They all pushed me!

As soon as Kindaichi Toshiro said this, Kitagawa Rumi's gaze turned to Arima Kana and Kurokawa Akane. With a cautious and tentative tone, she hesitantly asked her two good friends:

"Um...Akane and Kana, are you, uh, interested in the role of Shoji?"

Both Arimaka and Akane Kurokawa have read the original work of "Tokyo BLADE", and even have all the volumes released so far on their bookshelves at home. As for Kurokawa Akane, after all, the manga itself was drawn by her good friend Samejima Abiko. Whether she wants to support her friend's dream or simply wants to naturally bring up and take over related topics in daily conversations, she has always been following "Tokyo BLADE".

Arima Kana's reason was even simpler. She had a hobby of reading comics. After all, if you live alone at home, you always have to learn to entertain yourself. "Tokyo BLADE" is the hottest and most talked-about comic nowadays. There is also the off-field factor that the author personally certified that the protagonist is based on Kitagawa Ryo. Even out of love for the author, she has also been following the new girl's manga "A Little Sweeter Today" by Kichijoji Raiko, the comic assistant of Samejima Abiko, which is also very much to her taste.

Therefore, no matter for Kana Arima or Akane Kurokawa, they are not unfamiliar with the character of "Shoji" just mentioned by Toshiro Kindaichi and Rumi Kitagawa. They can even be said to be quite familiar with it. Akane Kurokawa, who has a closer relationship with Abiko Samejima, even knows that the appearance design of this character is based on Rumi.

However, neither of them answered Kitagawa Rumi's question immediately. After a moment of silence, it was Kana Arima who spoke first and changed the subject.

"Regarding the casting... Could you please explain it in more detail, Mr. Kindaichi?"

Unlike Kurokawa Akane, who was a member of the LALALAI troupe, Arima Kana, who was here for the first time, was unable to understand what Kindaichi Toshiro had just said, and asked the other party politely.

Because he had heard Kana say that she wanted to try theater before during ACE's Tokyo Dome performance. Although he had extended an olive branch to her more out of joking at that time, seeing that Arima Kana actually came to the troupe, Kindaichi Toshiro nodded and patiently explained for her:

"Well, both of you should have seen Tokyo BLADE, so you know that it is a group drama with many characters. Even since the LALALAI Theater Company started to undertake 2.5-dimensional stage plays, the scale of this time is unprecedented. And the troupe cannot fill all the gaps with members of the right age. In this case, the operator will look for producers who are familiar with the industry, which can be regarded as a kind of outsourcing, and package a group of suitable actors from them."

"And Mr. Kaminari, the head of MAGI FLOW, which has won the 2.5-dimensional stage play project of Tokyo BLADE, happens to be familiar with Kaburagi. Kaburagi and I and Ryo have known each other for nearly years. If we want to pack up, we will definitely find someone from Ryo's agency. But it can't be considered a complete favor. After all, many of the artists in Ryo's agency are also children of the LALALAI troupe, and their foundation in stage plays is definitely the strongest."

As he spoke, Kindaichi Toshiro also cast his gaze towards the thoughtful Arima Kana:

"It won't be long before the actors of the right age, including Arima, Himekawa, and Shiranui, will get the news. That's why I just said that Arima might become Ruby's rival."

"I see. Thank you for your explanation."

Arima Kana bowed slightly and thanked Kindaichi Toshiro, then looked at Kitagawa Rumi who was still looking at them eagerly, and replied with a smile:

"I quite like watching Tokyo BLADE. I think it's not bad to use the plan of this stage play as the beginning of my drama performance. As for the roles... it's useless for us to talk about it here now. Won't we still have to watch the auditions? It's entirely possible that someone will audition for the role of Shoji, but in the end, he will get the role of Kengi, Ruby."

She cleverly avoided the question and directly answered Kitagawa Rumi's question, neither confirming nor denying it. As soon as Arima Kana finished speaking, Rumi nodded reluctantly and looked at Kurokawa Akane next to her who had not answered yet.

You know, compared to Arima Kana, who has only started to get close to her recently, she and Kurokawa Akane have been friends for many years. It is precisely because of this that Kitagawa Rumi is more aware of the other's talent and hard work in drama performance. The title of 'the next Kitagawa Ryo' is not something that can be given to anyone casually.

If Kurokawa Akane were to compete with her for the role of Shoji, Kitagawa Rumi silently calculated in her mind and felt that apart from this face that could almost replicate the original character in the comics on a one-to-one basis, she seemed to have no real advantages.

