A few days later, Ichihashi Fumie brought back both bad news and good news.
"The bad news is, Matsutakako doesn't have an open schedule, so we contacted Yukie Nakama."
"Hmm?" Aoki Haruhi indicated he didn't know her, or rather, didn't have a deep impression of Yukie Nakama.
Matsutakako was due to Kimura Takuya; in his previous life, Matsutakako and Kimura were a widely rumored on-screen couple, and many hoped they would get together. It was under these circumstances that Aoki Haruhi had an impression of Matsutakako.
As for Yukie Nakama, he indeed didn't have a deep impression.
However, it didn't matter.
Because Ichihashi Fumie had prepared photos and information for him.
Aoki Haruhi picked them up and took a look, his eyes lighting up.
Honestly, her temperament and gaze were quite fitting for the robot girlfriend's character setting.
At first glance, she resembled Ni Ni a bit, also the type with sharp features, capable of being both cool and sweet, and even a little similar to Nagasawa Masami.
Yukie Nakama was quite young, having been born in '79, she was only 18 years old now. She had just officially entered the entertainment industry last year with the drama "A Short Letter to My Mother in Japan 2."
So she was a newcomer, as new as could be.
It was truly not easy for Ichihashi Fumie to discover her and see the potential for both coolness and sweetness hidden within her.
"If there's no problem, let's go with her. What about President Tsuda? Does she have any objections?"
Ichihashi Fumie smiled, "President Tsuda said as long as you approve, she has no problem."
President Tsuda, you really spoil him.
Honestly, sometimes Ichihashi Fumie really envied Aoki Haruhi for being able to marry a woman like Tsuda.
At other times, even between husband and wife, when it came to business interests, there would always be some reservations. But from Tsuda's eyes, you could see that she unconditionally trusted and doted on Aoki Haruhi.
That kind of doting, sometimes Ichihashi Fumie herself couldn't understand.
It was as if she was saying, 'Even if the sky falls, I'll hold it up; you just do what you like.'
It was truly enviable.
"So what's the other news? Is the good news that Yukie Nakama has been found to be the female protagonist?" Aoki Haruhi asked.
"The good news is, President, we found the male protagonist you requested, Masato Sakai, and his agency agreed immediately to sign a contract with us. His schedule is also very open."
...
How could it not be open?
Masato Sakai was so poor now he was practically eating dirt.
...
"Ah... what to do, I'm so hungry."
He woke up from sleep in the morning, and it was only 6 o'clock.
The young Masato Sakai was so hungry he had literally woken up from it.
But, he had no money.
Poor as dirt.
It was painful, so painful.
He looked up at the rented room, a picture of sushi pasted on the wall.
Sushi, oh sushi...
So hungry.
Couldn't be hungrier.
Masato Sakai rubbed his stomach with his hand, then washed up, dressed neatly, and prepared to go to work.
Yes, he had to rush to the convenience store for his shift change.
Although Masato Sakai was an artist now, he also had multiple identities—
On weekends, Masato Sakai was a stage actor.
If the company could get him a job, then he was a TV drama actor.
When he couldn't get a job, he would go hungry.
So besides his identity as an actor, he also had this job as a clerk in a convenience store.
Born on October 14, 1973, Masato Sakai was from Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. His childhood ambition was to become an official in the Ministry of Foreign Trade.
He attended Miyazaki Prefectural Miyazaki Minami High School. His first choice for university was a certain national university, but he failed to get in due to poor math scores. He eventually entered Waseda University, majoring in Chinese Literature.
During university, he joined the "Tokyo ORANGE" theater troupe and became its star actor, active on stage.
In 1994, Masato Sakai suspended his studies at Waseda University and joined Tanabe Agency, becoming an actor.
However, this action angered his parents, causing them to disown him and cut off financial support.
Thinking about it, it made sense. Waseda University, its domestic ranking in Japan was not low, within the top 200 worldwide, roughly equivalent to Wuhan University in China.
A standard 985, 211 university.
Masato Sakai quit such a university, how could his parents not be angry? What was even more infuriating was that this child actually wanted to abandon his studies to become an actor.
What else could this be but having a screw loose?
