I'm Not A Master, I'm A Director
Chapter 413: This Girl Will Definitely Be an Assassin in the Future
A typhoon was about to arrive. The once-clear sky was gradually being swallowed by a leaden gray.
Dark clouds pressed down upon the city as if they might crush it. Even through the screen, the audience could feel the overwhelming power of the approaching super typhoon.
Unlike the pedestrians who were hurriedly fleeing the streets or hiding inside buildings, Fujino Asagami stepped outside while pressing a feverish hand against her abdomen.
Because she had been obsessively searching for someone over the past few days, she had been completely out of touch with the outside world and hadn't even known a typhoon was about to make landfall.
And the reason Fujino left the spacious shopping street beneath the bridge where she had been hiding and chose to go outside was very simple—
She wanted to stand in the rain.
She wanted the rain to wash away her sins.
Even Fujino herself knew it was an impossible fantasy. But having already convinced herself she had nowhere left to go, she still longed for redemption.
Even in utter despair, the human instinct for self-salvation allowed a trace of gentleness and hope to remain in her heart.
Because that day had been raining as well.
The day she reunited with Mikiya Kokutou had also been a rainy day.
This was a secret Fujino had buried deep inside her heart—her quiet crush on the man who had once helped her. His kindness and concern were among the few bright sparks in her otherwise dark life.
To outsiders, standing in the rain to cleanse oneself might look foolish.
But it was also proof that Fujino had not completely fallen into despair.
She—Fujino Asagami—still longed to be saved.
It was already close to eight o'clock. The typhoon was nearing the coast.
The howling wind and the crashing waves were almost unbearable to hear.
Listening to the rain pounding against the walls outside, Fujino felt that the sound was even more intense than the bursts of machine-gun fire in action movies.
As she recalled the memory from middle school—when she had twisted her ankle and Mikiya had carried her to the infirmary—Fujino's expression gradually softened.
"I want to go onto the bridge…"
The typhoon had already arrived. By now, the bridge deck must be engulfed in a violent storm blowing in from the sea.
For some reason, imagining the torrential rain lashing against the bridge filled Fujino with excitement.
Dragging along her aching, heavy body—pain that no longer seemed capable of fading—she began walking up the slope toward the parking lot.
She wanted to be soaked by the downpour.
To remember that nostalgic rainy night.
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"I think Fujino clearly has some mental issues."
Probably worried that continuing the earlier "taking clothes off" topic would get Shinji too excited, Shiki tried to change the subject while Fujino stood in the rain on the screen.
"You can just say she's insane," Shinji replied with a shrug, completely unconcerned. "You don't need to spare my feelings. I think so too."
"Hmm… not just Fujino. In this movie…"
Shinji immediately gave a thumbs-up.
"Yeah. There isn't a single normal person in the entire Garden of Sinners series."
Perhaps because the story of Garden of Sinners explored the origins of its characters, every single one of them had glaring psychological flaws written into their settings.
To put it bluntly, every character in Garden of Sinners was insane.
Fujino Asagami might be quite famous within the series—thanks to her pretty face and large chest—but in terms of how badly she'd snapped, she was only mid-tier at best.
Later in the story, characters like Araya Souren, Lio Shirazumi, and Satsuki Kurogiri were the true champions of the psychiatric ward.
Honestly, if the story didn't take place in Japan, Shinji would've suspected that Garden of Sinners was actually a stack of medical records written by staff at Saint Elizabeth Psychiatric Hospital.
What? You're asking about Mikiya Kokutou, the normal guy?
Seriously, if someone can swim around comfortably in a group of lunatics like that, do you really think he's normal?
Of course, Shinji had never believed that the fact there were no normal people in Garden of Sinners was his fault.
That was clearly Nasu's problem!
And even if it wasn't, it was still the twisted research of magecraft that had warped these characters' personalities.
"So, my Garden of Sinners is actually a modern allegory about magecraft. It's meant to warn magi to stay vigilant, so that the tragedies in the story won't be repeated in reality."
Listening to Shinji's confident stream of nonsense, Shiki Ryougi shot him a disdainful glare.
"So what you're saying is… you wrote it for the peace and development of the magecraft world?"
"No, I just wanted to use that excuse to lure magi into movie theaters. If I can scam one, that's one earned."
"Heh."
Shiki found herself at a loss for words and could only respond with a faint smile.
While Shinji and Shiki were bantering, the typhoon had already descended on the screen.
By now, the surface of the bridge had turned into a shallow lake.
The four-lane asphalt road was completely submerged by rainwater. With every step, the water rose straight up to the ankles.
