Vol 1 Chapter 2 (2/2)
Seron and Larry returned to their room
“What do you say to dusting off the old scoresheet, Seron?”
“Sure Try not to bore me too much this time”
“I’ed man now”
They played ames of chess
Invictory And in some cases, Seron won a narrow victory
“What kinda military tactic is that supposed to be? It doesn’t make any sense, Seron!”
“And this is where bull-headed et stuck You have to keep your cool, or you’ll lose even battles you could win”
“Heh …You’ve et serious”
“This is the second tiht”
“Really? Anyway, this tiet to bed”
“You’re right I’ll remember the positions, so we’ll finish this next tiet away”
“Well, I say bring it on! —Night”
“Good night”
The h in the sky Larry and Seron quickly climbed into their beds and fell asleep
The 7th day of the seventh month
Seron, Larry, and the drama club had breakfast at the dormitory cafeteria
Everyone was in school-issue sweats So both the sweatshi+rt and the sweatpants, and yet others brought the sweats in their bags
More than a few of the girls see next to Seron So Seron and Larry sat down at a pointedly isolated part of the cafeteria to eat
After breakfast, the entire group ymnasium 1, where the rehearsals were to take place The school had three gymnasiuym’ It was all the way across the campus from the dorms
The group left the dorrounds, entered a deserted school building, came out into a courtyard where tables fro yet again, and finally reached the gymnasium They had traveled over 500 meters from the dorms
There were several doors into the gy double doors students used most often
The gymnasium was usually reserved for indoor sports clubs such as the basketball teae enough to hold four games of basketball at once
But instead of a sports club, three adults were gathered there waiting for the students
One was a wo black hair in a ponytail She wore a sweatshi+rt and a pair of sweatpants, and was skinny but overfloith energy This was Leni Krantz, the advisor of the drama club
As Arthur had explained the night before, Ms Krantz taught hoer to Seron and Larry
Another one of the adults was a portly man in his fifties, ore a brown suit This was Mark Murdoch, who taught Roxchean He was a veteran who had been teaching at this school for over two decades now His black hair was balding and going gray
Both Seron and Larry had taken his classes before His lessons were known for being relaxed enough to sometimes invite sleep, and for Mr Murdoch’s ever-ary
The last of the adults was not a teacher
He was relatively young—only a little older than the students, likely in his mid-to-late twenties He had short black hair slicked upwards and earing light blue coveralls He glared uncomfortably at the students
“Who’s that? You know him, Seron?” Larry whispered
“No” Seron replied, following at the very back of the group
The drama club spread out before the teachers Arthur, the club president, led the others in a greeting
“Goodfrom you today!”
Everyone bowed at the teachers
“It’s just like a sports club” Seron whispered as he and Larry followed suit
“Good , everyone! Did you sleep well?” Ms Krantz replied loudly and cheerfully “This is a bit sudden, but let me introduce you Over here is Mr Mark Murdoch from the Roxchean department He’s the teacher on duty this week, so he’ll be on ca happens while I’ht to the faculty office and look for Mr Murdoch And over here—”
Naturally, every eye in the gymnasium was on the man in blue coveralls He cut off Ms Krantz, his frown refusing to waver
“Heinz Hartnett I’m from a construction company” He said curtly
Though no one said a word, everyone seemed underwhelmed by the revelation
“We’ll be doing repair work on sos on campus over the summer Keep away from the construction sites while you’re on caet hurt Anyone who decides they want to flaunt the rules will get a scolding”
It was a very blunt warning So Hartnett chuckled at the reaction and finished
“Ahem” Mr Murdoch cleared his throat “If you’ll excuse me, Ms Krantz I’ll be in the faculty office if you needforward to the performance”
With that, Mr Murdoch and Hartnett left the gymnasium And before the doors could even close—
“Let’s get started, everyone!”