"Well... well, if this role is really suitable for me, I don't really want to give it up."

Kurokawa Akane scratched her cheek lightly in distress. Frankly speaking, she really didn't want to give up the opportunity to co-star with Kitagawa Ryo, or even play a couple's role. After all, in the traditional dramas such as "Hamlet", "Macbeth" and "Oedipus Rex" that Kitagawa Ryo has performed in the troupe's tour over the years, the position of the heroine has been firmly held by Ai. It is not an exaggeration to say that she is Kitagawa Ryo's exclusive heroine in drama.

As for this "Tokyo BLADE", as Toshiro Kindaichi said, because of the subject matter of the original work, whether it is for the purpose of playing roles or attracting audiences, the actors selected must be young actors in the age group of 15, 16, or at most early twenties.

If nothing unexpected happens, Kitagawa Ryo, who is 25 or 26 years old, should be the oldest member of the entire crew by then. However, his face has always looked very young, and he is the prototype of the male protagonist BLADE, so the sense of incongruity can be minimized... On the contrary, it is almost certain that Ai Jiejie will not come to participate in this drama. After all, if you calculate the time, Ai Jiejie should have just given birth to a child at that time. Even if you only consider it from a physical perspective, you will come to the conclusion that she will not participate in "Tokyo BLADE", not to mention that there is no suitable role in it.

After all, the original work of "Tokyo BLADE" also follows the characteristics that are very consistent with Japan, and the protagonists are mostly high school students.

"Xiao Qian..."

Kitagawa Rumi was obviously a little dissatisfied with Kurokawa Akane's answer. She pouted for a long time before finally sighing with relief:

"I now understand why my brother calls Akane "Akane" and "Akaon" in different situations. This is because Akane is also an actor, the actor Kurokawa Akane."

As she spoke, she smiled as brightly as before:

"It's okay. If that's the case, then let me have a good competition with Kana and Akane. After all, the audition doesn't start tomorrow, so I still have a lot of time to practice."

After re-adjusting her mentality and attitude, Kitagawa Rumi declared confidently:

"I will win, and I will definitely get the role of Shoji from Kana and Akane."

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

When "Pests" was officially wrapped up, it was already early winter in November. The last part of the plot also takes place in winter. The overlap of seasons in and out of the play even made people feel a little dazed, as if the boundary between fantasy and reality had become blurred.

Yasushi Gotanda still likes the style of open endings and leaving blank space at the end. Just as he himself said, this film "Pests" only tells the story of that year, the year when the two girls were fourteen years old, both inside and outside the play.

This story begins before the first second of the first episode airs, and it continues after the last second of the last episode airs.

Ogata Satoshi was half threatened and half compromised and had a relationship with his former student for a whole year, which was neither long nor short. The two of them kept it a secret from everyone, including Natsuko, who was the daughter that the man cared about the most and the best friend of the woman in this abnormal "love" relationship.

It wasn't until the very end of the entire TV series that she finally learned the secret.

In her father's diary, which was written to relieve herself from the torture of the moral standards of adults and teachers, Xia Zi learned all the truth of this year. The diary is hidden under the heartwarming story of the girl who was finally healed by her long-lost friend and her hard-working single father, and was willing to leave home and go to school again, and bravely learned to adapt. It tears this reality to pieces from another perspective.

At the same time she learned the whole story, Ogata Satoshi himself was staying in a music hotel. His former student and current girlfriend had just finished taking a shower and was lying back quietly in a chair. She used her bare toes to gently plucking the spring of the record player, while he was wiping her hair with a towel. The atmosphere was quiet and silent and ambiguous.

After Kitagawa Ryo and Kurokawa Akane officially finished their performance of this scene, even Gotanda Yasushi himself couldn't help but joked that using this scene alone as material would be enough to write five short plays or even movie scripts, including Teacher-Student Love, Oedipus Complex, Lolita, The Light of Life, or The Fire of Desire. However, what Gotanda Yasushi didn't say explicitly was that if one only looked at the effect presented by Kitagawa Ryo and Kurokawa Akane in the last scene, there would be no problem using it as the cover or promotional poster of a light erotic novel, as it has plenty of sexual tension.

Ogata Satoshi and Sachiko seem to be in love, but they also seem not to be; Natsuko may report her father, but she may not; will they be together again? I don't know.

Personally, Ryo Kitagawa likes Gotanda Yasushi's style of using a raging new plot in the last two minutes of the story to inject a huge possibility into the entire plot. In fact, he had already shown this tendency when filming "Spider". Before Ryo Kitagawa revised the script, the ending of "Spider" should have been frozen in the hand of the son reaching out to the back of his mother, leaving the audience with suspense as to whether the mother was pushed down the mountain or not.

