In crossover anime, who isn't a childhood friend?

Yukino was momentarily speechless, but she wasn't in the mood for jokes at the moment, so she unconsciously took a small step forward, closing the distance between them.

Yuan Qianye could clearly see her snow-white, slender neck, and her beautiful, slightly trembling eyes looking at him, filled with inquiry and disbelief.

“Since we’ve decided to do it, we should do it as well as possible. That’s what I think.” Yuan Qianye suppressed his smile slightly and gave a seemingly self-evident answer.

"..."

Yukino paused for a moment, then lowered her head and turned her face to the window, her feelings complicated and indescribable.

The longer she knew him and the deeper she understood him, the more incredible things she discovered about him, sometimes even making her feel a little unfamiliar with him.

Before going abroad to study, she was full of fighting spirit and wanted to catch up with his progress.

However, three years have passed, and instead of getting closer, she can no longer even see his back.

She was unknowingly pulled too far, too far away...

Looking at the script he wrote and comparing it to my own... a sense of powerlessness, accompanied by a feeling of dejection, quietly welled up from the bottom of my heart.

At this moment, Eriri and Rikka also finished reading the script. Their faces beamed with excitement, and they ran over to surround Minamoto Chiya, showering him with compliments!

The situation is quite clear: the short film to be shown on the school festival stage will be titled "Secret".

After lunch break, the three afternoon classes seemed to pass by particularly slowly.

Yukino rarely seemed this distracted in class, her thoughts frequently drifting to the script and the upcoming filming schedule.

After school, everyone gathered again in the Service Club activity room.

Today, Chiya didn't go to the kendo club again. Instead, she came here to discuss the filming plans for the upcoming movie with everyone.

Now that the script is ready, the next step is naturally to begin the various preparations for filming.

As both screenwriter and director, Yuan Qianye explained in detail to the other three the film effects and overall feel he wanted to present.

The other three listened very attentively.

Eriri, who is about to become the photographer, even took out her sketchbook and quickly sketched several important scenes based on Chiyo's description.

The drawing wasn't very detailed; it was just a simple stick figure sketch, mainly to confirm whether my understanding of the angle, scene layout, and character movements was accurate.

Then he received a thumbs-up from Gen Chiya.

Yukino's main responsibilities are production and post-production editing. She is also aware that she will be busy soon, so she has already started to think about all sorts of trivial matters related to filming the movie.

As for Rikka, as the casting director, listening to her older brother talk about the script, she felt that there was no suspense about the selection of the male lead with superb piano skills.

Since he's already a director and screenwriter, it shouldn't be a problem for him to make a cameo appearance as the male lead.

Moreover, since he wrote the script, he was naturally familiar with the lines and the inner thoughts of the characters, saving him unnecessary communication. In a sense, it was a natural performance, which couldn't be more suitable.

Not to mention his own brother's exaggerated imagery; to put it bluntly, he's almost like a succubus character from an isekai anime.

The frequent appearance of love letters in the shoe cabinet is just one example. The most outrageous thing is that one day during her holiday, she suddenly decided to get up early and go for a run with her older brother.

As a result, she couldn't run anymore and rested by the roadside. Yuan Qianye, who stopped with her, somehow attracted three cats. They meowed and rubbed against his legs with their tails held high, looking like they were in heat!

As Rikka had predicted, things turned out exactly as she had imagined.

As soon as she suggested that Chiya Minamoto play the male lead, Eriri almost immediately nodded in agreement.

While Yukino didn't immediately express her opinion, it wasn't because she had any objections. She was more worried that with Minamoto Chiyo juggling multiple roles, plus the need to be distracted by studies and work, her schedule might be too tight, thus affecting her rest.

Yuan Qianye did not give a clear answer to this question.

He explained that the script presented today only roughly showed the framework of the story, and some of the more subtle details, interactions, foreshadowing, and subsequent emotional outbursts were all glossed over in a single sentence.

He will need to spend a few more days perfecting the script so that it's ready to start filming immediately upon taking over.

Therefore, regarding Rikka's suggestion that he play the male lead, he only said that he would make a decision when the script was officially completed.

At the same time, he also assigned everyone their tasks in his capacity as director.

Over the next few days, Eriri will begin learning about cameras and try to master them as soon as possible.

Yukino was tasked with finding suitable filming locations based on the story requirements in the script, and with making preliminary decisions on costume styles and filming schedules, among other miscellaneous tasks.

As for Rikka, she will begin looking for other actors.

After the selection of the male lead was temporarily put on hold, Rikka, Eriri, and Yukino almost simultaneously realized an obvious problem.

The female protagonist in "Secret" is described by Chiyo as a girl who has been immersed in music for a long time and has a genius-level piano skill. Because of this talent, she is isolated and envied by her classmates to a certain extent.

This kind of character design... can no longer be simply described as familiar.

In reality, right above the Service Club, in the second music room, there seems to be a girl like that...

After realizing this, Rikka, Eriri, and Yukino's expressions all became somewhat subtle.

However, seeing Yuan Qianye's natural expression, they all tacitly refrained from pointing it out.

