Chapter 91: The Final Ceremony of the Semester (Reincarnated as a Beautiful Girl and Aim to Become a Top Actress!)

Chapter 91: The Final Ceremony of the Semester

In the classroom, which was so quiet it hurt my ears, I confronted the teacher. The brown envelope he was holding undoubtedly showed that he was the culprit.

“When in the world did you get into my classroom? No, surely no one was there when I came in. How did you manage to get in without making a sound!?"

 The teacher questioned me like that, expressing his confusion. But there was no need for me to answer him, and I spat at him with a particularly cold expression on my face.

“I didn't want to believe that my teacher was a thief. But to do this… to pass the guilt of stealing school lunch money and monthly fees to his students ...... disgusting!"

“Okay, cut!"

 At the sound of the cut coming in from the director, my emotions, which had been in acting mode, instantly returned to a blank slate.Before, I would drag on my emotions for a while after I'd acted, but this is a new technique I've been able to use recently. Now, when I have to reshoot a scene, without making mistakes or showing my emotions on my face because of my previous emotions.

 But still, what was the reason for the cut this time? The lines must not have been wrong, and it wouldn't have been a barbed performance. Perhaps my wondering was reflected in my facial expression, the director turned to me, megaphone in hand, and spoke.

“Sumire, you gave a good performance. It was good, but I would like to see a little more time before the last line, ‘You're the worst’. It's a small detail, but I'd like to see an extra second or so.”

“I understand, and if it's not what you envisioned, feel free to stop me." I said.

 I returned to my initial standing position, drawing an image of my performance in my brain based on the director's instructions. Mr. Suzuki, who played the role of the teacher, spoke to us with a wry smile.

“Don’t worry, Sumire-chan. However, when a girl like Sumire-chan blames me harshly like this, I feel like really crying unintentionally.”

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. ...... Um, it's an act. I'm not serious, okay?"

“I know. It’s pretty stressful to do a scene that neither of us like, so let's just get the OK early and move on to the next scene."

“Mr. Suzuki ...... unfortunately, even if we get the OK on this, we'll have to change the camera position and shoot this scene at least two more times.”

 I laughed at Mr. Suzuki, who sagged muttering, 'ah you’re right,' and straightened his posture. Then he turned his gaze to the director, “I'm ready”. 

Mr. Suzuki also returned to his posture of fishing through the children's bags once more, waiting for a signal from the director.

“Okay, let's go for take number two then! Yay!"

 The clang of the clapper, which echoed with a high-pitched "kan" sound in the space, signaled that I was once again immersed in the performance.

 The end of the school year came in the blink of an eye as I was worrying about the mess at work, Toyo's health, and Fumika's alleged friendship with a delinquent. I went to school as long as I could, but all I remember is work.

 As for the final exam, I am still in first place in my grade. I think I will be fine even if I lose a few places, but I don't know what the "high standards of grades and attendance" I was told about when I was told about this tuition waiver are supposed to be. If I fail to meet those standards, I will not be able to get the waiver, so I have basically decided to always aim for the first place. There may be other kids in the same grade who are striving for first place, but I'm sorry, but I'm going to compete seriously for my tuition money.

 I've asked them to treat my work day as a public holiday, but judging by the attitude of the headmaster I met before, they might suddenly deceive me and say that public holidays are not recognized as attendance. I have to be careful.

"I should have never become a member of the cultural festival committee. What do you mean I have to come to school several times even during summer vacation!?" 

 The school's cultural festival seems to be held on quite a large scale, and a kid in my class was complaining about it. Hearing that, I thought that I had made the right choice in choosing the election committee. My schedule is too jam-packed to come to school during the summer break outside of the regular school day under my current work situation. The director wants to speed up the filming as much as possible after my summer break, and my other co-stars and I have had to change our schedules quite a bit. It's not that it's going to decrease, but it's going to increase, which is why everyone looked so tired.

 I can't help but hope that by the time the student council elections are held, my work will have settled down. With this in mind, I left the classroom after the closing ceremony after talking to Miu and a few other good friends in the class.

“The first semester is finally over. Good job, Sumire.”

“Thank you, Yoko."

 I was so glad that Yoko-san, who had parked her car in the parking lot and was waiting for me, was so kind as to greet me with a smile on her face. As a junior high school student, it was natural for me to go to school, but my schedule had really been too overcrowded and uptight every day since June. I know that I am doing this job because I love it, and I know that I deserve to do it. I realized once again that it is strong emotional support when someone understands my hardship and praises me for it.

 Yoko-san has been very busy coordinating my schedule, negotiating with other jobs, and so on. I am always really grateful for your help.

