Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou
Act 1.0
Summary by: DiDi
The act begins with the question, "How do I look in other people's eyes?" We then listen as Miyazawa Yukino's classmates praise her for being smart, beautiful, graceful, and not at all big-headed about it. What they don't know is that inside, she is feeding on their praise, a self-proclaimed "Queen of Vanity." However, Miyazawa has competition. Arima Souichiro, a boy in her class, who matches all these qualities...
At home, we are introduced to the Miyazawa family as they discuss the eldest daughter's obsession with praise, and her VERY different personality at home, still wearing her middle school clothes to study and lazes around the house. She wonders how they could live without praise, whence they remind her that she now has competition. Arima had ruined her high school debut, being named speaker for their class. So instead, she will work her hardest to defeat him in their first major exam, and be seen as the unrecognized superior to their class speaker.
When she comes to school early one day, she is miffed to see that Arima was already there. She immediately vows to make sure this never happens again. As it turns out, Arima had to be there early since had kendo club earlier in the morning. She carries on the conversation warmly enough, even praising him for his diligence, earning his blush, though she is thinking quite differently from her words. He asks her about her interests, she lies to keep her image of elegance. Hearing about her interest in Brahms, he offers to lend her his CD after finals.
When the scores come out with her name at the top, she couldn't wait to gloat to the crushed Arima. Instead of being crushed, however, Arima congratulates her for getting top marks. Realizing that Arima was the true thing that she had been working hard to be, she sudeenly feels guilty and very much aware of her facade.
She comes in to school early again the next day, and since she has extra time before class begins, she decides to go to the music room to practice on the piano. On her way out, she runs into Arima, who greets her cheerfully. She tries to run away from him, but to no avail, as he grabs her arm and tells her that he likes her.
At home, she gloats about this victory, since in the game of love, the one who is loved is the winner. Apparently, she turned him down (as she had done with others before), not wanting to reveal her real self to him or anyone else. When she realizes that having a relationship with him would boost her public image, she is in shock over her stupidity.. but not for long. The deed's been done, no harm done.
That Sunday, her family was in a rush to go to the movies, but she's opted to stay home and relax since the exams were finally over. Not long after they've gone, the doorbell rings. She rushes and opens the door with a leap, thinking her sisters have forgotten something. It turns out to be Arima, who has her foot in his stomach. (She kicked him. Whoops!) He still manages to keep his smile and offer her the CD, though his face is blue. She thinks to herself that she hadn't been careful enough; she had slipped and lowered her guard. Now he could see her true nature. For now, she can only take pride in knowing that there probably hasn't been any other person who has disturbed him so much as she has.