They all pushed me!

Katsunari Kaburagi, sitting on the judges' panel, stroked the neat stubble on his chin and quickly gave his judgment. This trait is not the only one, in fact, Akane Kurokawa and Kana Arima have the same trait. In the final analysis, this is actually a star trait that attracts attention from the outside world with appearance and temperament. As a former super popular idol, Kitagawa Rumi naturally possesses this trait. Moreover, at the end of her idol career, she has grown up slowly and can already show it to the outside world skillfully, capturing the public's attention like a whirlpool of gravity.

Frankly speaking, Kitagawa Rumi's performance so far has actually put her among the top three actors who auditioned for the role of Shoji today.

The first step is that she does have the most basic skills as an actor. Here we have to eliminate a group of flat models who were stuffed in by sponsors and have nothing to offer except their faces and figures and have no acting experience at all.

The second step is to have an appearance that does not feel out of place in a 2.5 dimensional project. Although it sounds funny, some actors' looks are not suitable for this type of project. Kitagawa Rumi not only passed the test perfectly, but she even had a similarity in her eyebrows and eyes with the character of Shoji.

The third step is the star quality of being able to act with Kitagawa Ryo without having all the attention stolen from him. Although many actors who auditioned this afternoon were able to meet the requirements of the first two steps, various problems always occurred when acting opposite Kitagawa Ryo. This is without an audience, which makes people feel uneasy. After all, this is a genuine ensemble drama, not a project in which everyone serves to highlight Kitagawa Ryo's male lead.

But the cruelest thing about the audition is that the winner takes all. Third or even second place is meaningless. In the end only one person can get the role. As of now, Kurokawa Akane will still have a higher priority than Kitagawa Rumi.

Similarly, although Kaminari Sumiaki was a little surprised by Kitagawa Rumi's acting skills, he still calmly made his own judgment. He turned his head slightly and glanced at Kaminari Katsuya who was sitting next to him, intending to tease Kaminari that he had made a mistake. He saw him leaning back slightly in his chair leisurely, slowly revealing a rather mysterious smile.

He still remembered what the other party said at the drinking party. The reason for being optimistic about Kitagawa Rumi was because the CP feeling between her and Kitagawa Ryo was better than that between Kurokawa Akane and Arima Kana. But CP feeling was ultimately just a rather vague concept...

"But since you didn't bring a sword, I won't use one either."

Just as Lei Tian Chengzhang was in a trance, Beichuan Liang in the field put away the sword again, put it behind his back, and quickly approached. The hand without the sword almost instantly pinched Rumi's chin and cheek:

"What do you mean by let me see your growth? We didn't even know each other before, right?"

When seeing this scene, Raita Sumiaki felt that his heartbeat almost stopped for a beat. The CP feeling that he originally felt was a bit empty and undefined suddenly had a clear definition at this moment. His current mood can be summed up by an emoticon package on the Internet:

So, did they do it later?

"If you are really the leader of the Shibuya Group, it feels like that place will become our Shinjuku territory tomorrow, with your body at this level."

As Kitagawa Ryo said this, he pinched his sister's cheek a little harder, and then let go of her hand as she struggled to get away. He looked at Rumi, who seemed to have suffered a great humiliation, and swung his right hand to his side indifferently, turning his head casually:

"See you on the day of the decisive battle. Today doesn't count. Well... I'm still looking forward to our official fight."

However, Kitagawa Rumi did not answer his question directly at the first time. She just stared at the sword held behind her back with her hands behind her back as if she had noticed some details:

"Your sword, has no sheath?"

"No need for that. If anything, I am its sheath."

"Who is your sheath then? The brainless violent lunatic outside?"

"I don't need that either."

Kitagawa Ryo distanced himself from Rumi and held the sword in his hand across in front of him. His eyes were as cold and clear as the sword's blade that was shining coldly under the light. He gave Rumi the coldest and most indifferent look.

