They all pushed me!

"Then what do you think of the psychological state of liking a teacher who is much older than you? Of course, the example is the one where the girl is younger."

"The closed-off mentality of adolescence, developmental disorders, social maladjustment and the situation of the original family are all causes of this mentality. If the girl is younger, it is sometimes related to the Electra complex."

As if worried that Gotanda Yasushi didn't understand, Kurokawa Akane explained:

"Electra complex, um, also known as 'Oedipus complex', just like many girls in teacher-student relationships are children from single-parent families."

"Of course, the father here does not necessarily refer to the father. From a broad perspective, it is more like a vague concept, a protector, a guide, a listener... And if the person's original family is missing not only the father, but the mother also fails to fulfill her responsibilities, they may even invest many concepts such as motherhood in the other party."

"That's very well said! I always had this vague feeling when I was writing the script, but now Chiyin has made it all clear."

Gotanda Yasushi nodded excitedly. Seeing the two people quickly chatting happily about this topic, Kitagawa Ryo also smiled, took the suit he wore this morning from the hanger next to him, tied his tie skillfully, and changed his shoes at the entrance before greeting Gotanda Yasushi and Kurokawa Akane who were almost in a state of ecstasy:

"Then you guys continue, I'll go back to the company first."

"Ah, Liang's cell phone seems to be in my room upstairs. Mom——"

Seeing Kitagawa Ryo preparing to leave, Gotanda Yasushi suddenly remembered this matter, and fully demonstrated his spirit of relying on his parents, and directly shouted:

"I can't leave here, go and help him get it."

"Okay, okay, right away."

Because Beichuan Liang had already changed his shoes, it was indeed a bit troublesome to change back. Seeing that her son was indeed talking about work with others, his mother, who had always been tolerant of his career, immediately agreed and walked upstairs to get her cell phone.

"Okay, let's get back to the topic. I'm designing a plot where the heroine takes the hero, who is still at work, on his first 'escape'. What kind of interactions do you think would be good to write here?"

As soon as his mother left, Gotanda Yasushi turned around and began to discuss enthusiastically with Kurokawa Akane:

"In Director Gotanda's script, the younger female protagonist is actually the initiator and leader of the relationship between the two, right?"

"Of course, after all, we can't let the male protagonist, who is an adult, take the initiative with a student in his class who is almost a generation older than him."

"Well...if the hero is being dragged out while he's still at work, then the heroine should also be at school, so the clothes of the two of them should be the school uniform and the formal suits they wear at work, and if we want to reflect the characters' personalities--"

Kurokawa Akane pondered and began to imagine this scene in her mind. Soon, the outlines of two vague human figures gradually became clear. The clothes they wore and the expressions on their faces also began to come alive. However, the appearance of the two people made her feel inexplicably familiar.

She began to pace back and forth in the living room while muttering something, and finally, under the somewhat surprised gaze of Gotanda Yasushi, she slowly walked to the front of Kitagawa Ryo who was waiting at the entrance and was about to go to the company in a suit and tie, and suddenly tiptoed over.

Kurokawa Akane stretched out her hands and gently touched the tie tied on his chest. Her slender fingers reached in through the gap, and with a little force, she untied the tie knot. With a slight pull, the tie that represented decency and solemnity was taken off by her and half wrapped around her hands.

"Probably... something like this."

After turning around to explain to Gotanda Yasushi, Kurokawa Akane finally realized what was happening and quickly returned the tie in his hand to Kitagawa Ryo, stammering and apologizing:

"Sorry, Ryo-senpai, I was a little too absorbed in the role just now. I'm very sorry."

"It's okay. This action is indeed well designed, and Akane is indeed very suitable for experiential acting."

Beichuan Liang smiled and took the tie. Gotanda's mother happened to take his phone down. He thanked them softly and said goodbye to them again:

"Then I'll go first. Goodbye."

Then he turned around and left the Gotanda family, but for some reason, Kitagawa Ryo kept the tie until he was almost at the company, and then he chose to tie it again.

Maybe it’s because it’s really relaxing and refreshing.

As usual, I spend one day at the beginning of the month to organize and refine the specific plot and outline of the next play. Although the inspiration came from the movie "Pests" at the beginning, like "Tomorrow", I have almost changed it into a semi-original form. It is mainly to wrap up the story line of Kana Arima and Akane Kurokawa, and then the third volume is almost over.

