extra 23

Outaishihi ni Nante Naritakunai!! extra 23

Older Brother and the Merry Company 2

◇◇◇

Because there’s no way we could suddenly do it on the very day, for now we decided to go over the script to practice.

‘The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl’, sounds unfamiliar.

I wonder if it’s Sion’s original. First of all, I checked the cast in the script.

“Err… The main characters are a couple, huh. They’re Freed and Lidi… Well, that’s reasonable.”

Next to the names Hiko and Hime, names of the Wilhelm’s famous lovebirds were written.

“And, the role of Hime’s father… That’s… Will, huh. Glenn is… a stagehand!?”

I wouldn’t expect Glenn to be a stagehand at all. Since the cast is primarily those two, it can’t be helped, but that’s quite an extravagant way of using him.

Well, the Royal Capital citizens will be delighted to see the rumored Crown Prince and his fiancée.

“Nn, then. What am I? … Narrator. Seriously…?”

No way, the narrator role. No, well, I don’t want to appear on stage, so there’s no problem.

It’s written Sion is in charge of miscellaneous task, so he won’t appear on stage.

So mostly Freed and Lidi have to work hard.

Although I feel sorry for them, appearing before the citizens is also the job of royalty. Thinking they’re the best at attracting spectators, I nodded.

“Then, please perform it from the beginning to the end.”

Sion’s voice reverberated inside the hall.

Will and Glenn, Freed and Lidi seem ready.

Since it’s decided, I mustn’t be the only to laze around.

I gave up and decided to read out the written lines.

◇◇◇

“The east bank of a river in the heavens. From there a sound of working on a loom and a beautiful singing voice resound. The owner of the voice is Hime. She is Heavenly God’s daughter, her job is to work on a loom and make clothes.”

What is this?

I don’t quite understand the setting. While tilting my head, I looked at the stage.

There, my little sister was singing in a trembling voice.

Her face turned red. You could tell at a glance she was embarrassed.

Well, makes sense she would be.

While I was feeling sorry for her, Will appeared.

His right leg and right arm appeared at the same time.

There’s no audience yet, but his stiffness shows just how nervous he is.

“Hi… Hime.”

“Yes, Father.”

… I saw my little sister slightly spurt out as Will splendidly read in a monotone.

With a red face Will spoke.

“Y… You are overworking yourself a little. You are still young, so don’t you want to play or dress up?”

“No, I love working on a loom. I have no complaints about this life.”

After those words, the stage became dark. The only one left was Will. My little sister seems to have left.

“How pitiful to only work on a loom all day long. That’s right. Let’s find Hime a husband. If I do that, that child will be pleased.”

Will recited the line with an incredibly complicated face.

No. Why are you making a face like that? Are you a father who doesn’t want his daughter to become a bride?

Moreover, his unchanged monotone makes me want to cry.

I dropped my eyes on the script. Oops, my line seems to be next.

“Thinking of granting Hime a husband, Heavenly God at once began searching for candidates. And so, he found a man called Hiko. Hiko was keeping an ox on the west side of the river. It was just Heavenly God’s judgement, but he was a splendid youth. Whereas Hime was a very beautiful girl. As soon as their eyes met, they fell in love and soon they married.”

My little sister appeared from the corner of the stage. From the opposite side came Freed… Oi! Why is a cowherd dressed in the royalty formal wear!? Isn’t it strange!?

It felt so out of place, I almost unconsciously dropped the script.

For some reason Freed had a slightly troubled face when he appeared dressed in the formal wear. As for Lidi, her eyes were sparkling. Their eyes met, and then they immediately embraced each other.

… Aah, those guys don’t hide their feelings. It’s as usual.

With the usual appearance of Freed and my little sister in mind, the scene of them embracing each other looked strangely natural. Or rather, why did Freed expressly dress up in the formal wear… Aah! I see!

Finally I realized why my little sister agreed to go on stage.

My little sister heard from Sion that Freed would go on stage in the formal wear.

It’s well known my little sister likes Freed in the formal wear. Sion used it as a bait and splendidly caught her.

