Chapter 1 An exciting phone call

With the spotlight flashing in front of Nanaya Kiryu's eyes, he believes that his life has reached its peak.

28 years ago on the 7th night he came to this parallel world which was similar to his original world.

He graduated from the Directing Department of Tokyo University of the Arts 5 years ago.

And today, he succeeded.

With his first film, he won a grand slam at the Japan Newcomer Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Actress, etc.

Facing the reporters who were crowded together in the audience and approaching him to try to interview him, Nanaya couldn't help but reveal a smile that was both arrogant and complacent.

"Director Kiryu, what is the secret of your success?"

Nanaya looked at this incredibly beautiful reporter with a feeling of pride in his heart. He smiled, which he thought was very handsome, and said:

[Wahahahaha——————!]?

A laugh that sounded like a mixture of Li Kui and Mr. Zhang Sanye came out of Nanaya's mouth. Such a rough laugh immediately scared the beautiful reporter so much that she quickly stepped back.

[That's not the case! ]

Nanaya wanted to explain to the other party, but his mouth could not make any other sound except "wahahaha". Crazy Nanaya threw away his trophy, and he grabbed his chin with both hands and tried to close this mouth that could only make "wahahaha".

But no matter what he did, he couldn't stop this heroic yet weird laughter.

[What on earth is going on————! ]

···

[Wahahahaha——————!]

"Fuck!"

Kiryu Nanaya was finally frightened by the horrible laughter and jumped out of bed. He quickly pressed the alarm clock with his hands and finally suppressed the barbell-like laughter.

"I was absolutely crazy to buy this stupid alarm clock. It turned my sweet dream into a nightmare."

Nanaya, still in shock, wiped the sweat off his forehead. Although he was very dissatisfied with this crazy alarm clock, he had to admit that it was really effective. At least he was no longer sleepy.

After sitting on the bed for a while to calm himself down, Nanaya got up and walked towards the bathroom.

"Um?"

Nanaya found a lost newspaper at his feet. On the front page of the newspaper, it was written in big red bold letters: "Congratulations to the new director for his debut film "Love Under the Stars" which earned 2 billion yen at the box office and temporarily topped the Japanese box office in 2000! Aiming for the Newcomer Award!"

Picking up the newspaper, Nanaya looked at the smug smiling face on the newspaper and sighed silently.

"Hey, Nanaya Kiryu… So what if you're a graduate of Tokyo University of the Arts? You still have to start from scratch… As expected, even if you're a successful time traveler, you still have to follow the rules…"

Nanaya hurriedly threw the newspaper aside, and with a feeling of frustration and indignation, he walked into the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face.

"So cold~"

With a cry of excitement, Kiryu Nanaya began his new day.

Nanaya Kiryu is a time traveler. He graduated with a degree in directing in his previous life, and he has dreamed of becoming a successful director since he was born in this life.

Especially when he learned that the global film and television industry in this world was much more developed than that in his original world, and more importantly, when Nanaya also learned that many familiar movies and dramas from his previous life no longer existed in the world where he was reborn, his dream of becoming a director became unstoppable.

It's a pity that ideals are full of hope, but reality is so skinny.

Nanaya Kiryu's career struggles have really not been smooth at all.

Japan is a country with a particularly strong class concept. Your birthplace will greatly affect your future life. However, Nanaya can be said to have been dealt a bad hand. The families of other time travelers were not rich, but at least middle class in big cities, but Nanaye's hometown was in the deep mountains and forests of Nita County, Shimane Prefecture.

If Nanaya hadn't opened the map and looked carefully, he estimated that even few Japanese knew about that damn place.

It can be said that Nanaya, who was supposed to be the chosen one, lost at the starting line from the very beginning.

However, Nanaya did not admit defeat. Although he was not sure whether he would have a third chance in life, his execution ability in this life was much stronger than his previous life when he was in a muddle-headed state.

Since your background is not good, then create one for yourself through hard work.

With this hard work, Nanaya was admitted to the only national art university in Japan, Tokyo University of the Arts, and graduated with excellent grades.

While at school, he also actively worked as a temporary worker on various film sets, familiarizing himself with the various modes and processes of film production in Japan to increase his experience.

Before graduation, Nanaya had worked in various film crews, and even played supporting roles several times as a passerby with no lines.

For Nanaya, these actions are not only for practical needs, but also for life.

You have to know that becoming a director requires a lot of money. The notoriously high tuition fees of Tokyo University of the Arts alone are not something that his rural family can afford, not to mention the additional professional books, film stock and various special photographic equipment rental fees for shooting test films.

When he graduated, Nanaya was worse than penniless. Not only did he have to bear a high amount of student loans, but his credit card was also overdrawn.

Fortunately, Nanaya's efforts finally paid off. During his time working in the crew, he caught the attention of his director, Ryuichi Hanai. After several exchanges, he became the cheap student and assistant of this old schoolmate. Now, at the age of less than 30, he has become the second assistant director (assistant director) in the crew.

If we look at the industry as a whole, Nanaya's current position is already very good. After all, if he takes one more step forward, he will be the true uncrowned king of the crew - the director.

