[NW] I’m the Heroine, but I Want to Hand That Role Over

It was finally time for the play to start. I was a bit nervous. I took deep breaths to calm myself down. I should be fine since I’ve practiced so much. I memorized all my lines. I really only have to pretend to sleep, so it should be fine. Alright. I was ready, so let’s appear on stage.

—And the stage curtain raised.

‘Once upon a time in a kingdom far, far away, there lived seven fairies who blessed people, cured illnesses, and made predictions. One day, the strongest fairy suddenly disappeared. However, a young fairy soon appeared, so the number of fairies remained at seven. The king and queen of the kingdom were very close to each other, but they weren’t blessed with any children. One day, when the queen cleansed her body in a spring, a fairy appeared and said, “The queen shall be blessed with a child soon,” before disappearing. Some time after encountering the fairy, the queen was blessed with a child. Learning this, the king and his retainers were overjoyed. Afterward, the queen safely gave birth to a beautiful girl. The joyful king and queen invited the seven fairies to their castle and hosted a magnificent banquet. The seven fairies were pleased to be invited to the banquet and blessed the new princess.’

I diligently listened to the voice of the student narrating. The fairies blessed the princess one by one. The first one blessed her with beauty. The second blessed her with a beautiful heart. The third blessed her with a refined demeanor. The fourth one blessed her with the greatest dance skills. The fifth blessed her with a beautiful singing voice. The sixth one blessed her with splendid musical acting skills. And just when the last, the seventh one, was about to bless her, the strongest fairy appeared.

“Oh, my. You look to be enjoying yourselves quite nicely. You look like you’re having so much fun that I came here, even though I wasn’t invited,” Kaito said with a bewitching smile on his lips. He had a charm that sent shivers down my back. I wonder how many people realized that he was a boy. Kaito looked around at the student playing the king, the student playing the queen, and the students playing the other fairies. His gaze finally landed on the baby doll in the queen’s arms.

“I too shall give my blessing to the princess.”

Kaito slowly made his way to the student playing the queen. The students playing the fairies quickly tried to stop him, but before they could, Kaito was already standing in front of the queen. He showed a wicked grin. The student playing the king was too late to stop him, and Kaito proclaimed loudly, “When the princess reaches sixteen years old, she will prick her finger on a spindle and lose her life. Accept your punishment for your negligence in your treatment towards me!”

Kaito loudly laughed, “Oh ho ho,” and left the stage with a puff of smoke.

Kaito’s performance was so impactful that everyone was taken aback. He was amazing, but I think he went too far. Returning to the stage wing, Kaito said, “I did a good job,” with a refreshed face. In any case, I thanked him for his work. Kaito approached me. Still resembling a wicked woman, he had a broad grin stretched across his face. It was conversely scary.

“What did you think? I really did my best, but did I pull off the villain role?”

“Yeah…you were just like a villain.”

“Really?! Ehehe. Let’s keep doing our best!”

Kaito innocently laughed. Please stop. Don’t laugh so innocently with that face! There was so much of a gap that it was scary!!! As I talked with Kaito, it was now my turn. It was finally my turn! I was getting nervous. I wrote “person” three times on my hand and swallowed them. Huh? That was correct, right? I pumped myself up and took a step forward. Then, I tripped on my heels. I was about to fall over when Kaito and Hasumi managed to catch me. Phew, that was dangerous. It was ominous to trip on my first step. I thanked Kaito and Hasumi and walked off again. At that time, Kaito and Hasumi looked extremely anxious, but I pretended not to have noticed, for the sake of calming my heart.

The princess was cursed by the evil fairy. The king, queen, and everyone else fell to despair. However, there was still one fairy left. The youngest fairy had yet to bless the princess. While the fairy didn’t possess enough power to negate the evil fairy’s curse, she could change the curse of “death” to one of “sleep.” The fairy then announced, “The princess will prick her finger on a spindle, but she will not lose her life. Instead, she will fall asleep and will be awakened a hundred years later by a prince.”

Even though the king felt slightly relieved at those words, he couldn’t be completely at ease. He officially ordered every spindle in his kingdom to be burned, banned spinning thread with spindles, and punished all those who possessed a spindle. Fifteen years have passed since then. The princess grew into a beautiful and kind-hearted girl, just like the blessings she had been given. She was loved by everyone. Then came the day of her sixteenth birthday. Everyone in the castle ran about to prepare for this celebration, and the princess walked alone in the garden.

It was my turn now. Eh? I wondered if it was alright for the princess to walk by herself without any escorts, but, well, such plot holes were convenient for fairy tales. I made my appearance on the garden set on stage. I slowly walked to make sure I looked as elegant as I could. After walking for a bit, I heard a clicking sound.

“Oh my. What sound is that?”

I pretended to look around to search for the source of the sound. I made sure not to look too unnatural. I walked as if led by the sound, arriving at the attic. When I opened the door to the attic, I saw a spindle inside. Of course, the princess wouldn’t know what it was as she had never seen one since birth. Therefore, I made a puzzled face. I hope I pulled it off well… The person in front of the spindle looked to be an old lady wearing a big, black hood. She was using the spindle to make thread. Naturally, this old lady was Kaito. Whoa… That previously beautiful lady turned into this… Makeup sure was amazing. I made sure to prevent my thoughts from appearing on my face as I curiously approached the old lady.

“Madam, what are you doing?”

“I am spinning thread, young lady.”

“Oh my. May I try?”

“Of course. Now, please touch this.”

I touched the spindle. Then, I pricked my finger and pretended to be in pain. I said, “Huh…? I feel tired for some reason…” I was unsteady on my feet as I approached a nearby bed and collapsed on it. I wouldn’t have any more lines for the time being. I just needed to pretend to be asleep. Phew. I was freed from all that nervousness. As I pretended to be asleep, I waited for Kaito’s lines to continue.

The thud I heard was the sound of Kaito reappearing as the wicked woman. I wanted to see this scene live.

“Ufufufu… Now the princess has fallen asleep. Ufufu… Ahahahahahahaha!!!”

Damn, Kaito’s laughter was super scary. I’m sure all the young children are crying now…