They all pushed me!

Because the company was wholly owned by him from production to distribution, Kitagawa Ryo casually waved his hand and let Samejima Abiko, who had become a little addicted after her successful career as a screenwriter, take the original author Kichijoji Raiko to try to write an adapted script. As a new screenwriter, he would occasionally give some pointers, and finally Gotanda Yasushi would give the final review.

In short, after two or three months of preparation, the web drama "Just a Little Sweeter Today" was officially launched yesterday and will start filming tomorrow. Although it sounds like the preparation time is not long, the birth and popularity of web dramas are essentially based on its advantages of being short, flat and fast. The format of filming this week and broadcasting next week is quite common in this industry.

Speaking of which, this should be the first time he has taken on a script of this type in recent years. The last time he starred in a girl's manga adaptation was "It's Not My Fault That I'm Popular!"

What’s interesting is that at that time, when he was 20 years old, he played a conservative programmer in his thirties, and now when he was 27 years old, he had to play a high school student of 16 or 17 years old.

Perhaps this is the charm of an actor and one of the reasons why he likes acting.

While Beichuan Ryo was thoughtfully planning the subsequent shooting process, he poured himself a cup of hot milk, sat on the sofa in the living room, sipped the milk, and stroked the back of the well-behaved Ying. His wife and daughter were still sleeping soundly in the room upstairs. The cat in his arms meowed lazily, turned towards him, and waved its front paws to show its affection.

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The situation is basically the same as that of "Tomorrow". Most of the actors in this "Today Will Be a Little Sweeter" are basically from Kitagawa Ryo's personal agency. However, since the original work itself is a girl's comic with a Mary Sue nature, there are not even any other female characters with roles except the heroine Haruka Fukagawa. Instead, besides the male protagonist Aono Kanata, there are many various male characters. Therefore, actresses such as Kurokawa Akane and Shiranui Furilu eventually gave up participating. Instead, Himekawa Daiki and Kamoshida Sakuya, who was more familiar to him, were grabbed by Kitagawa Ryo.

However, regardless of the role or status, the real protagonists of this drama are actually him and Kana Arima. After all, in the comics, the other characters that appear are essentially to promote the development of the relationship between the male and female protagonists. It is a girls' comic with a relatively high pure love coefficient.

After pouring out today's cat food for Ying and making himself a simple breakfast, Beichuan Liang picked up his phone to check the time, changed his shoes, walked out of the house and prepared to attend the script reading session. This was also the reason why he got up so early today.

This is also an established rule in the industry. Generally, before the official filming of a TV series begins, the leading actors will get together for a script reading session, and the actors will be allowed to adapt to the venue and rehearse briefly. The director and producer will then improve and adjust the storyboards and scripts based on this.

And since he and Kana Arima were the actual leading actors of this web drama, when Kitagawa Ryo drove to the set for tomorrow's filming, he saw Kana Arima standing there prettyly near the parking lot.

It seems that due to the drop in temperature, Kana Arima is wearing a plush hat with cat ears today. The two cat ears that are curled up slightly help her height increase, which makes Kitagawa Ryo, who just finished playing with his cat, subconsciously reach out and touch it again:

"Good morning, Kana."

"Good morning, Ryo-senpai."

Arima Kana did not resist the other party's somewhat intimate gesture. Instead, as if she was in a similar scene in her memory, she took the initiative to move closer to him and walked towards the set together, standing closely beside him.

"Kana actually came earlier than me."

"I specially troubled Miss Xiangzi to drive me here early because it's a very important script reading meeting, so I wanted to come here early."

Following behind the two of them, Shoko Mita looked straight ahead and pretended not to see anything. The reason why she had been able to be Arima Kana's agent for so many years without being replaced was not only because she had indeed worked hard in the tug-of-war between her and Ms. Arima in the early years, but more importantly, she had never treated Arima Kana as an ordinary child. In fact, the reason why she was able to withstand Ms. Arima's firepower and fight against the opponent for so long was essentially for this reason.

