Chapter 130: Chapter 129 - A Disastrous Casting Day

Kuro Kurogane went into the class hoping for a usual lesson.

This was his first mistake.

The second one was a belief that any combination between "school cultural drama " and "normal" existed

The bell rang.

Students rushed back into the desks.

Minami took her place behind the lectern.

"As you know, our class was chosen to perform the main part in the cultural festival performance this year."

The classroom broke out into cheers.

Kuro did not cheer.

"Following the voting Snow White was selected," explained Minami.

Cheering.

Still without Kuro.

"Let’s start deciding who is going to be in which roles today."

The noise increased exponentially.

Right after that students started throwing names around.

Seven Dwarves.

The Queen.

The Huntsman.

The Narrator.

The Magic Mirror.

The whole discussion was quite normal.

Till the inevitable question was heard.

"Who is going to play the prince?"

There was a slight pause.

Then dozens of eyes turned to one student.

To Kuro.

"Why are you staring at me?" he asked slowly.

There were no answers.

Probably because there were none to give.

"Who will play the prince?" someone asked again.

One of the guys raised his hand.

"I propose Kuro for the part."

Others nodded in agreement.

"Same."

"Good choice."

"Makes sense."

"Gonna be a perfect prince."

The momentum started growing.

And then...

Suddenly Akari stood.

"I object."

The whole class froze.

Kuro was on the brink of applauding.

Finally!

Someone with some common sense.

However, Akari continued.

"In my opinion, Kuro is too predictable."

Kuro froze.

Was it just him, or Akari sounded completely insane?

Fortunately, several students nodded.

"True."

"Predictable."

"All expected."

"Too calm for the prince."

"He should be more adventurous."

Kuro was not sure if he should feel offended or not.

Suddenly Mina stood.

"I kind of agree."

Traitor...

Absolute traitor...

Aoi nodded thoughtfully.

"Yes."

"Kuro fits the role..."

Kuro immediately agreed.

Finally.

Voice of reason appeared.

However, the second half of her words was like a knife to heart.

"...Which is exactly why it is going to be boring."

Kuro slumped to the table.

Allies... No, friends had gone...

Then Rika stood and raised her notebook.

"As a scriptwriter I support the opposition."

Kuro looked up.

"But when did you get scriptwriter?"

"This morning Minami sensei approved it," said Rika.

Minami confirmed that indeed Rika wrote a twenty-seven-page script overnight.

Kuro wondered what was going to happen if she completed a full book

The discussion continued.

Students were throwing around various suggestions.

Different boys, different girls, different combinations.

Nothing was working till suddenly one student pointed to Aoi and joked:

"Why don’t we consider Aoi for this part?"

The classroom fell into a silent pause.

Everyone turned to look at her.

Aoi blinked several times.

"What about me?"

Another boy grinned.

"I think she’d make a great prince!"

Others agreed.

"Actually..."

"Really."

"Yeah, I think so too..."

It was happening so fast...

Two minutes later it became an undeniable fact.

Aoi should be the prince.

How it occurred? Who knows.

Just happened.

Like a natural disaster.

Akari agreed instantly.

"Oh, that is a great idea."

Mina also nodded.

"Suits her perfectly."

Rika was writing furiously into the notebook.

"Female prince creates an interesting dynamic."

Kuro wished he did not come to the class.

Finally the teacher agreed as well.

"Fine."

She picked up the marker and wrote:

Prince: Aoi

Students started applauding.

Aoi simply adjusted the chair .

"At least something is decided," she said calmly.

Kuro relaxed.

Good.

Wonderful.

Fantastic.

Now he could leave safely.

Minami looked at her list.

"We only need Snow White now."

Silence.

Thoughtful silence.

Several girls raised their hands to claim the role.

Then several others started arguing.

In a minute the situation became chaotic and impossible.

Every single girl had her own opinion and no one could agree.

Finally it happened.

Someone suddenly laughed.

"What about Kuro as Snow White?"

