I live my life in Tokyo

Nanami Aoyama smiled, but the smile seemed forced. She had tried many times before and practiced her voice day and night at home, but she had never stood out and got a role.

However, some voice actors who got the roles were labeled, and they soon got a second chance and gradually got on the right track in their voice acting career.

Nanami Aoyama didn't want anything at this moment. She just wanted to voice an ordinary female character in an ordinary anime. She could accept it no matter whether it was a female student in the background or a girl who died tragically.

But the opportunity never stayed in her hands.

"Yeah."

Kasumigaoka Utaha put away her mysterious smile and sighed in her heart when she heard what happened to Aoyama Nanami.

In his book Outliers, writer Gladwell mentioned the 1-hour rule, which states that "the reason why geniuses are considered extraordinary is not because of their superior talents, but because of their continuous efforts. hours of training is a necessary condition for anyone to go from ordinary to world-class masters."

Indeed, if an ordinary person works eight hours a day and five days a week, it will take at least five years to become an expert in a field.

People with talent need less time to become experts than ordinary people... and they can also succeed faster.

Sakakibara Kaede had never attended any voice actor training courses, nor did he know much about this industry, but when he listened to Nanami Aoyama's words, he found her voice very pleasant to the ear.

Although it is not so conspicuous that it can be recognized at the first sight, Sakakibara Kaede still thinks so.

"Ahaha, a company that produces animation will come to our training class next week, and I have to work hard to get a role!" Nanami Aoyama patted her shoulders and cheered herself up.

"Come on!" Sakakibara Kaede gave her a thumbs up.

As the aroma of fish wafted through the living room, the other three returned home on time.

Chizuru Ichinose was lying on the sofa, her eyelids already drooping. After finishing her actor training class in the afternoon, she went straight to a store in Akihabara to become a tour guide, and walked for the entire afternoon without a break.

"Hey, go to bed. You'll catch a cold here." Sakakibara Feng stepped forward and patted her gently. "Do you want to go to bed first? Dinner is ready. If you go to bed, we will keep it for you."

"Uh...ah."

Ichinose Chizuru quickly wiped her bloodshot eyes. She looked at Sakakibara Kaede who was closer to her, blushed slightly, and stammered, "I... I'll go wash up first and then come down."

Watching her hurriedly walk up the stairs, Sakakibara Kaede couldn't help but sigh, "She's so busy."

"How did Sakakibara-senpai spend his senior year of high school?"

Fumino Furuhashi asked curiously while lying on the dining table with one side of his face resting on it.

"Just spend your precious day normally."

I stayed at home for half a semester, doing nothing at home every day during the most important period of senior year. It’s better not to tell them about this, as it will be a negative example.

Life got better afterwards, which was due to a combination of luck and hard work. Looking back at his senior year of high school, which was also the year he just traveled through, Sakakibara Kaede always feels filled with emotion.

The mentality at that time was different from now.

Of course, the idea of ​​living a life of hard work will not change.

"Sakakibara-senpai, what is college like?"

"Well... there are reliable seniors and friendly friends, and there are also a lot of club activities."

Kaede Sakakibara gave a reasonable explanation. To be honest, he had only touched upon the tip of the iceberg of club activities at the University of Tokyo. The students in the programming department were not focusing on their interests and hobbies, but were preparing for their future career plans.

Compared to other clubs that are purely for interest and hobbies, the Programming Department is more utilitarian.

The same goes for Sakakibara Kaede. He successfully got an outsourcing job in a gaming company during his freshman year.

He heard that there were singing clubs, kendo clubs, and other clubs that interested him just by hearing their names. However, he was willing but unable to do so. His day was fully scheduled and he couldn't spare the time to sing or wield a sword in the clubs.

"Well... club activities."

"Is there a voice actor club?"

The person who asked the question was naturally Nanami Aoyama.

"Probably not." Sakakibara Kaede smiled helplessly, "But there are clubs like the drama club, which require club members to use their acting skills and voice to play... classic roles in Shakespeare."

Chizuru Ichinose came downstairs yawning at this time. She still looked a little tired, but a little more energetic than before. She lay weakly beside Furuno Furuhashi and didn't want to move at all.

"What did you learn in class today?"

"Well... Mr. Aoyama divided us into groups and asked us to play different roles. A group will be randomly selected to perform on stage tomorrow in class."

