They all pushed me!

At this moment, Kitagawa Ryo was wearing a simple yet unique light grey yukata. The custom-made fitted style perfectly set off his tall figure. His back was naturally straight like a sword, with a charming smile on his lips, and in his hand he was playing with a shiny apple candy out of boredom.

I have to say that the plot of "Just a Little Sweet Today" is truly classic in various aspects. The common elements in youth romance themes such as clubs, student unions, campus cultural festivals, fireworks festivals, and New Year's shrines are all available. However, due to the author Kichijoji Raiko's delicate brushwork and emotional expression, coupled with the unconventional plot design, Kitagawa Ryo has a sense of youth as if he has suddenly become ten years younger.

As the clapperboard fell, Kana Arima, who was also wearing a yukata, slowly walked towards him under the camera of the cameraman.

After the heroine officially appeared, these seemingly stacked scene elements suddenly became vivid. The bright moonlight and the streets at night were all given another inexplicable meaning along with the light-colored yukata and the bund-up hairstyle. The noisy voices in his ears suddenly quieted down, and Arima Kana waved to him gently.

As they stood side by side, whispering to each other shyly, wanting to be intimate but unable to let go, the first batch of fireworks had already reached into the sky in the countdown. In that instant, even the moon and the stars were eclipsed. The man-made miracle turned into fireworks and exploded in the sky. The light curtain formed by the flame color reaction was clearly reflected in the eyes of both of them. The process of blooming in an instant and then dissipating in an instant was repeated over and over again. When everything was quiet again, their hands were naturally intertwined.

Yasushi Gotanda announced with satisfaction that the shooting of this shot was successfully completed, and all the staff applauded together. In order to shoot the exterior scenes of the fireworks display, the crew of "Just a Little Sweet Today" arrived in Atami, Shizuoka yesterday. The history of fireworks displays here can be traced back to the middle of the last century. There are more than ten fireworks displays held throughout the year, which is a perfect location for filming.

"Kana, do you want to go out with me?"

After today's shooting ended, just when Arima Kana was about to invite Kitagawa Ryo to go out, the other party seemed to have predicted her thoughts in advance and spoke first.

"Go."

After a moment's pause, Arima Kana immediately replied briefly, as if she was afraid that he would regret it the next second.

So, after simply changing into casual clothes, the two of them said hello to Yasushi Gotanda and casually strolled to some nearby attractions.

Although the fireworks display was basically over because the filming was completed late, the originally lively night became quiet again. The various shops on the street had either gone home or started to close up. There were also a lot of frowning garbage left on the grass and roads beside the road, such as food packaging bags, small fireworks debris and other garbage left by tourists, but Arima Kana was still quite excited. She held his hand and skipped in front of him, looking around curiously like a child.

On the park benches, there were a few couples who looked like middle school and high school students, looking back every few steps as they missed each other. On the street not far away, you could see a few parents holding their children who were tired from playing and fell asleep in their arms.

Kitagawa Ryo bought the last marshmallow from the only remaining stall on the roadside, and agreed with Arima Kana that they would eat one on the left and one on the right, but in the end it turned into a little game of you taking a big bite of the one on my side, and I retaliating by taking a big bite of the one on your side, until only a bare wooden pole was left in his hand, and he stopped with a feeling of unsatisfaction.

"It got on my mouth."

As Arima Kana spoke, she slightly tiptoed, as if she wanted to reach out to help wipe the sugar from the corners of his mouth. When Kitagawa Ryoya bent down slightly to cooperate, it was the lips of a young girl that touched his mouth.

It's not just a little sweeter.

The heroine's kiss was so sweet that it was intoxicating.

Chapter 33: The Girl Who Wants to Pick Stars

Nearly three years ago, Kitagawa Ryo received confessions from Kurokawa Akane and Arima Kana at the same time. Taking the filming of "Tomorrow, Mom and Dad Are Away" as an opportunity, the two juniors he valued and was closest to expressed their feelings to him at the same time. At that time, he neither agreed nor denied it, but left the answer to the question to time, the most fair examiner in the world, and let it make the assessment.

But just as Kurokawa Akane and Arima Kana have mysterious contrasting attributes in many aspects, in fact, his attitude and reaction to the two people's feelings at that time were also different.

