They all pushed me!

Then, Kitagawa Rumi's questions appeared on Kurokawa Akane's phone like a string of cannonballs.

"It seems that there are auditions from four or five different crews. I am not sure about the details myself. Maybe I will know on the day of the audition."

Akane Kurokawa typed slowly, word by word. After editing all the text, she checked it carefully again before choosing to send it.

The result was that just as she submitted her request, a new message from Kitagawa Rumi came over:

"No more chatting, no more chatting, I have to take a shower and go to bed early. My brother has already finished and is urging me to go. Good night, Xiao Qian (|3[▓▓]."

Akane Kurokawa looked at the message and reached out to hold a bunch of her hair. She originally wanted to talk to Rumi Kitagawa about the fact that she had the same hairstyle as her today.

"Goodnight Ruby."

But since the other party had already said good night, Kurokawa Akane could only reply like this.

Akane Kurokawa held the phone to her chest and let her body slide down the head of the bed little by little until she was lying completely flat on the soft big bed.

She looked at the ceiling of her room, held up her cell phone, and reread the text messages between them word by word twice.

Anyway, she finally made her first friend other than her parents with whom she could say goodnight.

But I still can't help but imagine something better.

Just like she had thought before that if she could act with Liang, she would be so happy that she would die.

[My brother has finished washing and is urging me to wash].

For some reason, Akane Kurokawa stared at this sentence for a long time.

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

The rehearsal of the script of "Oedipus Rex" has entered the second stage. After a terrible plague swept the city of Thebes, Creon, the brother-in-law of King Oedipus, obtained the oracle of Apollo from the Temple of Delphi.

If they want to stop the disaster, they must find the murderer who killed the previous Theban king Laius.

But during King Oedipus' investigation, Tiresias, known as the omniscient prophet, directed his criticism at King Oedipus himself. King Oedipus believed that this was all a trick by Creon to seize the throne, so he had a big quarrel with Creon in the palace. The conflict between the two was finally resolved by Queen Jocasta who hurried over.

The scene currently being rehearsed is the conversation between Jocasta and Oedipus Rex after this scene ends.

As an ancient Greek drama, the dialogue style of "Oedipus Rex" has strong characteristics of the times.

Kitagawa Rumi, who was sitting in the audience, was holding up her little face and staring intently at everything that was happening on the stage.

Facing Oedipus, who was sitting there alone and sulking, Jocasta slowly approached him. She leaned on his shoulder and spoke softly, like a wife comforting her angry husband or a mother comforting her resentful child:

"My lord, for the love of the gods, tell me why you are so angry?"

As an adult, Hoshino Ai is much more mature than when she played in "Youth Forbidden Game". She delicately and gracefully displays the love of her dual identities as a mother and a wife, as if laying the groundwork for the development of the story in advance.

Jocasta actually doesn't have many scenes in the whole play, but Hoshino Ai attracted the attention of the audience as soon as she appeared.

Kitagawa Rumi pursed her lips, and she suddenly remembered that this should be the first drama in which Hoshino Ai and her brother acted together as husband and wife and mother and son.

"I'm telling you right now because I respect you more than those people, my lady."

King Oedipus reached out his hand to receive her tenderness, and in return he expressed his feelings in words.

"The reason for my anger is that Creon is plotting against me. He says that I am the murderer of Laius."

Then, in order to comfort her husband, Jocasta told him that her previous husband Laius had died at the hands of robbers. Unexpectedly, King Oedipus's expression changed drastically, and he fell into unprecedented fear and panic.

"My Lord, why does this matter trouble you so much?"

"My Lord, I see you are trembling all over."

"My Lord, you should also let me know what is bothering you."

Jocasta tried her best to suppress his anxiety. She reached out her hands and hugged King Oedipus tightly in her arms, as if coaxing a young child, and said very gently to him, agreeing to everything he shouted:

"I will immediately send someone to look for the shepherd who escaped back that year."

"Let us go in, and I will do whatever you like."

So, she slowly walked off the stage, supporting a man taller than herself, and this scene ended.

"What do you think Ruby?"

Kindaichi Toshiro, who was sitting next to Kitagawa Rumi, looked very excited. Before she could answer, he praised her:

"I didn't expect Ai to be able to recover to this level just after coming back from being a professional idol for a few years. She acted so well... No, it should be said to be perfect!"

