Finally, the first day of filming commenced. This person had somehow managed to finish the pre-production work needed. Not once have I actually talked to the actors though. Having finished up with the make-up application and costumes and a bit of rehearsing, we were ready to shoot.

“Quiet on the set!” In order to prevent random extra noises, I called out. Then I directed, “Roll sound. Roll camera.”

The sound was ready and signaled that they were good. I went over to check just in case--not that I don’t trust them.

Likewise, the camera girl gave a thumbs-up and a smile. She had a slightly small face and build, and her black, undyed hair was tied up in a side ponytail. It was interesting how she worked with the somewhat large camera.

Then the clapper board, “Scene xx Take 1!”

 “Action!” That was the director.

After the cue, everything went silent. No music was playing--after all, that type of thing was added in during the editing phase anyways. The scene started. The second AD, a cute type of girl with black hair Sakai Mei, was doing the cue cards thing.

I observed and waited, taking the time to glance over the script for the scene in filming once more. Whoever wrote the script and thought up the story had an extensive imagination. Just looking at the title, Majisuka Band, one wouldn’t think of it as too strange and the beginning might not be too weird, but it comes along--the oddities.

The three main actresses were on scene.

A slightly tanned (and round) girl who seemed to be quite cute, Kizaki Yuria, was acting as the character Tamura Peace. A famous half Spanish model and actress with porcelain like skin and dark, almost black brownish hair, Kinoa Yukiko, was starring as Kazuki Andrea. There was also a petite pale girl who is said to be a member of a currently popular idol group, her name is Kimoto Kanon and her character’s name is Kawakami Nozomi.

The scene was set in a club room or studio of some sort that would be the setting for most of the story. All three girls were wearing school uniforms--dark blue blazers over a white shirt and a pleated skirt.

Kinoa’s character, Andrea, happily exclaimed. “Let’s form a band!” She held out a flier that printed her exact words on the top in bright pink letters. “I’ve already posted these all over the place.”

“Yea!” Kizaki, Peace nodded rapidly.

In contrast to the other girl’s energetic characters, Nozomi (Kimoto) replied like a normal person would. “Okay.”

“…um…but don’t we kind of need another member?” Then Peace realized the school’s policy for clubs, it seemed that it was set in a school’s club room, studio place. “Doesn’t a club need 4 students to be approved?”

“Peace-san, that’s why Andrea-san posted those fliers all over the place.” In this part, Nozomi answered Peace’s question. Her expression looked somewhat stiff, but the tiny part was somewhat short and the script said to put b-roll or footage of those fliers during part of that piece of dialogue anyways.

A sudden knock came from the so called window that happened to be closed up and covered by curtains.

Outside was the main male protagonist portrayed by Nakanishi Yuu as Nakanishi Yuu. He was wearing the typical gakuran type male uniform. His dark hair was medium length, not reaching his shoulders yet going past his ears by two inches. This guy is considered a rookie actor.

“…What was that?” Andrea muttered with a surprised expression on her face.

Peace awkwardly suggested the impossible, “A ghost?”

Acting slightly scared by those words, Nozomi stiffly walked away and into an equipment closet. It would seem that she was a character scared by the mention of ghosts. Following afterwards, Peace stealthily scurried to hide behind a couch.

Turning her head as if looking for a place to hide before moving, the Andrea character scrambled off to a so called safe place. In truth, I don’t get the point of it, but that’s how the scene ends. The characters are all off camera.

“Cut!” The director called out.

The scene was finished. No, it’s not exactly right to say that it’s finished. We still need to film at different angles of course. The director approved of what had just been filmed though.

“Check the gate!” That meant for the Camera Assistant to go check if anything malfunctioned or if the film has fluff on it. It’s something like that.

Going through the scene again, there were various close-ups and a few over-the shoulder shots. In little time though, the filming of that part was finished at least.

Following up, we had a slight rest break planned out. Everything was going along schedule and it seemed that we had actually finished that part early.

“…Haa…” I sighed after chugging down a glass of water.

The three actresses as well as the DP who also operated the camera, who was Ogiso, and the 2^nd AD (my kouhai in being an AD) were together chatting. Nakanishi was looking over his script as he was a protagonist after all and his big intro should be the next scene.

I leaned back onto a table and took in a deep breath while closing my eyes for a bit. To think that I’m actually not doing much actual labor in a way, but at the same time it’s kind of tiring and pressuring.

I was startled to hear a light voice call out from behind me. “…leaning on this type of table…”

Leaning on this type of table isn’t safe, because this type of table is the foldable and simply movable type of table. As the AD, I’m supposed to be minimizing and getting rid of hazards, so this was a stupid mistake.

Getting up, I looked behind me to see who was talking. “Kizaki-san.”

With a clumsy grin on her cute, round, little face, she sent a heartwarming look my way. Oddly enough, I smiled. And she giggled, replying: “You are…Yagami-san, the AD?”

“Yagami Kumi. It’s nice to make your acquaintance.” I answered the question.

“Kizaki Yuria.” She said with a happy look on her face.

Finding one actress coming over to where I was, the others followed. Kinoa and Kimoto looked at me in a curious manner.

The first broadly grinned and looked at the nametag that I wore, “Yagami Kumi, eh? Hehe, I’m glad you’re an AD since somehow you’d be a hard rival to overcome…not that I don’t like strong opponents. Kinoa Yukiko, at your service.”

“…eh?”

“You have nice sharp wolf eyes and I must say that you’re quite pretty.” I didn’t really understand the compliment.

“…okay.”

