Tennis no Ojou-sama: A Prince of Tennis Fan Fiction

CHAPTER 122: Sly Fox

Thursday afternoon dawned upon the Cultural Festival and whirled the whole school into another episode of busy preparation. The Founding Ceremony which included the class plays would finally be taking place tomorrow, marking the climax of the festivities. The classes participating in the presentations took turns in preparing their props and backdrops on the back of the stage of the auditorium. They were also given ample time to have a short stage rehearsal. After waiting anxiously for a couple of hours, Ayase Mami finally received the text message from the head of the Executive committee informing her that their class may start to use the auditorium.

In under five minutes, the class was divided into two groups, one faction to work on the stage preparations and another to stay in the classroom and man the cafe. All the reserve manpower was left with the class booth with the exception of the members of the cast, the stage directors and the backstage troupe. Most of the people who worked on the costumes stayed behind, grumbling a little in protest. They also wanted to take part in the preparation for the play.

"It can't be helped..." Miyako told them. "After all, we can't leave the class cafe unattended.

After the complainants were well-pacified, the troupe of Class 1-2, under Ayase Mami's leadership, went on a headstart with the set up of their backdrops and proper placement of the props. The cast lent their help to further quicken the pace of the preparations.

"Over there, over there!"

"A bit more on the left!"

"Too long, pin the excess cloth behind... Okay, that looks better..."

The stage directors were busy shouting instructions here and there while Mami made sure that the overall feel of each background looks satisfying. Ryoma and Ryouko lent them a hand every now and then but as the backstage people already have a certain grasp on the tasks at hand, they often got in the way instead. Thus, they decided to just stand aside and observe.

"Preparing for a stage presentation sure is exhausting..." Ryouko commented as she watch her classmates flit onstage and backstage like worker bees.

"All this work just for a forty-five minute play..." Ryoma added. "I don't envy people working in this kind of industry at all. I'll just stick with tennis."

Ryouko nodded in agreement. "Indeed..." she mused aloud. "Tomorrow might be more hectic. Imagine changing backdrops within thirty seconds. If anyone panics, there's bound to be mistakes made somewhere."

"No need to worry about that..." Mami suddenly said as she approached them with a confident smile on her face. "Everyone's got the scenarios of the play memorized and we only have five backdrop changes throughout the whole play. For a few consecutive scenes, we don't even have to change the background. Everything's nice and organized," she told them.

"Impressive work," Ryouko said with a simper.

Mami beamed and lifted her chin. "Well... For someone like me aspiring to be a director and screenwriter someday, this should be a piece of cake."

"Oh... So you want to be a director someday. That explains why you're so ecstatic about things like these," Ryoma remarked.

Mami winked cheekily. "Small school presentations can be the baby steps to my dream. I've read in countless magazines that directors and producers who became successful in their career always said that you ought to start young with passion."

"In my opinion, no matter what kind of industry it may be, one has the advantage if they started out young and passionate. Just take care that the passion won't burn out too soon," Ryouko commented, thinking of herself and tennis. She had been playing tennis all her life and she's definitely passionate over it. Upon looking at Mami, she began to ponder whether her friend's desire to be a director and her own desire to be a pro tennis player in the future are the same.