Chapter 29 – Rehearsal
The group made significant progress on the script during the night, and by the end of the weekend, the draft was complete with the actual script, the sets needed, costumes, and lighting ideas. Ayako was nearly bouncing up and down as they walked to school that Monday.
“I can’t wait until everyone reads it! You did copy enough for everyone, didn’t you Kana?”
Kana nodded. “I told you that I would.”
“I know, but I just wanted to be sure. You’re such an awesome friend, you know that?”
Kana spared her a fleeting smile before saying, “I do hope that this works out well.”
“Of course it will work out. I’ll personally see to that!” Ayako twirled around unable to contain her excitement.
The group made it to school a lot more quickly than they normally would have due to Ayako’s endless energy, and instead of sitting under the sakura tree as they usually did, Ayako insisted that they go directly inside.
As soon as she reached the classroom, she travelled around to everyone already there, giving them the script and telling them exactly what they would be doing. Kana moved around the room with her while Mika and Kaito watched the two from their desks.
“What was it that did make you change your mind about participating in this?” Mika asked him after several minutes.
Kaito shrugged and replied, “I’m really not sure. I guess I just figured it would turn out fine for me to participate. It’s just acting out a role which I’ve done every day of my life.”
Mika was about to question exactly what he meant by that, but Daisuke burst into the classroom and ran over to them waving around the script. “Have you read this yet?” he demanded.
“Of course,” Kaito answered him.
“What is this?! ‘To serve you is the reason I breathe, my Lord,’” he read. “That sounds so stupid! I don’t want to have to say–”
Daisuke was interrupted as Ayako hit him hard on the head with her rolled up script. “You’ll say it and you’ll like it. You’re the servant after all, you have to play the part! It was Kaito’s idea,” she added as an afterthought.
“Wha – But!”
“I think it has a rather nice ring to it,” Kaito said with a coy smile. “You’re a playing the role of a gemeng, so you’ve got to act like one.”
“A what?” Daisuke tilted his head slightly as if that would help him figure out the meaning of this foreign word.
Kaito rolled his eyes. “A slave obviously.”
“In what language? Anyway, I’m not a slave, I’m a servant! There’s a big difference!”
“Yes, a big difference indeed,” Kaito replied sarcastically.
Daisuke was prevented from arguing further by the ringing of the bell. With one last playful glare at Kaito, he reluctantly sat down. The actual rehearsals and preparations didn’t officially start until Wednesday, and what a long two days it was for every individual in the school. When Wednesday did finally roll around, and the whole class dived into the prep work.
The class rep was the official overseer of the project, but Ayako was in charge of keeping everything going, running smoothly, and working properly. She divided the class up based on their jobs, and sent them off to different areas to work. The set designers headed to one of the art rooms, the costume designers moved off toward another free club room, while the acting group stayed in the classroom.
“Daisuke!” Ayako ordered. “You’re not putting enough feeling into this!” She had somehow managed to obtain a director’s cone and was using it to yell out orders to everyone even though they were only a couple of meters away.
“But –” Daisuke began.
“No protesting! Do it again!”
So Daisuke, grumbling about how unfair life was, got down on his knees again in front of Kaito. “What will you have us do with the angel, my Lord?” Daisuke asked.
“Throw the suzerian in the dungeons. I’ll deal with her later.”
Daisuke nodded. “T-To serve you is the reason I b-breathe,” he said through clenched teeth.
“WRONG!” Ayako screamed.
“Would you quit screaming through that accursed thing?!” Kaito yelled back at her.
Ayako ignored him and went on, “Daisuke, you’ve got to really want to serve him. Pretend he’s some idol or something that you really want to meet, and you Kaito, you’ve already met Dianna once, and you’ve already begun to develop feelings for her, so show a little hesitation, and little doubt or worry or something when you’re ordering her to be thrown into the dungeons. Do it again!”
With a sigh from the both of them, they began the scene once more, and did it again and again, until Ayako seemed to think that it was sufficient.
About an hour later, the group was dismissed for a short snack break. Kaito immediately went for the roof hoping to get away from the masses of loud people rushing about. He wasn’t alone long before Mika came up.
“Are you okay?” she asked as she located the lump on the roof.
“Just swell,” he muttered. “I think my ears are going to be ringing for the rest of the day due to Ayako’s incessant yelling through that stupid megaphone.”
“After our little break, I think the costume designers are going to start fitting the actors, so you won’t have to worry about it for a while longer,” Mika offered.
Kaito only nodded, and after a few minutes of silence, Kana came up to tell Mika and Kaito that Ayako was ready for them. He slipped off the roof with a low groan and followed Kana to the clubroom.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Ayako rushed down the hall, which was pretty much what she’d been doing all morning. Keeping everyone in line and doing what they were supposed to was a lot harder than she’d first thought. This time, it was the set designers that needed her help, so she’d all but run from the clubroom she’d set the costume designers in, to address whatever issue the set makers had.
“Ayako!” one of the girls called when Ayako entered the room. “There you are!”
“Yeah, here I am, so what’s the problem?”
