Phew...

I was worried about how practicing without Tsukasa would go, but things are going a lot smoother than I expected thanks to KAITO and Miku.

Yes, since not having any understudies would make it just that much harder to time our lines and make them sound real.

Yup yup♪
And we just have to wait for Tsukasa to come back...

Yeah.

I mean, I kept wondering what he's been doing this whole time...

Based on what KAITO and Miku said, I'm sure he's on the right track.

Yeah, I guess we should trust him a little here.

Yup!

Oh, but Tsukasa's probably thinking lots and lots and lots about Thorpe right now, huh?

Hm? Yeah, probably...

What if he's whistling like a kettle?
Or what if he's getting really hungry?

I'm sure he's getting enough to eat.
I mean, he's the kind of person who actually says, “You can't fight on an empty stomach.”

Hmm...
I really hope you're right...

But can't we just check up on him a teeny bit?

Are you that worried about him?

Yeah, since we can't practice with him.
We go to different schools too, so it's like I haven't seen him in forever now.

Emu...

Yes, point taken. It might be good for us to get an update on his progress soon.

Does that mean...?!

Hehe. The three of us can take a quick look while making sure not to interfere.

Yay!

Knock knock. Nene, are you there?

Yeah, yeah. I'm here...

Can't you just let yourself in since you're here pretty much all the time now?

Hehe. I'm just trying to be polite.

But! I'm also trying to be sneaky by talking softly so Tsukasa doesn't find out that I'm here☆

O-Okay...?

Hello, you two.

Tsukasa seems to be on the rooftop.
Shall we go take a look?

Okay!
Here we go!

Huh?! Emu, wait!
What happened to being sneaky?!

(Alright, where's Tsukasa...?)

Oh, there he is.

Yeah! Wait, look at all those books!
Is he reading them right now?

Ah...
Those all seem to be “A Pianist Named Thorpe”...

A-All of them?

Hmm... In this book, the way he shouts, “I don't care about your party!” during the scene with the squirrels makes it sound like he's frustrated with the way he played...

But this translation goes further with Thorpe being more aware of the contest closing in on him. That means the star scene...

Oh, that's what he's doing... He wants to get inside Thorpe's head by seeing how all these people translated his story.

Whoa! That's so amazing!

It looks like he's still trying to work things out, but he also seems to be making progress. I'm sure he'll be fine without us.

Yeah, I'm really glad.

Nene, Rui...
He'll figure out how to play Thorpe, right?

I'm sure he will.
There's no way he's ever gonna give up by saying, “I can't do it!”

Yes, I agree.

Anyway, let's leave him be and head off to practice before he finds out we're here.

Okay.

(We can't do this show without you since you're our lead, so please figure this out soon...)