Tokyo Sound

"What about lipstick of this color?" the girl asked again.

"Good, the color is as tempting as fresh duck blood." The man said in a mellow tone.

"Listen, it sounds like you know a lot about cosmetics?" The girl kept smiling, with her eyes twitching.

"It's just so-so. I watch makeup and makeup removal videos occasionally." The man nodded.

"Really? I didn't expect that Takizawa-kun would also be interested in these? What kind of beauty videos are they? Natural makeup style? European and American style? Korean style?" the girl asked.

"None of them. They're 'Makeup Artist Teaches You How to Become a Goblin in Three Steps', 'A Hollywood Senior Costume and Makeup Artist Takes You Step by Step to Become Squidward', 'See How a Makeup Artist with a Million-Dollar Annual Salary Harvests Knees at Comic-Cons', and 'Ugly Aesthetics: A Brief Discussion on the Makeup Settings of Beast-Headed People'." The man gave the names of the videos in detail and said enthusiastically, "Do you want to watch them? I can send you the link directly when I get back."

“Ahhhh! Can you be more serious?” The girl was so angry that she pounded the table impolitely. “Can you stop being so perfunctory with this conversation? You need to think!”

"I'm thinking about it. I'm definitely putting my full attention into the performance." The man felt aggrieved.

"What performance?"

"Appearing in his true colors."

"Who asked you to play yourself? This is an impromptu skit based on the audience's dreams!" The girl rolled up the manuscript like a director and spoke passionately, just short of hitting someone on the head with a paper tube. "Didn't you see that I put myself in the shoes of the girls in the same class? You have to keep up with the rhythm and bring your emotions, emotions!"

"Okay, okay, I'll play the leading male role." The man nodded repeatedly.

"Time is limited, so don't mess around anymore. Fans from all over the country are watching us!" the girl said seriously, "You are a professional voice actor after all. I don't need to emphasize the characteristics and key points of the character, right?"

"Isn't it just a hardware enthusiast and a secret crush on you?" The man thought for two seconds and extracted two labels from the short description of the situation.

"It's not me! It's the character!" The girl held the paper tube as if it were a kitchen knife, dancing with great vigor and full of threat.

"Yes, yes, let's start." The man raised his hand humbly, motioning to start again.

Hidaka Rina cleared her throat and tried to find her emotions again, which had been disturbed by someone's bad words.

Soon, I put aside all distractions and immersed myself in the play.

"What a coincidence, we meet here, so early today." The girl spoke in a soft voice.

"Well--"

Someone did not respond immediately, but instead sounded surprised.

From heavy to light, from helplessness to depression, from inexplicable sleepiness to belated panic and shyness.

A few seconds passed and there was still silence. This place was blank, but it made people think a lot.

There was a fine, continuous spring rain last night. The shallow puddles reflected the quiet streets in the morning. Ladybugs were lying on the wet leaves beside the road. The wind was a little cold, carrying scattered petals around.

Further away is the clear blue sky with white clouds.

Close at hand were the boy and girl from the same class who met by chance at the corner.

“…Well, good morning, Hidaka-san. You look very energetic today.” The man’s voice was soft and pure, like a young deer meeting a stranger in the woods, timid but full of innocence and kindness.

In the blink of an eye, the irritating presence disappeared, and in its place was a skinny boy in a white shirt with a budding love in his heart.

The light fell on his cheeks, making them white and rosy.

The girl was indeed experienced, but the sudden transformation of the chatterbox into a handsome boy was too abrupt. She couldn't adapt to it at all and could only stay there, forgetting some of her lines for a while.

"Sorry, my hair is messy. I set the alarm wrong today and was in a hurry to go out. I didn't even wash my face properly. I guess I'm a little sloppy, right?" The handsome boy saw that the other party didn't respond, so he quickly lowered his head and said awkwardly. Under the self-deprecating tone is the shadow of the introvert group, the thin sadness, the lack of confidence, the loss, just like the flowers buried under the winter snow by the ice lake, which makes people feel distressed and pitiful.

