Chapter 44 Who are you?

"Good, that's it. It's over."

Nanaya held the director's baton and shouted to the other staff members, ending today's shoot amid the cheers of everyone.

The expressions on the faces of Fujimura Taiga, Illya, and Rin in the center of the venue also relaxed. They thanked each other and left the camera's range.

The staff who had been waiting for a long time immediately came forward and handed them towels and water.

"Thank you for your hard work today, Sister Fuji."

Nanaya nodded in thanks to Fujimura Taiga who was wearing a kendo uniform.

Taiga still had that signature carefree smile on his face: "No, it's really fun to film them. I can get paid just by performing in front of the camera. This is the first time I've encountered such an easy job."

[You are relieved, but my expenses are high. ]

After hearing this, Nanaya still kept a smile on his face, but his heart was bleeding. In order to get this elder sister to appear, he paid 700,000 yen in exchange for the only few scenes in the play and the role of the announcer of the next episode preview.

If calculated by unit appearance time, Fujimura Taiga is undoubtedly the most expensive actor in the crew, and can be called the little white dragon in "Magical Girl Illya".

And because Fujimura Taiga's schedule was very tight, all her scenes were compressed into a few days for intensive filming.

The reason why Nanaya had to start shooting today half a month in advance was because her work schedule was basically full for a long time to come. And the few clips shot today were the ones with the highest priority in the whole series, because they were the CM (TV commercial) of "Magical Girl Illya" and the preview of the next episode of the whole season - Tiger Dojo Unit.

The content shot today must be completed before the first episode, so Nanaya had to start producing this part in advance without even finding the actors for Miyu.

Nanaya used this idea from "Fantasy Carnival" very well in his own film "Magical Girl Illya", and even started filming in advance when the script was not completed and the main actors were not completely finalized.

Fortunately, the Tiger Dojo-style preview of the next episode does not need to say anything that is actually relevant to the plot. It is essentially a short crosstalk between Taiga and Illya (with a Rin thrown in occasionally). The only relevant content of the preview of the next episode is Illya shouting out the name of the episode when the next episode title appears. This can be done by simply having Illya dub the voice in the later stage.

If this were not the case, Nanaya really wouldn't know how to deal with these contents.

Although it sounds simple, it is difficult to execute. All 26 crosstalks have to be filmed in one day. If the three people in front of the camera were not acting in their true colors, Nanaya estimated that this would be an impossible task.

Even so, because of the huge amount of filming, the three people in front of the camera were still exhausted.

"Thank you for your hard work, Illya."

After finishing her condolences to Taiga, Nanaya walked up to Illya and asked with a smile.

"How was it like performing in front of the camera for the first time?"

The little girl's performance was much better than Nanaya expected. It seemed that what she said about practicing acting on her own was not a lie. It can be said that she has a great talent for acting. Although she was not very relaxed in front of the camera at the beginning, as the filming progressed, Illya quickly found her state and even passed several segments in one go at the end.

"I'm a little nervous, but I still feel very happy."

Illya wiped her sweat and said, "It's just that I've never worn this kind of clothes before, and it feels a little inconvenient to move around in~"

Illya fiddled with her cherry blossom-colored kimono shorts. Although she complained a little, it was clear from her expression that she liked this new outfit.

The clothes Nanaya chose for Illya were not the sportswear of Disciple No. 1, but the martial arts uniform that Irisviel wore in the Einzbern consultation room. After all, this was a special drama for children, and it was better to avoid the possibility of a controversy when a lolita wore sports pants in front of the camera.

"I'm sorry, I've caused trouble for everyone." Rin came over quietly, lowering her head in shame. She was the worst among the three people just now, which made her, who was always strong-willed, feel very embarrassed.

Rin always thought that she could be an excellent actor and could express herself very naturally in front of the camera. When she was an idol, Rin was very relaxed in front of the spotlight and the camera, which made her think that she was born to be an actor.

