Chapter 95: The Bewildered Beauty

The cultural festival was only a week away. Our after-school rehearsals were getting more intense than ever, and the stage props were gradually coming together.

Maybe all the extra practice with Ryoji after regular rehearsal was paying off, because I felt like my acting had gotten pretty decent.

…Well, that’s only my own opinion!

"Yeah. I don’t really get theater stuff, but compared to the beginning, you’re way better now."

"Really!?"

When our practice ended today, Ryoji actually praised my acting. I wasn’t thrilled about him patting my head like I was a little kid—tap tap—but… I still felt kind of happy.

I don’t know why. Getting praised during class practice never made me feel like this—this warm, rising feeling deep inside.

"Yeah. As long as you don't mess up on the day, you’ll be fine."

"I see… I’m gonna be so nervous for the real performance."

"No point getting nervous already."

He had a point. But honestly, there’s no way I would’ve come this far without all the extra practice he did with me. Working with someone I was comfortable with helped a lot. If I’d only relied on the class rehearsals, I doubt things would’ve gone this smoothly.

"Hey, Ryoji."

"What?"

"Thank you."

It was a little embarrassing, but I made sure to look him in the eyes. I hoped the gratitude got across. But when he didn’t react, I panicked a little.

"Ryoji, you okay?"

"A-Ah. You’re welcome…?"

"Why does that sound like a question?"

He’s weird today. Usually he brushes things off so casually. Maybe he’s tired? The stage crew is in full crunch mode too, after all.

We parted ways in front of my house, and I opened the front door.

"I’m home."

Soft slipper footsteps approached—tap tap—and the living room door slid open as Mom peeked out.

"Ayumi-chan, welcome home. Dinner’s ready, so go get changed."

I nodded, took off my shoes, and headed upstairs. I changed out of my uniform and into my regular home clothes. Lately rehearsals run pretty late, so Mom has excused me from helping with dinner. Thanks to those long practices, though, my acting really has improved.

Parents and siblings are invited to the performance on festival day, so I should be able to show everyone what I’ve accomplished. It’s embarrassing, but… I want to do my best.

After dinner, I took a bath.

When I glanced at the mirror in the washroom, it reflected a girl who looked younger than her age—of course, it was me.

It’s been about six months since I started seeing this face. I still remember how I used to panic whenever I saw myself naked back then.

I still remember being a boy, but lately… I feel like this is who I am now. Ever since I became Ayumi, I’ve gained so many things that are precious to me—things I never had as a boy.

Soaking in the bath always makes me think too much. Actually, thinking about things has become more common for me lately.

Club stuff. Moeka-chan and Sakurako-chan. The play. Aoi-kun and Ryoji…

Even I—who’s apparently “dense”—can tell Aoi-kun probably likes me. And I don’t dislike that.

…So, if—if—Aoi-kun confessed, would I say yes?

Something inside me feels… cloudy.

We’ve gone on outings that were basically dates, and it was fun. He thinks about me, and he’s always polite. But something feels off, somehow.

Accepting his feelings when mine are this unclear doesn’t feel honest. Is this okay? Do I even have any charm to begin with?

What do I want…? I don’t know.

I sank under the water and blew bubbles—blub blub—before rising back up.

There’s Ryoji, too. Why did I panic so much when he got that love letter?

Because I didn’t want to lose a close friend? …Is that really it? When he said he wasn’t planning to date the girl who gave it to him, I felt relieved. That might mean…

I lightly slapped my cheeks—pat pat.

Guess I got a little overheated. I got out, dried off with a bath towel, and looked at myself in the mirror again. As expected, it was me staring back, looking a little troubled.

"Sigh… Ever since I got this body, my height hasn’t changed at all…"

My chest hasn’t grown either. Could my growth be… stalled? No way, right?

It’s not like I think having a great figure automatically makes you more attractive, but I still want what I want. Old me would never have worried about this. And I bet Ryoji prefers girls with nice figures anyway—wait, why is Ryoji even in this thought?

I shook my head quickly—swish swish—trying to chase away the weird feelings, but it didn’t help much. Why am I thinking about all these unnecessary things?

In the end, that hazy feeling lingered until I fell asleep.

The next morning, Ryoji and I entered the classroom like usual, but it was noticeably noisier than normal.

Judging by the atmosphere, something bad must have happened.

"Ah—Ayumi-chan! Morning!"

Moeka-chan spotted me.

"Good morning, Ayumi-chan."

Sakurako-chan followed with a greeting, and I responded, "Good morning."

"Hey, did something happen?"

"Seems like it. I just got here too, so I don’t know."

Moeka-chan tilted her head.

"Ah, Sakura-san!"

Mita-kun hurried over to me.

"What’s wrong?"

"Actually… Sudo-kun was in an accident and was hospitalized."

"Eh? What did you just say?"

I couldn’t help but ask Mitsuta-kun to repeat himself. But the answer was the same. Sudō-kun was hospitalized. Thankfully it wasn’t a serious injury, but for Class 1-A, this put us in a crisis. After all, he was the lead role in our cultural festival play. I’m the heroine, so he’s my counterpart. Sudō-kun, who’s in a sports club, is energetic, enthusiastic, and full of momentum, so he had been performing the role incredibly well. And now, with only one week left until the festival, he’s suddenly in the hospital…

"The injury itself isn’t serious, but it looks like getting discharged within a week is impossible…"

Mitsuta-kun let out a sigh. Just then, the homeroom bell rang, so we returned to our seats. We needed time to discuss what to do with the play, so it was decided we’d talk it over after school.

