We lift on three.
One... Two... Three!

Oof!

Oh...!

Whoa! Is that a trap door in the middle?!

Hack! Cough! It's so dusty...!
How did you know there was this space?

I found it by chance when tidying up.

It was probably used as storage for stage equipment.

A lucky find, wouldn't you say?
We can use it as a trap room.

What's that?

A room beneath the stage that actors can use as an entrance or exit.

For example, I can hide one of my zombie robots here for when the play starts.

That can be where the story will reach its first climax as the zombie robot rise and make their appearance.

It'll be like they dug themselves out of the ground up, see?

The protagonist, Tsukasa, will fly into a panic and try to run away, but more zombie robots will appear from the seats to surround him...

There is no escape... And Tsukasa will be dragged into the trap room.

That's how I envision it. What do you think?

Ooh! That sounds awesome!!

Hmm... Not bad. The more hair-raising the scene is, the more dramatic the plot twist will be!

But you have to build the robots by yourself, Rui. Are you sure you can make them in time...?

Ah, but I already finished one.

Already?!

I started building it as soon as I got this idea yesterday.

That explains the huge suitcase I saw you hauling around this morning.

So, we can start rehearsing right away?! Yay! Let's do it!

We can do a test run with my zombie robot while going over the main points of the play.

Okay. For this one, your robot drags me away to the trap room, right?

Yes. I put a mat down there so you'll have a soft landing. The robot has built-in safety features, so there's no need to worry.

Good luck, Tsukasa!!

Augh... Augh...

Yikes... I know it's just a robot but I'm still a bit creeped out...

Are you ready?

Yeah! Here I go!

Stop! I'm the director! You cannot treat me like this!

Augh... Augh...

Stop... No... NOOO!

Hehe... Nice.

Yes. It went very smoothly.

Thanks, Tsukasa!
That was perfect.

You think so?
A top performance from a top star!

Okay, I'm going to climb back out.
Heave-ho!

Augh... Augh...

Hm? Why is my robot still moving...?

Argh! Let go of my clothes!
No, I'm gonna...

Aaargh!!

Tsukasa?!
He fell back in!

...!!

There's a mat on the floor, but... Are you okay?!

Tsukasaaa! He's not waking up! What do we do?

This is bad... Tsukasa!

Gasp!

He's awake!

Thank goodness!
Are you okay, Tsukasa?

What... What happened?

The robot grabbed your clothes and you fell back into the trap room. Thankfully, you landed on the mat...

I'm sorry, Tsukasa.
My robot seems to have malfunctioned...

I was convinced my safety features were foolproof but... It's all my fault.

That could've ended really badly for me, you know!

...

But accidents happen...

Next time, I'll make sure to be more careful too. I'd never forgive myself if an incident like this happened during a show and terrified our audience.

To be clear, I think this dramatic scene is great! This is the kind of stuff I want to see more from you, Rui!

Yeah...

You okay...?