"No, not at all. I'm very energetic." The girl in the same class came to her senses and acted out the scene smoothly.

"Really? That's great." The boy in the white shirt smiled. "Let's talk while we walk, or we'll be late. The one who's in charge of recording the late students today is the muscle-brained PE teacher."

"Yeah." The girl in the class nodded quickly and followed in two steps.

There was a brief silence.

Silence is a dilemma unique to young people.

"Are the dance club's activities going well?" the boy asked hesitantly.

"Every day is fulfilling." The girl answered simply.

"The performance should be in the next few days, right?"

"Yes."

“Is rehearsal hard?”

"It's the same old thing."

"I remember you guys worked really hard on the choreography, and you went through several versions, right?"

"Yeah, how do you know?"

"I, I will stop and take a look occasionally when I pass by." The boy cleverly ignored her. He quietly turned his head and looked at the opposite sex of the same age next to him. Long-term dance practice has made her accustomed to straightening her waist and back. The lines of her calves under the skirt are very beautiful, and her youthfulness is charming against the white stockings.

"What's wrong, Takizawa-kun?" the girl asked in confusion.

"Nothing." The boy looked away as if he had been electrocuted. After a moment's hesitation, he said, "... Hidaka-san, um, have you changed your hairstyle?"

"Oh, you found me?" The girl smiled, her eyes narrowed in a cute way.

"You've always had straight hair, but it suddenly became curly, so of course I'd notice it." The boy paused and lowered his voice again, "Is it that you put on lipstick today?"

"Yes, it was sent back by my sister who lives abroad." The girl pushed her hair behind her ears and said worriedly, "After all, she is older than me, and I chose it based on her taste. So, is it a little too mature for me?"

"No, no, not at all. You're worrying too much." The boy said quickly, "It's the color of a crushed rose, like a gem. It's very beautiful!"

"Thank you." The girl said modestly.

“…Hmm.” The boy scratched his messy hair and fell into the entanglement of adolescence again.

"Come to think of it, Takizawa-kun, in your opinion, what kind of facial cleanser is good for girls?" The girl suddenly looked up at him, her beautiful eyes blinking.

"Why, why are you suddenly asking me this question? I don't quite understand." The boy said hesitantly.

"For reference."

"Do I have to tell you?" the boy hesitated.

"Say it."

"Uh, facial cleanser for girls?"

"Correct."

Yes.

What should I use?

The young man in a white shirt and black trousers raised his head slightly, looking at the boundless sky. The wind ruffled his hair, and his eyes saw the colorful world.

"That's 'Ladies Face Wash', of course."

"Huh?" The girls in the class paused.

"Didn't you hear clearly?" The boy paused and said word by word, "Ladies' facial cleanser!!"

The leisurely and quiet way to school was shattered, and along with it, the dreamy and beautiful boy who seemed to be glowing was also shattered. The idol drama filter collapsed all over the floor, leaving only a long silence that was much heavier than the previous times.

"We finally created the right atmosphere, why is the most important answer such a low-level joke!" The younger senior was instantly defeated, and directly lifted the coat of the cute and healing classmate on his body, and stood up from his seat excitedly, "You need to use your brain!"

"I've put a lot of effort into it! I've carefully considered the emotions in every sentence. It's definitely about your first love! I even gave you a 'dance club member' setting!"

"This is totally useless! The key lies in the final answer!"

"But the problem is that I, like that brother who loves graphics cards, don't understand your women's cosmetics!" The man said angrily, "You want me to turn the unknown into the known, isn't this bullying an honest man?"

Chapter 111: Harmless Scissors

"I would help my family during my break. Since I was in the catering industry, I was also responsible for purchasing ingredients. One day I dreamed of going to the market to buy pork head meat. The old man at the stall said that it was 3000 yen per pound. I said how could it be so expensive, don't try to cheat me. The old man suddenly became ferocious, picked up the butcher knife that was still dripping with blood, and rushed towards me with his teeth bared. I was so scared that I ran away, but the old man kept chasing me with the knife, saying "I must buy it!". But 3000 yen was too expensive! In my nervousness, I forgot all the bargaining routines, and was caught up and forced to buy. After waking up, I still felt very aggrieved."

