Tokyo Sound

"forget?"

"I have completely forgotten it!"

"So, you have no idea who Nagase Arashi, Ohara Rino, and Asakawa Hisashi are?" The hostess's tone became dangerous.

"I haven't heard of any of them. What? Is he your former classmate or a distant relative?" The middle-aged man shook his head, his face full of confusion and innocence, his eyes blinking, very innocent.

"It's nothing, it's not important. I just asked. Since you don't remember, forget it." Sakura Edamori snorted and didn't delve into it any further.

"Oh."

The middle-aged man nodded obediently and naturally, and lowered his head to drink his soup.

Then in the next moment, when his wife turned around to get the ketchup, he made a perfect timing and winked slyly at the young man sitting opposite her.

Someone with full dynamic strength and overall vision naturally captured this detail accurately. As a compatriot, the man received a lot of information and strong emotions from that brief glance.

Master Yin was immediately stunned by her beauty.

His acting skills were so good that even he was fooled.

This is not really a compliment, but it is really strong and impeccable.

At the same time, I felt ashamed. I had been drinking and eating meat with big mouthfuls, but I still doubted my uncle's kindness and integrity.

"Let's have lunch later before leaving?" Sakura Eiji put on the kind attitude of an elder.

"No, I'll go back after breakfast. I guess my presence has confused my uncle." Yin Ze said.

"Yes, a little, but it's okay. So, why did you come?"

"Assist Sakura-san with her schoolwork."

"Is that so? I know your abilities, so let's skip the interview. What kind of suspicious person would burden a talent like my junior with an assessment? I'll leave it entirely to you. There's a long way to go, and I'll trouble your tutor to take care of you in the future. If you encounter any problems at work, please tell me, don't be shy." Sakura Eiji responded with a normal smile.

"I see."

"Okay, okay."

As the two were talking, they picked up the miso soup out of muscle memory and inertia and clinked their glasses together.

The hostess, who was spreading ketchup on toast, slowly stopped what she was doing.

……

Yoyogi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo.

I'm Enterprise.

As the year draws to a close, it’s time to change seasons and recruit new members.

Voice actor agencies still have a strong desire for outstanding employees.

Today, the company organized a public lecture with the theme of "Life on the Line: How to Make the Only One Life Bloom into a Splendid Flower"

The HR department, the marketing department, and the only designated confidant, Masaru Nakajima, all took the stage to express their views. Afterwards, they also made a sincere analysis of the voice actor industry and gave several development paths, such as how newcomers can improve their audition pass rate, how to improve their skills, the possibility and trial and error of switching to broadcasting and sound work, how to maximize the use of discount coupons to live happily in high-consumption cities, etc.

It can be said that it is very sincere.

IM is a notable firm in the industry. Naturally, this sharing session attracted many people, including those who are interested and those who have already signed up for the training center and are honing their skills.

After an hour and a half of sharing, everyone returned home happily with a lot of gains.

And near the temporary venue.

A man wearing gold-rimmed glasses, a high-end watch, and a suit and tie, dressed like a financial elite and a lawyer, is searching for the "thousand-mile horse" in his mind.

"The fortune teller in Yokohama Chinatown said that I would only have a small fortune, but not a great reputation. Haha, but I don't believe it."

As a special guest, the agent faced these young talents with a curled mouth and shook a finger as if denying fate, exuding a strong sense of confidence.

"I believe that you have to make your own way. I have read the transcripts of the major training schools this quarter, and I know that you are all the best among your peers. You already have the ability, but your resume is still very limited. The rigorous interview and re-examination of IM is not a threshold for you. As the saying goes, everyone has their own luck, and fate is not determined by heaven. How you will go in the future depends on whether you are willing to give it your all."

The agent nodded.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Kashiwai Ippei, and I'm a gold medal agent who is about to become famous. So far, I have successfully led two new stars in the industry, and all the staff who have worked with me have praised me. One of them has a large number of fans and is a frequent visitor to the second creation area of ​​​​N Station, so there is no need to talk about him. The other one won the Best Newcomer Award recently. It can be said that I am the kind of all-round agent who is good at both marketing and essence, and I am good at both."