This is the material that has appeared in Kitagawa Rumi's nightmares countless times. It was the scene she saw when she met Kitagawa Ryo again in the delivery room after her reincarnation. It almost instantly overwhelmed her joy and confusion after her reincarnation, making her at that time really cry hysterically like a newborn baby.

"If that's really the case, you should be the only one, and those companions outside wouldn't even exist."

"maybe."

Although the audience generally does not notice such subtle changes in eyes and expressions, Beichuan Ryo still did it seriously. When the other party mentioned his companion, he showed a little smile which was barely perceptible, but immediately restrained it. The warmth in his eyes was like a snowflake falling on a red stove and was burned away in an instant.

This is still what Kitagawa Rumi has seen.

When she had just been staying at the Kitagawa family and met him again when she was just a few months old, Kitagawa Ryo, at the request of his stepmother, posed for a photo of him kissing her cheek in order to show a harmonious family relationship and pave the way for her future debut as a child star. That was also the first time she truly learned about Kitagawa Ryo's true situation in the Kitagawa family at that time.

But in fact, in recent years, Kitagawa Rumi, who has already gained happiness with her brother, has a new and different perspective on the situation at that time.

Although she loved love and was grateful that love recognized and understood the complicated relationship between her and Kitagawa Ryo, on some sleepless nights, especially after Hotaru was born - the name she had thought of before was used up by two people without their knowledge, Kitagawa Rumi had imagined many times another possible world line.

If she had confessed everything to him at that time, when she had just been reincarnated and the relationship between Kitagawa Ryo and Hoshino Ai had not yet become close...

Kitagawa Rumi suddenly waved her hand at him and bit her lips so hard that they were almost turning white:

"Actually, I am——"

But just like in reality, this is something that cannot be said out loud, because in the original plot, the remaining members of the Shibuya Group who discovered that their leader was missing have found this side and had a fierce conflict with the outside personnel, once again reminding them that the two of them now have an irreversible hostile relationship.

"…My current name is Blade."

She is telling a sword that her name is Scabbard.

The worries and disappointments of love are vividly reflected in every detail of expression and action. Kitagawa Rumi's instantly flickering pupils and the lines that she forced herself to speak combine at this moment, tightly gripping the hearts of every audience member.

Her eyes were dead, with deep black emotions dwelling there, flashing with the momentary scene of a black hole swallowing up the stars:

"Let the war begin."

Chapter 4: Everyone has a bright future (5k)

After Kitagawa Rumi's audition ended, the whole audience also fell into silence, but it was different from the silence caused by Kurokawa Akane just now. If the previous silence was because everyone was immersed in Kurokawa Akane's performance for a long time and couldn't come back to their senses, still replaying it over and over again in their minds, slowly savoring the aftertaste, the reason for the silence this time was simpler and more brutal, because everyone's brains had gone blank to the point where they were unable to think or function.

All rational judgments about acting, such as dialogue skills, physical performance, etc. were thrown behind the head, and all emotional things occupied all thoughts. At the beginning, I was still wondering if I was trying too hard or my performance was too exaggerated.

But as time went on, these thoughts disappeared. All their thoughts and vision were led by the other party. They were almost forcefully pulled from the judges' position to the audience's side by Kitagawa Rumi's performance, and their attitude unconsciously changed from scrutiny to anticipation for the follow-up.

Finally, it was Kaburagi Katsuya who broke the silence in the room. Although his face was still calm, a little complacency could be seen at the corners of his mouth. He asked the original author who had the most say in the room:

"Samejima Abiko-sensei, what do you think?"

"what……"

Samejima Abiko, who was called out by name, seemed to have not yet come to her senses. She opened her mouth slightly and subconsciously looked in the direction of Kaburagi Katsuya. She still looked confused, so Kaburagi Katsuya could only add another sentence considerately:

"As the original author and scriptwriter, which one do you prefer, Kitagawa Rumi's performance or Kurokawa Akane's?"

