THE GREAT SHIZUMA
Chapter Five
The Great Cast of The Great Gatsby
Setsuko, the Miator President, tapped her fork against her glass and all activity in the dining hall ceased. She stood with several copies of The Great Gatsby script.
"As you all know," said she, "we have the Strawberry Dorms Drama Festival coming up. The upperclassmen will be acting out F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby." Setsuko motioned for Hikari to stand, which the Étoile complied with.
"I, Konohana Hikari, Étoile cadette of Astraea Hill, have the honor of announcing our cast, decided on by Miator President Ewata Setsuko." She paused to sip some water from her glass. "Probably the most pressing thing on everybody's minds is what role the Étoile will play. Well, in the novel, the main character didn't have much of a romantic interest in anybody." She chuckled. "Okay, Tamao-chan. We get it. You don't like Amane and me together."
The poet laughed along with Hikari.
"But the closest thing to a romantic interest," she continued, "is the main character, Nick Carraway, to be played by the Étoile primary Ohtori Amane…" She paused until the applause died down. "…and Jordan Baker, to be played by myself." She bowed her head and blushed as the applause washed over her.
"This year's cast is a very special one as we have a guest to join it…"
Tamao dropped her spoon. What did Hikari mean by that?
"Playing the title role, Jay Gatsby, the enigmatic neighbor of Nick who is apparently involved in shady business deals… Our former Étoile, Hanazono Shizuma!"
Tamao's water went down the wrong way. She gagged and began to cough. Nagisa clapped the poet on the back, which didn't seem to help.
"Playing the role of Daisy Buchanan, Nick's cousin and the woman Gatsby falls hopelessly in love with… Aoi Nagisa!"
Having no real idea what exactly that role entailed, the redhead heartily accepted it. Meanwhile, a very pale Tamao was leaning dizzily on the table, her blood pressure leaping and bounding.
"Playing the role of Tom Buchanan, Daisy's husband, our scriptwriter and Miator's secretary, Suzumi Tamao!"
"We're married!" Nagisa cheered, but the poet didn't share her enthusiasm. She knew what it meant to play Tom Buchanan to Nagisa's Daisy.
"The role of Myrtle Wilson, Tom's mistress, will be played by… Kenjo Kaname!"
This was too much! Was Setsuko doing this on purpose? Look at it this way, Tamao thought bitterly. At least I get to break her nose in one scene.
"Playing the role of George Wilson, Myrtle's husband who ends up killing Gatsby… President of Spica, Tomori Shion!"
The announcement earned her a cringe from Shion. The last person I'd want to be married to. Chikaru, sensing her girlfriend's distress, put her arm around her and whispered something in her ear, possibly trying to console her.
"Playing the role of Meyer Wolfsheim, Gatsby's business partner… Nanto Yaya!"
"Who the hell is Meyer Wolfsheim?" Yaya asked.
A sullen Tamao responded, "You're playing a Jewish man who wears suits with buttons made from human molars." The role of Wolfsheim entailed more than just that, of course, but the poet was too distraught to explain it all. She was disappointed. This was not the cast she had in mind for Gatsby at all!
The main parts had been announced. Hikari ran through the minor roles, bowed amid hearty applause, and took her seat. The scripts were all passed out.
"This sucks!" Yaya griped, flipping through her script. "I'm only in one scene!"
Tamao sighed and set aside her copy. She turned her attention back to her food, which tasted sour after the announcement of the cast.
---
That night's tea party was a bittersweet one. Nagisa, Yaya, and Hikari seemed to be in good spirits, laughing, drinking multiple cups of red tea, letting the banter flow smoothly from topic to topic - finals, the upcoming trip to the beach, the festival. Meanwhile, Tamao, Chiyo, and Tsubomi sulked, hardly touching their tea. Not a word passed from any of them until Yaya finally asked, "So, what are the underclassmen doing for their play?"
Chiyo and Tsubomi answered simultaneously: "Julius Caesar."
"I love that play," Hikari smiled, "but it was so sad."
"It wasn't the one I wanted to do," Chiyo mumbled.
"Same here," said Tsubomi. "I really wanted to do Hello Dolly!"
"I wanted to do Antigone."
"The underclassmen aren't very well-read," Yaya commented. "Shakespeare is probably the only playwright they've heard of."
"I resent that," the pink-haired Spican snapped. "You can't speak for all the middle schoolers when Chiyo-chan and I wanted to do something different."