In this entertainment industry, the interests of artists and their agents are highly intertwined. To put it bluntly, even if the artist in charge cheats, the agent is responsible for keeping a close eye on the door and preventing the news from leaking out as much as possible.

These are what the senior agent in the company taught her.

However, Oda Shoko still curled the corners of her mouth, because she always felt that such teachings seemed to be both applicable and not quite applicable to the current situation.

Regarding the suspected affair between the female artist I'm in charge of and my boss, a married male artist who is also my boss... Izaki-senpai, I don't think you've ever taught me this!

Chapter 31: Let it be

The director of the web drama "Just a Little Sweet Today" is still Yasushi Gotanda. This middle-aged director who has known Kana Arima and Ryo Kitagawa for more than ten or twenty years is now lying leisurely in a recliner with a coat on. His deliberately long hair is tied into a small braid behind his head in an artistic way. His feet are resting on another chair, and he is squinting his eyes as if he is taking a nap.

To be honest, with his current status, it is indeed a bit of a waste of talent for him to direct such a low-budget web drama, but the situation this time is indeed quite special.

You know, Arimaka is my favorite actor in the industry. We have worked together to create excellent works such as "Spider", "Homeless Children", and "Pests". I have known Kitagawa Ryo for a long time. That guy is incredibly strong in traffic popularity and acting skills. I think the three of us can have a good chemistry when we team up. Although I have never filmed this kind of work before, it was also difficult to make this decision, but after many days and nights of thinking and choosing, I still chose to bring my talent to the crew of "Today is a Little Sweet". As for Kurokawa Akane, I wish her all the best in the crew of "Tokyo BLADE".

Well, although it's a bit of a joke, for Yasushi Gotanda, when a friend he has known for such a long time and a junior he values ​​most in the industry both invited him to direct, there was really no reason for him to refuse. After all, he also knew that this was the first impact that Kitagawa Ryo's agency had launched on the online drama market, where the current structure has slowly taken shape and a fixed trend, and the burden placed on him was still quite heavy.

"Good morning, Director Gotanda."

"Good morning, Director."

Hearing the familiar call, Gotanda Yasushi slowly opened his eyes, covered his mouth with his right hand and yawned lazily, then casually said something playful:

"Now that you're all here, you two can do whatever you want. I don't dare order President Kitagawa around."

"You are not from our firm, how can I control you?"

Beichuan Liang rolled his eyes when he heard this. He first motioned for Magana to sit on an empty chair nearby, then he took two steps, pulled a chair over from nearby and sat down:

“How do you feel about the script?”

"Nothing serious is wrong with it. Although I just simply re-read the original work, it is supervised by the original author, so it should be authentic."

Yasushi Gotanda raised the script in his hand. Although the earliest draft was written by two semi-outsiders who had never participated in the filming of a film or TV series, the final product was quite good with the polishing and help of the insider Kitagawa Ryo, and it could be regarded as an above-standard script.

Frankly speaking, allowing the original author to participate so deeply in the creation of the script is a unique move in the entire industry. In most comic or novel adaptations, let alone giving the original author such a big say, it is also common for producers and investors to create a few characters that are not in the original work in order to arbitrarily add relatives and friends.

Especially in the emerging industry of online dramas, it is even more prominent that the willingness to adapt your work is a sign of respect for you, which is one of the reasons why many fans feel particularly complicated when they hear that their favorite works have been adapted into online dramas. It is a kind of black humor that wants to use the popularity of the original work to attract audiences, while also giving the original fans a big bite out of the blue.

"Ryo participated in the entire script creation process, so I won't ask. What about Kana? What do you think of this script?"

After briefly commenting from the perspective of a director, Gotanda Yasushi raised his head again and asked Arima Kana with interest.

"Well - actually I'm also a fan of the original work. I've been following this comic since it first came out..."

Arima Kana thought about it while organizing her thoughts. She spoke softly, but before she could finish her words, she saw Gotanda Yasushi sitting opposite her with an undisguised look of surprise on his face. She curled her lips helplessly:

"What's that expression on your face, Director Gotanda?"

