Arima Kana stared at the Sakurajima Mai who had just walked in.
The other girl had clearly also noticed her — this fellow ‘genius koyaku’ with whom she had crossed paths several times.
Then, right in front of Minami Yuji and Arima Kana—
She turned her head, said a couple of words to the manager at her side, then pointed in the direction of the two of them.
Once she had received permission, she finally carried her white shoulder bag over and sat down.
“Kana-chan, good morning.”
A fair-skinned hand lifted, brushing back the hair beside her ear — a simple, offhand greeting, followed by a clean, decisive seating.
“Ahh—” Arima Kana, who had been staring straight at her, puffed her lips out in dissatisfaction.
She really hadn’t expected the other girl to so brazenly cut into the middle of her conversation with Minami Yuji.
But even so, she still nodded in response.
“Good morning, Sakurajima-senpai.”
She had no choice — the other girl was, after all, her senpai in the industry, and since she’d taken the initiative to come over and greet her, there was simply no way she could not respond.
Compared to Arima Kana’s whole string of inner deliberations, however, Minami Yuji’s thoughts on the other side were far simpler.
At this moment, he was sizing up the Sakurajima Mai in front of him.
If Arima Kana gave him the impression of a dazzling little sun — childish, yet with a touch of willful spunk—
Then the first impression the Sakurajima Mai in front of him gave was perhaps simply this — quiet.
Yes.
Quiet.
Expression placid, speech neither loud nor fussy, scarcely letting any emotion show at all — calling her the spitting image of a future cool-faced beauty wouldn’t be an overstatement.
Her looks really were outstanding too — a pair of large, beautifully magnificent deep-blue eyes; she was already slowly beginning to develop, a dainty little face just shedding its childhood baby fat, slender, willowy limbs…
Just as Minami Yuji was running his eyes up and down—
Sakurajima Mai’s voice suddenly rang out.
“I have to say…
you…
are pretty interesting.”
He raised his head.
Only then did he realize that Sakurajima Mai was staring straight at him.
She had one leg crossed over the other, the tips of her round-toed little leather shoes tilted slightly upward, projecting an indescribable air of queenly poise.
Those deep-blue eyes brimmed with genuine interest.
“This is the first time I’ve been stared at like this by a male koyaku younger than me.”
She deliberately leaned her body forward, applying plenty of pressure on him, just to see how he’d react.
“That’s right — because Senpai is very pretty,” Minami Yuji said.
“Wuu!”
There isn’t a single woman in this world who dislikes being told she’s pretty.
Not to mention Sakurajima Mai was nearly in her first year of middle school by now, and had already developed some feminine self-awareness about her appearance.
So being praised so directly like this made two patches of pink float up onto her fair-skinned cheeks.
After all, she actually rather liked boys younger than herself, and besides, Minami Yuji’s foundational looks were undeniable — red lips, white teeth — definitely the type to catch the eye of an older-sister type like her with a bit of a ‘younger-boy’ thing going on.
Just as she let an interested look show in her eyes and was about to say something more—
“Sakurajima-senpai, please — please don’t pick on him, he’s only just entered the industry as a koyaku.”
Arima Kana suddenly stood up, planting herself between her and Minami Yuji.
“Eh…”
Looking at the Arima Kana standing before her, Sakurajima Mai let out a surprised sound.
She and Arima Kana had been competitors a few times, and had also collaborated on a few shoots.
Because of that, she had a degree of understanding of Arima Kana as a person.
Arima Kana’s professional skills were excellent, and she was kind-hearted and straightforward in personality — but she had quite a few little quirks too.
For instance: acting as though no one else was around, behaving like she was the only one who mattered, and being rather poor at reading the atmosphere during shoots.
And yet this very same Arima Kana was actually willing to step up and proactively defend a male koyaku of the same age…
“Interesting…”
Sakurajima Mai blinked.
Now she was even more curious about the Minami Yuji standing behind Arima Kana.
“Don’t worry, Kana-chan — I have no intention of picking on him.”
More accurately speaking…
Sakurajima Mai looked over at Minami Yuji.
From the moment they had met until now, this boy hadn’t shown so much as a hint of timidity — there didn’t appear to be even the slightest trace of awe toward her as a senpai.
