Uneasy daily life

"Second brother! Damn it!" came a sorrowful cry from Ultraman, "How dare they use the second brother as a weapon... I can do that too!"

Ultraman raised his hand and grabbed, the light transforming into a giant trident in his hand: "Big sister! Let's go!"

"Hiccup..." Sanjian hiccuped, "Clouds follow the dragon, wind follows the tiger, the wind blows the clouds and brings good fortune, heroes emerge from the trend!"

The two swordsmen coldly replied, "Stone in the soil, pillar in the wood, wood stands to make earth, kneeling to become a laborer!"

"Excellent, excellent!" the Three Swords laughed. "The sun and moon shine brightly, their inexhaustible radiance cleansing the universe."

Erjian said calmly, "If it's not the heart, then there is sorrow; the turmoil is hard to sever in the mortal world."

boom--!

The two swords clashed repeatedly, exchanging a series of responses with each other.

Godzilla and Ultraman clashed with swords, occasionally interspersed with beams of light and explosions.

"Big sister! Spray it!"

Jiu suddenly noticed a flaw and shouted a warning.

"okay!"

The three swords suddenly opened their eyes wide in anger, aimed at the opening, and suddenly spat out a jet of liquor, accurately hitting Godzilla's eyes, causing the latter to roar in pain and try to rub his eyes.

"Heaven and earth have their limits, encompassing the vast ocean; I, on the other hand, am boundless, drinking in the wonders of nature!"

"Stop reading now! You nagging idiot!"

Accompanied by the heroic chant of the Three Swords, Ultraman seized the opportunity and pierced Godzilla's skull with a single sword strike.

Godzilla slowly collapsed, turning into specks of light. From these specks of light, the nameless girl, Eleven, and Two, lying on the ground, were revealed. They had lost their lives and were also slowly turning into light.

Jiu sighed deeply, "Finally..."

"We finally won." Yi sighed heavily, "Second brother, eleventh brother..."

The nameless girl lying on the ground was talking to herself in a daze, seemingly still not understanding the situation: "Who...am I? Am I...a beast? No, I am...I am not...I am Nine?"

Ultraman suddenly froze, realizing that the scattered points of light were flying towards him and merging into his head.

Suddenly, Eleven shouted, "Separate! Nine is planning to become the new beast... Ugh!"

With a scream, Eleven was killed on the spot.

"Yes, I finally won."

Nine slowly chuckled: "I have finally escaped this damned fate, escaped the fate of the beast and Nine. Now there is only one last step left... I have used almost all my traces and power to forge her, making her the beast, making her Nine! Now, I only need to erase and absorb your power, and the traces of the beast will completely disappear, and I can finally rest easy!"

The others were unable to separate from their combined state. Because they trusted each other so much, there was no dispute about Nine taking the lead. Instead, they united to fight against the Beast.

Now, as Nine absorbs more and more power at an increasingly faster pace, they are becoming even more powerless.

"Why?" San asked slowly.

Nine did not reply.

The still-present Er said calmly, "Trust equals the price of betrayal."

Having her thoughts exposed, Jiu did not deny it: "That's right, this is the option with the greatest benefit."

“I see,” San said with a hint of realization. “In the end, you are the most human among us, the one who most wants to be a god… Being human is so lonely, it’s better to be a drunkard.”

"What's there to be lonely about?" Da, barely retaining a shred of consciousness, remained calm and composed. "We brothers and sisters have walked through so many lives, and at this moment we will all walk into history together. Looking back on our lives, we have no regrets. Although the ending was a little disappointing, wasn't what we did have something to be proud of?"

San suddenly laughed and said, "Hahaha! Indeed, indeed, I was too attached to appearances! There's no such thing as loneliness in life, let's drink together again next time!"

"Heh." Jiu suddenly said sarcastically, "The ending is already decided, so it's not bad for you to try to appear magnanimous."

San Shi laughed and asked, "Will you give up?"

Jiu Lenglie said, "I'm about to succeed!"

"In that case, will it make you feel more justified to hurl insults and curses at you?"

"..."

"So, what's wrong with spending some last time talking and chatting with your brothers and sisters?" San said with a faint smile.