He did not even mention the other candidates who had auditioned for the role of Shoji, and directly narrowed the final field to Akane Kurokawa and Rumi Kitagawa. However, no one raised any objection. No one was blind or stupid, and everyone could see the chasm between these two and the others.

Even Coser Meiya, who had already thought of a short essay to send out after the performance, put away her thoughts at this moment. Not being a professional actor and having no acting experience, she actually didn't have any deep perception of Kurokawa Akane's audition performance. She just had a strange feeling of awe. But Kitagawa Rumi was different.

This direct and visible difference made her have no doubt that if the other party really put on the role costume of Shaoji, all the Cosers who claimed 100% restoration under lighting, photography and beauty filters, including herself, would be unemployed on the spot.

"...I need to think about it again. What about Mr. Kindaichi? As the stage director of this project, what do you think?"

Faced with Kaburagi Katsuya's second question, Samejima Abiko, who had finally become somewhat sober, shook her head thoughtfully and kicked the football back to Kindaichi Toshiro.

"Shall I speak?"

Kindaichi Toshiro, who was half-lying on the table with his chin supported by his right hand, was also slightly stunned when he heard the words. While stroking the rough stubble on his chin, he spoke to Kitagawa Rumi, who had not yet left the venue:

"As for Ruby, her emotional acting was very well used."

He subconsciously wanted to add, "Is it Liang who taught you recently?", but he swallowed the words back when they came to his lips, and continued to comment with a serious expression and calm tone:

"Just talking about this part of the audition today, personally, Ruby left me with a deeper first impression than Akane. However, since this part happens to require strong emotional acting, I'm not sure if Ruby can still consistently give such a performance."

"Would you like to say a few words about what Mr. Lei Tian said?"

Then, Kindaichi Toshiro passed the ball to Raita Sumiya cleanly.

"Me? Although I'm not a professional actor, I can see that both of them performed very well. No matter who is signed as the actress of Shaoji in the end, we, the operator, will be very satisfied."

Raita Sumiaki spoke some nonsense in a very smooth way, but he did not lie. As the operator of this project and the boss of a company with thousands of employees, he ultimately had to put commercial interests first.

From a commercial perspective, although Kurokawa Akane currently has more traffic and discussion than Kitagawa Rumi, Kitagawa Rumi is a former popular idol who graduated only two years ago, and her fan base is still quite solid. And if you want to sell a duo, the one plus one effect of the Kitagawa brothers and sisters is actually greater than two. From the show "Today's Dinner at the Kitagawa House", which has been on the air for several years and still has a large number of loyal fans, it can be seen that there is indeed an audience for Kitagawa Ryo and Rumi to co-star in a CP stage play.

Frankly speaking, Kaminari Akane has almost come up with two promotional plans in his mind. If Kurokawa Akane is elected, it will be the two of them on the same stage again after "Pests", and the seniors from two different eras who light up and support LALALAI as the best theater troupe in Tokyo will play the male and female lead for the first time, and Kurokawa Akane will win over Arima Kana in the audition again, and so on.

If Kitagawa Rumi is elected, it will be the first time that the Kitagawa siblings will play CP roles on the same stage. With some supporting publicity such as "She actually defeated Kurokawa Akane and Arima Kana at the same time" and "From idol to actor, can she replicate the successful path of love?", the popularity will definitely not be bad.

All I can say is that it was the right decision to desperately grab the project of the "Tokyo BLADE" 2.5-dimensional stage play. Although it has only reached the stage of finalizing the cast, the current popularity and traffic have already made Kaminari Sumiaki feel satisfied.

Before coming here, who would have thought that I would have the opportunity to watch so many popular dramas, including but not limited to brother and sister acting together on the same stage and the competition between Arima and Kurokawa?

Just taking a quick look, it seems that the discussion and popularity of this topic will not be low in the future.

After finishing his ambiguous words, Kabuki Katsuya looked at Kaminari Sumiaki, who was contentedly leaning back on his chair. As if he had guessed what he was thinking, he shook his head and smiled, then turned his gaze to Kitagawa Ryo in the arena:

"What about Liang? You've acted opposite both of them. Do you have any different feelings?"

