Sparkling TIME is a long-running photo/talk feature from Kageki. Hiroki and Chitose’s was published in the September 2016 issue. They are classmates from the 89th class.
Sparkling Time: Nanami Hiroki (Star Troupe)/Junya Chitose (Cosmos Troupe)
Junya: Although even after Kai-chan (Nanami) ended up in a different troupe, we still had several opportunities to do photoshoots together, it’s been a while since we were able to have a photoshoot together so I’m really happy.
Nanami: There’s no nervousness, right? It’s just calm.
Junya: Yeah, yeah.
Nanami: Since we’re classmates we can feel totally comfortable.
Junya: Right! When they take the photos it feels like we’re so close together, it’s such a mysterious feeling.
Nanami: Right, right (laughs), I understand. I’ve worked with Seiko (Junya) for so long, and even though we’re already classmates you feel really special somehow (laughs).
Junya: Oh~! Thank you (blushes).
Nanami: Before we took the Takarazuka Music School entrance exam, we were already going to the same ballet school, right?
Junya: Right. We took lessons together.
Nanami: Even then the shape of your face was so pretty, I was like ‘with these looks surely she’ll be able to make it.’
Junya: Cut it out! (laughs)
Nanami: Do you remember me? From back then.
Junya: I remember. You wore glasses…
Nanami: Yeah. I was a really uncool kid, I think. I really lucked out passing the exam (laughs).
Junya: You were a total diamond in the rough.
Nanami: Ahahaha (laughs).
Junya: I’ll never forget how the two of us had to dance wearing corsets in ballet school (laughs).
Nanami: I’d never done any ballet before, so my back hurt so much when I first tried it (laughs).
Junya: Your back was so surprised at what you were doing.
Nanami: I wasn’t used to that kind of thing at all. So us two ended up with corsets fastened over our leotards…I’ll never forget that (laughs). The TMS-era Seiko was still an otokoyaku, so you were a lot more energetic and businesslike than you are now.
Junya: Right, since I was trying to go for otokoyaku.
Nanami: It felt like you were like ‘I’ve got to do this properly!’
Junya: I do seem to remember that.
Nanami: You were really driving into the wind. You had such conviction, ‘I’m gonna be an otokoyaku!’
Junya: Kai-chan was even more spacey than you are now.
Nanami: Yeah. I became fairly well organized over time, I think.
Junya: You looked like you were just letting time flow around you without being very aware of it. Although you’re still like that now, your time in TMS was on an entirely different level (laughs).
Nanami: Up until then my world had been very relaxed towards time, so after coming to Takarazuka I started working hard and trying to be efficient.
Nanami: Seiko came to Cosmos Troupe as of… Ace Attorney 2, when you played my lover, wasn’t it?
Junya: Right.
Nanami: Back then you were like ‘I don’t know what it feels like to be a girl in love!’ (laughs)
Junya: I hadn’t experienced that kind of role before, though (laughs).
Nanami: You struggled with stuff like ‘I like you, professor!’ so you were really stressed out… We rehearsed those things together. Although I have to say, I don’t really understand what it’s like to be a girl in love either (laughs).
Junya: Hahaha (laughs). I really learned a lot from you. Speaking of that, in one scene Kai-chan’s contact fell out, right? (laughs)
Nanami: Aaah!
Junya: When you turned back I could see it stuck on your eyelashes! Even though it was a really deep and serious scene I was like ‘what if i blew it away?’ (laughs)
Nanami: I’m really sorry about that.
Junya: I thought that if I laughed, my life in Takarazuka was over, so I managed to hold out (laughs).
Nanami: I was so totally focused on my own performance that I hadn’t given a single thought to what I might look like to my partner. That must have been so hard on you, I’m sorry.
Junya: It was mostly just funny (laughs)
Nanami: And Ranju (Tomu)-san also dealt with that and all my other slip-ups…
Junya: She’s so generous.
Nanami: Right, that’s it. ‘Whatever happens, it’s OK’ – that kind of really accepting person.
Junya: We were able to dive into things all together.
Nanami: After that, we had all sorts of performance experiences, and then the next time we were able to experience the joy of performing together was…
Both: TOP HAT!!
Nanami: We played a middle-aged married couple (laughs). Actually, that ‘I can’t stand you’ song is one my my all-time favorites and I still listen to it once in a while.
Junya: Me too. Sometimes I’ll just start humming it (laughs).
Nanami: I’ll use it in my vocal practice and such.
Junya: Hahaha (laughs).
Nanami: I had to learn a lot about how to do my voice for that role, so that was fun.
Junya: We talked several times about how we could best look like a couple, right.
Nanami: Right, since the amount of time we’d been together was important to the atmosphere of the story. Unlike lovers, a married couple is way more comfortable around each other (laughs)
Junya: Right (laughs). And that was Kai-chan’s last performance before transferring to Star Troupe.
Nanami: Although I had Ichijou in Star Troupe, I thought ‘with me going all of Seiko’s classmates will be gone~’. …How are you holding up without me? (laughs)
Junya: Well, honestly, I am a bit lonely. But that just makes times like this when we can do photoshoots, or appear on stage together, even more fun.
Nanami: That’s right. Also, it’s really fun to go and see each other’s performances. Seiko is doing such a good job working with everyone in Cosmos Troupe, so you yourself are shining, and as your classmate I’m proud to see the “Junya Chitose position” being established within Takarazuka.
Junya: Come on now (laughs). Recently I also went to see Kai-chan’s Blazing Wind, and I thought you’d improved so much and become really manly (laughs).
Nanami: Thank you.
Junya: Internally, when I go to see a performance of someone I’m close with, I’ll end up thinking ‘Oh, I wonder if they’re doing okay,’ and that closeness will get in the way, but I was really able to get totally into it, and I cried so much!
Nanami: You came into the dressing room sobbing, I remember. Every show I’m in, I spend a lot of time considering how I can make the audience enjoy themselves.
Junya: Right, right.
Nanami: I can’t be ‘Nanami Hiroki’ just for myself. It’s because of the fans’ support that I’ve come this far. And since they’ve supported me, I want to be a performer who can give them energy and happiness. I’m determined not to forget my gratitude to them.
Junya: You say such cool things~
Nanami: Ahahaha (laughs).
Junya: For me too, there a lot of roles I can only do now, I feel, so I want to take on roles that really contribute to the shows in an acting sense. I get a lot of variety show after show, so I want to be able to totally change myself with each role and demonstrate that to the audience.