It was a cool spring Monday, the second one of the school year. Kise Ryouta, a second-year at Teikou Middle School, wasn't in school. While his classmates were listening to Yamashita-sensei drone on about sines and cosines, Kise was in a studio in Shibuya, standing on a roll of white background paper, dressed head-to-toe in Tommy Hilfiger. Even though this wasn't super exciting or anything, it was still a lot more fun than class. Kise grinned at the three different cameras in front of him.
"Tilt your head to the left!"
"Flirt with the camera!"
"Over here, Kise-kun, eyelashes, bat them here!"
"Switch cameras, reload!" one of the photographers—Mori-san—yelled. His assistant—Mai-chan—ran up with another Nikon, identical to the first, and they traded in an instant. Mori-san elbowed his way to the fore. "Kise-kun, give me everything!"
Kise locked eyes with the camera, smiled, then turned it into a grin. He turned, presenting his right side—Mori-san seemed to prefer that side to Kise's left—and tilted his head to the left, then grabbed his hat and lifted it in salute as he batted eyelashes at Mori-san's camera.
"Time's up!" someone shouted in the background.
"Perfect," Mori-san said.
Kise knew what was coming next, and so when Mori-san walked up and hugged Kise, Kise was ready, careful not to bump the camera as he patted Mori-san's back. "Did you get the shots you wanted?" Kise asked, knowing the answer. Mori-san was one of his regular photographers, and Nee-chan had made it perfectly clear Kise was to treat him as if Mori-san were Kise's favorite uncle.
"Somewhere in those six rolls is the shot that will make you famous," Mori-san said. He hugged Kise again and then released him, patting him on the back as he turned. "Mai-chan, make sure they're treated right!" ("Yes sir!")
Kise waved. "Thanks, Mori-san. That was fun. I love working with you and the rest of your crew." He raised his voice. "Thank you to everyone for yet another awesome shoot!" ("You got it!" "Thanks for a good one, Kise-kun!" "See ya!")
He walked off the set slowly, heading towards Nee-san and today's producer Chiyoda-san. It was hard not to drag his feet. He might have escaped Yamashita-sensei, but after mathematics was Japanese history, and at the rate they were going, Kise would be back on school grounds before lunchtime. Oh well. Maybe the school cafeteria would have something interesting, and Kise knew the lunch lady liked him. If it was something good, perhaps he could persuade her to let him have something early. Nee-san held out a bottle of water wrapped in a towel. Kise drank thirstily, then slowed to savor it. Oh, right, Crystal Geyser, the brand stocked in the vending machine downstairs.
"Well-done, Kise-kun," Chiyoda-san was saying. "Kise-san, thank you so much for coming. A great shoot, as usual. It's always a pleasure working with you two. Will Kise-kun be all right with the other thing?"
"I'm sure he will, but we'll check right now." Nee-san nudged him. "Ryouta, how was it?"
"Great!" Kise said. He hefted the bottle; it wasn't quite empty, but he'd definitely drunk a lot of it. He gulped the rest down, then turned to his sister with a smile. Mustn't look bored in front of the producer. "I love working with Mori-san. He makes it fun."
"Think you're up to one more thing today?"
Kise paused in the middle of screwing the bottle cap back on. Something else was on the schedule after this? "What's up?"
Chiyoda-san wrung his hands. "The thing is, Kise-kun, I got a call from a friend who's a director, and he's filming next door. He needs a few more extras today. I said I'd send you over when you were done with the photoshoot. If that's okay?"
Kise looked at his sister, who nodded. Kise shrugged. "Sure, it sounds like fun, and we don't have anything else planned. It pays, right?" His sister nodded, so Kise shrugged again. He didn't really care either way, and going to a movie shoot hopefully meant he wouldn't have to be back in class that afternoon. Being a movie extra meant hanging around in the background pretending he was being a regular guy doing regular guy things, and that was boring, but it was still better than school, and his sister had been sighing over Kise's accounts lately. "I'll go change now."