Originally, Rin thought that he should be able to complete his work today very easily. After all, the role he was going to play could be said to be a true performance of himself, and his part was the least among the three actors who were going to film today.

But the actual situation was a wake-up call for Rin. She couldn't let go of her hands and feet when acting with Fujimura Taiga. The various feelings of gain and loss, coupled with the aura of the other party as a well-known artist, almost made Rin breathless. There were several times when Taiga approached her, Rin even forgot her lines and got stuck.

In comparison, it was Illya, a complete newcomer, who was more relaxed. Although it was also her first time officially appearing in front of the camera, she was less affected by Fujimura's aura. She could even use her role as a complainer at times to become the protagonist in front of the camera.

This performance made Lin feel dumbfounded. She didn't expect that she would perform worse than a child.

[What kind of monsters are these guys? Compared to them, my previous job was like playing house with children.]

Although Rin didn't play the center position in Trier before, the current center of Trier is a weakling in Rin's eyes. When performing, Rin feels that the other party is transparent. Although Rin's position is behind the other party, she can often cover the other party's performance and attract the audience's attention.

Rin didn't want to steal the show in front of the camera, but she also didn't want to be treated as a background. She knew very well that if she was still in this state after the filming of "Magical Girl Illya" officially started in half a month, then her performance in the show would be a complete failure.

Nanaya, who saw the melancholy in his schoolmate's heart, laughed. He put his hand on Lin's head and comforted her: "It's okay, everyone has a first time. You will get used to it after being on camera more often."

"Senior, I suspect you were driving, and I have evidence." Rin was still feeling very depressed, and even his complaints became weak.

"Well..." Nanaya laughed. He decided to enlighten his junior schoolmate, "Hey, Tohsaka. What do you think acting is?"

"Interpreting others?" Rin replied in confusion.

Pop.

Nanaya tapped Rin's forehead and said, "I'm not asking you to memorize the book. I'm not that old man Kondo from the acting department. I'm asking you, what do you think acting is?"

Professor Kondo of the Department of Performance at Tokyo University of the Arts is notoriously old-fashioned. His favorite thing is to make students recite the contents of the textbook, which makes this teacher always top the list of the most unpopular professors at Tokyo University of the Arts.

"Myself?"

Rin was stunned. She had never thought about this carefully. Because of her father, Lin always felt that acting was a natural thing for her. She learned the concept of acting from textbooks.

"... Maybe it's a memory?"

In Rin's memory, when her father was still alive, he would always let her perform some simple roles for him. Those were the few memories that Rin had with her father, and they were also her best memories.

The first time I performed and was praised by my father.

When I won the championship in a drama competition in kindergarten.

Besides...

"My father really likes me to shine when I perform. He thinks I will become an even better actor than him."

A nostalgic look appeared on Lin's face as she remembered the last words her father said to her before he left that day.

["Well, Rin. I'm leaving now. You know what's going to happen next."]

At this moment, tears flowed from her already wet eyes, but Lin did not care about her crying. At this moment, she seemed to feel the scene when she said goodbye to her father.

"Yes, father. I will definitely become a big actress."

Rin wiped her red eyes with the back of her hand. She smiled apologetically at Nanaya: "Sorry, senior. I made you laugh."

But Nanaya pressed Rin's head hard and said, "Look, this is great. I once said that an actor is someone who presents other people's stories to people. No matter what your interpretation of acting is, you must not forget this original intention."

"Yes."

"I have a project that I want to shoot no matter what, and I'm looking for like-minded partners who can help me complete it. Are you?"

Facing Nanaya's question, Rin clenched his hands and looked at the other party firmly: "I am. No, I must be!"

"That's good. Let me introduce myself again. My name is Nanaya Kiryu, and I'm a director. Who are you?"

Rin answered resolutely in a clear voice: "My name is Rin Tohsaka, and I'm an actress."