But no matter what, after more than half a year of filming, the filming of "Pest" has finally officially ended. At least in the eyes of Kitagawa Ryo, this is a TV series of even higher standard than "Tomorrow". At least he, Kana Arima and Akane Kurokawa have shown a harder side than in the filming of "Tomorrow", and have dedicated their best performances at this stage. Yasushi Gotanda, who is counting on this drama to reverse the dismal reputation caused by "Homeless Kids Season 2", also took a 120% serious attitude.

However, the official broadcast will have to wait until January next year, which is a new year.

Kitagawa Ryo did not attend the crew's usual celebration party, and Gotanda Yasushi agreed very straightforwardly, with no intention of forcing her to stay. After all, he knew that Ai was almost six months pregnant and needed care.

Akane Kurokawa and Kana Arima originally wanted to follow suit and slip away, but it would be really awkward if one of the three leading actors didn't come to the celebration party, and if only one left the other wouldn't agree, so in the end they were all caught by Yasushi Gotanda, which made Kitagawa Ryo find it a little funny.

While driving at the intersection in Akihabara and waiting for the traffic light to pass, Kitagawa Ryo looked up and saw the large external screen on the building playing the animation clips and promotional posters of "Tokyo BLADE". As an October series, it did not disappoint the expectations of the industry and Kitagawa Rumi. Although only four episodes have been aired so far, it has almost undisputedly locked up the dominant position of this quarter or this year, and further boosted the sales of the original manga, which has now exceeded the 20 million mark, successfully joining the hall of famous works.

However, all this had nothing to do with Beichuan Liang for the time being. He drove back home slowly, parked the car in the underground parking lot and then walked through the courtyard. Due to the cold weather, Ying was no longer active in the courtyard and spent most of the day dozing lazily in the warm home.

Beichuan Liang took out the key and opened the door. The warm air in the house with floor heating quickly enveloped him. He changed his shoes and walked into the living room, picking up the white cat that seemed to be asleep on the shoe cabinet. In the living room, he saw Ai slowly doing flexibility exercises for pregnant women under the bright lights.

He had already decided that after finishing this job on "Pests", he would stay with Ai until the child was born.

"I am back."

"Well, welcome back."

（Part 3，Complete）

Volume Four

Chapter 1: Grow up little by little

Seventeen months later, it was April, the beginning of spring again.

If we count the dates, this should be Kitagawa Ryo and Ai's seventh wedding anniversary, but unlike in previous years, this year the Kitagawa couple did not choose a two-week commemorative trip. In fact, this tradition that had been maintained for the past five years was interrupted last year, when Ai had just given birth to their daughter and was recuperating at home for a while.

As for this year, what interrupted the two people's planned schedule was the job that Kitagawa Ryo had booked long ago.

“I didn’t expect the Tokyo BLADE 2.5D stage play project to be delayed until now.”

Kitagawa Ryo was lying on the sofa in the living room, letting his daughter, who had just turned one year old, giggle and crawl around on his body, while reading the message sent to him by Kindaichi Toshiro on his phone.

“It’s only been a year and a half.”

Ai, who had just finished making breakfast, walked over to Beichuan Liang and took off her apron. One year after successfully giving birth to their daughter, her figure had basically returned to its original state, without any signs of being out of shape. She squatted beside him, lowered her head and teased her daughter who was clinging to Beichuan Liang's collar and refused to let go, and casually replied:

"The Tokyo Blade animation itself is a six-month series, starting in October of the year before last and ending in April of last year. Then they announced a theatrical version, which was released in January this year. It seems to have been a big hit at the box office, so it has been delayed. Now you can still see some shows in the cinema. And with the stage play starring Ryo in the second half of the year, it basically guarantees the popularity of this IP throughout the year. I dare not imagine how much money Abiko has in her bank account now."

At this point, Ai also counted on his fingers and complained:

"The original manga has sold over 55 million copies. Although she is a manga artist, if we really talk about popularity and fame, I feel that she is the one with the highest reputation among the three ACE graduates. Even her assistant, Kichijoji's "Today's a Little Sweeter" became a little popular. Although this book is indeed quite good, I remember that Ruby and Kana both liked it very much."

