I live my life in Tokyo

Kaede Sakakibara refilled his drink. He noticed Chizuru Ichinose who was looking over here from time to time among the crowd of new actors in the distance, and he waved to her.

The new actresses around Chizuru Ichinose immediately started to make a noise and laughed. It would be a lie to say they were not envious. They all acted like good sisters and helped Chizuru Ichinose, allowing her to enjoy the nomination from senior Sakakibara.

Chizuru Ichinose was holding a drink, her face slightly pink from shyness, and she walked in front of Kaede Sakakibara, "Sakakibara-senpai, Merry Christmas Eve."

"Have fun together. At first I thought they were trying to embarrass you." Sakakibara looked around and saw the new actresses smiling at him. After a moment he looked away, "But I seem to have misunderstood something."

The girl felt warm in her heart. She had noticed Sakakibara Kaede entering the venue just now. Just when she was about to step forward to talk to him, she saw the four idol seniors beside him who were as beautiful as flowers. She lost this opportunity and continued to wait. However, Sakakibara Kaede then started chatting with Uehara Yo. She would not interrupt their conversation as it would be too rude.

This has been delayed again and again until now.

There was no point in talking about work between the two of them. Now they were in the same crew and saw each other every day, so the topic changed from work to trivial matters in life.

"How is grandma's health? Does she need to go back for regular checkups?"

"She is in good health and goes out for a jog every morning. It's just that she doesn't want me to take care of her too much. Obviously, I should be the one taking care of her."

Sakakibara Kaede was silent. The love of the elders for the younger generations and the love between relatives were very dazzling.

"Is your life convenient? I remember you were talking to the firm about renting a house before, do you have any plans now?"

Ichinose Chizuru hesitated and said, "It seems that we need to wait for a while."

Either she really needed to wait for a while to inquire about the rental information, or she was being evaded. After all, Chizuru Ichinose was just a new actress, and not one in a hundred in the agency, so it was normal for her request to be put on hold again and again.

"Have you told Iida-san?"

The girl said timidly, "No."

"Ichinose-san, please tell us more about these things." Sakakibara Kaede said helplessly, "I am your senior, and Iida-san is your agent."

"How about this, I'll go say hello to Iida-san tomorrow and try to find a new home for you before the New Year. This will be a little inconvenient for grandma's life. Nerima is relatively far away from the office, and Ichinose-san will need to spend a lot of time on transportation every day."

Ichinose Chizuru hummed softly.

"Next quarter... what plans do you have, Sakakibara-senpai?"

"Has Ichinose-san already thought about next year?" Sakakibara Kaede laughed, "I haven't. It depends on Iida-san's schedule. I may take a break, or I may audition."

He mentioned work a few more times and then continued to lead the topic towards life. When he and Chizuru Ichinose talked about work, there was always a hint of unexperience and awkwardness because Chizuru Ichinose was a newcomer and sometimes could not keep up with the pace of the topic. But when talking about life, Chizuru Ichinose instantly revived.

"I have to go home soon." Ichinose Chizuru smiled, "I'll leave after exchanging gifts. Although grandma is watching TV in her room with a few elderly people downstairs, I'm still a little worried."

"Sakakibara-senpai, if you have any plans for the next time, please take me with you to the audition. I can learn more under your guidance..."

"This time it's the opposite of the situation when we first met."

"what."

When Chizuru Ichinose heard this, her face immediately turned red and she glared at Kaede Sakakibara, obviously thinking of the embarrassing memories. Not only did she pretend to be recognized by her senior, but she was also seen sleeping by her senior. Although this memory was very precious, it was a memory that she dared not think about too much.

She seemed to recall more, the blunder that almost happened during the filming of the reality show and her familiar tone, which made Chizuru Ichinose's face almost burn.

But it is undeniable that she actually wants to go back to the days when they lived under the same roof, where there were no obstacles and only gentle seniors guiding the studious juniors.

Chizuru Ichinose felt the gazes of her good sisters and moved her lips. "Sakakibara-senpai, do you like to make fun of me?"

"Ah."

"what?"