“When we’re painting the battlefield in the opening scene, should it just be a plain, grassy background, or do you think we should add wounded soldiers, and stuff?”
Ayako contemplated for a moment before answering. “Don’t draw any extra people, but if you could make it look like a battlefield, with bombs going off in the background and make the land look torn up, that would be good. Oh, and if you could add a sunset or something so that the land is hued a redish color, that would be really awesome!"
The group nodded in understanding, and Ayako left to go back to the clubroom. When she arrived, the costume designers had already taken whatever measurements they needed for Mika, and had drawn a rough sketch of her outfit.
“What do you think Ayako?” one of the girls asked holding out the notepad.
Ayako took it, and scanned over the picture. “This is great! Don’t let anyone see it until the full rehearsal alright? Especially not Kaito.”
The group agreed enthusiastically.
“Oh, and before I forget to tell you,” Ayako began again, “I’ve personally arranged a wardrobe for our Lucifer, so there’s no need to worry about it.”
“But –” another of the girls began.
“Don’t worry,” Ayako restated. “It’ll be awesome, I guarantee it.” With that, she moved off to locate her actors and actresses once more.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
A week had gone by before any of the students had realized it, and with only another five days left to prepare, Ayako was working harder than ever. Today she was planning to focus on the opening scene, the battle scene between the angels and demons. She had already informed everyone that for the battle scenes, they would need more people than just the nine official actors. After a rather persuasive arguement, Ayako had gotten everyone to agree on this point, and today was the day they would organize all of the fight scenes.
“Okay everyone, you all know what we’re doing today,” Ayako began. “To prepare for a more realistic the battle scene, you all need to know at least a little bit on how to wield a sword. I commandeered several wooden swords from the Kendo club that you can use to practice with. Both Daisuke, who is a part of the club, and Kaito, who we all know can hold his own with a wooden sword, have agreed to help you. If somewhat grudgingly,” she mumbled quietly, casting a quick glare at the two. “That’s all for now. Break!” She dismissed them with a wave of her hand.
Kaito, who had been standing a bit behind Ayako sighed overdramatically. “Are you really serious about this?” he asked as he approached her. “Everyone could just wave a wooden sword around to have the desired effect. You are taking this whole thing way too seriously.”
“So? It’s fun,” Ayako said shortly without turning around.
“It’s unnecessary.” When Ayako didn’t respond, Kaito moved onto the stage where a group of people was already assembled ready for whatever practice he and Daisuke could come up with.
By the time Kaito had made it over to the lot, Daisuke had already begun fitting some of the girls to their appropriate swords.
“Oi, Kaito!” Daisuke whined. “Are you going to stand there all day, or are you going to help me?!”
“But you seem to be doing such a fine job,” Kaito replied. Nevertheless, he joined Daisuke in his feat. With the two of them, it was only a few minutes before everyone was lined up on the stage, wooden sword in hand.
“What should we start with?” Daisuke asked looking at the line of nearly fifteen people ready to begin.
“How should I have any idea?” Kaito countered. “What’s the first thing people in the Kendo club learn?”
“Well, I think the first lecture I had was on the history of the sword and the way of the warrior.”
“That’s not helpful,” Kaito said. “What’s the first technique you learned?”
“Footwork I think, or maybe it was defensive poses?” Daisuke questioned himself putting one finger to his chin contemplating it.
“This is going to take way too long. All they have to know is how to swing the swords and not take out anyone else. Why don’t we have them just fight each other?” Kaito suggested.
“Won’t that be kind of dangerous?”
“The more lumps and bruises one gets, the faster one learns,” Kaito said with a shrug.
“Well if you think so.” Daisuke gave the command for everyone to divide into pairs and attempt a mock fight.
And so, the group spent the next hour thrusting their swords at each other while Kaito and Daisuke travelled amongst them throwing out tidbits and advice.
“Keep your shoulders down an relaxed,” Kaito instructed one girl. “If you stiffen up, you lose the feeling of flow that you have to have if you want to hold your own in a fight.”
The girl nodded, slightly flustered, and turned back to her opponent. “Like this?” she asked as she took a couple of swings.
“Precisely,” Kaito said. He watched the two for a couple more minutes before moving on. The next pair he happened across were two guys that appeared to be attempting to break the other’s sword in half.
“Kendo is not a muscle battle,” he remarked with a slight frown. “You can’t possibly wield a sword correctly if your focusing on the strength of your swing.”
“Then how should we do it?!” one of them shot back, clearly offended by his criticism.
“First off, stop bashing each other, and secondly, you have to focus on speed and finesse rather than brute strength.” When the two still seemed unconvinced he pointed to one of them and said, “You, give me your sword and I’ll prove it.”
“Fine then,” he agreed tossing the wooden sword unceremoniously at Kaito who caught it easily at the hilt.
Kaito tossed it slightly in his hand twice to gauge the length and weight. “What’s your name?” he asked suddenly turning to his opponent.
“Ishi,” he replied slightly stunned by the question.
“Alright then Ishi,” Kaito said ignoring his surprise. He motioned with one finger to his opponent. “Come at me.”
