Two of a Kind: A Revue Starlight Fanfiction

Stage Freight

It was normal to be nervous before a play. It was normal to be nervous, right? Even if they weren't normally this nervous? Or... was this bad?

Yachiyo didn't know anymore. They were set to begin their play in half an hour. This was the first time in ages they felt so nervous before going on stage. They had become quite accustomed to the stage and normally were quite calm before going out, only a little bit of nerves coming out until they began acting. But, not today.

Yachiyo knew why, as much as they didn't want to acknowledge it. They were afraid to mess up. Afraid they would make a fool of themselves on the stage.

All because a few people had commented some things about their role that Yachiyo had overheard. Mainly that they shouldn't be allowed to do the role because it was for a "real girl" as they put it. That was two blows in one for Yachiyo. They had been misgendered and insulted by that. And very confused. If they thought that they were still a girl then they would be a cis girl. It was very confusing to think about, but it hurt them a lot nonetheless.

Why did they care so much about what other people thought about them? The other edels had nothing but good things to say about their acting for this role. Why were they so scared they were going to mess it all up?

Their role wasn't even that hard. It was a main role, sure, but they had easily taken to it. They had gotten very good at this role, so why were they worried? They guessed the more important question now was how did they stop worrying? If this kept up, they very well might mess up. They couldn't disappoint the others.

It had been a while since they had gotten a main role. It was simply because the roles before just hadn't been their forte. They didn't feel like trying them when there were other characters they were fine playing instead.

But this time, they were the lead. And Shiori was the other lead. That was why Yachiyo definitely didn't want to mess anything up. They didn't want to ruin it for Shiori. The younger girl had seemed so excited when it was announced she was playing the lead too.

"Yachiyo? You've been staring into space for a while now. Everything alright?"

Yachiyo snapped out of their thoughts. Mei Fan was in front of them, eyeing them with a bit of concern.

"S-sorry. Just thinking about stuff." Yachiyo quickly muttered an apology.

"Something bothering you?" Mei Fan took a seat beside them.

Yachiyo took a deep breath, "I guess..."

"Want to talk about it?"

"Not really..."

"Come on, you can tell me." Mei Fan persisted. She had the feeling it had something to do with the play, so she was prepared to push Yachiyo for an answer.

"I'm... scared..." Yachiyo admitted after some hesitation.

"Why? You've been awesome with this role. I'm jealous of how good you've portrayed this character, honestly."

"What if I mess up?"

"You won't. And even if you do, it won't be the end of the world." Mei Fan reassured them, "Are you worried everyone will be mad at you?"

"I... I don't know anymore..."

"What's making you think like this?" Mei Fan cut them off to ask.

Yachiyo stared at the ground. They were afraid to admit it. Afraid to admit that a few loose comments were having this much of an affect on them. It was unbecoming for them to be so easily affected.

They had been doing so well at ignoring any comments as of recent. Most students no longer bothered them. They had shown them all their words didn't mean anything any longer. So why was this any different?