Chapter 6

Yaaaawn, g’morning~ ♪

Good morning, Yuuki.

Gyeh? Oh sorry, Otogari-kun, I guess I still get surprised when you greet me so casually.

Why is that? Am I scary?

No, it’s just not really what I expected… It’s usually just Akehoshi-kun, Hidaka-kun, and the new girl saying good morning to me.

So I didn’t even think of the possibility and ended up panicking. You’re not really that scary, Otogari-kun—Thanks for saying hello ♪

No need to thank me. …You look considerably tired, Yuuki. Did you stay up late last night again?

That’s not good for your health. Early to bed and early to rise—and don’t forget to eat three square meals of meat.

No way, I can’t eat all that meat, especially in the mornings. All that fat will just make me sick.

Hmm. You could try chicken tenderloin if you’re concerned about the fattiness.

Why do you push meat so hard anyway, Otogari-kun…?

Meat gives you strength. You’re somewhat frail, Yuuki, so I worry about you.

Urgh… That’s just because I’m an unhealthy geek.

“Oh my, how do you do, Makoto-san? Aren’t you all out of sorts today? Look, your glasses are all askew ♪”

…?

…Huh?! Why’re you talking like that, Hidaka-kun? Are you pretending to be Narukami-kun?

Don’t pull out the boke on me so suddenly~ I’m not a good enough tsukkomi to follow up on the fly like that!¹

“Fufu, you just have to give it your college best, Makoto-san ♪”

Huhhh? Seriously, what’s wrong? Do you have a fever, Hidaka-kun?!

…Hmph. If your reaction is anything to go by, this was a failure.

I borrowed some shoujo manga from the transfer student, along with some novels and magazines aimed toward women, and studied them carefully.

But just like Buchou said, there’s no point if I’m only copying the tone on a surface level.

What am I missing? It’d be nice to have someone to model myself after…

Well, I tried imitating the transfer student, but when I kept mimicking her mannerisms she got mad at me.

I guess it would be irritating to have someone copying everything you do and say right in front of you, though.

Now that you say it, you have been copying her poses recently, like a kid imitating his parents.

It made me smile to see how close you two are.

Who are you calling a kid? I’m supposed to be playing a woman in the drama club’s next performance, so I’ve been trying to get into the role.

But I’m still figuring things out, and I’ve had some difficulties getting things to click.

Huh… So you’re playing a girl this time? That’s new; usually you play princes, right?

Yeah. But now that I’m in my second year, I want to broaden my horizons.

But I don’t have the skill to play an authentic woman, so I’ll have to try shaking things up a bit.

Look at the script. It’s a variation of Romeo and Juliet that was lying forgotten on the shelves in the drama club room. I’m playing Romeo.

Wait, you shouldn’t show off the script so carelessly, Hidaka-kun. Nowadays anything and everything gets spread all over the internet.

Fufu, I doubt you’d do something like that.

It’s more about being on guard. The internet’s so scary… I’m always worried about everyone being so unprotected.

Anyway, hmm… I don’t really get what you mean when you say you’re playing a girl if it’s Romeo, but I guess it’s just Romeo and Juliet but things are switched around?

You read the script already? That was fast.

Only the beginning. I’m used to skimming, so I can just look at a screen and get the gist of things…

But this isn’t a purely female role, right?

She’s got the body of a woman, but her heart is still the same as the original Romeo. So you could always just put on a dress and do your usual prince role, couldn’t you?

Yeah, Buchou said the same thing.

That it would be impossible for me to truly understand a woman—or rather, to play Juliet, so I should start with just a little crossdressing.

I don’t like that he’s looking down on me, though. But I do realize I don’t have enough skill to pull it off.

I still feel like I need to make my mannerisms more like a woman’s, so I’m trying to study that.

Even if she’s a man at heart, there are still some aspects of her physiology and body that will inevitably be feminine, such as going to the bathroom, or putting on clothes.

I poked at the transfer student to explain those things, but she stopped talking to me.

Well yeah. Hidaka-kun, you know that kind of thing would typically be considered sexual harassment, right?