Chapter 89: I got tangled up, so I talked to him. (Reincarnated as a Beautiful Girl and Aim to Become a Top Actress!)

 Chapter 89: I got tangled up, so I talked to him.

To dispel the awkward atmosphere, the staff announced in a loud voice that the meeting was about to begin.

After a few words of greeting, the director, scriptwriter, director, etc. were introduced to us. After the introductions on the staff side, it was time to move on to the introductions of us performers. First, Tatsuya, who played my brother, stood up and bowed deeply as we were introduced.

“Next is Sumire Matsuda, who plays the role of Yayoi Takamori.”

 When I stood up and bowed my head the same way as Tatsuya-san, there was applause from everyone around me. At the same time I sat down in the pipe chair, a "bang” sound echoed throughout the room. Was it déjà vu?

“What do you mean? I'm supposed to be your sister!”

 Despite Nakamura-san's scolding earlier, she gets up again in a fit of rage. She slams the desk with all her might for the second time in this meeting, and my gaze falls upon her direction. I’m a little worried about her hand.

 I don't know her name, so I can only call her like “that girl” or “her”, but I was told that the story with her and her father was properly resolved, but I wonder if that was actually not the case.

 People get stressed out when they find themselves in situations where they don't know what's going on, and gradually the bewildered and frustrated stares were focused on her and the directors who didn't admonish her. Perhaps not liking this, the scriptwriter finally opened his mouth.

“Please sit down, Ms. Nomura. As I told your father, it has been decided that Sumire will play the leading role in this drama. This is a done deal. We've got you in a minor role that didn't exist originally, and that's the best we can give you. If you still don't like it, get out of here.”

 Taking the scriptwriter's words, the director gave an ultimatum in a stern voice. “Well, if you don't say this much, some of the performers might say that Ichi left. No one wants to get into a fight, but you have to say what you have to say. If the person in charge does not fulfill that role, it could lead to the creation of a new firestorm.”

 The response of the director and the scriptwriter may not have been perfect, but I think it was up to par. Now, I wonder how a certain Ms. Nomura, who was admonished, will react. I wonder if the manager or someone like that was with her today. He is the one who has to admonish her the most, and judging from his behavior from earlier, I think he definitely needs to play the role of a brakeman.

 She awkwardly kept her mouth shut when the directors snapped at her. If her father was an executive at a TV station, perhaps someone around him might have said, "We'd like to use her as the heroine of the drama," as a way to smooth things over. But that doesn't mean it's a good idea to use her father's power to try to break into a cast that had already been decided. 

 I would like her to see and learn for herself how many people are involved and how much work goes into making a drama. Whether or not she can go on from there is a matter of hard work and talent, but I believe that what she has learned will be useful in whatever path she takes in the future.

 Soon, she sat down on a pipe chair. Seeing this, the staff called my name again and resumed the introduction. From there, the speakers were called in turn, and finally the sponsors' names and the names of the attendees were called to conclude the introductions.

“I would have liked to take a break here, but time is pressing and we will continue with a brief explanation of the content and reading of the script. If you must leave your seat to use the restroom, please do so quietly.”

 I couldn't help but let out a small giggle at the blatantly sarcastic explanation from the staff. But everyone gathered here is a professional of some sort, and if their limited time was wasted because of a child's tantrum, of course they would be angry. But today's incident was not only her fault, but also the fault of the adults, who seemed to have been stuck in the middle of a discovery for someone else.

 I'm not taking her side, but I don't like the way they seem to put all the responsibility on the child. In this day and age, the wishes and positions of adults are still more important than those of children, so perhaps it can't be helped. But I still don't like it. My mind seems to be going in circles at this point, so I force myself to break off my thoughts.

“The film was originally supposed to be broadcast during the summer vacation period when elementary and junior high school students, the core target audience for this work, could watch it live, but due to a messy situation, we could not escape the delay to the new school term and the shortened filming period. This is solely my fault, for which I apologize."

 Seeing the director bowing his thinning head deeply, the scriptwriters and directors around him also bowed their heads. Well, if you think about it, the directors are victims, too. Let's hope that some divine punishment will fall on the executives who are the cause of the mess.

 The sponsors must be hurting, too, because the delay in the broadcast period means that we may not be able to get the ratings we had expected. But it's not just someone else's problem, we have to work harder than usual because we don't have enough time for filming.

