Chapter 7: Visitors at Night

As the night deepened, although commercial districts such as Ginza still maintained their charming night scene of bright lights and feasting, the residential area of the apartment where Nanaya rented was already quiet.

Except for the occasional light that showed that the owner of the house had not yet gone to sleep, everything seemed quiet.

"yawn--"

Nanaya, who was sitting at the desk, covered his mouth and yawned loudly. After stretching, he returned his gaze to the drawing board in front of him.

On the white paper of the drawing board, the girl sketched by Nanaya in pencil was wielding a short blade to fight against spirits on the top of the building, presenting a scene that was almost tragic and beautiful.

This is a hand-drawn storyboard made by Nanaya. Through this picture, he imagined the fighting moves of Ryougi Shiki in his mind.

"Hmm...should I put this here?"

Nanaya used an eraser to erase the sketch of one of the spirits on the left, and then added it on top of Ryougi Shiki's head. Nanaya's storyboard drawing can be said to be a method that many directors like to use, in order to materialize the picture in their minds to facilitate filming.

Different directors have different drawing styles, and the range is very wide. Some directors' storyboards can even be regarded as works of art, while others are not even children's graffiti.

Nanaya is in the middle. Although he can't sell it as art, he can still let others see what he wants to express. Of course, this is also related to the fact that Nanaya spent a lot of time practicing sketching. After all, when he becomes famous, can't these be auctioned as movie peripherals?

"That should be enough. Let's go discuss it with that guy Shonan tomorrow."

Nanaya picked up the storyboard he had just drawn and put it into the file bag along with its predecessors.

Ding Dong!

Just as he was about to start drawing the next picture, the doorbell rang.

"Here I come."

Nanaya got up to open the door, but the person outside kept ringing the doorbell and looked impatient.

Ding Dong! Ding Dong! Ding Dong!

"I say, can you please not be so excessive every time? It will be so bad if you disturb the neighbors next door while they are resting." Nanaya opened the door and complained to the guest standing in the corridor.

The maid in casual clothes holding a paper bag took the initiative to bow to Nanaya and greet her: "Good evening, Mr. Kiryu. If you disturb others, I will put all the blame on you."

"Sera, you are sincere!"

Nanaya complained to the maid unhappily. Just when he was about to give her some common sense, she rudely stuffed the paper bag in her hand into Nanaya's.

"Here, Missy gives you a midnight snack." Sera said in a very unhappy tone.

"Oh, thank you."

Sera grabbed Nanaya's collar and complained, "Show me some gratitude! This is the midnight snack that the young lady prepared for you herself!"

"You just put it in with your own hands, right? Could this be the extra snack that Illya got at school?" Nanaya looked at the only two things in the paper bag - white bread and a can of nutritional supplements.

"Nonsense... ahem, this is also a token of the young lady's kindness, so don't be dissatisfied."

Sera's expression was a little stiff, and she coughed twice to cover up her embarrassment.

Miss Illya obviously had a very accurate source of information. After the film project was almost decided, she took the initiative to contact Nanaya every day to inquire about the film preparations.

After learning that Nanaya slept late every day because of preparations for the film project, Illya took the initiative to take over the task of preparing midnight snacks for Nanaya.

Originally, Illya wanted to personally deliver it to Nanaya, but because of the curfew at her home, she could only ask her personal maid, Sera, to deliver the midnight snack to her. (Nanaya agreed with this very much, after all, it's best for little Lolita not to run around at night.)

At the beginning, Nanaya was very much looking forward to the midnight snack. Although the other party was still a little loli, she was also a beauty. It would be strange for a boy not to look forward to the care from a beautiful woman.

Unfortunately, most of the midnight snacks that Illya gave him were her afternoon tea snacks at school, which was far from what Nanaya expected. So gradually, Nanaya also gave up his expectation for midnight snacks.

However, having something to eat at night is better than nothing, so Nanaya still accepted Illya's gift.

Sera herself was very resistant to the idea of knocking on a man's door every night at first. Of course, she was not arguing against Nanaya alone, but in her opinion, all men should not approach the eldest lady.

The fact that the eldest lady actually cared about other men was something that Sera considered absolutely unacceptable.

So from the first day, Nanaya never saw Sera give him a good face. Nanaya even suspected that if Illya hadn't called him frequently to confirm whether the midnight snack had been delivered, Sera might have thrown the food directly into the roadside trash can.

In fact, when Illya asked her to do this, Sera had firmly expressed her opposition.

"This is the best opportunity for Big Brother to remember me! You know, this kind of favor is the hardest to repay. Then he will have to let Illya participate in the entire film production!"

This was how Illya answered Sera at the time. Sera had no idea what was wrong with her young lady.

[It's probably just a passing fad, but being an actress is indeed the dream of the young lady. But why did the young lady fall for this guy? ]

Sera looked at Nanaya carefully. She didn't think that this handsome man could be a good match for a young lady. But after getting to know him recently, she found one advantage of this man - at least his concentration was much better than others.

This is a dedicated workaholic.

Sera defined it by looking at Nanaya's somewhat messy hair.

"Anyway, thank you for your hard work today." Although the other party's face was not very good, Nanaya still took the initiative to thank him, "Let me see you off."

"No need, Mr. Kiryu. You should continue to work. After all, the filming is about to start." Sera said with a repulsive attitude, "If something really happens, I will take care of you."

"Forehead..."

When Nanaya thought about the fact that the other party had a record of beating five thugs directly into the hospital (Illya's words), he was speechless.

"Good night, then."

Nanaya felt that since the other party didn't like him, it would be better for him to leave as soon as possible.

"Mr. Kiryu."

When Nanaya was about to close the door, Sera called him.

"Um?"

Facing Nanaya's curious eyes, Sera said calmly: "Although work is indeed important, proper rest and relaxation are still necessary. It is not worth it to stretch yourself too much and cause your body to collapse."

"...Thanks."

Nanaya didn't expect the other party to say this. He stared at Sera for a long time before he realized that he should thank the other party.

"I'm only doing this for Miss. After all, if you're done for, Miss's long-awaited opportunity to watch the film together will be ruined."

Nanaya didn't know if this was Sera's excuse. After all, Sera's calm expression made it impossible to tell what she was thinking.

"Thank you anyway."

This time Sera didn't reply. She bowed and said goodbye to Nanaya, then walked to the end of the corridor.

After returning to the room, Nanaya put the paper bag on a corner of the table. Although it was already very late, Nanaya did not feel sleepy at all.

At this moment, his mind was almost entirely filled with information about the "Kara no Kyoukai" that was in preparation. Even if the current preparations were going smoothly, no one could predict what accidents would occur after the official filming began.

Even though Nanaya himself had enough confidence in the abilities he had accumulated from decades of learning in two lifetimes, he still felt extraordinary pressure when he took up the director's baton for the first time.

When a person has no opportunities, he always looks forward to opportunities; however, when opportunities come, he begins to fear missing them.

This is a common problem for most people, and Nanaya is no exception. Even though he has a soul that is more mature than his appearance, he still cannot deviate from the range of normal people.

Nanaya opened the plastic bag of the bread, picked up the bread and took a big bite, then gulped down the nutrient solution.

"Anyway, come on!"

After finishing the midnight snack prepared by the little girl as quickly as possible, Nanaya picked up the pen again and began to draw the storyboard.

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A few days later, under an abandoned building, the filming of "Kara no Kyoukai" finally started!

There was no opening ceremony or press conference. The crew of "Kara no Kyoukai" quietly began filming their movie.

Nanaya stood behind the director's camera. He held up the microphone and shouted loudly to all the staff: "Action!"