As for Kurokawa Akane, what he actually cared about was whether the other person's thoughts were just produced by various external factors that occurred during that period of time, but were mistakenly believed by the person concerned to be like or love, and then he firmly believed it on his own.

As for Kana Arima, Kitagawa Ryo is more concerned about himself, because compared to Kurokawa Akane, who is more introverted in personality and more reserved in emotions, and only dares to secretly hide a little of his feelings in the script, because of his experiential acting skills, he gets satisfaction from this kind of virtual performance, Kana Arima will hardly hide anything in front of him, so she was able to smile and be clever in the choice of return gift on her wedding day, and told him openly on his birthday a few years ago that she wanted to pick his star.

It is precisely because of this that Kitagawa Ryo has never doubted the feelings that Arima Kana has for him. From the beginning to the end, what he was struggling with was his own opinion of Arima Kana.

Although he always said that Kurokawa Akane's feelings for him might be due to the Electra complex caused by family changes, if we really trace the root of the problem, it might be more likely that Magana once had a similar complex, which would be more in line with the situation in the case.

Magana's mother's dominance and her father's infidelity eventually led to the breakdown of her original family. She was brought into the entertainment industry by her mother alone. What she saw most often was her mother bowing and nodding to all kinds of people for her debut and fame. She watched her being scolded, hated, excluded, ridiculed and belittled. During this childhood experience, she actually lacked a father, or the role of protector referred to in the Electra complex. In this situation, Kitagawa Ryo, who suddenly appeared, would naturally be put into this missing part.

In fact, in the early days of meeting Kana Arima, Ryo Kitagawa also subconsciously put himself into this role, whether it was when Ms. Arima wanted Kana to film "Big Pepper Gymnastics" and said, "As long as he is here, no one can force Kana to do something she doesn't want to do," or when he brought Kana into the agency to train her as his direct junior, and so on.

But Kitagawa Ryo almost never felt that Arimakana had really had such a thought, even though for a long time there were rumors circulating in the office whether the child was his illegitimate daughter or some relative, because Arimakana's character was always quite independent.

From the time she thought carefully about his question "Does Kana like acting?" and answered "yes" on the set of "Spider", she has been able to express her thoughts very clearly, which is rare for a four-year-old child.

In the days that followed, Arimagana's independence became more distinct and even dazzling as she grew older.

At work, Kana Arima has never been a half-hearted actor. After Ryo Kitagawa gave her the resources for "Shoplifters", she began to look for and take on roles on her own. The "Homeless Children" she collaborated with Yasushi Gotanda is still a very important milestone in her acting career.

The same is true in daily life. To be honest, Arimakana has indeed been entangled, distressed, and even tormented by the relationship between her and her mother, but in the end, she chose to confront her mother before the situation evolved into the most irreversible state, and ultimately maintained their relationship to the current relatively decent ending.

The mother did get a daughter who is still popular today, and also got enough property to live the rest of her life in peace and abundance. The two of them separated and did not bother each other, just like the half-written book "I am the Mother of Arima Kana", with only a blank space left for the follow-up.

She has lived in Tokyo alone since she was twelve years old, working, studying and living there. In the beginning, she only ordered takeout and rarely used the kitchen. Later, she learned how to cook, and in the past two years, she has been trying to learn how to bake desserts. She followed tutorials on the Internet to learn how to wash and dry clothes by herself, and she washes her childhood pendants and treasured ring pillows carefully and diligently by hand. On her days off, she would lie on the bed in her room and read all kinds of comics. Sometimes she would cry when she read something touching.

Therefore, Kitagawa Ryo never questioned Arima Gana's feelings. On the contrary, perhaps he was the one who fell into the reverse Electra complex, arbitrarily treating her as a daughter for a long time.

After all, among the girls he is close to, Ai is four years older than him in this life, Rumie has always been his younger sister, and the age difference between her and him is not as big as eleven years, and the only one who is the same age as Arima Kana, Akane Kurokawa, has a very happy family environment, and the same is true for Abiko Samejima and MEM Chu.

Of course, this is also inseparable from the fact that Arimakana herself has a very young figure in terms of height and facial features.

It is precisely because of this that when faced with Arima Kana's confession that day, the first thing that Beichuan Ryo had to face was actually his own long-held concept -

Does he also have similar feelings towards Arima Kana?

