Pre-selected role.
Production company’s direct appointment, entering the crew with capital, acquaintance bundle transactions, and so on…
This is by no means a rare occurrence in the industry.
“This time’s she and him” is the same; the role of Ryoya was pre-selected long ago.”
Sakurajima Mai lowered her voice slightly, since this matter really wasn’t very glorious: “Didn’t you guys notice?
The male child actors who came for the audition basically have no fame; they are obviously just here to make up numbers, purely going through the motions to gain experience.”
It would have been fine if Sakurajima Mai hadn’t explained.
After her explanation, Yuji and Kana noticed it.
Not to mention anything else, the female child actors were relatively high in quality, and a few people could even be called by name.
As for the male child actors…
Uh…
some kids were already stage-frightened and didn’t dare to go on stage.
It seemed many large agencies had received the news and didn’t let their child actors come waste time.
“You guys should have heard the name of the pre-selected person; it’s that one, Kobayashi Ryuki from SF Child Actor Agency.
Oh, it happens to be his turn on stage.
You can take a look.”
Hmm?
Following where Sakurajima Mai’s finger pointed, Yuji and Kana happened to see a boy around eight or nine years old, with a cute appearance, walking onto the audition stage.
Kobayashi Ryuki.
Although incomparable to the current ceiling of the child actor industry represented by Kana and Sakurajima Mai, in this line of work, he was considered a quite popular male child actor, and his Acting…
“You are not allowed to bully Junko!”
On stage, Kobayashi Ryuki had completely entered the zone.
The scene he was auditioning for was when the younger sister Junko was bullied by boys in her class and called a ‘wild child’, and Ryoya, as her older brother, protected his younger sister Junko.
This could be considered a quite difficult scene.
After all, a live audition couldn’t possibly find a dedicated actor specifically to match lines with Kobayashi Ryuki; meaning he had to mix in some imaginary-object performance.
Yet even so, Kobayashi Ryuki’s Acting was quite good.
His eyes widened, biting his lower lip tightly, as if he were intimidating the non-existent classmates in front of him who bullied his younger sister.
That small body first leaned forward slightly, and then pulled back a bit.
As if behind his empty back, there really was a younger sister lowering her head and sobbing.
One had to say, this Acting was indeed quite good.
From Yuji’s perspective, it was probably at the level of Acting LV5 or LV6 in the weird system, which was already quite remarkable.
Coupled with his popularity as a male child actor…
No wonder the role of ‘Ryoya’ was pre-selected for him.
“Yeah, that’s why I said it’s troublesome.”
Sakurajima Mai sighed, and the gaze she cast at Yuji also carried a trace of pity.
The competitor was very strong, and the role was pre-selected; anyone coming here wouldn’t be able to stand it, right?
Yuji didn’t respond.
He just lowered his head.
Seeming to digest the information Sakurajima Mai had shared.
On the other side.
Kana’s white little cloth shoes restlessly tapped the ground.
Looking at the silent Yuji.
Her palm first raised, then fell, and immediately raised again.
She, who was already clumsy with words, had no idea how to comfort the other person at this moment.
About a minute passed just like that.
Yuji raised his head.
There was none of the hysterical breakdown Sakurajima Mai had expected, let alone the childish crying and fussing Kana had imagined.
He just nodded very quietly: “I see, so that is how it is.”
This calm expression shocked not only Kana, but even Sakurajima Mai, who had always appeared composed nearby.
You just go with’So that is how it is’?
Realistically speaking, if the same thing happened to the two of them, she definitely would not be able to act like Yuji at all.
An audition required a considerable amount of time to prepare.
Not only did you need to memorize lines, read the script repeatedly, and try to understand the character, but you also had to spend a lot of time practicing.
Even Sakurajima Mai, whose mental maturity far exceeded that of ordinary child actors, would probably grit her teeth and desperately want to walk up and slap those who took the ‘back door’ if she encountered something like this.
Sakurajima Mai could not help asking: “You…
Yuji-kun…
Are you okay?”
“I would not exactly say I am okay,” Yuji shook his head.
“It is just that crying and making a fuss will not solve anything, right?”
This was a fact.
The matter had already happened, and crying or making a fuss was completely meaningless.
Therefore—
“I can only keep moving forward,” he said.
“You say moving forward…
but how do you plan to move forward?” The old habit of Kana of blurting things out flared up again.
“Weren’t the roles already predetermined…
Mmph!”
By the time she reached the end, she finally reacted and covered her mouth.
Are you an idiot?!
Kana—
At this moment, Kana utterly hated her mouth for subconsciously reopening the scars of other people.
However—
“Then that has nothing to do with me anymore.”
Yuji shook his head.
“Eh?”
Not only Kana, who was covering her mouth, but even Sakurajima Mai could not help casting her gaze toward him.
Because logically speaking, when facing such unfair treatment, should not most people be filled with righteous indignation?
“But that does not have any meaning, does it?”
A mature adult would not do anything meaningless.
“I believe I have tried my best and have a clear conscience for this audition.
So, regardless of the outcome from here on, I have the obligation to walk this path to the end and accept it.”
After all, he was different from the carefree Sakurajima Mai and Kana.