Type: Novel Translation
Title: Back Stage!!
Series: Love Stage!!
Author/Circle: Eiki Eiki, Amano Kazuki
Rating: G
Language: English
This time: By a stroke of luck, an opportunity to work with Ichijou Ryouma comes to the Sena family. However, the conditions are such that it might not be possible…
Notes: I apologize for the wait! Hopefully with the holidays out of the way, I’ll be able to post these novel translations a bit more frequently.

Chapter 1, Part 2

“By the way, Izumi! Have you been going to see that voice trainer that I introduced you to lately?”

“Er…”

“Yes, and Johnny-san has told me that you’re welcome any time for those dance lessons we talked about earlier!”

“Uh…”

Looking from the man pictured on the TV screen back to their other underachieving son seated at the table, the two parents started voicing their own thoughts about the boy. They turned to Izumi, who had almost finished his breakfast, and immediately started in on him together.

At suddenly being put on the spot, Izumi’s face took on a bewildered expression when the topic switched to himself. His face started to get pale, worried that they’d find out that he hadn’t been to voice training classes or dance lessons. His eyes darted back and forth, wondering what to do and most likely unable to think of an excuse on such short notice.

“You’re eighteen years old already, dear! How long are you going to continue talking about this anime or what have you-” Nagisa began.

“Oh, would you look at the time! I gotta go!” Unable to withstand any more censure, Izumi made an extremely see-through excuse to cut off his mother’s sermon. He then pushed the chair back with a clatter and stood up. “I’m off!”

“Wait just a- Oh, he got away!” Nagisa yelled after the boy as he sprinted out of the living room with more speed and agility than one would think possible from such a sedentary person, though it was debatable if he heard the parting shot at all.

“Really, now… will that boy ever make something of himself? He seems to be becoming a little otaku-ish, if you ask me…” Nagisa finished, letting out a small sigh.

“There’s no ‘ish’ about it…” Rei unthinkingly responded to Nagisa’s rare show of motherly concern. Beep, beep, beep, Rei’s cell phone went off, cutting off the conversation momentarily. He answered with a standard greeting, “Hello, this is Sagara from SenaPro.”

“Ah, thanks for all your help in the past, this is Asou from Hakutsuu Agency,” came the voice from the phone.

“Oh, we thank you, as well,” Rei returned, recognising the name. Hakutsuu Agency was a large advertising recruitment company that often worked in conjunction with SenaPro and its actors.

“Sagara-san, could you spare a moment at this time?”

“Yes, please continue.” Judging by the formality with which the man on the phone was talking, Rei figured this must be some sort of lucrative work they’d be getting and made sure to reply with all proper civility.

“Sorry for the abruptness, but do you happen to know the wedding magazine ‘Happy Wedding?’” Asou continued their conversation.

“Ah, yes, I’ve heard of it,” he replied reflexively, searching his brain for what he knew of the magazine. He then remembered that a fairly long time ago, Seiya and Nagisa had done a commercial for them advertising their first issue.

“Actually, this year marks their tenth year in business.”

“Oh, ten years already?” at Asou’s words, the old, televised commercial began playing vividly in Rei’s mind. He saw Seiya in his tuxedo and Nagisa in her wedding dress. Then the performers playing the little boy and girl who caught the bouquet that Nagisa threw. Just a few short seconds of film.

The commercial was made at the height of their popularity. Seiya and Nagisa– such a beautiful couple was rarely seen, much less in a commercial, and in the blink of an eye, they became the next hot topic for gossip. Thanks to such publicity, Rei had heard that the magazine was able to sell out for several printings’ worth.

Come to think of it, hadn’t Izumi been in that…?

“Yes, and to commemorate their 10th year in business, ‘Happy Wedding’ has been talking about creating a new commercial revolving around the concept ‘10 years later.’ That is, if Seiya-san and Nagisa-san might be available…?” Asou trailed off meaningfully.