Ichinose Chizuru complained softly, "There are so many lines, I can't memorize them all in a short time."

It wasn't that she found the course too difficult for her.

But when people are tired and want to rest, they always hope that there is someone who can listen to their complaints quietly and then give them feedback.

Chizuru Ichinose loves actors the most. Her dream since junior high school has been to become an actor. To achieve this, she is able to endure any hardship or fatigue.

But that doesn't stop her from complaining to her reliable seniors, right?

"I'll give you a little tip. Sometimes it doesn't matter if you can't remember your lines. The most important thing is the mood of the character you're playing at the time."

While the others were gossiping, Sakakibara Kaede came over and sat down opposite Chizuru Ichinose, crossed her fingers and said, "Ichinose-san, do you remember the impromptu performance we had when we were cooking dinner that day?"

"you say..."

"Remember that feeling. Even though it was an improvisational scene, it was no different from regular acting."

The boy stretched out his hand and pointed at his chest. "The most important thing is always here. Remember the character's mood, anger, sadness, joy. As long as you feel the things and emotions that the character feels personally, the lines will come out naturally."

Ichinose Chizuru lowered her head and thought for a moment, then she smiled with the corners of her mouth raised, "Yeah, I know."

"Sakakibara-senpai is indeed reliable in every aspect."

Chizuru Ichinose lay down and tilted her head, unable to hide the smile on her lips.

Sakakibara Kaede nodded at her actions. As expected of a junior who had made up her mind to become a rental partner, she could easily do these actions that could quickly bring men closer.

No, this may not be practiced, but she is born with a certain affinity, just like Mai Sakurajima.

It was quite nice to see Chizuru Ichinose's frank side. Kaede Sakakibara stood up again and went to the kitchen to set the table for everyone.

A week has passed just like that. We have lived in the apartment for four days in total, but it feels like we have always lived here. The relationships among everyone are still in the running-in stage.

Except for Kaede Sakakibara and Chizuru Ichinose, who are seniors and juniors from the same agency, the other four people were just meeting each other for the first time. In just four days, it was a remarkable thing that they were able to chat and laugh together.

At least it satisfies the producers of the variety show.

However, what they are more satisfied with is that Kaede Sakakibara, the only one among the six who has filming experience, acts as a big brother here. His timing in starting a topic and smoothing things over is very clever, even unique. Not only does he have the opportunity to show himself, he also motivates others, allowing them to appear in front of the camera and show their charm.

Is this the horror of… rhetoric, charm, and full credibility? Oshima Hideo thinks so.

"...Thank you, Sakakibara-senpai."

The one in charge of cleaning today was Chizuru Ichinose. Everyone else went upstairs to study or rest, leaving only two people in the living room. Seeing that Chizuru Ichinose was really tired, Kaede Sakakibara took the initiative to stay and help her serve the plates and wash the dishes.

"This is..."

The boy noticed the letter under the dessert. He looked at the name on the envelope and saw that it was signed by him.

The production team will notify everyone of the shooting tasks in the form of sending letters, and sometimes the tasks are collaborative shooting, such as daily shopping time and dinner time.

"Sakakibara Kaede, on this pleasant Saturday, why not go to the cinema with Chizuru Ichinose to watch the latest movie and explain to the audience what acting is."

The content of the letter is as follows. Sakakibara Kaede thought about it and felt that other people should have similar shooting tasks, but not as large as the two of them.

After all, the others are senior high school students and they need to study.

"Ichinose-san, are you free this Saturday?"

Chizuru Ichinose was wiping the bowl with a rag. When she heard this, her body trembled and she turned around slightly. When she heard Senior Sakakibara ask this question, the scene of their last simulated date appeared in her mind.

The blue in the aquarium is like the boy's eyes, with a large number of fish swimming in it, and the depth is also endless.

"Yes...yes."

"Let's go to the movies in the morning." Sakakibara Kaede was holding the movie tickets given by the two chapter production teams. He swung them in his hands, "Then have lunch. I'll take you to the office for class in the afternoon. How about that?"

"Just the two of us?"

"Ah."

"That... is not impossible."

Chapter 19: The Value of a Senior's Words

What the production team wants to see is nothing more than the interaction and connection between people with dreams.

Unlike those variety shows that talk about love, most of them will mix men and women living together and observe the sparks between the two. If possible, it is the best choice to form a couple.

Pairing up different male and female characters to engage in some stock speculation is a common operating method used in most romance variety shows.