The other staff members in the troupe also praised the performance. Although many of them were dissatisfied with the fact that Ichiro Kaneda allowed Hoshino Ai, who had just returned to the troupe, to directly star in "Oedipus Rex", after a few days of rehearsal, Hoshino Ai's acting skills completely conquered them.

“It was a very good performance.”

Kitagawa Rumi answered Kindaichi Toshiro's question dryly. She had obviously come to watch her brother rehearse to reassure herself, but now she felt upset.

In fact, she also wanted to be called "My lady" by Liang.

And it’s not just the present—

"My sister".

Chapter 59: Master?

Kitagawa Ryo naturally had no idea that his sister was currently thinking about how to turn from a younger sister into a lady. He had just finished a rehearsal and returned to the empty backstage. He picked up two bottles of water from the table, unscrewed the bottles, and handed one of them to Hoshino Ai who was following behind him.

"Thank you."

Because the bottle had already been opened once by Kitagawa Ryo in advance, Hoshino Ai also unscrewed the cap easily and began to drink the water in small sips at a steady pace.

But even so, Kitagawa Ryoya still saw two drops of water accidentally slide down from Hoshino Ai's mouth, along the chin, passing through the white and slender neck, the slightly trembling throat, and then falling into the collar below.

"It's been a long time since I've acted in a play."

After drinking the water, Hoshino Ai stretched lazily in front of Kitagawa Ryo, with a somewhat emotional tone in her voice.

"How does Ryo feel?"

"As far as the degree of rehabilitation is concerned, it's pretty good."

Beichuan Liang drank the water in the bottle in one breath. He took two steps forward and put the empty bottle into the trash can, and casually commented:

"And this time Jocasta is indeed a role that Ai can better play. I would be surprised if Ai can't perform to this effect."

"Liang, that's too much. You're obviously not like this when you're with Qian. You always praise her for everything she says."

Hoshino Ai pouted and patted Kitagawa Ryo's back gently from behind, as if to express her dissatisfaction.

"Is Ai also a very shy five-year-old girl?"

Beichuan Liang asked back with a smile.

“It’s not impossible.”

Hoshino Ai answered very quickly and blinked her bright purple pupils, as if to say, "If you dare to say it, I dare to act."

"…Love is acting out Jocasta, not Antigone (the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, the heroine of Sophocles' play Antigone)."

"Yes."

As if she was waiting for Kitagawa Ryo to say this, Hoshino Ai clapped her hands together in front of her chest and leaned over with a smile on her face:

"Then, my lord?"

"Excuse me, this name is a bit too childish nowadays. It's probably something a junior high school student would fantasize about during class."

Beichuan Liang shook his head. He really couldn't accept this kind of address that reflected the difference in status in real life. It always reminded him of all kinds of strange things.

What's more, this name came from the mouth of Hoshino Ai, which more than tripled its lethality.

"This is also a kind of experiential acting. Isn't that what Liang taught me? You have to experience the role, and act exactly like the character in the character's living environment, correctly and logically, like a real person."

But Hoshino Ai had no intention of stopping. She seemed to see the embarrassment that Kitagawa Ryo was hiding under his calmness, and instead took two steps closer.

As if to embarrass Beichuan Ryo even more, she raised the corners of her mouth and put her hands to her mouth to make a megaphone gesture:

"My Lord?—My Lord?"

"I also want to know what you are thinking about right now."

"Alright, alright, the next scene is about to begin, Ai, hurry up and get ready to go on stage..."

It was rare for Kitagawa Ryo to show an embarrassed and blushing look in front of Hoshino Ai, which even made her want to bite his earlobe for a moment.

However, the hands on the clock hanging on the wall did point to the start time of the next rehearsal, so Hoshino Ai had to stop her movements with a sense of unfulfilled desire and readjust her posture and expression.

The next scene begins with Jocasta's part. A messenger from afar brings the news of the death of King Oedipus's father (actually his adoptive father), King Polybus of Corinth.

Kitagawa Rumi, who was in the audience, saw the curtain on the stage being opened again. After the stage equipment was upgraded, not only the sound and picture effects were improved, but the time for changing scenes, which was usually quite cumbersome, was also shortened a lot. As an audience enjoying the drama, it was really an enjoyable thing.

