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Originally, my only plan for the day was to sing. It all probably fell apart when I told Hibana about Teacher Saeki and the principal’s love story. I was then told that it would be weird if I didn’t join the reenactment when I was at their first drinking party.

“In the first place, a student being at a bar for a drinking party is weird.”
“I can’t deny that. But you’re still obligated to participate in the filming.”
“But, Ran…”
“Even if you don’t want to, you have no right to refuse.”

The pressure is intense. Ran also turned into the type to push the limits during our high school dark history. Continuously unable to escape being dragged into trouble, the rogue’s den policy was born: If I’m going down, everyone’s going with me.

“Still, we’ll have to hide the fact that a student was present at a teacher’s drinking party.”
“That’s true. Being that they’re still active faculty members, we’ll have to protect their reputation.”
“In that case, it’s not necessary that I play as myself, isn’t it?”
“It would be a waste to ignore the perfect cast, wouldn’t it?”

They really won’t let me go. Since I’ve reached this far, I do intend on cooperating. Still, how will they overcome the restriction of keeping my face hidden? Before I could think of an answer, the script writers already had a solution.

“And so I’ll appear as Unknown, huh.”
“You brought the box, right?”
“You were going to abduct me if I didn’t anyway.”
“Of course we would.”

Refute it. Ani has previously experienced being abducted by the rogue’s den when he was busy with chores. These fools will seriously do that. With our current age gap, there’s a risk that the police may get involved, so please give me a break.

“Besides, it’ll be a problem if you don’t perform with Ayaka.”
“Why’s that?”
“She’s so excited to finally be able to perform with you, you know? You can imagine what will happen if this expectation is betrayed, don’t you?”
“She’s going to come at me, yeah.”
“And you obediently came here because you already knew that, right?”

Our filming site is the location of the first drinking party, Pub Tecchan. It’s owned by a member of the rogue’s den, so we managed to get permission easily. In exchange for us booking the whole place, we’ll be holding our party here at a later day.

“Thinking about it normally, having a person with a box on their head as an actor is stupid, isn’t it?”
“Save your complaints to the scriptwriters who gave the okay for that.”
“Are they even taking this seriously?”
“That’s the worst part, they are serious about it.”

I know. Moreover, only one of them is a professional scriptwriter. The others just arbitrarily give their opinions and if it’s interesting, the idea is adopted. Luck ran out when they actually found success with this chaotic system, resulting in the only professional having a tough time.

“So, since Ayaka is playing Teacher Saeki, who’s going to play as the principal?”
“It’s me.”
“Where the hell did you get wind of this, Hadzuki?”

Why are you joining us so nonchalantly? I’ve heard from Hadzuki and Aya that the twelve families were also sent invitation letters. But I have never told them about what the rogue’s den is doing. And yet he’s here, moreover as a participant for the project.

“See, I’ve been under the principal’s care as well, so I was thinking that I should repay the favor somehow.”
“And your true intentions are?”
“The student council had a lot of help, you see. So I should pay him back even if only a little…”
“True intentions.”
“It sounds like it’ll be interesting, so I can’t afford to miss it.”

First of all, I want to know how you managed to find out what the rogue’s den is doing and where our filming site is located. Moreover, he even negotiated for a role without shying away; as expected of Hadzuki, I guess.

“Are we really letting this guy join?”
“I can’t see your face under the box, but I feel like you’re really against it.”
“No doubt. It’s easy to understand your usual dynamic with Kotone.”

Why wouldn’t I? A troublesome individual wants to join an already troublesome group. Anyone would be against it if they were in my place. At this rate, if we take too much time, Aya might even pop up. So to prevent that, we need to end this quickly.

“I can’t describe it well, but Kotone is acting strange.”
“You’re the one acting strange, Ayaka.”
“Kotone acting femininely is absolutely strange, isn’t it!”
“Don’t suddenly insult me out loud.”

Ayaka has changed the way she referred to me, probably because she recognizes me as a female now. That’s a good trend, I believe. Previously, Ayaka thought of me to be the same as Ani, but now that premise is starting to crumble.

“With this opportunity, I hope you will now observe proper social distance when interacting with me.”
“Wait, this actually isn’t too bad either. It’s not like Kotone’s appearance has changed and her personality is nearly unchanged. She’s just more feminine now, so it’s not a problem at all.”
“Someone tighten this idiot’s loose screws.”

They’re definitely screwed the wrong way too. Still, Ayaka was perplexed at first, but now she’s back to looking at me like I’m prey. Well, it’s no different from before, damn it.

“You’re not doing anything weird while I’m around. Besides, you should prioritize training Hadzuki to act first, Ayaka.”
“Kuh! I can’t act freely with the guardian around.”
“Since when did Ran become my guardian?”
“Pardon my inadequate acting.”

I know why Hadzuki is having a hard time with it. It’s because Ran and Ayaka have high standards which they demand of. I’m pretty sure that Hadzuki should be capable of decent acting. However, what these two want is a high degree of perfection.

“I’m finding it quite hard to not only make expressions, but also give off the appropriate feeling for the situation.”
“Emotional acting is probably the easier way to go about it. A common method is to pull the emotion you need to portray from a past memory.”
“I’ve heard that from Ayaka as well. The most difficult part is further adjusting the emotion to be perfect for the given scenario.”
“Oi, what are you demanding from an amateur?”
“ “If we’re doing this, we’re doing this thoroughly.” ”

Even with a member of the twelve families, these two really don’t hold back. Also, can’t they be a bit more easygoing with the reenactment video? I have no idea why they want to give it serious polish.

“I’m glad that I have a box on my head. I can’t do emotional acting right now.”
“Is it difficult with borrowed memories?”
“If I had to be honest, I can’t reach the standards Ran & Ayaka demand. I’m just basically mimicking myself this time, so it should be manageable.”

Not much time has passed since I was born, so I don’t have enough memories to pull a wide range of emotions from yet. Sure, I’ve already experienced joy, anger, and sadness in a short span of time. Still, the emotions I’ve experienced are limited.

“Even if I superimpose myself on borrowed memories, I just end up immersing myself in Ani’s recollections.”
“Looks like you’re in quite a difficult position yourself.”

The other two weren’t informed of my situation. This is because I believe that it’s best to have only a few know that Ani has completely vanished. The second loss might end up leaving a much stronger impact than the first. Still, Ani’s friends would probably interact with me regardless of that.

“I’m practically a newborn baby. And yet I was left to deal with all of these absurd situations.”
“Is that what you really think? It sounds like a false front to me.”
“It’s your imagination.”

It’s a false front, but also my true feelings, I guess. Ani has left me with many troublesome tasks. However, when time came for me to perform them, I couldn’t help but find them enjoyable. I guess people do need to fool around and release stress every once in a while.

“Ani is the one who caused this stress, though.”
“A self-perpetuating cycle.”

Why do I have to be stressed because I tripped traps that I set up? That’s so masochistic. I’m sure that’s how it seems from an outside perspective. What kind of humiliation play is this?

“You two, we’ll be filming soon.”
“ “Okay~” ”

Anyway, we’ll have to handle everything little by little. I’d really prefer not having this to be my first important memory, though.

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