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

"Well, Xia Jun, you must have been tired waiting outside for so long..."

Yamazaki opened the door with small steps, welcomed him in warmly, and then closed the door forcefully.

"Hey, look at that old-fashioned attitude..."

"Xia Fan, are you going to have a 'Haidilao'?"

Noticing Yamazaki's unusually attentive behavior, the producers who had not yet left looked at each other in surprise.

……

Chapter 38 You are right

2024-07-13

"That song just now, even though I know it's a rock song, it was too explosive."

"Exactly. As soon as the prelude sounded, I became fully energized!"

"The DEMO is so infectious that it makes my blood burn."

In the conference room, the members of the production team, who had been drowsy from being bombarded with 27 consecutive songs, were now excitedly discussing with each other.

"The song is called 'Red Lotus'? It's really an amazing piece of work..."

Horie Tsubasa, who was sitting in the corner, covered his heaving chest and took off half of his mask while gasping for breath.

Her eyes were excited, her face flushed, and her consciousness was still immersed in the strong melody just now.

The last song "Red Lotus" just now, with its extremely contrasting prelude, brings people into a battlefield where blood boils and lives are fought.

The chaotic impression formed by the previous twenty-seven songs seemed to be burned by a raging fire and disappeared completely, leaving only this song "Red Lotus".

As a top student in the music department and a professional voice actor who loves to sing covers, Horie Tsubasa naturally would not evaluate a song subjectively based solely on emotions and senses.

The rock-style song "Red Lotus" rarely uses a pre-chorus as a prelude, achieving the effect of "igniting" the hearing from the very beginning. At the same time, the bright rhythm combined with the chaotic feeling brought by the sustain brings out the pure emotion of the main song.

In the chorus accompaniment, the strength and speed of the piano are simply ridiculous. Combined with the double notes and muffled strumming of the guitar, the overall rhythm is dense and explosive, like a huge hammer constantly hitting the audience's hearts.

The melody, combined with the lyrics based on the theme of the red lotus, the flower of hell, vividly interprets the emotional core of despair, that the more scarred one is, the more brilliantly one will bloom.

"To be able to write lyrics and compose music by himself and create such a difficult commercial song, he must be a very experienced music producer, right?"

Just as Horie Tsubasa was thinking this, a tall, handsome and slightly familiar figure was welcomed into the conference room by Yamazaki Hiroshi.

"Xia, Xia Fan?"

When he saw who was coming, Horie Tsubasa's eyes widened.

"Everyone, allow me to introduce this person, Xia Fan, the producer of the song 'Red Lotus'."

Yamazaki Hiroshi introduced to everyone.

"Um, I'm Xia Fan, please give me your guidance."

Xia Fan glanced at everyone in the conference room and bowed obediently.

"Producer, you look so young, are you sure you're not a high school student?!"

"So handsome, is this really not a male idol?"

When their eyes met his, several female voice actors' eyes suddenly sparkled with stars.

"Don't underestimate Xia Jun because he is young. The song "Sakura", which is currently at the top of the Tokyo Newcomer Music Awards, is also his work."

"For your theme song this time, our music department had to work hard to invite this talented music producer to do it."

Hiroshi Yamazaki stood beside Xia Fan and proudly adjusted his reflective glasses.

"What, he's the one who wrote 'Sakura', he came down to earth?"

"It's no wonder that they can create a song of the level of 'Sakura' that 'Gurenhua' is so 'superb'."

As soon as these words were spoken, there was a murmur in the conference room again.

"That song 'Sakura' was actually written by Xia Jun? No wonder he is qualified to work in Company B."

Horie Tsubasa subconsciously covered her slightly opened mouth with her fingers, but accidentally knocked off her black-framed glasses...

"Hehe, Xia Jun, how many secrets are hidden in you..."

The moment her glasses fell off, her face turned red, and a wicked smile appeared at the corner of her mouth...

"People are becoming more and more interested in you."

Watching Xia Fan silently, Horie Tsubasa quietly inserted his fingers under the mask and began to suck gently.

Because she was sitting in the corner, no one noticed that her words and actions were completely different from usual.

"Xia Jun, is that so..."

Tsuchiya Haruo stood up from his seat, lowered his head slightly, and walked in front of Xia Fan with firm steps.

"Tell me, what is the story of "Cursed Blade"?"

He placed his hands firmly on Xia Fan's shoulders, his entire face sunk into shadow, making it difficult to see his expression.

"You are right. Cursed Spirit Blade is an animation created by Haruko Wasabi and adapted by Haruo Tsuchiya. It tells the story of a young boy named Tojiro in the Edo period who joined the 'Cursed Spirit Slayer Team' and became a 'Cursed Spirit Slayer Samurai' in order to save his sister who was transformed into a cursed spirit."

"In this story, Tojiro experienced many battles and learned skills such as the Way of the Water Sword, the Way of the Fire Sword, and the Way of the Head Sword. Finally, with the help of his fellow Curse-Destroying Samurai, he finally killed the Queen of the Curse."

Xia Fan had no expression on his face, and answered smoothly, steadily and soullessly, as if he was reciting a text.

"Hey, this, this isn't from the anime encyclopedia..."

Sweat began to form on Yamazaki Hiroshi's forehead again.

