Kono Monogatari O Kimi Ni Sasagu - Volume 1 Chapter 1.10

“You asked me, as the editor, to watch the play because you were worried, right, Watanabe-senpai?”

“Well, yeah…” Watanabe nodded weakly. Then, he opened his mouth to speak with difficulty.

“Every year, all the members come up with ideas together to create the script. That’s how our drama club has made it to the nationals multiple times. But…”

“Since the club’s founding eight years ago, we’ve made it to the nationals, but we’ve never won a single award there.”

When Kotoha continued his sentence, Watanabe looked slightly surprised.

“You knew?”

“As an editor working with you, I did my homework.”

“I see… Thanks.”

Watanabe seemed impressed by Kotoha’s thorough research, but Yuto knew that her dedication to “editing” wasn’t something to be easily impressed by.

She had read through an entire collection of book reports, barged into other people’s rooms, fallen into rice fields and rivers without losing spirit, and even claimed she’d risk her life for a novel. This girl was relentless. Yuto couldn’t help but feel a bit bewildered by his own thoughts.

“Then let me ask you bluntly. What do you think should be done with this script?”

Watanabe’s desperate voice echoed.

Kotoha furrowed her brows a little, looking troubled, then glanced at Yuto. A signal for him to talk.

Yuto sighed deeply.

He worried if he might get grabbed by the collar again, but he started to speak.

“Fixing it would be hard. It’d be quicker to write a new one from scratch.”

“I wasn’t asking you!”

“Well, yeah, but still…”

Yuto looked at Kotoha, and Watanabe did too, though timidly. Kotoha remained unperturbed, nodding slightly but firmly.

“I agree. Even if we fix it, we’d need significant changes to the setting and story. Whether it would be interesting after that is another matter.”

Watanabe looked dejected, as if he had been hit hard.

The difference in his attitude towards Yuto was almost refreshing—Yuto thought, half in disbelief, as he watched Watanabe. At the same time, he felt relieved, thinking his role was over.

Around them, some drama club members looked just as downcast as Watanabe, while others glared at Kotoha with dissatisfaction. It seemed about half and half.

“Why do you believe what these people say, President? This so-called ‘editorial club’ just started and only has one member, right?”

A dissatisfied female club member voiced her complaints louder than her expression showed.

Other members joined in, whispering, “Who is she, anyway?” “Is there even an editorial club? Why did we ask them?” “We can’t change it now.”

In this tense situation, Watanabe’s clear voice cut through, “Sorry.”

The members quieted down and turned their attention to him. He seemed to have their trust as their president.

“Sorry for keeping this secret. I asked Natsume-san to watch the play because her insight into scripts is solid.”

“In what way?”

A female club member asked skeptically.

“Do you remember showing a play to the new students in April?”

“Of course.”

“Natsume-san wrote in the survey then. Her comments were almost identical to what professional playwrights said at last year’s national competition. Both the good and bad points were spot on.”

The complaining members gasped.

“But you could find something like that online…”

“Comments on schools that didn’t win are not public.”

This caused a stir among the members.

They looked at Kotoha with curious eyes.

—Could a fellow high school student have the same perspective as a professional?

Under their scrutiny, Kotoha looked uncomfortable.

“Did you really do that?”

Yuto whispered, and Kotoha nodded slightly.

“I wrote what I thought in the survey. Then, they contacted me.”

“And that’s why they asked you to look at the new script.”

And somehow, he got dragged into it too.

“But, President, there’s no time to rewrite it.”

“Right… If we start now, we’ll finish the first draft by the end of August. We won’t have time to practice during summer break.”

“And there’s the cultural festival in mid-September. It’s always a rehearsal for the district competition…”

It seemed everyone thought they had no choice but to go with the current script.

That’s the realistic view, Yuto thought.

But,

“What if we finish it in ten days?”

It was Kotoha who said that.

What is she talking about, Yuto frowned.

“Maybe we could make it in time. But writing that fast is impossible.”

Yuto silently agreed. From scratch, it would be too tough, especially without a dedicated scriptwriter.

“We can. Easily.”

Kotoha confidently replied. Her certainty caused a commotion among the members.

“Is… is Natsume-san going to write it?”

Watanabe barely managed to ask, but Kotoha shook her head.

“No. I’m just the editor. The writer is someone else.”

Yuto was surprised she had a writer in mind. Maybe it was possible with an experienced writer.

But then, why bring him instead of that writer—wait.

“Natsume-san, I trusted your judgment. I don’t know who your writer is, but it’s risky to leave it to someone unknown. Even if they finish it, I’m worried about the quality.”

“It’s fine. They’re skilled. Besides, Watanabe-senpai knows them.”

…Yuto had a bad feeling and tried to quietly slip away, unnoticed.

But he accidentally knocked into a seat, making a noise.

Immediately, Kotoha turned around.

“You can do it, right, Hiiragi-senpai?”

Kotoha smiled broadly.

But it was an artificial smile with an intimidating force.

“T-this wasn’t the plan!” Yuto protested, feeling pressured. “I came here to give feedback, not to—”

“I never said that.”

Kotoha still smiled, but her eyes weren’t.

“What…”

Indeed, she never explicitly said it.

Kotoha only said to come along, and Yuto assumed his role was to give feedback on the play.

“But what about our agreement? You said you wouldn’t ask me to write a novel.”

She did say that by the riverside. That she wouldn’t ask him to write a novel.

But Kotoha casually countered.

“It’s not a novel. I want you to write a script.”

“Huh…?”

TLN : NOOOO HIIRAGI WAS PLAYED IN KOTOHA PALM ALL ALONG HAHAHAHA