 Incidentally, the reason Haruka, who usually goes to and from school with me, is not walking home with me today, is related to the new job. Because there is no room in my schedule to take on new work, I ask the clients, "How about Haruka instead?” and only if they give their approval does she get to appear. Since Haruka came out and said that she had stayed away from work of her own volition, she has been working hard in both her lessons and school life with a positive attitude, so I hope this will be a big opportunity for her.

 For my part, I have no intention of giving up the job, and since it's a job I can't take on in any way, I'd appreciate it if someone else could do it. If it was Haruka, it would be a win-win situation for both her and the office, so I think it was the best way to settle the matter.

 When Yoko-san told me that Haruka herself had been refusing work of her own volition, the people at the office looked at her coldly, as if they were a little distant or like, “You're going to lose your motivation again anyway, right?” However, since her skills have been improving and she has been working hard, she seems to be treated normally these days without being treated coldly by the firm.

 Putting aside the internal affairs of our office, when I arrived at the site, I found Tatsuya-san, who had arrived at the site earlier, had finished shooting and was taking a break. I greeted him with a "good morning," but he was staring at my body. It wasn't a lewd look, but it was a little embarrassing and I felt a little threatened.

“What is it? Is there dirt or something on my uniform?"

“No, I was just thinking the other day… Sumire, aren't you getting thinner?'

 Suddenly, a point of view pierced my heart. Damn, you're so observant, Tatsuya-san. Maybe it's because of this busy schedule, but I've definitely lost about two kilos. In my previous life when I was fat, a two-kilo loss was just a small thing, not really noticeable. But with me now, my waist size has visibly changed. I have already informed my size in advance to the gown stylist, so if my size changes during the shoot, I have to have it fixed or exchanged for a new one, which is a lot of trouble. To be honest, I don't want to make them go through the trouble at this busy time of the day, so I secretly want to change back to my original size.

 I'm trying my best to eat well, but it's going to get even hotter from now on, so it might be a little difficult if I eat even less than usual. In this case, I may have to focus on calories rather than quantity, but I don't want it to be too fatty.

 I forcefully misled Tatsuya-san by saying, “That's not true,” and changed into my costume and had my makeup done to get myself ready. Then, as expected of a professional, Tatsuya-san could not miss any discomfort that he recognized, and he adjusted my shirt and skirt to fit my size with his hands so that they would not look unnatural.

“If she's not feeling particularly ill or anything, she'll come back to her original weight if she eats, so we’ll deal with it like this for a while. I'll have to bring in some snacks to make Sumire-chan fat.”

“I mean, Sumire is too skinny. But it's fun to fatten these girls up, and when I say fatten them up, I mean within a healthy range, so don't worry about it."

 The gown and makeup artist said such a thing to me happily. Well, they both have good style, and they seem to teach me effective muscle training and exercises, so I might as well give it a try and do as they say. I would like to grow up a little bit more, or maybe even get taller, you know.

 Up until now, there have been people who have respected my opinion and told me 'you need to eat more,' as if they were making a small comment, but no one has been the type to force my hand and try to make me do it. It's time to get rid of the trauma of my previous life and grow up, even if only a little, or I may become a very hard-to-use niche for an actor.

 The reason why I started saying this all of a sudden is because the other day when a few outside staff members came in, I heard them talking about me behind my back. It was as if it was a replay of a situation I heard from Haruka before, but unfortunately I'm not as pure as Haruka, so that kind of backbiting doesn't hurt me at all. But I was convinced by what he was saying, and I thought, “That’s true,”.

 Not all of them, of course; I think it's disgusting for people to make fun of or laugh at other people's physical features. But if I continue to not grow much taller, and only my breasts and buttocks approach those of an adult, I'll certainly be a hard actor to use. That's what I've finally come to the realization that I'm in danger of, even though people around me have been telling me I need to eat right for some time now.

 After hearing the nasty words, but far more pompous advice, I decided to put their words into perspective. Finally, I decided to take a late start on improving my eating situation.

 As for the fear of gaining weight, or trauma, that I inherited from my previous life, I've been living with this body for more than 10 years now, so I should know how to moderate and burn calories. Especially since I've been away from my family, the source of my stress, for a long time now, and my cravings for food haven't grown that big. I think it's time for me to update my own sensibilities and mindset.

 Even though I decided to do it myself, I'm still hesitant and haven't been able to take the first step, so I'm sorry to ask them to help me take the first step. I want to make it a habit to eat a little more during the filming during this summer vacation so that the nutrients will be distributed throughout my body.

 With this determination in my heart, I quickly bit into the cookie that the makeup artist offered me. Oh, shoot. It would be bad if I got cookie crumbs on my mouth before the photo shoot.

 Needless to say, after checking with the makeup and costume artists that preparations were finished and getting permission, I quickly headed to the provided kitchen to brush my teeth and gargle.