Rocket Start ~set theory~ Chapter 5

[nebulancer]

Hokuto: (Huh. It took a bit more time than I expected, but for the most part it went exactly as planned.)

(I was able to join the Theater Club without a problem, too. This way, I'll be able to practice plays after school and use my time efficiently.)

(This is one of the largest idol training schools within the country, and I was able to smoothly enter Yumenosaki Academy, where Father used to go...)

(If I take my lessons seriously, my ability will definitely be able to keep up with my body.)

(I'll become an idol like Father. Then, I'll become an actor like Mother as well.)

(Although Yumenosaki Academy also has a theater department, my judgment that joining the Theater Club while in the idol course~, was the most efficient.)

(What I selected shouldn't be wrong at all.)

(And afterwards, if I work with all my might earnestly... Just like Father and Mother, I should become a person of importance.)

(I'll never let anyone say I'm riding on my parents' coattails ever again.)

(This is fine. This is the right answer. Everything should be done well.)

(...But is that really true?)

(My worry just won't go away. In Yumenosaki Academy, it feels there's no one seriously aiming to be an idol.)

(It's not as if I'll let myself be stained, be corrupted by my surroundings, but there are times when it feels ridiculous to take everything with complete commitment.)

(Even the Theater Club's President said I have no talent... and criticized me as such. I'd thought that all my hard work had gone to waste.)

(Seriously, was this a good thing to have happened? Couldn't this have all been a waste of my effort?)

(Having taken everything upon a huge premise, could I have become someone lost to wander forever?)

(Someone please, tell me "That's not it. You're all right.")

(...That's impossible, isn't it. Having someone else to rely on, that is. Even if I'm alone, I'll be fine. No one will be able to know how I feel.)

(A thoroughbred of the entertainment world... How could animals that were raised freely in the wild ever understand the feelings of livestock of selective breeding?)

(Before relying on others' empathy, one must raise one's own ability. I've always been different from those others around me.)

(I've put in effort a hundred times that of others, produced a hundred times of their results: that enough is to be expected.)

(First, to use the cleared up time on the way home... let's practice the play. In order to be able to shine, I'll use it as fuel for my entire life.)

(And then, I'll head to the heights just like Father and Mother.)

Hm... I'm the "Prince."

Subaru: ...

Hokuto: (Whoa!? Who's there! Was I heard just now...?)

(No, that's fine. There's no problem. In fact, if I'm to stand on the stage, lots of people are going to be watching my performance.)

(I can't let myself be embarrassed. This will be training so that I can endure the shame.)

(That I've worked so hard to my utmost limit should be necessary humility.)

(...But, that's a face I remember I've seen. Akehoshi from my class, isn't he. What's he doing, crouching at the roots of that sakura tree?)

(I wonder if his physical condition's unwell. Anyways, this has nothing to do with me.)

("That Akehoshi's" forgotten memento... If I recall correctly, the footing he's on is comparable to mine, but he's a kind of guy I don't know very well.)

(His ability's sky-high. He's able to reach all greater points than I ever could.)

(It's frustrating, but that's the truth. What we have are different. But, what we think of each other is something I have no idea of...)

(His words and actions are repeatedly as if he can't grasp the mood, and it makes him unsympathetic.)

(Quite the weird one. But that's who geniuses tend to be. Their talent becomes too much for others... For that, they're cut off from their surroundings.)

(Despite that, without the person himself realizing, he makes the same faces as those around him.)

(He's an idiot. For the stars in the night sky, it's because we watch them from far away that they're so beautiful. If it were to approach us, we would fear it; if it were to crash with us, there would be an incomparable disaster.)

(That kind of thing was something you should have noticed a long time ago, right?)

Subaru: Hey, hey!

Hokuto: ...? Umm, what? You called out to me, didn't you?

Subaru: Yup! Hey, are you a "Prince"?

Hokuto: ...Did you see my small performance back then?

Subaru: Nn~? I thought that you were a prince who came down from the stars in the sky to fulfill my request, though?

Hokuto: Your request? What could be your request? If you so wished, you could make just about anything come to your hands, right?

Because, unlike me, you actually do have talent.



Subaru: You know, I kinda hate the word "talent"~. That kinda thing, is it really that important? Is it something I need if I'm alive, like internal organs or whatever?

Whichever one you say, it feels to me that someone's stuck something unnecessary that other people don't have onto my internal organs.

That means I'm already a living thing that's completely different.

I wonder if that's why no one else wants to be my friend?

Hokuto: What're you talking about... More importantly, what're you doing, crouching down here. The sun's come down and gotten cold, hasn't it? You'll catch a cold.

Just hurry and go home, warm yourself up, and sleep. Prepare yourself for tomorrow.

Every day's a battle. If you let your guard down, you'll die. Isn't that right, Akehoshi.

Subaru: I guess that's right. ...Hey, could you be Hidaka-kun from my class?

Hokuto: Who'd you think I was?

Subaru: Nah, I thought you really were a "Prince" from some faraway place. Because, for some reason, you kinda had that atmosphere to you.