“Ah, I see,” Rei made a non-committal confirmation, knowing that this was definitely something to consider.

A commemorative commercial after 10 years… If they used Seiya-san and Nagisa-san for the roles again after all this time, business ploy or not, the flames of jealousy and intrigue surrounding such a famously successful romance and marriage would be rekindled in practically anyone. It might also increase the magazine’s base of young readers by embellishing their vision of their own wedded futures. Those readers of the same age as Seiya and Nagisa, with children around marriageable age, might also start subscribing to the magazine again at the same time. A great marketing strategy worthy of such a well-known advertising recruitment company, as expected from Hakutsuu Agency.

It wouldn’t be a bad idea for SenaPro’s business either, Rei knew.

Even with Nagisa so picky about what work she will accept, if Seiya were to perform at her side, surely she wouldn’t refuse. In fact, she’d probably be ecstatic to be given such a job.

“However, there is one condition to this commercial offer…”

“Oh?” Finding that he’d gotten a little carried away thinking about the benefits of accepting the offer, with some trepidation Rei turned his attention back to the phone conversation at hand.

“With regards to the plan, we would like the same little girl actress that Nagisa-san brought in as a last-minute replacement to perform the same role. However, we don’t know her name and were, therefore, hoping that SenaPro could get in contact with her, if possible.”

“Uh…!” Rei’s eyebrows flew up in response to Asou’s words.

The little girl… Which meant…

“Is the actress’ schedule too full at the moment? My client really is adamant about having her in the commercial, so if there’s anything you can do…?”

“Well, you see…” The schedule wasn’t the problem. In fact, Rei wished that the problem were with the schedule. As it stood, the problem was with the performer ‘her’self.

“Asou-san, by ‘client,’ to whom exactly are you referring? ‘Happy Wedding’ publishing, or…?”

“Ah, no, actually…” Asou floundered for an answer.

“I find it a little more than odd that your client put such a high priority on us accepting that condition even more so than the performance of our company’s actors, Seiya and Nagisa. Don’t you?” Rei, trying to escape the current topic of conversation without Asou enquiring too deeply into the ‘girl,’ stalled giving a more definitive answer by insisting on further information about the other man’s client.

After a moment of silence, Asou’s defeated voice responded through the telephone receiver, “… My apologies for being so roundabout. In actuality, my client is that little girl’s counterpart actor from the previous commercial, Ichijou Ryouma.”

“What? Ichijou Ryouma?!” Upon hearing the name of the other actor, Rei unconsciously started, his eyes going wide. “Is this true?”

“Yes, very true. I was surprised, as well… But, Ichijou Ryouma’s condition for accepting this role is that they ‘don’t change the actors from 10 years ago.’ He has said that no matter what, he wants to act with the same little girl as before. The only thing about her that we have to go on is that he remembers she had a very peculiar eye colour as a defining feature. I’m afraid he’s quite serious in his request. His schedule is booked completely full, but if we can somehow fulfill his condition, he said that he would find a way to make an opening.”

“Is that… so…?”

“Would SenaPro consider it? Please?” Asou pleaded.

“… I suppose so…” Rei conceded, haltingly. There may be something promising to this idea, actually… With such astounding timing, Rei had to wonder if this was all due to Nagisa’s impressive dumb luck, or really just a simple coincidence after all…?

“Supposing we can respond positively, by when should we give our answer?”

“I apologise for the hurry, but may we request tomorrow evening? Ichijou Ryouma’s schedule is, as I said, quite impacted, so in consideration for him…”

“Tomorrow evening, correct? … I understand. Until then,” Rei replied with a note of finality.

“We hope to hear back favourably.”

“Thank you, excuse me.” Finished with his call, Rei turned back to the two at the table. “It seems that we may be able to do something about your wish to work with Ichijou Ryouma after all.”

“What!? Really!?” Nagisa squealed excitedly.

“Oh my, well speak of the devil!” Seiya responded in kind.