A kid like this…
didn’t look like one she could push around even if she wanted to.
So she let her voice pause, extended a palm toward Minami Yuji, and showed a gentle smile.
“Hello, I’m Sakurajima Mai.
May I ask your name?”
“I’m Minami Yuji.”
Minami Yuji nodded and extended his hand to shake hers.
“Minami Yuji…”
Sakurajima Mai blinked.
The name didn’t really ring any bells…
was he a koyaku from some small agency?
The two of them shook hands and exchanged a few more pleasantries.
Then they fell quiet.
The reason was simple.
The usual audition process is actually quite simple.
The actors just sit outside the room and wait for someone inside to call their name.
But today was different.
There were simply too many people who had come to audition.
So the organizers had no choice but to set up an audition stage with plastic benches arranged in front of it — whoever’s name was called would go up and perform.
First up, naturally, were the two lead roles — ‘Ryouya’ and ‘Junko.’
Junko’s audition came first.
Truthfully, this was Minami Yuji’s first time seeing a real-life audition.
He was rather interested in it, and couldn’t help glancing over a few extra times.
But as he watched on, Minami Yuji couldn’t help but pull his gaze back.
The reason was simple—
These koyaku’s acting skills really were too poor.
Some of the koyaku were already monotone-reading their lines — and even more outrageously, there were ones who actually forgot their lines.
Their facial expressions were stiff too — when they smiled, it looked uglier than crying.
If translated into the levels within the system, the average acting level of these koyaku probably fluctuated somewhere between LV3 and LV4.
The only two who surprised Minami Yuji were, as expected, Arima Kana and Sakurajima Mai.
Maybe it was the bonus from the ‘2D heroine’ trait.
The acting of these two visibly exceeded that of the surrounding koyaku by a wide margin.
Whether in their command of dialogue, body language, or facial expressions — everything was rendered virtually perfectly.
By rough estimation, both of their acting levels probably reached around LV7 (professional-grade) acting.
This forced Minami Yuji to acknowledge it.
Geniuses really do exist in this world.
…
“Phew…”
Letting out a big breath, Arima Kana — her performance finished — walked down from the stage, cheeks flushed pink.
Her heart was bursting with excitement.
After Minami Yuji’s earlier mediation, she could feel that this time her acting performance had been almost perfect!
Even higher than her level back when filming White Coastline!
It was no exaggeration to say she had brought out every ounce of her ability!
With this long-pent-up acting drive finally released, her old habit of easily getting carried away surfaced once again.
“Sakurajima-senpai, I’m not going to lose this time!
The role of Junko is definitely going to be mine!”
“That’s not necessarily so, you know.”
Hearing Arima Kana speak up like that—
Even the more composed Sakurajima Mai didn’t hesitate to open her mouth.
“The role of Junko is mine, Kana-chan.”
You have to admit — actors really are creatures naturally averse to losing.
Even though the audition results wouldn’t be announced for several more days, the two of them were already arguing tooth and nail right there on the spot.
But very quickly, the two of them realized that this kind of argument was utterly pointless.
They needed a different, more objective perspective to evaluate things.
“What do you think?
Minami Yuji!
Between me and Sakurajima-senpai, who do you think performed better?”
Arima Kana leaned in and asked directly.
Compared to Arima Kana’s blunt questioning, Sakurajima Mai cast a glance at Minami Yuji.
Her eyes were full of suspicion.
“…He’s going to judge it…?”
To be honest, she had no negative feelings toward this boy Minami Yuji — on the contrary, she rather liked having a younger ‘little brother’ type around.
But letting him evaluate her acting alongside Arima Kana’s…?
Wasn’t that a bit of a joke?
It wasn’t that she looked down on Minami Yuji — it was a conclusion drawn from a purely rational standpoint.
You see, she and Arima Kana had starred in any number of TV dramas and films — child stars labeled ‘geniuses’ by others, basically the ceiling of the entire koyaku industry.
To objectively evaluate the acting of these two—
Forget reaching the level of ‘genius.’
At minimum, you’d need one or two presentable works on your résumé, right?
But she had just specifically asked her mother, and learned that Minami Yuji seemed to be nothing more than a perfectly ordinary, run-of-the-mill little koyaku.
