Chapter 42: Old women should stop pretending to be young

Of course, Nanaya didn't have the courage to discuss bare feet and stockings in front of Ryutani Nobuyuki, otherwise he would be thrown out of the chairman's office window by the angry old man.

"In order to avoid interference from the PTA, we have revised the design ideas again." Nanaya introduced to everyone, "I divided the overall costume design into two directions, distinguishing the costume design of elementary school students from other characters. There are a total of four magical girls in the story, and we have to clearly distinguish the two pairs of Rin and Luvia from Illya and Miyu."

"Both Rin and Luvia are grown girls over 18 years old, and according to the script setting, they are already high school students, so the costume design can be more inclined towards traditional magical girls, that is, the kind with ribbons and fluttering silk ribbons. I need to attract more non-child audiences by showing the charm of these two." Nanaya explained his design concept (a money-making idea) to everyone.

"Why don't you just say hormones?" Ori looked at his predecessor with contempt.

"It doesn't matter. The two young ladies have already agreed. As long as it's not a bikini and cape look, they can accept it." Nanaya waved his hand nonchalantly. "And I have signed a detailed and in-depth cooperation agreement with Trier. All the songs in the play will be sung by them after ZUN arranges them. If we can successfully use the popularity of those girl groups, maybe we can really compete with Asahi next door in terms of ratings."

Shonan nodded in agreement and said, "These two ladies are indeed very beautiful~? They have reached the level of Miss Illya and Ori~? I really want to meet them sooner~?"

Nanaya sternly warned Shonan, who smelled like a gigolo, "Listen carefully, Trier has a no-dating agreement! If you do anything unnecessary for me and cause any gossip to spread, I will chop off your little Rantaro and feed him to the dogs!"

"Don't be so serious, Nanaya-san~? Everyone loves beauty~?"

"Get lost! I'm really not kidding you this time!"

"Yeah. As long as I don't attack directly, it's fine, right? If they are attracted by my charm, it will be fine, right?"

Looking at Shonan nodding randomly, Nanaya decided that when the filming really started, he must keep a close eye on this guy. As for the second half of someone's words, Nanaya didn't take it to heart at all. As long as he was not fooled by Shonan's appearance - although he was very unwilling, Nanaya had to admit that he was indeed handsome - then anyone with a normal mind would not be attracted to this idiot.

"Then there are the two characters of Illya and Miyu. Because our first draft was rejected, I decided to change my thinking." Nanaya brought back the topic that Shonan had already strayed from, "This time, we need to create handsome elementary school students."

Although he was severely criticized by Ryutani Nobuyuki, fortunately Nanaya was well-informed and had a lot of ideas in his mind. After finding that the cute girl style was not working, he immediately changed his design idea and took a more sci-fi style.

Nanaya borrowed the two design ideas of Saint Seiya's holy clothes and Iron Man's armor. After the class card is dream-summoned, the heroic spirit's armour is covered on the user in the form of iron armor. Anyway, for those children who have nothing, the handsome shape may be their favorite.

Although this design has passed the test of Ryutani Nobuyuki, it is difficult to make the costumes. This is also the main reason why Nanaya invited Li Wenshu to come here to discuss today.

"The main problem is the production of the weapons of the heroes. It's not impossible to produce them directly according to the design, but there will be many problems." Ori said with some distress, "First of all, the selection of materials is a problem. After all, the actors are minors, and we can't use stronger metal materials. This will make the costumes too heavy and the actors have problems with their movements. However, if we use lightweight materials such as foam or plastic, they will not only be easily damaged, but also look very fake."

"Yeah, that's a problem." Nanaya rubbed his temple. He had no good solution for this matter.

Even if Nanaya is a time traveler, he can't create a real magical girl. All he can do is to find other ways. And unlike traditional special effects dramas, the protagonists of the battle scenes shot by Nanaya have to show their faces.

In traditional special effects dramas, when shooting battle scenes, the protagonists' fighting postures and costumes are all covered with their faces, so that professional leather suit actors can take part in the battles to make the fights more exciting. So you never know whether those curvy female characters are real girls or just some sleazy guys wearing bras under their leather suits.

"Anyway, let's make a few samples with different materials and see how they look." Nanaya really missed the days when computer special effects were very cheap and making CG guns was cheaper than making prop models.

Nanaya looked at Li Wenshu, who had not made any comments since the beginning and was just concentrating on reading the materials: "Master Li, what do you think? You are an expert in shooting battle scenes, I want to hear your opinion."

"Um..."