Actors in Japan were not like Hollywood; where would they get so much income? If they were lucky, they could film some movies and TV dramas, which was just barely enough to make ends meet. If there were no acting jobs, they would go hungry.
Many artists in Japan actually earned less than company salarymen, especially underground idol artists, who even had to pay out of their own pockets for activities and performances. It's really hard to say what exactly they were pursuing.
Were they waiting for love?
Or was it for an ideal?
More likely, it was truly enjoying the happiness on stage.
Masato Sakai's situation now was probably like this: he participated in stage plays during university, fell in love with acting, and wanted to become an actor.
But this dream, for him, seemed too distant.
So, Masato Sakai, without family financial support, could now be described as destitute.
When he had no acting jobs, he had to work odd jobs to survive, having been a donut shop clerk, a moving worker, a convenience store clerk, etc.
He was once so poor that he pasted sushi restaurant flyers on his wall, looking at the sushi pictures to curb his hunger.
Furthermore, to feed himself, he even picked Dandelion from the roadside to eat as greens for nutrition.
...
Renting an apartment in Tokyo was also very expensive.
The house he was renting now was probably about 6 tatami mats. In Japan, room sizes are often calculated by the number of standard tatami mats that can be laid out.
So, 6 tatami mats meant that 6 tatami mats could be laid out in this room.
Converted to square meters, that's 9 square meters.
To describe it as a'snail's dwelling' was perfectly appropriate.
However, don't underestimate such a house. In the Tokyo area, a 6-tatami single apartment at this time cost 10,000 yen per month in rent.
In '97, that was roughly equivalent to 100 US dollars, or 700-800 RMB.
According to general wage conditions, even if you worked part-time in a convenience store, you should be able to afford it.
But the problem was that Masato Sakai wanted to be an actor.
So he had to periodically participate in stage play performances, do tasks assigned by the company, and so on.
In short, because he didn't have a stable job and no acting gigs, Masato Sakai's life was truly miserable.
His life was exceptionally tight.
So tight that most of the time he couldn't even eat.
He could only go hungry.
Masato Sakai was so thin now he was almost unrecognizable, and due to long-term malnutrition, his face was sallow and thin, with high cheekbones.
It made people feel sorry for him.
...
He rushed to the convenience store, and the clerk on duty shook his head when he saw him.
"You're too late, it's been a long time past the shift change."
The senior was a burly man, not much older than Masato Sakai, wearing glasses. He looked to be in his twenties, just a bit more mature.
"I'm sorry, senior. I'll be more careful in the future." Masato Sakai bowed his head repeatedly.
"Forget it,"
The senior clerk took off his uniform, preparing to leave.
"Oh, by the way, I saved some of the Oden that didn't sell out yesterday. If you don't mind, just eat it."
"Okay, thank you, senior."
Masato Sakai quickly thanked him.
Ah! The senior was really a good person.
To have a meal was already quite rare, let alone Oden.
In convenience stores, the constantly prepared Oden and grilled sausages were the main sellers.
Especially in the morning, many people came to the store for breakfast and would order a portion.
After quickly eating, Masato Sakai felt a warm sensation in his stomach.
It was truly fortunate to meet someone like his senior.
Ah... why is life so hard?
Masato Sakai stood behind the cash register, looking out at the rising sun through the store window. When the light refracted and turned into multiple colors, returning to his face.
Masato Sakai smiled knowingly.
Warm sunshine.
A beautiful tomorrow.
There was still hope.
If he didn't work hard and continued to sink, then life would just be like this.
He still had to work hard.
...
When there were no customers, Masato Sakai leaned against the cash register and took out his self-made character notes, slowly reading them.
Sometimes he laughed, sometimes he frowned, and sometimes he seriously pondered how to perform a complex emotion to let the audience see the character's inner world...
In short, although such days were hard, they were full of hope.
Doing what he loved gave him endless motivation.
It was this motivation that prompted him to resolutely suspend his studies at Waseda, and it was also this motivation that led his family to cut off his financial support.
It was all his own choice; there was no room for regret.
Just then, the automatic sensor door at the entrance chimed: "Welcome."
Masato Sakai quickly put his character notes into his pants pocket, clasped his hands in front of his chest, and smiled politely at the incoming person, "Welcome, may I help you with..."
