Chapter 137: Arturia: Master, this is absolutely unacceptable!
Sakura didn't return to the bar until the evening.
Judging by her breathless appearance, it seemed like she had been running around the area.
Shinji didn't care where his sister had gone; he just took the opportunity to admire Sakura's flushed face as she caught her breath.
Before she could react and lash out, he called over an assistant and asked them to escort Sakura to the makeup team.
Shinji then resumed his walk around the bar with his secretary, checking if the set was fully prepared for filming.
Since it was the final scene, and it involved a joyous storyline, the entire crew was quite relaxed. Everyone chatted and laughed, awaiting the start of the filming.
The sun gradually dipped below the horizon, and the yellow-tinged sky began to darken.
By the time the sky had turned completely black, the crew members had taken their assigned seats as per Shinji's earlier instructions, surrounding Hiroshi Nagano, Kariya Matou, and Takeshi Yoshioka in the center.
Meanwhile, the older gentlemen and stylish elderly ladies from the Showa era took the stage at the front of the bar.
The older men picked up their instruments for one final tuning, while the ladies, already dressed in hula skirts, stretched and warmed up.
The combined age of those on stage might be older than the founding of the Clock Tower itself, and if something were to go wrong, it could be fatal for them.
Even though they had chosen the relatively gentle hula dance, Shinji repeatedly reminded them to be careful, worrying about potential mishaps.
The bar hosting the party was now fully lit, contrasting sharply with the darkness outside.
Everything was ready, and filming was about to begin.
Although there were many actors involved in this scene, Shinji wasn't too concerned.
For one, aside from a few lead actors, the other crew members only needed to listen to the aunties and uncles sing and pretend to eat.
Secondly, before today's filming, the older performers had rehearsed multiple times and were already familiar with the lyrics.
"Props ready: OK!"
"Lighting ready: OK!"
"Set ready: OK!"
"Camera crew ready: OK!"
...
After all departments reported back, Shinji, sitting among the crowd, signaled with his hand.
The bar's waiter, temporarily serving as the clapperboard assistant, brought the clapperboard to the main camera.
"Super 8, final shot... and action!"
The boom arm near the bar ceiling began to move, and the main camera hanging above panned across the entire bar from a bird's-eye view, finally settling on the aunties on stage.
"Aloha～ Aloha～ Aloha～"
"Wau I a oe～"
"Swearing to the floating clouds, I'll follow you to the ends of the earth～"
...
With the lively bar as the backdrop, the elderly performers began to sing the film's insert song, Promise by the Shore.
Everyone on set watched the uncles and aunties perform, captivated by the display, with genuine smiles of happiness on their faces.
It wasn't just good acting; they truly enjoyed the performance.
Many people know that Shinji loves musicals, and it turns out that musicals are also very popular in Japan.
In fact, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that musicals often perform very well at the Japanese box office.
You can see this from the frequent musical scenes included in Japanese anime films.
Not only that, but Western musical films such as Frozen, Frozen 2, Beauty and the Beast, and Bohemian Rhapsody were huge hits in Japan.
Frozen held the top box office spot for 16 consecutive weeks when it was released in Japan, and Bohemian Rhapsody was the highest-grossing film in Japan for 2018.
Even Cats (the live-action CGI film, not the stage play), which was considered one of the biggest musical disasters in North American history, managed to claim the top spot at the Japanese box office.
"Ugh, now I know where all the bizarre stuff at the Tokyo Olympics came from."
Shinji, also an extra on set, muttered quietly to himself while pretending to eat "fried chicken."
"Olympics?"
Sitting next to his grandson, Zouken Matou showed a nostalgic expression. "Are you talking about the 1964 Olympics? That was truly a grand event. Even Ultraman got its name riding on the wave of the Olympics' popularity."
"..."
Shinji really didn't have the heart to tell his grandfather that he was talking about an Olympics from the future, not the past.
"Times are changing, but people's taste is declining," Shinji sighed.
On stage, the elderly uncles and aunts from the Showa era had just finished the final verse of their song.
"Aloha～ Aloha～ Aloha～" "Wau I a oe～"
"Wonderful!"
"Amazing!!"
"Auntie Natsuko, you're the best!!"
As the song ended, everyone raised their glasses and cheered enthusiastically! Especially the three Heisei-era actors, who stood up and clapped vigorously to show their support.
"Thank you, everyone!"
The uncles and aunts beamed with joy, bowing to the audience below.
"Cut!"
Amidst the loud applause, Shinji picked up the megaphone and shouted, "That's a wrap!"
