Conquering Villains and Capturing Targets Is Harder in Real Life than in Games

26: Sometimes you end up wanting mutually exclusive things.

The day after, a haggard looking Arisa presented the script she had written to the class. "I-It's still a little rough around the edges b-but I figured we could work on it as we're rehearsing."

Flipping through the first few pages Yuki remarked, "Wow, Arisa-chan, did you work on this all night?"

Arisa fidgeted nervously. "I-I knew that we had to have a script p-put together before we could start with the other p-preparations needed...so I'd really appreciate it if you could read it over and t-tell me what you all t-think..."

The classroom went quiet as everyone focused on the script. The only sounds that could be heard were the rustling of pages.

As Shizuka made her way through the script, her face slowly became stiffer and stiffer.

...Why does Cinderella have so few scenes in a story with her name in the title? More importantly, why do the prince and fairy godmother seem like the main characters instead?!

When Shizuka had finished reading the entire script, her expression had noticeably darkened. Looking up, she couldn't help but stare resentfully at Arisa whom shrank back instinctively.

"Doesn't it seem like a Cinderella story that's not really Cinderella anymore?"

Hayato nodded as he flipped his script over. "Yeah...it's a cool story but somehow hasn't the focus been shifted?"

Yeah! Why do the prince and the fairy godmother end up together??? Why does the prince have so many parts????

Arisa lowered her head and in a muffled voice replied, "W-Well, I uh sort of um took some creative liberties..."

Koizumi beamed. "That's fine with me! Madoka-sama's the lead in this version!"

Arise fiddled with her fingers as she explained, "I-I tried to make an traditional adaption at first b-but somehow along the way, I just started to imagine Yoshino-san and Madoka-san side by side on stage and suddenly the script just became this way..."

Kiri shrugged. "I don't have any qualms about it. It's not the traditional story but it's still pretty interesting."

"I like this version too," stated Yuki. "Since I'm bad at rote memorization, I was actually really anxious about being the main character so this is a much better arrangement in my opinion."

Shizuka frowned. At this rate I'm still going to end up the lead! "But wouldn't we be disappointing people by diverging from the original?"

"I think we would've anyways diverged anyways since we had a crossdressing cast," commented Sakaki.

"But the essence of the Cinderella story is one where a poor abused girl gets swept away by a handsome and wealthy prince! It's the commoner fantasy! We'd be crushing so many dreams by changing it!" insisted Shizuka.

"I think we'd be crushing more dreams by not having you and Semi-san as the leads..."

Several classmates nodded.

"Yeah, seriously. Some of those fanclub members and shippers of yours are beyond psychotic."

Koizumi frowned. "Hey! Not all of us are insane, but it's true that things have been pretty hectic since those clips of Madoka-sama and Shizuka-chan on Heavenly Match went viral...and it'll probably be a lot worse when the full episode actually airs...but the majority of us simply are devoted and respectful admirers!...However, I am almost certain that a lot of outsiders will visit our school during the culture festival just to see you two, so it's probably better this way."

"Ah those people, they come every year just to catch a glimpse of Shizuka-chan and Madoka-kun. You'd think they'd never seen beautiful people before."