According to the outline that was originally planned, this book will basically have four volumes with a little over one million words. It should be officially completed this year, and then I will go back to review and finish the practical teaching book. This is roughly the current plan.

Although the holiday is already halfway through, I wish you all a happy time, good health and all the best.

Chapter 34: Unequal

“Isn’t it equal…?”

On the way back to the company, Kitagawa Ryo couldn't help but think of the definition of teacher-student love given by Kurokawa Akane at Gotanda Yasushi's house. After all, this was the same idea he had when he read the script.

In many cases, the two parties in a relationship are not actually in an equal position, just like the popular comic "Kaguya-sama: Love is War" which is designed around the concept of "the one who confesses first is the loser". Although the style of the comic is light-hearted and funny, the underlying logic of who confesses first is actually a point that many people care about.

In the process of falling in love, there are many factors that may lead to an unequal relationship between two people. Otherwise, there would not be descriptive words such as "climbing up" and "settling for someone who is lower than you". Appearance, economic conditions or the personalities of both parties will affect the way two people get along.

In Kitagawa Ryo's opinion, the reason why teacher-student love is resisted by the public and public opinion is precisely that this type of relationship itself has the most natural inequality factors in love. The distinction between the strong and the weak is too obvious, which easily makes people think of a condescending perspective.

He had read these words in a book:

“A so-called interesting soul is actually a person whose information density and knowledge level are far higher than yours, and who is willing to bend down and listen to your meaningless nonsense, willing to communicate with you patiently, and put forward some opinions you have never heard of, and then easily subvert your short-sighted imagination and world outlook.”

In fact, this passage would not feel out of place if applied to a teacher-student relationship with an age gap.

It is precisely because of this that Kitagawa Ryo is particularly interested in Kurokawa Akane's proposal to focus on describing the situation where "the heroine's physical age as recognized by the public and her mental age as determined only by herself are not equal."

"Physical age and mental age are not equal, right?"

As a time traveler, Beichuan Liang naturally agreed with this statement. After all, for a long time after he came here, his physical age and mental age were not equal, just like the nickname "freak" given to him by the industry at that time. This was an abnormal state that could be seen and perceived at a glance.

Following Kurokawa Akane's idea, Kitagawa Ryoya, who had read part of the script, slowly began to construct the image of this character in his mind.

From this perspective, both Akane Kurokawa and Kana Arima are actually capable of playing this role.

Beichuan Ryo reached out and touched his empty chest, and suddenly remembered the action that Kurokawa Akane had designed and performed on him before he left. The balance in his heart tilted towards her for a moment.

This is not a problem of acting, but the character design of this role is not suitable for Kana Arima, whose body shape and size do not look like a fourteen-year-old girl. Compared with Kana, who looks a bit too childish, Akane Kurokawa, who is taller, already has a natural advantage. This is why director Hirokazu Koreeda believed that Akane Kurokawa's future prospects were even better than Kana Arima on the set of "Tomorrow, Mom and Dad Are Away".

Kana Arima's superb acting skills have indeed helped her to greatly broaden her acting range, but if she continues to develop at this speed in the next few years, many types of roles will naturally be out of her reach. There is nothing that can be done about it. Kitagawa Ryo does not have the magical power to help Kana Arima develop again, to make her grow ten centimeters taller or to become curvier all of a sudden.

Just as Beichuan Liang was thinking endlessly, the phone next to the driver's seat suddenly vibrated. It was a text message from Kurokawa Akane:

"Ryo-senpai, Director Gotanda and I just discussed it and we've come up with a tentative title for the play."

Looks pretty efficient.

While waiting for the red light, Kitagawa Ryo picked up his phone and replied with an emoticon in surprise. After all, he and Gotanda Yasushi had been discussing for several days but had not come up with a good name. He did not expect that the two of them had come up with a tentative one in less than half an hour.

"Yes, it's Pest."

Pests?

Beichuan Liang chewed on the two words for a moment and understood their meaning. He simply replied:

"Very good, let's use this one."

Then he put down his phone, watched the red light in front of him turn green, and started the car again.

Although it is not known who first came up with the name "Pest", it is quite consistent with the naming idea of ​​"Spider", the famous work of Yasushi Gotanda. After all, no one could guess from the name that "Spider" is about the relationship between mother and son, and "Pest" is about the love between teacher and student.

What are pests?

It is a general term for insects and non-insects that have lived in this world longer than humans and function as part of the natural ecosystem, but are arbitrarily defined as "harmful" by humans and can be eliminated without any psychological burden.

