They all pushed me!

"Xiao Qian is also thinking about acting right now, just like this ultimate acting geek and workaholic sitting next to me?"

"To be honest... I'm thinking about the cooking temperature of the flank steak in front of me and the exact timing of turning it over, trying to roast it to the perfect temperature."

Kurokawa Akane stared at the piece of meat in front of her with a sharp gaze. As the undisputed number one chef in this area and the only designated top-level foreign guest of "Today's Meal at the Kitagawa Family", her tone was full of confidence. After calculating the heat and time like a countdown, she casually stretched out the barbecue tongs in her hand, put them into her bowl under the gaze of the audience, and quickly made her own comments:

“The ingredients in this store are quite fresh.”

Frankly speaking, at the moment of her move, she thought about whether to pass it to Kitagawa Ryo, but after taking a glance at Ai who was sitting there watching her movements with a smile on his face, Kurokawa Akane decisively turned the meat back to her side and began to call her ally Arima Kana. After all, teammates are creatures that you will think of when you encounter difficulties, right?

Facing the look thrown at her by Kurokawa Akane, Arima Kana just bit the straw and drank the ginger ale attentively, continuing to implement the strategy of letting Ruby take action first when something happened. She secretly cast her gaze over to Kitagawa Rumi, who was clinking glasses with MEM-chu but still holding a barbecue sandwich tightly in her hand.

"Liang, Uncle Min, the beef tenderloin here should be almost done."

Kurokawa Akane had no choice but to wait with Arima Kana, and in the end, Ai generously gave all the meat in front of her to Kindaichi Toshiro and Kitagawa Ryo. Kitagawa Rumi still didn't make any move, and was still talking and laughing with MEM啾. He didn't even know if it was an illusion, but Kurokawa Akane felt that the other party was also looking at him with interest.

Is this some kind of new-age sit-in war?

Just as the two sides were staring at each other without daring to cross the line, Beichuan Ryo, who was fed two pieces of beef tenderloin by love and temporarily threw away all the acting skills in his mind, took the initiative to bring up the topic again:

"Come to think of it, Kana's birthday seems to have coincided with work this year. It was at the end of June, right around the time of the Tokyo BLADE performance. Well, if you think about it, time flies, and I'm finally going to pay off this long-standing debt."

"It's okay, I'm used to it. I won't bother Senior Liang this year... It should be a nice experience to celebrate my birthday with everyone in the crew."

When Arima Kana heard Kitagawa Ryo mention her name, she was stunned for a moment, but she reacted immediately, forced a smile, shook her head lightly and expressed her thoughts.

When Kitagawa Ryo married Hoshino Ai, she had agreed with him to give her a ten-year birthday cake as a return gift. In the past many days, for Kana Arima, this seemed like a time and an agreement that would never pass away. After all, in her eyes, when she was only nine years old at the time, ten years was already longer than her life so far, a time so long that it seemed like it would never end.

But now when she came to her senses in a trance, there were only three years left in the agreement between them, and three, two, one entered the imminent countdown, so much so that when Beichuan Liang suddenly mentioned her birthday, she subconsciously said something that seemed to understand the truth but was childish, as if as long as she didn't accept the last three birthday cakes, the agreement could be extended indefinitely.

"It's not a big deal. If it's not limited to Kana's kitchen, I can make it at home and bring it to the troupe."

Looking at Kana Arima, who suddenly seemed a little worried and anxious, and who was completely different from when she had boldly expressed her feelings to him again under the pretext of a stage play audition not long ago, Kitagawa Ryo couldn't help but shook his head with laughter, lowered his head and took another sip of the drink in the glass.

Not only was the ten-year agreement between them entering the final countdown of 321.

The same is true for many other things.

For example, leaving him time to make the final decision.

I have the flu. My throat hurts so much and my head feels dizzy. I really can't type. Sorry.

I hope everyone can take care of their health.