After the assistant finished reading, he was silent for two seconds, then tried to become angry and ferocious, and spoke in a hoarse and deep voice.

"Young man, one pound is 3000 yen, no cheating, you must buy it today, otherwise I will make you leave the market with missing limbs! Do you see the stall selling primates next to it? They are all fresh goods I bought!"

"Don't talk nonsense. What quality of pork is that you dare to bid so shamelessly? What? Is the Marshal Tianpeng sold at your stall?" the man said disdainfully.

"?"

……

“I dreamed of exploring an ancient house in the mountains. My friends died one after another with screams. I tried my best to escape and finally hid in the closet trembling. But the ghost still found me and opened the closet. I saw a headless zombie standing outside, covered in dirty blood, shouting that he wanted to eat me and suck out my marrow. I woke up on the spot.”

The assistant pondered for a moment, then laughed sinisterly and spoke in a pinched voice.

"Wow, handsome boy, you have such delicate skin and tender flesh, which makes me very greedy. Relax, I promise not to waste any part of your body, and I will definitely enjoy it!"

"Brother, you are a headless ghost. You don't even have a brain. How can you have a mouth to bite me? If you are so disabled, don't force yourself to come out and harm others. Please move aside." The man said disdainfully.

"?"

……

"I dreamed that I was in an empty school. The windows of the classrooms along the corridor were shining with an ominous blood-red light, and I could vaguely hear the sound of reciting books. I was so scared that I covered my ears and ran in small steps, wanting to leave here quickly, but the school seemed to come alive, and the structure was slowly changing. I stumbled into a classroom, and on the podium was my Chinese teacher. His body had swelled several times, and he had devil-like horns on his head. His breath smelled of hot sulfur, and the ruler in his hand was cold. He asked me, 'Did you not study hard again?', of course I said 'I did', and he said, 'Well, recite a passage of ancient Chinese', and in the end I couldn't answer it, and was crushed by a pile of famous books."

The assistant took a long time to prepare this time, and even took out her mobile phone to quickly search for something on the spot. After she was ready, she turned into a stern speaker.

"Your homework today has a bunch of typos again. It's really like one ear and one ear and one ear. If you don't want to stay in school, recite the Kojiki Volume 1: Er Er Yi Ming: Heaven's Journey to the West right here!"

"That's too long. I'll just say a paragraph." The man read without emotion. "At the fork in the road in the sky, there was a Chinese god standing on the road that led up to Takamagahara and down to Awahara. Then Amaterasu Omikami and Takagi God ordered Ame-U Shumai to say, 'Although you are a weak woman, you are a god who will not back down in front of the gods. So I sent you to ask who is standing on the road when my daughter is about to descend.' After asking, she replied, 'I am the local god, Saru-Tabiko. The reason I came out is because I heard that the daughter of the god of heaven was descending from the sky, so I came to guide and welcome her.'"

"?"

……

"After all, this is a game, so there will be winners and losers. It's not good for us as participants to decide the winner, so let the staff outside the venue judge it." Hidaka Rina was so tired that she lost her expression and said lightly, "By the way, the loser will of course be punished, so now please ask the staff to start."

"Please raise your hands if you think the host won."

No one responded.

"Please raise your hands if you think the assistant won."

Everyone waved as if they were hailing a taxi.

"Thank you. Then the loser is the host and he will be punished..." Hidaka Rina continued to read the process.

"I have objections!" Yin Ze felt that this was unfair and launched a gorgeous rebellion against this evil deliberation. "This is not a confrontational project, it's a cooperative project. Why do we have to distinguish who wins and who loses?"

"This is a result that everyone in the audience agrees on. Do you still want to struggle?" Hidaka Rina seemed listless.

