They all pushed me!

[But...am I really a genius? ]

Perhaps this is what my brother has been thinking for a long time.

This is a psychological state that only Kitagawa Rumi, who is also a reborn person, can personally understand. Because in the first few years after she was reborn as Kitagawa Rumi, whether it was from her stepmother who had seen her once, or in the online comments after the broadcast of "Hatsunoki", or from the words of Director Gotanda to her brother, "Should we let Ruby try to be a child star?", she was also given titles like "genius" and "precocious".

But the truth is that this is just a small first-mover advantage as a reborn person. It is natural that a three-year-old child who can resist all kinds of temptations and go downstairs alone to buy a bottle of soy sauce will be praised by others, but it is common to turn his age into twelve years old. However, unlike myself who realized this matter a long time later, my brother should have had similar confusion and even self-doubt a long time ago.

Because the brother would also realize that all the praise he received as a child star in his childhood might just be the legacy of his previous life experience. If he just wanted to take advantage of this time difference to quickly become famous and make money, there would be no problem. He could just announce his retirement from the entertainment industry when he gets older.

But my brother is a thorough actor, and his obsession with acting is almost engraved deep in his bones and soul.

To make an analogy, it is like a college student who travels back in time and is reborn as the third grade of elementary school, and solves a linear equation with ease under the admiring gaze of the whole class. But in fact, he has already started planning in his mind to use the extra ten years to study the advanced mathematics knowledge that he had not yet learned in his previous life, and move towards a deeper level in this field.

This is a battle between yourself and yourself, because before the possibility of being exposed, people around you will only look at you with admiration and crown you as a genius, but your brother has been lonely until now.

That's why he treats every play so hard from beginning to end, because in his heart, he must use this opportunity to start over in life before the legacy of his previous life is used up, to make himself truly a talented actor.

My brother wants to become an eternal image, to have his name tied to numerous roles, films, and other literary works, so that when people think of him again thousands of years later, the current scene will instantly appear in their minds. This is his greatest obsession from past life to this life.

But Kitagawa Ryo never told her this explicitly. Instead, it was she herself, between Tendoji Sarina and Kitagawa Rumi, who successfully fulfilled her obsession with becoming an idol under the protection of her brother.

Kitagawa Rumi also drew her sword, and its blade collided with her brother's in the air. Both of them increased the strength of their hands, and the two swords were stuck in the air, making a crisp crackling sound. Their faces were close to each other at this moment.

Then, Kitagawa Rumi drew her sword and took a step back, followed by an upward and horizontal sweep. Her long hair behind her spread out with the movement, and the whole person seemed to be dancing, with graceful and beautiful movements.

She had heard Kitagawa Ryo's wish, which was only spoken to the two of them, from Arima Kana and Kurokawa Akane during the first main stage rehearsal. Since then, every time she thought about it, she would have a strong desire to prove it.

"Let the war begin."

Kitagawa Rumi raised the sword upwards. Although she was much shorter than the Ryo opposite her, her aura gave people the illusion that she was looking down on them. The color of her pupils seemed to have completely dimmed like the heartbroken Shoji in the plot, as if she was recreating the moment when a black hole swallowed the stars. She captured everyone's attention in an instant, as if she was squeezing their hearts tightly, and their breathing stagnated for a moment.

...Just watch, I can do this a little bit now.

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

With the order from Kitagawa Rumi's character, the second half of the Tokyo BLADE stage play began. The characters from the Shibuya Group and Shinjuku Group all appeared again, and the entire main stage was immediately in chaos. Although the actors' movements seemed to be quite intense, each step was actually within the fixed range that had been drawn before. The sudden appearance of several pairs of teams on the stage made the audience dazzled and confused about who to watch.

However, even so, more than half of the audience still kept their eyes firmly fixed on the duel between BLADE and Shoji in the center of the venue. Regardless of whether it was because the two were the male and female protagonists of this stage play, just the high-energy and wonderful performances of Kitagawa Ryo and Kitagawa Rumi that continued until now were enough to make people unable to take their eyes off them.

Kitagawa Ryo on the stage was getting more and more excited. Rumi's performance today really gave him a big surprise. It was completely different from any previous rehearsal. Now Rumi has almost completely immersed herself in the role, but her acting skills are also mixed with some other heterogeneity. Her every move, every frown and every smile exudes a stunning charm, so much so that he is somewhat dissatisfied with the fixed shackles of the script.

