[Don't be nervous, you can do this.]
[Yes. Yes. Yes.]
[Your acting is great, there's no need to be nervous.]
[Yes. Yes. Y-yes.]
[Stop shaking your head.]
[Yes. Y-yes. Y-yes.]
[Ah, this...]
David covered his face with his hand. He looked utterly exasperated.
[Alia.]
His voice turned serious, and it was only then that Alia finally looked at him. Pressing both of his hands against her shoulders, he stared deeply at her.
[Your acting is so of the best that I've ever seen. The scriptwriter also feels the sa, selecting you for the play. Don't be nervous. Go there with a smile, and show everyone else that you deserve to be there.]
[But...]
[Do it.]
David cut her off, his face moving closer.
Alia's expression changed, and as she looked into his eyes, she eventually took a deep breath, her face slowly turning serious.
[Okay.]
[Good.]
Finally, David smiled and moved back.
[I'll go.]
He watched as Alia turned around and headed into the building. Just before entering, she turned around and clenched her hand. It was a gesture that seed to say, 'fighting!'
David mimicked her action, and soon she entered the building.
[Haa....]
Exactly one minute after she entered David's expression changed as he let out a long breath as he covered his.
Holding onto his shirt, he quietly mumbled,
[D-Dangerous... So d-angerous]
As the audience was confused by his reaction, they suddenly noticed sothing. His ears... They were completely red.
The audience laughed upon hearing David's voice coming from around the theater. Before anyone knew it, they were all wearing sweet smiles on their faces as they looked at the stage.
||
Only a few weren't smiling, and Delilah was one of them.
Her eyes were fixed on the stage. From start to finish, she never took her eyes away from the
play.
At first, she wanted to understand Julien's words better.
She wanted to experience the script and see how different experiencing it was from reading it.
And she did see a difference.
It was there.
....But at the sa ti, she struggled to understand the plot. Her lack of understanding of emotions was making it harder for her to understand the play.
But there was sothing else that was bothering her.
||
Frowning slightly, she lowered her head as she stared at her hand.
'Why?'
She sat like that for a brief mont before raising her head again. The scene had changed, and
she could see a lot of people on the stage.
[Please move this here.]
[May the actors go to the changing rooms to get ready.]
[The tickets are sold out.]
... It looked like today was the day that the play would start. A lot of people were working hard
to make sure that everything flowed smoothly, and in the corner, a trembling figure stood.
[Uwa. Uwa. Uwa.]
It was none other than Alia who looked around in panic.
[I'm so nervous. What do I do? Ah...! I can't do this.]
[Calm down, will you?]
Standing behind her and fixing her heir, David rolled his eyes.
[You're going to be fine. We've practiced for so long. How can you not be fine?]
[But...!]
[It's too late for you to doubt yourself.]
David took his hands away from her hair and stood before her.
[...Unless you want to return to the life you wanted before, then this is your chance to start
new. Go out there and show the world how much you've changed.]
Alia swallowed quietly.
Eventually, she nodded her head.
[You're right.]
[Of course, I'm right.]
With a smile, David sighed. Looking around, his expression subtly changed. But soon, a smile returned to his face. It was a
smile that seed to be the brightest Alia had ever seen as her face froze.
*Puff*
Then, as if sothing blew at the top of her head, smoke started to rise and her face turned
completely red.
[What's wrong?]
[N-nothing...!]
Covering her face, she turned away from him.
[I-I'll be going now. I-I'll try to see you in the stands. See you!]
Before David had any chance to say a word, Alia darted away from him. Staring at her,
David's expression froze before he lowered his head and laughed.
[....It's good like this.]
His figure gradually faded, and Alia appeared. Standing opposite her was the elderly lady
from the previous scene. She was looking at Alia with a smile she hadn't shown before.
[Are you ready? There's only thirty minutes before the play starts.]
[Yes, I'm ready.]
Alia confidently said.
[That's good. I'm counting on you.]
[Hehe.]
With a foolish smile, she scratched the back of her head.
It was a habit of David that she picked up as she spent ti with him. As the audience noticed
this, they couldn't help but feel like she was so different from the first act.
Slowly... she was turning into a female version of David.
Always smiling.
Always happy.
And foolish.
[Go. Practice your lines one last ti. I'll call you when it's about to start.]
[Yes!]
Heeding her words, Alia took out a worn-out script and started to go through it. However,
a few lines in, she stopped.
[....Is he there yet?] Pursing her lips, she looked around. To her surprise, he was nowhere to be seen.
[Why is he not there yet? Is he in the bathroom?]
Whatever the case way, Alia turned around.
[Good. Since he's not there yet, he can help practice one last ti.]
With such thoughts, she headed out to look for him. There were still thirty minutes, which
was plenty of ti.
At least, that was what she thought at first...
[Not here?]
[...Still not in his seat as well.]
[Hmm. Where is he?]
But as the clock ticked, she found that he was nowhere in sight. Before she knew it, there were
only ten minutes left of the play.
For twenty minutes, she looked for him, but all of it was to no avail.
She was just about to give up when she was suddenly stopped by soone.
[Are you the one looking for the young boy?]
[Ah, yes!]
Alia heavily nodded her head.
[If you're looking for him, he's at the park outside.]
[Thank you!]
Without a second thought, Alia rushed out of the building and headed out for the nearby
park which was attached to the theater hall.
[Наа... Наа...]
With heavy breaths, she frantically looked around before she spotted a familiar figure sitting
on one of the benches with a diary in his hand.
He appeared to be scribbling sothing.
[David!]
It was only when Alia called out for him that he raised his head and stopped writing.
Looking at her, he smiled.
[What are you doing!?]
Alia shouted with heavy breaths.
[The play is about to start!]
Rushing toward him, she went on to grab his hand but was stopped by him.
[Stop.]
[Uh? What do you an stop? The play is about to start. If you don't go now then you won-]
[I can't go.]
[Uh?]
Alia's body froze.
Her mouth opened and closed repeatedly before she managed a soft mumble,
[W-why?]
Closing the book down, David smiled yet again.
With the book in his hand, he raised his head to look up.
[At first, I approached you because I was curious. You looked so lonely, and it kind of
reminded of a certain soone. That's why I approached you. I was curious.]
[....So? What does that matter?]
[It matters a lot. It matters because that person was ...]
[Ah?]
[Affection Distortion Disorder. Do you know how surprised I was when I heard you say it?]
[....]
As if the very breath had been stolen from the theater, all eyes were focused on David. Not a single soul said a word.
A horrifying reality suddenly dawned on all those present as so covered their mouths.
Especially Alia whose face turned pale.
[W-wait...]
[I wanted to watch your play, but I overdid myself. It doesn't look like I'll be able to last until
the end.]
[....]
[....I didn't want you to find out before the play. Not after all the effort you put in.]
[....]
Scratching the back of his head, he slowly stood up with an apologetic look on his face.
[I really did want to be there for you. I really di-Ompf!]
David's words were suddenly cut off as he was suddenly embraced tightly. Stunned, David
looked down to see Alia's trembling body. He smiled when he looked at her.
[Are you crying? Co on now. After all, I did to make you smile? It kind of leaves sour...]
Raising her head, Alia showed her face. Tears were streaming down her face as she t
David's
gaze.
He looked back at her.
[Can you do it for ? Smile?]
[.......]
Tears continued to stream down Alia's face she slowly nodded her head. Slowly, her lips
pulled up and she showed one of the brightest smiles that she had ever shown.
Even as the tears rolled down, they didn't take away from the smile that seed to light up
the entire theater.
Staring at the smile, David matched her smile.
[Yes, that's how it's supposed to be. That's the smile that I want.]
Pushing her face to his chest, Alia wailed like never before, her cries reaching every corner
of the theater.
[I might not be there, but I know how good of an actress you are. Go... show the world just how
talented you are.]
As he spoke, the lights that surrounded the two started to fade.
Cli Clank!
...And the surroundings turned dark.
By the ti that the light returned, David was sitting on a bench by himself. There was no
background, and it was just him and his dairy.
Slowly, as he opened it, he started to scribble on it.
Scribble Scribble-
A voice quietly echoed throughout the theater as he wrote.
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