Monologues

What is associated with that word?

Spring, brand new uniforms, cherry blossoms, mild weather…

The cold dissipating in the warm wind.

But, more importantly than those…

Encounters

Will I be able to meet new people here at the academy?

Someone like me, who has never made a friend before?

Here

Amitié

A beautiful Queen, spoiled beyond repair.

Proud and aloof…

With no qualm about hurting the feelings of others.

But as I watch her march those girls to the gallows… and flay their hearts to bloody ribbons.

I cannot help but feel that she is waiting for her turn to come.

This is the story of my encounter with the Queen.

#### **Chapter Three; Half Angel, Half Devil**

It was a year of new encounters.

I went on to make many friends throughout my life.

But, out of all of them, two were special to me.

One was a golden-haired pessimist.

The other a silver-haired optimist.

Even though their characters, personalities, and talents seemed different…

Their distorted hearts cast the same reflection.

I encountered them, Silver and Gold at…

‘The Council of Nicaea’

#### **Chapter Four; A Beautiful Dance With Her**

‘Between the devil and the deep blue sea,’ they say.

An Idiom used to express being caught between two undesirable situations.

A woman dove into the ocean.

Behind her a devil, before her the deep blue sea…

Not wanting to be eaten by the devil, the woman finds the deep blue sea to be the better choice, if only for a moment.

But either way, she cannot be saved.

What has started now… is the choice between the kind whispers of the devil or the hopelessness of the sea.

This is the beginning of my story, stuck between two impossible choices, neither of which will lead to salvation.

#### **Chapter Five; The Legend of the Clown**

There is a science fiction novel called, ‘Planet of Exile’ By Ursula K. Lee Guin.

On the planet in the story, one full year takes about sixty earth years.

Fifteen years of Spring, fifteen years of Summer, fifteen years of Fall, and fifteen years of Winter.

When I first read that book, I tried to imagine the seasons remaining the same…

Growing from a child to a woman all in the same season, it made me cry.

A slow death through stagnation.

What follows is the story of those who disappeared with the Spring.

#### **Chapter Six;  Take Me**

There is a Russian folktale called, ‘The Giant Turnip.’

There is a turnip so large that nobody can pull it from the ground.

Until an old man calls over an old woman, who in turn calls over her grandson, and he calls over his dog…

The moral of the folktale is the importance of cooperation.

However, the story abruptly ends once they pull out the turnip.

What happens to the turnip afterwards?

Would they divide it up amongst themselves?

Would they serve it up as a meal for everyone?

The story ends by preaching the joy of everyone working together, but…

In reality, the story would continue on and on after that.

What starts now is what follows of the epilogue.

The start of the ordinary days that stretch on forever.

#### **Chapter Seven; Emotional Night**

There is a novel by Natsume Soseki called, ‘The Miner.’

A nineteen-year-old youth becomes entangled in a love triangle, and leaves home when it becomes unbearable.

He wanders around aimlessly until he meets a swindler who takes him to a mine.

In the mining town, he meets many different people, and works for five months in a restaurant there.

It ends abruptly with him returning home.

The detailed description of the mining town and the mine itself makes for an interesting story, but…

The nineteen-year-old’s lack of ‘growth’ for me was a source of both fear and relief.

The places where he lives changes, his work changes, he meets people and experience hardship.

Yet the young man’s spirit is the same as it was at the beginning and remains unchanged.

I cannot change.

Could I change through my encounter with her?

#### **Chapter Eight; Something Bigger Than Love**

There is something in this world called transience.

An atmosphere that’s allowed only at that place, at that time.

The world of business, from its morning commutes to after-work drinks…

Such transience must certainly exist there.

It also exists here in the Academy’s Amitié system.

Yet for the same-sex relationship, we are blessed by this climate.

It’s the transience that occurs when isolated from society.

In the end, are the ones using this system the people?

Or is it the academy itself?

I know it is the end of spring, in all things.

I know this is transience.

### Ete Monologue.

For Ete, each monologue is narrated by Yaegaki Erika.

#### **Chapter One; The Frog Prince.**

There’s a story in Grimm’s Fairy Tales called ‘The Frog Prince’.

It’s famous in Japan, too.

The princess kisses the frog in a show of gratitude, and her kiss breaks the witch’s curse.

The frog returns to human form and marries the princess.

But the original version isn’t quite as pleasant as the one we’re familiar with today.

The princess drops a gold ball into a pond, and the frog offers to retrieve it for her, if she’ll becomes his friend.

Rather than accept his terms, the princess returns to the castle without befriending the frog.

The story that begins now is that of the poor little frog, waiting for the one who left it behind.

#### **Chapter Two; Allerleirauh**

There’s a story in Grimm’s Fairy Tales called ‘Allerleirauh’.