 Incidentally, to briefly summarize the synopsis of the key drama, it is a light detective story about a brother and sister who live in a fictional town called Misato Misato-machi in the Kanto area and solve crimes that occur in their neighborhood. I had heard this much beforehand, but the first week begins with my character, Yayoi, suddenly acquiring the ability to make herself invisible when she wakes up in the morning. I had an image that this kind of work with special abilities started to appear a little later, but it seems that such ideas were common even at that time.

 If you think about it, even a manga about a girl who has the ability to teleport beads to herself is not strange, since the anime is usually broadcast on TV.

 However, there is only one person who can see Yayoi even when she is out of sight, and that is her older brother, Ryoichi Takamori. When Ryoichi learns of his sister's special ability, he firmly tells Yayoi not to commit any crimes. Perhaps he was worried about shoplifting, but Yayoi's ability works so that the clothes she wears disappear with her, but the items she holds in her hands are visible to everyone else.

 For example, if you hold a ball while you are out of sight, the ball appears to float in the air. Ryoichi told me to verify this, and as a result, I found out that if you hold an object after you have released your invisibility and then disappear again, the object you hold will also become invisible. Ryoichi says that even if she is out of sight, other people can still touch her, so to avoid detection, one should keep in mind not to touch her and not to let her touch them.

 The drama will run five times a week on weekdays from 1:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., so that one or two storylines will progress in these five sessions. The first week will cover the development of Yayoi's ability, its verification, and the resolution of a theft that happened in the class that she happened to see after school.

"But why do you have this ability to do this kind of thing, Yayoi? Do you have any idea?"

“I don't know either!"

 Tatsuya's acting has improved since the last time we performed together. With this in mind, I too play the role of a girl who is confused by the suddenness of the situation. I had just been handed the script a few minutes ago, so most of the lines are not in my head, but when acting, even when I am holding the script, I try to look at the other person and the surroundings as much as possible. This is a lesson I learned from Azusa-san.

 I have been told since I arrived in Tokyo that staring at a script does not bring out a sense of realism and reality, and that it is better to memorize lines and lines on the spot as much as possible and perform as if I were in the actual performance. I have not had to pay attention to this advice for the past two years or so because it has become a natural habit for me to do so, just like breathing. In the end, I think it is better if I follow the director's or director's intention, but I want to follow my mentor's teachings for my own growth.

“Anyway, you must never use that ability in front of other people. They'll take you to some shady lab and dissect you."

“Is it okay to use it in front of my brother...?"

I looked at Tatsuya with an anxious expression on my face and he said, "It's okay if it's in front of brother," while chewing a little after he looked away. Just as Tatsuya finished, the director said, "Cut!”, I let out a small breath and switched from actor mode to normal mode.

 I teased him with a mischievous smile, and he shook his head in the opposite direction from me as if he was unfaithful, saying, "I let my guard down a little”. I looked up at Tatsuya-san so hard that my neck hurt, and I could see that his ears had turned bright red. I was amused by Tatsuya-san's embarrassment, he was surprisingly naive for an idol, and as I looked up at his face while circling around to see his face, he finally blindfolded me with his big palm.

“I'm glad they both exceeded my expectations, and I look forward to the show." the director said.

 When the director said so, the scriptwriter and director nodded yes. After that, I had a chance to talk with several actors, including Mr. Nakamura. The camera flashes were sometimes blinding, but I learned a lot from the way each of them carried their emotions and acted up close. I wondered if I would have a dialogue with her, a troubled girl, but she said she did not have to do it today because she had only one line in the script. I don't know how good her acting skills are, but I am sure that if she were to act in this group, she would have to take acting lessons from an early age to look as good as she does.

 The shooting will start in a week, so they said they would only get this script and a character set-up sheet today and disperse. The director stood up and bowed his head, saying, “Well then, I look forward to working with you,” and we bowed our heads as well, saying, “I look forward to working with you”. We went on to break up the meeting and joined Yoko. Well, I didn't have anything else on my schedule today except this job, so I thought I would just go home, and as soon as I stepped out, someone gave me a tug on my arm.

 I turned around in surprise and saw that girl glaring at me hatefully. I thought it was depressing that she was still yelling at me, “What is it?” I asked her, and she said to me in a small voice, as if she was afraid of being scolded twice by an adult man just today.

