Yuji had no idea what Kana was thinking.
After all, for a qualified adult, comforting an eight-year-old little girl was simply a piece of cake.
Compared to that…
“Why hasn’t the audition started yet?”
Yuji glanced over the scene.
Within his view, practically everyone was either a child actor or a manager from various agencies.
Some child actors had prepared early, even wearing light makeup to secure the role.
“Some people haven’t arrived yet, you see,”
Kana had adjusted her emotions by now.
Seeing that Yuji was a bit curious, she took the initiative to speak.
“Still people?”
Yuji turned his head back, more or less surprised.
This was his first time participating in an audition since becoming a child actor.
Previously, he mostly played minor extra roles like Child A, B, C, and D, so he wasn’t very clear about the scale of auditions.
Mainly because the audition venue was almost packed to the brim…
yet Kana said there were still people left?
Hearing Yuji’s words, Kana originally wanted to explain it to him directly.
But on second thought.
Ever since she got to know Yuji, it seemed like the other person always held the initiative.
That simply won’t do!
She had entered the child actor industry for three years; by seniority, she was definitely Yuji’s “life senior”.
Is there any “senior” in the world who is always being manipulated by their junior?
Thus, her pretty, large eyes rolled around craftily.
“Ahem…
Yuji, if you actively beg me and call me ‘Kana’, then it’s not like I can’t reluctantly explain it to you.”
Kana was trying to seize the initiative in front of Yuji for the very first time!
Come on, come on!
Hurry up and beg me!
However——
“Is that so?
Then forget it.”
Yuji’s rising body didn’t hesitate for even half a second, so much so that the corners of Kana’s mouth, which had just curled up, instantly froze, replaced by thick astonishment.
“No…
wait!
Why?!”
With twitching lips, she grabbed hold of the standing Yuji.
Yeah!
Why?!
She clearly sensed Yuji’s curiosity.
How could he not even take a bite of the answer served right to his mouth?
“Because Arima looks like she’s brimming with smugness, and it makes me a little ticked off.”
Yuji propped his face up expressionlessly, his black eyes staring intently at Kana.
Under normal circumstances, Kana would have refuted this statement without hesitation.
But for some reason.
As Yuji’s gaze fell upon her.
Even she, who was hailed as a “genius child actor”, couldn’t help shrinking her shoulders back—this guy in front of her was truly bizarre!
Clearly just a child like her, yet he could always bring her a sense of oppression that even adults didn’t have!
She really had no choice.
“T-Then how about this!
Just call me Kana!
As long as you call me cute ‘Kana-chan’, I can explain it to you, you know!”
That should be fine, right?
She had made a pretty big concession!
However——
“Then you beg me.”
“That’s why I’m asking, how did things turn out like this?!”
The reversal of offensive and defensive momentum happened far too quickly, leaving Kana somewhat dumbfounded.
After all, shouldn’t the guy in front of her be the one asking for her help?
Why could he be so condescending?
Where on earth did he get his confidence?
“Will you beg me or not?
This is your last chance, you know.”
Before Kana could think it through, Yuji ruthlessly dealt a heavy follow-up blow.
“Ugh——”
Perhaps because Kana herself carried a certain loser-like quality, she let out a wail, lowering her head like a defeated fighting rooster.
“I’m begging you.”
“Mhm, alright, Kana, can you explain it to me now?”
“…” Hearing Yuji’s words, Kana’s lips twitched.
Although her goal was completely achieved, why did she feel like she had lost?
Whatever, forget it!
Vigorously shaking her head to throw the previous episode out of her mind, Kana raised a finger and began to explain to Yuji.
“Child actor auditions are still different from adult auditions.
Their biggest difference is——the number of child actors.”
That’s right.
Japan’s entertainment programs such as movies, TV dramas, and anime are divided into four seasonal blocks: spring, summer, autumn, and winter.
The number of works that can be produced in each block is actually quite limited.
Among these quite limited varieties of works.
First, the major production companies responsible for funding and making them will take away some of the job opportunities for main or supporting roles.
Next, adult actors will take a slice of the pie.
What’s left at the very end is just a tiny handful of job opportunities that child actors are qualified to fight over, and this also has to account for some works not requiring children to appear.
Therefore, demand far exceeds supply.
Works with purely child actor protagonists like “she and him” are simply too rare.
Most child actor agencies wanted to come and grab a piece of the pie.
Therefore, it created today’s overcrowded scene.
“I see…”
Yuji nodded.
He was quite clear about the fact that the child actor industry was very cruel.
Yet even he hadn’t expected that job opportunities in this industry would be tight to such an extent.
No wonder the child actors standing at the apex of the pyramid were at most just that tiny handful of people.
Right in the middle of Yuji’s thoughts.
A wave of exclamations suddenly came from not far away, drawing both his and Kana’s attention over.
A child actor dressed quite demurely and maturely walked in.
The other person had slender limbs and deep eyes, unlike ordinary baby-fat child actors.
Pitch-black long hair slipped down from beside her ears.
That small, cute face easily made one think of a princess wearing an eighteen-layered unlined kimono under the moonlight.
“It is Senior Sakurajima…” Due to the angle, Kana was the first to see the shadow walking in and muttered.
Sakurajima Mai.
Even Kana had to admit that the other person was a genius in the true sense of the word.
There is a saying in the industry — child actors begin to go downhill when they reach 10 years old, and quit the industry around 13 or 14 years old.
But Sakurajima Mai was completely different.
She entered the industry at the age of 6, starred in the TV series “Kokonoe” upon her debut, and won various high ratings.
Even now at 10 years old, she was still at her peak, and her popularity showed no signs of declining at all.
It was no exaggeration to say that she was still a dazzling genius child star.
Kana felt nervous.
Even in the past, Sakurajima Mai’s reputation in the industry could steadily suppress hers, showing her strength.
Not to mention that her popularity was now slightly declining, making it even more so.
And the reason the other person appeared here.
She didn’t even have to think about it; she must have come for the position of “Junko”, one of the main characters!
In other words, the other person was her competitor.
Facing Kana’s nervousness, Yuji couldn’t help but shake his head.
Well…
Coming for an audition, and right off the bat, almost all of them were familiar faces…
The concentration of two-dimensional heroines was already very high — please don’t increase it anymore.
(Ah — new author asks for recommendations!
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Thank you very much for everyone’s support!)