"Just like what Mr. Raita said, Ruby and Akane both performed very well in their performance and interpretation of the role of Shoji, but because the audition clip was too short, we couldn't really see much. In this regard, Uncle Min and I agree that Akane is better in overall coordination, while Ruby is better in instant emotional outbursts."

Kitagawa Ryo replied calmly, as if he was not surprised that Kaburagi Masaru would ask him about this. He just wanted to complain that this was just a disguised way of asking "Whether it is more fun to act with her or to act with her".

After Kitagawa Ryo gave his opinion after careful consideration, Samejima Abiko seemed to have gotten over her tangled mood a little, but when she actually spoke the words out loud, her grammar and words became fragmented:

"Hmm... Both are good, yes, Ruby and Akane, about Shoji..."

Samejima Abiko twisted her hands together and twisted them back and forth, muttering to herself in a somewhat restless manner in her seat, obviously unable to make a final decision right away.

In a sense, Samejima Abiko deeply realized the meaning of what the senior cartoonists in the industry said, "It's actually more exciting to see your work adapted into a live-action version than an animation." However, compared to most of her seniors who were only excited for a short while before being shattered by the harsh reality, this should be considered a happy trouble.

Kitagawa Ryo x Kurokawa Akane? Or Kitagawa Ryo x Kitagawa Rumi?

She had already been vaguely leaning towards Akane Kurokawa, but Kitagawa Rumi's performance just now also made her excited. Samejima Abiko was sure that if the audition for Shoji this afternoon was still the same as the audition for other roles in the morning, in the form of solo performances by the actors, she should be able to decide on Akane Kurokawa without hesitation.

But the format just happened to be co-acting and acting against Kitagawa Ryo, and this request was even first proposed by her during the dinner for two that day. She originally just wanted to see Kitagawa Ryo's official look of BLADE as soon as possible, but ended up adding a buff to Rumi.

As the hottest CP in the entire comic in the early stage, Samejima Abiko also put a lot of effort into the emotional line between BLADE and Shojime when she started writing, and invested unparalleled enthusiasm in depicting it, from the foreshadowing and introduction in the 'Prologue', to the reunion and outbreak in the second chapter 'Shibuya Struggle', and then to the side-by-side fighting in the third chapter 'BLADE Siege', the emotional line between the two has always been one of the very important hidden lines accompanying the main line.

Simply put, the compatibility between the actor who plays Shoji and Beichuan Liang was one of the most important criteria in her mind.

The fact is that when love is not on the stage, Rumi and Ryo are the most compatible, and the somewhat exaggerated acting skills deliberately displayed by the other party are, in a sense, consistent with the intense plot tone of the second chapter of the original work adapted from this stage play project, "Shibuya Struggle". This plot is indeed the period when the character of Shoji has the most intense emotional fluctuations in the early and middle stages.

In contrast to Shoji who spent the entire two years focusing only on training during this period, Kurokawa Akane's overall performance was much better, and her understanding of Shoji was more comprehensive and specific. This could be seen from the astonishingly long biography of Shoji that she had compiled in the past year and a half.

Thinking of this, Samejima Abiko also stood up from her seat, took a few deep breaths under the gaze of the whole audience, and glanced at Kitagawa Rumi in the field, and looked directly at Kurokawa Akane in the audience, calling out her name:

"Red Sound."

"Well, I'm here."

Upon hearing that, Kurokawa Akane stood up from his seat and looked at his friend Samejima Abiko's suddenly serious expression. He suddenly felt his heart skip a beat.

Just when many people thought that the role would eventually go to Kurokawa Akane as expected, they immediately heard something completely unexpected from Samejima Abiko:

"The next project for Tokyo Blade is to make it into a live-action movie. The script has already been finalized, and we will be filming from the prologue to the end of the third chapter, Blade Siege."

"If possible, I would like you to play the role of Sheji."

She didn't say who would be the male lead, because that was the answer that everyone knew.

"I see. Thank you Mr. Abizi for your recognition and recommendation."

Kurokawa Akane was a little stunned by Samejima Abiko's sudden request, but she immediately agreed with a smile. Although she knew that this also meant that the role of Shoji in this stage play would fall to Kitagawa Rumi, she really didn't have any negative feelings such as regrets in her heart.

After all, compared to the rehearsal and performance time combined of only three months, and the stage play planning that takes no more than half a year including the additional tour, the time from filming to release of a live-action movie is undoubtedly much longer, and it will also be interspersed with promotional activities that require the actors to attend. What's more, it is a work that will be released in theaters and on the big screen for more audiences to see.

"In that case, the selection of the actress for the Tokyo BLADE stage play will be left to Ruby."

After Kurokawa Akane nodded in agreement, Samejima Abiko turned her attention to Kitagawa Rumi again. She was also somewhat touched that her best friend had improved her understanding of Shoji from a superficial level to what it is today in the past two years. Now that the dust has settled, she finally stopped frowning and spoke frankly with words of praise:

"The cooperation with Liang is simply amazing. I didn't expect to be able to present such an effect. It's simply extraordinary..."

Because she knew the true relationship between the two, Samejima Abiko, who almost said that the two were a perfect match, quickly covered her mouth:

“It couldn’t be more appropriate.”

"Well, thank you Mr. Abizi for recognizing me. I will definitely work harder during the rehearsal and official performance."

Seeing his sister finally showing her usual smile, politely bowing to the judges and actors around her, and almost skipping back to the audience, Kitagawa Ryo himself breathed a sigh of relief.

In his opinion, Samejima Abiko's final handling method was relatively safe, and Kurokawa Akane and Kitagawa Rumi both got what they wanted, but Arima Kana was not taken care of much.

Let's go talk to Kana when today's audition is over.

After the candidate for Shaoji was confirmed, Beichuan Ryo, who had returned to his free time, also held the same idea and slowly went upstairs to change his clothes again.

However, when he washed off his makeup and came out of the bathroom again, the audition had officially ended. Actors walked out of the practice room in groups of three or four, talking and laughing as they discussed what they had seen and heard today.

Standing on tiptoe and looking around the room, Kitagawa Ryo finally spotted Kana Arima, but she seemed to be talking to someone else. After walking a little closer, she saw that the people she was chatting with were Samejima Abiko and Kichijoji Raiko. The latter was slightly bent over and handed her her business card nervously.

"If possible, I would love to have Ms. Maganai star in my work "A Little Sweeter Today"!"

Samejima Abiko was also there, helping her assistant to speak with reason and evidence:

"Kana should also know that Liang's agency has been investing in online TV stations and shooting online dramas recently. The theme of youth love like "A Little Sweeter Today" is very suitable for this low-cost and high-return online drama model. After Kana agrees, we will talk to Liang together and ask him to be the male lead again. We will say that it is for the agency's pilot and experiment in the online drama market. Although Liang is indeed older, it should be no problem for him to pretend to be a high school student..."

Before she finished speaking, Beichuan Liang smiled and gently pressed her shoulders from behind:

"Ok?"

"—?"

Samejima Abiko, who was talking excitedly, was almost frightened to the point of crouching on the spot with her head in her hands, which made Kitagawa Ryo shake his head and laugh.

"Ahem, I was just joking just now. Liang probably didn't hear it, right?"

After a long while, Samejima Abiko finally stood up again, trembling.

“I heard it. All of it.”

Beichuan Liang reached out his hand and patted her head lightly in annoyance:

"I've only been on leave for a short time, and you're in such a hurry to assign me work."

Hearing Beichuan Liang say this, Arima Kana, who was originally quite tempted, pursed her lips. Just as she was about to bring up the topic with a joke like before, she heard his voice again:

"But if Kana is really willing to play the leading role--"