A Firefly's Glow

Chapter Fourteen: Part Four

I slowly and reluctantly rose up onto my feet.

As I sauntered towards Keita, I noticed the distant gazes piercing me as I walked by.

I guessed their thoughts and another chill swam up my spine. I knew that perhaps they were sympathizing with themselves and letting themselves know they wished they were the ones sauntering towards Keita in my position.

I wasn’t a mind-reader, but I recognized the kinds of gazes they had bent into their faces.

As I got closer towards Keita, Haruka continued to recite pairs and names. Gazes turned away from me and my relief temporarily soothed my shoulders.

As I approached Keita, the relief quickly evaporated into nothing, and the weight returned to my shoulders. Keita slowly turned his head away from my gaze in complete silence.

When the list of names ceased flowing throughout the room, Haruka rolled the long fragment of parchment back around its tube and he lifted a pile of separate paper into his arms.

“Spend today’s class time rehearsing this script.” Haruka informed, heading over towards the nearest pair and holding thin fragments of his pile outwards to be accepted. “Your test on this dialogue will be tomorrow. I’m aware that this is little practice time, however, these dialogues are fairly short and I think you should be able to memorize them well.”

When Haruka arrived before us, he held a packet towards me with a smile.

“Are you good at acting, Fujioka-san?” Haruka questioned, gently peering his amber gaze at mine. “Are you experienced?”

“I played the role of a tree in middle school,” I timidly murmured, taking the offered packet into my hands.

“Were you a talking tree?”

“Yes, sir,” I enunciated ‘sir’ in shy politeness, feeling my cheeks redden. I sincerely hoped that I wouldn’t have to mention the failure that occurred from that very play. “I only had two lines, though.”

“That’s quite alright,” Haruka kindly assured. “I’m sure you had practice standing completely still as well. Not only did I fumble off the stage, I lost a fragment of my costume as well.

I suggested to myself that I shouldn’t allow my current theatre teacher to know that I am perfectly prone to falling off stages and screwing up plays.

So instead, I stiffly nodded my head and timidly added, “Yes, sir.”

Haruka approvingly nodded in return, and with a quick motion towards Keita in order to hand him a packet, he floated away towards the rest of the classroom.

I lowered my head towards the thin pile of parchment. Scribbled on the front page in thin, dark penmanship was Keita’s name directly underneath mine.

It was so peculiar how our first names placed directly underneath each other seemed to almost exactly match. I never noticed how Keita’s name would look beside mine.

As I peered past our names at the printed words in bold ink, I read, “Script 13”.

Script 13. How original this name was.

When I flipped the first page over and skimmed through the next revealed page, my eyes widened. I felt my teeth grit together as I peered towards Keita.

His eyes seemed to twitch every time he shifted his eyes back to begin a new dialogue line. He immediately focused his eyes towards mine and I jumped in response.

His expression relaxed into something blank and distant. “This makes you the first character.”

“Oh, right,” my voice wobbled as I squirmed in place. “So, that makes you the second, right?”