"You are all talented people with great potential. If you trust me, after you become an IM citizen, you can apply to the firm and choose me to be your leader."

Kashiwai Ippei spread out his hands, as broad-minded and compassionate as the resurrected Jesus.

"I look forward to hearing good news from you all, and wish all the rising stars a smooth future."

The group of people left after hearing what he said.

Another group of people saw this place and formed a small circle, and then came over to fill their seats.

"What do you think of what happened just now?" someone asked his companion.

"Let's not do it. It feels weird." said the friend.

"I think so too. It seems like he is involved in pyramid schemes."

After a while, the venue was finally cleared out.

"Mr. Kashiwa, why do you come here by yourself to recruit people? I've never seen anything like this before." The young girl who was accompanying them hesitated for a while, but still asked.

"Hey, real talents need to be discovered. What is the most lacking thing in the 21st century? Talent!"

Kashiwai Ippei looked at the young newcomer who had just joined the team and gave him some earnest instructions.

"After the first two card draws, I deeply realized that I might have the talent to be a mentor! Of course, I have to make good use of it. Not to mention the distant past, just like you, you have been accepted before you even finished the training school. You are a rare good seedling."

"Oh..." The girl nodded reluctantly, just like a student in math class who only half understood the subject but didn't say anything.

"Just relax. Everyone in the agency knows that I'm the most reliable agent. I will find you great resources and audition opportunities, such as a nationally popular sequel or an original project with a heroine as the lead. I will make your career a star-studded one!" Kashiwai Ippei clenched his hands into fists to express his determination.

"No, thanks. I'm still a newbie. Just take it slow." The girl said quickly.

"That's not enough. I'll also let you perform at the Budokan, hold a solo show, and become a trendsetter in the idolization trend of the new era!" Kashiwa Ippei said firmly.

"I'm not good at singing at all. I just want to do dubbing. Besides, my appearance is not good enough. Idols...idols have very high professional requirements. You should assign this task to someone else." The girl refused again.

"How can you have such an idea? The competition in this industry is very fierce, especially for female voice actors. The pace of change is very fast, so of course you have to race against time." Kashiwa Ippei frowned, "You must not learn from someone and lose your ambition!"

"Someone? Who?" the girl was puzzled.

"...You'll find out later. It seems he came to the company today. He probably has nothing to do and doesn't know where to go, so he just comes here to get some free tea and drinks and browse his phone. He even calls it improving relationships with his colleagues, humph."

When Kashiwa Ippei said this, his voice immediately became calm. If you listen carefully, you can still hear a hint of regret.

"You should learn more from the senior who won the Rookie of the Year Award. As for that guy, just show some respect and go through the motions. He doesn't care about these things anyway."

"Oh, I see." The girl nodded.

The two of them walked all the way back to the company from the temporarily rented venue.

As soon as he stepped into the meeting area, the agent spotted the existence that made people both hate and love him.

Kashiwa Ippei hesitated for a few seconds, but finally, with mixed feelings, he took the young girl towards the young man who was sitting on the sofa and surfing the Internet.

"This is the person I just mentioned..." the agent said reluctantly.

"The senior who won the newcomer award?" the girl guessed.

"No, it's just a superficial respect for the seniors." The agent said lightly.

"?"

The man who had just ridden his bike all the way from the troubled place to the company to find a sense of security, sensed the scent of his reputation being harmed and slowly raised his head.

First is the familiar brother Kashiwa Jing.

And a young girl who seemed a little nervous and had never met before. She wore very light makeup, a simple ponytail that can be seen everywhere, and still had the campus atmosphere.

I saw myself being looked at with curiosity.

Although the girl was a little embarrassed, she still bowed politely and spoke in a clear and crisp voice.

"Senior, hello, my name is Saori Ōnishi. Although I have already been admitted, I am still working hard in the training department of the Daily Broadcasting Research Institute. I will work with Mr. Kashiwai and you in the future. Please give me your guidance."

Chapter 73 Junior Sister

Saori Ōnishi is an only child and has no cousins ​​in her family, so she is especially loved by her parents and relatives.

After she proposed becoming a voice actor as her career goal, although her family felt that this industry was both hard and had a high threshold, they still expressed their support and told her that if she wanted to do it, she should just focus on doing it well.