"But the fact that Julius Caesar won by majority vote is telling in of itself. That's Shakespeare for two years in a row now."
"Three," Tamao corrected. "Remember Hamlet? I was in my third year, you in your second."
"Oh, yeah. I got the lead role." A grin came slowly to Yaya's features. "I still faintly remember some of my lines… 'To be? Or not to be? Sigh… That is the question!… To die! To sleep! To sleep, perchance, to dream! Aye, there's the rub!'"
Hikari giggled at her best friend's antics, then asked, "What roles did you two get?"
"Cassius," Tsubomi groaned. "I'm a conspirator."
"Cinna the Poet," Chiyo responded. "I'm only in one scene and I get stoned to death in that scene."
"Hm, what role did Kagome-chan get?" Tamao asked.
A faint blush came to Chiyo's cheeks as she answered, "She didn't get any. Lulim's working crew and tech this year. Did they not tell you that?"
"I must not have been paying attention…"
"What are you complaining about, then?" Yaya asked Tsubomi. "You got the more important role!"
"I would've rather not been a conspirator."
"Ahh, suck it up."
Tsubomi brightened a little, a mischievous smirk on her face as she turned toward Tamao. "You knew Yaya-chan well in middle school?"
Tamao felt Nagisa's hand join with hers under the table. She smiled. "Hai."
"Tamao-chan was one of the first friends I made at Astraea Hill," Yaya added.
"What was she like?" Tsubomi asked. "In middle school, what was she like?"
Yaya could have kicked herself. I walked right into that one.
"…Kind of annoying," Tamao answered after thinking it over for a moment. "She talked constantly, and everything had to be such a freaking big deal."
"I wasn't that bad."
"Yaya-chan, yes you were. If I had to hear 'OMG' one more time…"
"Wow," Tsubomi laughed. "Can you spell 'hypocrite,' Yaya-chan?"
The raven-haired fourth grader's face was so hot with embarrassment, one's hand could have sizzled upon it. She spluttered, "You… You suck, Tamao-chan, surprising nobody!"
Tamao winked at her. "That's 'Tamao-senpai' to you, Yaya-kohai."
Tsubomi laughed so hard, her stomach hurt.
---
The days turned. July was looming ever so closer. For the girls at Strawberry Dorms, July meant the annual trip to the beach. But first came the Drama Festival, which was actually tomorrow!
Tamao and Nagisa rehearsed their lines together. Since there were very few scenes in The Great Gatsby where Tom and Daisy interacted with one another directly, one of the girls would have to assume the role of another character. Though still crestfallen, Tamao had to admit that Setsuko had done well in casting the redhead as Daisy. When reciting her lines, Nagisa pitched her voice up to make it sound more naïve and air-headed. Such a character was Daisy Buchanan.
Now they stood in their forest clearing, by the lake, in broad daylight. Cicadas rasped and the sun's harsh light played off the lake's shimmering surface. Tamao held both their scripts to ensure that Nagisa would not rely too heavily on hers. It was important that the redhead knew her lines. The poet was assuming the role of Jordan Baker.
"I'm stiff," Tamao recited in an exaggerated - but not cheesy- moan. "I've been lying on that sofa for as long as I can remember!"
"Don't look at me," Nagisa responded in an indignant squeak. The poet bit her lip and shook with silent laughter. "I've been trying to get you to . . . to . . ." She paused and her voice returned to normal. "Crap, what was that place again? New Guinea?"
Bubbly laughter erupted from Tamao. The poet held the scripts against her tummy and sat down, giggling helplessly. Nagisa distantly recalled how Shizuma laughed at her performance as Carmen last year. She glared, cheeks hot.
"Why does everyone think my acting is so damn funny?"
"Eheheh! Gomen n-nasia, Nagisa-chan. It's your voice! It's hilarious!"
"Should … I just use my normal voice?"
"No! Don't!" Tamao gasped as the redhead sat down next to her. "It's perfect, actually. A ditz like Daisy Buchanan needs a munchkin voice like that. …And the place is New York."
"New York," Nagisa repeated, making a mental note to remember that place.
"Whew! I don't think I've ever laughed so hard," Tamao sighed, pulling her girl close to her. "You've been working hard, I can tell. Let's take a break, have some lunch."
Nagisa rolled out the blanket and Tamao emptied the contents of their picnic basket onto the blanket. It was a simple lunch: coldcut sandwiches, carrots, grapes, lemonade, and cookies for dessert.