After school—normally we’d be dragging out props and running around noisily, but today everyone was seated.

"Um, with Sudō-kun being hospitalized, it’s become difficult for him to perform the lead role. Today, we need to decide what to do next."

Sakurako-chan was acting as the moderator. Her announcement stirred up the class.

"I guess we have no choice but to get a substitute?"

"At this point? There’s less than a week left."

"But it’s the lead role with Sakura-san, you know!"

"I mean, that’s tempting, but what if they screw up?"

"Still, dropping the play entirely would be rough too."

It was a choice between finding a substitute or canceling the play. But with all the preparations we’d already made and less than a week left, quitting would leave no time to prepare something else. On the other hand, getting a substitute was just as difficult. Anyone outside the cast hadn’t been practicing and hadn’t read the script closely. Unsurprisingly, no one volunteered.

Sakurako-chan, still moderating, looked unsure how to steer the discussion.

Someone who knows the lead’s lines, has practiced the script, and is already familiar with the play… someone who could manage in a week…

"Oh…"

There was someone.

I turned toward Ryōji’s desk. He let out a small sigh and scratched his head once.

"I’ll be the substitute!"

The previously noisy classroom fell completely silent.

"No way!?"
"You sure you can handle it!?"
"That’d be a huge help!"

Reactions burst out all at once.

"Um… Tagawa-kun, are you really okay with this?"

When Sakurako-chan asked, Ryōji nodded. "Leave it to me."
But the class still didn’t seem convinced. With the deadline so close—and since Ryōji was part of the props team—he’d barely seen any rehearsals. They had no idea whether he could really handle the role.

That’s why I had to speak up. I had to let everyone know he really could do it. Ugh… speaking in front of the whole class is so nerve-wracking…

But if I didn’t say anything, all our work on the play would fall apart.

I raised my hand. Sakurako-chan looked surprised, but she immediately gave me permission to speak.

"Um… Ryōji has been practicing with me every day, so I think he has all of Sudō-kun’s lines memorized… probably."

Since everyone turned to look at me at once, my voice faded toward the end—but they must have heard me. The room had been noisy up until now, but the moment I spoke, it went dead silent.

"That’s how it is, so yeah, I’ve got the script down."

With that one line from Ryōji, the room exploded again. For some reason, it turned into a barrage of complaints directed at him.

"Quit sneaking ahead of everyone else!"
"What do you mean ‘the two of you were practicing together’!?"
"I wanna thank you for volunteering but I also kinda wanna punch you!"

…The boys, especially, seemed to be verbally attacking him.

Still, given the situation, no one else could handle the role better than Ryōji, so the class ultimately agreed to let him take over. During the rehearsal afterward, he proved he really did know the lines and the entire script, so everyone eventually settled down.

It was already completely dark by the time Ryōji and I walked home side by side. He was pushing his bicycle. Riding double in the dark was dangerous, so this was the safer choice.

Today’s rehearsal had started late and dragged on past sunset. As a result, we ended up walking together down this pitch-black road.

We were both tired, so neither of us talked much. But even in the silence, being with Ryōji felt strangely comfortable. I didn’t feel pressured to come up with something to say.

"…Hey, Ryōji."

"What’s up?"

"About taking the lead role… are you really okay with it?"

"You don’t need to worry about that, Ayumi. Honestly, I’m pretty much the only one who could step in."

"…But still. It kind of feels like I forced you to volunteer."

"No, no. Even if you hadn’t looked over at me, I would’ve volunteered. I’m not a mind reader; just because we made eye contact doesn’t mean I’d agree to something I didn’t want to do."

"Really? Are you sure?"

I peek up into Ryōji’s eyes. His gaze wavers just a little.

"That look—using those eyes on me is cheating."

"Cheating how?"

"Ah—well… you know…"

He trails off vaguely. It seems like he was thinking about something, but after a small cough, he continues.

"Anyway, putting that aside. I didn’t volunteer as the stand-in because anyone forced me. Okay? I’m part of the props team—we spent so long making everything, and I didn’t want all that effort to go to waste. And after the entire class worked so hard, it’d be awful if the whole thing fell apart now. Plus, think about Sudo. If he finds out the play got canceled because of his injury, he’d be crushed."

I look at Ryōji’s face for a moment. I hate to admit it, but… I didn’t expect him to be this invested in the cultural festival. The fact that he was thinking about the class too… it made me realize I’d misunderstood him.

With that serious expression, he looked almost—

"What? Don’t tell me you thought I looked cool?"

"Huh!? N-no, I mean… I just thought you were being surprisingly serious for once!"

He said exactly what I was thinking before I could stop him, so I stumbled over my words. There’s absolutely no way I could say “you’re right,” so I covered it up with a half-joking denial.

"Hey now. I know how to behave when it counts, you know!"

"Eeh…? I feel like you usually don’t at all."

I picture the usual Ryōji and can’t help giving a wry smile.

"Keep talking like that and I won’t help you with practice after school anymore."

"Eh—wait, that would seriously be a problem! I’m sorry, I’m sorry!"

We continued walking together along the dark road home.

Being able to joke around like this, just the two of us, felt strangely comfortable. And because of that… a small part of me felt disappointed that we were already so close to home.