"Because when you are joking, you are your true self, not a reserved junior." Sakakibara raised his drink to Chizuru Ichinose and took a sip. "Show yourself appropriately in the crew, and show your true self in life. Ichinose-san's original personality is very good, and you don't need to change your personality to please your seniors."

"I admire Chizuru Ichinose in her normal state, and I also admire Chizuru Ichinose in her junior state, but in daily life, I am more inclined to see the former."

Chizuru Ichinose bit her lip, took out her glasses from her coat pocket and put them on.

"I got it."

The smile was very faint, but it was the brightest smile that Sakakibara Kaede had ever seen, belonging to Chizuru Ichinose.

Chapter 34 Merry Christmas Eve

After chatting with his talkative colleagues, Sakakibara Kaede got to know the current market conditions.

In this rapidly developing technological society, audience preferences will also change over time.

For two-dimensional novels, it is no longer exciting for a high school male protagonist to simply travel through time to another world. Now it has evolved into a novel where the male protagonist is disliked by his classmates after traveling through time, and finally abandoned to fend for himself. After a period of time, the male protagonist develops rapidly and returns to slap the other classmates in the face and then quits the team.

This season's Japanese drama has a rebirth TV series about a man who travels back in time to pursue the school beauty he had a crush on but never took that step, and starts his life all over again to become more perfect. Once it was broadcast, it received a lot of praise and became a dark horse in the TV drama genre.

Young people nowadays seem to be tired of campus themes and want to watch something more exciting. There aren’t many plots where the male protagonist gets humiliated. The key point is the excitement of seeing the male protagonist get slapped in the face after getting humiliated. It has to be said that both novels and TV dramas like to see such excitement.

The TV series will be made based on who the audience is and what they like to watch, all for the sake of ratings - the current campus life of high school students does not have any ups and downs, just like an ancient well without ripples, there is no special existence, and the purpose of everything is to fit in.

In this case, they want to see the uniqueness of the male protagonist in the TV series, whether it is his hairstyle or his alternative personality, so that he can be liked by high school audiences.

"I heard that there will be a new type of TV series in the spring season next year, as well as a movie for promotion. If you are interested, Sakakibara-san, you can pay attention to it."

"Action type?"

"It's an anti-routine TV series. The theme adopts the popular routines in the recent light novels. It's either about quitting the team or making classmates regret it. There are also a few books about making the girl who used to bully you but now likes you regret it."

The boy was shocked, as if he had seen a novel website from the past. This was simply outrageous. At this moment, he could not imagine what kind of hell it would be like if these routines were substituted into modern TV dramas.

Or is it possible that the novel of the second dimension will be adapted into an animation?

"What are you talking about?" Takeda Hiroshi greeted and squeezed in very familiarly. Perhaps it is not appropriate to describe him as having a familiar attitude, because he almost knows most of the actors here.

However, whether the other party recognizes him remains to be verified.

"Takeda, how are you doing lately?"

"Not as good as Kamen Rider."

Takeda Hiroshi raised his eyebrows, shook his head amid the good-natured laughter of the people around him and said, "Just kidding, just kidding, I'm still the same, the third male lead who participated in two projects this quarter, so I'm pretty busy."

"What's the subject?"

"Oh, it's a campus drama." Takeda Hiroshi shrugged helplessly when he heard the question from his acquaintance. "Everyone knows. With my body type, the third male role I play is usually played by athletes from the sports department. To be honest, I feel like I've hit a bottleneck as an actor. Will I only be able to play students from the sports department in the future?"

"I want to try a different role next time, otherwise my career as an actor will be ruined if I continue like this."

"Although I want to say it's not that serious, it is indeed very serious." Sakakibara Kaede agreed.

"It is better to listen to your words than to hear your words."

Takeda Hiroshi bowed and continued the routine topic that the others had been talking about before, "I feel like if these genres were light novels, there would be no chance of them being adapted into animations."

"Are you sure you want to destroy our beautiful dream, Takeda?" the actor standing next to Takeda said gritting his teeth.

Sakakibara Kaede grinned and watched several actors start to pinch Takeda Hiroshi's shoulders and attack him. He put away his thoughts on laughing at the joke. He was no longer considering what type of TV series to shoot in the spring season next year, but he still had to say hello to Iida Kei first.