The actor who played the messenger walked onto the stage and looked around. He asked anxiously:

"Ah, my guests, may I ask you where the palace of King Oedipus is? Or better yet, tell me where he is himself, if you know it."

The chorus, which served as both narrator and sound system, answered together at this time. Along with the passionate music, the spotlight on the stage was also shone on Jocasta who was slowly walking out.

"Ah, my friend, this is his house, he is in it, and this lady is the mother of his children."

The messenger immediately bowed his head respectfully and praised the beautiful queen from the bottom of his heart:

"May you be forever happy in your happy home, since you are the blessed wife of him, King Oedipus!"

Because it was an internal rehearsal, Kitagawa Rumi sat in the first row of the audience from beginning to end.

She could clearly see the smile of bliss that bloomed on Jocasta's, no, Hoshino Ai's, face at that moment:

"Guest, may you be happy too."

Jocasta smiled and returned the greeting:

"You have spoken auspicious words, and I should respond with my respect. Please tell me what you are here to ask for, or if you have any news to share."

Then the messenger told the queen that Polybus had died and that the country hoped that Oedipus would return to succeed him as king of Corinth.

This was news that made Jocasta overjoyed. She knew that her husband Oedipus had been troubled by the prophecy in the Delphi Temple that he would kill his father and marry his mother.

Now, Oedipus's father is dead, and it was not murdered by his son, Oedipus, who was thousands of miles away.

Doesn't this prove that the oracle is wrong?

"Maidens, why don't you go and tell the Master?"

Jocasta commanded with a cheerful look on her face, and she closed her eyes and prayed softly:

"Ah, prophecy of the gods, what have you become? It was this man that Oedipus had feared for so many years, and had been hiding from, for fear of killing him, and now he has died of old age, but not at the hands of Oedipus."

Then, Kitagawa Ryo, who played Oedipus Rex, came up from the backstage, smiled softly in front of Kitagawa Rumi and said:

"Ah--Jocasta, my dearest lady, why did you call me from my room?"

The charm of the two people appearing at the same time almost absorbed everyone's attention like a black hole. Even the messenger standing on the side was stunned and almost forgot his lines.

Kitagawa Rumi silently took out her cell phone from her pocket.

She couldn't bear to watch it anymore, and decided to wait until it was revealed that Jocasta was Oedipus' biological mother and the two of them were beating each other before looking up.

The page showed that Akane Kurokawa sent her a new text message two minutes ago.

Kitagawa Rumi touched it with her finger and clicked it open:

"Ruby Ruby, I've arrived at the first audition crew. I heard from the adults next to me that Senior Liang might also be in the cast. He said he's very optimistic about the prospects of this film."

"Oh yeah, the name of this movie is really weird."

“It’s called Shoplifters.”

Chapter 60: The audition that was [pre-selected]

As a well-known director in the circle, Hirokazu Koreeda is considered a standard successful person in the eyes of most people.

But after the four films he directed in succession were all nominated for the Palme d'Or (the highest award at the Cannes Film Festival, one of the world's three major international film festivals) but only lost every time, Hirokazu Kore-eda felt as if he was stuck in a vicious circle.

What concerned him even more was that in previous years there was another person in the circle, Yasushi Gotanda, who had been a runner-up with him in overseas events every time. However, this guy secretly directed a movie called "Spider", which caused a huge response and took off his hat of a runner-up before him.

Although he was a little stimulated, Gotanda Yasushi's success did rekindle Hirokazu Koreeda's belief in making another bid for the Palme d'Or.

So, after a long period of preparation, Hirokazu Koreeda finally came up with the script of "Shoplifters", determined to show his junior Yasushi Gotanda the level of the country's gold medal director.

He didn't intend to be like his opponent who only thought about winning the award and ended up with a film that was well received but not commercially successful.

Hirokazu Koreeda had already thought about it when he was writing this script. He wanted it to be a double success in terms of word of mouth and box office, and to break the records of all the films he had directed before.

But a classic movie is not only determined by excellent directors and screenwriters, the actors are also a very important part.

Therefore, we must select the best from the best and strive for excellence.