[player]I'll help out in the dressing room.
Although I'm more interested in helping out on the stage, I'll probably mess things up since I don't have any experience. It's better to do something I know I can do.
[Elderly Man]Sure. What do you think, Ciri?
[Ciri]The dressing room is over there. I'll take you there.
Ciri opens the door at the end of the corridor and leads me into the dressing room. After explaining some things briefly, she says she needs to prepare for her upcoming performance with the animals and leaves. After that, I start tidying up according to her instructions.
[player]...This place isn't that big. It wouldn't take that much time if I don't need to sort the garbage.
After cleaning the floor, I go to the sink to wet a rag and start cleaning the performers' dressing tables. On the outermost side is a table covered with colored paper and ribbons. There are even props such as playing cards and small throwing knives on it.
[player]This must be Ryan's table. There's a book here. I wonder if it's about magic... Umm...
The Proper Way to Treat Onee-Sama ... Although I'm slightly interested, my instinct tells me not to get look too deeply into it.
[player]Okay, let's put it away. The colored paper and ribbons can be thrown away. Now I'll just put this there... Done. Time for the next task.
I turn my head to look at the table on the left. Judging from the cans of pet food and the black leopard plushie on the surface, I assume this is Ciri's table. There's a tattered book under the toy. The title on the cover is: "The Correct Way to Get Along With Humans."
[player]...Shouldn't it be something like "The Correct Way to Get Along With Animals"? Animal tamers are interested in researching such... mysterious things.
Sara's table is next to Ciri's countertop, and all her cosmetics are lined up in front of the mirror in an orderly manner, so all I need to do is to wipe the dust on the table. Unfortunately, there are no books. I wonder what Sara usually reads.
The other dressing tables seem to have been unused for some time as they are covered in dust. The only exception is a table with a particularly conspicuous clown mask on it.
[player]So there's a clown in Soul? Why have I never seen this person?
[Ciri]There used to be.
[player]Eek! W-When did you get back here?
[Ciri]Just now.
[player]You walk so silently that you gave me a fright... If that person has already left, why is this mask still here?
[Ciri]Sara said he might come back for it, so you can just leave it there. However, even seeing the belongings of that traitor fills me with disgust.
[player]Traitor?
[Ciri]It's all in the past now. Sara can tell you herself if she wants to.
[Ciri]Although I dislike that person, it has been kinda troublesome since the clown left.
[player]Troublesome?
[Ciri]The clown was a popular member of our troupe. When he left, he took some of our performers and audience with him, so now everyone has to work harder to win back some of the audience we lost...
Cici looks up at the program list on the wall as she speaks, and I also do the same.
[player]The list is basically filled up by the performances of the few of you. And it looks like Sara has the most shows to perform.
[Ciri]Magic performances require lots of props that need to be prepared in advance, and animals have limited energy, so neither Ryan nor I can perform for long periods of time... Everyone has their own inconveniences.
[player]So... Sara volunteered to fill up the remaining slots in the program?
[Ciri]We tried to persuade her not to, but she said it's her duty as our leader... If only someone can change her mind.
The sense of responsibility of the leader, huh...? Unless I'm mistaken, today is Sara's birthday, yet, she's still so busy.
[player]...Ciri, I'm almost done here. Is there anything else I can do? Today is Sara's birthday, so I want to lighten her load as much as possible since I'm helping out already.
[Ciri]You've already done a lot. As for other things... It's not like we can get you to perform on the stage.
[Ciri]It's time for me to go on stage. You can take a break after you're done... Thank you.
After Ciri leaves, with the mentality of not doing things by half measures, I clean the unused dressing tables too. All that's left now is the last step: return the clothes scattered everywhere to the wardrobe next door.
Wardrobe
[player]Is this a clown costume?
A red and white costume is hanging all alone in a corner on the left side of the room. A pair of funny big-toed shoes is placed under it.
[player]The gloves are inside its pocket, and there's a mask on the dressing table outside...
It's not like we can get you to perform on the stage ...Although Ciri said that, everything I need for a clown performance is spread out in front of me. I would be lying if I said I wasn't getting some ideas.
I happened to have watched some videos of clown performances recently when I was bored and watching short videos. I'm not confident that I can come up with a decent program on short notice like this, but maybe I can do something wacky and support them with a little performance?
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