Li Wenshu pondered for a moment and gave Nanaya some bad news. "I looked carefully. If we want to achieve the battle effect that Director Kiryu envisions, the costumes on the design may be difficult to achieve. The costumes of the two girls are okay, but the two leading actors' sons probably can't do anything except pose."

Nanaya understood what Li Wenshu meant. Acting in a leather suit is a very tiring thing. Plus, the little girls themselves have relatively little strength, so it's good enough for them to be able to move around while wearing the suit.

Although this answer was expected, the words of Li Wenshu, an industry insider, completely sentenced Nanaya to death.

"So let's make rapid progress in computer special effects technology for 20 years..." Nanaya, who had turned gray, fell on the table and sighed.

"After all, Director Kiryu's request is rather difficult. The films we shoot in Tsuburaya usually use transformation scenes and let actors in suits appear. There are very few battles where the protagonist personally participates."

"So what... You can't let Illya's maid perform the battle part after her transformation, right?... Wait a minute!"

Nanaya suddenly thought of something and jumped up from the table.

"Master Li, if we let professionally trained adults wear the clothes in the design drawings, can we successfully shoot the battle scenes?"

Li Wenshu gave an ambiguous answer: "It's hard to say. It depends on the level of the suit actor, but if it's an experienced actor, maybe it can be done."

"That's it! I have a stuntman who can do the splits in the air, is that okay with you?"

"Is the person you are talking about still a human being?" Li Wenshu complained loudly.

But Nanaya couldn't listen anymore. He took out his cell phone and called Illya directly.

"Hello, Kiryu? Miss is in class now." As expected, Sera's impatient voice came from the other end of the receiver, "I should have told you not to make this call casually if there is nothing wrong."

"Don't worry, the person I'm looking for this time is not Illya but you!"

"I?"

"Hey, Sera." Nanaya said to the other end of the receiver in the same tone as when she asked Ori to participate in Ryougi Shiki, "Can I trouble you to play the role of an elementary school student in my new play?"

"Get out of here, you pervert!!!"

As expected, Sera's roar came from the phone.

Then the call was hung up.

The furious Sera rushed from Ryutani's house to Linbao's company building as fast as she could. After rushing into the office, she grabbed Nanaya's feet and started playing windmill with him without even giving him a chance to explain.

In the end, by the time the others stopped Sera and explained everything to her, Nanaya was already on the verge of death.

"Ugh...are you trying to kill me?"

Nanaya, with a livid face, leaned back in the only armchair in the studio. Although quite a bit of time had passed, he still felt that the things in his field of vision were rotating irregularly.

"It's good to exercise occasionally." Ori said, holding back a laugh.

Sera put her hands on her hips and looked at Nanaya: "Humph, there's nothing wrong with you just dying, pervert."

"I just wanted to ask if you're interested in being Illya's substitute... Ugh—"

"You should have said this earlier." Sera turned her face to the side and said with a blush, "If you want to replace the young lady, I have no objection."

"Please wait a moment, Director Kiryu."

At this time, Li Wenshu stood up and pointed at Sera and asked, "Are you planning to let this lady become the transformation actor of the protagonist?"

"No, it's a stand-in. She will wear the same clothes as the protagonist (Illya) and perform actions that the protagonist cannot do, and then edit the fixed pose of the protagonist into it..."

"I don't think this is feasible." Li Wenshu directly pinched Sera's chin to show everyone her fair collarbone. "I've seen the photo of the child who starred in the film. Although I admit that they both have silver hair and red eyes, and look very similar. However, the age difference between the two is too big! Apart from anything else, the wrinkles on her neck can make people know that she is over 20 years old-"

Bang!

Sera threw a punch directly at Li Wenshu, but Master Li caught it with one hand.

"What?"

Sera let out a cry of surprise as her fist was caught with one hand. This was the first time that an attack had been blocked by someone since she became Illya's maid.

"Stop it."

Li Wenshu gestured to Sera to stop, as if to coax a child. "Director Kiryu, I'm telling the truth. And even if you find a replacement for the first protagonist, what are you going to do with the second protagonist (Miyu)? Are you going to find someone with similar skills to this woman?"

"I think you are pretty good, Master."

"Don't make a fuss, I don't have a cross-dressing fetish."

Bang!

The signature in Ori's hand was broken by him.

"Forehead..."

This time Nanaya was also stumped and he didn't know what to do.

Subaru Ikeda weakly suggested: "Do we really have to change it to the same routine as traditional special effects dramas?"

"It's impossible to change it, I can't change it in this lifetime! If I really change it, how can I attract the audience? You know, we have to make differentiated products these days!"

"You know nothing!" Ori chopped down Nanaya who was slapping the table with his hand, "Consider the feasibility first!"