To be honest, Arima Kana actually knew the same thing that Kitagawa Ryo was struggling with, but she had never worried about it.

Just as Kurokawa Akane's acting style has a distinct experiential color, from her debut to the present, Arima Kana has always been an outspoken expressionist expert. As Kaburagi Katsuya believes, her acting skills have always been like the sun shining on the retina of every audience, always conveying to the audience the strong message of "please look at me carefully".

This star quality has been honed to a near-perfect level during Kana Arima's more than ten years of acting career. Every leading role and every surge in popularity actually helps her accumulate experience and confidence, which in turn allows her to give a better performance on the next occasion. It's a perfect virtuous circle.

Kitagawa Ryo brought her to the center of the stage, pointed all the spotlights at her, and told her that she was the heroine and that she just needed to express herself and perform to her heart's content.

Until now, she finally believed it 100% and became such a protagonist.

The heroine never doubts her own charm. Perhaps love and acting are similar in this respect. During these two years, Kana Arima has never given up inviting Kitagawa Ryo to "please look at me carefully."

This was the case with the audition for the last stage play "Tokyo BLADE", and it was the same with the filming of "Just a Little Sweet Today".

What’s different from last time is that in addition to co-starring as a couple with Kitagawa Ryo in this script, Kana Arima also volunteered to be the theme song singer for this web drama.

From the first time she sang the theme song of "Tomorrow" with Akane Kurokawa a few years ago to now, compared to Akane who has never taken on such work since then, Kana Arima's singing level has been unanimously praised by the industry and audiences. After that, she also sang spin-off songs for the other two starring movies and TV series, and the reputation is also quite good.

It is precisely because of this background that when Kana Arima took the initiative to propose to sing the theme song, both Kitagawa Ryo and other members of the production team chose to agree. This also saved the effort of finding another singer. What's more, this itself is another gimmick that can be used to make a big fuss and promote traffic.

As for the production of the theme song, considering that both the original work and the web drama adapted from "Today's Sweetness" are essentially about young girls' comics about youthful love, at the suggestion of Kana Arima, Kitagawa Ryo also specially contacted the musician Ken Himura, who had previously collaborated with B Komachi for a long time, and finally came up with a song with a brisk and bright rhythm and lyrics full of the youthful sweetness and sourness unique to adolescent love. The song was named "Want to Be Cute" (the real prototype song also has this name) by Kana Arima, who also participated in the writing of the lyrics.

Kitagawa Ryo himself has also listened to Magana's recorded version several times. In fact, he has been humming this song softly in his spare time recently.

[One day, I will give you a smile as a gift]

[I will not be defeated by the time I can’t spend with you]

[I will become cuter...so be aware]

Looking at the girl's eyelashes trembling slightly like black butterflies and the blush on her cheeks, Kitagawa Ryo, who was kissed by Arima Kana, almost subconsciously remembered the lyrics he had been used to hearing these days. His originally stiff movements gradually softened. He pressed the other's shoulders lightly with both hands to separate their lips again.

Then, Kitagawa Ryo stretched out one hand to slightly lift the bangs on Arima Kana's forehead, and with the other hand gently wrapped around her fair neck. After carefully looking at her face several times, until his nose was filled with her scent, Kitagawa Ryo moved closer again, and in the reflection of Arima Kana's burgundy pupils that had finally calmed down, he took the initiative to press his lips against hers.

He noticed her cuteness, the cuteness that was unique to Arimaka.

The girl who once made a wish to pluck the star that seemed countless light years away because of the light it cast upon her has grown up, but she still has not plucked the star.

Because she became a star that illuminates others.

She also became another companion star who embraced and danced with him.

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

Saving the time of scheduling and waiting for the release date of traditional TV dramas, after the filming was completed and the post-editing was also completed smoothly and swiftly, "Just a Little Sweet Today" was almost on the fastest pace to be launched on the online TV station, and it was quite arrogant to choose to release the whole series in one go, along with various forms of publicity and promotion. This small-scale web drama, which looks like it has a very luxurious cast but the actual cost is not high, easily swept this winter at the end of the year.

In fact, with two of the most popular actors currently leading the group, Ryo Kitagawa and Kana Arima, the commercial results would not be too bad from the start. What surprised the industry even more was the strength that Ryo Kitagawa's personal agency demonstrated at the production level.