Everyone was staring at him in utter silence.

Someone else giggled.

Expecting everybody else to follow him.

None of them were.

They were all thinking.

Thinking dangerously...

Akari’s eyes suddenly widened.

She grinned.

"Oh."

Mina looked at Kuro and imagined what happened next.

Then quickly turned back.

With her face going bright red...

Rika’s pen fell down.

And immediately picked up.

Furious scribbling started.

"Interesting idea."

"No."

"Very interesting."

"No."

"Extremely interesting."

"No!"

Boys started laughing.

Girls – discussing this proposition seriously.

That was a problem.

A terrible one.

Aoi turned to Kuro.

Looked thoughtfully and nodded.

"She’ll make an unforgettable Snow White."

Kuro gazed at her.

"Not me as well?"

"Objectively speaking," said Aoi.

"Don’t objectively speak, please!"

Minami pinched the bridge of her nose.

"We are not seriously considering..."

"Let’s vote," interjected immediately Rika.

The class broke into cheerful noises.

"Okay," resigned the teacher.

Vote took several minutes.

Kuro refused to take part.

Primarily because he was in doubt that it was reality.

Several minutes later the results were announced.

Minami looked at the paper with results.

Then read it again.

Then sighed heavily.

"Kuro won."

The noise rose to the skies.

Kuro stood and said:

"I refuse."

His words were completely ignored.

"I refuse categorically."

Again, no attention.

"I refuse utterly."

Minami looked sympathetic.

But not helpful at all.

"The vote speaks." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"I reject the vote."

"The vote rejects the rejection."

"Not the way it is done."

"Well, today."

The classroom applauded.

Democratic system had collapsed.

Kuro sank back into chair.

Defeated.

Crushed.

Rejected by civilization.

Then casting continued.

No one took things seriously anymore.

Which made the situation both better and worse simultaneously.

Finally Akari received the part of the witch.

Simply because everyone assumed she enjoyed making troubles.

Which was quite true.

Absolutely.

Inexorably.

Even disturbingly true.

Akari smiled wickedly and accepted the role instantly.

"I assure you; I will be the greatest villain in school history."

Absolutely no doubts...

Mina became the Narrator.

At first she refused.

Till everyone reminded her that she had the best speaking voice in class.

Unlike some other people...

Everybody stared at Akari.

Akari acted as if nothing happened.

Finally only one major role remained.

Director.

Scriptwriter.

Creative supervisor.

Future criminal.

Rika raised her hand.

"I volunteer for this position."

There was a deadly silence.

Deadly quiet.

Everybody knew Rika.

Everybody knew her manga.

Everybody knew her sense of humor.

Minami hesitated.

For quite a long time.

An incredibly long time.

And finally sighed.

"Okay."

What an idiotic decision...

What an incredibly idiotic...

Potentially historical error...

Rika smiled.

One of those smiles requiring some kind of warning label.

Kuro felt an unpleasant sensation.

Much stronger than the previous one.

Finally the list of characters was hung after classes ended.

All the students crowded around it, laughing and taking pictures.

Meanwhile Kuro stared at it silently.

Final List Of Characters

Snow White: Kuro Kurogane

Prince: Aoi

Witch: Akari

Narrator: Mina

Director/Scriptwriter: Rika

The silence lasted several seconds.

Then Mina softly stated.

"It could be worse."

Kuro looked at her.

"How?"

Mina opened and quickly shut her mouth.

Because she couldn’t come up with anything else.

Akari burst out into laughter.

Aoi looked slightly amused.

Rika already started discussing the script.

Minami looked tired.

And Kuro?

Kuro looked at the cast once again.

Then looked out of the window, hoping for a miracle.

Some signs of reality distortion...

Nothing happened.

Only cruel reality staring back at him.

Decided to put him into Snow White costume.

At this moment Kuro realized one thing.

His life in school wasn’t becoming easier.

No.

It was evolving.

Into something even more dangerous.