As the audience's tastes changed, he had to start trying different types of roles.

In response to questions from colleagues in the office about the crew and their experience filming Kamen Rider, Sakakibara Kaede answered what he should say, and said that he had signed an agreement and could not disclose what he shouldn't say. As the colleagues surrounding him changed one after another, the smile on his face still made people feel at ease.

He is indeed very popular. I just talked for so long and drank a lot of drinks. I took the opportunity to go to the bathroom to breathe a sigh of relief. I thought Iida Kei was exaggerating the first few times, but I didn't expect that he really became an idol in the hearts of the actors in the agency.

After wiping her face with a wet tissue, Sakakibara Kaede rested in the bathroom for a few minutes and then left.

With the idea of ​​getting some fresh air in his mind, he walked towards the door. Almost everyone had arrived and it looked like the event was about to begin.

His eyes moved among the crowd, and surprisingly did not see Sakurajima Mai.

He took out his phone, opened Line, and found the chat history with Sakurajima Mai. Before his fingers even touched the keyboard, a hand patted his shoulder.

"Merry Christmas Eve, Sakakibara-senpai~" Mai Sakakijima smiled, loosened the scarf around her neck, came to Sakakibara Kaede's side, noticed the still-on phone screen and the shaking cat pendant, "Ah, Sakakibara-senpai, are you worried about me?"

"Happy Christmas Eve, Sakurajima-san. You don't seem like someone who would be late."

"When I left, the train was already packed. I thought I couldn't squeeze in, so I took a taxi. The traffic on the road was a bit congested."

"Taxis in Tokyo are very expensive..."

"This amount of money is not expensive for Sakakibara-senpai, right?" Sakurajima Mai nodded, "But I also know it's expensive. This is just the first time, and I don't want to be late."

Sakakibara Kaede was slightly stunned. He just complained, so why did Sakurajima Mai take this as his instruction or instigation?

Mai Sakurajima looked at Kaede Sakakibara, her lips curled up slightly, "Today we are all wearing the same clothes as that day?"

Sakakibara Kaede looked down at the coat he was wearing today, "I don't really have many winter clothes. Most of the advertising endorsements I've received are for summer clothing. I don't lack clothes for Sakurajima-chan, and the one she's wearing today is still like last year's One Meter of Sunshine."

"Sakakibara-senpai, you are older than me, why don't you take care of yourself?"

Sakurajima Mai snorted softly. She glanced at Sakakibara Kaede and her forced indifference was broken in the next second, revealing a bright smile, "That's great."

"It's really nice that we're all wearing the same clothes we wore when we went shopping last year."

"I haven't washed this dress much because I don't wear it often."

"Do you want me to come to your house and be your housekeeper and do your laundry next year, Sakakibara-senpai?"

“I don’t think I can afford housekeeping.”

Sakakibara Kaede coughed lightly, pausing the topic that sounded very strange to outsiders. Seeing Sakakibara Kaede retreat and chuckle with her hands covering her mouth, Sakurajima Mai gestured at the gift in her hand, quickly walked into the hall, and while skillfully greeting her familiar actor friends, she placed the gifts under the Christmas tree.

Not long after, the lights gradually dimmed, Sakakibara Kaede stood quietly by the side, and Sakurajima Mai came quietly to his side with a glass of juice in her hand.

"Good evening everyone from STARS, I'm actor Uehara Yo from the agency."

Uehara Yo held a microphone in his hand and wore a red Santa hat on his head, covering his yellow hair.

"As the organizer and person in charge of this party, I hope everyone can enjoy the Christmas Eve atmosphere and have a good time tonight."

When everyone heard this, they started to cheer and applaud. Uehara Yo bowed in a pretentious manner, and the Santa hat on his head almost fell off.

There weren't many activities tonight, only two, gift exchange and dance. But there were many small games, whether it was board games or flying chess, you could play them at will. Obviously, he was worried that someone would leave early, so he put the gift exchange in the first round.

Dinner was naturally a buffet. Before the party, Uehara Yo had collected a sum of money from each partygoer to rent the venue, decorate and buy dinner in the restaurant. Although the quality was not comparable to the buffet in a high-end five-star hotel, they were all home-cooked dishes. After all, the party was about enjoying the atmosphere, not eating enough.