"Ha - I just didn't expect Kana to read girls' comics of this kind."

Yasushi Gotanda scratched the back of his head. After all, in all the years he had worked with her, Kana Arimaka had always shown herself to be, or the impression she had given people was, that kind of excessive precocity, almost exactly like that of Kitagawa Ryo back then. Coupled with her long career that was almost as long as her age, it was indeed easy for people to subconsciously ignore the fact that she was actually just a 16 or 17-year-old high school student.

Anyway, Gotanda Yasushi didn't expect that Kana Arima, who had been able to take care of herself and be independent at the age of twelve and lived alone at home, actually had the habit of reading girls' comics. There was still some contrast in it.

"Oh, Kana not only watched it, but she cried while watching it."

At this time, Kitagawa Ryo on the side also happily began to expose Arima Kana's shortcomings. As soon as this sentence came out, Arima Kana's cheeks flushed, but she still stubbornly defended herself, saying a few fragmented words, and a happy atmosphere immediately filled the space between the three of them.

From this perspective, Arikana's mental character seems to have grown in reverse. When he was young, he was very strong inside, not like a child. He was overly mature in dealing with people and in acting. But as he got older, his mental age became more in line with his physical age, just like what he just said.

If we go back five or six years, Kitagawa Ryo would hardly believe that one day Arima Kana would cry and sob over the plot of a girls' comic and call him for comfort.

In contrast to her, Kurokawa Akane's growth experience was that he was a completely carefree child when he was young, but due to family changes in the past two years, he suddenly became mature, and his mental age surpassed his physical age.

If you think about it this way, the two of them are indeed a perfect pair of competitors and friends. No matter what acting styles they are good at, the time periods when they became famous, their original families, their growth experiences, and even their physical appearance and personality, they can all form an interesting contrast. It is no wonder that his marketing method of nine true and one false was so successful, and the two fans have been loving and hating each other until today.

After being glared at by Arima Kana, Kitagawa Ryo immediately surrendered, smiled and changed the subject, returning to the discussion of the script:

"So, as a veteran fan of the original novel, what do you think of this script, Kana?"

"I think it's great. In fact, comics of this kind are very suitable for adaptation."

As she spoke, Arima Kana also took out the script of "A Little Sweeter Today" that she had received earlier from her bag, and continued to speak while flipping through the pages:

“The storyline is simple but clear, and the characters are straightforward but likable. It can be said that as long as the production team does not mess around and honestly shoots the entire series without changing a single word, it shouldn’t be too bad.”

After she finished talking about her opinion on the script, Arima Kana closed the script in her hand again, held it upright and tapped it against her thigh a little before holding it in her arms. She turned around slightly and smiled brightly at Kitagawa Ryogami who was sitting next to her:

“Even if I am just a fan of the original work, I want to make the web series “Today’s Sweetness” a good work that is loved and recognized by everyone.”

"Besides, if we are with Senior Liang, we can definitely do this."

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During the two months that she worked with Samejima Abiko on the stage play, Kichijoji Raiko, as the comic assistant and mental caretaker, sometimes thought to herself that "you might be a bit too extreme." But when it was her turn to adapt the work, she could immediately empathize with Samejima Abiko.

However, because this web drama did not conduct large-scale actor auditions like the last "Tokyo BLADE" stage play, Kichijoji Raiko was in a relatively calm mood. She sat on a chair outside the filming site and watched the performance quietly. She felt that her mood was somewhat closer to that of Umino Tsunayoshi, the original author of "It's Not My Fault That I'm Popular". Perhaps this is also a kind of inheritance of girls' cartoonists.

As a typical example of a TV series adaptation that became a hit and then fed back to the popularity of the original manga, Umino Tsunami has been the popular kid in the cartoonist circle over the years. Kichijoji Raiko had also seen the sets of pictures of interesting things on the set that he shared on social platforms before, and she had even started to wonder whether she should also do a friendship replica and learn to draw some simple sketches from him to share the current situation of the crew with fans who were a little uneasy because it was adapted from a web drama.