———————————————————————————————————————————————— ——————————

Chapter 25: I Want It All

After the team-building at the barbecue restaurant that day, the rehearsal of the "Tokyo BLADE" stage play returned to a slightly tense state. However, with the joint efforts of stage director Toshiro Kindaichi and the actors, they finally maintained an orderly rhythm and completed the pre-scheduled progress. With the end of the last rehearsal, the first day of the "Tokyo BLADE" performance finally arrived.

Because it is one of the hottest IPs nowadays, the cast of this performance is also the most luxurious in the industry. In addition, the operator has been deliberately promoting it since the plan was first released, so that the tickets for the first day of the performance were sold out within one minute after the reservation purchase channel was opened.

Originally, Kaminari Sumiaki was planning to discuss with Kindaichi Toshiro whether they could squeeze out some more seats for the audience from the back rows of the theater reserved for insiders. However, Kindaichi Toshiro also said with a wry smile that there were too many media reporters and industry professionals attending the performance, and everyone wanted to be the first to report and comment. Therefore, let alone make some space for the audience in the front, even the last few rows of seats for insiders were quite tight and were already packed.

The day before the official start of the performance was a rest day, and no relevant rehearsals were scheduled. This was also to give the actors time to adjust their spirits and ensure that they could face the performance the next day in the best condition. However, Kitagawa Ryo still chose to come to the LALALAI Theater, and accompanied Kindaichi Toshiro and other staff members of the theater to carefully clean the theater inside and out, which would serve as the main stage tomorrow, and also helped to debug the stage equipment. He was relieved only after confirming that everything was foolproof.

Beichuan Ryo didn't have to worry about these things before, and it was not his turn to worry about them. After all, as an actor, he only needed to be responsible for showing his best acting skills in front of the audience on the stage.

But with Kindaichi Toshiro's previous words that LALALAI would be handed over to him, these additional matters belonging to the stage director and troupe leader will soon be officially handed over to him step by step. It is precisely in order to avoid the possible chaos in the future that Kitagawa Ryo wants to learn more from Toshiro Kindaichi before he officially retires.

"By the way, what do you think of the 2.5-dimensional stage play as a performance?"

In the office on the third floor of the theater building, after a month-long rehearsal with the actors, Toshiro Kindaichi, who was over 50 years old and had less energy than in his early years, was visibly tired. He sat there quietly, lit a cigarette, and held it in his lips for a while before asking this question to Kitagawa Ryo in front of him.

Although the LALALAI Theater has grown in recent years by leveraging its advantages in this specific field, it has also been criticized for having completely lost the original intention of being a theater troupe. Just like the Ship of Theseus, all its glory and pride have been gradually replaced, and it has become a slave to money and business. Kitagawa Ryo is also aware of this, and he himself has even been used as one of the evidences to prove this point in a regretful tone.

Although he has been recognized as a rare talent in the theater industry since his debut, in fact, Kitagawa Ryo has not won any major theater awards for some years. The previous honors were basically concentrated before he was 2.5 years old. Because the plays he has performed in during this period are almost all -dimensional stage plays, no matter how well he performs in such plays, it is actually difficult for him to get on the relevant podium. In the past two years, he was not even nominated.

Although people expressed their disapproval in a tone of deep regret, Kitagawa Ryo actually didn't care about it. After all, from another perspective, this was also the reason why he could appear as an award presenter on time every year and present awards to Kurokawa Akane at various awards at the end of the year.

In Kitagawa Ryo's opinion, this kind of 2.5-dimensional stage play is also a performance that deserves to be taken seriously, because it, like other plays, has a group of audiences who truly love it. What's more, the LALALAI Theater Company is not without successors. Kurokawa Akane and Himekawa Daiki have also won a lot of honors in recent years... Come to think of it, these two kids seem to have been led by him into the pit of 2.5-dimensional stage play, which is not recognized by the traditional theater industry nowadays.

"My opinion - taking the Tokyo BLADE as an example."

While organizing his thoughts, Kitagawa Ryo slowly walked to the window of his office, pulled open the curtains and the window, and looked out at the endless stream of vehicles and people below. On the external screen of a building not far away, the promotional poster for the "Tokyo BLADE" stage play was particularly eye-catching.