"I've been wondering, Tamao-chan…" Nagisa paused to sip some lemonade. "I mean, that night at the lake… I'm always thinking about it, you know?"
"I know," Tamao nodded, her violet eyes swimming dreamily. "I think about it a lot, too."
Nagisa smiled and blushed. "I remember how you told me that you used to play softball, and I remember thinking: I didn't know that. There's actually a lot I don't know about her life. But I want to know. Please, Tamao-chan, tell me about yourself."
"Okay. What do you want to know?"
"Um… Tell me about softball." That seemed like a good place to start. They could branch out from there.
Tamao hummed a bit and got a faraway look in her eyes. "At first, I was very resistant to it. My parents signed me up for it. They were worried that I was becoming too reclusive - hiding away in my room with my nose in a book. They wanted me to get out, contribute to the community, meet people, make friends…" She trailed off and zoned out for a moment. Nagisa was about to say something when Tamao started up again.
"I never saw myself as a sporty girl - I still don't. I knew from when I first started school that I was…" She tapped the side of her head. "…a thinker. But I was good at softball. Very good. Only an excellent player could ascend the ladder from watergirl to pitcher in less than a year. I was six when I started; I was seven when I was made pitcher of the Panthers." She smiled. "It's rare that you get a pitcher who's good with the bat, too. The legacy of pitchers is thus: superb throwers and catchers, lousy batters. There are some exceptions. I was one such exception."
Tamao lowered her gaze and blushed. "I'm probably boring you, right?"
"No." Nagisa shook her head. "I'm really interested. What happened with softball? Did you quit?"
"Hai. I had no choice but to. I had transcended from St. Olaf Primary to St. Miator Academy. I moved from my hometown to Astraea Hill." She shook her head ruefully. "Too bad. I had the makings of a coach for the team. So I was told."
"Really?"
"Really." The poet smiled and looked up. "Did my Nagisa-chan take part in sports?"
"Ice skating."
"Ice skating?"
The redhead nodded. "Everybody in my family ice skates. My sister and I figure skated, and my brother played hockey."
"Figure skating…" Tamao's eyes sparkled with adoration as she imagined her cute little redhead in those tippy-toe skates, clad in her glittering outfit. It was almost too much to bear and the poet giggled.
Nagisa's face reddened. "It is pretty embarrassing, especially since I was so terrible at it." That ruined Tamao's fantasies. "I was clumsy on skates and I hurt myself a lot. Back injuries," she recalled, tenderly rubbing her back at the memories. "Five slipped discs, and I bruised my tailbone once. Had to carry around an orthopedic donut to sit on. Very mortifying."
"Do you still do it?"
"No. I quit after I transferred to Miator."
Tamao turned her warm gaze out toward the lake. "We should go skating when winter rolls around. I'd love to see you figure skate."
"Eh? Well, it's been awhile." Nagisa also stared at the lake. "Heh. Hopefully figure skating will be like riding a bike." She looked back at Tamao. "Tell me more. You've had a very interesting life."
Tamao thought for a moment, chewing her sandwich. After she swallowed, she said, "Softball aside, there's not a lot to tell… Did you know I used to be in marching band?"
This was a shock. Nagisa blinked. "Astraea Hill has a marching band?"
"One from each school."
"Well, how about that," Nagisa nodded. "What did you play?"
"Clarinet. And I wasn't the only one of our circle who was in band. Yaya-chan played trombone for Spica Band. Chikaru, too, played trombone for Lulim. Shion used to play flute. Miyuki was on clarinet. Kaname played French horn."
"All those people?"
"Yep. You were friends with a bunch of ex-band geeks and you didn't even know it." Tamao grinned.
"So why did you all quit?" the redhead inquired.
"I can't speak for all of us, but I quit because club activities conflicted. Kaname quit, I think, because her father couldn't pay for her uniform fees."
"For the life of me, I cannot see her playing the French horn."
"I can. French hornists are weird!" Tamao ate a cookie and asked, "Do you know how to play any instruments?"
Nagisa hesitated. Oh, dear. Tamao was not going to like this. "She taught me how to play piano."
Tamao squinted. She? Who was that? Oh yeah, she thought sourly, a glare spoiling her features. Then she stood and helped her girl up. "Then I should teach you something as well."
"You don't have to -"
"I know what I'll teach you!" The poet turned to Nagisa excitedly, laying her hands on her shoulders. "Wait right here!" She kissed her and turned and ran toward the dorms.