Ah, that was an excellent performance!

Yeah, I'm glad we saw it since I'd been meaning to go see that play.

I'm also glad. I didn't know what to do when I heard they'd immediately sold out of tickets. And then our friend from Shunmeiza said they'd give us some...

Thank goodness it turned out that their friend is a member of the troupe we saw perform today. I suppose it speaks to the importance of networking.

And the story was so good☆

I loved how the protagonist didn't know he was a ghost while talking to his friends!

Those around him knew that he'd become a ghost, which led to some comical misunderstandings during their conversations. The audience certainly seemed to have a nice laugh.

I hadn't laughed that hard at a play in such a long time.

But the scene when the protagonist departs into the afterlife was kinda sad.

Oh, I felt the same way!

The way he told his friends that they'd always been smiling before then, and how he wanted them to still be smiling when they said goodbye... It really made me tear up...

Yes, that was a wonderful climax.

The expression the protagonist made as he held back his tears felt so compelling.

What did you think, Tsukasa?

Me...? Yes, I also thought the final scene was very good.

Even the minor characters who were in that scene... They also gave excellent performances.

The minor characters?

Yes. Remember how I also played a minor role during the play for newcomers? I put in quite a bit of effort for that.

So, I tried learning what I could by watching all the characters like that!

I see.

But... I felt most drawn in by the protagonist's uncle.

His uncle...?

Oh, the person off to the side during the funeral and the final scene?

Yes. He didn't have all that many lines since he wasn't close with the protagonist...

But the expressions he made forced me to think about what he was feeling deep down.

Deep down?

Yes. For example, when the protagonist departed into the afterlife...

Until that point, his uncle had been seeing him as a ghost. But then, right as the protagonist was about to disappear, he moved his foot forward ever so slightly.

And just for that split second, the look in the uncle's eyes changed. It almost felt like he was the protagonist's father...

His father...?

That was the moment I realized just how much the protagonist meant to him.

There may've been a time when he really did feel like a son. When he was little, the protagonist might've spent a lot of time playing with his dear uncle.

Of course, this is just my imagination talking. None of these things were depicted during the show...

I see...

The acting performance put on by that minor character's actor made you think about his backstory.

Yes, because he added so much depth to the story without speaking. And he did so without negatively impacting the rest of the scene...

It seemed like a good example to refer to while I try to work on thinking about the performance as a whole while maintaining my fervent passion for acting.

I see.

I didn't realize how educational this was for you.

It was. And we need to once more thank the person who gave us these tickets!

Right.

Still, in the end, I couldn't help but see how the entire audience was smiling after it was all over.

Me too. I suppose it's only natural since it included quite a lot of comedic elements...

And it was clear that the cast wanted to send the audience home smiling, which they succeeded in doing.

I felt that too!

It's like they were all doing everything they could to make the audience smile and laugh!

Plus, the way the whole cast was smiling in the end made me really happy♪

Me too.

It made me want to do the same...

And we'll need to keep doing our best in order to make that happen!

(I want to make people all over the world smile.)

(That feeling hasn't changed whatsoever.)

(But I'll need to keep training to accomplish that goal.)

(We're getting to work with Shunmeiza now, but I want to do more. No matter how hard things get, I need to do everything I can...)

(I'll get closer to my dream one step at a time.)

(And someday, I'll be a star who can bring smiles to people all around the world!)