"Judging from the current popularity, this should attract a lot of new audiences who would never go to theaters, but what I really want is not for the audience to just become fans of Tokyo BLADE or 2.5D, but also to become fans of the genre of drama itself."

As he said this, Kitagawa Ryoya turned around and smiled at Kindaichi Toshiro who was sitting in an office chair smoking:

"Hasn't Uncle Min always been doing this? He has been abiding by existing traditions while actively innovating, breaking the old rules just right, and trying to combine these two styles, which has brought the LALALAI Troupe to where it is today."

"If Liang can realize this, then I will feel more at ease."

Kindaichi Toshiro calmly accepted Kitagawa Ryo's comments, gently knocked off a piece of ash from the ashtray, hesitated for a while, and simply put out the remaining half of the cigarette, threw the cigarette butt into the ashtray, then stood up, stood with him in front of the window, and suddenly said this sentence without any reason:

"I didn't expect that I would be retired soon and I'm still single. I feel like my life will just end like this. I have no intention of getting married and starting a family. It's too late."

Hearing Kindaichi Toshiro's words, Kitagawa Ryo shook his head helplessly:

"Uncle Min, you don't need to beat around the bush here. Just say what you want to say."

"Yeah, it's just the two of us anyway."

Kindaichi Toshiro smiled when he heard this, but he still lowered his voice inadvertently. Thinking of the scene he saw in the barbecue restaurant that day, he patted Kitagawa Ryo on the shoulder with some emotion:

"Sometimes I still feel that Liang got married too early. I remember Liang was only around 20 or 21 at that time. If it weren't for the actor's meeting, he wouldn't have even finished college."

Toshiro Kindaichi has not married yet, and even in the more than 20 years that they have known each other, Kitagawa Ryo has never seen him officially dating other women. But that doesn't mean that he is the kind of person who devotes himself to work. After all, Kitagawa Ryo himself has heard that in those members-only bars, he is always the most open-minded one, and never refuses girls who come up to him and chat with him because of his identity as the head of the LALALAI troupe.

"Everyone's thoughts, attitudes towards life and lifestyles are different."

Beichuan Liang also understood Kindaichi Toshiro's hidden meaning, but he still just shook his head:

"In terms of relationships, what I pursued was indeed different from Uncle Min, so I have never regretted the choice I made back then. Even if I were to go back and make the choice again, at that point in time, I would marry love. For me at that time, this was happiness that I needed to hold on to tightly."

After saying this, Beichuan Liang rubbed his brows with a headache and sighed:

“But who could have imagined that it would turn out like this?”

Without waiting for Kindaichi Toshiro to speak again, Kitagawa Ryo explained his thoughts first by asking and answering his own questions:

"But maybe it's because it has really become like this that I have discovered, or noticed, that maybe I don't really want to let go of anyone."

As he spoke, he also stretched his arms upwards and stretched lazily:

"Right now, instead of thinking about whether this is the right thing to do, I would rather think about what to do next."

"I'm greedier than I thought—"

"So, my happiness, their happiness, I want them all."

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

On the day of the performance of "Tokyo BLADE", there were still two hours before the show started, but outside the LALALAI theater there was already a huge crowd of people, as if a large exchange meeting for fans was being held. Abiko Samejima, who arrived at the scene, could see through the car window that many audience members were dressed up as characters, and they were enthusiastically discussing the huge posters and promotional pictures on the wall outside the theater.

In addition to chatting about this natural common topic, many fans who arrived early were queuing in front of the gashapon machine not far away. The prizes inside were all promotional materials corresponding to the actors and characters that Abiko Samejima drew last time, which were made into small peripherals such as key chains and pendants.

Of course, the evil blind box mechanism is still used, but it is indeed as Toshiro Kindaichi expected, attracting various character fans or actor fans to try their luck and see if they can get their own single push in one go.

"Let's go play that, too."

