A day passed in the blink of an eye. During the first class of the afternoon, Nanase-sensei took over the physical education teacher's class, citing the rain outside as the reason.
The physical education teacher could only stare blankly at the empty gymnasium by himself…
"Clap, clap, clap…"
Nanase-sensei walked into the classroom with a square box, clapping her hands sharply to silence the noisy students below.
She then pointed to the box she had placed on the podium. "Quiet down, everyone. We're doing gacha pulls now. Each person's role is written on a wooden stick."
"Ah!?"
"Nanase-sensei, shouldn't the prince and princess be chosen from us, the good-looking ones? Are we really deciding by gacha pulls?"
"Yeah, with my looks, it'd be a pity not to be a prince."
"…"
"Who has yellow pee? Hurry up and splash him awake."
"Me, me."
"Get out of the way, your blood sugar is high. Let me do it. I'm afraid he'll get a taste of sweetness."
"Bang…!"
Nanase-sensei slammed the blackboard behind her, and the chalk dust flew up from her sudden movement.
The noisy classroom fell silent, and the students didn't even dare whisper.
"Hurry up!"
Because of Nanase-sensei's 'kind' smile, the first student called by Ajitani quickly walked to the podium to draw a lot.
"It's actually random…" Nishikata's eyes seemed to have lost their sparkle.
Takagi noticed his abnormality and asked with concern, "Nishikata? Is something wrong?"
"No… nothing…" Nishikata shook his head with a forced smile.
Tsuna, who knew why Nishikata was like this, just smiled and said nothing.
"Tsuna, what if I draw Snow White and you draw the King?"
Tsuna glanced at her and chuckled softly. "I think that's pretty good too."
"…" Shouko slapped his arm without hesitation, choosing to break up with him for five minutes first.
Tsuna propped his face with one hand, watching the students walk up to the podium one by one to draw lots, recalling how Nanase-sensei had called him last night to discuss the script.
After nearly an hour of discussion, he cut some roles and added others. In the end, the main actors and supporting roles totaled twenty people.
"Miyamura."
Hearing Ajitani call his name from beside the podium, Tsuna collected his thoughts and walked to the podium under the expectant and curious gazes of Shouko and the two people behind him.
"How is it? What did you draw?" Ajitani leaned close to him and asked in a low voice.
Tsuna looked at the role on the wooden stick, smiled slightly, then showed it to Ajitani and returned to his seat under her 'surprised' gaze.
After about five minutes, when all the students had drawn their lots, they began to discuss and find out which lucky person had drawn the prince and princess.
Nanase-sensei raised her hand and pressed it down, and the noisy classroom quickly turned into whispers. She then began to assign other tasks.
"Every day after school, we'll use an hour for rehearsals. Go home today and explain it to your parents, and also explain the reason to your club president."
After confirming that everyone had no objections, she continued, "I asked the principal for a dance studio that we can use temporarily. We'll go there for rehearsals every day from now on."
Various matters took up one class period. As the bell rang for class dismissal, Shouko and Takagi went to the restroom together.
Nishikata, on the other hand, looked at the wooden stick in his hand, slumping onto the desk with a look of despair.
"Look on the bright side, Nishikata. A boar-headed knight impersonating a prince can still trick a real princess, you know. Many people are envious and can't even catch up."
"Miyamura, if you wipe that smile off your face, I'll believe you." Nishikata gave him a speechless glance.
"Exactly, I think Miyamura is very right." At this moment, Ajitani walked over to Shouko's seat and sat down, comforting him like Tsuna:
"Look at Rinko, she's a girl, but she drew a male role—a hunter."
"…" Nishikata looked at their faces and turned his head away. "I feel very comforted. Thank you!"
"You're welcome."
"It's nothing, we're buddies."
"…"
The deal he had made with Ajitani before had also been voided because she couldn't intervene in this matter, and he understood. After all, this relied purely on luck.
Raindrops 'pattered' against the window. Tsuna stared out the window, not noticing Shouko returning to her seat.
— — — —
Nanase-sensei resolved issues like the venue, and Ajitani learned a lot by her side. The opera performance stage was chosen to be in the auditorium.
In three days, Tsuna printed more than twenty copies of the final script and placed them in front of the participating students. Everyone was surprised that he even had this ability.
Promotion, props, costumes, and other matters were all progressing steadily. Sometimes, when encountering difficult problems, they would ask Nanase-sensei for help.
The rest of the students could rehearse with peace of mind, without having to worry about other issues.
Time, in sweat and laughter, passed, and it came to the last day of September.
"Tsuna… Is Nishikata stimulated by something?"
"Hmm?" Tsuna looked at Shouko's hesitant expression and became curious. "What do you mean?"
"Nishikata updated a new status on 'LINE'. I suspect he's been stimulated by something." Saying this, Shouko put her phone in front of Tsuna, letting him check it.
"You don't have to be thorny, but you must have thorns on your body!"
This update was also accompanied by a black-and-white, two-dimensional male avatar.
"…"
Tsuna looked at this chuunibyou statement. Although it was very fitting for boys of this age, he just couldn't help but suppress the corners of his mouth.
"What's wrong, Tsuna?" Shouko was curious, a little unclear where the humor was.
"No… nothing." Tsuna took a deep breath to suppress his emotions. "Shouko, don't worry. Nishikata hasn't been stimulated."
'As for whether he'll be stimulated tomorrow at school, I can't guarantee that…' This sentence was on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed it.
"Oh."
Hearing him say that, Shouko didn't take it to heart, and her previous plan to tell Takagi about it also vanished.
At the same time, in a cozy bedroom with pink as the main color…
"Pfft… Hahaha…!"
Ajitani couldn't hold back her laughter when she saw Nishikata's newly posted update, constantly patting the Chickenzilla doll in her arms.
At the same time, she didn't forget to screenshot it and send it to Takagi.
"(Image)"
"Takagi-chan, have you seen it yet?"
"You don't have to be thorny, but you must have thorns on your body!"
"(Crazy laughter.jpg)"
Not long after, Takagi replied with a few punctuation marks and then ignored Ajitani.
— — — —
Early the next morning.
As soon as Nishikata returned to his seat, he had a very ominous premonition.
Looking at the two people in front who greeted him and then continued chatting, he shook his head, shaking off the jumbled thoughts.
Seeing that Takagi and Ajitani were not in their seats, he became curious about where they had gone.