“Why... are you the only one who can do it? It's not fair that you're as good at acting ad an adult!”

 Her voice is small but her words are strong, and my first thought when I heard her say it was something trivial like that. I often envy other people, but I try to avoid using the word "cheat" when I can. The reason is that the word "unfair" seems to ignore the effort, time, enthusiasm, and the price paid by the person who has said it.

 I would like to ask those who simply use the word "cheat" if they have really worked hard enough to achieve the same level of competence as the person who said it. In this world, it has come to be said that working hard or making an effort is lame, but in the end, in order to be better than others at anything, you have to make an effort.

“What do you mean I’m cheating?"

"Because you’re a kid and you’re... not that much older than me."

 When I look her in the eye and ask her up front, is she pressured by the pressure? Or perhaps she is unable to formulate what she wants to say, but she answers as if she is trying to squeeze it out. I'm sorry to say this is unexpected, but this girl does listen to me. To be honest, I thought she would say I was being too loud and not listen to my objections.

“Have you ever learned anything in your life?” I asked her.

"...piano, painting, and so on. I also go to cram school, but so what?"

“When you learn something, if you practice, you can do something you couldn't do yesterday. Just like that, I took lessons and worked hard, and my performance only improved.”

 “I'm still not very good at it,” she said, a look of surprise on her face when she heard me spill my true feelings at the end. It's true that my acting is immature, and I don't think there's anything to be surprised about.

 I don't know how good she is, but she has to perform in a professional environment, and if she is not good enough, she is likely to stand out from the crowd. I know it's none of my business, but I just wanted to give her a word of advice.

“If you think you're as good as I am, you'd better start taking acting lessons hard and finishing your lines until the day of the shoot."

 I felt like I was being mean, and my words fell short, but apparently my intentions were conveyed without incident. I guess she could imagine that she was the only one who was floating around acting like an amateur in a school play, so she turned pale and walked quickly to the exit with a frustrated expression on her face. I saw a man in a suit following her, but I wondered if he might have been her chaperone. I felt a little sorry for her if he had nothing to do with it, but if he was her chaperone, I felt a little sorry for her and wished he would do his job properly.

"...you're nosy, Violet."

 Yoko-san, who had been watching the conversation from about three steps behind me while I was talking with her, said in a tone of dismay. "I'm sorry to hear you say that. But still, it's upsetting to hear her say it like that. The adults were unreliable, so I just told them my story in my own way.”

She said, "I think children are usually scared when they are yelled at or scolded by an adult man from a higher position. Still, I think fear, rebelliousness, and all sorts of things got in the way of her honest apology, and she was bluffing like that. That girl earlier was scared in a different way, so I thought maybe now we could talk about it."

“You mean something else?"

“When I was watching the performance, it seemed so easy that I started to take it easy, but when I actually tried it, the level was so high that I couldn't keep up with it," she said. Hearing the reading of the performance up close, I imagine that it was the first time I had a concrete image of myself, an amateur, mixing in with the professional performance. I also imagined what the people who saw it would think of me. I think that's why she was jealous of my performance, which was not inferior to hers in any way.

 “I tried to shake her up,” I said, and Yoko said with a deep, heavy sigh, “She's dull, but she's astute in a weird way, isn't she?”. I don't know if my words will change her behavior, but I personally think that if there is a chance to talk and there are words to convey, it is better to say them than not to say them.

 I thought, 'Well, my word won't change anything,' but the director told me on the day of the crank-in that she ended up declining to appear in the film. Then the script had to be changed again super-rapidly, and the scriptwriters must be in a lot of trouble. I looked at the staff with a sympathetic eye, and they told me that they had originally forced her to appear in more scenes, so they just had to delete them and bring back the original scenes that they had cried out to adjust the time, so the impact was minimal.

 The executive dad, who was forced into the drama after hearing his daughter's wishes, apparently paid a hefty amount of compensation to the drama's sponsors and production company behind the scenes after his daughter's cancellation caused a lot of frowns around him. I think he deserves to be compensated for the delay of the schedule and the unnecessary work.

“Violet, it's time for you to do your makeup!"

 As I was absentmindedly thinking about that, I was called by a staff member who was busy moving around. Well, I had to move quickly since the remaining time for the shoot was already running negative even before it started. I replied to the staff with renewed energy and proceeded to the makeup room.