But the festival wasn’t even supposed to start yet

Kuro knew the casting announcement was the worst thing that could happen to him today.

Wrong.

So wrong.

Because Rika had written the first draft of the script.

And that was supposed to worry someone.

No one.

Especially because no one knew how much trouble was coming.

In an empty classroom, after school, the cast sat down.

Rika held a pile of papers in her hands.

Quite thick pile of papers.

That worried Kuro.

"Why is the script so thick?"

Rika readjusted her glasses.

"Creative vision."

Not encouraging.

Everyone got copies.

When Kuro saw the title page, his head started throbbing.

Snow White and the Seven Financially Unstable Adventurers

Silence.

Pure silence.

Slowly raising his head from the papers.

"... What is it?"

Rika puffed out her chest.

"Improvement of the original."

"No way."

"Modernization."

"No."

"I added more realism."

"No way!"

Akari was laughing already.

Mina just looked puzzled.

Aoi flipped to the second page.

While Minami , who had come to check the script, suddenly got nervous.

Opening the first page, Kuro looked disappointed.

"Why does Snow White’s first phrase state..."

Reading the first line carefully, he announced.

"Can somebody tell me why I’m living with seven unemployed guys?"

Akari tumbled to the floor laughing.

"That’s gold," said Rika.

"It’s definitely not."

"It definitely is."

"It definitely isn’t."

Three seconds of an intense discussion followed.

But not for Kuro.

Aoi was already reading.

"Prince is entering carrying the business plan."

"Certainly."

"Why?"

"The kingdom needs economic reforms."

Silence.

Mina hesitantly raised her hand.

"This isn’t Snow White."

"That’s precisely what I mean," said Rika smiling.

Minami seemed like she would intervene soon.

But kept reading.

Then suddenly laughed.

An alarming situation.

Very alarming indeed.

Now Rika had approval.

The script reading began.

Mina cleared her throat.

As the narrator, she started reading.

"Once upon a time, there was a Snow White who was tired of everyone’s nonsense."

Instant reaction.

Everyone was staring at Kuro.

Who was obviously offended.

After a few pages, Aoi finally reached her prince dialogue.

Reading calmly, she said.

"In our kingdom, I solve any problem using proper planning and spreadsheets."

Silence.

Everyone looked at her because...

For some reason, it did sound like something Aoi would say.

Akari received her witch lines.

Standing with her dramatic pose, she raised one arm above her head.

And screamed at the top of her voice.

"Foolish mortals, your tax policies are inferior!"

The class burst into laughter.

Including Kuro.

Who could barely keep his composure.

Encouraged by the result, Rika started to work even harder on her script.

And that worried Aoi a lot.

At the end of the script reading session, people couldn’t remember the original plot.

There were seven adventurers instead of dwarfs.

The prince took care of the kingdom’s budget.

The witch sought political power.

And Snow White questioned everyone’s intelligence.

Finally, after everyone calmed down, the teacher stood up.

An uncomfortable silence followed.

People waited for something.

Certainly Minami would reject the script.

Right?

Absolutely.

However, looking at her glasses, she said.

"It’s funny."

Winning look from Rika.

Betraying look from Kuro.

When the cast packed up to leave, Akari put her arm around Kuro.

"Perk up, Snow White."

"Do not call me that."

"Princess."

"No way."

"Your highness."

"Akari."

Laughing louder.

On the other side of the classroom, Rika grabbed a pen again.

And added more lines to the script.

Many more lines.

Aoi saw it happening.

"You are adding something, don’t you?"

"Maybe."

"Weird."

"Thanks."

Definitely not the right answer.

Looking at the script one last time, as he left the classroom, Kuro felt uneasy.

The title.

The main role.

Reality.

All of it together.

Somehow, he was forced to play the role of Snow White.

The script was a comedy.

The prince was Aoi.

And the festival was scheduled in two weeks’ time.

He could feel.

Things were getting worse.

Absolutely worse.