A dying queen’s last request is that her husband never marries unless it is to a woman as beautiful as her.

The king searches in vain for such a woman, until he finally meets a young woman who resembles his late wife and decides to marry her.

To avoid marrying the king, the woman refuses to wed him unless he fulfills several impossible requests.

She asks him for a dress as silver as the moon, a dress as golden as the sun, a dress as dazzling as the stars – and a coat made of a thousand furs.

But the king clears every one of her hurdles and pressures her into marriage. Using her magic dresses, the woman is able to escape difficulty time and again, but…

In the end, she doesn’t have time to change into her fur coat, and she must become the king’s wife.

No matter how she loathed it or tried to come up with another way out of her situation, her fate proved inescapable.

The story that begins now is that of another poor girl resolved to reverse events that have already transpired.

#### **Chapter three; Rapunzel**

There’s a story in Grimm’s Fairy Tales called ‘Rapunzel’.

A couple who has been childless for many years is finally blessed with a baby. However, the pregnant woman is fussy about her food and begs for the vegetable called Rapunzel that grows in a nearby witch’s garden.

The husband hears her request, and sneaks into the garden to steal it… But he’s caught by the witch and agrees that, in exchange for the rapunzel, she can have their child when it is born.

As promised, the witch takes the child when she’s born and locks her away in a tall tower in the middle of a forest. The years pass...

Until one day, a prince is walking through the forest and drawn by her singing, discovers Rapunzel. The two fall in love and continue to meet in secret, until Rapunzel falls pregnant.

Upon learning the truth, the witch flies into a rage and cuts off all of Rapunzel’s hair, before throwing her out into the wilderness. Unaware of what has transpired, when the prince next comes to visit…

The witch curses at him and, learning of what has transpired, he falls into deep despair. He throws himself from the tower, ending up blind.

The story ends with the blind prince wandering the forest until he meets Rapunzel again. By some kind of miracle, his sight is restored, and they return to his kingdom to live happily ever after.

But one aspect of the story doesn’t ring true to me.

Unlike other fables that serve as moral lessons, ‘Rapunzel’ doesn’t center on a virtuous hero or heroine who prevails over some great hardships.

The couple paid for their wish, and the witch for her bargain – yet Rapunzel gave up nothing.

Sure, she experienced her fair share of suffering. But surely, she only had herself to blame it in the first place?

The story that begins now is about another fool who tries to realize their wish without paying the price.

#### **Chapter Four; The Singing Bone**

There’s a story in Grimm’s Fairy Tales called ‘The Singing Bone’.

In a faraway land, an official notice is issued offering marriage to the king’s daughter, to whoever is able to slay a dangerous wild boar.

Two poor brothers set out to kill the boar. Through a chance meeting, the younger brother procures a special black rod and uses it to defeat the boar.

Filled with joy, he set off towards the castle with the slain boar, but on the way, he meets his drunk older brother. Learning what his siblings have done, the older brother murders him and steals the credit for himself.

He buries his brother’s body beneath a bridge and goes to the castle, where he marries the king’s daughter in reward for his feat.

The older brother lives in great comfort. However, a wandering shepherd discovers one of the dead brother’s bones beneath the bridge. He carves it into a whistle, but before using the mouthpiece, it issues forth a song.

‘You are blowing on my bone. My brother killed me and buried me so that he could marry the king’s daughter.’

The shepherd takes the bone whistle to the king. Upon learning the truth, the king has the older brother executed, and the younger brother’s bones properly interred. The end.

When I read this fairy tale, my takeaway wasn’t some trite reflection on the ‘Poetic Justice’ of the thing; I was intrigued by the singing bone that lay beneath the bridge.

What if no one believed its song? What if the younger brother’s regrets had remained, while his song faded away?

The story that begins now is that of some pitiful girls who’ve forgotten how to sing.

#### **Chapter Five; Frau Holle**

There’s a story in Grimms’ Fairy Tales called ‘Frau Holle’.

A woman shares her house with her lazy daughter and her beautiful, hardworking stepdaughter. She spoils her biological daughter while treating her stepdaughter harshly.

One day, the stepdaughter is washing her spindle in the well when she accidentally drops it. When she informs her mother, she is ordered to retrieve it.

Not knowing what else to do, the stepdaughter flings herself into the well and loses consciousness.

When she wakes up, she finds herself in a beautiful meadow. Walking across it, she ultimately arrives at the house of a woman named Frau Holle.

Treated as an equal for the first time in her life, the stepdaughter happily agrees to stay at the house in Frau Holle’s service. However, she eventually grows homesick. When she tells Frau Holle this…

…the woman gives her back the spindle she had dropped and allows her to return home clad in gold as a reward for her service.