"You should struggle!" Jiu suddenly roared. "You're all about to die, utterly! Life is so precious, I am so important... To save my own life, I went to great lengths to create her, to bear this damned fate. To remain myself, I made a painful decision: I must gain the power to be free! You..."

Er suddenly asked, "I remember you liked movies, you liked things that could record stories, and you kept saying you wanted to make the best movie... Do you still like them now?"

The second one died, and he was immediately put out of the game.

“You’re already the most common person, Nine,” Three remarked.

Three died, and they were gone in a flash.

Da didn't say anything more, but silently took his lunchbox.

Ultraman disappeared, leaving only Nine standing on the ruins.

……

……

"It's a rare occasion for everyone to get together today. Little San, bring out your treasured wine."

"I don't want to come... All this dinner party stuff is such a hassle. Can't you just bring the food to my room?"

"That's really troublesome. You might as well just give me a book I've never read before."

"Hiccup~"

"Why are you drinking, Third Brother? Come on! I filmed a new movie today, it hasn't been released yet, let me show you!"

"No need to watch it, it's a terrible movie."

The scene of twelve brothers and sisters toasting and laughing together gradually fades into the distance, frozen on a screen.

Inside the private room, a white-haired woman, alone, picked up her wine glass, slowly drank it all in one gulp, and murmured softly.

"You guys are like persistent ghosts. I'll give you a happy ending, okay?"

"Ah."

……

As the movie ended, the audience's complaints gradually surfaced. Many looked bewildered, wondering what kind of movie it was. The beginning was so boring it made you want to sleep, like an art film. Then the later parts were all about fighting, like a tokusatsu movie. But the special effects, action design, and large-scale scenes were even better than tokusatsu, making it feel like an action movie and a post-apocalyptic film. And then there was a touch of tragedy at the end.

Too spicy, add vinegar; too sour, add sugar; too sweet, add salt; too salty, add chili...

The finest ingredients are cooked into a pot of indescribable food, making one's face contort in horror, as if one's taste buds are being repeatedly rubbed under a group of burly men, yet one can also subtly experience a sense of pleasure from it. Those who like tokusatsu can find what they like, those who like action can find what they like, those who like philosophical reflections on life can find what they like, those who prefer something more artistic can still find what they like, and needless to say, those who like handsome men and beautiful women have all kinds of types in it.

A thousand words can be summed up in one word: 扦!

The audience had mixed feelings.

Hmph! You're shocked by my astonishing talent, aren't you? How could a movie I make be bad?!

Nian was very confident, but dared not utter a word.

"Nine." The eldest sister beside her, Ling, the third of the twelve siblings, was sipping her cola with a smile. "How do you think your filming went?"

“Of course it’s the best.” Nian chuckled. “It’s just that the ending wasn’t quite right. I originally wanted to film Jiu to have a change of heart, sacrifice himself to revive the others, and then the others would forgive Jiu and all work together to revive him, resulting in a happy ending where everyone would reunite and make dumplings! It’s all because of that guy—look! That guy in the first two rows named Bai Ying, he insisted on changing my ending. When I didn’t let him, he started acting like a big shot…”

Yes! It was that guy who did it!

Ling Youyou said, "She's so talkative, she'll never get married at her age, and she'll end up as a swordswoman..."

He whistled and looked away. At worst, he'd have a few strange dreams, bring some wine to his older sister, and send her some literary manuscripts or other valuables. It wouldn't be a big problem.

Ling suddenly stood up and floated over the seats in front of her, arriving at the row behind where Bai Ying was sitting. She leaned out and asked, "Interesting screenwriter, what method can make the director of this film feel a gnashing of anger?"

"what?"

Bai Ying turned to look at the person she had suddenly seen. Although she hadn't quite figured out what was going on, she immediately replied, "Simple! Have her write a review of her own movie. There can't be a single word of praise or objectivity in the entire review, and it must be at least three thousand words long!"

"Great idea! I'll treat you to a drink later!"

Ling chuckled and returned to her original position, turning her head to prop her cheek up, looking at Nian with great interest.

Year:"……"

Dude! That's not fair of you!

Chapter Ninety-Seven: The Corner

Mai Sakurajima is about to faint.

Even with past examples to learn from, even prepared to star in a terrible movie... how could it be this bad? How could Director Nian have found such great special effects technology to create such awful visuals?!

Originally, I thought shooting scenes of people reciting and composing poems would be quite good.