Xia Fan's answer just now was exactly the same as the story synopsis of "Cursed Blade" on the search engine, demonstrating his strong ability to memorize the entire text.

"A simple but concise summary! When was the first time you watched "Cursed Blade"?..."

Tsuchiya Haruo continued to ask.

"When did my classmate lend me the first volume of the book? It should have been ten years ago, right?"

Xia Fan scratched his head.

"I knew it! To be able to write a theme song that fits the core of the story so well and makes the listeners' whole body burn, not only does it require genius-level music production skills, but it also requires a die-hard fan of Cursed Blade!"

Tsuchiya Haruo raised his head, tears in his eyes had gathered into two waterfalls.

"Well, Director Tsuchiya, I'd like to ask Xia Fan to explain the creative concept of this song to you..."

Hiroshi Yamazaki glanced at his watch and tried to bring the topic back to the work flow of the review meeting.

"No, there's no need to explain. Everything producer Xia Fan meant is in the song, and I understand it all."

"what?"

Shaking his head, Tsuchiya Haruo gave Xia Fan, who had a confused look, a look that said "I understand you".

"This soft but tough prelude marks the beginning of the story. Tojiro embarks on a rough road ahead, carrying his sister who has been transformed into a cursed spirit."

"is it?"

"The fast-paced and uplifting main song at the end depicts the difficult journey of the protagonists working together to kill the powerful cursed spirits with their mortal bodies..."

"So, after the first volume, the main storyline that lasted for ten years was this?"

"The chorus has an incomparable rhythm that makes people breathless, but they never give in. It's about the final battle. Just listening to the song, I seem to see the scene where Tojiro, who has regained his vitality, uses the sharp blade in his hand to cut the Queen of Curses bit by bit..."

"Well, it sounds like this is indeed a very difficult battle."

Without paying any attention to Xia Fan's reaction, Tsuchiya Haruo was completely immersed in his own world, talking to himself.

"Without a doubt, the theme song for this movie must be "Gururenhua"!"

"It's decided. For this movie promotion roadshow, the slogan will be 'The Red Lotus Flower, the Cursed Samurai Blooming in Hell'!"

The "Cursed Blade Theme Song Review Meeting" ended successfully with the roar of director Haruo Tsuchiya.

……

"That's all for today. Thank you for your hard work. Tomorrow morning, please ask the voice actor team and the music team to gather at the studio on time to start recording the theme song."

"Thank you for your hard work, supervisor."

"learn."

Downstairs of Bethesda, the members of the "Damn Blade" production team scattered around in the traditional workplace style of District 11, "take a step back, look back and bow three times."

"Hiss... it still hurts when I walk..."

"Xia Jun?"

Horie Tsubasa limped out of the hall, only to find Xia Fan standing outside the door pushing a bicycle.

Chapter 39: Voice Actors Are All Monsters

2024-07-13

"Where did you get this old car?"

Horie Tsubasa tucked his bangs behind his ears, walked forward with a smile, and naturally fell into the back seat of the car.

At this time, Xia Fan was not holding the shared bicycle with only one seat in his hand, but an old Yamaha bicycle with a rear seat for a person.

"Section Chief Yamazaki borrowed it from me. He took the subway home from work."

Seeing Horie Tsubasa seated, Xia Fan stepped on the pedal and drove out of the parking lot.

"Hee... I didn't expect that the top student Xia Fan is actually the one who wrote "Sakura"."

Sitting sideways in the back seat of the car, Horie Tsubasa held down the hem of her skirt with one hand and placed the other on Xia Fan's waist.

The firm touch from her palm made her cheeks slightly hot.

"I never expected that the class monitor who usually only wears uniform and is polite is actually the 'Queen of Variety' Kurokawa Tsubasa, who has profound singing skills, great acting skills, and a varied voice, and can also speak awkward lines in his works."

Xia Fan looked straight ahead, driving his bicycle carefully, weaving through the traffic during the evening rush hour.

"so……"

"Keep it a secret from each other?"

After a moment's silence, the two spoke in unison, tacitly.

"So, we can be considered 'partners' with a common secret in school, right?"

"Well, you can think so."

The two of them couldn't see each other's expressions, but they both showed a look of relief.

Although compared with some of the part-time jobs that many college students have outside, their part-time jobs are considered to be very "old-fashioned".

But since they have chosen to work behind the scenes, they naturally have their own reasons for not wanting to be exposed.

"Be careful."

Suddenly, a speeding car passed by at the intersection ahead, forcing Xia Fan to step on the brakes.

"what!"

I only heard Horie Tsubasa in the back seat moaning softly, and subconsciously put his arms around Xia Fan's waist.

The glasses on her face fell weakly into the deep neckline.

"Sorry, are you okay?"

Xia Fan only felt a fierce and soft touch, rippling continuously on his back.

"I'm fine..."

Horie Tsubasa's face was clearly red as if it was about to drip with water, but a playful smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.

"So, from now on, the one in front of me..."

"Is it the talented musician who has 'come down to earth', or is it the former top student 'Xia Fan'?"

She took advantage of the situation and pressed her entire body weight onto Xia Fan's back, and asked in a mature and charming "queen voice".

"Squad leader, why are you..."

"If you look back now, you'll see the hem of her skirt lifted up."