10 years had passed since I started playing the game of sekkusu with my childhood friend. - Chapter 32. The props department staff have nothing more to be done.

Chapter 32. The props department staff have nothing more to be done.

With the cultural festival finally coming up on the next day, the students were asked to rehearse in the same gymnasium as for the actual performance on the day of the festival.

After we had finished our work as props crew, since Inawashiro and I had nothing more to do, we sat idly waiting for the curtain to rise from the audience seats.

“It’s finally the time, isn’t it!”

“Were you able to get those costume done on time?”

“Un, somehow or the other, I was able to. Haru-cchi looked really cute you know. Have you seen her yet?”

“Nope, I haven’t.”

The students who would be performing in the play were preparing in the wings of the stage. If I took a quick peek onto them, I could definitely have seen Haruhime changing into her costume. But somehow or the other, I wasn’t in the mood for that, so I was killing my time in other ways possible.

The lights in the gymnasium were turned off as the spotlight is made to shine on them.

Fukuo wore a horn headgear on his head, with makeup on his face, and toy false teeth.

” 『 What a gruesome curse of the witch’s! 』”

“He has become really well now….”

“Well, given the amount of practice he did with me…”

Even the students around him who hadn’t really participated in the preparations let out surprised voices of amazement. After all, he looked so dignified that it was hard to believe that he was the same someone who usually sat in the corner of the classroom, silently building and living in his own world.

After that, the play between the beast and his servant continued, and eventually it was Haruhime’s turn to appear.

I could hear her voice from the wings of the stage.

” 『 I wonder where is this place? 』”

Once it seemed that the stage went darker all of a sudden, but in the very next instance, Haruhime’s shadow gradually began to appear from the dark.

“……a”

For a moment, I even forget how to breathe.

When Haruhime appeared on the stage, she looked so beautiful that it is still hard to describe.

Dressed in a blue colored clothes, with little make-up on her face, she appeared on stage. Her carefully braided hair falls in front of her and sways near her chest-valleys. That dress with open shoulders, exposed her white skin to naked eyes.

“Uwaaaa, as I thought, Haru-cchi really does look so pretty in that.”

Inawashiro said, with her eyes sparkling.

The atmosphere around Haruhime is seemed very different. She felt more mature than the Haruhime I knew of.

Standing under the spotlight, she spoke clearly.

” 『 Who are you? 』”

The person over there was a Haruhime that I never knew. Even though we had been together since we were little, the girl standing there was someone I had never seen before.

“『 It’s a lovely castle. Are you the master?  』”

“『 Don’t look at my face! Go away!  』”

I just couldn’t take my eyes off Harunhime anymore. Every move, every word, everything she did stuck to my heart and was unwilling to part ways with me.

“『 It’s okay. You’re just being scared of yourself. For I already know how you really look. 』”

It seemed to me like the light was shining only to Haruhime. For me, she was all I could see in front of my field of vision.

From time to times, Haruhime looked a little nervous as well. Her forehead was getting sweaty from the heat of the lights falling on her.

“『 Yes, it’s all thanks to you that I was able to break free from the witch’s curse. It was all because you were able to see into the truth in my heart. 』”

“『 …Your pure heart had always been visible to me all along. 』”

The story comes to an end.

“『 I love you. 』”

And the curtain descends slowly.

“It was amazing, wasn’t it? I’m looking forward to the actual performance.”

Next to me, Inawashiro clapped like a little child.

…She was so close to me, yet.

I couldn’t help but wish, that, ‘if only I could convey my words honestly like the characters on that play happening on the stage’.