However, after returning home from the event that day, Rikka, with her strong curiosity, still couldn't resist.

She slipped into her brother's room and asked directly, "Brother... this script you wrote, it wouldn't be... written specifically for Kazusa, would it?"

"That's not important. Your most pressing task right now is to quickly figure out who should play the other roles in the movie."

Gen Chiyo didn't answer the question directly, and simply brushed Rikka off the subject.

Over the next few days, everyone performed their duties and began to work according to the assigned tasks.

Eriri spends her days at school reading introductory photography guides, and after school she watches instructional videos to familiarize herself with the functions of various buttons and parameters on the camera, and practices her skills.

Liuhua is very popular in her class. After she revealed on her WeChat Moments that she was going to make a short film, several classmates expressed interest and said they could help her.

As for Yukino, she spent her time after school wandering around the city, scouting various locations and looking for suitable filming spots.

After finishing her routine homework at home in the evening, she would sit down at the piano and try to play the pieces composed by Gen Chiya.

The piano music was gentle and slightly melancholic, perfectly matching the atmosphere of the story in the script.

While playing, she would sometimes unconsciously put herself in the heroine's shoes, imagining how her fate would unfold if she were in such a fantastical story.

Yuan Qianye focused on perfecting the script. Considering that most of the participants were laymen during filming, he wrote the script in great detail, including scene descriptions, character actions, and emotional cues, making them as clear as possible.

The workload is not small.

During this time, although Kazusa's attitude towards him remained cold, he still made sure to show up at the second music classroom every day without fail, leaving behind her favorite milk pudding.

It's like raising animals, and it's also like offering sacrifices.

Time flew by, and soon it was Saturday, May 11th.

Touma Kazusa got ready early in the morning and headed to the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan.

The piano competition she had been preparing for will begin today and last for two days.

She has performed on similar occasions countless times since she was a child, and she feels no pressure at all.

The competition went very smoothly, and she advanced successfully on the first day.

But she didn't seem very happy.

That night, instead of getting some rest to recharge for tomorrow's final, she found it hard to fall asleep.

Scenes from the daytime competition kept flashing through her mind. The only people accompanying her were two employees from her mother's studio whom she wasn't very familiar with.

For no apparent reason, a faint, indescribable sense of loss quietly crept into my heart.

Sunday, the day of the finals.

According to the draw order, she was scheduled to play thirteenth.

Backstage, she closed her eyes to rest, conserve her energy, and maintain her best competitive condition.

When it was her turn to go on stage, it was already past one o'clock in the afternoon.

As is customary, upon taking the stage, she first bowed slightly to the judges, her expression calm and composed.

Then, she turned to the audience, preparing to offer her greetings.

However, her movements suddenly stopped when her gaze swept across the first row of the audience.

She saw Miyoko waving vigorously at her.

Beside her, Yuan Qianye smiled, clapped gently, and placed a bouquet of flowers on her knees.

Kazusa was stunned. Her usually aloof expression during the competition underwent a subtle change at this moment.

When she turned around and sat down in front of the piano, despite her efforts to suppress it, she couldn't help but let her gaze soften and the corners of her mouth turn up slightly.

…………

Chapter 032: The Easily Pampered Girl

When Touma Kazusa finished her performance, the audience erupted in prolonged applause.

She bowed to the audience to express her gratitude, glancing intently at the front row seats.

Yuan Qianye revealed his usual gentle smile, and stood up holding the bouquet of flowers, conveying his approval with his eyes.

Kazusa turned and left the stage. The competition schedule had a strict time arrangement, so as not to delay the contestants who followed.

After being informed of the situation by the staff backstage, Chiyo and Miyoko were allowed to enter the backstage area.

Miyoko warmly greeted her two former colleagues.

The professional working woman thoughtfully brought coffee drinks for her former colleagues as well.

As for Minamoto no Chiya, he went to Kazusa, who was still pretending to be calm and resting with her eyes closed, and sat down in the empty seat next to her, handing her the bouquet he had prepared beforehand.

"You've had a tough time in the competition." His voice was as gentle as ever, not forced, yet it had a healing quality comparable to that of a professional voice actor.

Kazusa slowly opened her eyes, her gaze calm and unwavering. She maintained the posture of crossing her arms over her chest, and did not immediately take the bouquet of flowers. Instead, she asked indifferently, "Didn't you say you were going to Kyoto on a business trip this weekend?"

That's true.

During lunch break this Friday, as usual, when Chiya went to feed the children in the second music room, Kazusa still seemed unwilling to talk much.

But in the end, she silently accepted the pudding he brought and ate it in small bites, which could be considered a signal of reconciliation.

Seeing this, Yuan Qianye did not leave immediately, but stayed and chatted with her for a while.

He did most of the talking, and Kazusa would at most respond with a faint "oh" or a simple nod.

But the message he wanted to convey did indeed get through.

Besides his daily chores, he also mentioned that he would be going to Kyoto this Saturday and Sunday to attend an offline author signing event, participate in an interview program on a local TV station, and film a public service advertisement about caring for orphans.