The Luster of Stars in Moscow
⁇ 39
"You're surprised to see me out, aren't you? I was surprised too!" Cheri continued his dialogue with a natural cunning expression. "That's because all the time I've been thinking about going out. Wanna out! And this proves that my power is getting bigger. The more you push me, the stronger I get" he said.
Cyzarine remained silent because it had not been his turn to speak the dialogue.
"Don't think the body is only yours alone" continued Cheri again. "Then listen to my words! I'm not gonna hit you!"
"I don't know what you really are" Cyzarine also satirized.
Now they could casually use acting to vent their respective anger.
Ah, not much longer! Cherry reminded herself.
The scene left the stage!
Then the two turned to the side of the stage in opposite directions and Cheri managed to follow exactly Cyzarine's movements.
A thunderous applause from the spectator bench.
"I understand! I understand!" Some of them are still talking about it.
"It seems that the audience thought the scene had been planned," Sesha commented as she rushed towards Cheri. "Especially when you met Cyzarine the time was right."
It seems everyone has forgotten that the mess was Cheri's fault. None of the performers backstage asked why Cheri had walked out of the zanaves.
Rafael looked at Cheri from the front of the control room.
He will scold me, Cheri thought.
"Rafael calls you!" Mikail told Cyzarine.
"Everything was going well until Cheri appeared" Cyzarine protested to Mikail.
"Cyzzarine!" Rafael shouted at the girl.
Gawat, thought Cheri.
Rafael once said that if there is a mistake, no matter who is guilty, he will slap both.
Is he going to slap us? Cherie wondered in her heart.
But the scene across the corridor made his heart sting again.
Rafael lowered his face to Cyzarine's ear and whispered something. Then the two chuckled and glanced at Cheri with scorn.
Cheri frowned. What are they talking about?
Rafael walked across the corridor and approached Cheri. But don't say anything. The man did not even glance at her.
"Rafal—" Cheri stuttered and lost his words as soon as he realized the man was just passing through.
He didn't say anything, Cheri thought he didn't understand. I was too lazy to do something like that.
He must be pissed!
I have to apologize, Cheri decided, then followed him.
"Rafael! Wait!" Cheri grabbed the man's sleeve.
But Rafael flicked his shoulders and let go, then sped up his pace and stopped in front of Mikail. "Please tell the lamplighter section, this section will not be able to run smoothly," he ordered Mikail as he thrust the manuscript and pointed to a certain section on the page that opened.
Cheri gulped and gulped with an injured expression.
Mikail received the manuscript from Rafael's hand while glancing at Cheri with a concerned look on his face.
He ignored me, Cheri's mind was sad.
Rafael is fierce, but he usually pays attention to Cheri.
Cheri doesn't mind if he gets scolded. But if ignored like this, the girl felt ambushed by the same alienation as when she first came to Moscow.
Makes Cheri miss his house!
I increasingly do not understand what I should act like, inner Cheri desperate.
Entering the next round, Cheri tries to follow the scenario obediently.
But again Cyzarine covered it up. This time, he even seized the entire Cheri dialogue.
"The poor ugly look.. Who would have thought that behind his terrible face he had a noble heart?" Dialogue Cyzarine.
"But I don't know why I'm afraid?" This dialogue was supposed to be part of Cheri. But this part is now taken Cyzarine.
Mikail frowned.
"What did he think of when he was alone in a castle this big?" cyzarine.
"He can't believe me!" This part should also belong to Cheri. It was taken over by Cyzarine.
He uttered the dialogue of two people with incredible speed, Mikail thought. "It turns out that Cyzarine did cover Cheri, on purpose" he told Rafael. "If you don't do something—"
"Leave it," cut Rafael in a flat tone. Then leave the control room with a nonchalant attitude.
Mikail and the stage supervisor exchanged looks.
Cheri was running out of patience. In a hurry, he came back out from behind the scenes. "I am your shadow" he said half rebuked. "Don't ignore me!"
Cyzarine turned towards Cheri and snorted. "What a pity," he scorned. "Even if you force it out, no one will notice because only I can see you. No one else can see you. No one recognizes your existence. You're the same as no!"
THE PLAQUE!
Cheri slapped hard on Cyzarine's face. "It shouldn't hurt, right? Because you were slapped by something that didn't exist!"
THE PLAQUE!
Cyzarine slapped him back. "It shouldn't hurt, right? Because you're just a shadow!"
"Hei—" the stage supervisor screeched. "They were really fighting" he told Mikail.
"Rafael!" Mikail shouted as she rushed out of the room.
Cyzarine snatches Cheri's collar and brings his face closer to Cheri's ears. "You know what Rafael told me" he whispered. "Say, he lured Cheri to tears!"
Cheri blinked and gulped.
"Goodbye to the shadows!" Ejek Cyzarine pushes Cheri with all his might. "You don't have to show up again!"
BRUK!
Cheri fell to the side of the stage.
"That's amazing!" The spectators exclaimed. "Is this a real drama?"
Cheri crept out of the stage and almost collided with Rafael.
Rafael smiled faintly. "It seems that Cyzarine Pedrova is moving according to my instructions" he told Cheri. "But he's too much!"
Cheri froze looking at the man's face with a look of disbelief.
He is not Rafael, Cheri concluded.
"Don't forget the mask and the fake hair" Rafael shouted at Saul.
Cherry turned to Saul.
The man looked at her briefly before he put on his mask.
Rafael also put on his mask and rushed onto the stage.
Simultaneously, Mikail lunged towards Cheri breathlessly. "You okay?" He asked while holding his stomach.
Cheri had not blinked observing Rafael's back. "He's not Rafael" he said half-murmingly.
Mikail followed his direction.
Rafael walked regularly towards Cyzarine, speaking his dialogue solemnly.
"He's Rafael!" Mikail concluded. "Take a look," he said.
Cheri observed the man's acting for a while. He acted well, his mind acknowledged. But somehow I still feel there is something wrong with his behavior earlier.
Could it be that he had other plans on directing this drama?
"Why are you so sure he's not some other personality?" Cherry asked Mikail.
"Other personalities won't act even if Cyzarine gives us a clue" Mikail explained. "What's in his head is just how to screw up this drama!"
"But maybe he has other plans" Cheri said.
"You're too worried!" Mikail grabbed both of Cheri's hands and stretched them out on his sides, then moved them up and down like a pair of wings. "Come, spirit!" said. "You'll have to get on stage soon. When the Ugly Bad One leaves the stage, you step in to take his place!"