—Ms Krantz gave the signal The dra into action
It seeotten their respective duties sorted out at the previous night’sEveryone scattered immediately to do their oork
About half the club headed for the clubroo a key froymnasium floor with tape measures to mark out places for the perfor
As Seron and Larry stood blankly, Ms Krantz marched over
“Thanks for co out to help, you two”
Seron and Larry introduced the they should do
“There’s not ht now” Said Ms Krantz “But there’ll be a bit of work for you in an hour or so”
“Really? What kind of work, Ms Krantz?” Asked Larry
“I don’t know if you’ve heard, but we’re getting help from some other clubs for this year’s perforates I want you to bring the that needs carrying The others will bring the carts fro their things”
Just as Ms Krantz had said, until that point Seron and Larry had nothing to do
They watched the dras fro pieces of tape on the floor to mark positions
“Everyone’s really psyched, huh Probably ‘cause it’s for their annual performance And apparently this year’s is the 50th annual perforone to one of their shows, Seron?”
“No Actually, I didn’t even knoe had an annual drama club performance”
Seron and Larry were chatting, passing the time
And about one hour after practice began—
“I think it’s about time, you two!” Said Ms Krantz Seron and Larry stood
“All right! Larry Hepburn and Seron Maxwell are off!”
Larry saluted and Seron nodded, leaving the gy paved pathways and headed for the gates
Rather than cutting across the building as they had earlier, they went around it and followed the concrete path
Seron and Larry passed the building and pushed their carts along the tree-lined path until they could finally see the wide school gates
“There I see them”
Over a dozen students were gathered there
Though it was summer break, everyone was in uniforirls; Seron only counted three boys as, and wooden cases The sth, and the larger ones were over a
“Wonder what those are?” Larry
“Instru to provide live accompaniment for the performance They’re either from the orchestra or the concert band”
“Makes sense Fancy, huh”
They proceeded loudly along and finally reached the waiting students
“Good ofers here to take your luggage! This here’s my felloorkaholic, Seron Maxwell We have orders froymnasium!”
Larry loudly introduced hied to notice hiful smiles
The girl who seeroup stepped forward
She was an elegant and ladylike student with long, curly blond hair She was better suited to a party dress than a uniform, and more to a ballroom than a school
“GoodI’m Portman, fifth-year student and the president of the orchestra club Thank you for co all this way to help We’ll carry our instrus instead We don’t mind if you pile theet them dirty”
“Of course, ma’am! Understood!”
Larry stood up straight on reflex Then he began to load the bags onto his cart Seron followed suit The orchestra club members carried their own precious instruments
“Gy ahead”
“Yes, that’s the place! We’ll bring your things over in a flash!+”
“Let’s go, everyone”
Larry and Seron carefully loaded the bags onto the carts as the orchestra’s footsteps faded They did not raise their heads until they were done
Then, just as they were about to head off—
“Er… gyo with you?”
A female student spoke from behind them Larry flinched, but he quickly put on a smile and turned
“Yes, of course!”
Seron also turned He came face-to-face with several feone with the rest of the orchestra
The first girl had referred to four people, but Seron only saw three nervous students Two tall girls and one chubby girl
Then he spotted the fourth girl She was standing behind the others as though hiding
“The other orchestra ht?” Larry asked One of the tall girls replied
“Oh, we’re not from the orchestra”
“Really?”
“We’re fro at the perforether with the orchestra, but we only just irl explained aardly
“Ah I see SC Port I understand completely! You should come with us—don’t worry, this is part of our job description”
Larry’s friendly attitude quickly dissolved any reservations the girls had Seron internally marveled at Larry’s natural talent with people and decided to do what he could for the ti
“Do you have any bags that need carrying? There’s soirls—or specifically, to the three girls and the fourth hidden behind them
That hen the fourth girl—
“Then ?”
She eed from behind the others Her intonation was notably stilted
“…”
Seron felt his breath catch in his throat
He forgot even to exhale His entire body went rigid
Before his eyes was a girl with black hair tied into pigtails
Slowly, the girl held out herto Seron She had pale, skinny arms
“…”
Larry noticed Seron’s bewildered state
“What’s up, Seron?” He asked Then he understood “Ah—”
The three girls waited for Seron to respond, confused
“I a difficult to understand? I am not a Roxchean person”
“No, it’s all right”
Seron finally let out the breath he was holding and pulled hierly placed it at the very top of his cart
Having recovered froirl before him
“You’re from Sou Be-Il, correct? I’ether last term”
“Oh oodness I am very sorry But I do not think that I remember your name I am very sorry”
“It’s Seron Seron Maxwell Please, don’t worry about it”
The girl smiled—
“My namica”
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