He then took a deep breath and announced through the speaker, "Thanks to everyone's hard work, we've reached the end of this journey. I hereby declare the filming of Ultra Brothers 8 finished!"
The cheering grew even louder, and suddenly, Cu Chulainn and his group appeared from somewhere with party poppers.
"Wait a minute..."
Before Shinji could give a warning, Cu Chulainn and his friends exchanged a grin and set off the poppers in Shinji's direction.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Dammit!"
Shinji cursed as confetti covered his face. He grabbed a plate of "mapo tofu" from the table and threw it at them.
"You guys looking for trouble or what?"
The crowd's laughter grew even louder.
Caught up in the excitement, Cu Chulainn laughed loudly and said, "Master, just wait. I'll pay you back with some real mapo tofu later."
But before he could follow through, the chef smacked him down.
"Don't waste food!"
Archer, wielding a projected frying pan, whacked Cu Chulainn on the head, and the poor guy went down before he even got a bite.
As the crew continued their playful banter, the chefs Shinji had hired, who had been busy in the bar's kitchen for a long time, began serving delicious dishes and barrels of beer as if in an endless stream.
The pretty but inedible props were replaced by mouthwatering delicacies.
"Now this is more like it!"
Arturia exclaimed, holding six or seven skewers in one hand and half a roast chicken in the other.
While devouring the food, she complained to her Master.
"Those earlier dishes looked good but couldn't be eaten. How do you expect anyone to act like they're enjoying their food?"
Hearing this, Shinji put down his drink and shook his head slightly. "That just shows your acting isn't quite there yet. When you can make rotten food look delicious, then you'll know your acting has improved."
Arturia looked horrified. "Is this some kind of cruel punishment?"
Shinji responded with a serious tone, "No, it's called the self-cultivation of an actor."
Arturia pouted. "That actor must have been unfairly targeted by the director."
"Nope, just a case of the production being too poor." Shinji shrugged. "They couldn't afford new props, so the chicken leg in the next day's shoot had gone bad. But that actor still made it look like the most delicious meal."
Shinji was referring to an incident on the set of the Ji Gong series.
The actor You Benchang's superb performance made it impossible for the audience to realize that the chicken leg had spoiled.
In fact, similar things happened frequently in older productions.
Due to budget constraints, food props had to be reused, even when they'd gone bad, and the actors still had to carry on as if everything was fine.
By comparison, today's "pop star" actors consider it a great achievement just to get through a scene without spitting out spoiled food.
This is why Shinji always looked down on those stars who exaggerated how hard it was to film in their promotional materials.
Because to veteran actors, such so-called hardships weren't even worth mentioning.
"That's why being too pampered isn't a good thing for actors," Shinji concluded. "They're all too spoiled."
"I'm not pampered," Arturia protested.
Shinji nodded slightly. "You're not pampered, just... not great at acting."
"Master!" Arturia shot Shinji a glare, then, in a quieter, more insecure voice, added, "Actually, I've improved quite a bit."
"I agree," Shinji said, nodding solemnly. "The way you eat is getting cuter, Lily."
"What kind of nickname is that?!"
Shinji smirked mischievously. Teasing such a serious girl like Arturia was always fun.
'Too bad, if only I could take this a step further.'
Shinji glanced at Sakura, who was watching him from the side, feeling a bit helpless.
The worst thing during flirting was someone ruining the mood, and his dear sister, Sakura Matou, was an expert at it.
How could he successfully woo someone if the mood was always being destroyed?
"Master..."
Arturia, worried she had upset him, put down her food and coughed lightly.
"What is it?"
"I beg you... even if you're angry, please don't use spoiled food to test my acting skills," she whispered shyly.
"Oh?"
Shinji dragged out his response.
"I was just kidding," Arturia shrank back, muttering under her breath, "Master, just pretend you didn't hear anything."
Shinji swirled his glass and said, "Of course, I wouldn't waste food."
"That's a relief..."
But just as Arturia sighed in relief, Shinji added, "But if Archer projects the spoiled food, then it's not a waste, is it? What do you think, Arturia?"
"Master—you're the biggest villain in the world!"
Arturia whispered, trying to hide her words, but the tone only made her sound like she was pouting.
"Mmm-hmm~"
Shinji hummed smugly, feeling triumphant for unlocking yet another "CG event" in his ongoing flirtation game.
'He wouldn't actually do it, would he?'
Arturia, worried about the looming food crisis, was thrown into a state of panic.
As for whether Archer could actually project spoiled food—that thought didn't even cross her mind anymore.
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