Here is chapter 43. It is pretty short. Enjoy.
Title: Satou-san with a smile
In November, the preparation period for the school festival has begun. Each class prepares for the festival using home room and after school hours to prepare for it. Maybe it’s because it’s the last school festival of their high school life, but everyone in Class C is really excited about it. I may be the only one who is not enthusiastic about it.
Naturally, Satou-san was tensing up, too. However, in her case, it would be better not to be tense. After all, her acting skills are notoriously bad.
“Oh, isn’t she beautiful?”(S)
That’s all she has to say in her performance of ‘Lady C’ in the play. All she does is admire Cinderella’s sashaying appearance at the ball and utter words of praise. It’s just a brief moment in time, but she’s a mess: she’s reading out loud and her voice is turned inside out. There was nothing lady-like about it. Whenever Satou-san said her lines, the classroom after school was filled with laughter.
“Miyuki-chan, you needn’t be so nervous.”(Tonosaki)
Beside Saiki-kun, who was struggling to stifle his laughter, Tonosaki-san chuckled indifferently.
“What are you going to do if you stand out from Cinderella?”(Tonosaki)
“Sorry, I’ll do better next time.”(S)
Satou-san, who is being laughed at, is also laughing. She is smiling shyly, but her face has no hint of shade. She doesn’t feel depressed or sad, even though everyone is laughing at her in a scornful manner. Her mental strength is enviable, but it’s impossible to imitate.
Satou-san is laughed at every time she utters a line of dialogue. In the classroom, where the desks and chairs are lowered for play rehearsal, she gets more attention than Cinderella, as everyone says. When she gets to the stage where she appears, everyone tries to stifle their laughter. I anticipate Satou-san’s voice flipping over and brace myself not to blow it out with her sultry voice. Some of them seem to be insensitive, genuinely amused. I was watching the class atmosphere from the corner of the classroom. As per the earlier lottery, my role is that of a house mouse and a carriage horse. During the scene at the ball where Satou-san appears, I’m waiting on all fours beside the carriage. This was quite humiliating.
“Well, let’s start from the beginning of that scene. Cinderella, get back in the carriage. And the carriage horse.”(Karwasawa)
Karasawa-san flies through the script and gives instructions.
“Yes……”(Y)
I was on all fours, and I was able to handle it to the edge of the classroom.
“Yamaguchi, you’re a carriage horse!”(Niijima)
When Niijima-kun says it, everyone chuckles. But they don’t laugh unkindly like they did with Satou-san. I sensed the subtle differences in the atmosphere.
The ball scene resumes at the beginning of the ball. The carriage I pulled arrives at the castle, and Cinderella, played by Yukawa-san, jumps into the castle. A ball is being held at the castle. The attendees of the ball with the prince are awestruck by Cinderella’s beautiful appearance. –And so far, so good. The problem is next. As the attendees get to the point where they are praising Cinderella one by one, the class starts to get fidgety. Some pinch each other’s faces to keep from laughing, others point and whisper to each other, and some are already shaking their shoulders. Everyone’s gaze is focused on the change. One by one, the ladies speak, A’s person says, B’s person says, and then finally Satou-san speaks. I heard it right after I frowned.
“Well, how beautiful she is!”(S)
It was awful. Maybe it was because she was more strained than before, but her voice was completely retracted. Thanks to that, everyone laughed a lot. The rest of the class doesn’t hold back when it comes to Satou-san. The classroom was filled with laughter, and even Satou-san, the one being laughed at, had a smile on her face. She looks embarrassed, but she’s smiling as if it’s not about her. I decided to keep my face impassive, just like a cart horse. I don’t know what’s so funny about it. Isn’t everyone rude to Satou-san?
I wouldn’t want to be laughed at. Whether I was playing a carriage horse or a house mouse, I couldn’t stand the uncomfortable feeling of people sneering at me every time I made a squeal that wasn’t even a line of dialogue. Even though I knew it was that kind of role, I didn’t want to be made fun of. But Satou-san seems to be fine with it. She gets to play a much better role than I did, has only one line of dialogue, and yet she’s being laughed at even in her only performance. She doesn’t care if people laugh at her or make fun of her, she doesn’t have an unpleasant smile on her face. If I were in Satou-san’s position, I would glare at them with all my might.
In the end, Satou-san was laughed at all the time that day. Every time she said a line, she was laughed at, and yet she didn’t look uncomfortable. In fact, she even looked like she was enjoying herself. Because she was like that, I’m sure everyone laughed without regard to her. After the practice was over, I caught up with her and asked her some honest questions.
“Didn’t you hate it when they laughed at you like that?”(Y)
Satou-san looked down and shook her head.
“No, not at all.”(S)
“You should say no when you don’t like it. People get carried away when you’re smiling at them.”(Y)
My tone is tighter than ever, perhaps because of my exasperation at playing animals. But she tilted her head and replied with a sly grin.
“I know I’m being amused, and I do think to myself that my lines are terrible. I wish I could say it better than that.”(S)
Is it humble or what? Satou-san seems to think it’s her fault that people laugh at her. That’s certainly her way of thinking. She’s always like that, so she’s probably not afraid of being laughed at by everyone.
I can’t. I didn’t like it when people laughed at me, but I couldn’t help but hate watching them laugh at her, Satou-san. My stomach churned, and I resisted the urge to go around and give each and every one of those laughing people a warning. If Satou-san had asked me to do that – I knew she wouldn’t have said that. The last school festival of my high school life was not going to be a good memory, as expected.
Notes:
Man these last two chapters is like the author was trying to make up for not really introducing other characters by throwing in a lot of names. I also feel sorry for Satou. She should not take all this crap.
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