Jealous of her stepdaughter’s newfound riches, the mother orders her other daughter to do the same, and return with her own prize of gold. However…

The lazy daughter is unable to serve Frau Holle adequately, and as a punishment Frau Holle sends the girl home coated in tar, enchanted so that she can never wash it off.

The message is fairly straightforward – the earnestness and hardworking among us will be rewarded. There’s no proof that that’s really the way of the world, though.

No matter how honestly you live, or how much kindness you can show towards others, there are some wishes that can never be granted.

The story that begins now is that of the fools struggling to claim their just compensation for living honest lives.

#### **Chapter Six; Mary’s Child**

There’s a story in Grimms’ Fairy Tales called ‘Mary’s Child’.

It tells the story of how a girl born into a poor family is taken by the Virgin Mary at three years old to live happily in Heaven.

When the girl is fourteen, Mary departs on a journey, leaving the girl with her keys. She warns the girl never to open the thirteenth door of her mansion.

But the girl, in her curiosity, opens the door. When Mary returns from her travels she notices that the door has been opened, and questions the girl…

But the girl stubbornly insists that she didn’t open it. The girl disobeyed her instructions, and lied to cover it up, and so Mary expels her from Heaven, taking from her the power of speech as well.

After living alone and miserable for many years, the girl is discovered by a passing prince, and they get married. They live happily together, and the girl falls pregnant. However…

On the night her child is born, Mary appears at the girl’s bedside and asks her again if she opened the thirteenth door. The girl, now queen, again obstinately insists that she did not.

As recompense for the lie, Mary takes the child. After that, the queen has a second, and then a third child, and each time she is asked the same question. She lies, and each time her child is taken from her.

At the end of the story, the reformed queen becomes ashamed of her lie, confesses the fact that she did open the door, before having her three children returned to her.

She lost everything because of a lie she told at the age of fourteen. Everything important to her was taken time and again because of her refusal to tell the truth. When I heard this story, I thought of my friend.

The story that begins now is that of Mary’s children, struggling to get back what they have lost.

### Automne Monologue.

For Automne, each monologue is narrated by Yatsushiro Yuzuriha.

#### **Chapter one; Dorothy’s Journey Begins**

There’s a children’s story called ‘The Wizard of Oz’.

The story begins when the orphaned Dorothy starts living on a farm with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry.

The blazing sun bakes the color from everything on the vast Kansas prairie – the land, the house, the crops – turning it all to grey…

But Dorothy is able to retain some color in her life thanks to her little black dog Toto.

However, the story really begins when a cyclone suddenly rips through.

The whole house is swept up into the sky by the twister… but Dorothy isn’t afraid.

The longer she’s there the more the house starts to feel like a comforting cradle.

She accepts the twister, and what is surely going to be a terrible fate, without protest. As a child, I always found that incredibly reassuring.

The lead character in this fairy tale did not fear change.

The story that begins now is that of two girls: one who welcomed change, and another who desired stagnation.

#### **Chapter two; The Scarecrow who wanted a Brain.**

There’s a children’s story called ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’.

Swept up in a tornado, Dorothy’s house touches down in the fairytale land of Oz…

…And just so happens to land on the terrifying Wicked Witch of the East, killing the tyrant and making Dorothy the savior of Munchkin Country.

The Good Witch of the North tells Dorothy that, in order to return home, she must go to the Emerald City.

Determined to find her way back to her mother and father, Dorothy sets out along the yellow brick road to the city.

On her way, she meets the first of her companions; the Scarecrow.

The Scarecrow tears himself down from the wooden post he’s fixed to and begs Dorothy to let him accompany her on her journey so that he might find himself a brain.

He pleads with her passionately; for her part, Dorothy is happy to allow him to join her. I remember being incredibly impressed at how readily she welcomed her new friend.

For the Scarecrow, her choice was life-changing. A chance meeting, a brief conversation; the whole world opened up in the space of moments.

The story that begins now is that of the fool who gave little thought to which path they chose.

#### **Chapter three; The Tin Woodsman who lacked a Heart.**

There’s a children’s story called ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’.

Dorothy is making her way to the Emerald City, to meet the great and powerful Wizard of Oz.

As she’s hurrying along the yellow brick road that leads to the city, she hears a terrible groan.

Led by the sound, she leaves the path and, in a clearing in the forest, she meets her second companion; the Tin Woodman.

She rescues him by applying oil to his rusted joints.

Once he can move again, the Tin Woodman asks if he can join Dorothy on her journey, so that he can ask the Wizard of Oz for a heart.

After hearing the Scarecrow’s reasons for going to see the Wizard, The Tin Woodman responds that he would still rather have a heart than a brain.