Looking at the lively atmosphere over there and the occasional screams of surprise or sighs of disappointment, Samejima Abiko was also somewhat tempted, and quickly pulled the sleeve of her assistant Kichijoji Raiko who was following her and made a suggestion.

"… If Abiko asks for something like this, either Kindaichi or Raida would probably give you the whole set."

Facing Kichijoji Raiko's answer, Samejima Abiko childishly shook her head and pouted:

"What you draw yourself can't compare to what others give you."

As she spoke, she waved her fist and walked towards the gashapon machine:

"Besides, I also want to try my luck today."

Seeing Samejima Abiko who seemed particularly excited in every sense today, Kichijoji Raiko had no choice but to follow her wishes and yawned as she followed her pace.

The two waited in line for a while, and it was their turn after about ten minutes. After taking a look at the specific rules posted on the outside of the Gachapon machine, Kichijoji Raiko read it with a little surprise and expressed her thoughts:

"The probability of all characters is equal, there are no hidden models... Is this true? I thought it was a blind box with different probabilities for different characters, such as the kind where you get nine out of ten in a row and one sword carving."

"Indeed, and there are no hidden models yet. This doesn't quite fit my stereotype of Mr. Kindaichi. But this is a good thing. I guess the troupe doesn't expect to make money from this now."

Samejima Abiko was also a little surprised, but soon a smile appeared on her face again:

"This will also make it easier for everyone to draw the character they want."

Then, she took out the coin she had prepared long ago from her pocket and stuffed it into the groove under the gashapon machine. After a burst of light music, an unopened gashapon rolled out from the exit. Samejima Abiko didn't want to draw more, so after taking it, she stepped aside and walked aside.

Just as Samejima Abiko was groping with great interest to open the capsule, she suddenly heard another rustling sound beside her. It turned out that the man behind her had just put in a coin and was praying devoutly, muttering to himself:

"MEM啾! MEM啾! MEM啾! I've always been a MEM啾 pusher - please bless me to ship it!"

Seemingly an avid MEM fan, Samejima Abiko subconsciously pulled the brim of her sun hat down a little more and hurriedly walked a few steps away. Immediately, she heard another loud "Ah! I won!"

Perhaps thinking of absorbing some of this fan's luck, Samejima Abiko exerted a little force amid the other party's indescribable background sound, pried open her hands, took out the keychain with her eyes closed, clenched it tightly in her palms, and then slowly opened her eyes.

Samejima Abiko opened her fingers one by one, and at that moment she truly felt the excitement of the blind box game. She held her breath involuntarily until the full picture of the key chain finally appeared in her eyes, and then she breathed a sigh of relief.

The hero standing with a sword in his hand lay quietly in her palm.

"It's BLADE—"

Kichijoji Raiko who was standing next to her came over to take a look, and she bought one herself, and what she opened was Magana's sword instrument.

Samejima Abiko nodded subconsciously, her tone a little vague:

"Yeah, it's cool."

Chapter 26: A Gift for You

After rubbing her palm for a while, Samejima Abiko opened her bag and fumbled around, finally tying the keychain she pulled out to her house door key. After thinking for a while, she took out her mobile phone from her pocket, turned on the selfie mode of the camera, raised her right hand, took a picture of the keychain in her left hand, and prepared to post a related update on her personal account on the social platform.

But perhaps she felt that one photo was a little too thin, and Samejima Abiko hesitated a little and saved the draft first. Although she did not have the obsession of MEM啾 who would carefully study and arrange the photos for a long time before posting them, and must present them in the form of a perfect nine-square grid, she still moved the lens of her mobile phone camera, wanting to take a few more photos to freeze this moment of today.

It has to be said that there are quite a lot of spots nearby for audiences and tourists to take photos and check in. The operators represented by Kaminari Sumiaki have intentionally set up various small attractions. Samejima Abiko took Kichijoji Raiko to take a photo with the character's standee, and then went to a specially designated Coser area to take photos. Finally, they cast their eyes on the huge, eye-catching promotional poster on the outer wall of the theater.