She does have this extra time, this is the leisure time of a monthly cartoonist!

Kichijoji Raiko stared silently at everything in front of her with her thoughts racing. Different from the rehearsal scenes of stage plays she had seen before, the formal filming of film and television dramas would first have a rehearsal without cameras, then a rehearsal with cameras, then a preview, and finally the official performance.

Since the budget and time were sufficient, and Kitagawa Ryo himself attached great importance to this new project, none of the scheduled steps were omitted. The entire crew, from the director to the actors and other work and logistics personnel, showed a serious attitude, which made her, who was originally a little nervous, slowly calm down and become the peaceful she is now.

She herself is very satisfied with the leading role of Kitagawa Ryo and Arima Kana, and her feelings in this regard are even somewhat similar to those of Umino Tsunami at the time. After all, there is a big gap between Kitagawa Ryo's real age and the age of the male protagonist set in their original comics, but in the end they all ended up with the same conclusion of "no problem at all".

Frankly speaking, the difficulty of pretending to be old and pretending to be young are actually not equal. The latter should be more difficult than the former. After all, human growth and aging is an irreversible process. Although it can be barely concealed through medical beauty, makeup and clothing, it often still gives people a great sense of incongruity. Kichijoji Raiko was also worried about this aspect in advance.

However, it must be said that Kitagawa Ryo was quite successful in pretending to be a high school student. Perhaps it was because of years of persistent exercise and maintenance, or perhaps it was because he was blessed by a beloved god. After he changed into a high school student uniform and walked out of the dressing room, he dazzled everyone in the crew. It was completely impossible to tell that he was already a father of a child. Standing next to Arima Kana, who was also wearing a high school student uniform, there was no sense of disobedience. Kichijoji Raiko even felt that they were a good match.

In fact, she had had this feeling before at the audition for "Tokyo BLADE". If Kitagawa Rumi showed a kind of CP feeling that was almost fateful and entangled with Kitagawa Ryo in the co-starring, then Arima Kana who appeared at that time was a completely different flavor.

Just like what Samejima Abiko said to her at that time, rather than being an interaction between Shojima and BLADE, it was more like the way the male and female protagonists get along in "Just a Little Sweet Today" that she drew, with some girlish purity and ignorance, and a little courage because of the fear of missing out, which is full of the essence of youth love.

"No matter how many times I watch it, I always feel that Kitagawa-kun and Ms. Arima's acting is so amazing. The charming and ambiguous atmosphere is created more naturally than I imagined. In some places, the expressiveness feels stronger than the comics-"

Listening to the subconscious sigh of the original author who was sitting next to her, the agent Shoko Oeda, who was also watching the filming progress attentively outside the venue, just held her chin and smiled bitterly. After all, in her opinion, what the two people who were performing a youthful love story there showed could no longer be described as simple acting.

After thinking about it for a while, Mita Shoko stood up as quietly as possible, and slowly walked out of the shooting site without disturbing others. She chose to call Mr. Izaki, a senior who she had known for a long time, who had great prestige and qualifications in the agency, and was knowledgeable in every sense, to consult him on how to deal with the current situation.

Because of his old age, Mr. Izaki has now resigned from his position in the agency and entered retirement, but he still serves as Kurokawa Akane's agent. This is mainly because Kurokawa Akane's popularity has risen so fast in the past two years. He has become the agency's signature actor on par with Arima Kana. Kitagawa Ryo really can't find a suitable candidate to take over this very important position, so he has to maintain the status quo for now.

The call made by Oda Shoko was quickly answered. After hearing the familiar and kind voice of the other party, she quickly told him about her troubles in the past two days.

On the other end of the phone, looking at Kurokawa Akane who had rented a practice room outside and covered the entire room with posters of the stage version of BLADE, and was practicing over and over in front of the mirror, Mr. Izaki just smiled:

"Don't worry about their business, just let it go."