The exchange between myself and the hater was both witty and meaningful (×).

Ultraman, carrying himself, and Godzilla, carrying Blackie, are fighting each other (√).

This scene wasn't in the script at all!

Mai Sakurajima felt that her career had inexplicably gained a huge challenge.

A confused voice rang out: "Are those Ultraman and Godzilla?"

"Those are Ultraman and Godzilla directed by Nian. That guy uses whatever he has on hand, he's the type who can't stand not using what he buys to the fullest extent," Bai Ying said heavily. "It's like he sold his soul to the devil, and the devil flushed his soul down the drain... Damn it! I underestimated this guy's editing and special effects skills!"

"The saying 'The advantage of bad people is that they are not bad enough, and the advantage of good people is that they are not good enough' is clearly meant to evaluate the double standard in society where 'bad people do good deeds, and good people do bad deeds,' and the complexity of human nature! How did this edit turn it into an extremist commentary? And that sword-wielding scene was clearly a clash between a heroic historical perspective and a people's historical perspective..."

Bai Ying couldn't help but contort her face: "I underestimated the director of this terrible movie!"

He turned around and shouted to the people behind him, "I propose that not only should bad film directors write negative reviews of their own movies, but they should also use their own films as a comparison point to praise other people's films!"

Holy crap! Dude, you're really ruthless!

"This method is good..."

"Big sister, please think about it again!"

The year is spent trying to persuade the order to avoid writing a self-criticism in the future.

Kazuka Toyohama remarked, "Luckily, I was just a minor character."

"Wow, you actually acted in 'Twelve Heroes'? That's amazing."

The white figure suddenly exclaimed in surprise.

In the blink of an eye, their hands were clapping together in a flurry of blows.

Angelina remained expressionless and motionless... Well, the nameless girl in the movie wasn't me. I was just using my superpowered identity to scrape together some pocket money.

Most people don't even have the chance to get into movies, this is a perk and privilege for people with superpowers... right?

But is it worth it?

"Uh... is it ugly?" Azusagawa Kaede asked somewhat cautiously.

"Movies are all about personal taste; everyone has their own understanding at different ages," Sakuta Azusagawa said with a smile. "You're still young, so you can only see a part of it. As you grow older and become more understanding, you'll discover more of the excellent content in great works. As for bad movies... isn't it a good thing that Kaede can see the good parts? What did Kaede find interesting?"

After thinking for a moment, Azusagawa Kaede said, "I guess I'm someone's... "

Sakuta Azusagawa paused slightly, then chuckled, "This is the kind of beauty that belongs to Kaede."

What makes me beautiful?

Azusagawa Kaede was bewildered, yet she couldn't help but recall the events of the movie—from this bewilderment, because they answered the question "Who am I?", the twelve heroes were born. Because they were born, in order to continue existing, they had to fight the giant monster; because they were born, Nine, wanting a better life, chose to kill his brothers and sisters…

But after killing his brothers and sisters, Nine lived an extremely lonely life, only able to see their shadows in movies.

Isn't this me and Hua Feng?

While other viewers watched a jumbled mess of films born from the digestion of various ingredients, Azusagawa Kaede was watching the parts that resonated with her and tugged at her heartstrings. Just like the stories in Ultraman, for children there's no story; they only focus on how Ultraman fights the monsters, and the rest only becomes apparent as they grow up.

This movie is pretty good, but it's a bit annoying to watch.

My brother gave me a name, so I was able to live as Azusagawa Kaede instead of unknowingly playing the role of Azusagawa Hanakaze, a character that only exists in the words of doctors and parents... If I want to live, Hanakaze probably won't be able to come back, so I shouldn't be thinking about living, right?

Because Hua Feng is the one who truly exists. If she were gone, her original friends, parents, and brother would all be heartbroken. She would also feel lonely like Jiu, unable to face her brother or even herself. So, could she not go on living?

Well……

Suddenly, some thoughts she had never considered popped into her head: Should I live? But can I live? Can I live? If I live, what will happen to Hanakaze?

Conflicting feelings.

Just like before, when I opened my eyes in a daze and heard the doctor say the name Azusagawa Kaede, I didn't feel anything. But when I saw how sad and painful they were, I tried my best to portray Kaede's conflicted feelings.