After all, even though she’s now on stage, she has a delighted smile. It doesn’t seem like she’ll separate from Freed while clinging to him like this.

… Well, I guess it’s just right for this scene.

I looked over the script and said the next line.

“They were very close and always together. However, it was a problem that they were too close. Every day they enjoyed themselves and abandoned their work. Every day Heavenly God received complaints. Because they neglected work, various things were left undone.”

When I finished saying that, Freed and my little sister exited from the stage while holding hands. They could only see each other… Do they understand we’re in the middle of a practice for a play?

No, they absolutely don’t understand. They’ve completely forgotten they are acting.

Freed was looking at my little sister with his usual sweet face. While bashful, my little sister was snuggling up to him.

Yup, they’re totally operating normally. There’s no part of it that’s acting.

, while I was thinking so, Will appeared on stage.

As the heavenly god, Will addressed the complaints.

In front of Will were complainers made of papier-mâché … Oh, I can see a black show.

Aah, that’s Glenn moving, huh… Physical work sure is hard, chivalric order commander.

… However, what is this?

The figure of Will bowing his head to the papier-mâché complainers for an instant looked like me being swayed by those lovebirds.

… No, let’s forget it. Otherwise, I’ll be strangely sad.

Freed and my little sister appeared again.

Facing them, Will said.

“Both of you, get to work.”

“Yes, I understand. I’ll definitely start tomorrow.”

“I will work starting tomorrow.”

“Got it. Then it’s fine.”

Will nodded to their words.

I again picked up the script. Ain’t most of the lines in this play mine?

Though it’s better than having to appear on stage.

“… However, no matter how much time passed, they would not work. Heavenly God lost his temper and told them to split up. They turned pale and begged forgiveness, but Heavenly God did not forgive. As before, they were separated by the river.”

After I finished saying my lines, despair appeared on my little sister and Freed’s expressions.

I thought they were acting quite skillfully… but for some reason my little sister firmly clung to Freed.

“Separating from Freed’s military uniform… That’s impossible! Even if it’s a play I can’t do it!”

“Lidi! Even if it’s a play, I can’t forgive anybody who wants to separate me from Lidi. It’s alright, Lidi. Even if he’s a heavenly god, I’ll cut him down.”

“Freed!”

Oi! You lovebirds! Aren’t the lines different!?

Not wanting to part from Freed in the formal wear, my little sister desperately clung to him. Freed hugged my little sister and didn’t let go.

I felt sorry for Will that this happened.

On stage, he alone was flustered about what to do.

… Yup, he has my sympathy. I don’t want to get involved though.

While hugging my little sister, Freed faced Sion, who was supervising, and said.

“Sion, there are too many problems with this script. In the first place, I can’t understand the idea of skipping work just because they got married. Neither can I comprehend the meaning of separating two people in love because of that. Most importantly, in the end they can only meet once a year, right? If this man called Hiko truly loved Hime, there’s no way he’d endure it. At least I couldn’t! I request improvements!”

“Freed! I couldn’t endure without Freed’s formal wear for a year either.”

“Lidi!”

―――― Eeh?

They firmly hugged each other.

However, thinking about it, it’s natural. Even if it’s a play, there’s no way Freed and Lidi could accept the story of lovers who can only meet once a year.

The two of them are now being lovebirds.

They’re hugging each other in the center of the stage, And, Will’s confusion continues.

While watching that, I declared in a dry voice.

“… The plan failed.”

It was a mistake from the very idea of the play. It’s better to change it to something more constructive and doable.

… The opportunity to show a short play to the citizens will surely never come after this.

Convinced of that, I tore the script in my hands and threw it away.

By the way, Lidi’s inner voice when she received the script. ↓

Lidi “Uwaa… To choose the Tanabata legend… Sion, didn’t you have a better material?”

Sion’s thoughts after it was ultimately rejected. ↓

Sion “I thought it would be good since there were few characters and it was short, but I didn’t consider the content. It was my mistake. Next time, I have to properly think about the content of the story while choosing it…” ← Motivated again.

It was like this!

Editor: Valeria