Plays of Hope's Peak

Chapter 4: Casting Surprises

Taka walked in to the classroom with a single paper in his hand.
"All right everyone! It's time for me to announce the casting!"
Everyone started excitedly talking as Taka pinned the paper to the class pinboard. Class 78 crowded around the list.

Makoto smiled. Cool, he was going to be the lead! He shifted his eyes to the rest of the list and...
Oh no...
"Hey Byakuya?"
Byakuya looked up from his book.
"What?"
"You may wanna take a look at this..."

Byakuya stood up and made his way to the pinboard.
"What's wrong? Makoto this better not be a prank or something like-"
He suddenly shut up after seeing his name.
Regina George?!

"W-What the?! This can't be possible! Taka what's the meaning of this?!"
Take turned his head to Byakuya with a confused expression.
"I'm sorry is there a problem? You did audition for Regina right? And you performed quite well so it was only logical to cast you as her. Congratulations, that's a great part!"

"I didn't mean it! I was just making a point!"
"Well I can't change your part Byakuya. Everyone's parts are already set!"
"I refuse to partake in this!"
"I'm sorry but you can't back out now. This makes up fifty percent of your grade this term."

Byakuya frowned. So he'd actually have to do this.
Just great.

Junko silently watched this all, laughing to herself. She'd provoked him on purpose during the auditions just for his reaction. She just couldn't wait to actually see the performance.

Taka turned to the rest of the class.
"Alright everyone! The parts have been distributed! I'd like everyone to start working today. We'll be working every other day after school. By week 11, we'll be working every day so get yourselves ready. Let's do the best we can!"

———

"The cast list is up."
Izuru said, as he stepped away from the pinboard.
His classmates started pushing each other to get to the list.

"Martha Dunnstock?! How did I end up as her of all parts?!"
Kazuichi whined. Seriously, why did he end up with the sad best friend character when Gundham and Fuyu got two out of three of the only boys in the entire play?!

Hajime tried pushing his way to the front to see which part he got. If he'd got a part that is.
"Hey watch it!" Hiyoko snarled, but diverted her eyes and snickered a bit when she saw Hajime. "Oh my bad. Go on Hinata."

Hajime stared at her and made his way to the front. That was suspicious. Very suspicious. Hiyoko never acted that way unless something was up and- Oh no.

The minute he saw his name printed next to the words "Veronica Sawyer", he froze up. How? How did this happen? How the hell did he end up with the lead?! This had to be a mistake right? He couldn't just stand in front of an audience and sing for two hours! There's no way he could pull that off!

Someone punched his shoulder.
"Hey congrats man. You got the lead."
Fuyuhiko said.
"Well to hell with that! I can't pull that off!"

"You got the part for a reason. Appreciate it."
Izuru said in his usual monotone voice.
"No Izuru I can't do this!"
"Do you want to fail this class Hajime?"
The brunette ahoge boy shook his head.

"Then you'll take the part. I picked you for a reason."
That was probably the closest thing to a compliment coming from Izuru. Hajime still felt he wouldn't be able to pull this off but before he could say anything somebody else objected.

"Izuru-kun I really don't think I deserve this. I mean you all are the symbols of hope so one of you playing this part will be so much better than worthless trash like me."
"Nagito I don't have time to deal with your self deprecating bullshit. You auditioned for Jd and you got it so just shut up and accept it."
Izuru cut of the albino male easily.

"If it'll give all of you hope then of course I'd be willing to-"
"Nagito shut up."
Chiaki luckily came and pulled Nagito away, congratulating him.

Oh yeah that was another thing. He'd have to play Nagito's love interest. He didn't have a problem with him or anything but all the things Veronica and JD do would be so awkward. Especially on stage.

"Alright. Everyone should start memorizing their lines for the first scene. All of you, except for Chiaki since she'll be working lights, will have to take part in ensemble so everyone should have it memorized. We'll be having our first rehearsal on Friday. We'll be having them every other day until about the eleventh week. After that, you'll all probably be here every day. Pull yourselves together and let's pull this off."

———

"Okay everybody! I'm very glad to announce that I'll be putting up the cast list now!"
Tsumugi said, clearly very excited about this.

As soon as everyone got a glimpse at the list, they started chatting excitedly. Tsumugi really had cast this well, especially with Angie being Carrie's crazy religious mom.

Shuichi had a neutral expression on his face. Having such a big part really made him nervous, but he wouldn't object. Tsumugi looked so excited about all this so he's just play along with it, accepting his role. Suddenly a commotion broke out next to him.

"TSUMUGIIIIIII! WHY DO I HAVE TO DATE HER CHARACTER?! CHANGE HER PARTTTTTT!"
Kokichi yelled. He'd received the part he wanted, Billy, but his character would have to date Maki's character, Chris. This clearly wouldn't end well, with both of them despising each other.

"I'm not any happier about this than you are Kokichi. If I knew you'd get Billy's part, I would've backed out of auditioning."
Maki replied coldly.

"Awww don't be like that guys! I'm sorry if you don't like it but I won't be changing any parts around!"
Kokichi started fake cry at Tsumugi's words but stopped when he saw nobody cared.
Maki and Kokichi looked at each other and didn't say anything.

Tsumugi clapped her hands and smiled.
"Okay! Everybody please get started memorizing your first lines! We'll be having rehearsal on Friday and we'll work out a schedule after that! Let's put on the best play ever!"

———

Finally done! Thank you local-makoto-kin for helping out with the casting and lists!