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

Kazusa was somewhat overwhelmed by Rikka's intense gaze and subconsciously looked away, her voice hesitant: "I'm sorry, Rikka... I'm afraid I can't do this favor..."

"Don't be so quick to refuse!"

Rikka quickly interrupted her, took out her phone, and rapidly pulled up the script written by Gen Chiya.

“I haven’t finished yet! Look, this is the script written by Qianye, the story is really exciting! And we all think this female lead is perfect for you! Anyway, you’re familiar with my brother, so if you don’t understand anything when filming scenes with him, you can ask him anytime without feeling embarrassed or restrained.”

“Even so, I still…” Kazusa still wanted to refuse, but suddenly caught the key information in Rikka’s words and turned her head sharply: “Wait, you just said… scenes with my partner?”

“Yes!” Rikka nodded vigorously, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “My brother is the male lead. If you agree to star in it, Kazusa, you two will have a lot of scenes together!”

She carefully observed the subtle changes in Kazusa's expression and keenly sensed that moment of wavering.

Could it be that……

Is this the breakthrough point?

Rikka's eyes lit up, and she immediately pressed her advantage: "Speaking of which, Kazusa, I haven't told you the specific plot of the movie we're going to shoot this time, have I?"

"Qianye did tell me something, it's a school theme, right?"

“That’s right, but it’s not that simple.” Rikka said, holding up her phone and leaning close to Kazusa. “Come on, let me explain in detail…”

In the following ten minutes or so, Rikka's vivid narration allowed Kazusa to gain a clearer understanding of the specific plot of the movie they were about to film.

The information they knew was no longer as vague as what they had heard from Minamoto Chiya on the plane.

The male and female leads in the drama strolled together, held hands, hugged, and even kissed... Although the last item was clearly indicated in parentheses, it was just a scene created by a camera trick, and not a real-life romance.

Even so, Kazusa's previously clear refusal showed a very obvious and uncontrollable wavering.

She recalled once again the seemingly unintentional words that Yuan Qianye had said to her on the plane—

"But there's a problem now, the cast hasn't been officially decided yet..."

"What matters is not the result, but the process..."

"The casting doesn't necessarily require a lot of acting skills; it's enough if the actors roughly match the characters in the script..."

At the time, I thought he was just chatting casually, but now that I think about it...

Were those words you deliberately said back then meant to imply something to me?

Kazusa's heart began to race involuntarily, her thoughts started to wander, and her cheeks felt slightly hot.

Meanwhile, Rikka silently observed her reaction, continuing to gently guide her.

"Kazusa, you really don't need to feel so much pressure. This role is tailor-made for you. All the members of our Service Club unanimously believe that you are fully capable of handling it. As long as you perform as usual, there will be no problem!"

"Well……"

There's a flaw!

Seeing that Kazusa's gaze was becoming increasingly evasive, Rikka knew that the time had come!

The next moment, Rikka placed her hands on Kazusa's thighs and gently shook them, using a forbidden move that had always worked on her older brother!

"Please? I beg you, this is truly the only request I'll ever make in my life! If Kazusa can't come, it will definitely be one of the biggest regrets I'll ever have and never be able to let go of!"

"And it's not just me, Qianye also really wants you to act in it. Just agree, okay? If it doesn't work out, we can give it a try. If you feel you really can't handle it and want to quit, then I definitely won't try to stop you. How about that?"

Under the repeated soft pleas of Rikka and the unintentional catalysis of "Chiya must also want that," Kazusa felt her heart pounding so fast it felt like it was about to burst out of her chest.

She lowered her eyelashes, remained silent for a few seconds, and finally nodded almost imperceptibly, her voice so soft it was barely audible: "Okay, I can agree to give it a try, but let's make it clear first, don't have too high hopes for my performance..."

"I knew you wouldn't let me down, Kazusa!"

"Well!"

The next second, overly excited Rikka pounced and knocked Kazusa down onto the soft bed.

He could hear Rikka's uncontrollable giggles coming from beside his ear.

Kazusa took a shallow breath, and then couldn't help but curl the corners of her mouth, revealing a smile that was both tired and genuine.

Being with everyone... most importantly, being with him...

Making a movie...

It seems...not bad either.

It'll get interesting, won't it?

…………

Chapter 036: Declaring Sovereignty to the Cat Who Steals the Fish

Thursday, May 16th.

lunch break.

Service Department.

As a newly established club in the school, its members have consistently maintained a good attendance rate, which is quite remarkable.

Touma Kazusa sat in the seat that Minamoto Chiya usually sat in, holding a ceramic cup similar in style to those of the other members of the Service Club, and sipped her tea slowly.

She was a little nervous on the first day that Rikka formally asked her to help.

The next day at school, Rikka practically dragged her here by the arm to greet the other two, and she seemed a little uncomfortable with it.

However, since I had met Yukinoshita and Sawamura before, they were very polite this time because they had asked for my help first, not to mention that Rikka was there to keep things lively.

So over the past two days, Kazusa hasn't gone to the second music classroom upstairs. Instead, she's been showing up at the Service Club, having lively discussions with everyone about the filming of the movie. It seems like things are going quite well.