Sakakibara Kaede yawned and put down the handheld game console. It was already late at night, but the light in his room was still on.

At this time, the crew had already gone to rest, and for the sake of everyone's privacy, the producer would not include everyone's sleeping face in the shot.

After playing an exciting game of Monster Hunter, the boy put down his hand holding the sword and moved it to the keyboard.

He hasn't finished the outsourced work yet.

The race design he submitted last week was used as a template, and the art team began to create different facial expressions - this is considered a basic operation in MMORPGs, as skin color, height, and facial features can all be changed.

However, Sakakibara feels that it is still a bit too much of a perfectionist approach. What determines whether a game is fun and can be played continuously is not the exquisite decorations and characters, but the most basic and solid gameplay.

Especially online games.

For example, in those online games that require real money, how can we make both rich and ordinary players have fun playing the game?

For online game companies, the scale definitely weighs more heavily on the wealthy side.

It was like this in the web games in the past. You could spend a certain amount of money to get a unique and cool title that increased your combat power, and in the PVP battle, you could kill more than a dozen civilian players with just a wave of your hand.

Today, Kaede Sakakibara's outsourced work is furniture.

In the game Sword Art Online, there seems to be a house system designed, and some of the furniture was given to Sakakibara Kaede to design and plan.

Humming an old song, the boy pulled the mouse and typed on the keyboard. He did this not because of the money, or because he coveted the treatment in RECT, but because he liked this feeling.

It’s very similar to being full of energy when starting a business.

The alarm on his mobile phone rang on time, reminding him that it was time to go to bed. Seeing this, the boy put down the work at hand. He had a task given by the production team tomorrow and he had to complete it well. He would rather spend Sunday eating and waiting to die in the apartment.

Outside the window you can see clusters of small houses, with only the occasional whispers of summer cicadas adding a drumbeat to the otherwise quiet music.

Sakakibara Kaede pushed open the door, walked down the stairs, went to the first floor and poured himself a glass of water.

The roommates were all staying quietly in the room at this time. The boy looked around the tidy first floor and went upstairs with the cup of water.

The alarm clock rang on time. Sakakibara Kaede felt that he had gone to bed too late last night and just wanted to snuggle up in his air-conditioned quilt and sleep comfortably until the afternoon.

But the reality is very cruel. The boy struggled to get up, yawning, rubbed his eyes, and walked to the computer. He sent the message he had edited last night and reported to Koichiro Yuki on the progress of his work.

He could see that Yuuki Koichiro's family probably had a certain stake in RECT Manufacturing. A position in the art team could be given to him easily. At least he should be on the board of directors, right?

"So fast?"

Sakakibara Kaede was stunned for a moment as she watched Koichiro Yuki reply at the speed of light.

He hadn't brushed his teeth or washed his face yet. He stretched his body and sat down in front of the computer.

"You're ahead of schedule, which means one person is doing the work of three people!" Sakakibara Kaede read the words in the email emotionlessly, and he couldn't laugh anymore when he saw the next line of words.

"Are you free next Sunday? My father wants to see you. P.S.: dinner situation."

"Here's the address—"

Sakakibara Kaede suddenly felt under great pressure. According to his reasoning, the head of the Yuki family must be a corporate executive or something. What on earth could he want by inviting him to dinner?

The boy thought about his interactions with Yuuki Koichiro and Yuuki Asuna. . . There didn't seem to be anything wrong.

After giving an affirmative reply, Sakakibara Kaede left the room and started washing up.

"Morning, Baiyin-scholar?"

"Good morning, Sakakibara-senpai."

He bumped into Shirogane Miyuki, who had dark circles under his eyes, when they were going downstairs. Shirogane Miyuki bowed slightly and greeted Sakakibara Kaede - although the boy felt that being too flattering would make him unfriendly.

However, Japanese society has a strict class system, and senior students naturally have a higher status than younger students in school. This is something that is difficult to change in a short period of time.

Sakakibara Feng patted Shirogane Miyuki's shoulder, signaling him not to do so, "Shirogane, do you have any filming tasks today?"

"I'm going to the library to study with a few classmates today. The filming crew plans to film my study process... although there's nothing worth seeing about my study." Baiyin Yuxing said with a wry smile.

"Maybe they wanted to take pictures of your interactions with your classmates."

Sakakibara Kaede speculated.