CH 99

Cinderella Story

Time moves forward. Slowly, but with a steady rhythm.

Late September. The remnants of the summer vacation had worn off and the script for the play …… was finally completed.

In LHR, the preparation time for the festival, Niou-san, who was in charge of the script, gathered the actors and handed out the scripts.

“Sorry, I’m a little late. The assumption was that we wanted to do the reading and so on in the last week, but reading …… and writing are quite different. Quite a bit, it took up a lot of my time.”

The apologetic voice was tinged with exhaustion.

“There are only three weeks left until the festival. It’s going to be a busy schedule, but I’m sure all the actors will do their best. I apologize for the inconvenience, especially to the three main characters.”

Niou-san lowers her head as she fixes the position of her glasses.

Of course, I don’t blame her. After all, she has made it into this product, so of course I have no complaints.

“No, no~! I’m sorry for the inconvenience!”

“Mary, you can’t say that, okay? It’s outrageous and disturbing.”

Mary-san is still being a doofus at school as usual.

Ryuzaki gave her a sharp look, and then this time she spoke kindly to Niou-san.

“Thank you so much for your help this time. I can count on you, Futako. You are indeed the class president…. Once again, I have a lot of respect for you. Don’t worry about being late.”

Ryuzaki is still calling out to girls.

It must be the habit of the harem protagonist to hit on girls without regard.

“No, I don’t want to be forgiven for not being on time. I don’t like that kind of compromise, so please be careful what you say. Also, I don’t think you should call me by my first name. It’s too casual for someone of the opposite gender.”

However, Niou-san is unusually the type of character who is not influenced by Ryuzaki. Perhaps the only one, she is in a neutral position.

Perhaps that is why the harem protagonist-sama’s charm was not working. Ryuzaki chuckles and shrugs.

“Good grief, Futako is always cold to me.”

“… Enough… Um, so could you please check the story? And if there are any misspellings or omissions, please point them out to me. Also, if there is anything wrong with the dialogue or the story, please don’t hesitate to tell me.”

With that being said, I turned the page.

The synopsis of the story was almost the same as that of the movie I was familiar with.

A man is turned into a beast by an evil witch. He must find his “true love” or the spell cast on him will not be broken. Since then, the Beast has been searching for true love.

Ten years have passed since then.

Meanwhile, a beautiful woman with a good reputation in town is being courted by a handsome, popular, but vulgar and egotistical hunter. She is a quiet girl who likes to read and fantasize. She is not fond of people like the hunter and is fed up with his advances.

One day, the beautiful girl wandered into the forest and was captured by the beast. The beast forcefully presses her to ‘love him’ but she firmly rejects him.

Since then, the beautiful woman has been confined to an old castle deep in the forest. At first, Beauty cries all the time, but it is a mysterious place with talking furniture. They comforted her, and she gradually got better.

However, the beast’s courtship continued. Regardless of Beauty’s refusal, the Beast was pressing her daily to love him.

Seeing Beauty not giving in to his threats, the Beast became attracted to her strong heart. Beauty also comes to know and love the Beast’s gentle nature. The two are drawn to each other… One day, the hunter, who was looking for Beauty, rides into the castle.

The hunter and the Beast fight, and the Beast is victorious. The Beast, though mortally wounded, drove the hunter off a cliff. But the life of the Beast was about to disappear.

At that moment, Beauty conveyed her love to the Beast. She cried out not to disappear and kissed him … and lo and behold, the Beast returned to his human form. He was cured of his injuries and became a healthy young man, and he and Beauty were finally united.

He has finally found his true love and the spell is broken.

From then on, the two lead a peaceful life together. Surrounded by talking furniture, they love each other forever…

–And then I read that.

I tilted my head a little.

“What? I thought the Beast was a prince…”

I understand that some details are different from the original story due to time constraints.

But there was a big discrepancy.

The Beast was originally supposed to be a handsome prince. After the Beast’s spell was broken, I think they became a beautiful and well-matched couple.

“……I like the Cinderella story.”

However, it seems that Niou-san intentionally intended to add that kind of setting to the story.

“The young man who is bewitched as the Beast is a poor boy who just wandered into an old castle where a wicked witch used to live – that’s how it’s set up. He becomes a beast by accident, but thanks to the magic, he meets a beautiful woman and becomes happy… Isn’t that so wonderful? At the very least, I think it’s much more romantic than a story about a well-endowed prince who just takes a beautiful woman as his wife.”

Come to think of it, I think Niou-san once said that ‘Cinderella is the most beautiful story in the world’. So she was influenced by it to the fullest.

“And I’m sorry, but I thought …… Nakayama-san being a handsome prince was a bit much to ask.”

…She has a point.

I see, so she took my image into consideration too.

“Nihihihi. I think it’s good, don’t you? It’s as if he really is Kotaro!”

Mary was pleased when she read the synopsis.

So the main character is like me ……? Well, when you put it that way, you might be right.

I, too, am a person who was originally discovered by Shiho, who has a different status.

The opposite gender, but …… maybe the same as Cinderella, who discovered….. Prince Charming.