The timeline is the usual.
This story is brought to you from the perspective of Chihiro Akashi, the head of the drama club.
“Ah… another one for the vault, huh…”
When I glanced over, I saw Shido holding his head. Well, it’s always like this.
“What’s up?”
“Hm? Oh, just another script that’s going into the vault… Aaaah.”
Shido is always like this. Even when we were in the original world, it was the same. Write and vault, write and vault. Ever since he acquired the “Speed Writing” skill, his writing pace has increased, and the frequency of his sighs, “aaaah,” has increased too. Today, I’ve already heard him sigh like that about three times.
“No… but this one is a pity… No, but the activation conditions are too strict… darn it, but I want to try it once…”
“If you want to try it, then just try it.”
“But, it involves unrelated people. That would be too much…”
“Then don’t do it.”
“But I want to try…”
“Then just do it.”
“Aaaaah…”
Hmm, but this time it seems a bit different. Maybe he came up with something really good.
I really like what Shido writes.
I’ve read the ones that got vaulted too, and they’re all interesting, and I think I’d like to try them.
But for us now, theater is a method of attack! It’s something necessary for survival! So, what we do is limited, and we can’t be too free with this and that, there are parts where we can’t go beyond… Hmm, inevitably, we end up focusing on efficiency in combat.
That’s why the number of Shido’s “aaaahs” seems to be increasing!
And today, it seems he’s vaulted several times already, so I came up with an idea!
“So, you’re done writing, Shido, you’re free now, huh?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Then, let’s go shopping!”
This is the time for a change of scenery!
We are a drama club, so we inevitably need a lot of props. And big props too.
Until now, we made everything ourselves, but recently, since Maito copied the “Transfer” barrette and introduced us to a town called Deichemall, we’ve been shopping for things we don’t need to make ourselves.
Plus, I’m a girl! Shopping excites me! Right!
“Wait a minute, let’s go to Maito’s place and get some money.”
“No! There’s no need for that!”
So, today, there’s another thing I want to try!
“What club are we in!”
“Eh, drama club?”
“Maito is making money by making clothes, so we should be able to do the same! Yes!”
With a flourish, I spread my arms wide, and the attentive lighting technician spots me with a spotlight. Sparkling, I declare to Shido!
“Let’s earn some money with street performances!”
When I called out to the other members, everyone started saying let’s do it, so we had no trouble finding actors at all! After all, we are the drama club! We love drama! We somewhat like standing out! And we absolutely love weird and fun things!
“Yay, then Shido! What are we going to do today?”
“It’s been a while since we’ve done theater just for the sake of it, without any combat!”
“Then we can do anything, right? Theater without skills or combat, right? Then, Shido, you can choose whatever you like!”
…Because recently, for us, performing has become a means of survival.
Sometimes, it’s good to have theater as the goal, right?
“If… if that’s the case, I have a romantic comedy here that I discarded because it lacked attack power and had issues.”
“Nice! Let’s do that!”
“It’s been a while since we’ve done a rom-com. Time to throw away our shame!”
“We, the beautiful men and women of this world… a love story woven by beauties is bound to be a hit and make money!”
“Sounds great, let’s make money!”
“Alright! Let’s make money! Money! Then we can buy what we like!”
“Money! Long live money!”
“And then costumes!”
“Let’s buy them!”
“And props too!”
“Let’s buy them!”
“Meat! I want to eat meat!”
“That, you hunt.”
“Bacon! Maito’s bacon!”
“Akashi, that’s something you can’t buy with money.”
…And so, we, carnivorous beyond measure, are omnivores! We’re on fire for making money!
Getting ready with costumes and props, off to Deichemall we go!
“And so, we set foot in the water city, Deichemall.”
“The beautiful streetscape. The faces of the people passing by are bright…”
“And above all, our faces are bright.”
Speaking the narration out loud is like an occupational hazard, or maybe it’s just a hobby!
…The people of Deichemall seem to have gotten somewhat used to us “aliens from another world” (after all, we have classmates living in this town!), but still, when there’s a large group of “beautiful men and women” like us, people can’t help but stare!
“The audience turnout is promising. Then, let’s start with some promotion here! Sound team, come on!”
So first, the sound technician, Nakaki, uses his skill.
“Ahem… We will be performing a drama by the drama club at the central plaza. If you are interested, please come to the venue. I repeat…”
If he broadcasts in his unnecessarily good voice, the townspeople start noticing us and begin to buzz.
“Then, while continuing the broadcast announcement, next up is setting up! Let’s go!”
“Alright!”
Amidst the buzz, we rush towards the plaza!
Once we arrive at the plaza, we all set up the large props.
…Though we use skills to do it. Normally, we should really prepare proper large props, but today we don’t need to worry about attack power! Even a mere illusion, as long as it looks like it’s there, that’s good enough!