In Kitagawa Ryo's eyes, the actors themselves should actually be one of the creators of the entire play, just as the same script will give people completely different impressions when performed by different actors. Especially in performances such as dramas and stage plays that cannot be stopped midway, it is common for actors to improvise after they actually go on stage. Some directors even particularly appreciate such actors with strong instant adaptability.

While acting with Rumi, Kitagawa Ryo had a strong premonition from the bottom of his heart, that is, no matter how casually he improvised within the scope of the role, Rumi on the opposite side would be able to perfectly cooperate with it, because the other's eyes were also strongly conveying a similar point of view.

Driven by such emotions and feelings, Kitagawa Ryo, who was performing with great enthusiasm, simply changed his moves, changing the original upward movement into a downward and horizontal sweep. Rumi reacted very quickly, holding the sword horizontally in front of her chest, leaning back and dodging with great flexibility in a bridge-like posture. The blade in her hand brushed against the sword of Kitagawa Ryo and flew over her nose, which caused the audience who were paying attention to this side to cheer and scream.

There was no such thing as who gave in to whom or who cooperated with whom, just like a group that has been partners for many years, the brother and sister showed complementary and evenly matched acting skills with full understanding, coupled with the emotional entanglement between BLDE and Shoji in the original work, Samejima Abiko in the audience felt that the blood in her body was flowing upstream, if it weren't for Kichijoji Raiko next to her holding her down tightly, she would have jumped up from her seat and cheered.

Even though there were still actors such as Magana, Daiki Himekawa, and Akane Kurokawa on the stage, there was no doubt that Kitagawa Ryo and Rumi had become the center of the show.

While most of the audience were nervously looking forward to the battle situation on this battlefield, Inoue Daichi, who was sitting in the insider seat in the back row, still devoted half of his attention to another battle situation nearby.

Then, he saw a broken sword. MEM啾, who played the role of 'Ke', walked out from the shadows there holding it. Compared to the center of the venue, not many people paid attention to this place, but there were still many audience members and MEM啾's personal fans who were attracted by this weapon that seemed a bit strange on the entire stage and looked at her.

At the same time, Kaminari Sumiaki, who had completely reassured Kitagawa Rumi, also looked over there with interest because of Kaburagi Katsuya's words.

MEM啾 silently recalled all the moves in her mind. Unlike all the other actors, she was the only one who had two complete sets of moves. She was clearly playing a supporting role with few scenes and no interaction with the protagonists of the Shibuya Group and the Shinjuku Group. Even the audience might not notice that she had changed to a new set of moves, let alone how long she had practiced for this to avoid confusion and unfamiliarity between the moves.

But she still studied them all seriously, wrote down every experience during the rehearsal days, and firmly believed that they would become food for her growth in the future.

MEM啾 held the broken sword that looked a bit shabby upside down. In this last scene, her opponent was Ruo, played by Kamoshida Sakuya.

She took a step forward, secretly defining once more the scope of her play.

In this small space.

She is her own protagonist.

Chapter 29: Lucky people, hardworking people

MEM啾 is undoubtedly a new actress, but she is not a half-baked actress.

As if she had noticed the movement over there, Ai, who was sitting in the last few rows and had an exceptionally wide field of vision because of her high vantage point, also cast her eyes towards the stage where MEM啾 was with great interest, and secretly made such a judgment in her heart.

Of course, this definition of a half-baked person is what she has in mind, and has nothing to do with the actor's actual acting skills. It's just a teasing nickname she gave to herself and Kitagawa Rumi.

In fact, when MEM啾 just announced that she would participate in the stage play of "Tokyo BLADE", Ai was still a little concerned. Although she and MEM啾 didn't spend much time together and communicate, Ai's one-sided first impression and first contact with her were really impressive. To be honest, it can be said that this was the first time Ai was jealous because of a specific girl.

After all, the relationship between her and Kitagawa Ryo had not been officially confirmed at that time. More importantly, MEM啾 was the only girl in Kitagawa Ryo's social circle at that time whose age was quite ambiguous except for her.

