Practise Makes Perfect

Kouketsu High had a school tradition.

To promote interclass friendships and co-operation, every school year, all the first year classes were required to put on plays for the rest of the school.

They would mix students into three different groups, each group containing a few students from different first year classes. The idea was to foster teamwork and make sure that the students got along with not only their classmates but the students from the other classes too.

Kotori was put into Group A. Takeo was with her, but her other friends were spread out between the other groups. Mari was in Group A too, along with Sota, Sosuke's brother and fellow capture target. It seemed that there would certainly be many interesting events happening here.

Group A was given Cinderella, Group B had Sleeping Beauty, and Group C got Rapunzel.

The first thing they did was assign everyone their roles. People who volunteered to work on the props or costumes were decided first, and then they left the last for choosing the cast. Mari was cast as Cinderella, obviously, as her air of innocence made her fit the role almost perfectly. Kotori ended up becoming the evil stepmother, which she supposed she could thank her villainess' looks for. The prince was Sota, something which was decided on almost unanimously, as he was certainly the best looking boy in the group.

The thing was, while they found one girl to play one of the stepsisters, none of the other girls wanted to act, instead they all seemed to want to do the backstage work, and so a boy had to be cast as the missing stepsister instead. Takeo was unwillingly shoved into the role, after losing multiple rounds of rock paper scissors.

After that, planning for the play commenced. Kotori found herself having a lot of fun, doing her best to remember her lines and practising them with Takeo in her spare time.

Mari was doing an excellent job as Cinderella, her innate shyness lending her acting an extra authenticity that only made her shine in the role. Sota, on the other hand, was a little awkward and stiff, despite the fact that he certain looked as charming as the prince was supposed to be. No matter what anyone did, he was unable to relax and perform his lines naturally.

Kotori herself was doing mostly okay. She wasn't horrible, but she wasn't all that good either. She couldn't help but deliver her cruel lines accidentally comically, always accidentally going overboard and transitioning into over the top acting. But some of the more subtle lines were okay for her to execute.

All in all, most of them still needed a lot of work. Takeo, however, was surprisingly good at acting, and played the role of a stupid, petty stepsister very well. He grumbled about it, but there was no denying that he was somehow perfect for the role.

Before she knew it, time had flown by, and there was only a week left before their performance.

Unfortunately, Sota still seemed unable to recite his lines without it feeling awkward and stuffy, and so a plan was made to help Sota get more comfortable with acting, and with Mari herself.

Kotori wasn't filled on the plan, as Takeo insisted to the others that if she knew she would likely disagree. The plan was to shove Sota and Mari into a room and lock them in together. Forcing them into an enclosed space with each other would mean that they would have to get along, or at least for Sota to learn to be more comfortable around Mari.

Naturally, if Kotori heard it she would point out how stupid it was and prevent them from letting it happen.

Fortunately for them, but unfortunately for Sota, she had zero clue of this plan that was waiting for him.

The boys told Sota that they were going to rehearse in a new room, and shoved him in there before saying they were going to get the girls. The girls (minus Kotori), meanwhile, were trying to find Mari to bring her to the room, but couldn't seem to find her.

Kotori herself was on her way to meeting Miwa when she passed by the room and saw through the open door that Sota standing there by himself. Puzzled, she walked into the room, about to ask him what he was doing, only for the door to suddenly get shut behind her.

She could even hear the sound of the lock turning.

What the hell?

On the other side of the door, Takeo and his accomplices sniggered and high fived each other. As they were all watching from afar, all they saw was that a girl had entered the room, and they assumed it had to be Mari so they shut and locked the door without bothering to check.

Inside the room, Kotori was fruitlessly pulling at the doorknob, cursing under her breath when it didn't budge.

She eventually gave up and turned sheepishly towards Sota, who was looking towards her direction in shock.

"I think they locked us in here as some sort of prank..."

Sota frowned, then stepped forward to try getting the door open himself.

Kotori rolled her eyes, knowing that it wouldn't work, and instead propped herself up against one of the desks to get more comfortable.

"Why would they do this?" Sota asked eventually.

He was facing the door, back turned to her. Kotori wasn't sure if he was asking her or himself but she answered anyway.

"They probably just think it's funny."

Sota grumbled something she couldn't hear under her breath, clearly annoyed by this whole situation.

That was when Kotori noticed that he was holding the script in his hand. He must have been practising this whole time.

In an effort to make being trapped in a room with him less awkward, she offered to practise some of his lines with him.

It didn't come as much of a surprise to her when it turned out he was having the most trouble with the romantic lines towards the end of the script. Something like this would be naturally hard for a tsundere, wouldn't it?

The first time they tried it, Sota was awkward and fumbled in a few parts, blushing whenever he got to the part where Prince Charming confessed his love to Cinderella.

"Maybe this time try to imagine I'm not a girl?"

The second time it went a bit smoother, but was lacking that feeling of romance and sincerity that should've been coming from Prince Charming.

"Okay... um... what if you imagined I was someone you liked?"

"I don't like anyone..."

"Right... well, okay, let's try it the other way around. I'll be Prince Charming and you be Cinderella. Maybe if you see how I'm doing it, you'll be able to understand the feeling the role is supposed to give."

The look on his face showed clearly that he didn't believe her, but he nodded anyway. At this point, anything was worth a shot.

"I've been looking for you this whole time." Kotori read her lines, trying to channel the proper emotion into her words.

Sota seemed a bit embarrassed, despite the fact that they were just acting. "Really? Me?"

"There's been something I've been meaning to tell you." Kotori stepped closer towards Sota, as the script indicated. "That night, when we met, and danced for the first time... I had already fallen for you."

She then took Sota's hand into hers, eyes still on the script, not noticing how Sota's eyes had widened and how he gasped lightly.

"I've been trying to find you this whole time to tell you that I'm in love with you." Kotori confessed, this time looking into Sota's eyes as she said her line.

Sota was breathless, and there was a light dusting of pink on his cheeks. Kotori wondered if maybe he would have made a better Cinderella in the first place, rather than Prince Charming, but she didn't have long to think on it before the door burst open.

She dropped Sota's hand and turned to the door to find Takeo standing there, gaping at the two of them.

"Kotori?!"

"Takeo?"

"Why is it you?"

"What?"

"It was supposed to be-"

At that moment, the girls arrived outside the door, complaining about how they were never able to locate Mari in the end. Kotori then understood the situation. Clearly, Takeo had meant to trap Mari in here with Sota, instead of her.

That... made sense. They were both the leads in the play.

Kotori blinked, then cursed wildly in her head.

Crap. Was this another event she had inadvertently stolen?