Behind the Scenes

"Behind the Scenes" (舞台のその裏で) is a short story released within "A Tale of MFbunkoJ", a commemoration booklet from the MF Bunko J Summer School Festival 2022.

Summary
After Suzune's class agreed to do a maid café, Karuizawa commented that she would have wanted to suggest another event. Kiyotaka urged her to tell him what the event was, but she said that it was childish. Kiyotaka replies that events like that are fine at a school cultural festival as long as they are within the budget.

Karuizawa then asks him whether he enjoys reading books, to which Kiyotaka responds that he does, though he's not sure if that has anything to do with it. She then inquires if he has ever read fairy tales, to which Kiyotaka replies that he has. This answer surprised Karuizawa because fairy tales do not fit his image. Hearing her say that made Kiyotaka a bit impatient, and he asked whether that had anything to do with the subject, but she insists that he tell her which ones he has read.

Kiyotaka mentions titles like "The Flying Classroom", "The Secret Garden", and "The Happy Prince". Karuizawa is taken aback because she did not expect such answers. Kiyotaka believes that they are definitely children's literature and hence were considered fairy tales. She believes that "The Three Little Pigs" and "Little Red Riding Hood" would have been more popular choices, but Kiyotaka admits that he hasn't read them, which surprises Karuizawa but she feel that it fits Kiyotaka's image for her.

Returning to the topic of the event, Karuizawa revealed that she wanted to do a fairy tale theatrical presentation. Kiyotaka thought that the idea itself was good, but because of the time that had passed, it was unlikely to be accepted. Kiyotaka asks her which story she would have enjoyed, and she says that she would have like "Cinderella" or "Beauty and the Beast", but the one she wanted to see the most would have been "Sleeping Beauty". Kiyotaka admitted that he had not read any of them. Hearing this, Kei made a sarcastic remark and then proceeded to narrate him the story of "Sleeping Beauty".

After that, she comments that she didn't like the story as a child, but it reminds her of herself now, because her heart was sleeping and Kiyotaka came to wake her up. Kiyotaka noted that if she had suggested that Kiyotaka be the prince and she, the princess, their classmates would have definitely ridiculed them. Karuizawa refrained from suggesting it precisely because she knew the consequence, and Kiyotaka was relieved that Kei was able to understand that.

Karuizawa wonders if he would wake her up with a kiss if she ever fell asleep like that, and Kiyotaka responds that she would not be satisfied with just one. Karuizawa responds with a small smile and tells him that she no longer cares about fairy tales since she is satisfied with reality.