Although MEM啾 herself has been having a lot of fun with fans playing with her age and retirement jokes in her live broadcasts in the past two years, it actually shows that her age is actually closer to Kitagawa Ryo than Kitagawa Rumi's generation, and the two are indeed only less than three years apart in age.

In Ai's eyes at the time, this age difference, which was not that big at all, was definitely more noticeable than those kids who were either still in elementary school carrying backpacks to school or were still five or six years old. Even though she knew that the reason why Kitagawa Ryo contacted MEM啾 at that time was just to find an absolutely reliable teammate for Rumi who would debut in the future, Ai still worked hard to collect intelligence and information about the other party, and was ready for battle.

Of course, nothing happened.

Not counting the brief encounter they had when they were filming an ice cream commercial as children, from the time MEM啾 came into contact with Kitagawa Ryo again at the age of fifteen when she participated in a talent show, until now when she was twenty-five and had just switched from a professional anchor to a new actor, during this period, which can almost be said to be the golden age for girls, the other party never showed any thoughts or even signs of being in love.

Between the ages of fifteen and seventeen, he was an idol trainee under the arrangement of Kitagawa Ryo, and received systematic training in idol singing, dancing and other professional skills. He debuted at the age of seventeen and was a member of ACE until he was about twenty-two years old. After graduating from ACE, he became a professional anchor and YouTuber, and also has his own operating accounts on short video platforms such as TikTok.

My mother's illness was cured, so she doesn't have to work so hard anymore; our house was replaced with a bigger and newer one, with air conditioning in the summer and floor heating in the winter; my two younger brothers were able to concentrate on their studies, and after successfully being admitted to university, they can also support themselves... I also realized my dream of becoming an idol.

If we only look at the changes in career experience and family environment, I would even sincerely admire MEM啾, because it is actually not as easy as it sounds.

After all, not everyone can be at ease with the halo of "accompanying the prince to study" and still work hard to show their strengths and make contributions in the team, especially in the newly formed ACE trio, where Kitagawa Rumi and Samejima Abiko were already friends. For ordinary idols, just thinking about how to deal with interpersonal relationships would probably make them scratch their heads and waste their energy for a while.

From this perspective, Katsunari Kaburagi, who has seen and even worked on many idol productions over the years, actually gave a very fair evaluation of MEM啾. Her original family and all her past experiences, and more importantly, her persistence in her dream of becoming an idol, have perfectly forged her into a hexagonal warrior that any idol producer would be attracted to.

It can even be said that as the oldest member of ACE, MEM啾 consciously took on the leading role for a long period of time in the early days of the group. After Samejima Abiko graduated and left, he and Kitagawa Rumi brought ACE to the stage of Tokyo Dome and finally completed a perfect farewell.

Although Japanese law stipulates that people become adults at the age of 20, for a long time before that, MEM啾 actually already possessed the courage, responsibility and sense of responsibility that many adults may not have.

From the age of fifteen to twenty-five, she was a girl who put family above herself and material things above feelings. It’s not that she didn’t value the latter, but she always gave priority to the former and then made a decision.

Just like maybe the other party may have had some romantic feelings towards Liang over the years, but never showed them, and all her actions were inappropriate and not ambiguous... maybe she is already past the age where she can express her love freely.

Ai watched MEM啾, who suddenly felt complicated as he rushed towards his opponent on the stage and quickly displayed a set of moves that were completely opposite to his previous appearance.

It is also because of this that she did not become a half-baked actor like them.

Instead, like a real actor, no matter who the opponent is, the moment the performance begins, he is able to turn the stage under his feet into his home court.

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

“…You are wrong.”

As MEM啾 kicked forward, he simultaneously recited his character's lines to Kamoshida Sakuya who was not far away. Amid the other party's shocked expression of disbelief that his defeated opponent could actually come back with a broken sword, he easily broke through his defense, forcing him to roll backwards in embarrassment to avoid the attack.

So she continued to move forward, with only half of the prop sword left in her hand, spinning nimbly in circles. It was completely different from the previous impression of the big and wide swings. Each move was as free and easy as an antelope hanging its horns. All the efforts of previous practice turned into the familiar results now, which made MEM啾's heart more and more settled. She recalled the movements of each move clearly while performing them in her hands.

Just as it’s said that it only takes one bad day for an adult to fall apart, it only takes one great day for a child to believe that she’s blessed by luck.