In the distance, the town was brightly lit, but through the curtain of rain it felt impossibly far away—like trying to look up at the moon from the ground.
Standing in the middle of the storm, Fujino suddenly felt like a lonely boat drifting in a raging sea, liable to capsize at any moment.
But Fujino didn't care.
Even though the rain had turned her lips bluish with cold, she still didn't care. Right now, she only wanted to soak herself in the rain, letting the black uniform on her body blend into the darkness like a crow dissolving into the night…
"Finally found you, Asagami."
When Fujino stepped beneath a streetlamp, she encountered the reaper.
Hearing someone call her name, Fujino slowly lifted her head.
Amid the raging storm stood Shiki Ryougi, dressed in a white kimono.
White and black—Shiki and Fujino stood beneath opposing streetlights like ghosts in the rain.
The distance between them was about ten meters.
In the midst of torrential rain and violent wind, it was the perfect distance to clearly see the other's silhouette—and to speak to one another without raising their voices.
"Ryougi—Shiki!"
Fujino let out a furious roar.
"You could've just gone home quietly."
Shiki's tone remained as casual as ever, tinged with a hint of frivolous mockery. She clearly wasn't taking Fujino seriously at all.
"Asagami, you're already a monster who knows the taste of blood. Killing brings you pleasure—"
"That's you projecting! I never felt any… any pleasure like that!"
Fujino breathed erratically as she shouted her denial.
This woman not only twisted her words deliberately, she also possessed a happiness Fujino could never reach in her entire life…
Killing intent and hostility began to bloom within Fujino's heart.
Quietly, she covered her face with her left hand. From between her fingers, her dazzling eyes gleamed as they peered outward.
Like a samurai responding to a challenge, a short knife appeared in Shiki's right hand.
For the third time, the two faced each other.
Japan might not have the saying "third time's the charm," but it does have the proverb that "the third encounter decides victory." That's why in so many hot-blooded manga, the protagonist and their enemy usually fight three times before the final outcome is decided.
And now, the third confrontation between Ryougi Shiki and Asagami Fujino had begun.
"I can feel it. We're very similar people."
Shiki smiled in boredom.
The Fujino Asagami before her was someone she could kill.
"Ah… perfect. The one I want to kill is exactly the you standing there right now!"
With that single sentence, the restraints on both of them were released.
The battle between Mystic Eyes had begun.
The audience sitting in the theater had no idea what a battle between Mystic Eyes truly meant. They certainly didn't realize how "wasteful" such a battle looked from the perspective of magi.
Most of them were staring intently at the giant screen.
Because the actress playing Fujino—Yu Mei-ren—had captured nearly all their attention.
The reason was simple.
Soaked by the rain, the black nun's habit Fujino wore had become tightly pressed against her body, outlining her beautiful figure perfectly.
Even better, the overly conservative design of the habit meant the audience couldn't see any bare skin besides her face and hands.
That half-hidden, half-revealed display of her silhouette let viewers feast their eyes—while somehow not making it feel inappropriate at all.
"No wonder a girl like that would attract delinquents on the street."
Even Shinji himself lost to his male instincts for a brief moment.
Normally, Yu Mei-ren sometimes wore outfits far more revealing than the nun's habit on screen. Yet Shinji had never felt so strangely captivated before.
"Don't tell me my directing skills have reached the level where I can uncover a woman's hidden charm and amplify it?!"
"What terrifying ability… even I'm starting to scare myself—"
"Yeah right. This must be because Yu Mei-ren is a True Ancestor, right?"
Director Matou let out a self-deprecating sigh.
In the very next second, Shiki twisted his arm.
"You bastard—how do you still have the spare brainpower to think about other women?!"
"That's an uncontrollable force of nature! Big things have stronger gravity. They just naturally pull your attention in…"
"Hey, Shinji. It was you who designed this kimono so it wouldn't show off my figure, remember? You said you wanted to present two different kinds of beauty on the screen. So why are you only staring at one of them now?"
"Sorry… I couldn't help it."
"Go die once for me."
"Where did you come from, Hell Girl—AAAH!!"
...
"What are those two arguing about…?"
Sitting not far from Shinji and Shiki, Hinako Akuta rubbed her ear irritably with a finger.
'Those two are flirting and bickering without even looking at the situation. I'm sitting here alone, you know! Just force-feeding me romantic nonsense like this!'
'Matou Shinji, if you want to cast-couch your female lead, can't you do it in a hotel? This is a public place!'