As a poor boy from the mountains who came to Tokyo, this achievement in less than ten years is already quite good. Now he has not only paid off all his debts, but can also afford to rent a house with a private bathroom like this, and can even occasionally help his hometown in Shimane Prefecture.

Nanaya is very grateful to his teacher for this. It is his teacher's support that enabled him to achieve what he has today.

Being just an assistant director is not enough for Nanaya. He has ambitions and the ability to realize them, but what he lacks now is an opportunity - the opportunity to direct a movie independently.

Nanaya is now almost 28 years old, approaching the 30-year mark. Including the path he took in his previous life, he has accumulated more than ten years of theoretical experience and has shot many experimental films, but he still has not made a movie of his own independently.

If he continues to stay in the current crew, relying on his relationship with his cheap teacher, Nanaya believes that he will be able to get the position of director sooner or later. But the process is too long. For Nanaya who has many ideas in his mind and is trying to realize them, time is very precious. He must seize every possible time to realize his inner blueprint.

In fact, after paying off his debts, Nanaya began looking for opportunities to shoot movies. On the one hand, he would take the scripts he wrote to various film companies in the hope of getting investment to shoot his own movie; on the other hand, he also tried to apply for some film projects, trying to become the director of some film investment project.

But all these efforts failed. The film industry is highly profitable, but the odds are even higher. Small film companies are short of funds and simply cannot afford to give money to a rookie director who is not even a fledgling; and large film companies also look down on Nanaya, a newcomer who has never made a film. If they have the spare money, why not give it to a few people with connections to practice?

The entertainment industry is a very realistic place. If you can't prove to others that you can generate profits, then you are nothing.

"Mr. Kiryu, our company can't afford to put such a large sum of money on a new director, so I can only say sorry to you."

Nanaya recalled what happened during the interview yesterday, and a feeling of powerlessness arose spontaneously.

It is impossible to get opportunities without success, but to get opportunities you need to have a successful past.

This Rashomon-like vicious circle made Nanaya feel a little breathless. He desperately wanted to find a way out, but he was like a headless fly trapped in a glass jar.

Only with extraordinary ambitions can you achieve extraordinary achievements.

This is what Bill, a rich classmate of Nanaya's in previous life, said. It is also the spiritual chicken soup that Nanaya uses to encourage himself whenever he encounters difficulties in this life.

If he didn't motivate himself in this way, Nanaya was very afraid that he would lose the motivation to work hard and become just one of the masses.

But no matter how much he motivated himself, he couldn't make his dream become reality. Nanaya knew that if he didn't take some action, the distance between him and the guy on the front page of the newspaper would only get further and further.

"What other companies haven't tried this?"

After washing up, Nanaya sat down at the desk. He took out his notebook and started to circle and draw on it, trying to find a possible way out before going out.

Ding-a-ling.

Just as Nanaya was deep in thought, his cell phone rang.

Nanaya picked up the phone and saw that it was a call from his teacher, Hanai Ryuichi.

"Hello, teacher? Do you need me for something?"

"Hey, Nanaya."

A familiar middle-aged man's voice came from the other end of the phone, and the other party seemed to be in a good mood.

"Nanaya, did you go to the film company again during yesterday's holiday?"

"Yes..."

Nanaya admitted it quietly. Although the teacher was not very supportive of him starting right away and was a little dissatisfied with Nanaya's enthusiasm for finding a film company, it was useless for Nanaya to deny it. With Ryuichi's connections in the circle, it was very easy to confirm it.

"It's like this again..."

Nanaya heard the sound of Ryuichi's hands tapping on the table. He knew that was his teacher's habit when he was thinking.

After a long while, Ryuichi finally spoke: "Although I personally don't recommend it, if you insist on directing a movie. I have an old friend in a film company. Due to coincidence, he now has a quota for the production of a TV movie. Although the production cost is only 15 million yen, there are no other restrictions except that it cannot be a restricted subject. If you really have an idea, go and give it a try. I'll send you the address later, so you don't have to come to the set this morning."

"Really?!"

Nanaya was stunned by this sudden surprise, and he kept confirming the authenticity of the news with his teacher.

"Of course it's true, but there's only one spot available. So you better hurry out, or someone else might take it away if you're late."

"Thank you, teacher!"

After receiving a positive response from the teacher, Nanaya hung up the phone immediately and packed his things as quickly as possible.

Finally, Nanaya opened the drawer at the lower right corner of his desk, which contained the manuscript of his own script.

"So, who should I choose?"

After hesitating for a while between scripts with covers of different colors, Nanaya finally chose the small white notebook bound with a stapler.

Nanaya opened the book and saw a character sketch drawn by Nanaya on the cover page - under the moonlight, a short-haired girl in a kimono was waving a dagger in the crowd, fighting but looking like dancing. The most impressive thing was the girl's eyes - Nanaya added color to highlight this - the pupils flashing with colorful spiral patterns.

This girl is the heroine of the movie, and her name is——

Shiki Ryougi.