Although they have tried to shoot TV series with their own team in the past few years and produced excellent works such as "Tomorrow", compared with that time, "Just a Little Sweeter Today" gives people a sense of ease and maturity in all aspects. Combined with the production capacity and subject matter advantages of the web drama itself, it is obviously the other party's first attempt in this new track, but it makes people vaguely have the illusion that they are about to dominate.

What has made several large agencies and companies that have been continuously delving into the emerging industry of web dramas in the past two years concerned is that in the promotion of "Just a Little Sweet Today", a large number of Berry Pro-based internet celebrities have participated in it, either by actively mentioning it during the live broadcast or by directly making a promotional video. The combination of various factors has made the popularity reach its current exaggerated level.

Combined with the rumors that the founders, major shareholders and presidents of Mei Pro, Mr. and Mrs. Saito, intend to leave their positions and take a break, and that the Kitagawa couple will take over the office, the combined efforts of the two will undoubtedly expand the business scope of Kitagawa Ryo's personal office a lot, and visibly impact the market situation that has not yet been fully finalized.

However, most of the audience didn't notice it at all, and didn't care about the twists and turns behind it. Fans of the original work of "Sweet Today" opened champagne everywhere to promote it, so that many passers-by fans who had watched the web drama couldn't help but buy a set of the original work, which drove the sales of the original comics to a huge surge. Kichijoji Raiko's name was soon listed together with Umino Tsunami in the circle. She was also full of energy and even had the idea of ​​speeding up the update frequency and evolving from a monthly cartoonist to a biweekly or even weekly king. However, if she wants to do it, she will have to wait until the beginning of next year. After all, it is now the last two days of the year.

It's another New Year.

Beichuan Liang was lying comfortably on the sofa, scrolling through netizens' comments on his phone, such as "Thanks to "Today's Sweet" for making my whole winter warm and sweet", "I really like Liang and Kana's performances, it brought back the mood I had when I watched "It's Not My Fault That I'm Popular" when I was a child". He lazily raised his eyes and looked at Ying, who was able to walk independently and was playing a chasing game with the kitten on the soft cushion in the living room. The voices of three people could be clearly heard from the kitchen.

Arimakana did not spend the New Year alone again this year.

It will be the same in the future.

Chapter 34: I Will Be the Fourth

The news that the live-action movie "Tokyo BLADE" has officially started filming is undoubtedly the most well-deserved headline news in the entertainment industry since the beginning of the year. As another new project of the popular IP "Tokyo BLADE", it can be said that the attention this time has received is even several times more than the previous 2.5-dimensional stage play which was limited by the performance form and scale. Although the official has only released a short trailer PV and a promotional poster, it has rushed into the relevant hot trends in a very short time and set off a wave of discussion on the Internet.

What surprised some passers-by fans was that the live-action movie version of "Tokyo BLADE" did not continue to use the cast of the stage play nearly a year ago. Except for the leading actor, Kitagawa Ryo, all other roles, including the heroine Shoji, were basically replaced by new actors, which disappointed many netizens who became fans of Kitagawa Rumi because of her outstanding performance in the stage play. However, after all, the female lead now publicly announced is Kurokawa Akane, who has become famous in the past two years and has many fans. In addition, it was previously revealed that the original author Samejima Abiko liked Kurokawa Akane to play Shoji in the live-action movie version, so the rhythm of pulling and provoking wars that appeared briefly disappeared quickly.

In fact, for most old audiences in this circle, it is not uncommon for the same long-term IP to change actors in different projects. For example, when "Tokyo BLADE" was first adapted from a comic into an audio radio drama, the voice actors who dubbed the male and female protagonists were not the same people as the voice actors in the official animation version.

The reason why this situation occurs in the industry is that, except for a very small number of actors whose schedules cannot be arranged, or some unforeseen circumstances occur between two projects, it is basically due to the most direct considerations of commercial interests.

Given Kitagawa Rumi's current status and ability as an actress, even if she really revealed her interest in this role to the film's producers, she would probably be rejected in the end. This is because compared to Rumi's career resume, which has only received rave reviews in this stage play in the past two years and is so thin that it can't be any thinner, Kurokawa Akane's box office appeal, which has been tested and recognized by the market, is undoubtedly more convincing.

