I live my life in Tokyo

Artist is a general term for all, and the concept is rather vague, but he also knows that idols sell their faces and dance moves, while singers sell their voices.

As the STARS artist agency opened its door, the young people gathered in front of the door chatted quickly for a few words and then closed their mouths. They didn't want to leave a bad impression on the examiners because of their talkativeness.

Following the flow of people into the hall, Sakakibara Feng found that the crowd automatically divided into several groups, each going to different rooms and floors for assessment. He thought about it and walked quickly to the reception desk.

"Hello, my name is Sakakibara Kaede, I want to meet Director Aoyama, I don't have an appointment, this is his business card."

He smiled at the receptionist, who looked at Sakakibara, nodded and smiled, "Mr. Sakakibara? Director Aoyama has informed us in advance. Please wait, Director Aoyama will be here soon."

After getting the answer, Sakakibara Kaede wandered around the lobby on the first floor out of boredom. There were many concert, TV series and movie posters hanging on the walls, but there were not many of them - it was indeed as Director Aoyama said, STARS was just starting out and was short of people.

The young man on the poster was laughing wildly, but Sakakibara Kaede didn't know how much of that smile was real.

After all, being an artist is in a profession that serves the public. To put it bluntly, it is a profession that sells smiles. If you are asked to laugh, you have to laugh. If you are asked to cry, you have to cry. There is no freedom at all.

Sakakibara Kaede decided to try this path because he could earn money. While acting, he experienced another kind of life, and this different sense of novelty kept him fresh about everything related to acting. Maybe this is what is called arousing interest.

I hope that in the future Kaede Sakakibara will not forget her original intention.

Not long after, Sakakibara Kaede was greeted by Director Aoyama's hearty laughter. He winked at Sakakibara Kaede and said, "Oh, it seems that we are in sync. We received the resume that Sakakibara-kun sent in before, and I confirmed several times whether it was you."

Sakakibara Kaede felt powerless. This was all due to the wrong decision he made that night. Now he was forced to shout "It's so delicious" and he had no excuse to escape.

"Well, don't think too much, just follow me."

We took the elevator to the fifth floor, where the decoration was much more complicated than the first floor. As soon as we got out of the elevator, we could see a large rest area, where several well-dressed girls were sitting on the sofa and chatting quietly. In the distance were rooms made of frosted glass, which were connected to the workrooms of ordinary employees.

"This is the lounge, and that's the dance room. It's usually used by idols who can sing and dance. STARS will hire dance teachers from famous schools to give regular lessons. The training is very hard. You've seen the number of people who came for the assessment today, right?"

"It's true that there are many people, about thirty or forty."

"STARS is planning to create a new girl group and boy group and start an idol project. If Sakakibara-kun finds it interesting, you can give it a try."

Qingshan Yang snapped his fingers and led him into a glass room, where a middle-aged man sitting there was drinking Longjing tea. His standard Mediterranean hair made him look quite experienced at work.

"This is Kei Iida, a well-known agent who was hired by the boss from the Nice Agency. He has twenty years of experience."

"Iida-san, this is Sakakibara Kaede, a rising star in the acting world. You have seen his acting skills, so I won't say more. You will be in charge of arranging his future work."

Sakakibara Feng shook hands with the smiling, greasy middle-aged man. He thought he would shake a sweaty hand, but unexpectedly it was very clean. Sakakibara Feng took a glance and found that his nails were trimmed smooth and flat.

Sometimes, a person's character and attitude towards work can be seen from a small thing.

"Please give me more advice."

Chapter 9 The So-called Rivalry

The contracts of artist agencies are very complicated.

Kaede Sakakibara had checked matters online before coming to the office. Even though he knew what the key points would be in advance, he still felt a little confused when he saw the densely packed contract in front of him.

Aoyama Hiro left the territory to Sakakibara Kaede and Iida Kei, and said that after Sakakibara Kaede settled the contract, he could go to the dance studio next door to find him.

"Haha, relax."

Without Aoyama Hiroshi, Iida Kei made a gesture to Sakakibara Kaede to calm down, and the experienced attitude of the old hand made Sakakibara Kaede stunned.

"Is it okay to call you Sakakibara-kun?" Iida Kei poured a glass of water for Sakakibara Kaede. "Don't feel pressured. You and I are now tied to the same boat. I will have to rely on you to achieve my future performance."

"I decided to become your manager after watching Sakakibara-kun's performance the day before yesterday. The last line in the first act gave me goosebumps. It reminded me of my younger self."

While chatting with Sakakibara Kaede, Iida Kei expressed the important parts of the contract in a concise manner.

This contract not only includes the agreement on the actors' performance arrangements, but also includes STARS Artist Agency's commercial operations, packaging, promotion and copyright licensing for the artists.

