Tokyo: The evil god doesn't want to be the top star

"No one... No matter who you are thinking of, you have mistaken him."

The moment she looked up and saw Xia Fan clearly, the girl's pupils behind her glasses trembled slightly.

"Sorry, I have to leave first."

She stepped back subconsciously, like a mouse seeing a cat.

"Team Leader Horie Tsubasa?"

His eyes fell on the other person's chest, passing over the generous, majestic and familiar arc, and Xia Fan blurted out a name.

"I've already told you that you've got the wrong person. I'm wearing a mask and glasses, so you have no basis to say that I'm Horie Tsubasa. Goodbye."

Protesting gently but politely, the woman turned around and tried to escape into the crowd...

"what!"

But because of the high heels that she almost never wore on weekdays, she sprained her ankle badly.

"Squad leader, what are you doing?"

Xia Fan gentlemanly held the other person's arm and stopped her from falling to the ground in time.

"I've already told you that it's rude to recognize someone by anything other than their face!"

"No, I use the voice..."

"Lying is also rude."

The girl turned her head away and stopped denying, the blush on her cheeks almost staining the white mask.

That’s right, she was Xia Fan’s high school and college class monitor, Horie Tsubasa.

"Um, Xia Jun, I have something else to do, so I have to go first...hiss..."

Horie Tsubasa wanted to move towards the exit, but stopped because of the pain.

"Your foot is so swollen!"

Xia Fan squatted down and found that the other person's small ankle had swollen.

"Go to the station infirmary first, or you'll be so swollen that you won't be able to walk."

"Okay, okay."

With a determined look on his face, he helped up the frowning Horie Tsubasa and walked towards the station infirmary.

Could you please help me catch up with the latest chapters that will be released tomorrow? I want to push my reading stats to see if I have a chance to test the waters. Thank you!

Chapter 35 Theme Song Review Meeting Begins (Please Read on Tuesday)

2024-07-13

Shinjuku Station, as the world's largest subway station, has incomplete statistics, and more than 100 people sprain their ankles every day. Therefore, the accompanying medical room is well-equipped and has doctors and nurses on duty 24 hours a day.

"The bones are fine, only the soft tissue is damaged. This will be fine for now, but I recommend you avoid walking for the next week."

In the infirmary, the nurse on duty skillfully used spray and ice packs to treat Horie Tsubasa and carefully wrapped him with a bandage.

"How do you feel? Can you walk on your own?"

Xia Fan asked with concern.

"No, it's still a bit reluctant. Xia Jun, I have a very important job nearby this morning. Can you help me over there?"

Looking at his watch, Horie Tsubasa looked a little anxious and asked Xia Fan for help.

"Work... No wonder you're dressed so maturely today. Where are you going?"

Xia Fan thought about it and nodded in agreement.

As for the theme song review meeting, those producers won't be that punctual anyway, so just tell Section Chief Yamazaki that you'll be late.

"It's about a part-time job. It's in the music department of the B-company building not far from here."

Horie Tsubasa confirmed the address on his phone.

"Oh? That's right, I'm going there too."

Xia Fan raised an eyebrow at Horie Tsubasa who looked confused.

"what?"

……

ten minutes later.

Xia Fan was pushing a shared bicycle, walking on the tree-lined avenue dappled with sunlight.

"I'm not used to wearing high heels. I always sprain my ankle. I'm glad I met you today. By the way, Xia Jun went to Club B. Is there something going on?"

On the bicycle seat, Horie Tsubasa, holding her high heels and swinging her small bare feet, looked at Xia Fan's back curiously.

"Oh, last week, I found a part-time job here."

Xia Fan answered casually.

Two hundred meters away in the direction they were heading, they could already see the magnificent B Company building.

"Here we are."

When they arrived at the door of Company B, he parked his bike and helped Horie Tsubasa into the elevator.

"Xia Junni should also have something else to do, so let's split up in the elevator... Which floor is the music department on..."

"The music department is on the 10th floor. I'm going there too."

While Horie Tsubasa was still looking at the floor sign, Xia Fan had already pressed the button with familiarity.

"Xia-kun, are you interning at the music department of Club B? That's amazing, you're indeed an excellent student."

She looked at Xia Fan with some surprise.

She was active in the student union on a daily basis, so she was naturally well aware that the top-level music club in the industry like Bethesda, even the position of "water dispenser manager" was an internship position that many music students in many universities were eager to get.

However, even though Xia Fan had outstanding grades, he was only a freshman and was not qualified to intern here, so she couldn't help but be surprised.

"It's not an internship, it's just a regular part-time job... and it doesn't come with a base salary."

Xia Fan didn't feel complacent at all and even made a complaint.

"The meeting room is over here, see you later."

The elevator reached the tenth floor, and Xia Fan took Horie Tsubasa to the door of the conference room.

"Well, I'll just go in on my own. I'm very grateful for today, and I'll repay you later."

After saying goodbye politely, Horie Tsubasa walked in with slouch.

"My class monitor, your part-time job is related to film production. It sounds so high-end."

After taking a look at the sign of "Cursed Blade Theme Song Review Meeting" posted on the door of the conference room, Xia Fan tilted his head and turned to report to the office area.