In a sense, this is the most critical reason why the producers will temporarily tolerate Samejima Abiko, who is merely the original author, being so "arbitrary" in the selection of actors. After all, the ones they really brought in are super stars like Kitagawa Ryo and Kurokawa Akane. In the entertainment industry, actors of this level have their schedules and releases almost fully booked for two years later. Being invited by Samejima Abiko through personal relationships, they should all be grateful to Abiko.

After all, compared with commercial films that have officially hit the big screen in theaters, previous stage plays were just small-scale events in terms of audience, scale, and even the commercial value they generated. It is precisely because of this that different leading actors will often lead to changes in the final box office and revenue in the hundreds of millions or even billions.

Just like the popular saying in the industry that 'who plays the role often determines the success or failure of a project', in terms of mobilizing the audience, Kitagawa Rumi is indeed a little worse than Kurokawa Akane, who has been in this industry for several years and produced a considerable number of high-quality works.

Of course, Kitagawa Rumi had never thought of competing with Kurokawa Akane for this role. The stage play "Tokyo BLADE" has made her dream come true, and at the same time she has found the direction and motivation for her future on the path of an actor. What she has to do now is to continue to learn and accumulate until she becomes a real actor.

In addition to Kurokawa Akane who has already been confirmed to play the role of Shoji, Arima Kana also got the role of Kengi as she wished. She didn't even need to take the initiative to ask for the role, as the production team had already given her an offer very attentively.

After all, the market in recent years has fully proved that when Magana and Kurokawa Akane are together, the effect of one plus one is always greater than two, whether it is from the performance on the field or from the discussion and popularity traffic outside the field.

Moreover, the two do not seem to reject this kind of bundling marketing strategy. Whether in various formal interviews or in private live broadcast rooms, it can be clearly felt that the relationship between them is quite close. Some fans even swore that the two may not have any competitive relationship at all, and everything is just a means of shaping their personality for the outside world to see.

But the fact is...

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

"Anyway, that's about it - I'll cheer for Akane from now on."

As if she had completely forgotten what she had said before, "three of us together", Arima Kana casually announced that the "indestructible alliance" between the two of them had been broken again, and she smiled calmly at Kurokawa Akane who was sitting opposite her. Her lips, as if painted with lip glaze, appeared somewhat shiny under the light, causing Kurokawa Akane, who had just listened to the real-life version of the "Sweet Today" story narrated by Arima Kana, to subconsciously frown slightly and unconsciously pursed his lips.

This time, there is no need for her to transform herself into a master of psychology again and analyze the relationship between the other party and Kitagawa Ryo and then draw a conclusion. Arima Kana's current expression and her previous words have already made everything clear. With the opportunity of the filming of "Today's Sweetness", the other party finally achieved a breakthrough in the relationship with Senior Ryo.

If you think a little more optimistically, this also verifies that the ideas and plans of the two of them in the past few years are correct. After Rumi took the lead in opening up a new track, some ideas that were completely impossible to achieve in the past have now become possible. The last time her agent, Mr. Izaki, who has a close relationship with Senior Liang, said those words, it should be for this reason.

But Kurokawa Akane obviously didn't have the luxury of such a mood. He soon puffed up his cheeks in anger, glanced at Arima Kana in front of him, curled his lips, and said in a nonchalant manner:

"It was just a kiss, and the time and place were not well chosen. I wasn't afraid of being photographed by passers-by and fans."

"Two oh two——"

Arima Kana raised two fingers with a smile like a winner, and then imitated Kurokawa Akane's indifferent tone and continued:

"It's what they filmed. The worst that can happen is that people will scold me for being a bitch or having hidden rules. Then I can come out and openly tell the audience 'The person I like is Liang'. Besides, wasn't it filmed at all? It happened almost a month ago, and there's no news online yet."

Although she knew that if this matter was exposed now, the consequences would definitely not be as easy as she said now, but in front of Kurokawa Akane, Arima Kana still raised her chin and tried her best to appear heartless.

However, it cannot be said that she is just being stubborn or showing off. On the contrary, for Kana Arima, who has no family or relatives to restrain her at this stage and does not care much about public opinion, these are not things worth worrying about. If they are really exposed, it will be visibly more troublesome for Kitagawa Ryo.