Ishi hesitated for only a slight moment before lunging at Kaito. He didn’t have far to move due to the smaller size of the stage, but it was enough to gain a decent amount of momentum. The wooden swords connected with a loud clack.
As soon as Kaito felt Ishi’s sword hit his, he sidestepped and twisted hard with his right hand. Ishi’s sword was ripped from his grasp and clattered loudly onto the polished wooden floor.
“Do you see now?” Kaito asked. “Brute strength is useless if you don’t have any sort of finesse. Kendo only requires finite movements to win.” Kaito gave his sword back to its original wielder and walked away painfully aware that the majority had stopped their mock fights to watch him.
By the time another half-hour had passed, most of the group could hold their own well enough to perform in the play. When Ayako seemed satisfied with their progress, she dismissed all of the extras, and they headed back to their original jobs.
“Natsumi! Mitsuru!” Ayako called them out as the others departed. “Because you two have a big battle scene, I think you should work a bit more, together.”
They nodded in understanding and returned to the stage where Ayako was rolling out a large padded blue mat. “We need to come up with a good sequence,” she said to no one in particular while she arranged the mat like she wanted. “Kaito, Daisuke,” she addressed them as she stood. “You two are in charge of coming up with a good fight sequence. Make it hard enough to look believable, but easy enough for these two to learn in a couple of days.”
“So you just want us to randomly come up with something?” Daisuke asked.
“Pretty much.”
“Okay then!” Daisuke agreed a bit more happily than Kaito thought he should’ve. He took hold of the sword he’d been carrying around up until this point. “Which one do you want?” he asked Kaito.
“Just toss me one. I don’t really care.”
Daisuke obliged with a shrug, and randomly snatched one from the stack. He handed it to Kaito, and they took their places. “What should we start out with?”
“Well, it’s a pretty big scene right? So start with a big bang. Mitsuru can come in charging and attack with a simple overhead cut while Natsumi blocks.” Kaito moved forward and hit gently with the technique he’d just indicated, while Daisuke easily responded with a block.
“Okay, next I’ll throw you off,” Daisuke said. He pushed upward, and Kaito moved backward appropriately. “Then I’ll attack with a side slash, and you can dodge,” he said as he moved.
Kaito nodded. “Aright, I’ll use the opportunity to strike at you. Parry at close range.”
Daisuke did as he was instructed, until the two of them were centimeters from each other with their swords locked at the hilt. Daisuke exerted some downward pressure and as Kaito responded with an upward motion, Daisuke stepped backward creating an opening and jabbed forward toward Kaito’s left side. “Hit number one.”
“Fine.” He moved backward as if he had really been hit, then moved forward more quickly to strike at Daisuke’s shoulder. “Hit two.” As Daisuke raised his sword in another overhead cut, Kaito ducked downward and imitated a slash across Daisuke's left side. “Hit three.” He spun getting faster as he got more into it, and side-slashed while Daisuke held up his sword vertically to parry.
“Mitsuru has to win the fight,” Kaito reminded Daisuke, “so lose your grip on the sword and fall down as if the hit was too strong.”
“Can’t we just pretend I fell down?”
“No.”
With a sigh, Daisuke tossed his sword and swiftly lowered himself. Kaito positioned himself over Daisuke, and moved the sword down swiftly toward his heart stopping a centimeter from the skin.
“End scene.” Kaito stepped back and turned toward Ayako. “Does that satisfy you?”
Ayako put one finger to her chin in contemplation before saying, “Yes, I think that will work. Come on you two, come practice the sequence.”
With both Kaito’s and Daisuke’s careful instruction, the two girls picked up on the routine fairly quickly, and spent the next couple of hours finessing and speeding up the movements.
“Break!” Ayako called at last. “I think that’s good enough for today. Just remember to keep practicing on your own so that you don’t forget it. We’ll be putting it all together on Thursday.”
The two nodded, and grabbed the water bottle that Ayako offered before heading out of the backstage part of the theater.
“So what’s next?” Daisuke asked as he walked over.
“You two go back to the classroom,” Ayako instructed. “I need to check on the costume and set people really quick, and then I’ll meet you in there for more rehearsals.”
Daisuke groaned slightly causing Ayako to hit him on the head with the script she had gotten into the habit of carrying around with her.
“I don’t want to hear it from you! I’ve got enough to worry about without my actors losing their spunk.” Before Daisuke could reply, Ayako was already walking swiftly toward the door.
“Come on then,” Kaito said to Daisuke hitting him lightly on the shoulder to make him move forward. “Let’s not make the little girl angry.”
The next couple of days were the most stressful Ayako could ever remember enduring. Thursday came and went with the full rehearsal, and she still wasn’t completely convinced that her crew had had enough time to prepare for such a big event, so she had the group practice twice on Friday, and by the second practice, most of the lot was performing without any major flaws. The only thing that remained to be seen was if they could perform in front of an audience the same way that they had practiced it.
A/N~ Alright, here's your early chapter. Unfortunately, it's nothing that exciting. It just sets everything up, and now you have to wait almost two weeks before getting to read the actual play - and I did write out the entire play - so enjoy the suspense.
<==Chapter 28
