[team two] Untitled
The first piece of the next chapter for my fic Red, White, and the Rising Sun.
Jesse-centric, G, 746w
"See you after the show," Jesse writes on his phone and taps send, feeling rather irritated. Not at Hokuto, but the... well, circumstances, he guesses. He meant to be at the theater early; the drive from the airport is supposed to be less than half an hour. But a construction site blocked half of the road so that the other half was twice as packed and the traffic moved the speed of a sleep-deprived snail. Now, he and Taiga only have about three minutes to find their seats.
Jesse was sincerely touched when they found out Hokuto had thought to get two tickets for them. Taiga would have stood by the side without a complaint of course, or he might have gotten a separate seat somewhere behind from the theater staff, but of course Hokuto would be aware of the First Son and his bodyguard being a two-piece unit. Hokuto himself has probably had a bodyguard of his own following his every step ever since he was old enough to take any steps at all. Jesse's mouth twitches when he thinks about a baby Hokuto. He’ll have to google photos of him; there are bound to be some official portraits of the imperial toddler.
Speaking of toddlers and kids, there are many of them in the audience, much more than one would expect to see in the National Theater. Is the show meant for children? Truth to be told, Jesse never came around to check what kind of a show it is, but he thought he knew that traditional Japanese puppet shows aren't just for kids.
The audience lights go off just when Jesse sits down. He takes a long slow breath to relax and settle himself after the stress of rushing to the theater.
The beige velvet curtain raises to reveal a low dais at the right side of the stage, and Jesse's eyes widen when he recognizes Hokuto sitting on the dais with a shamisen in his lap. He didn’t know Hokuto would be playing an instrument instead of acting with the puppets. Not that Jesse ever asked. By Hokuto’s side there is an older man with a wooden stand in front of him. He must be the narrator, and his notes are probably on the stand. The both men are wearing a black kimono, a purple hakama and a similar colored jacket with funny, wide shoulders.
In the middle of the stage there is a puppet-size construction that looks like a wooden veranda of a traditional house. All the heads turn to look at the two men at the dais when the narrator starts to sing in a peculiar tone, distinctive to traditional Japanese stage arts. After a few lines Hokuto starts to play. At first he’s just gently plucking the strings, but the tempo picks up when the narrator’s voice changes. Then, two children wearing black robe-like clothes appear on the stage, walking behind the veranda and holding a puppet in their hands. After them, two more children appear with another puppet, and two more with a third. All the puppeteers are children, Jesse realizes as the story starts. Hokuto and the man next to him are the only grown-ups on the stage.
The story, too, seems to be something that would entertain child audience as much as their parents, and Jesse is soon absorbed into the play along with everyone else. The puppets are so expressive, and he can only marvel at how talented the children are. And yet, even though he is definitely following the play, his eyes also fall on Hokuto more often than necessary. Hokuto looks calm and concentrated, his fingers easily moving on the neck of the shamisen when he adapts the tone of his playing with the narrator.
At the end of the play, the audience claps loudly, and Jesse is the first to stand up. Hokuto notices him from the dais and he smiles, a small, amused little grin. In fact, everyone at the stage seems to notice Jesse, the children looking at him with similar, mixed expressions of surprise and amusement.
Taiga quickly stands up to clap with him, which seems to start a chain reaction as more and more people follow the example, and even the volume of the clapping raises. Even though Jesse still is taller than most people around him, he blends into the crowd and the attention shifts back where it should; to the incredibly talented children on the stage.
thesecretdoor you're up! The last sentence ends "to the incredibly talented children on the stage."