Chapter 43 - Acting. - Entertainment Prodigy

I'll post an extra chapter every 300 Power Stones. Good luck with that!

Goal for the next extra chapter: 425/600 (I think its impossible, right?)

####

As soon as I entered the elevator with my mother, she held my hand and then smiled at me.

"It's going to be fine, you don't need to be nervous," she said, trying to calm me down.

I smiled at her and replied,

"I'm calm. I'm sure everything will go well."

The elevator quickly reached the third floor, and as soon as I stepped out, I saw a sign with an arrow that read "Audition."

After walking a bit down the hallway, we arrived at a room with a sign on the door. The message written there was:

[Audition for the series "A Piece of My Heart"]

That's the name of the series I'll be part of.

A short series with 12 episodes. From what Rikuya told me, it will only have one season with a complete ending. Basically, a miniseries.

I took a deep breath and opened the door.

As soon as I entered, I saw a large room with four tables in the center, side by side. There were four people waiting for me. Two of them I recognized from researching them before.

Hiroshi Kanto, the writer of the series—the same writer of a show I really liked called "Impossible Love," a romance drama with a lot of action. It tells the story of a policeman and a woman who committed a crime to help her family.

And the other was Takumi Hayashida, the man who recommended me for the role of Sota Mizuno. His most popular series is "As If It Were the First Time," a romance with little drama.

It's a good story, but not my favorite.

He has a few other projects in his résumé, but they're smaller ones. He even directed a stage play before, which surprised me.

'As for the other two… I don't know them.'

The man sitting in the center, an older man, said,

"Come in." He looked at me seriously. His gaze reminded me of the man who "rejected" me when I was four years old.

I took a deep breath and stepped forward.

My mother, visibly nervous, followed me.

After I approached the tables and stood up straight, the man smiled gently at me. His expression changed completely.

"You're even more handsome in person."

"Thank you for the compliment."

"My name is Takeshi Kurogane. I'm one of the investors of this series. During the production committee meeting, Director Takumi recommended you for the role of Sota Mizuno. I trust the director, but I wanted to see you with my own eyes."

So he's one of the investors. I didn't expect an investor to be part of this audition.

"I understand. Thank you for that, Director Hayashida." I bowed my head in gratitude. He was young, but still older than me—and more experienced—so I had to show respect.

"No need to thank me. Did you read the script?" he asked directly.

"Yes, I did."

"You don't need to read it again before performing?"

I smiled at the writer Hiroshi Kanto and replied,

"Don't worry, I have everything memorized. I can start whenever you want."

It feels strange to have an audition created just for me.

I expected at least a few other actors to be here, but there's no one else.

I can't disappoint them.

"You can start right now if you want."

I asked my mother to step aside, and then I began acting right there.

My imagination recreated the scene in front of me. It felt as if I were truly living that moment.

####

POV: Third Person

Inside a café, Minami Sakuragi, the protagonist of "A Piece of My Heart," was sitting. In front of her, a handsome man with neatly styled black hair and serious eyes sat, smiling gently.

The two were drinking coffee and chatting happily, as if they were very close.

Outside, through the café's glass window, Kyo Evans—no, Sota Mizuno—saw them.

The moment he saw them, his expression changed.

His eyes widened slightly and his mouth parted. He held himself back from shouting or saying anything outside and just stared at them. Then the man named Maeda noticed him, and their eyes met.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, and the smile on the man's face disappeared. He pointed outside, and Minami turned to look.

She turned around.

She quickly stood up and went outside.

Sota Mizuno, a very childish boy despite being 17, started walking away while pulling out his phone to call his brother. But before he could, Minami caught up to him and grabbed his arm.

"Sota!"

"Don't touch me!" Sota snapped, pulling his arm away.

"Who is that man?" Sota looked through the glass window. The man was watching them calmly, as if nothing was wrong.

Just looking at him made Sota's blood boil. He clenched his teeth and looked at Minami, his eyes filling with tears.

"So in the end, you were just playing with my brother."

"You misunderstood!" Before Minami could explain, Sota shouted, tears in his eyes.

"Shut up! You deceived him! You said you were with a friend, and you're here with another man! You're just like all the others. You're just like all those girls who broke my brother's heart!"

"Listen, you need to listen. It's not like that! Maeda is just—"

Before she could finish, Sota interrupted her. Tears streamed down his face, and his expression changed.

Pure disgust—that was the word.

Minami was startled and took a step back.

Sota didn't say anything else, but his expression said everything.

Inside the room, Hiroshi Kanto, Takumi Hayashida, and the two investors watched in awe at the expression of disgust and contempt displayed by Kyo. It was as if he were looking at a pile of trash.

That was exactly the feeling Hiroshi Kanto wanted to convey when he wrote that scene. His heart started racing. He wanted to clearly show the disgust Sota felt toward Minami after seeing her with another man.

A traitor who deserves contempt.

'His acting is fantastic. His expressions are incredible. It's as if he's living the scene right now,' Takumi Hayashida thought. 'It was the right decision to recommend him.'

Everyone there had chills—even Haruna, who had never seen her son act before.

'I know it's not real, but I want to hug him.'

####

Chapter 43 - Chapter 43 - Acting.