It wasn't a flattering sentiment or a polite formality, but a genuine feeling.

After all, once she entered high school, apart from Chiya Minamoto, Kazusa didn't really make any close friends.

Kazusa enjoys the feeling of being able to communicate normally with them like this and work together towards a common goal.

While Kazusa was drinking tea, she was silently memorizing her lines from a script that had been specially prepared for the female lead.

The door to the Service Department opened, and Gen Chiya strode in.

"You..." Upon seeing this, Yukino Yukinoshita's delicate eyebrows furrowed instinctively, as if she habitually wanted to point something out.

But Yuan Qianye, who knew her all too well, seemed to have anticipated this and spoke first: "I'm not late today."

As he spoke, he pushed the door open a little wider, revealing several figures following behind him: "I did something big today."

He then turned slightly to the side, and several girls behind him walked in together, nodding gently to everyone in the Service Department.

“These are my classmates and friends. When they heard that we were filming a movie and needed more people, they offered to take time out of their busy schedules to help.”

The girl with long, light blue hair put her hands on her hips and said, "It's nothing, it's not a big deal."

The blonde girl twirled the end of her hair with her fingers: "After all, Gen-kun helped me before."

The silver-gray-haired girl lowered her head slightly: "We don't know much about filming movies, so we may need your guidance later."

"No need to say that, we're already very happy that you came to help. Oh, sorry, I forgot to introduce you all. This is Saki Kawasaki, Yumiko Miura, Saika Totsuka... and over here, Yukino Yukinoshita, Eriri Sawamura, Kazusa Touma..."

After Gen Chiyo finished introducing themselves, Rikka warmly stepped forward to bring them chairs, gesturing for them to sit down and chat.

Yukino, who had been sitting down, came to Minamoto Chiyo's side and looked at the helpers he had invited with a complicated expression.

Yuan Qianye found it strange and lowered his voice, saying, "What's with that expression? Are you unhappy? I shamelessly asked them for help, thinking I would owe them a favor."

“I understand, but…”

"but?"

"How come...they're all girls?"

"..." Minamoto Chiyo looked like she wanted to laugh but was desperately trying to hold it in: "Totsuka is a boy."

"..." Upon hearing this, Yukino's eyes widened as she looked at Totsuka, who was chatting and laughing with Rikka Eriri.

"Don't you believe me? I'll take you to see him in person to confirm."

Yukino rolled her eyes at Gen Chiya, her face slightly flushed, and walked away without saying anything more.

After such a large group of people entered the Service Department, Kazusa took her script and went to the window.

Yuan Qianye let the others continue their conversation and took the initiative to come to her side.

He took the initiative to ask, "How have you felt about spending the past two days with everyone?"

"It's not bad. We mainly talked about how to carry out the subsequent filming process after you came back. Yukino has also arranged the filming tasks for each day in the past two days. She also said that theoretically, as long as we follow the steps, even if the time is very tight, we can still complete the goal before the school festival."

"Is that so? That's good."

Kazusa looked at the pleased-looking Minamoto Chiya and wanted to ask about the question that had been lingering in her mind for the past two days.

In other words, whether what he said to himself on the plane was a deliberate hint to himself.

And is the Service Department's event, to some extent, also a way of making a big deal out of their own jealousy, by preparing a whole plate of dumplings?

However, this idea was too self-important and made her seem too superior and vain, so Kazusa could only think it in her heart and couldn't actually ask these girlish speculations.

"Rikka, may I entrust you with entertaining everyone? I'll also assign tasks to different roles for everyone." Yukino, after leaving Chiya's side, came to the table and gave instructions to Rikka.

"Ah, no problem, leave it to me. You guys should be heading out to film the first scene of the movie soon, right? Do you have enough time?"

“Since it’s not a long shot, it’s fine to get there now,” Yukino explained, then bowed slightly to the others: “Thank you all for your help, and I’ll leave the rest to you.”

Although her expression remained as aloof as ever, her posture was polite, so Kawasaki and the others nodded in response.

"Eri, we're ready to go." Yukino turned to Eriri, who was adjusting the camera.

"Oh! Okay!" Eriri quickly slung her camera bag over her shoulder.

Yukino then approached Chiyo Minamoto. She first exchanged a knowing glance with Kazusa, and they both nodded. Then, she shoved a rather heavy-looking camera equipment case into Chiyo's arms, saying, "Could you help me carry this?"

This was a simple matter for Yuan Qianye, but because he hadn't received any prior notice, he seemed bewildered and out of sorts: "Where are we going now?"

"Staff office." Kazusa led him away from the Service Department, and behind them they could hear Yukino Eriri saying goodbye to the others.

After leaving the Service Club, she slowed her pace, clearly waiting for Eriri and Yukino to catch up. She continued, "We're filming the first scene of the movie at noon today, the scene where the male lead appears at his new school after officially transferring and talks to the teachers."

He himself remembered the script written by Gen Chiya very clearly; it was indeed the very beginning of the story.

This scene primarily reveals the male protagonist's general situation to the audience through a heart-to-heart talk between the teacher and the male protagonist.

"This scene doesn't seem to feature the female lead."

"I have no experience; I'm just observing how you behave in front of the camera."