-------------------------------------

Just when Kitagawa Ryo thought that the script work and progress of "Pests" would go on smoothly, two funerals suddenly disrupted the rhythm of his life that had suddenly changed at the end of last year and he had just finally gotten used to.

The first scene was expected. Perhaps because she could no longer tolerate her daughter's happiness, Ai's biological mother did not get to see the birth of her child as Ai wished. She completely lost her last sign of life in a mental hospital on a certain day in early February.

The second scene happened suddenly. Kurokawa Akane's father was accidentally involved in a plane crash while on a business trip, and all the people on that flight died.

Kitagawa Ryo had a deep impression of Kurokawa Akane's father. Even if we don't count the topic that Kurokawa Akane herself would occasionally mention to him, that it was her father who encouraged her to study acting, he and Ai, who was still Hoshino Ai at the time, had deep envy for Kurokawa Akane's parents.

Kurokawa Akane's mother is a very traditional housewife who has little access to the Internet. In fact, there are only her husband and daughter in her life. She was almost immediately at a loss in this sudden situation. She didn't even have time to grieve for long before she ran into all kinds of reporters who swarmed over like hyenas because Kurokawa Akane's popularity happened to be on the rise at this time, and they were determined to take advantage of this human blood.

However, what made Kitagawa Ryo slightly relieved was that although the family suddenly encountered such a huge change, Kurokawa Akane, who had been crying and escaping because of online messages a few years ago, showed extraordinary perseverance. She was able to control her emotions and give appropriate answers to the interviews and questioning of the media that flocked to her, and she also tried her best to fulfill her duties as a daughter and comforted her mother's grief with her heart.

"Although Chiyin may have heard too much of this recently."

"But if you have any difficulties, you can come to me without any worries."

After the funeral officially ended, Kitagawa Ryo, who came specially to attend the funeral, also came to Kurokawa Akane with love. He did not say any jokes like the president's responsibility is to pay attention to the mental state of employees, but made a promise to her very seriously, word by word.

"Me too."

As a senior who had been there since Kurokawa Akane first joined the LALALAI troupe, Kitagawa Ai also regarded him as her close junior. She had always liked this well-behaved and sensible child, and she immediately nodded and spoke after her husband spoke.

"Ah."

Kurokawa Akane, whose face was obviously exhausted, simply responded gently. The sudden death of her father was actually no less of a blow to her than to her mother, but right now the Kurokawa family needed her to hold on both financially and spiritually.

"During this period of time, Xiao Qian should have a good rest at home."

On the other hand, Kitagawa Rumi, who had moved directly to her good friend Kurokawa Akane's house to stay temporarily after the incident, and who had been comforting and helping her, also advised softly.

"Director Gotanda just told me that there's no urgency in starting filming this drama, so Akane doesn't have to worry at all."

Arima Kana, who also attended the funeral, had a solemn expression. She only glanced at Kurokawa Akane and then lowered her eyes, comforting him in her own way.

As someone who had been invited by Yasushi Gotanda a long time ago, she naturally knew how much effort the two had put into the script called "Pest" during this period of time. She just didn't expect that such a thing would suddenly happen on the eve of the official start of filming.

"...This will only make mom worry. Ryo-senpai and Director Gotanda should just follow the previous schedule, okay."

Faced with the kindness around him, Kurokawa Akane took several deep breaths, and finally shook his head slowly to reject their proposal.

Although she received a generous compensation, Kurokawa Akane was very clear that if she could not continue in the entertainment industry, the Kurokawa family would be like a source without water without income. Compared to her mother who had been a full-time housewife for 20 to 30 years, she was now the financial pillar of the entire family and had to work harder to support it.

After Kurokawa Akane finished expressing his thoughts, everyone including Kitagawa Ryo tacitly stopped trying to persuade him. After all, this was the other party's own choice, and all they could do now was to support and encourage him.

Beichuan Liang looked at the girl in front of him with red eyes but a determined expression, as if she had suddenly grown up overnight, and he felt mixed emotions.

Although he had long known that it was an impossible delusion, he had really hoped sincerely that Kurokawa Akane could always maintain that carefree attitude, learn acting, which he was interested in and talented in, with the support of his family, and live happily forever.

Because this was the miracle he had been expecting, but it had never happened to him, Ai, or Kana.

Tragedy on stage is always wonderful, but if it really happens in real life, it will only make people feel hard to accept.