“However, there is one major obstacle…” Prefacing the explanation so as to prepare Nagisa, who was already in a fit of happiness thinking the situation decided, and her ever-composed husband Seiya, Rei proceeded to tell about the phone conversation he had just finished.

“Do you happen to remember the commercial you two were in 10 years ago promoting the magazine ‘Happy Wedding?’”

“It was an informational magazine for wedding planning, if my memory serves me. Nagisa looked so wonderful in that wedding dress that I remember it quite well, actually,” Seiya replied wistfully.

“Oh darling, you big silly!”

Not interrupting Seiya’s praise of his wife, nor Nagisa’s happiness, Rei then proceeded to explain about ‘Happy Wedding’s current 10th year of publication and their plans for a revival commercial revolving around their original advertisement involving the two of them.

“And so, you have been offered a role in their new commercial.”

“Oh, I see! So? What does that have to do with Ichijou Ryouma?” Nagisa asked, eyes sparkling at the idea.

“Do you remember the young boy that appeared in the same commercial? As it turns out, that was Ichijou Ryouma himself.”

“Eeh!?” Nagisa said, incredulous.

“Oh my, well that is a coincidence, isn’t it?” Seiya said, mildly surprised.

“Yes, quite,” Rei nodded deeply, unthinkingly agreeing with Seiya’s opinion. To think that Ichijou Ryouma would have been the child actor that Sena Seiya and Nagisa had performed with in the past. He supposed that these sorts of bizarre coincidences can really happen. Despite having worked so hard to be of use to Seiya as the manager of his business and still to have not realised such a thing, though, was something Rei was chagrined to realise.

“But, as I said before, there is one problem with this situation,” Rei plowed on with the explanation.

“What would that be?”

“The condition set forth by Ichijou Ryouma to get him to agree to appear in this commerical is that they ‘don’t change the cast from 10 years ago,’” Rei said with a grave set to his lips. Nagisa looked at him in confusion, tilting her head in puzzled manner.

“But that’s not such a problem, is it? I’ll do it! You will, too, won’t you darling?”

“Of course, dear. But still…”

“Exactly,” Rei continued, seeing that Seiya seemed to understand the issue at hand. “The problem is the ‘little girl actress.’”

“Oh, that’s right!” Nagisa finally reached the same conclusion they all had with a wide-eyed blink of her beautiful eyes.

“That little girl was Izumi, wasn’t it?”

“Uh…” Rei let out an involuntary sigh at Nagisa’s rather belated realization. Of course, that was the big issue.

10 years ago, at the time of shooting for the commercial, the little actress that was supposed to catch the bride’s bouquet was unable to arrive in time due to rescheduled flight conflict. As a last-minute replacement, Izumi was brought in as a stand in since he happened to be there at the time. But at this day and age, the thought was impossible! Izumi was a boy. And not just a boy, but such a boy! A gloomy otaku, not to mention that due to his own mistake during filming the last time, Izumi had come to hate the celebrity world. There was no way that he’d say yes, if asked to put on women’s clothes and appear in another commercial!

But, besides Ichijou Ryouma’s request, there were also now the wishes of Nagisa and Seiya to take into account. They all wanted to make this job request into a reality, not in the least because of the useful connections that they would profit in if they could make it work.

“For the moment, I suppose that I should try to reason with Izumi-san once he gets home…” Rei gave in.

“Yay! I get to act with Ryouma!”

“Isn’t that wonderful, Nagisa?”

… Damn. Nagisa-san already fully expected to be working with Ryouma again.

“Rei, we’re counting on you.”

“… Yes, of course,” was all that Rei could respond with when confronted with such a completely-trusting, smiling Seiya, much as he felt put on the spot with expectations. He had a feeling that a conversation with that shut-in wouldn’t be remotely easy. What to do, what to do…?

But, looking at the two smiling people near him, Rei sighed again at the oddly difficult feeling he felt at the situation…

To be continued…

• translation