It's natural for children to be fascinated by animation.

After growing up and graduating, it is normal to want to engage in animation-related work due to the emotions that you gained in your childhood.

Saori Ōnishi is also one of these ordinary people.

Although she was able to enter the agency early due to her outstanding performance in the training center, she did not think it was a big deal.

Personally, she was just more diligent, digesting the knowledge the teacher taught her and completing the assigned assignments. There were many students who already had other jobs, and even housewives. They had heavier life burdens and did not have as much extra time as she did, so the progress was delayed.

It’s not because I’m better, I just finished my homework in advance.

The instructor at the training center once told them earnestly about his many years of work experience.

The people who suffer the most in this industry are always the second tier.

People without talent will stay in the third or fourth echelon, and gradually recognize themselves as they grow older. People in the second echelon often have some talent, or are hard workers who implement the principle of hard work to make up for their shortcomings, but they can never catch up with the talented people in the first echelon who have been fed by their ancestors, but they are unwilling to give up and keep struggling.

The lecturer has seen many second-place winners quit and leave because they were exhausted.

"In fact, everyone feels embarrassed by the corrections and instructions of the sound supervisor, because the first version is often the best one that they have carefully considered. The truly great voice actors have one foot in the performance and one foot outside the screen. They will guess the needs and make technical modifications and self-beautification. Voice acting is a very ambiguous thing and it is difficult to describe it accurately. This skill of accurate reading and quick feedback is a manifestation of talent for voice actors."

The lecturer leaned against the wall in the corridor and recalled with emotion.

“In addition, one must possess both the general excellent abilities in the mass society and the unique, poisonous qualities that can attract the eyes and attention of others. Finally, it is the taste and character that balance the two.”

Those who are at the top of the industry are all such people.

And the most important thing is.

“These extremely successful people are often people who actually have extraordinary talents, but they all think they have no talent, or feel they still have work to do and continue to work hard.”

Speaking of which, Saori Ōnishi is the person mentioned at the end who thinks she has no talent.

But this is a fact, not an insensitivity.

She is indeed an ordinary person who can only do things that are not difficult and are within her ability. She does not have any qualities that attract others. She is quite plain and ordinary both in appearance and inwardly.

In this case, I should be a member of the third echelon in the future, right?

That would be great. After all, competing for and maintaining the first place is a very difficult road, and being second would be regrettable. Being third or fourth would be much better.

Saori Ōnishi is an ordinary and inconspicuous member among many newcomers.

She is the type who is content with what she has, unlike the agent who is in charge of leading her business, who has a long-term vision and is a hardworking maniac.

The girl secretly looked at the senior in front of her who was two years older than her.

She had also heard of the name of the popular young male voice actor.

After only two years of debut, his resume is already impressive. He has participated in big productions, popular anime series, and has resources for national games. What's even more talked about is that his name appears in the credits at the end of the show.

Whether in terms of popularity, image, or strength, he is definitely at the Tyrannosaurus Rex level among the newcomers. He has the potential to enter the first echelon mentioned by the lecturer, and is completely different from ordinary people like himself.

But why.

Should the agent look as if he has lost all hope in life, or even say that he only needs "superficial respect"?

Saori Ōnishi inevitably felt a little doubtful.

This is also something that can't be helped.

Youth and beauty usually give people a superficial sense of kindness and hospitality.

This senior is really handsome, and people always notice him at first sight.

The beautiful things are the thin paper books bound with silk thread dyed with Murano. The blue letters tied to the willow branches with new buds. The five-leaf pine tree inserted in the long-bearded basket dyed with fun colors.

And the figure of a handsome young man in a straight coat.

A person's beauty lies in his smile. If this smile increases the charm of his face, he is beautiful. If this smile does not change his face, he is just ordinary. If this smile damages his face, he is ugly.

The man's gentle smile had the air of early spring, a warmth that could silently melt the frost in the world. The senior quickly stood up and said in a familiar tone, "Let's encourage each other and learn from each other," while extending his hand for a handshake.

Saori Ōnishi was touched by the appeal of her senior and his friendliness despite being a super rookie, so she bowed several times to greet him.

Why would such a pleasing senior displease the agent?