Tokyo: The evil god doesn't want to be the top star

Chapter 124 The Last Day of Filming

Koishikawa Botanical Garden, University of Tokyo, Tokyo.

Under the bright sunshine at noon, spring chrysanthemums bloom with their heads held high, forming a golden sea of ​​chrysanthemums.

Several staff members wearing straw hats were bending over this sea of ​​flowers, working diligently like they were planting rice seedlings.

"How's the scene being set?"

Director Nakano, also wearing a straw hat and a floral shirt, came to the edge of the sea of ​​flowers with a rolled-up script.

"Director, we planted fake chrysanthemums in the spaces between the real chrysanthemums, so the filming is barely acceptable."

One of the staff wiped the sweat off his forehead and looked up to answer.

"Thank you for your hard work. The scene is ready and the afternoon light is just right. Let's get ready to shoot..."

Director Nakano clapped his hands encouragingly.

Today is the third and final day of filming for the final episode of “The Withered Chrysanthemum and the Sword”.

In order to find a scene similar to the one in the comics, the crew traveled all over Tokyo and finally found a whole garden of chrysanthemums in this botanical garden adjacent to the forest.

But because spring is not the chrysanthemum season, only some spring chrysanthemums are in bloom, so we can only temporarily insert some artificial flowers to suit the occasion.

"I don't know how the actors are doing with their scenes."

Nakano turned his head and squinted at a meadow opposite the sea of ​​flowers.

"Haha!"

"Look at the secret of the Natural Reasoning Style, the Sword in the Sequence, which I have practiced for three hours at my own expense!"

On the grass, Sakamoto Hide, wearing a black robe and a headband on his forehead, held a wooden sword and slashed forward with a fierce thrust...

"It's OK, let go a little more."

Opposite him, Xia Fan, dressed in a white military robe and with golden hair brighter than chrysanthemums, casually held up his wooden sword and took on this seemingly fierce move.

"hiss……"

When the wooden swords touched, Xia Fan seemed to accidentally lift the hilt, but the recoil force almost made Sakamoto Hide lose his grip on the sword.

"Watch out, diagonally downward!"

While giving the warning, Xia Fan nimbly turned his wrist, drew out another short sword from his waist, and slashed at the opponent's lower abdomen.

"Don't underestimate me... The secret of the Tennen Rishin Style, the Dragon Tail Sword!"

Sakamoto Hide lowered his body and held the sword horizontally, taking the attack with some reluctance, and then swung the sword upward again with his backhand!
"Mr. Kazama, Mr. Hijikata, please stop fighting!"

Not far away, there came a cry of grief from Rika Shirakawa...

If you look in the direction of the voice, you will see that Rika Shirakawa, who made the voice, is wearing a gorgeous pink kimono, with her beautiful long hair tied into a bun with a bow, and is sitting under a giant parasol.

She lay on the beach chair with one hand on her chin, staring at the script in her hand with a bored look on her face. There was a glass of iced orange juice on the low table next to her...

It was as if the touching "peace-keeping speech" before had nothing to do with her at all.

"Come on, one last time..."

The wooden sword in Xia Fan's hand was pointed straight at the other party.

"Let's end this!"

Sakamoto Hide stood facing Xia Fan with his sword hanging at his side.

Then, the two of them suddenly ran towards each other, passing each other at an extremely fast speed...

The wooden swords in their hands collided violently with lightning speed.

The two people who passed each other and went in opposite directions had their steps stopped and their movements frozen.

"Whoosh..."

The dagger belonging to Xia Fan was spinning in the air and piercing straight into the soil.

"Not bad, not bad, Sakamoto-kun. We worked very well together in this rehearsal."

After taking a look at the wooden sword that had "successfully buried", Xia Fan clapped his hands towards Sakamoto Hide. "There is no such thing as tacit understanding. You were just cooperating with me..."

Sakamoto Hide threw away the wooden sword in his hand, sat on the grass and gasped for breath.

"You monster, are you a music producer or a shogun?!"

He looked at the blisters between his fingers, then looked at Xia Fan opposite him who was breathing steadily and looking relaxed, and muttered to himself.

From the previous filming day to today, he did not sit idle even though he had few scenes to act. Instead, he signed up for the Kendo course at the Gakuen and studied hard on several sets of moves from the "Tennen Rishin-ryu".

But when he was confidently "rehearsing moves" with Xia Fan, he discovered that the other party could not only easily take on his sword moves, but could also cooperate to "round out" some of his out-of-shape movements, perfectly completing the action routines set in the script.

The difference in swordsmanship behind this is enough to make people despair.

"Hey, but today's scene is not as simple as just coordinating the movements. It also depends more on the support of acting skills..."

But when he thought that he was here to be an "actor" rather than a swordsman, confidence returned to Sakamoto Hide's face.

"Only in acting, I will never lose to you."

He picked up the wooden sword and looked at Xia Fan with high spirits.

"Well, I've been looking forward to acting against Sakamoto-kun for a long time."

Xia Fan also looked very interested.

After all, the two are both “burning” artists with similar ages, so the most they have is “healthy competition”.

"It's so sunny and hot... The desire to win between boys is really boring."

Rika Shirakawa sighed under the umbrella.

What we are going to shoot today is the ultimate showdown between Hijikata Toshizo and Kazama Manyo in the final episode. She doesn't have many parts, she just needs to dress up beautifully and be a "background board + yes-man" most of the time.

"Three of you, are the movements, lines, and positioning all pretty much in place?"

Director Nakano walked through the sea of ​​chrysanthemums and came in front of the three people.

"So, everyone, get ready to shoot."

After getting confirmation from the three people, Nakano began to give orders on the intercom.

Soon, the cameras, lights and props were all ready surrounding the golden sea of ​​chrysanthemums.

After finishing their makeup touch-ups, Sakamoto Hide and Shirakawa Rika also stood at the edge of the sea of ​​chrysanthemums.

"There's too much light, the actor's face has turned golden, remove the reflector and fill light..."

"Change the angle of Camera 1. Don't point it at the backlight!"

"Camera 2, pay attention to the depth of field, extending from below the sea of ​​chrysanthemums to the character."

Just as Director Nakano was constantly adjusting the shooting scene, a figure holding a parasol walked along the gravel path of the botanical garden.

"Teacher Kawasaki Airi?"

"I'm so sorry for not welcoming you. How come you have time to come here today..."

Nakano turned around and found that it was Kawasaki Airi, the original author of the manga "The Withered Chrysanthemum and the Sword", and hurriedly trotted forward to greet her.

"It was me who took the initiative to invite Mr. Kawasaki over."

"After all, the audience who managed to persevere and not die from the poison and followed the final episode all wanted to see the final battle between Kazama Manye and Hijikata Toshizo."

“So, I thought that asking Mr. Kawasaki to come to the shooting site in person to observe and guide us would help us shoot more realistic content.”

Rika Shirakawa explained softly and winked at Director Nakano.

"Yes, I didn't think it through. I should have invited Mr. Kawasaki to come and give us some guidance!"

Director Nakano immediately understood what she meant and quickly invited Kawasaki Airi to sit under the parasol.

Instead of sending the finished editing product to the original author for review, it is better to invite the other party to the scene and participate in giving opinions from the beginning of filming, which will increase the chance of getting approval.

(End of this chapter)