
Although she'd hoped to be released from her solitude,
she still feared change and the unknown world.
Libra, too, wasn't the simple hero he'd been in the first draft.
He was awkward and made a lot of mistakes,
but made friends via his resolve to see things through.
Now he was more of a realistic young man.
In other words, both of them had their weaknesses highlighted.
But not Alucia.
Take when she meets Kris and the dragon, for example.
Originally, Alucia sensed danger and tried to escape,
but in the revised script:
Libra, move.
Alucia immediately moves to break the dragon's wing herself.
That makes it her fault that the dragon can no longer fly.
It no longer matters whether Libra is unclean.
But Libra notices and stops her.
What are you doing?
It would take a lot to execute a royal like me.
So please... let me do this.
But if you do, Alucia...
it's your heart that will die!
Thanks to Alucia's bluff, Libra's life was spared.
Here the story shifts to the relationships between the three
during their time in the garden.
With their new roles of caretaker and educator,
the three built a warm but strange family-friend relationship.
Kris enjoyed decorating with flowers and reading books.
But to keep her from the world's impurities,
she was allowed only myths and fairy tales.
After exhausting the castle's stores of books,
she became engrossed in Libra's tales of the outside world.
The giant dragon is actually the fastest of all dragons.
They move at such high speed: boosh, boosh!
Wow! Tell me more!
Nowadays there are even facilities that generate magic from their movements.
Apparently it was a huge discovery, being able to turn physical power into magic!
Really? That's amazing!
I know a little magic myself. Just one spell, though: Unlock.
That's physical power, isn't it?
What's magical about opening a lock?
You got me.
Libra told her all about the real world.
A world where people lived, sometimes argued,
loved one another, and occasionally died.
But see...
As long as I have this, I can go all kinds of places and see all kinds of things.
So even if this is all I have, that's fine by me.
I see. Your Unlock is a very...
a very marvelous spell!
Meanwhile, Alucia was talented
and hard-working enough to have won magic tournaments.
She was tough on Kris during their lessons together.
Look, it's just some folk belief that holds all non-royals are tainted.
There's no basis for it.
Noble society loves its old-fashioned traditions.
Th-That's a little frightening...
Say, could we study something more pleasant?
Perhaps some delightful tales of the outside world...?
Hmm... Okay, do you know what butterflies are?
Yuck! They're insects, aren't they?
Like this?
That's a pill bug.
Both are insects, but a butterfly is different.
But that's the only insect we have in here.
See, this is why you need to study.
You need basic knowledge to understand stories about the world outside.
Hmm, it feels like you're buttering me up...
Like a butterfly... get it?
Mmm. Now let's pick up where we left off.
Oh, don't be a pill... bug! Get it?
Yes, yes. Now, where we left off...
Tama-rrow!
Pill... bug!
Kris is totally Tama.
And this Alucia...
She's way too similar to the face behind her mask.
The story's turning point hinged on the flying dragon.
Flying dragons become capable of flight before they turn 13.
Those that can't fly by then are thought to have lost the power of flight due to impurities.
The flying dragon Kris was raising turned 13 this year...
and still couldn't fly.
But what impurity could be robbing it of flight?
Kris, did you know?
Flying dragons can read people's minds.
Their minds?
They're kind, too.
They never forget all they owe to the human who raises them,
and they do all they can to grant that person's wishes.
Do you mean...
Say, Kris...
You don't want to fly, do you?
In this way, Kris's weakness was revealed.
The garden had everything. Everything and nothing.
Therefore, she was lonely and wished she could leave. And yet...
her desire to fly from this garden and gain everything it lacked
was overshadowed by her fear of an unknown world.
That's right: what kept the dragon tied down
was none other than Kris's own mind.
Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki S2
That was really good.
I think it's even more interesting than the novel.
R-Really?
Uh-huh.
The part where they learn why the dragon can't fly stayed with me the most.
Kris being afraid struck me as so realistic... so human.
Oh? I thought it might.
You did?
Oh, um... Was there anything else?
I liked what happened after they figured out what was up with the dragon, too.
Oh! I like that part, too!
Libra suggests that he and Kris
both ride the dragon to see the outside world together.
Kris was just afraid to see the world all by herself.
That's right.
But when she's with Libra... she can fly.
Kris wanted to fly out into the glittering outside world, but was afraid.
Libra's the one who brought her out of her lonely, walled garden.
The view Kris saw from there must have changed
the gray world she'd been seeing all her life.
Ever since I was little, I'd felt like everything I saw was gray.
What's wrong?
Tell me: what was Libra especially good at again?
Mmm... I'd say he was best at saying whatever was on his mind.
This script isn't pure fiction.
This is Kikuchi's own story.
You want to know about Hinami?
Yes.
So I can paint a more detailed picture of Alucia's personality.
Alucia's personality?
Libra is awkward, Kris is fearful...
Alucia is strong, but she needs a weakness.
As I was writing, I started to have my doubts.
Doubts?
As in, how can Alucia even be this strong?
An interview? Now you've got me nervous.
Go ahead, Kikuchi.
Okay.
Um... What drives you to work so hard at so many things?
But that interview was empty,
just nice-sounding words with a little venom that seemed like it could be real.
I doubt there were any answers that Kikuchi would want to put in her story.
I think Hinami was lying to us.
No matter how fluent her speech, the motive at the center of it all stayed hidden.
She acted like she was saying how she really felt, though.
Which means...
Alucia isn't just going along with her environment
and working hard out of a sense of duty...
there's something... unusual there.
I think so, too.
But I didn't know what...
even though I knew the face behind her mask.
Care to dig a little deeper, Kikuchi?
See what makes Hinami tick?
I'm Maebashi. Nice to meet you.
Tomozaki. Same here.
I-I'm Kikuchi. Glad you could come.
Okay, let's get started.
Oh, I do have Hinami's permission, by the way.
Let's see...
Tachibana went to middle school with Hinami.
Right.
And Maebashi, you've been her classmate since grade school?
That's right.
All right, we'll start with middle school.
Has anything stuck with you, Tachibana?
What I remember... is her dating the Vice President of the boy's basketball club.
Huh?! Really?
He was this cool older guy. The girls loved him.
And she dumped him right away!
So she always stood out, huh...
Mmm...
I wouldn't say that.
What do you mean?
I don't think Hinami stood out much in grade school, anyway.
She didn't?
She was earnest, friendly—a good kid.
Oh, and I remember her being really family-oriented.
Right! So do I.
I got the impression that she loved her little sisters a lot.
Plural?
Oh, so she has little sisters?
Say hi to Hinami for me!
Thanks for everything!
What's up, Tachibana?
You know how Maebashi said "sisters," plural?
Yeah, she did say that.
See, that's weird right there.
I mean, Aoi only has one younger sister.
Are you sure about that?
Yeah, pretty damn sure.
It's not really something we can pry into.
She's never said a word about it.
Right...
Let's just...
stop here.
My Unfamiliar Way to Fly Third Draft
I've made some revisions concerning Alucia...
but I haven't written past the scene where Kris takes flight with Libra.
That's all right.
We can do plenty of rehearsals with just the first half.
Spare Classroom A In Use
O-Okay!
Let's do a read-through of our script!