Of course, Hinako could guess that if she actually complained to Shinji like that, he would probably snap back with something like—
"There's a special charm to doing it in a movie theater. A thousand-year-old widow like you wouldn't understand."
Naturally, the second half of that line was entirely Hinako's own imagination. Even Shinji wouldn't be suicidal enough to say something like that out loud.
Still, even though Hinako looked down on Shinji quite a bit, she had to admit his ability as a director.
To be honest, even Hinako herself hadn't expected that the Fujino Asagami she played could display this level of feminine charm on the big screen.
She knew she was beautiful, and she was well aware of her own charm.
But not everyone could bring that charm out. Otherwise, professional photographers wouldn't be necessary.
"Sure enough… Shinji becoming the most professional commercial director wasn't only because of the action scenes performed by Heroic Spirit actors. No wonder so many performers want to work with him."
Hinako fell into thought.
She finally understood why actresses from Type-Moon were so envied within the industry.
Earlier today at the premiere, several female celebrities had spent quite a while throwing passive-aggressive remarks her way.
Shinji was famous for preferring to use his own in-house actors. Aside from Super Eight, he had never used outsiders as the main cast of his films.
Those actresses couldn't vent their frustration at Shinji himself, so they directed it toward the actors instead—
You're hogging such an important resource and not sharing it with anyone. What kind of nonsense is that!?
That was probably how most actors in the industry viewed Type-Moon's stars.
However, Hinako herself didn't feel particularly proud about it.
After all, she had never planned to become a celebrity.
Of course, that didn't mean she didn't care about the box office performance and reputation of Garden of Sinners.
After all, she was Yu Mei-ren, the legendary Consort Yu recorded in history. Her standards for herself were naturally high.
If Garden of Sinners failed to achieve results that satisfied her—
If her acting couldn't conquer the audience…
As a long-lived being, Hinako was incredibly proud. She absolutely wouldn't allow a movie she starred in to fail.
Even though she didn't want to admit it, Hinako had been quite nervous before the movie started.
But judging from the reactions of the audience in the theater so far, both Garden of Sinners and her role seemed very likely to succeed.
When her figure had been highlighted on screen earlier, the many gasps of admiration from the audience hadn't escaped her notice.
"Well~ using looks to charm the audience might feel a bit unfair… but as long as the result is good, that's what matters."
Hinako took a sip of iced black tea and nodded to herself.
"I should write this part down. It'll make great bragging material later."
. . .
"I surrender! I surrender! In the next movie, I'll let you show off your figure too, alright?"
"Not alright at all. I want compensation right now, Shinji!"
"Then how about I offer my body to feed you, you tigress?"
"Get lost! Stop daydreaming!"
. . .
"Are those two ever going to stop?!"
Agitated, Hinako crushed the drink cup in her hand. She didn't even notice the beverage spilling onto her clothes—her only thought was finding some way to shut up that shameless couple near her.
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On the screen, the battle between the two Mystic Eyes users had already begun.
The moment Shiki sensed the magical power gathering in Fujino's eyes, she started running.
Across the rain-soaked ground, through the raging wind and torrential downpour, Shiki sprinted forward at an astonishing speed.
The distance between them was only ten meters.
It probably wouldn't even take three seconds to close it.
In Shiki's mind, someone as slender and frail as Fujino could easily be knocked to the ground within three seconds—and then the knife could be driven straight into her heart.
"So fast!"
The audience gasped at Shiki's speed. Her dash reminded them of the opening charge by Iskandar in Fate/Zero.
Even though he got utterly demolished by Gilgamesh, his dramatic sprint before dying had still left a strong impression on viewers.
"If Shiki were summoned, she'd definitely be an Assassin."
Enchanted by Shiki's elegant movement, many in the audience reached the same conclusion.
But just like how no matter how strong Iskandar was, he still couldn't beat Gilgamesh—
No matter how fast Shiki ran, she was still slower than sight itself.
Compared to Shiki, who had to physically strike with her knife, Fujino only needed to see her target for her ability to activate.
She didn't even need three seconds to attack.
"——!"
Fujino's eyes ignited.
Her left eye rotated counterclockwise.
Her right eye rotated clockwise.
Using Shiki's head and left foot as fixed points, she twisted them.
Snap
The distortion appeared.
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Tn: I updated the story once every 2 days, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.
Latest Chapter: Chapter 455: Shinji — My Awesomeness Has Exceeded Even My Own Expectations[1]
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[1] https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl/posts/im-not-master-im-160861502?collection=31097
[2] https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl/posts/im-not-master-im-160861502?collection=31097