Since the publicity efforts of the stage play of "Tokyo BLADE" are almost on par with those of a theatrical movie, the poster that was hung is also well-made.

In the poster that is two stories high, the poses of all the actors and actresses take up three-quarters of the space. Below them is the big "Tokyo BLADE" logo. If you move your eyes further down, you will see the producers and production company of this stage play project as well as a long list of staff. The column for the leading actors contains the names of Kitagawa Ryo and Kitagawa Rumi. The same form of antithesis is particularly neat, which made Samejima Abiko's eyes linger there for a while.

She also easily found her name under the cast list.

Screenwriter: Samejima Abiko.

"What's wrong?"

Looking at Samejima Abiko who stood in front of the poster for a long time and seemed to be lost in thought, Kichijoji Raiko, who had just bought two cans of bottled coffee from the vending machine nearby, asked with a bit of confusion while handing over a can of coffee.

“I saw my own name and felt a little fresh.”

Upon hearing this, Samejima Abiko just shook her head slightly, reached out her hand to take the coffee handed to her, skillfully opened the pull ring and took a sip, feeling the soothing bitterness slowly spreading on the tip of her tongue. She didn't like this slightly bitter taste very much before, and it could even be said that because someone close to her was a dessert master, her taste tended to be sweeter. But after becoming a professional cartoonist for a weekly magazine, she gradually got used to this taste because of drinking it often.

"So it's just newness? I thought Abiko was nervous."

"I was actually a little nervous, or maybe it's impossible not to be nervous at all. After all, this is my first time as a scriptwriter."

At this point, Samejima Abiko raised her head again, looked at the star-studded cast and continued:

"There are only three types of people who can come to see this performance: fans of the original work of Tokyo BLADE, fans of the actors themselves, and passers-by who are just watching for the excitement. No matter which type they are, they all have something to complain about me as a screenwriter."

"Eh? Is that so? I remember that many fans on the Internet expressed their support for Abiko to be the scriptwriter for this stage play."

"That's definitely true, but fans of the original work are the hardest to satisfy, especially when it comes to this kind of adaptation. It's entirely possible that some people will complain about 'why the plot was deleted here', while others will complain about 'why the plot was dragged out here', and say things like manga artists are manga artists and screenwriters are screenwriters."

As she spoke, Samejima Abiko also picked up her phone and took a picture of the poster, which she put together with some other photos she had taken before to form a nine-square grid. She checked the tag #《东京BLADE》舞台剧# and posted it. She glanced at the time and saw that it was almost time, so she continued talking to Kichijoji Raiko while walking with her to the exclusive ticket gate for insiders.

"In fact, when I said I wanted to write the script for this stage play myself, almost everyone was against it. The opinions of the producers were pretty much the same. They would rather find a scriptwriter with more experience in this field to handle the stage play adaptation of Tokyo BLADE."

"It seems to be true... I remember that it was not until Kitagawa-kun said that he would also assist Abiko in writing the script that the discussion and opposition in this regard disappeared a lot."

Kichijoji Raiko nodded and also recalled what happened at that time.

"Ah."

Samejima Abiko nodded slightly, then turned back to look at the poster on the outer wall before officially entering, her eyes fixed on a certain spot.

"So actually speaking, the scriptwriters of this work should be Liang and I. This is a work we created together."

Then, she turned around and asked Kichijoji Raiko behind her a seemingly nonsensical question:

"Lai Zi, what do you think is the most frightening thing for creators like us?"

Although it was unclear why Samejima Abiko suddenly asked this question that seemed to have nothing to do with the current situation, Kichijoji Raiko still thought about it seriously for a while, and then gave her answer hesitantly:

"For me, it was probably like submitting a new manuscript with full confidence, only to have it rejected by the editor with just one sentence."

Unlike Samejima Abiko who became famous as soon as she debuted as a professional cartoonist, Kichijoji Raiko, who is older than her, has been working in the industry for a while, but it was only in the past two years that she gained a certain popularity with "A Little Sweeter Today".