Chapter 32: Not a Little Sweeter

After finishing the call with Oda Shoko, Mr. Izaki put his work phone back into his pocket. Kurokawa Akane in the room had also finished practicing this line.

After slowly adjusting her breathing rhythm to a steady one, she sat down on the chair next to her and rested to recover her strength while she placed her phone on a stand horizontally on the table in front of her. She reached out and lightly touched the center of the screen, then focused her eyes on the replayed performance video of the "Tokyo BLADE" stage play, which she had specifically asked for from the troupe leader Kindaichi Toshiro.

In fact, one can find some videos recorded privately by viewers using tools on the Internet, but in terms of clarity and shooting angle, they are far inferior to the internal video that she had specially requested. The actors' lines and expressions are clearer and even more detailed, which also allows her to understand Kitagawa Ryo's performance in more detail.

Although Kitagawa Rumi's role as Shoji in this stage play also received widespread acclaim, Kurokawa Akane did not put too much energy and thought into her acting skills, let alone imitating and reproducing it again. Just like the saying that there are a thousand Hamlets in the hearts of a thousand readers, different actors have different interpretations of the same character, not to mention that Kitagawa Rumi's performance this time is full of strong personal style.

But then again, most actors who can leave a deep impression on the audience have an unusual and distinctive performance style, which is a reflection of their talent. To be honest, Kitagawa Rumi only showed this trait for the first time in this performance, and having been an actor for a longer time, she has long since honed her acting skills that best suits her and has a strong personal touch.

Just as Kurokawa Akane was slowly beginning to construct a simulated filming scene in her mind based on Kitagawa Ryo's performance, a strong yet kind call from her agent, Mr. Izaki, brought her back to reality.

"What's the matter, Mr. Izaki?"

Kurokawa Akane has always been very respectful to this elder who gave up his peaceful retirement life to become her agent. The two of them have gotten along very well during the years of their partnership. The reason why her popularity has been steadily increasing in the past two years is also inseparable from the assistance of this experienced and mature senior agent, not to mention that there is a family relationship between him and Kitagawa Ryo that is almost like that between grandparents and grandchildren.

"nothing."

Mr. Izaki pulled a chair over and sat opposite Kurokawa Akane. He looked at the artist who was his second full-time artist after Kitagawa Ryo. His posture and smile were like an amiable old grandfather next door. He looked into the other person's eyes gently and said:

"I just want to talk to Chiyin briefly about my inner thoughts."

From a certain perspective, his position is somewhat similar to that of Kindaichi Toshiro, but not exactly the same, because the other party also cherishes Kitagawa Rumi's mood and feelings, but for him who has never started a family in his life, the person he is most concerned about has always been Kitagawa Ryo, who he has watched grow up since he was four or five years old.

During Kitagawa Ryo's childhood when his daily schedule was packed, Kindaichi Toshiro had to look after the LALALAI Theater in Tokyo, while the Kitagawa couple would rather stay at home and count the money they earned. They accompanied each other on trips around the country, and he was actually the only one who went to film, perform, and take endorsements all over the country. The feelings between the two slowly accumulated at that time.

It was precisely because of this that he took the initiative to express his willingness to be Kurokawa Akane's agent after she entered the agency. This was not because he saw the potential in her and wanted to further increase his reputation and word of mouth in the agent industry, nor was it for any economic benefit. In the final analysis, he just saw the importance of Kurokawa Akane in Kitagawa Ryo's heart, and saw that his feelings for this junior were different from those for other artists in the agency.

Although the result was that just after he took office, he encountered an "interview accident" caused by Kurokawa Akane at the press conference of "Tomorrow", and it was from that time that he realized what kind of emotions were hidden in the heart of the girl he was responsible for, who is now called the twin stars of the new generation of actresses together with Arima Kana in the industry.

The call from Oda Shoko did remind him of something he hadn't thought about for a long time, but when Mr. Izaki really thought about Kurokawa Akane and what happened between Arima Kana and Kitagawa Ryo, he suddenly found in a daze that his mentality was completely different from what it was a few years ago.