-------------------------------------

"A missing father, a cowardly and paranoid mother, a friend who used to be close but lost contact and then reunited, and a teacher who once taught me who I suddenly met."

This is the character framework of the heroine "Sachiko" that was finally presented to Kitagawa Ryo.

It is already April in early spring. Time will always temporarily cover up the scars of the past. After experiencing a family change a month ago, Kurokawa Akane did not become depressed. He quickly regained his form after a short period of adjustment. Except that his temperament is more taciturn than before, he still maintains a high degree of enthusiasm and concentration on acting.

This even makes Kitagawa Ryo sometimes suspect that the current Kurokawa Akane might be the same as she was a child a few years ago, except that she has moved her place of escape from the kitchen to the filming set, and changed the object from cooking to acting.

The second audition competition between Kurokawa Akane and Arima Kana after "Tomorrow, Mom and Dad Are Away" also kicked off against this background.

Kitagawa Ryo was still flipping through the completed script. Although Gotanda Yasushi had joked in the bar at that time that he would give him a supporting role, it was just an obvious joke. No matter what the considerations were, even if it was just to get more sponsorship, Gotanda Yasushi would give him the role of the male protagonist 'Ogata Satoshi' without hesitation.

Because he had decided from the beginning to have Kana Arima and Akane Kurokawa play the roles, when he was initially designing the script, Yasushi Gotanda constructed a dual-female lead model. The leading female character 'Sachiko' and the second female character 'Natsuko' actually did not have much difference in their roles, the former was his student and the latter was his daughter.

All I can say is that Gotanda Yasushi seems to still be obsessed with "Tomorrow". After noticing that Kitagawa Ryo can now play the role of a father skillfully and has received rave reviews, he immediately assigned him this role.

After reading all the scripts for the first few episodes, Kitagawa Ryo raised his eyes, only to meet the eyes of Kurokawa Akane, who was sitting quietly opposite him waiting for the audition to officially begin.

Unlike Kana Arima's sharp and bright burgundy eyes, Akane Kurokawa's pupils are a calmer dark tone, a bluish-purple color that is almost the same as Ai's.

She seemed to have started performing as Sachiko, but also seemed to be still sitting here quietly as Kurokawa Akane.

Facing Kitagawa Ryo's gaze, Kurokawa Akane suddenly remembered the last part of the last episode of "Tomorrow" which he had watched countless times.

She seemed to be preparing for the role during the audition, or she seemed to be simply comforting herself.

It was this kind of Kurokawa Akane that made Kitagawa Ryo vaguely remember the image of 'Sachiko' that he had imagined in the car before:

The feigned maturity of growing up beyond one’s age shows a kind of delicate soul supporting a huge but empty shell, a delicate sense of fragility that seems to collapse in the next second, a warm and dull feeling full of mysterious atmosphere, clean but hard to see through eyes that seem to have an inorganic feeling, an underdeveloped feeling that only belongs to a fourteen-year-old girl, and most importantly -

At this moment, the imbalance and foreignness of physical age and mental age begin to appear.

Chapter 35: Too Deep Into the Play

"Sorry, something delayed me for a while."

After a while, Arima Kana pushed open the door of the conference room with an apologetic look on her face.

"It's okay. Gotanda hasn't arrived yet. Kana, please take a seat first."

Taking this opportunity, Kitagawa Ryo naturally shifted his gaze away from Kurokawa Akane's face. After taking a look at the time on his mobile phone, he smiled and invited Kana to sit opposite him, next to Akane.

As soon as Arima Kana came in, Gotanda Yasushi hurriedly followed in. He pushed the door open with sweat on his forehead. When he saw the three people sitting neatly, he scratched the back of his head a little embarrassedly:

"Sorry, sorry, I overslept and rode my bike all the way here."

"... In this case, you didn't choose a taxi?"

Beichuan Liang supported his chin and sighed helplessly:

"It's a sad topic indeed that single people in their 40s are still short of money."

"My money is kept by my mom, and I'm not even a few minutes late."

Gotanda Yasushi hummed a few words, pulled out a chair and sat next to him. As if to quickly skip this topic, he immediately got into work mode. He took out the final version of the script from his briefcase, tapped it on the table seriously, cleared his throat and coughed, and then spoke again:

"Now that everyone is here, the audition can officially begin."

But what Gotanda Yasushi didn't expect was that just as he said this, Kana Arima, who was sitting opposite him, shook her head: