They all pushed me!

Frankly speaking, Kitagawa Ryo, who has been practicing kendo since childhood and has starred in many Taiga dramas with martial arts scenes, actually really wants to complain about the action design of Samejima Abiko in the battle in the original manga. It can only be said that it is full of strange ideas unique to amateur cartoonists.

Anyway, when I was in doubt, I would just solve it with storyboards. For example, in one scene I threw the sword into the sky, and in the next scene I held the sword steadily in my hand. The audience exclaimed that it was cool. There were so many moves that the action director and actors called incredible. In the end, Kitagawa Ryo was forced to take on some of the work of the action director himself. After actively communicating with Samejima Abiko, he improved and adjusted some of the moves that were basically impossible to replicate in three-dimensional stage plays.

"Of course, this will require MEM to practice an extra set of moves."

"It doesn't matter. I think Senior Liang's suggestion is very good."

Because he still remembered what Kurokawa Akane said, MEM啾 first glanced at Samejima Abiko and Kindaichi Toshiro, and only agreed after seeing that neither of them reacted.

"Then - come on."

After giving MEM啾 another encouraging gesture, Kitagawa Ryo ended this short break and walked back to the group of actors to start rehearsing for the next plot.

In fact, before officially seeing MEM啾 today, Kitagawa Ryo was a little bit surprised that the other party would choose to come here to participate. After all, MEM啾's live broadcast career has developed very well in the past two years, and he had previously given the other party the exclusive right to reveal information. With the current popularity of "Tokyo BLADE" and their several leading actors on the Internet, this is definitely a huge amount of traffic, but the other party still came here as a newcomer.

The answer to this question…

Maybe he knows it too.

Chapter 18: Also Like

The fifth day of official rehearsal for the stage play "Tokyo BLADE".

Although Kitagawa Ryo and Rumi had predicted that the rehearsal time would be one and a half months, due to various factors, the rehearsal time left for the actors was reduced to only one month. In the end, they had no choice but to increase the length of rehearsal time each day, gathering around noon and disbanding in the evening, with a rehearsal time of about eight hours a day.

However, since many actors had very tight schedules, apart from the first day of the meeting, there were cases where actors were unable to arrive on time starting from the second day. Fortunately, several leading actors including Kitagawa Ryo, Kitagawa Rumi and Arima Kana deliberately reserved sufficient time for this project and were basically able to maintain a full attendance frequency. After the troupe's professional stand-in actors were recruited to replace the actors who were temporarily unable to attend, they were able to barely keep up with the pre-determined schedule.

What makes Kitagawa Ryo feel gratified is that the actors selected to participate in this project are all those with a strong sense of responsibility. For example, actors like Himekawa Daiki, who is also filming another TV series, always choose to practice extra time to make up for the missed time and progress every time they are forced to arrive late. Kitagawa Ryo himself sometimes also takes the initiative to stay and practice with these actors until a later time.

Like tonight, he took the initiative to extend the time, patiently standing by the sidelines and explaining some of his own experiences to Himekawa Daiki who was late again and stayed to practice, MEM who had practiced one more set of moves than everyone else, and Rumi who left with him every day:

"This is different from traditional kendo. The purpose of the moves is to make the audience feel exciting or cool, just like the sound of swords being struck in the game Sekiro. The stage sound system will deliberately amplify the sound of the collision between the prop swords. This is also the reason why there are more blocking moves than dodging moves in the action scenes of this stage play. In other words, except for the final kill, all your previous moves are essentially aimed at the opponent's weapon."

As he spoke, Kitagawa Ryo looked at Himekawa Daiki, who was not wearing glasses at the moment, and made a serious suggestion:

"I say, Himekawa, why don't you just get a pair of contact lenses? I think this is safer. It always feels a bit dangerous."

Daiki Himekawa is very nearsighted and usually wears glasses. However, the character he plays in the play this time, Toki, is not a character who wears glasses, so he certainly won't be able to wear glasses when he goes on stage. That is why Daiki Himekawa takes off his glasses during rehearsal starting from the first day of formal rehearsal.

Although he wasn't to the point where he couldn't tell the difference between humans and animals when he was five meters away from his glasses, and his pupils and eyes didn't have any astigmatism that made them difficult to focus, Kitagawa Ryo still sincerely advised him to get a pair of contact lenses. After all, he was really afraid that this supernova from his own agency might fail to see the other person's movements clearly during rehearsals or official performances and get into trouble.

To be honest, the LALALAI Theater is also a veteran in 2.5-dimensional stage plays. This rich experience is not only reflected in the actors and stage equipment, but also in the logistics such as costumes and makeup, which are all unique in the industry. This time's "Tokyo BLADE" is no exception. The weapons of each character are restored and reproduced as much as possible from the original work, in order to better create a sense of reality (and also to facilitate selling them as peripherals after the end of this project). Except for the lack of blades, the weight and material are impeccable, and there is still some lethality.

"Don't worry about the movements, Liang. I can see them clearly. Although I can't really tell the expression, it doesn't matter."

In response to Kitagawa Ryo's suggestion, Himekawa Daiki just shook his head. What he said naturally surprised the new actor MEM啾, who asked in surprise:

“I can’t clearly see the expressions of the actors I’m acting opposite… Does that mean it has no impact?”

"For me, actors can communicate with each other just through actions. Compared with facial expressions and demeanor, I pay more attention to lines and body language. And, after all, the format of stage plays and TV dramas is different. Audiences who are a little further away can't see your expressions. No matter how meticulous you are, it's like winking at a blind man."

Himekawa Daiki answered casually, then asked MEM with interest:

"If you think it's important to see facial expressions, then what's your reason?"

"This one……"

Because she had never expected the other party to ask her this question, MEM, who had just started performing, was unable to answer for a while. In the end, Kitagawa Rumi, who was next to her, spoke up to help her out:

"For me, it's probably because of the sense of security and involvement."

Seeing that the other three people were looking at her, Kitagawa Rumi raised her lips and spoke her thoughts openly:

"Although performances are indeed for the audience, isn't there a saying that 'if the actors themselves don't enjoy the performance, then the audience won't like it either'? For the actors on stage, the most immediate positive and negative feedback from the outside world is the applause and exclamations from the audience, but if you pursue this aspect too much, it will cause internal mental exhaustion. Xiao Qian encountered this situation when she just became famous as a children's drama actor."

"So in my opinion, actors on stage should find a new channel of positive feedback that suits them best, to relieve themselves, or to please themselves, in addition to the positive feedback given by the audience. For me, this is the expression shown by the actor who plays opposite me."

Speaking of this, Kitagawa Rumi smiled a little embarrassedly:

"Himekawa-senpai, don't you always feel that when I act with you, I'm not as good as when I act with my brother? Maybe it's because I can't see the real-time expression feedback on Himekawa-senpai's face, but my brother will pay attention to this aspect. On the one hand, it makes me feel at ease when I feel that I'm acting well, and on the other hand, it also allows me to better substitute for the role."

Beichuan Liang was quite pleased that his sister could say such a long string of words that sounded reasonable and well-founded. He immediately clapped his hands in cooperation and said to Himekawa Daiki:

"How about it? How about trying a pair of contact lenses first to see the effect?"

As if convinced by the siblings' verbal attacks, Himekawa Daiki sighed helplessly and replied listlessly:

"Okay, I'll go check out the relevant stores tonight... Never mind, I'll look for them now, I feel like they'll be closed if I'm any later."

After checking the time on his phone, Himekawa Daiki hesitated for a moment before taking the bag on the ground next to him. He yawned and waved to the three people:

"I'm leaving now. If things go well, I'll try to show you the results tomorrow. Anyway, I don't think it's useful, and contact lenses sound scary."

After Himekawa Daiki left, there were only three people left in the practice room: the Kitagawa siblings and MEM啾. Since they were all so familiar with each other, Kitagawa Ryo, who was already a little tired, just lay down against the wall and continued to watch MEM啾 practice lazily. After all, he had participated in the design of this new set of moves.

"MEM is so serious lately... I think he's working harder than when he was an idol."

Rumi then sat down against the wall next to Kitagawa Ryo. She naturally reached out her hands to hug his upper body and laid it on her outstretched thighs. She gently touched her brother's left earlobe while expressing such emotion.

"Indeed - it's not just a passing fad. She has been the first one to arrive and the last one to leave in the troupe these past few days. She has even stopped all her live broadcasts. She is really fully committed."

While enjoying his sister's lap, Kitagawa Ryo looked at MEM not far away, and suddenly raised his head and asked Rumi:

"If Ruby wasn't playing the leading role this time, would she still work as hard as MEM啾 is doing now? To work hard to play a supporting role that doesn't have many scenes."

"I don't know... probably not. After all, I came here for the role of Shoji from the beginning. I even planned to work harder and more devotedly to prepare for the audition for the live-action movie Tokyo BLADE if I failed the stage play audition this time."

In the face of Liang's question, Kitagawa Rumi was slightly stunned, and spoke slowly in a confused tone. At the end, the tip of her right index finger gently touched his eyelid, and then the tip turned into a finger, and then from a finger to an entire palm, covering Kitagawa Ryo's field of vision little by little. The air conditioner in the practice room had just been turned off, and his sister's palm felt a little cool and comfortable, which made his thinking stagnate.

"A few days ago at noon, Xiao Qian gave me a thick stack of information, all of which were detailed character analyses of Shao Ji that she had written over the past two years. Of course, I am not as smart as Xiao Qian, and I can't do the in-depth research and immersive performance of the character like her."

"In fact, when I knew that Xiao Qian and Kana were competing with me for this role two years ago, although I kept saying that it didn't matter, I was still a little scared inside. Sometimes I would cry when I was practicing alone. I felt that no matter how I acted, it was not right, even though this character and I had a similar face."

Rumi took away the hand that was covering Beichuan Ryo and lowered her head slightly. The hair that was originally tucked behind her ears also fell down with this posture. A few hair ends fell on the side of Beichuan Ryo's face, which felt a little itchy. When he opened his eyes, he saw his sister suddenly approaching, and her face was already very close. Her voice was very soft, mixed with warm and moist breath:

“…In fact, I am also fully committed to it.”

"Yeah, Ruby works hard too."

After talking for a long time, it turned out that she was still subtly jealous of the compliment he had just given to MEM啾. Beichuan Liang himself was a little helpless and spoke to comfort her. He felt like he was coaxing a child, or a big golden retriever.

Kitagawa Rumi has been clinging to him extraordinarily lately, and he is even too lazy to find any reasons like wanting to experience the relationship between Shoji and BLADE. Although if he really wants to experience it, he should put on a cold face and leave Rumi alone for a while. After all, this is the emotional direction in the early stage of the original work.

"call--"

MEM啾, who was not far away, also breathed a sigh of relief after finishing a set of action exercises. She turned around and saw the two people who were half ignoring her and were flirting with each other. It felt like pink bubbles were flying around them. She put her prop sword away, walked over to them, pretended not to see them, and spoke with the same vigor as usual:

"I'm done practicing! I'm sorry to both of you for waiting for me until now. It's so late. Let's go."

"Well, you've worked hard. Ruby, pack up your things. I'm going to the bathroom."

Because MEM啾 was one of the few people who knew the truth, Kitagawa Ryo had no intention of pretending. He got up from Rumi's thigh and kissed her lips. Before leaving the room, he paused as if he had thought of something and turned around to look at MEM啾's right hand, which was somewhat unnaturally behind her back.

"Don't cover it. There are sterile bandages in the theater's infirmary. If the base of your thumb is injured, it's better to bandage it immediately. Your health is the most important thing."

"……oh."

After being seen through by Kitagawa Ryo, MEM啾 nodded with mixed feelings. Then he was immediately pulled by the hand by Kitagawa Rumi beside him. After carefully checking the condition, he was half-pushed to the infirmary, where he was simply bandaged with a bandage before walking out of the theater building.

At this time, apart from the security guard on night shift on the first floor, there were only three of them in the LALALAI Theater Building. The corridor was silent at night, so the footsteps were particularly clear. They triggered the voice-controlled lights on the road as they walked. Perhaps they found this scene funny, Kitagawa Rumi deliberately raised her legs very high and then dropped them heavily to make her footsteps louder. Even the lights in several corridors ahead that she had not yet reached were lit up.

Although she is almost twenty years old, in such strange aspects, Kitagawa Rumi still looks a bit like a child who has not grown up, which makes the members next to her laugh. Looking at her tapping on the floor tiles, they feel much better.

At this moment, Kitagawa Rumi, who was walking slightly forward, suddenly remembered something that she had almost forgotten during rehearsal. She suddenly stopped, turned around and asked her good friend lightly:

"Speaking of which, MEM, do you think Xiao Qian also likes my brother?"

Frankly speaking, MEM啾 herself has mixed feelings towards Kitagawa Rumi, who was slow to react or was naive enough to not notice these signs until now.

So she stood there hesitantly for a long time without saying anything. Kitagawa Rumi seemed to be aware that this question was a bit sudden, so she also waited quietly.

The voice-controlled lights that were originally lit dimmed again from far to near in the silent atmosphere. Just when Kitagawa Rumi was about to stay where she was to keep the lights above their heads on, the sound of MEM chirped was heard first.

"I think Akane does like Ryo as well."

The "也" used by the two of them does not seem to refer to exactly the same object.

Just as Kitagawa Rumi was about to speak, she heard MEM啾's next sentence.

That is the next sentence which is much louder than the previous one.

“…Same as me.”

Beichuan Liang had already driven over, turned off the engine and was waiting at the door of the theater building. He was half-leaning on the open car window, looking over there.

The windows of a corridor on the second floor of the theater suddenly lit up in front of his eyes at the same time, and his pupils reflected a whole bright scene in an instant.

Chapter 19: Hehehe, there are too many swords

Kitagawa Rumi thought that she would soon hear her friend say something like "Just kidding - is Ruby scared?" in a familiar, playful tone, and then narrow her eyes again to reveal a sly smile as if she had succeeded in a prank, but that was not the case.

As another round of silence engulfed the night, and the voice-activated lights in the distant corridor began to turn off again because there was no more sound or movement, MEM啾 easily walked forward and walked to Kitagawa Rumi's side in one breath:

"It's so much easier to say it out loud - in this world, whether on the Internet or in real life, there are so many people who I don't even know who can casually say things like 'I like Liang!' 'I've always liked Liang, and I'll continue to like him', but when it's my turn to say it, I always can't."

As she spoke, MEMchu threw a question to Kitagawa Rumi, who was still standing there in a daze:

"So, what do you think, Ruby? Now that you know everything, will you support my relationship with Ryo?"

A few years ago, when Kitagawa Rumi officially made up her mind to take the initiative, she and Samejima Abiko once asked each other directly because they were worried about her friend's mental state. This was the answer that Rumi gave her. Although Rumi used the affirmative statement "MEM啾 will support my and Ryo's relationship", she used a question sentence this time, but perhaps the core of the sentence and the meaning expressed are the same.

In a sense, her psychological process is similar to that of Kana Arima and Akane Kurokawa. The only difference is that the other two realized something was wrong very early on, but were limited by their age and had very poor subjective initiative. As for her, she gradually lost interest in that aspect after Kitagawa Ryo and Hoshino Ai got married, and only became active again after Rumi succeeded in her crime.

Just like she was unable to say any words of dissuasion to Rumi who was about to take almost extreme action, MEM啾 looked at Rumi who was also speechless at the moment. This was the result she had already anticipated.

Because Kitagawa Rumi herself is the person in the world who has the least position and reason to blame or stop them. It can even be said that even if Rumi had not taken that step at the beginning, the relationship between her and Kitagawa Ryo, her status and position in Kitagawa Ryo's heart are all things they cannot touch.

After all, if you really want to trace the origin, the opportunity for her to meet Beichuan Liang again was actually that the other party wanted to help his sister realize her dream in the safest and most secure way, and he also escorted her all the way, starting with the preparation and planning from the formation and selection of the team and teammates.

Of course, MEM啾 has never had any negative emotions of dissatisfaction or even jealousy towards Rumi. As she mentioned in a previous conversation with Rumi, besides her family, the people she is most grateful to are the Kitagawa siblings.

She is used to putting family before her dreams and material things before emotions. But after all these things have been settled, MEM, who is almost 25 years old this year, suddenly realizes that if she doesn't hurry up, she will be past the age where she can freely fall in love.

In other words, her heart will age faster than her current face, which can still be used to pretend to be an active JK.

"MEM, you should tell your brother what he said."

Kitagawa Rumi seemed to understand her position, she pursed her lips and felt a little aggrieved:

"You are totally bullying me by telling me this."

"Haha, I'm really sorry... After all, we are good friends."

Looking at Rumi's current expression, MEM couldn't help but laugh:

"I'll talk to Ryo after the Tokyo BLADE project is officially over."

“Why wait until the project is over?”

"Because if the confession fails, it will definitely be embarrassing, and it will affect Liang's mentality and performance."

"…So there's no problem with it affecting me?"

The tone of their voices became relaxed again, and they walked forward again, chatting and laughing as they headed towards the door on the first floor.

"Just let Ruby experience how Shoji feels? After all, in the original work, Shoji would feel unhappy when she saw Kengi and BLADE standing together, but she couldn't say it directly, so she became that dark and awkward, right?"

"If you follow what MEM says..."

Before walking out of the door of the LALALAI Theater Building, Kitagawa Rumi suddenly turned around. She looked like she had grown up suddenly. For the first time, she showed a helpless expression and pouted:

"That's too many sword rituals."

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

"How did you stay in there for so long... Is MEM's hand okay?"

Kitagawa Rumi had just gotten into the car and sat in the passenger seat. She had only fastened her seat belt halfway when she heard her brother, who had been waiting for a while, ask her. She paused subconsciously, but immediately fastened her seat belt again with a calm expression and replied calmly:

"It's nothing. I wasn't delayed because of this. I just chatted with MEM for a while. As for her injuries, there are just some bruises and scrapes. It's because my brother insisted on designing such a difficult set of moves with spinning, throwing and catching. It must be caused by her hands being hit several times because she didn't catch them."

"Don't put it all on me. MEM was there when we were designing the moves. She kept saying that the technique had to be high and the moves had to be cool, and it had to be something that left a deep impression on the audience. Let's see, she's made a lot of progress in the past two days, and she's doing it well."

Beichuan Liang turned the car key and restarted the car. Thanks to the reliable adult woman MEM啾, she had bought a car and passed the driving test in the past two years, so she didn't need him to take her home anymore.

And to be honest, he could not handle the other's overly enthusiastic mother. Unlike the relatively demure mother of Kurokawa Akane, MEM啾's mother was the type of person who, when her daughter was fifteen years old and said she wanted to be an idol, would loudly say "Go for it if you have a dream, mom will support you." Sometimes, the bold words she said were hard for Kitagawa Ryo to handle.

For example, during the period when the rumors about him and the artists under the agency were at their worst, the other party asked him directly in a serious manner whether such a thing really happened. For a moment, MEM啾, who was pouring tea, was so scared that he almost spilled it all.

"By the way, brother, what do you think of Kana's performance as Kengi?"

Although he didn't know why his sister suddenly became interested in Jian Yi's role today, Beichuan Liang still thought about it seriously, and answered slowly while driving:

"It's quite good. It's the most suitable role for Kana in this stage play project. When I auditioned, I directly suggested Kana to play this role. After all, they are both short-haired, energetic characters with red hair. Although Abiko always said something about resemblance in appearance and spirit, in fact, if the actors are similar in appearance, they can perform the resemblance in spirit better. The foundation is there, just like Ruby."

"Brother, what you said is true. I remember before the audition started, many people on the Internet thought that Kana would play the role of Shoji. She does look very similar. No wonder brother's plan to fish in troubled waters was successful."

Kitagawa Rumi looked at the neon-lit night scene of Tokyo through the car window and mentioned with a smile an incident that happened after the official "Tokyo BLADE" released the makeup photos of their leading actors.