There's one house left on my list. Let's go!

Okay, but... Hey, wait for me!

Great. That scene is perfect.

We only have one week left until we open, so we should start doing full rehearsals.

Excellent! We've finally made it this far!

But, Rui... What about Nene?

She still seems anxious about singing...

Well, it's her emotional state that's the problem, as opposed to anything technical. The best we can do is give her the time she needs to work it out herself.

For now, we should carry on with rehearsals...

Once we have everything else nailed down, Nene will be able to focus on improving her singing.

But it doesn't feel right to just leave her all by herself! Isn't there anything we can do...?

Oh...!

She needs to remember as much as she can about her past self, right?

Hey, Neneee!

Wah...! Wh-What is it?

Nene, I wanna get to know you better!

Know me? Like how?

You were a member of a theater troupe before, right? What kinds of shows did you guys do? Which ones did you like? And...

S-Slow down! Don't ask me so many questions at once or I won't know where to start...

Besides, we shouldn't be wasting time chatting. We don't have much time left, so we can come back to this later.

Nooo! Wait! I want to talk NOW! Pleeease! I'll trade you a taiyaki for your stories!

Uh, I'm not that big on taiyaki...

Why don't we take a break now?

That way you'll have time to chat.

You might even enjoy opening up a bit and sharing your memories with a friend.

Sigh...

Fine, but only until the break's over.

Yay!

I have so many questions! For starters... When did you realize you wanted to do theater?

When I was in elementary school...

We moved next door to Rui, and our parents became friends. One day, we all went to see a play together.

It was really incredible.

I felt as if I was in a dream. When the play ended, I just sat there for a while with my head in the clouds.

That's when I knew this is what I wanted to do.

(And yet...)

(I ruined that show...)

The show was like a dream?

Yeah! I totally get it!!

Huh?

I had the exact same experience!

Grandpa took me to a play when I was little and it was like a really amazing dream!

I was sitting right here.

Huh? This seat...?

Yup! The middle seat at the front was always reserved for me!

I can picture you as a little girl, sitting on this bench, watching a show...

Yeah! And now you're sitting next to me. It's all spooky, like the past and present is coming together!

Hehe, yeah.

And you know, after seeing that play, I saw it again in my dreams that night!

I've had that happen to me too.

In my dreams, it was me on stage.

Yeah, same! But after dancing lots and lots...

You wake up in the morning and realize you've fallen out of bed, right?!

Um, no. I can't relate to that one...

How do you sleep through that...

It's funny how you two also got into acting thanks to your family taking you to see a memorable play.

Huh?

I also saw my first play with my family. My sister's health wasn't that great back then, but that day she felt well enough to go out. She was so happy.

She loved the play so much, I decided to become an actor so that I could cheer her up like that too.

Oh, I see...

Ever since then, I've been training to be an actor by learning to sing, dance and strike awesome poses!

Hehe. Nene and I also immediately started working on our own little shows.

Rui's always been full of crazy ideas. He wanted me to jump into the river once, told me to learn to juggle with my feet and...

Oh? I did?

Hey, don't pretend like you don't remember.

Hehe♪ I wish I could see the shows you did when you were little☆

Well, you can see mine whenever you want!

My parents recorded all of them!

Really?! You have to show me♪

Little Tsukasa's first ventures into theater... I'm sure there are some... Real gems in those videos.

No need to go so overboard with the sarcasm.

(What was I like back then?)

(After discovering theater, I forgot all about playing games or reading manga. All I did was sing...)

(I'd sing all day long and annoy mom...)

(But I was having so much fun...)