After Kurokawa Akane said in front of reporters, "My ideal partner is Kitagawa Ryo," he immediately called Kitagawa Ryo to tell him the inside story and Kurokawa Akane's true thoughts. In fact, he was afraid that Kitagawa Ryo, who had just been married to Ai for a few years, would make a mistake, or he wanted to give him a shot in advance. But now...

As one of Kitagawa Ryo's closest elders, he naturally knew what had happened in the Kitagawa family in the past two years. It could be said that Rumi accomplished something that only she could do almost single-handedly, and abruptly broke all the people and things that had been fixed and would slowly change or disappear with the passage of time.

To be honest, when Mr. Izaki was told these things by Kitagawa Ryo in person and his re-planned future plans, the first thing he thought of was an event or a scene that happened a long time ago.

He and the other person were sitting in the back seat of a car heading to Miyazaki, and then he received a call from the Kitagawa couple, informing him that Mrs. Kitagawa was confirmed to be pregnant.

Mr. Izaki can still clearly recall his feelings at that time. He had unconsciously stood on Kitagawa Ryo's side, worried that this unborn child might completely change Kitagawa Ryo's status and even future in the Kitagawa family.

Perhaps the gears of fate really did start turning at that moment, and his thoughts at that time were not wrong in a sense, but he certainly did not expect that fate would lead their future to the situation they are in today.

But no matter what, since Kitagawa Ryo has made his decision, the only thing he can do is to continue to support him, support him in expanding the firm to the size of Johnny's, help him consult and contact overseas immigration matters, and -

Continue to serve as the agent of the girl in front of him.

For a long time in the past, Kitagawa Ryo would subconsciously believe that Kurokawa Akane's feelings for him were just a subconscious one after the death of his biological father, similar to the suspension bridge effect or the Electra complex. Just like the intense and infatuated feelings are often not proof of the existence of love, but just a proof of how lonely and bored those men and women were before.

But after spending a few years together, Mr. Izaki slowly began to disagree with Kitagawa Ryo's view. Although he was just a pseudo-love expert who only knew how to talk on paper, his rich experience and experience allowed him to gradually realize the truth about the emotions that Kurokawa Akane held in his heart.

He felt that this was love.

It's not some messy complex or psychological effect, just like what the other party said bluntly at the beginning, 'My ideal partner is Kitagawa Ryo', it's not a marketing gimmick to promote the new drama, but just a simple and sincere word.

To be honest, even if Rumi and the series of events that followed had never happened, he would have no reason to stop Kurokawa Akane from falling in love with Kitagawa Ryo, not to mention that the situation has now become like this.

Perhaps the older you get, the more you will miss this kind of poetic and pure girlish feelings.

Although he had just said "let it be", when he saw Kurokawa Akane preparing for the upcoming "Tokyo BLADE" live-action movie with great expectations, Mr. Izaki couldn't help but speak up in an almost encouraging tone and attitude:

"The ultimate dream of an actor is to create a timeless character, to leave a moment of themselves forever in the present and even in the future. Ryo is such a child, and in fact, Akane is the same, so Ryo values ​​Akane so much."

In his past life, Mr. Izaki had written down many literary love quotes in his little notebook, but at this moment, he couldn't remember a single one, and spoke awkwardly and even stumblingly:

"In fact, maybe the process of liking someone and then loving them is also like this... At the beginning, it was just a coincidence at a certain moment, and then, I wanted to try to pursue that kind of eternity in space and time."

Kurokawa Akane listened quietly to the entire speech of the old man in front of him, which seemed a bit incoherent at first. After a slight pause, he nodded slightly.

It was not until Mr. Izaki got up and left for a while that Kurokawa Akane, as if realizing something, suddenly began to feel shy. He subconsciously covered his face with his hands, with his palms pressed against it. He could clearly feel the burning heat coming from there, like a fever.

...Wait, does this count as meeting the parents and being recognized?

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Shizuoka, the filming location of "Let's Be a Little Sweeter Today".