……

The scene of the review meeting for the theme song of "Cursed Blade".

In order not to affect the listening of music, the lights in the conference room were deliberately dimmed.

"I'm sorry, Director Haruo, I'm late."

A girl wearing a mask and dressed as an office lady limped into the meeting room and bowed slightly to the person closest to her.

"Ms. Horie, don't apologize. Although you are the last one to arrive, you are not late."

At the top of the conference room, on the table, with a name tag that reads "Film Director - Haruo Tsuchiya", is a slightly plump man with graying hair, around fifty years old.

"Section Chief Yamazaki, the director team, voice actor team, and music team are all here. We can start now."

"I'd like to make it clear in advance that for this Cursed Blade movie, our animation production company and the investors have a huge box office bet, and it also involves Bethesda's largest film investment in the first half of the year, so please don't blame me for being too harsh on the theme song."

Watching Horie Tsubasa sitting in the row marked "Voice Actor Group", he nodded to Yamazaki Hiroshi beside him.

"Okay, Director Haruo, and everyone in the film production team..."

Suppressing the thought that "this guy Haruo Tsuchiya is totally rude right from the start!", Hiroshi Yamazaki stood up and bowed.

"Based on the feedback from the previous batch of songs, our music department conducted a second excavation and in-depth analysis of the spiritual core of Curse of the Blade, and customized and produced 28 excellent original songs in just one week. I believe that there will be works that meet your requirements among them."

He wore a "business smile", rubbed his hands like flies, and explained carefully.

"Everyone has headphones on their desks. Next, we will listen to the DEMOs in order, and then invite the corresponding music producers to come in and introduce their songwriting concepts."

"So, the first song is 'The Curse Must Die'..."

Seeing that everyone had put on their headphones, Section Chief Yamazaki played the first song with a little nervousness.

"You guys in the music department, you guys are not doing your job properly. Don't let me down when it matters."

He screamed silently in his heart, and the veins in his hand holding the mouse were bulging.

Even the elite producers in Bethesda's music department can't avoid the bad habit of delaying submission of manuscripts.

Of the 28 songs, at least half were sent to his email within the last hour, leaving him no time to review them in advance, so he had no choice but to go ahead and upload them.

As for the song that someone first sent to his mailbox, it was forgotten by Yamazaki a week ago for many reasons, such as "it must be stock with the wrong title so soon", "it's still an inferior product recorded with a virtual singer", "save a few more and listen to them together later".

"Well, now that the audition is over, I'll invite the producer in..."

After listening to the song, Yamazaki took out his mobile phone and prepared to invite others to come in to "cope with the pressure" together.

"Wait, after listening to the song, it might be impolite to ask the producer to come in and explain directly."

But he was ruthlessly interrupted by Supervisor Haruo who was beside him.

"You know, when I first started, I was also a music producer. I was fortunate enough to work with masters like Yoshihiro Kishimoto and Keizo Horie, so I have some knowledge of music creation..."

"In order to improve efficiency, I will give preliminary comments on the next songs. If there are potential test recordings, please invite the producers to come in and discuss."

Then, Tsuchiya Haruo proposed stricter evaluation conditions with a serious face.

Chapter 36: Kill, kill, kill (Please read again on Tuesday)

2024-07-13

"Good, good."

Yamazaki agreed with a slight sweat on his forehead, but he was complaining in his heart: "Didn't I just work as an assistant in Kishimoto's studio for a few years? You always use it as a topic of conversation. What a bastard who is an amateur guiding an expert..."

"As for the song just now, I heard it last year when selecting music for another movie. I remember it was called 'Yellow Hair Must Die'. The style and lyrics are totally incompatible with our movie and it is unacceptable."

"Next one."

He didn't even have time to react before Director Haruo ruthlessly killed the first song.

"I'm so sorry, everyone, please listen to the second song, 'Blade, Blade'..."

With the inner monologue of "Which bastard is trying to fool me with the delivered 'inventory'? At least change it a little bit", Section Chief Yamazaki silently played the next song.

“The tracks weren’t properly mixed and tuned, so they sounded messy.”

"The lyrics lack soul, and to cover it up they deliberately pile up some pretentious words to give it a classical feel."

"But this is too naive, because the emotions of the lyrics only stay on the surface of the words, not touching the depths of the heart, and are diluted by difficult words."

"It's a good song, but it lacks depth and emotion. It's a failure!"

But obviously, the next song did not satisfy Director Haruo, who called himself a "former musician".

"The climax of the movie is the final battle. Are you trying to dampen the audience's spirit with such a soothing tone? Failure!"

"The instrumental performance was too bland, with no tense rhythm. Failure!"

"The harmony is disorganized, a failure among failures!"

"The audition singer's performance showed no commitment at all, and the lyrics made no sense. What on earth was he thinking?"

Even the next, next, and next song was rejected, and the reviews became shorter and shorter.

"Go on, Section Chief Yamazaki. This should be the 10th song, right?"

"Yes, it is……"

Director Haruo's face became darker and darker, to the point where even Yamazaki Hiroshi's Mediterranean Sea could not illuminate it at all.