In fact, before that day, MEM did not feel that she was lucky. She had always wanted to be an idol, but her family's conditions obviously could not support her wish. She wanted to appear on children's programs such as "Hatsusen" to become famous and make money, but she kept submitting entries until her age exceeded the upper age limit required by the program team, and she still did not wait for the program team to arrive.

Then, during an ordinary roadshow, she was lucky enough to meet a child star who was unable to attend the filming. With her courage and hard work, she was selected. Then, she was lucky enough to win the first prize in the ice cream advertisement. Finally, she was lucky enough to get the first prize, which was an air conditioner that her family needed at the time. After that, she was lucky enough to join ACE under the arrangement of Beichuan Liang, which not only realized her dream but also improved her family's financial conditions.

But then again, if she hadn't dared to participate in the talent show at the age of fifteen, hadn't entered Kitagawa Ryo's vision again, and hadn't worked hard as an idol trainee for two years, she wouldn't have reached where she is today.

In fact, the cause and effect of all this had been told to her by fate as early as the luckiest day of her childhood. When luck creates an opportunity for you, all the accumulation of the past and the courage and determination at that moment are the key to determining whether you can finally seize the opportunity.

However, if we look at it from the perspective of luck alone, Kitagawa Ryo can be said to be some kind of mascot for her. After all, in MEM啾's life so far, every time she felt lucky, the other party must be there, including the fact that she was later chosen by him to debut as an idol with Rumi.

In the past ten years, MEM啾 has never mentioned to the other party the chance encounter in an advertisement a few years ago when they were both children. She even kept it in her heart. Because Kitagawa Ryo and Hoshino Ai are already married, the protagonists of this advertisement and this past event have become the two of them. The Orange Bear and Strawberry Bunny flavors have therefore been jokingly called couple's flavors on the Internet.

But just as everyone has started to perform various small actions to varying degrees in the past two years, MEM啾 himself can finally look back on this past event with a freer mindset.

Then, by chance, she came across a passage written by a former employee of Morinaga Company in his blog more than ten years ago. The content was simple, sharing his experience of meeting the then popular child star Kitagawa Ryo because of shooting a commercial. After reading the whole article, he felt that the other party was quite polite and kind, without any celebrity airs at all. But at the end of the article, he inadvertently mentioned something that left a particularly deep impression on him.

The other party asked him to tell a lie and tell a little girl who was present at the roadshow that she had won the first prize in the lottery.

Because this is just an ordinary post shared by an ordinary person in his personal blog, so no one has noticed it for a long time, there are only two likes, and no reposts and comments. It has been lying quietly among the billions of information on the Internet.

But for MEM啾, the meaning of this matter is completely different.

Perhaps, he is his own good luck.

and so--

MEMchu threw the sword into the air and watched it spin and fall from the sky.

Due to time constraints and the difficulty of the move itself, she could not guarantee that she could complete this difficult move 100% until the day of the performance.

But she still raised the chance of success from zero at the beginning to 90% now.

At this moment, as she moved, the audience in the nearby stands all exclaimed in unison, because this was the boldest move in the performance so far. The shining sword blade spun in the air and fell, and was knocked and turned by the outside of MEM啾's arm under the nervous gaze of the audience. The next moment, it was firmly grasped back in the actor's hand and stabbed into the chest of the character played by Kamoshida Sakuya.

Her luck is still good and her efforts are still effective.

MEM啾 half-knelt on the ground and stabbed the broken blade a little deeper until the opponent fell completely to the ground. Then he lay on his back on the stage as if he was exhausted.

She noticed that the audience was giving her applause and cheers without hesitation. In the far back row, a man seemed to be jumping up and waving his arms vigorously. She could even hear the sound of "It's done, brother!"

However, MEM啾 has cleared her mind, and her part has ended.

She really learned a lot during the rehearsal of the Tokyo BLADE stage play.

For example, she is still willing to believe in her luck and believe that good luck will favor her again.

At the same time, she still believes in her own efforts and will take the most crucial step forward.

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

Just like that, with the audience's applause that was so enthusiastic that it almost blew the roof off, and with the joint efforts of all the staff and actors, the first day of the "Tokyo BLADE" performance came to a successful conclusion. However, the performance will continue for another month. In addition to Tokyo, the troupe will also tour other parts of the country. Overall, it is still busy.