After saying that, Arima Kana hesitated for a moment as if she had thought of something, but eventually she put away the smile on her face, looked directly at Kurokawa Akane sitting opposite her, and spoke seriously:

"Although I did take action without telling Akane this time, considering that Akane also made an appointment with Senior Liang before me when filming Tomorrow, let's just call it a day for now. What I'm going to say next is the reason why I specifically called Akane out today. I definitely don't mean to show off... Well, maybe a little."

After seeing Kurokawa Akane in front of him transform into an angry hamster for the second time, Arima Kana smiled, cleared her throat slightly, and continued:

"I stayed at Senior Liang's house during the New Year this year - stop, there's no need to show envy here, Akane, after all, you still have to spend the New Year with your mother."

"It was at that time that Senior Liang told me about his plan, which was that he would try to transfer his nationality to some countries and regions in the Middle East when the time was right, such as Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia, which still legally practice polygamy."

"The reason why these places still retain this marriage system is actually mainly due to the influence of Islamic culture. Senior Liang himself has started reading the Koran for immigration. I later checked it online and the original text is as follows:

'If you are afraid that you cannot treat orphans fairly, then you can choose the women you like and marry two, three, or four wives each. If you are afraid that you cannot treat them fairly, then you can only marry one wife each.'"

Having said this, Arima Kana paused for a moment, rested her head on her arms on the table, turned her head and recalled the situation at that time, while slowly speaking:

"For Senior Liang, the reason why he went through so much trouble and was even willing to change his nationality as a means of doing so was mainly because of the fairness in this sentence. In fact, I am not afraid of you saying it now, Akane. Until Senior Liang told me this, I had never imagined becoming his wife. To be more straightforward, maybe we were aiming for a so-called lover relationship from the beginning? After all, when Senior Liang and Sister Ai got married, we were both less than ten years old."

"He hopes that the relationship between us can be protected by law, that the children born are legitimate children, and that we have the right to inherit each other's estate."

In fact, when hearing this, Kana Arima instantly understood Kitagawa Rumi's feelings. After all, for those latecomers who felt they were in the wrong no matter how they defended themselves, before they really chose to take that step, they had comforted and convinced themselves in disguised ways that as long as two people truly loved each other, all formal things could be discarded.

Simply put, if Kitagawa Ryo really wanted to hide these relationships from the beginning, she was willing to accept that these connections between the two of them would be hidden underground for a long time, because just like Kitagawa Rumi at the beginning, at this stage, all they can see is the psychological and even sexual satisfaction between themselves and Kitagawa Ryo, just like a middle school girl who has just entered her first love will not immediately imagine the future plan with her boyfriend five, ten or even twenty years later.

Beichuan Liang was not really a believer in religion, but in the Islamic doctrines that Arima Kanai had seen, there were a few sentences that he highlighted with a pen:

You cannot be absolutely fair in your treatment of the ladies, even if you earnestly wish to be, so do not favor one over the other, so that you leave them hanging in the air.

[If a man has two wives and he does not treat them equally, he will be torn in two on the Day of Resurrection]

After saying all of this, Arima Kana stood up from the table as if relieved, stretched lazily, raised the corners of her mouth again in the direction of Kurokawa Akane who seemed to be thinking, and lowered her voice actively:

"I was actually shocked at first, but then I thought about it. Given Liang's personality, he would definitely do something like this—"

She deliberately prolonged her voice, a sly smile flashed in her wine-red eyes, she leaned forward slightly, and whispered softly in Kurokawa Akane's ear:

"But, what Akane and I noticed was probably not the ones behind."

Kurokawa Akane bit her lips lightly and nodded subconsciously.

Just as the legal basis for contemporary marriages is given to the husband and each wife based on the 'equality' in the Quran, the upper limits of two, three, and four are also written into the provisions in the first half of this verse.

Even in countries where polygamy is legal, such as Qatar, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, the upper limit on the number of wives is firmly set at four.

Kurokawa Akane looked at Kana Arima who had shrank back into her seat and continued to leisurely browse the comment section and fan community related to "Tokyo Sweet" on her mobile phone. Suddenly, her mind unconsciously recalled Abiko Samejima and MEM Chuu who she had seen during the rehearsal of the stage play of "Tokyo BLADE".