Could someone like this, who couldn’t even point to a single decent piece of work…
really understand the acting of the two of them?
But what surprised Sakurajima Mai even more was Minami Yuji’s next sentence.
“Sakurajima-senpai performed better, but the one who’ll ultimately win is going to be Arima.”
Still in that same flat, even tone, Minami Yuji spoke without even lifting his head.
This time, it wasn’t just Arima Kana with question marks popping up over her head.
Even Sakurajima Mai on the other side felt taken aback.
Performed better…
But the winner would be Arima Kana?
Sakurajima Mai voiced her thoughts.
Right — what was that supposed to mean, that the one who performed better wouldn’t be able to land the role?
This…
what kind of topsy-turvy logic was that?
“Because Arima has a weapon that Sakurajima-senpai doesn’t.”
“A weapon?”
The two of them said in unison.
“Correct.” Minami Yuji’s head moved up and down.
She and He tells the story between a younger sister and her older brother.
Which raises a brand-new problem right here — Sakurajima Mai’s aura and age skew a little old.
The ‘a little old’ here refers to ‘a little old’ relative to other koyaku.
Sakurajima Mai’s age is too high, her height is what it is, and on top of that her acting is too mature — the overall on-screen effect doesn’t look like a ‘younger sister’ at all, more like an ‘older sister.’
Whereas Arima Kana’s acting, while slightly inferior—
Her age, combined with that baby-fat adorable look of hers, undoubtedly makes her better suited to play the role of ‘Junko.’
So—
“Sorry, Sakurajima-senpai, but personally I feel Arima’s advantage is much greater.”
Setting his script down, Minami Yuji said as much.
“Yay!
Yay!
Yay!
Yay!”
After hearing Minami Yuji’s explanation, Arima Kana — overcome with indescribable joy — leapt down from the long bench, hands balled into fists, her feet clad in little white socks stomping in delight, the little round white cap on her head bouncing up and down with her movements.
“Ehh~”
Beside her, compared to Arima Kana, Sakurajima Mai was so much more mature.
Listening to this merciless assessment from Minami Yuji—
She not only didn’t show even a hint of being offended, she actually drew out her voice on purpose.
“What is it?
Do you think there’s something I said that wasn’t right?”
“No, I think what you said makes a lot of sense.
That’s exactly what’s making me curious,” she said.
“Curious?”
“That’s right — curious.
By rights, a koyaku like Yuji-kun, with such a deep understanding of acting and roles, ought not to be languishing in obscurity.”
“Uh—”
Though Sakurajima Mai’s overly familiar ‘Yuji-kun’ address bothered her, those words made Arima Kana curiously turn her head too.
Right.
From the very first time she met Minami Yuji, she had felt that beyond-ordinary presence about him.
And given that he had such an understanding of actors and acting—
By rights, he shouldn’t be just a no-name little koyaku.
Were the agency and manager he was with all blind or something?
How could they fail to see such a huge promising prospect?
But…
whatever.
Sakurajima Mai shook her head and spoke with a smile: “A koyaku like Yuji-kun is probably only one or two films away from making a name for himself…
By the way, which role are you auditioning for this time?”
“Ryouya.”
This wasn’t something he needed to hide either — Minami Yuji spoke up frankly.
But what struck him as strange was that the moment those words left his mouth, the expression on Sakurajima Mai’s face over there visibly changed.
The corners of her mouth, which a moment ago had been slightly upturned, froze in that very instant.
In their place was a tightly furrowed brow — an expression that absolutely couldn’t be called pretty.
“Ryouya…?
Are you sure it’s Ryouya?” she asked, brows knit.
“What is it?
Is there a problem?” Minami Yuji asked her.
“There is — and it’s a big one.” Sakurajima Mai let out a sigh.
In all fairness, given Minami Yuji’s grasp of the plot’s characters, she thought he should have no real problem competing for any role in this production.
But…
“Just Ryouya — that one won’t work.”
Because—
Her fair-skinned fingers interlaced together restlessly.
“This is privileged information from my mother — the role of Ryouya…
was already pre-decided from the very start.”
She finally let out a long sigh.
Saying as much.
Yes.
This role had been pre-decided from the very beginning.
No matter who it was…
no one stood any chance whatsoever.