Kitagawa Ryo took off his costume and then his make-up. Only then did he feel the fatigue clearly surging from his body in waves, both physically and mentally. Although more than two hours of performance may not sound like a big deal, it was the first day of the performance after all. He still performed at his best and could be said to have given 120% of his acting skills.

Of course, this is also related to the high level of all the actors on the same stage this time, especially Kitagawa Rumi, who had a lot of rival scenes with him. She almost unconsciously led to his state and emotions. After such a whole show, along with the feeling of fatigue, there was also a deep satisfaction and fulfillment. For Kitagawa Ryo, this is also an indispensable happiness in life.

Thinking of this, he stretched leisurely, and the bones all over his body made crisp creaking sounds. Although he has been staying in the company or at home in the past two years, he has not been acting much after all, so he still has a lot of extra time, and almost all of this time has been allocated to fitness by him, and the results can be said to be quite significant.

After that... there are two more episodes waiting that will excite him.

The web drama "Let's Be a Little Sweet Today" was handled entirely by our agency and its subsidiaries from filming to distribution, and the heroine was played by Kana Arimaka.

The next 2.5-dimensional project of the popular IP "Tokyo BLADE", which is a live-action movie, has almost locked in Kurokawa Akane as the actress for the heroine, Shoji.

call--

Otherwise, you should exercise some more.

Chapter 30: I've never seen this before

Four months have passed since the performance of the stage play "Tokyo BLADE". The cold wind blew on Kitagawa Ryo's face as the door opened, causing him to zip up his coat involuntarily, as if to remind himself that it was already early autumn.

The temperature gets colder with each passing rain, apparently because of the rain last night. Beichuan Liang, who was walking into the courtyard to throw away the garbage, could clearly feel the temperature drop. The dead leaves that were still swaying on the branches before yesterday were knocked to the ground by the cold wind and rain last night, and lay quietly under the tree, leaving only some bare tree trunks, which looked a bit bleak.

The fallen leaves, still covered with a little dew, made a thin, crisp sound when stepped on, which was particularly clear in the quiet morning of a holiday. A kitten with pointy ears jumped lightly from the second-floor windowsill. Beichuan Ryo only felt his shoulders sink slightly. When he turned around, he saw that the kitten, who had not yet stood firmly, rolled directly into the hood of his coat, looking a little embarrassed and cute.

Although giving his daughter the same name as the cat did serve as a reminder of the past, Ying, who has been in this family for more than ten years, seems to have no signs of aging or lack of energy. This is a good thing, though, as he really likes this cat.

He took out Hotaru who had rolled into the hood, threw away the garbage, and walked back into the house slowly, yawning. Recently, there were only three of them and a cat at home. After all the performances of the "Tokyo BLADE" stage play were over, Rumi moved out again.

The reason is very simple. To sum it up in one sentence, she is popular again.

However, unlike her explosion as a super popular beautiful girl and well-known idol a few years ago, this time Kitagawa Rumi has become popular again as an actor, or a stage actor.

It can even be said that a large part of the traffic and popularity of the 2.5-dimensional stage play project of "Tokyo BLADE" was eaten up by her alone. After all, she played the leading female role and her performance was quite eye-catching. In addition, she already had a very strong fan base. For Rumi, this time she made a lot of money in terms of popularity and reputation, and subsequent job invitations also came in one after another.

But Kitagawa Rumi was still very self-aware and remained sober. After all, she knew her acting skills best. Although she read and understood Kitagawa Ryo's wishes, and tried to take a solid step from a half-baked actor in Ai's mouth to a real actor, but except for the role of Shoji, her acting skills are not as amazing as the outside world says.

As for the popularity that Kitagawa Rumi has gained with her own strength, she has also taken advantage of it. In addition to practicing and training her acting skills as usual at the LALALAI troupe after the performance, she has also chosen some online variety shows, talk shows or live broadcasts to maintain her exposure in the public eye.

Including but not limited to co-hosting "B Komachi×B Komachi" with Ai, chatting about topics and experiences related to idol transformation; accepting another exclusive interview with the talk show "Passionate Continent", talking about what they have been doing and working hard for in the more than two years since the last performance at Tokyo Dome; and of course, also conducting two live broadcast linkages with former ACE members Abiko Samejima and MEM啾, which had quite explosive effects.