Kaede Sakakibara wanted to eat his fill, and his eyes had already been fixed on the grilled pork chops closest to him. He could already faintly smell the aroma.

Glancing around, he saw that many of the people standing around were female actors and idols, and a triumphant smile appeared in his heart. For them, controlling diet is a self-requirement and restraint. Obviously, they cannot put the fried pork chops into the bowl.

Buffet is for eating, of course.

As Uehara Yoh finished his speech, everyone chatted as they walked to their seats. The gift exchange activity would begin in twenty minutes, and they could eat something to fill their stomachs during this time. Those who wanted to leave early could do so after finishing their meal, so they would not lose money.

"I haven't seen Sakakibara-senpai like this for a long time."

"What's your book?" Sakakibara Kaede was chewing meat in his mouth, his voice was unclear and it was impossible to hear what he said.

Mai Sakurajima still remembers the last time she saw Senior Sakakibara like this, which was the first time he had eaten the office's buffet. This year everyone has been getting busier and busier, and they have met more often on the crew than in the office. The opportunities to sit together in the salon and eat the office's high-end buffet have become fewer and fewer.

"Nothing." Sakurajima Mai picked up a vegetable and put it in her mouth to chew. She felt the gaze and looked up, noticing the four idols sitting together not far away. The one who was looking at her was Higuchi Madoka - this did not surprise her.

The eye contact between the two women was not filled with the tension in their hearts, but only with understanding and calmness, and even a wonderful softness.

After a while, Higuchi Madoka was addressed by her childhood friend and looked away.

Mai Sakurajima didn't continue looking in that direction and began to concentrate on finishing her salad before getting up.

After a while, it was time to receive gifts. Since the gifts were received completely randomly, everyone lined up under the Christmas tree without any utilitarianism, and the part-time staff of the party distributed the gifts.

Sakakibara Kaede received a box that was neither too big nor too small. He did not have the habit of keeping gifts at home before opening them. After opening the red packaging bag, he got an hourglass with a golden metal frame. The sand inside was silver-gray.

It was good enough to be used as a decoration, so he planned to put it on the bar in the kitchen when he got home.

I wonder who will receive his gift?

The gift distribution lasted for about twenty minutes. By then, the sky outside had completely turned dark, and some of the actor idols who wanted to leave early thought about going home.

Snowflakes were falling outside the window again. Unlike the fine snow in the afternoon, the snowfall tonight was heavy. I believed that it would not be long before a thick layer of crystal clear snow would accumulate on the ground.

Sakakibara put the hourglass into his bag. He noticed Chizuru Ichinose standing in front of the door wearing glasses. He took two steps forward and asked casually, "Is Ichinose-san ready to go home?"

"Well, it's getting late. I hope the train tonight won't be too crowded."

"I'll take you to the station."

Sakakibara noticed that Chizuru Ichinose didn't bring an umbrella, so he gestured with the long-handled umbrella in his hand, "Ichinose-san, you definitely don't want to catch a cold, right?"

"Sakakibara-senpai is so overbearing. Do I have the right to refuse?" Ichinose Chizuru tried to speak to Sakakibara Kaede in a normal tone for the first time. After she finished speaking, she opened her mouth and immediately bent down to bow. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for getting carried away."

This action of Gomenasse's private Marseille was more drastic than those politicians and directors who apologized on TV. If she played the person apologizing, maybe it would get good ratings. At this moment, Sakakibara Kaede was thinking about something rude but happy.

"No need to apologize. Your attitude just now was very good. It makes me feel that the distance between us has been shortened a lot." Sakakibara Kaede cleared her throat, signaling Chizuru Ichinose not to continue apologizing. Others were already looking at them with strange eyes.

"But you are right about one thing. You really have no right to refuse. I will give it to you."

"!"

Chizuru Ichinose was frightened for a moment by the domineering look of Kaede Sakakibara, but when she looked at Kaede Sakakibara's profile, she found that he smiled at her mischievously. She was immediately angry and amused, and quickly followed Kaede Sakakibara who was holding an umbrella.