“I’m Kimoto Kanon.” I was already aware of her name, but Kimoto introduced herself anyways.

For a second, I took out my cell phone and looked at the time. The break should be wrapping up already. Sakai, the 2^nd AD, is helping notify everyone about that. Looking at the organized chaos, I sighed and smiled before turning to the actresses and saying, “Break time’s over.”

Once again, we gathered everyone up into their positions. Silence on the set fell into place. The sound rolled. The camera rolled. The clapper clapped with the information of scene and take. The director yelled action and the filming started again.

The first day of filming ended in no time. Then again, with this job, I have less free time even though without the job, I’d be stuck searching for a job and be stuck with too much empty time.

As people started leaving in groups to go out and eat together, maybe celebrate a successful first day, I stayed behind in a lounge area. There might’ve been a bit more work that was left over to do.

I sat at a desk with a bunch of schedules and such in front of me. The budget was fine (for now it seemed). The weather doesn’t really affect the filming, but the weather is predicted to be good for the next few days.

Sighing, I rested my head on the cold, hard table. It wasn’t comfortable at all. I lifted my head up again and felt the urge to just sleep. I mumbled incoherently to myself and got up in order to brew some coffee to stay awake despite the lack of action.

Walking slowly, I felt the feeling of boredom catch up to me. In the end, I think I should probably take a break for a little bit. I didn’t have much left to do, so that could be finished later. First, coffee comes along.

I stood by a coffee vending machine and waited for the coffee to finish pouring out after I pressed the button. It finished and I took a sip of the liquid prepared by the machine. It was warm, kind of hot. Despite having added a creamer and sweetener, it didn’t taste that nice. I guess coffee’s not my thing.

Going back to the lounge area, I sat down again and was about to get back to work. The coffee was gone into the land where much coffee goes to.

Suddenly, a creak sounded from the door. Someone was coming in. She seemed surprised that the lights were on and I was still in the room. Getting a better view, it turned out to be Kizaki.

“Yagami-san, you’re still here?” She tilted her head in question as she saw that I was still here now that it was somewhat late.

“…I’m just about to leave. Kizaki-san, did you leave something here or something?” Even though I wasn’t just about to leave, I said that I was.

She pondered on that thought for a few seconds before responding with a grin, “Yea, I left my cell phone here. Yagami-san, have you eaten yet?” She went to pick up her cell phone.

“No, I only had a cup of coffee.” I replied with all honesty. Actually about that cup of coffee…I guess I shouldn’t say the fate of that coffee.

She sheepishly giggled and smiled towards me, “I haven’t either and since it’s kind of lonely eating out by oneself, I was thinking about inviting you.”

The statement was basically an invitation. It was basically an invitation to a meal. Thinking about it, I was somewhat hungry. A growl suddenly escaped both of our stomachs and at the same time, we both lightly blushed.

“…I guess, let’s go eat out together?” Somehow, I ended up being the one taking the initiative to ask her out to eat. “Family restaurant?”

“Hehe… Okay.” Her smile seemed so natural at that moment.

I got all my stuff and it seemed that we were ready to go. For some reason, I feel surprised that I’m going out to eat with her. After all, we don’t really know each other besides working together. The two of us walked out of the building and headed towards a said type of restaurant.

Reaching the destination, we found a table to sit at.

I looked at the menu and decided that I was fine with katsu curry. Kizaki was still browsing through the choices. Her thinking expression was really cute. I softly chuckled to myself, happy to observe a view that most people might not be able.

She looked up innocently and looked at me with confusion. I waved my hands signaling that there was nothing up and she grinned before looking at the menu again.

After a few seconds, she looked up again with her bright puppy-like eyes. “I’m done.”

Upon hearing her words, I rang the bell to call for a waiter or waitress. When the waitress came over with a notepad for taking out orders, I gave mine, “One katsu curry and…”

“One omelet rice, please.” And Kizaki finished up with hers.

“One katsu curry and one omelet rice. Okay.” The waitress jotted the orders down and confirmed with us again. Then she walked off, basically.

Now, there was a silence between the two of us. I suddenly felt the atmosphere drop. I attempted to start a conversation, “Um...So, I guess we’ll be working together for about 3 months for this drama.”

“Yea. Yoroshiku.”

“Yoroshiku, Kizaki-san.”

And then silence came again. In the end, I don’t have a single idea on what to talk about. Literally, don’t have a single idea in the context of blankness and nothingness.

In a bit, our meal arrived, but there was still that silent feeling. The waitress noticed and scurried away. I took my fork and picked up a piece of the cutlet and ate it.

“So, Kizaki-san…”

“Ah…it’s ok if you call me Yuria. Kizaki-san seems too formal somehow.” She shyly said. Well, I’m a little hesitant on that, but…

I paused for a moment and then stated, “Well, then I guess you can call me Kumi. I’ll be calling you Yuria-san.”

“Ok. Kumi-san then.” Yuria grinned.

Afterwards, we chatted about the strangest topics and ate our food together. Though we kind of fought over who would pay for the bill, the end result was the splitting of the bill between the two of us.

As we left the restaurant, it seemed that we were going to walk separate ways. She waved goodbye to me and yelled ‘See you tomorrow!’ in a very happy manner. In return, I smiled and calmly replied, “Get enough sleep since we’ll be doing a lot of work tomorrow as well!”

Quickly enough, I boarded the metro-train thing and reached my stop. Getting home, unlocking my door in order to get in and then locking it again to lock the bad people out, I suddenly stopped.

Oh…sh**, I forgot to finish my work… And it looked like I’d have to do it in the middle of the night now.