"Isn't the work we do the same? What are the evaluation criteria?" Yin Ze asked seriously.

Moriki Hiroshi thought he needed to do it himself, so he picked up the board and started writing.

"Assistants are more dedicated"

"Oh my god, isn't it her duty to be dedicated? Since when did working hard become a plus?" Yin Ze was extremely sad. "I obviously worked very hard too. Compared to the assistant who only needed to read the script and play a supporting role, I had to think hard about how to break the impasse while acting. Maybe the result was not pleasing, but my effort was more than twice hers. And didn't you guys laugh happily just now? I have no credit but I have worked hard, but I am being abandoned like this. It's so cold-blooded!"

"Your efforts are completely in the wrong direction. Every time I try my best to create an atmosphere, you always destroy it from various angles. The same goes for the acting. I can't get any feedback at all, as if I'm acting with a puppet." Hidaka Rina said sadly, "This is obviously the most important first episode, but you messed it up like this. It's a pity."

"No, it has nothing to do with this. My assistant can obviously share the burden with me and come to smooth things over for me, but he said nothing and just stayed there to warm up the atmosphere. Every game starts off like a nightmare, with castle mysteries and sky-high prices. The letters are always making trouble, and my assistant keeps telling me to be elegant, classy and classy, ​​but how can I follow him? There is no environment for me to perform well." Yin Ze defended.

"You're blaming the audience? Junior, you've been getting more and more unruly lately." The younger senior frowned, "A real man should be brave enough to take responsibility. Failure is not scary. What's scary is just shirking responsibility and not making progress."

"..."

"Let's start the punishment now. The staff have prepared many ways to play in advance. After all, I'm not an unkind person, so it's up to you to draw and decide what kind of punishment you will receive." Hidaka Rina took a large cardboard box and shook it left and right, which made a sound of paper balls colliding, just like a lottery in a convenience store.

Why do the staff always spend so much time on useless things like this?

"Do you really want to smoke?" Yin Ze hesitated. He was not sure what the bottom line of these spectators was. If there were some unscrupulous pranks like those in late-night variety shows, wouldn't his reputation be ruined and he would be firmly established as the bottom of the food chain in the industry?

"You're such a grown-up, why are you so shy?" Hidaka Rina watched coldly, "Are you afraid?"

"No, it just suddenly occurred to me... Instead of doing this, it would be better to let the assistant say the punishment on the spot for better show effect. Besides, there will be a radio recording as evidence, and it will be more difficult for me to fool around. Isn't that great?" Yin Ze said.

"Oh? You want to give me the right to deal with you?" Hidaka Rina suddenly became interested.

"Yes, please make your request." Compared to the group of onlookers outside, the girl who knows everyone well is safer. And no matter what, in such a public occasion, younger seniors with professional ethics will most likely not say something difficult or painful. They may even regard themselves as seniors and be kind-hearted to take care of the younger ones. This can be said to be a natural insurance policy.

"Can you really request anything?" Hidaka Rina emphasized the word "what" and smiled unconsciously.

"Of course, there can't be no limits at all." Yin Ze saw the familiar devil's smile and became alert. He quickly imposed conditions, "——As long as it doesn't violate the chivalrous way and I can do it, I will do as you say!"

"Wow, who knows what your middle school 'chivalrous way' is? What if I ask you to dance or sing a song, and you claim that it goes against the 'chivalrous way' and refuse to do so?" Hidaka Rina questioned.

"Am I the kind of rogue who has no sense of contract? The whole country can hear what I say. With so many people serving as witnesses for you, how can I deny it or run away?" Yin Ze said to comfort her.

"No, no, I still feel like I'm losing out." Hidaka Rina thought for a moment, "How can what I said casually in a short time compare to what the staff racked their brains to come up with? I heard from the producer that they looked up a lot of information and watched a lot of variety show references before expanding the penalty pool to 132. What's more, you're still adding conditions here. Forget it, just draw a lottery."

Gan!