After all, the stage play project of "Tokyo BLADE" has been completed, and Samejima Abiko's work intensity has also been reduced a lot. She has almost returned to the rhythm of having one day off a week. When she is free, she will go live and share with fans some interesting things that happened during the rehearsal and performance of this stage play. She is also very satisfied with this project.

The most unexpected among the three should be MEM啾. If Kitagawa Rumi, who plays the heroine Shoji, alone ate up the bulk of the traffic for this stage play project, then she is the typical example of making a big profit with a small investment and maximizing the cost-effectiveness.

On the one hand, MEM啾’s performance was indeed impeccable throughout the performances. On the other hand, a high-quality soft article released by Weekly Entertainment Live after the performance, "Stage Play - Besides Ru Mii, I was also moved by it", also played a role in fueling the trend. The reporter who wrote this report reviewed MEM啾’s entire acting career bit by bit with a very immersive touch. The narrative style and emotional details revealed that MEM啾, who was originally only playing a supporting role in this stage play, also won the favor of many passers-by. For her, the road to becoming an actor has been completely opened, and she has once again won this challenge.

However, fans of Kana Arima and Akane Kurokawa, who made the biggest noise before the performance, didn't think it was a big deal. After all, on the one hand, Kitagawa Rumi and MEM啾, who have become famous this time, have a very good relationship with the main actors they promoted. On the other hand, shortly after the performance, the production team of the web drama "Just a Little Sweet" and the film production company of "Tokyo BLADE" officially announced the joining of Kana Arima and Akane Kurokawa.

In any case, in terms of the audience range, film and television dramas are always more popular than stage plays, so fans of both sides did not mourn for the number of roles their protagonists had in the "Tokyo BLADE" stage play. They directly moved on to the next new set and enthusiastically started a new round of comparisons.

If we only look at the star status, both sides have the absolute number one female lead this time, so it can be considered a tie for the time being. As for the popularity of the IP, although "Sweetness Day" is considered a popular masterpiece in the girls' comics, it is still slightly inferior to the increasingly popular "Tokyo BLADE". And judging from the production lineup that has been disclosed so far, Kana Arima's fans can't help but worry for her.

In fact, after the 2.5-dimensional stage play project "Tokyo BLADE" delivered a nearly perfect answer to the market, capital also increased its efforts in the subsequent development of this IP, which was regarded as a recognition of its commercial value and potential in the live-action planning market. The production cost of this live-action film naturally rose, and it was very important to form an experienced production team.

Compared with the super luxurious treatment over there, the web drama adaptation of "Just a Little Sweet Today" is visibly a bit shabby. Although there have been some hit web dramas in the past two years, most of the time, in the eyes of the audience, it is inevitably equated with cheap and shoddy. If the producer and distributor this time were not subsidiaries of Kitagawa Ryo, fans would probably think that Kana was deceived into signing the contract.

It has to be said that Arima Kana's fans still have full trust in Kitagawa Ryo. After all, since Arima Kana left her original agency and officially signed a contract with Kitagawa Ryo's personal agency, she has basically been the most signature artist of the entire company and the company is devoting resources to her.

Although it was precisely because of this that the incident a few years ago about whether the lead actor of "Tomorrow" would be Arimaka or Kurokawa Akane caused a sensation, but with the superb marketing skills of Kitagawa Ryo who noticed the direction of public opinion in advance, as the personalities of the two as friends and competitors gradually became popular, it is at least difficult to see fan circle-specific terms such as "partiality", "balancing", "solo", "bundling", "C position", "photo position", and "bundling". The usual comparisons are more of a joke, and the two sides have to go together to watch the two of them happily appear as co-guests in "Today's Meal at the Kitagawa Family" after a quarrel.

In fact, compared to the fans who have begun to worry a little, Kitagawa Ryo is not too worried about the quality of "Just a Little Sweet Today". After all, the original work is just a comic about daily campus youth love for girls. The requirements for costumes and props and even the director's post-production are definitely not as good as "Tokyo BLADE", which features large-scale group portraits and superpower battles.

To be honest, this kind of web drama adaptation of a comic theme pays more attention to the script and the performance of the actors. How the script is adapted and the final effect presented by the actors are the most critical.