Before he finished speaking, Masato Sakai froze:
"Nakahira Yuki, why are you here?"
That's right, the person who came was Masato Sakai's agent from his agency.
Nakahira Yuki, wearing sunglasses, was panting, supporting himself with his hands on his knees, looking at him somewhat out of breath.
It looked like this guy had been on a long run?
"Hurry up, come with me." Nakahira Yuki straightened up, took a few quick steps, and grabbed Masato Sakai's hand.
"Eh?!"
"There's a new acting offer, they specifically sought you out."
"I'm still at work, it's not time for my shift change, Nakahira Yuki." Although Masato Sakai said this, he was still obediently taking off his clerk uniform.
"Wait a moment, I need to call the manager, otherwise the convenience store will be unmanaged after I leave."
Nakahira Yuki looked at him like he was a monster, "What time is it, and you're still worrying about these things?"
What should he say, this silly boy.
"Masato Sakai!"
"Yes!"
Masato Sakai suddenly froze, standing at attention.
"You, you won't have to work so hard at odd jobs anymore."
"Why?" Masato Sakai asked, somewhat confused, "If I don't work, how will I support myself?"
If he didn't get acting jobs for a long time, he would die.
"Because you're going to be a hit!" Nakahira Yuki clapped his hands heavily on his shoulders, then hugged him tightly.
"Uh... I'm suffocating..."
Masato Sakai patted the back of his hand.
Nakahira Yuki then let go of him.
"Why am I going to be a hit?" Masato Sakai still couldn't understand what he was saying.
I haven't even gotten an acting job, how am I going to be a hit?
"This time, do you know who came to you for an acting job?"
"Who?"
"Moon River!" Nakahira Yuki exaggeratedly opened his mouth wide. His eyes behind the sunglasses couldn't be seen, but his expression must have been very exaggerated.
"So?" Masato Sakai still didn't understand.
"This time they want you as the male protagonist for a movie!"
"Eh?!"
Masato Sakai's mouth dropped open, utterly shocked beyond belief.
Nani?!
It's actually the male protagonist?
That's impossible, isn't it?
I'm just a nobody.
But, judging from the other party's tone, it didn't seem to be fake.
"Then I need to prepare well."
"Right, come back to the agency with me now. The Moon River people are waiting for us to sign the contract."
Nakahira Yuki pulled him out.
Honestly, walking out of the store and looking at the bright sun overhead, Masato Sakai still felt a bit dazed.
It just felt so unreal.
"And do you know? Moon River, no, to be precise, Aoki Haruhi, one of the founders of Moon River, personally requested you to star."
"Eh?!"
Masato Sakai was even more surprised, "But I don't know Mr. Aoki Haruhi. Why would he specifically ask for me?"
Nakahira Yuki rolled his eyes. If you don't know, how could I possibly know?
"Did you two have any previous interactions?"
"Maybe, I don't remember at all."
Masato Sakai said, getting into the company car with him.
He used to have to run to the company himself, but he never expected to have a dedicated car pick him up this time.
It was quite unexpected.
...
However, Masato Sakai still couldn't stop thinking about the convenience store. After filming this movie, would he really not have to go back to eating dirt?
He should still leave himself a fallback, right?
"Do you know? You're going to be a hit!" Nakahira Yuki said loudly beside him, pulling his thoughts back.
"Just because I'm filming a new movie means I'm going to be a hit?" Masato Sakai asked confusedly, "But the movie hasn't even been filmed yet, and I haven't even read the script. How do you know it's going to be a hit?"
"You, you don't know the legend of Aoki Haruhi."
Nakahira Yuki smiled mysteriously, "Anyone personally requested by Aoki Haruhi, whether to be a voice actor for Pokeni, an endorser, or to participate in the filming of a corresponding live-action TV drama, these artists have all become hits.
And you."
Nakahira Yuki extended a finger, pointing at Masato Sakai's nose, as if looking at a future star, "are the next one."
Eh?!!!
Masato Sakai looked horrified.
You believe in such metaphysics?
----
The living conditions of Masato Sakai described in this chapter are true historical stories. Back then, Masato Sakai's family cut off his financial support, and he even picked Dandelion in the wild to eat as vegetables.
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