My girlfriend is Saiki Kusunoki

"Naoto, do you have something planned for this weekend?"

Hearing Naoto making a phone call, Nanko rushed over as well.

"Nanzi, I'm so sorry, something urgent happened over there, and I can't cancel it."

Naoto felt even more guilty about Nanko's appearance. They had planned to have a picnic in the park this week, but it looked like it was going to fall through again.

"However, we can actually try a different way of dating."

"Change it? You mean?"

"Actually, I'm quite curious about what's happening on set. If possible, could you take me to visit the set?"

Naoto didn't think much of it when Nanko offered to go to the film set with him.

However, what Nanzi's plans are remains unknown.

Chapter 161: An Encounter on the Film Set

"Is this the film crew? There are so many people here."

Another weekend arrived, and Nanko, accompanied by Naoto, went to the set of Parasyte.

Around eight o'clock in the morning, people were already coming and going.

In order to expedite the release date, everyone in the crew is working as fast as they can to film.

Not to mention eight o'clock in the morning, some people have already started working as early as six o'clock.

This busy state can continue until 10 p.m. or even later.

Even so, no one complained. For actors, this kind of work is just a piece of cake. They're used to it.

In this film crew, celebrities are nothing special. If you pick one here, it's highly likely that he's an actor with a high reputation outside.

Here, however, Naoto was unusually cautious, afraid of being recognized by someone.

If we get recognized here, the entire crew will probably have to stop working.

"Nanzi, are you interested in this place?"

"That's interesting, it feels really good. Is that guy over there Zongping, the comedian? I usually quite like his work."

"So, should we go ask him for his autograph?"

"Never mind, maybe next time. I'd like to stay on set a little longer, could you take me with you?"

"Being respectful is worse than obeying orders."

Naoto then led Nanko around the film set.

It has to be said that because everyone was busy, no one noticed that Naoto had arrived. Even Director Akagi and Writer Izumi didn't notice him.

This does feel a bit like traveling incognito.

Just as Naoto was feeling relieved that no one had noticed him, a voice suddenly came from behind him, startling him.

"ONE teacher, what are you doing?"

Startled, Naoto quickly turned around and found that it was Kashima who had called out to him.

Kashima was dressed casually, clearly having just walked in from outside.

When she came in, she found Naoto and a girl sneaking around the film set. Out of curiosity, she came over to say hello, but unexpectedly, she startled Naoto.

"Phew~ It's you, Kashima! What are you doing here?"

"Teacher, I'm an actor here. You've forgotten, I'm the male lead."

Kashima was speechless at Naoto's question.

How come the male lead isn't on set? Where could he be? This question is really strange.

"Oh, right, right, you're the male lead. I've been so busy lately that I completely forgot."

Upon hearing Kashima's words, Naoto quickly apologized to Kashima.

But in reality, Naoto had no idea about this at all.

After finishing his work last time, Naoto stopped paying attention to anything related to the film crew, and he didn't even ask who would play the various roles.

So he had no idea that Kashima was the male protagonist.

The reason I gave that answer was simply to ease my own embarrassment.

Moreover, it seems rather strange that the original author wouldn't know who would be playing the role.

"Uh, ONE-sensei is very busy, so it's understandable that he's a bit busy. So, did ONE-sensei come today to inspect the film crew?"

"Uh, cough cough, probably, more or less. Anyway, who are these two people behind you?"

To prevent people from finding out that he had brought his girlfriend on a date today, Naoto quickly changed the subject.

Just then, Naoto noticed two eager-looking people behind Kashima and asked them a question.

For some reason, when Naoto looked at one of them, he felt that he looked familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before.

“ONE teacher, these two are my friends from school. They want to visit the film set. It should be... okay, right?”

"Hello, ONE-sensei. My name is Sakura Chiyo. I'm a friend of Kashima."

A girl named Chiyo nervously spoke to Naoto after seeing him, but Naoto's attention was more focused on the person next to Chiyo.

"Hello, my name is Nozaki Umetarou, and I am also a friend of Kashima."

The man standing next to Chiyo was extremely muscular; at least Naoto, who was 1.8 meters tall, had no advantage over him. At first glance, he looked like an athletic champion.

“Nozaki Umetarou? I remember, we should have met somewhere before, probably at… Shueisha’s annual meeting. Oh, I remember now, you are…”

"Yes, my pen name is Yumeno Sakiko, and I'm currently serializing 'Let's Fall in Love?' in a monthly magazine."

"This person is actually Yumeno Sakiko?!"

Nanko, standing behind Naoto, looked at Nozaki in disbelief.

I never expected that someone known as a friend of women would be such a huge guy! It's like a joke.

Moreover, this person doesn't seem like the kind of person who is understanding at all.

The reason Naoto had such a deep impression of Nozaki was that at that year's annual party, there were only two people who won the Monthly Newcomer Award.

One of them was him, and the other was Nozaki.

When Naoto heard Yumeno Sakiko's name mentioned, he thought she would be a beautiful girl.

The man who came up was actually stronger than him.

However, the two did not interact at the time, and after glancing at each other, they returned to their original positions.

I never expected to run into it again today.

"I never expected that you would still remember, ONE-sensei. I am truly honored."

"No, no, no, it's nothing. After all, we're both comic artists who serialize in monthly magazines. It's good to get to know each other."

After the two cartoonists met, they ended up talking about things related to comics.

This situation immediately gave Chiyo and Kusuko a headache.

Think about it, why did I fall for someone like that?

"Cough cough."

Seeing the two chatting happily, Nanko couldn't help but cough lightly, immediately drawing Naoto's attention back.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce you. This is my girlfriend, Saiki Kusuko."

"Please give me more advice."

Upon learning that the girl, who looked to be about the same size as Chiyo, was actually Naoto's girlfriend, everyone present was even more surprised.

The group of people started boasting to each other in this small space.

The matter finally came to an end only after the director, who had been unable to find Kashima, finally came looking for him.

Chapter 162: The Movie Officially Released

After Naoto went to work and some time passed, the film's production was finally completed and a release date was set.

Due to various unspeakable circumstances, the censorship and filming of Parasyte proceeded extremely quickly, even surprising the director and his team. The two of them found it somewhat unbelievable.

After all, when they were making movies in the past, all sorts of troubles gave them a headache. Usually, after a movie was finished, it might take more than a year before it could be released.

This time, Parasyte was approved in just over a week after filming, not counting editing and post-production effects, which shows how fast it was.

Considering that everyone managed to finish filming a movie in less than half a year, it's quite a miracle.

However, compared to the pace of one movie a week in Hong Kong back then, Parasyte is certainly not good enough to compete with that.

But in Japan, that's quite impressive.

..........................................

"Everyone, are you ready yet? Time's almost up!"

On this day, the members of the creative department gathered together after a long time. They were preparing to head to the movie theater to attend the premiere of Parasyte.

After all, this is not only Naoto's first film adaptation, but also Mai's first movie to be released since her return to the entertainment industry.

As members of the creative department, we naturally had to go and support them.

"I said, can't you wait a little while? I really don't feel comfortable wearing this dress."

"That's right, it's so complicated, haha, it's a bit annoying."

At this moment, Hachiman and Sakuta were wearing formal attire that they were completely unfamiliar with, looking utterly miserable.

For two people who are used to casual clothes, formal attire is utterly inhuman.

Especially this bow, the two of them struggled with it for ages but still couldn't figure it out, just like a primary school student wearing a red scarf for the first time.

It must have been quite a feat for the two of them to even turn their ties into a large braid.

"I mean, this is our creative department's first group activity, can't you guys be a little more enthusiastic?"