The wages of Japanese artists are divided into a salary system and a commission system. Under the salary system, they will receive a fixed income every month regardless of whether they have a job or not, but if they have more work, the commission will not be much.

The salary in this contract is based on a commission system, which means that there is no salary when you are not working, but if you become very popular, the commission you will get will be very gratifying.

"With Sakakibara-kun's talent, he would earn more with the commission system."

Kei Iida introduced the pros and cons of the two wage systems to Kaede Sakakibara in detail, and then mentioned the business scope covered by STARS Artist Agency.

"Simply speaking of the current script, our daily life of high school students is broadcast in the form of one episode per week, which is the so-called filming and broadcasting. Under this model, after the filming is completed, there are many opportunities for promotion and operation in the remaining time."

"I understand."

Sakakibara Kaede confirmed the contract again, then picked up the pen and signed his name.

From now on, he is an official actor under STARS.

"Haha, brother Sakakibara, please give me more guidance in the future." Iida Keichui patted Sakakibara's shoulder, "I'll also take care of your future work."

Kei Iida is not his exclusive agent, so he is not qualified enough to do that at the moment. It would be a long time before he can have an agent like Mai Sakurajima who picks him up in a special car.

"no problem."

It was just a few steps, but Kei Iida insisted on sending him to the door of the dance studio. Listening to the noisy noises inside, Kaede Sakakibara couldn't help but suspect that he had gone to the wrong place.

When I opened the door, the room was quiet for a moment, and then it returned to its previous bustle.

Kaede Sakakibara stepped into the door and found more than 30 young people of his age in the small dance studio. Sakakibara looked over and successfully saw Mai Sakurajima among the young people.

Hiroshi Aoyama and another instructor were sitting in front of them. The former saw Kaede Sakakibara come in and stood up to invite him in.

"Let me introduce to you all, this is our future No. 3 male lead, the actor who plays Kitahara Hiroshi, Sakakibara Kaede." Director Aoyama introduced, "Sakakibara-kun, these are your future partners and comrades, please introduce yourselves."

Sight, curiosity, exploration, and doubt.

Sakakibara Feng was sensitive enough to catch this emotion. Some of the actors present were probably friends of the original No. 3 male actor, or students from the same training class, so his sudden appearance naturally failed to convince the crowd.

"Hello everyone, I'm Kaede Sakakibara from Chiba Prefecture. I'm very interested in acting, but I'm new to this industry, so I may be immature in the future. Please give me some advice."

His words were flawless, with neither the arrogance of being suddenly assigned a role nor the nervousness of just entering the threshold of acting.

Sakakibara Kaede and Sakurajima Mai's eyes met, and he nodded slightly to her as a greeting, but she looked away and pretended not to see it.

?

With such a partner, I can only say that I have a long way to go.

"Teacher Aoyama, did Sakakibara-kun take the test before joining the crew?"

As if he had known this would happen, Director Aoyama put his hands on his hips and laughed, "What's wrong, Uehara? Do you think Sakakibara-kun doesn't meet my selection expectations?"

"No, no, no, Mr. Aoyama, we didn't know this Sakakibara-kun's acting skills, and we're a little unconvinced that he was suddenly cast as the third male lead."

"Oh? What do you want to do?" Director Hiroshi Aoyama started to add fuel to the fire.

The young man named Uehara stood up. He had the classic biker-like looks from Japanese dramas. He quickly walked to a place not far in front of Sakakibara Kaede and said, "Of course, let's see Sakakibara-kun's acting skills."

"Hey. Uehara——"

"can."

Just as the other instructor was about to open his mouth to stop him, Sakakibara Kaede had already nodded in agreement.

He turned his head to Aoyama Hiroshi, and after seeing him nod encouragingly, he looked at Uehara again, "Uehara-san, how are we going to perform?"

Uehara was slightly surprised by Sakakibara Kaede's refreshing demeanor. He didn't hesitate and replied after thinking for a moment, "Let's simulate an office worker getting ready for work in the subway in the early morning."

At this time, some people in the back started laughing, because this was the exam question that many of them took when they graduated from the training class.

Aoyama Hiro made room for the two of them. He was also looking forward to seeing how well Sakakibara Kaede could perform given his understanding of acting and his performance techniques.

Mai Sakurajima's gaze returned to Kaede Sakakibara, not because she was paying attention to him, but because she wanted to witness the emotional performance again.

The dance studio fell silent in an instant, with more than a dozen pairs of eyes staring straight at Sakakibara Kaede. The pressure was indeed quite great. After all, when Sakakibara Kaede played the role of Kitahara Hiroshi before, he was filmed only by a camera, not a living person.

"what--"

With a sigh, Sakakibara Kaede blinked.