Beichuan Liang listened to Ai's words and nodded slightly. He stretched out his hand to lift his daughter up high. Looking at her little face, he unconsciously raised the corners of his mouth. But when Rumi's name appeared, he couldn't help but sigh:

"To be honest, Ruby is the one who has the most difficult transition among the three members of ACE. But it's not surprising. Abi has had a talent for comics since she was a child. When MEM was an idol, she was the one with the best live broadcast effect in the group. She has also been managing and operating her own personal channel... As for Ruby, I suddenly remembered that when I took her to the set when she was a child, Taizhi said that with her intelligence, she could definitely debut as a child star. Now that I think about it, it's actually just a welfare stage for reincarnated people."

"Ryo doesn't need to be so harsh on Ruby. After all, being an actor is a profession that is difficult to master quickly. Moreover, Ruby is starting from scratch, and there is absolutely no problem with her attitude."

Kitagawa Ryo just curled his lips when he heard this, but he didn't mean to refute. Although Rumi hasn't had any representative works to speak of in the nearly two years since she graduated from her idol career, and the supporting roles or extras she occasionally played are also mediocre, he really can't find any fault with her attitude. She reports to the LALALAI troupe on time almost every day, and it is common for her to practice all day long.

"As for Ruby, it may be that she really hasn't gotten over the mindset of being an idol. There's no problem with her acting ability, whether it's on variety shows or shooting short pieces like commercials and music videos, but when it comes to actually acting, all kinds of problems arise."

"But it is indeed making progress, so let's take it slow."

After making a few subtle complaints, Beichuan Liang lowered his eyes and tried to make up for his sister:

"But Ruby has spent the longest time preparing for the role of Shoji, and she has innate advantages. So, let's just believe it first before we question it."

As he said this, Beichuan Liang carefully held his daughter in his arms, stretched out a finger for her to wrap around with her two little arms, then stood up and coaxed softly:

"Let's go, let's go have breakfast with mom and dad, Hotaru."

As soon as he opened his mouth, another firefly that was lying on the shoe cabinet at the entrance immediately pricked up its ears, jumped down in three or two steps briskly, and followed closely at Beichuan Ryo's feet, stretching out its two front paws to tug at his trouser legs.

"Sure enough, it turned out like this in the end."

Ai looked at the familiar scene in front of her and just shook her head in amusement and helplessness. Although she had joked before when she was just pregnant that if she named her possible daughter Ying, maybe when she called out her name, she would see two small creatures coming together, she didn't expect that it would be exactly the same.

However, the two of them did not think of changing their daughter's name. After all, according to the many years of experience of Goro Amemiya, chief physician of obstetrics and gynecology, babies will have the ability to recognize their own names when they are six to seven months old. Now that Hotaru is one year old, she has basically determined that she is Hotaru. She will have obvious reactions and interactions when her name is called. It would be more troublesome to change her name.

Frankly speaking, due to the precedent between himself and Kitagawa Rumi, Kitagawa Ryo had actually considered the possibility that his daughter was also a reincarnation. However, after several sudden attempts only resulted in a response of innocent eyes from the other party, he gave up the idea.

"Papa——"

This human cub, whose name was officially registered as Kitagawa Hotaru, was still vaguely learning the single-byte name, and Ai couldn't help but come up and scratch her pink cheek again.

"mama——"

She giggled again.

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

Kitagawa Ryo's personal agency has developed at an astonishing speed in the past two years. On the one hand, he has a thorough idea and aims to achieve the status of Johnny & Associates in the circle in the past, and he is more attentive to the management. On the other hand, the group of newcomers he signed at the beginning have slowly begun to shine after training. Whether it is Himekawa Daiki and Mita Noriyoshi from the LALALAI troupe, or the talented Shiranui Fulilu, they have almost all served as the leading actors in a popular TV series of the season in the past two years, and their popularity is rising rapidly.

Kana Arimaka and Akane Kurokawa, who were originally the top artists of the agency, have not fallen behind much in the past two years. Each of them has representative works in TV series or movies that have won both box office and reputation, and are moving step by step towards the goal of becoming the best actress in the country.

However, compared with the increasingly popular artists under his company, Kitagawa Ryo has been a bit quiet in the past year or so, especially compared with his annual output in the first 20 years of his career. It can be said that after the end of "Pests" broadcast in January last year, he has hardly participated in any serious starring work, which caused quite a bit of discussion at the time. It was not until the two announced the news after Ai successfully gave birth to a child that the public's doubts were answered.

Although it was a bit subtle, the news that Kitagawa Ryo might retire from acting that suddenly came out at that time has boosted the popularity of "Pest" to some extent. Although this TV series sparked a huge amount of discussion on the Internet as soon as it was aired due to its highly topical plot and starring lineup, after all, who would object to more popularity, especially the director Yasushi Gotanda who hoped to use this drama to justify himself.