“Akashi! Look! This balcony has a really nice atmosphere!”
“Nice! It’s really nice!”
“Let’s entwine ivy around this fence here.”
“And I’ll put a street lamp on the side while I’m at it.”
“That design is awful, Mori! Redo it! Make it more elegant! More stylish!”
“I don’t understand! Explain in a way I can understand!”
“Make it chic!”
“Got it!”
Everyone was squatting and stretching, kind of like what they were doing next door at Tororo, and buildings and rows of trees sprang up from the ground. This is always fun no matter how many times we do it!
“Mori! Forget about the large props, start adjusting the small props and lighting! The audience is already arriving! And Nakaki! Put out another announcement!”
“Okay!”
“Understood!”
And as more and more large props sprouted up, the people around us became curious and came over to see what we were doing. The lighting and sound crew ran around, setting up behind the large props for announcements and adjusting the lights. Skills make all of this so convenient!
“Then, should the actors start changing?”
“Okay!… ‘Then, may I count on you, my princess?'”
With that, Hagino took my hand.
Yeah. Unusually, today I’m playing the heroine. Usually, because of the gender ratio in the drama club, I’m always the hero, but this time, since the audience is from the town, we’re presenting with males as males and females as females!
“Yes. I’m counting on you.”
I smiled as gracefully as I could and began to walk.
“Now, the drama club’s performance will begin. The title is ‘Even the God of Destruction Wants to Love!’. Enjoy a whimsical, bright, and cheerful romance.”
Nakaki’s announcement went out and the curtain rose. The audience’s gaze was intense.
…Having so many human spectators like this was really something I hadn’t experienced in a long time.
It reminded me of last year’s school festival performance. I was nervous, the spotlight was blindingly bright and hot… it was really fun!
“Ah, today didn’t go well again.”
Twirling the hem of my dress, “I” stood on the balcony, gazing up at the night sky.
“Why do all the gentlemen I meet for matchmaking run away?”
“That’s because the princess, in her nervousness, ends up destroying chairs and desks every single time.”
Then came “my” knight.
“I didn’t like it, today I didn’t break any chairs or desks.”
“You did break through the floor, though. Perhaps you don’t remember because of your nervousness.”
“I didn’t do such a thing!”
Without thinking, “I” turned to the knight and took a firm step forward…
Crack.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
The floor of the balcony broke under my feet, and I fell through.
The sound crew played the “teretteretteretteretyn-tyun-tyun-tyun…” sound effect of Hito-kun being bush-shooted, quietly inducing laughter.
…Oh, right, people from another world might not know about the World Incongruity Discovery.
So the play progressed, and finally, it was nearing the climax!
The princess, capable of destroying chairs, desks, floors, vases, and even breaking the romantic flags with her knight, slips away from a dance party to brood alone. And finally, the knight confesses his feelings in this scene!
“Princess! I… I have feelings for you…!”
“I” froze in place, stunned. The night was beautifully lit by starlight and moonlight, shimmering in the approaching knight’s eyes.
“Hey! What the hell are you guys doing on our turf!?”
…Wait a minute.
“It’s really troublesome, you know? Having people gather on our land like this!”
These lines weren’t in the script, and, uh, we don’t have any scary-faced old guys in our club!
Wait, so these guys are locals from Deichemall who are a bit… troublesome? Yikes, trouble!
“Hey, that guy… from the west…”
“No way, are they gangsters?!”
The audience was also buzzing. Apparently, these were indeed some pretty dangerous folks. Yikes, trouble!
“An intruder in the castle!?”
But panicking over something like this isn’t our style as the drama club!
“Knight! Protect me!”
While hiding behind the knight and accidentally breaking off a piece of his armor on his shoulder, “I” continued my line.
“What? Hey, you guys…”
“Princess! I will contact the other knights of the castle! Princess, here… you must fight!”
“What?”
“Eeeeeeeh!?”
“Are you even listening to me?”
The scary-faced old man climbed onto the stage and approached “us”!
…Could this be part of the play as well?
“Don’t come any closer, you ugly man!”
“Ubuh!?”
Taste the push of the God of Destruction’s princess!
Suddenly, the story takes a dive into a fight scene that was never planned!
The princess, who doesn’t want to fight but demonstrates her destructive prowess, and the knight, who wants to escape but is surrounded, fight back-to-back… and then!
“Princess! I!”
While swinging his sword, the knight declared!
“Even if you’re a God of Destruction! I love you!”
Suddenly, uplifting background music started playing.
“Princess! I’ve come to rescue you!”
“These villains! Prepare yourselves!”
“Intruders, eliminate! Intruders, eliminate!”
Maid, other knights, and security robots surged in!
“…I will hear your answer after this fight, at the dance party.”
With a flamboyant wink, the knight also charged towards the scary-faced old men.
“What should we do…!”
In “my” eyes, there was only the knight. Ah, to think love was so close by!
…But in my view, beyond Ogino, the other club members, and the audience, I could see a crowd of scary-looking men approaching.
“Hey, Akashi! Ogino! And the rest of the club members! Can you hear me? I’m speaking directly into your brains right now!”
…And then, a message from Shido.
This is the “Brain Cell Phone” skill. It might have a silly name, but it’s incredibly valuable to us! It allows Shido to speak directly into the brains of the club members!
“Keep pushing towards the ending! Got it? Don’t be afraid of those scary-faced old men! If all goes well…”
“Hey hey hey! You guys! You’re messing around in our family’s territory!”
Ah, looks like the boss has arrived!
“Go! It’s the ending!”
And with Shido’s command…
So, “I” launched a barrage of open-hand slaps at lightning speed, pushing all the villains off the stage.
“We did it! The castle is protected!”
“The princess is safe!”
“I’d actually like to see what happens if the princess wasn’t safe!”
Everyone in the castle rejoiced in victory…
“Now, everyone! Let’s resume the party!”
“I” declared the resumption of the party to everyone.
“And now, my princess,”
The knight took “my” hand and smiled.
“May I have this dance with you?”
Then the ending theme played!
A cheerful BGM!
And we began to dance!
Dancing through the ending, like something out of a Bollywood movie… I thought it was pretty cool. But then.
“Uh… what?”
Something.
“No, no way, my body’s moving on its own?”
Something something.
“Whoa! What? Why am I starting to dance too!?”
…Even the audience began to dance.
While thinking “what’s going on?”, I kept dancing, and eventually, everyone in the audience started dancing.
…Huh?
And then, for some reason, by the end, everyone present except the scary old men was dancing wildly… and when the song ended, and we (including all the audience) struck the final pose!
Big! Explosion!
…Huh?
“This concludes ‘Even the God of Destruction Wants to Love!’. Please be careful not to leave any belongings behind as you exit.”
While Nakaki made the announcement, we were busy dragging away the scary old men, now with their hair turned into punch perms, as part of the cleanup operation! Salute!
“Still, what was that all about, huh?”
“Yeah, suddenly everyone started dancing.”
“Curious?”
The men, now sporting punch perms and looking even more like gangsters, were being cleaned up by us when he appeared!
“Ah, Shido.”
“Good work.”
“So, what was it?”
Well, it’s Shido. Of course, I’m curious to know the reveal!
“That was a new technique called ‘Flash Bomb.'”
“Not a mob.”
“A bomb.”
“There definitely was an explosion.”
“Yeah. Because it’s a bomb.”
I’ve heard of flash mobs before! Those are where everyone suddenly starts dancing in public places, right?
…Ah, right, everyone was dancing earlier, except for the guys who exploded!
“This technique can only be used in comedic situations… ‘Members who were mixed in with the audience’ start something… like me dancing this time. Then, everyone who doesn’t have hostile intentions towards us gets swept up.”
“Hmm, hmm.”
“And then, everyone who was swept up starts dancing.”
“Hm, hmm.”
“Those who didn’t dance all exploded.”
“Hm… Huh!?”
That’s kind of extreme, huh? But, if the ones who didn’t dance were hostile towards us, then it’s okay if they exploded. I see.
“The power of the attack depends on the number of people involved, the scale, and also the atmosphere… But still, realistically, this would end up in the vault… It’s not very powerful as a comedy, and more importantly…”
“It involves people.”
“If it were monsters, we’d probably be killed while dancing…”
It was a lot of fun, but right, it’s a technique that doesn’t work with just us and monsters, and if other people are around, it involves them in the battle. That would be a reason to vault it!
“Well, isn’t it fine?”
But then Ogino came over with a grin!
“If we keep performing in Deichemall, we’ll have plenty of chances to use it.”
Ogino’s gaze followed a man with a half-formed punch perm trying to escape! Looks like we let one get away. Oh well.
“If we let those guys run rampant, they might attack other people. Since we’re here, we might as well keep performing and hunt them all down, right?”
“Well, if it’s used against people, it’s quite a peaceful technique, so it might just be right…”
…And so.
After that, we danced a lot and the audience, oddly satisfied, gave us plenty of tips and we enjoyed shopping!
From time to time, we ended up performing in Deichemall!
Shido’s scripts that had been vaulted saw the light of day, we could attack the old men, and most importantly! Pure theater! Having an audience! It’s really! Fun!
“So, shall we go for a performance today?”
And so our battle continues!
Until the evil flourishing in Deichemall is vanquished! Our fight will not end!
…No! Until we get tired of it! This drama will not end!