Vol 3 Chapter 6 (1/2)
Chapter 6: The Audience
The 13th day of the seventh month The final day of the practice camp
The sky was a blinding blue It was as windy as ever, and the air was cool
The last full rehearsal of the caymnasium of the 4th Capital Secondary School
“That was incredible And we got an early audience preview, too”
“Yeah It waselse when you listen to the live ht in front of your eyes”
The rehearsal ended as Seron and Larry watched
As Ms Krantz praised the students, and the rest of the clubthe orchestra and the chorus club—applauded, Seron narrowed his eyes
“We still have one o”
Larry also narrowed his eyes
“‘Script by Seron Maxwell’ I can’t wait to watch it”
“Good work, everyone! We’ll have to go through this again when the new tere Let’s have a toast! Everyone ready? To a good summer and a successful fall performance! Cheers!”
The drama club, the orchestra club, the chorus club, and Seron and Larry raised their glasses of juice or tea
The dormitory cafeteria had never been so crowded Normally students picked a menu and received their orders at the counter, but this tie trays of food before them, which they could take buffet-style
On the table were etable dishes, fish, and even s The girls were already taking pieces of cake
“Natalia I realize that soht must need more food, but isn’t that a bit much?” Portman demanded
“You think so? I’ll try to ease up on the h …What?”
Meanwhile,
“The pudding is really good!”
“Really? I’et some!”
“Oh I want to eat it too Please let us go together”
Meg and the chorus club were also enjoying the party
In the midst of the celebrations, Larry piled a na onto his plate
“I can practically hear Jenny seething from here” He chuckled Seron nodded
“It would be difficult even for us to bring this food to her” Nick said, walking up to thes are progressing s has accepted the queen’s offer”
Seron nodded discreetly and placed the lasagna he was about to take onto Nick’s plate
“Excellent work, Black Knight Here is your reward”
“It is an honor, my lord”
The party went on from lunchtime to snack time Eventually, the food on the tables disappeared
The orchestra club and the chorus club said goodbye to the drama club as they left the cafeteria
The dra from Ms Krantz and Arthur before the practice camp finally ended They also thanked Seron and Larry for their help
Then the drama club s Seron, Larry, and Nick, however, hurried to the newspaper club office
Natalia and Meg were already waiting for them there And—
“Hoers are all here Hoas the food? Stuffed yourselves?”
Jenny was pouting
“Jenny Aren’t you rich enough to literally eat anything you could ever want?” Larry pointed out
“There’s food out there you just can’t buy with money” Jenny snapped
“Then just move into the dorms like Seron”
“I’ it”
“But don’t even think about renovating your dorm room”
“Tch”
Seron cut the exchange short “It’s almost time”
“Ah, right” Jenny stood and produced a large leather bag “I brought them”
Inside the bag were six mid-sized binoculars
“Whoa, these are so them out
“They’re club assets Don’t use thee rooms, Larry”
“As if Has anyone never used binoculars before?”
Natalia and Meg raised their hands Larry gave them a brief lesson on binocular use That they should keep the binoculars around their neck in case they dropped it, how they should adjust their line of sight, and how they could focus the binoculars
The newspaper club members rushed over to theand stood in a row The boys half-knelt right in front of the , and the girls stood behind them
Huddled before the , the six students raised their binoculars Twelve lenses looked in one direction
It was a huht to behold, but thankfully no one was around to point that out
“You’re not gonna get your cairl behind him
“I can’t exactly write an article about this And it’d be in bad taste to take a celebratory picture”
“You’re actually pretty sensible, huh”
“Shut up”
“Ow”
Jenny’s binoculars rammed into a head of blond hair
“Admit it, Jenny You don’t kno to use binoculars”
“Yes I do I also happen to kno to use them as a weapon”
“What are you supposed to be, a spy?”