‘During the year I stood there I had time to think that the greatest loss I had known was the loss of my heart… no one can love who has not a heart.’

The Scarecrow insists that he will still ask for brains, all the same. ‘I shall take the heart’, returned the Tin Woodman; ‘for brains do not make one happy, and happiness is the best thing in the world’.

I remember feeling terribly sad when I read the Tin Woodman’s words. To live without a heart is to live without happiness…

I wondered then what that meant for me, having tried so hard to forget the harsh realities of the world by discarding my own heart.

The story that begins now is that of the Tin Woodman, foolishly attempting to recover his heart.

#### **Chapter four; The Cowardly Lion**

There’s a children’s story called ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’.

As she hurries along the road to the Emerald City to meet the Wizard, Dorothy hears a dreadful roar.

Behind the roar is a ferocious lion. He knocks down the Scarecrow and the Tin Man and is about to bite down on Dorothy’s little dog, Toto.

Heedless of the danger to herself, Dorothy slaps the Lion across the nose and rescues Toto.

Faced with the brave Dorothy, the Lion admits his own cowardice and confesses that he’d been startled into trying to bite the small dog.

The Lion has long been unhappy with his cowardly nature and asks to accompany Dorothy and her friends on their journey so that he may ask the Wizard of Oz to give him courage.

Of all Dorothy’s companions, the most important to me is the third: The Cowardly Lion.

In this chapter, Dorothy says, of other wild beasts, ‘it seems to me they must be more cowardly than you are if they allow you to scare them so easily’.

But the Lion responds, ‘That doesn’t make me any braver, and as long as I know myself to be a coward I shall be unhappy’.

He’s right. Even if thousands of others extol your bravery, so long as you remain unconvinced of it yourself, you’ll be unhappy.

The story that begins now is that of the Cowardly Lion who feigns his feelings.

#### **Chapter five; The Wizard of the Emerald City**

There’s a children’s story called ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’.

Dorothy and her companions hurry toward the Emerald City to meet the Wizard.

The Scarecrow, to ask for a brain; the Cowardly Lion, to ask for courage; the Tin Woodman, to ask for a heart.

And Dorothy, to find her way home to Kansas.

As the group makes their way along the yellow brick road to the city, they encounter various obstacles: a deep chasm that blocks their way; an attack by a beast with the body of a bear and the head of a tiger…

The poor Scarecrow is left behind as they cross a huge river; the Cowardly Lion is sent into a deep sleep by the scent of deadly poppies.

But, with all their intelligence and bravery, they are able to overcome these challenges with mercy in their hearts.

When they finally arrive at the Emerald City, they are at last granted their audience with the Wizard.

The Wizard, who will only meet with one person each day, appears to Dorothy as a huge floating head.

To the Scarecrow, he is a beautiful woman; to the Tin Woodman, a terrifying beast. And to the Cowardly Lion, he appears as a burning ball of fire.

In exchange for granting their wishes, the Wizard orders them to kill the Wicked Witch of the West.

Rather than balking at his outrageous demand, I was instead filled with envy and sadness for the Wizard, who could transform into anything he wished.

I felt that he had no true form; that he could never truly know himself.

The story that begins now is that of a stupid girl who didn’t even know her own heart.

#### **Chapter six; The Silver Slippers**

There’s a children’s story called ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’.

At the Wizard’s request, Dorothy and her friends set out to kill the Wicked Witch of the West.

After overcoming many trials and tribulations, they succeed, and seek to have their wishes granted in exchange – only to realize that the Wizard is a fraud.

He can’t give the Tin Woodman his heart, nor the Cowardly Lion his courage, nor the Scarecrow his brain. And of course, he can’t send Dorothy home.

The Wizard gives the despondent group what they desire in the form of a kindly lie. For the Scarecrow, a head full of wheat bran; for the Tin Woodman, a heart of silk.

For the Cowardly Lion; water ‘infused with courage’. For through their adventures with Dorothy they had already gained, in turn, a head to think with; a sympathetic heart; and the bravery to face any danger.

However, his sophistry will not return Dorothy to Kansas.

Her friends make every effort to get her back until they learn of one who may be able to do it – Glinda, The Good Witch of the South.

They survive an attack from fighting trees, pass through the Dainty China Country, and make their way through a forest inhabited by giant spiders to finally arrive at Glinda’s castle.

After saying her emotional goodbyes to the Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow, and the Lion, Dorothy returns to Kansas.

Upon coming to the end of the tale, I felt jealousy. Jealousy for this girl who had a ‘home’ she so strongly wished to return to.

After moving so many times, I had nowhere I could call home; nowhere to return to.

‘Home’ didn’t even have to be a place. A person would do. But I…

What begins now is the tale of a girl searching for a place to return to.