Chapter 2
“In this era, ‘family’ holds an immense amount of weight.”
“So because those two come from feuding houses, there's no way that they could ever get married. Like, zero percent. Zilch. Nada. They’d never allow it.”
“Why’s that? But they love each other, so…?”
“Their personal feelings don’t matter. That’s just how things work in this period. But that didn’t make the young couple give up on their love.”
“They went behind their parents’ and servants’ backs, since they all hated each other. Romeo even snuck out late at night to see Juliet.”
“That’s probably what this scene is.”
“Ohh! Go get ‘er, Romeo! No one can get in the way of your love… ☆”
“I’m rooting for you! You totally got this, Romeo-nee~chan ♪”
“Mm, okay, but seriously. Why did Romeo become a ‘nee~chan’ anyway?”
“Such a crucial thing was reversed… Wouldn’t turning them both into women make an already difficult romance even harder?”
“But if they love each other, then I do want to support them, too.”
“Hwah?! Romeo-nee~chan really hauled butt to that castle (?) thing! She’s muttering something to herself, but she’s too far away for me to hear what she’s saying!”
“Ehehe, do you think she’s gonna give Juliet a kiss? Smooch… ♪”
“It almost feels like we're peeping toms. It’d be embarrassing to see that kinda thing, and I’d feel awful if we somehow get in their way, so… maybe we should let them be for now?”
“Huhhh, but I wanna watch a little longer! Just a few more minutes… ♪”
“But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and burn the envious moon!
She is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou her maid art far more fair than she.”2
“Wh–what’s she talking about…?”
“Shh! Be quiet for a second, I can’t hear! This is a good part!”
“Be not her maid, since she is envious;
Her vestal livery is but sick and green
And none but fools do wear it; cast it off…!
Remove it, and instead put on the sun,
The brilliance that thou wert meant to don!
Then that the moon and stars would shy away
And people would mistake the night for day!”
“……”
“Huh? Juliet isn’t responding! That’s so weird, she was supposed to respond with a metaphor about Romeo being an angel…?”3
“And then follow up with that famous line! O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?”
“You sure know your stuff, huh… Umm, but what’s got Juliet-nee~chan so down in the dumps? What’s up with her, is she hungry?”
“O Romeo, Romeo… wherefore art thou Romeo?”
“Oh? She skipped over a bunch of lines and got right to the important stuff!”
“The child born to the house of Montague…
And yet, what meaning does such a name bear?
What’s Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that name.”
“I take thee at thy word:
For you, my love, would I toss out this name!
Call me but love, and I’ll be new baptized;
My father no more will be my father—
Henceforth I never will be Romeo!
What moats, what walls may stand between us two
Shall I fly o’er upon the wings of love!
If we must flee into the dark of night,
Then take mine hand, and I will have no fear,
For thou art the very sun!”
“Romeo!”
“Juliet…!”
“I thought I heard a wretch!
And how didst thou sneak in?! From whence, and why?
Guards! Leave the sun alone to sleep; awake!
You know what you must do: Go find and kill
That damnable bird singing in the night!
I cannot lay myself to rest because
The chirping of this fool doth keep me up!
Guards, guards! say I, cut the fool to pieces
And scatter her in the garden, that she
May nourish the roses!”
“Ah—Juliet…?”
“Do not call out to me, Montague bitch!
Lest thou wouldst stain mine honorable name!
A rose smear’d with manure would fetch no price;
E’en should it smell as sweet, no man would pay!
Begone, thou louse…! If guard and God have left
Their duty in neglect, then I, myself,
Shall cast thee off to Hell with mine own hands!”
“Eep?! Prithee, stop this at once, my lady!
Throw not those stones at me!”
“Were it the truth,
As thou hast claim’d, that I be the moon’s maid,
I would have taken stars instead and brought
Them down upon thee!”
“Umm…? Sooo now they’re fighting, what’s that supposed to mean? Don’t they love each other?”
“Yeah, that’s weird… Why would something like this happen?”
“Could it be, then, that Juliet’s love for Romeo was also reversed…?”
“Oh, this is bad. The story’s going to fall apart at this rate.”
“We’re just the chorus, so this isn’t exactly the role for us, but we have to get to the bottom of this and get the story back on track.”
“And what if we can’t?”
“The story will unravel at the seams and be tossed in the trash. We’re part of that story, you know, so we’ll disappear along with it.”
“I don’t want that! Even if I’m just part of the chorus and don’t have anything to do with the main story…”
“But I was brought into this world, so it would feel awful to leave it without even leaving something behind.”
“Let’s rewind this story a bit and retrace our steps. Under normal circumstances, that would never slide, but I want us to meddle a bit here and there to change the trajectory of the plot.”
“Umm?”
“I don’t really get it, but I got it! The door to all the flashbacks is right over here!”
“And you, dear guests, come with us! Please follow along!”
“Fufu, if we can just get rid of all the problem areas and set everything right again… then after all is said and done, I’ll recite the prologue once more for you ♪”
From Act II, Scene ii; some of the lines are modified to fit Akira’s vision though.
Juliet does not follow up with a metaphor about angels in the original play; it’s actually Romeo who continues his monologue and compares Juliet to angels. Tomoya, you need to brush up on your Shakespeare for realsies.