Beside Larry was Nick, and beside Nick was Seron
Seron’s grey eyes were glued to his binoculars
In his line of sight was a certain tree in the back of the school grounds
The handsome oak tree—which was probably even older than Seron—stood with its leaves rustling in the wind
“She’s here!” Meg cried from behind Seron Everyone looked into their binoculars
“Enter heroine, stage left” Natalia said Her glasses were pushed up to her forehead
On the round stage through the binoculars stood Sophia Ulericks, wearing her school uniform
Naturally, they were too far to hear anything
Like a silent movie, Sophia moved quietly but smoothly
Her hair shook in the wind On her freckled face was the serious, determined look she wore for performances
There Sophia waited
“I hope your old fake article about the tree actually turns out to be true, Jenny” Larry remarked Jenny prodded the back of his head with her binoculars again
“SC Sophia will be just fine I have faith in Seron’s deduction” Nick said
“Me too! It wassaid Then—
“Here he comes” Natalia said Everyone went quiet
And they turned their binoculars to the direction Sophia was looking at
Arthur Sears appeared, also clad in school uniform
When he spotted Sophia, he gave her a light—if aave and walked over to her
In the silent distance, they stood under the branches of the massive tree
The newspaper clubeach and every move
Sophia saze
Arthur opened hisparticularly stiff
For a ti
Perhaps Arthur could not bear the tension; he made a joke and Sophia chuckled, but that ended quickly
They froze under the big tree, looking off in different directions
“C’mon! Just say it already!” Jenny fu they could not hear her
“Do your best! Do your best!” Meg cheered
At that moment—
Sophia looked at them
She probably could not see them lined up with their binoculars in hand, but she clearly looked at the office
Then she sance of a queen
As the newspaper club watched, captivated by her poise, she turned her gaze to the one closest to her—
To Arthur Sears
She said so Arthur seemed to speak at the same time
They looked at each other, both s—
And slowly embraced
“Oh! It is great! It is very great!” Meg cried, alh to reach the tree
“Whoa!” Seron cried, startled Meg had grabbed his shoulder with her free hand
“It is successfully done, Seron! We did this!” She cheered and shook him relentlessly
Seron saw the world through the binoculars rock up and down The figures in his line of sight seemed to rise and fall
The previous evening—
“It’s the name of a role”
Seron had declared, the eyes of the newspaper club and Sophia on him
“It’s the name of a role” He repeated himself
“Er… what do you mean?” Asked Sophia
“What’d I say right again?” Asked Larry, who had suddenly been proven correct
Seron first turned to Larry
“Yesterday, ere brainstorht have been the name of a role”
“Ah, I remember But didn’t you shoot that idea down? SC Sophia would’ve recognized it if it were a role”
“Yeah, but this ‘role’ has nothing to do with any plays It’s a code word of sorts, but it’s not a very cleverly-hidden one You just have to think of it like a riddle”
“Hm?” Larry frowned
“Then what conclusion have you reached, Seron?” Nick asked
“You
“Yeah President’s orders” “Vice-president’s orders, too” Jenny and Natalia chimed in
“All right” Seron nodded, and turned to Sophia “All we had to do was think of things associated with the word ‘bee’, like you would with a riddle And just now, Megmica connected the words ‘bee’ and ‘ant’ with the word ‘queen’”
“Yes! I did my best!”
“Whoa there, Meg Meg to finally take a seat
“I am sorry It is Seron’s turn to speak to us”
“So the word you’re thinking of is ‘queen’? The 50th queen?” Asked Sophia Seron nodded
“Yes And the ’50’ isn’t that difficult to figure out, in hindsight” He paused, then started again “I’d coo ‘Everyone’s really psyched, huh Probably ‘cause it’s for their annual performance And apparently this year’s is the 50th annual performance to boot’ That was the key”
“Aha!” Larry exclai that!”
“Yeah This will be the 50th annual performance, since it’s been exactly 50 years since the drama club was founded But what does that have to do with a 50th queen?”
“Everything” Seron said Meg piped up, still whipped up in a frenzy
“Then! Then is SC Arthur wishi+ng to be a queen instead of a king in this 50th perfore? Will he wear a dress costume?”
“Deep breaths, Meg’s shoulder
“No The 50th bee is a role, but it’s not a role he wants to play What SC Arthur meant was is that he wanted the person in that role”
“Hm?” Sophia furrowed her brow
“I get it now” Jenny nodded perceptively
Seron continued
“I began to think about what 50th queen there ht want And I realized there was only one possible conclusion Who do you think it is?”
Sophia fell into thought But she soon gave up
“Who is it?”
Seron’s reply was simple
“It’s you, SC Sophia”
“What?” Sophia gasped
“Hm? Aha” “Huh?”
Nick understood and Larry frowned
“It’s you, SC Sophia If not for last year’s unusual circumstances, you would have been the 50th president of the club—in other words, the queen SC Arthur is very aware of that fact Soht to accept his role at all Even as he carried out the duties of a president, a part of him see behind this moniker To suirlfriend”
“Wh-what are you saying, Seron?”
“I’ht us, SC Sophia We haven’t checked with SC Arthur in person, but I’ht, when Nick asked him what he wanted for his birthday, SC Arthur was supposedly very taken aback That’s probably part of the reason as well SC Arthur is desperate to have the 50th bee, in a figurative sense”
Sophia was lost for words
“There’s only one thing left for you to do, SC Sophia You can do this We can help with the production of this play”
“…”
“SC Sophia? Are you listening?”
“It is successfully done, Seron! We did this!” Meg cried, shaking Seron by the shoulder
Natalia lowered her binoculars “Mhlasses “Now calmica”
“I suppose it is not good to peep even more anymore”
“Yeah Long as we know the plan worked out Looks like on’t need Mr Hartnett on this one”
Nick and Larry also lowered their binoculars and hung them around their necks The round fraht disappeared
“It is great! I a her binoculars with a smile
Once the boys were on their feet, Seron closed the
In that instant, he spotted two figures standing closely side-by-side
“Looks like this mission was a success”
Once the others were seated on the sofas, Jenny personally poured them cups of tea and sat down on the sofa herself
“What do you say to a toast?” Larry suggested
“Yes!” Meg chirped The six students raised their differently-shaped cups