The aura surrounding him suddenly changed, and the vigor that originally symbolized youth was gone.

His straight back bent, and he kept his hands by his ears, as if grabbing a handrail.

His handsome eyebrows wrinkled slightly and he forced a yawn, a sign of lack of sleep.

What attracted the most attention were Kaede Sakakibara's eyes. Her originally gentle and energetic eyes had become dull, replaced by a complex gray emotion.

numbness.

Numbness to life, numbness to work, numbness to social interaction.

What should I eat for lunch today? I'll eat at a nearby convenience store. I have to go out drinking with clients after get off work today. Do you still have the hangover medicine at home? I have to stay up late tonight to prepare a PPT for my boss's meeting. I guess I can only sleep for about two hours.

There is no expectation for the future in my eyes. Standing here is just a small screw, a machine that only knows how to work.

"this..."

Aoyama Hiro opened his eyes wide with excitement, and was amazed at how quickly Sakakibara Kaede got into the role. The most exciting part was the change in her eyes.

Most of the students here can deliver their lines well when performing their roles, but their eyes usually cannot keep up with the scene and atmosphere, causing their eyes and words to be out of sync, creating a weird sense of misalignment, and such performances usually fail.

"Um... Sorry, is there any room here?"

Uehara stretched and spoke to Sakakibara Kaede weakly.

Rivalry.

An especially important part of acting is the rivalry, which requires cooperation between two actors. Any mistake by either of them will cause the scene to collapse directly.

"..." Sakakibara Kaede rubbed his eyes and squeezed out two tired tears, "As you wish."

"Today's weather is really bad."

Uehara squeezed next to him and stood shoulder to shoulder with him.

"Yeah. Look, it's still thundering." Sakakibara raised his head and motioned Uehara to look forward. There were lightning and thunder outside the JR line window, strong winds were howling, and rain was violently washing the window. Sakakibara shrank back, as if afraid of getting wet.

Uehara was slightly stunned, and the tired expression he had been maintaining was immediately broken.

“——Uehara!”

"You are careless."

All the selected young people looked at Uehara and smiled. One of them shouted, "Uehara, you looked so energetic during the performance. You don't look like a sleep-deprived office worker at all." He didn't answer, but said to Kaede Sakakibara beside him, "You've made me so miserable!" They deliberately shouted loudly, "If someone doesn't know, they would think you are a gangster thug who wants to extort money from Sakakibara." Uehara's face turned red, and the veins on his forehead popped out. He argued, "The topic is about office workers who are squeezed into work on the subway in the early morning... The job of a thug is to extort protection money, isn't it?" Then there were a series of difficult to understand words, such as "I was careless and didn't dodge" and "emotional acting", which made everyone laugh. The dance studio was filled with a happy atmosphere.

At this time, Aoyama Hiroshi clapped his hands and came to the side of the two people, "What do you think of Sakakibara-kun's performance just now?"

“It’s very immersive, like watching a stage play.”

"Your aura is very similar to that of a white-collar worker. When I took the subway to class, the white-collar workers had this expression on their faces."

"It's just that the improvisation at the end was so bad."

The last sentence caused a burst of laughter. In the end, Sakakibara Kaede suddenly created a world of heavy rain that only he could see. Uehara, who had no prior preparation, was immediately caught. Just when he was thinking about what Sakakibara Kaede was saying, his trick had already failed.

Sakakibara Kaede breathed a sigh of relief, "It's an unfair victory."

Uehara also laughed along with his classmates, "You are inferior to me in skills. I admit defeat. Your acting skills are really strong. I look forward to seeing your performance."

"Thank you."

Hiroshi Aoyama has not shown them the videotape recorded a few days ago. He hopes that Kaede Sakakibara can use his acting skills to tell his students face to face the value of becoming the third male lead.

Sakakibara Kaede came over with her schoolbag and sat down next to Sakurajima Mai, smiling and saying, "What do you think of my performance?"

"Just so-so."

“Be honest when you compliment someone.”

Mai Sakurajima deliberately glanced at Kaede Sakakibara, then moved half of her body aside, revealing the two people sitting on the other side of her.

"These two are also official actors, playing the leading male and female roles respectively. They will be your colleagues in the next few months."

"Kashima Yu, playing the male lead, please give me your guidance, Sakakibara-kun."

"Higuchi Madoka, the actress for the female lead, please give me your advice."

Chapter 10: Crew and Characters

Sakakibara Kaede looked at the upper body of Kashima Yu's school uniform, then looked at his (? ) lower body skirt, and slowly typed a question mark.

"Kashima is a girl, are you scared?"

Seeing that Sakakibara Kaede was in a good mood, Sakurajima Mai started to explain.

“Well…”