Of course, he did it. After winning the ratings championship of the quarter and a series of awards at the annual Academy Awards including Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay, the blame for the second season of "Homeless Kids" has been completely separated by Yasushi Gotanda himself and his fans. Now he is recognized as the undisputed number one director of the Mesozoic era.

Just as Beichuan Ryo was sitting in the president's office contemplating the company's business during this period, the door of the office was suddenly pushed open. After hearing the sound, he did not even raise his head and casually said:

"Kana, sit down first."

"Hmm? How did Senior Liang know it was me?"

After hearing the familiar voice, Beichuan Liang also put down the mouse in his hand, leaned back slightly in the comfortable office chair, closed his eyes as if taking a nap, and gently rubbed his eyebrows with the tip of his right index finger:

"Isn't Kana the only one in the entire company who can enter my office without knocking?"

"Ruby never knocks on the door, okay—"

Arima Kana's voice came closer and closer. When Beichuan Liang opened his eyes again, the other party's pretty face was already in front of him. Her wine-red eyes blinked and she stretched out her tone in an exaggerated manner:

"And every time, she would just sit on Liang-senpai's lap."

"Ruby has to spend twelve hours out of twenty-four in the LALALAI Troupe now, especially at this time."

Seeing Arima Kana eager to sit on his lap, Beichuan Ryo pretended to straighten up, slid his office chair forward, crossed his legs and stuffed them under the desk, propped up his chin and looked at Arima Kana and said:

"Kana should also know that the Tokyo BLADE stage play project has officially begun. I asked all the agents to pass on this news yesterday."

Compared to two years ago, the now sixteen-year-old Arima Kana has obviously grown taller, but at 1.51 meters she is still quite small. Fortunately, the hat on her head holds up a bit more, and Kitagawa Ryo is now sitting, so the height difference between the two is not too obvious.

However, there are indeed signs of growth. At least the childishness on her face is much less than before. Although she still looks like a lolita, at least she is no longer able to carry a backpack and play the role of an elementary school student. She has barely evolved to the level of a junior high school student.

By the way, her bangs are combed quite neatly today, which makes her even cuter.

"Of course I know. Sister Mita told me last night, although the character she suggested to me was Jian Yi."

At this point, Arima Kana curled her lips, half-lying on Beichuan Ryo's desk and slightly tilting her head towards him:

"Ryo-senpai, do you think I'm more suitable for this role?"

"You have to try to know, but I can understand why Ms. Oden recommended this role to Kana. After all, the appearance is quite suitable, such as hair color and hairstyle, and Kengi has been very popular recently, and he has a lot of roles in the 'Shibuya Fight' corresponding to this stage play."

"If we only look at the appearance design, then no one would have to compete with Ruby for the position of Scabbard Princess."

Seemingly a little dissatisfied with Kitagawa Ryo's answer, Arima Kana leaned forward again and rested her chin on the back of Kitagawa Ryo's right hand on the table, looking very troubled:

"But the only thing that makes me a little excited is that Jian Yi and BLADE are a good couple these days."

Different from the situation two years ago when Shoji was the only one in the market, as a long-running manga that has been serialized for nearly four years, "Tokyo BLADE" has published nearly thirty volumes of single books. With the expansion of the story stage, the increase in the number of characters, and the sudden surge in the number of viewers in the past two years, more and more CPs have also welcomed their respective fans.

In fact, at this point, it is no longer something that Samejima Abiko can control. She is just drawing according to the outline she had thought of long ago. Which CP the readers are willing to support has nothing to do with her. Just like Kitagawa Ryo said to Ai before, after really entering the middle and late stages of serialization, Samejima Abiko is no longer affected by outside public opinion, even the opinion of her best friend Kitagawa Rumi.

As soon as Arima Kana finished her words, she and Kitagawa Ryo heard a soft but clear knock on the door. They immediately stood up straight, walked to the guest sofa in the office and sat down, then made an OK gesture to Kitagawa Ryo.

"Please come in."

As Kitagawa Ryo finished speaking, the office door was pushed open again. As soon as the visitor appeared, he saw Arima Kana sitting upright on the sofa pretending to drink tea, and said in surprise:

"So Kana is here too."

"What? It's Chi Yin."

After seeing that the visitor turned out to be Kurokawa Akane, Arima Kana suddenly felt bored and put down the tea in her hand. She lay back a little, stretched out her hands to support the edge of the sofa cushion, raised her chin towards her, and spoke casually: