After breaking up, my ex asked me to win her back

Chapter 193 Oxen on Both Sides

At 3:30 p.m., school was dismissed.

Kagura Hikaru and Ayakoji Chiyoko had finished organizing the Student Council affairs and arrived at the school auditorium.

When they got there, members of the Drama Club were rehearsing on stage.

The Drama Club's actual clubroom wasn't here; it was in the old school building, but the school allowed them to use the auditorium during off-hours for rehearsals and performances.

After all, this was the only place in Ugao, aside from the indoor gymnasium, that could be considered a "stage."

The Drama Club at Ugao High used to be quite famous, with students reportedly coming from other schools during the cultural festival just to watch the performances.

Unfortunately, a talent gap had appeared in recent years, and the club had started to decline.

Kagura Hikaru observed the Drama Club members busying themselves in the auditorium.

Just as Kohinata Motoyo had said, there were very few people, perhaps only six or seven.

With so few people to handle the stage setting, acting, costume making, and makeup, it was inevitable that individuals would have to play multiple roles, making the club's operation quite challenging.

"You're here," Kohinata Motoyo appeared, smiling as she approached, accompanied by a short girl wearing large, frameless glasses.

"Let me introduce her, this is the president of the Drama Club, a senior, President Takeuchi Momo," Kohinata Motoyo introduced.

"President Ayakoji, and Classmate Kagura, I appreciate your willingness to join us for the cultural festival performance," Takeuchi Momo adjusted her glasses and said smiley, her eyes constantly shifting to inspect the faces of Kagura Hikaru and Ayakoji Chiyoko, which was somewhat disconcerting.

Ayakoji Chiyoko slightly furrowed her brow but still nodded at her, "Hello, President Takeuchi, let's get started soon.

"Oh? President Ayakoji is quite impatient," Takeuchi Momo seemed not to be afraid of Ayakoji Chiyoko, she said cheerfully, then turned to instruct Kohinata Motoyo, "Kohinata, please hand them the script. You two, just skim through the dialogue first, and we'll try rehearsing a segment in a moment."

After issuing the instructions, Takeuchi Momo waved goodbye and hurried off to direct the other members in setting up the stage.

Kohinata Motoyo apologized to them with a rueful smile, "Sorry, President Takeuchi is just like that; please don't think she is impolite. It's just that her passion for theater overcomes her social skills."

"It doesn't matter," Ayakoji Chiyoko said, arms folded, expressionless, "Bring out the script quickly, our time is very limited, let's not waste our energy on these pointless pleasantries."

"Alright, alright."

Seemingly accustomed to Ayakoji Chiyoko's manner, Kohinata Motoyo looked resigned, and let the two find a place to sit down before she brought over two scripts that had been prepared earlier.

"This time, we are thinking of performing 'The Phantom of the Opera,'" Kohinata Motoyo said as she handed over the scripts.

They took the scripts and began to flip through them.

As a classic opera, even as laymen, they were familiar with the overall plot.

The story told of a musician who, after his face was disfigured, hid in the catacombs of the Paris Opera House and was known as "The Phantom of the Opera." He fell in love with a minor actress, Christine, and secretly coached her to become the lead actress.

However, Christine loved her childhood friend Raoul, and to her, The Phantom of the Opera was just her music teacher.

Driven mad with jealousy, The Phantom of the Opera kidnapped Christine and imprisoned her in his labyrinth-like lair. When Raoul and his companions came to her rescue, they fell into a trap. With their lives in peril, The Phantom threatened Christine to marry him.

Christine tearfully agreed to save everyone, but The Phantom of the Opera eventually came to his senses, realized the true feelings of the woman he loved, and knowing his love would never be reciprocated, he abandoned his crazed behavior and released Christine and her companions back to the surface, disappearing forever.

A quintessential love triangle story, which perhaps initiated this concept.

The team had not made original changes to this classic play, apart from some details and shortening the length, the overall plot aligned closely with the 2004 film version.

"How is it?"

Seeing that both Kagura Hikaru and Ayakoji Chiyoko had finished reading, Kohinata Motoyo smiled and asked, "If you have any issues or suggestions, please tell me anytime, and we can make adjustments accordingly."

"Rather than that, why don't you first tell me what roles are we actually going to play?" Ayakoji Chiyoko patted the script in her hand.

The main roles in The Phantom of the Opera were clear: The Phantom, Christine, and Raoul.

It centered around a love triangle involving two men and a woman.

But the question was, who did Kohinata Motoyo want her to play?

If it was Christine, setting aside whether Ayakoji Chiyoko's naïve and sweet heroine temperament matched the character in the script, if she really was chosen to play the lead female role, it would mean she'd have romantic scenes with two male actors.

No matter whether Kagura Hikaru played The Phantom or Raoul, it all seemed very odd.

Because although Christine's true love was Raoul, she had a kissing scene with The Phantom in the last part of the drama.

If Kagura Hikaru was The Phantom, Ayakoji Chiyoko could kiss him legitimately on stage, which indeed sounded a bit exhilarating.

But if it was so, it also meant that Kagura Hikaru had to watch as Ayakoji Chiyoko and another male actor displayed their affection for each other.

On the other hand, if Kagura Hikaru played Raoul, he would still have to watch Ayakoji Chiyoko and another male actor kiss misalignedly in the last part.

This was frustrating.

With trouble on either side, is this place a Green Grass Farm?

Ayakoji Chiyoko looked at Kohinata Motoyo with a dark expression, already contemplating leaving with Kagura Hikaru. Find your next adventure on My Virtual Library Empire

What a lousy play, just don't act in it. Want to kiss? She could kiss as long and as passionately as she wanted in private, no need to upset herself just to act stubbornly?

Moreover, she also suspected that Kohinata Motoyo was planning to set her up and intentionally provoke her.

However, it assumed they truly wanted Ayakoji Chiyoko for the role of the female lead.

Kohinata Motoyo gave a completely different answer.

"President Ayakoji's role is Raoul, and as for Mister Hikaru, you'll play The Phantom," Kohinata Motoyo said with a beaming smile.

Kagura Hikaru and Ayakoji Chiyoko were both stunned.

It was understandable for Kagura Hikaru to play The Phantom, but Ayakoji Chiyoko as Raoul?

She, a drama novice, was to play a male role straight away?

Although this fundamentally resolved the issue of the dilemma, it was well known that gender reversal roles were the most challenging to perform. Whether males act as females or females as males, both required extensive practice and acting skill to avoid becoming unconvincing.

"It's just a high school cultural festival, no need to take it so seriously," Kohinata Motoyo seemed to understand the problem and comforted her: "Besides, I think President Ayakoji already has a masculine presence in her everyday behavior and demeanor. Just tone it down a bit, and you can definitely handle it."

"What do you mean...?" Ayakoji Chiyoko asked, her eyes fierce, suspecting someone was making insinuations about her.

Moreover, Ayakoji Chiyoko was more concerned about another matter than the difficulty of acting.

Since Kagura Hikaru's role was The Phantom, didn't that mean they became rivals in love in the play?

Forget about the dilemma, there wasn't even a single romantic scene!