The studio next door looked normal from the outside, but when he followed Nee-san past the security guards and onto the set, Kise's eyes widened. There were several people here, milling around, some sitting, but their surroundings definitely weren't what Kise had expected when they'd opened the door. "Whoa," he said. "Cool."
Nee-san looked rather impressed, too. "Was this really necessary?" she said, taking in the bank counters, the waiting benches, the teller windows, the wallpaper, and the carpeting. "Wouldn't it have been cheaper or easier to rent a bank on a Sunday or something?"
Kise didn't know the answer, but a man standing nearby said, "The insurance would actually have cost more than renting these props and furniture. Or so the AD said."
Both of them turned to look at the man. Kise noted the glasses (wire rims), haircut (bowl cuts weren't common, but this guy managed to carry it off), business suit (good quality, though still ready-to-wear), tie (silk, standard) and shoes (leather, well-worn, decently cared for.) He didn't seem like someone of authority and no one was being particularly solicitous of him, but he still looked like a producer type. Kise wondered if he was playing the bank manager. They were on a movie set that looked like a bank, after all.
Nee=san gasped. "Yashiro-senpai? Oh wow, it's really you! Do you remember me?" Kise openly stared as his sister squealed and rushed up to the man.
The man blinked, and then recognition came. "Kise Suzuka-san! Fancy seeing you here! What brings you? Are you acting as an extra today?"
"Oh, not me." Nee-san had always been somewhat self-conscious of her weight, and Kise could see her pull herself taller and suck her stomach in even as she shook her head. "Chiyoda-san sent my brother down here to help out. I'm just making sure Ryouta doesn't make trouble."
Yashiro-san smiled at Kise and reached out a hand. "Kise Ryouta-kun? Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too, Yashiro-san," Kise said, shaking the man's hand. "Are you playing a bank manager?"
"Haha! No, but I should have suggested it." Yashiro-san glanced at Nee-san. "Well, he got the manager part right."
"Set manager?" Nee-san asked.
"Oh, no, nothing useful like that. I'm in charge of that guy over there," Yashiro-san said gesturing to the back of the set where three men were talking. They were too far away to study, but Kise could tell two of them wore suits, one suit a little darker than the other. The third man—the tallest of the three—was dressed like a police officer.
Nee-san gasped again. "You're Tsuruga Ren's manager. Wow, Yashiro-senpai, that's amazing! Congratulations! How long has it been?"
"About three years," Yashiro-san said. He took his glasses off and polished them. "Frankly, his career has been amazing! It's hard to believe my luck with assignments, still."
"Oh gosh, yes—"
She was interrupted by a loud electronic squawk.
"May I have your attention please?" One of the businessmen was now holding a megaphone. "Attention, everyone."
"Ah, looks like we're starting," Yashiro-san said.
"Extras, over here." The man gestured towards what was clearly supposed to be the bank lobby. Kise felt his sister give him a push, so he ambled over, joining a group of people who looked like they'd walked in off the street. An older woman, nicely dressed. A younger woman, business casual. Two guys who looked like salarymen, a middle-aged man in a suit, a blue-collar worker of some sort with somewhat-grubby work pants. Two women were wearing what looked like a bank uniform. It wasn't exactly like any real uniform—the color wasn't the right shade—but Kise guessed this was supposed to be a Mizuho bank branch. He was definitely the youngest one there, but kids went into banks too, and Kise knew he could pass for a high school student if he were just in the background. He was glad he wasn't wearing any school insignia right now. He wondered what the scene was going to be about.
Megaphone Man cleared his throat. "All right, everyone. This is a bank, if you haven't already guessed."
Some of the other extras chuckled.
"Today we're going to be shooting a bank robbery scene. You're all customers. Some of you at the windows, some of you waiting in chairs, just spread yourself out normally. Just act like you would if a robber had really come into a bank. Be quiet, be scared, or just hide. Totally up to you. No loud screams, please, though if you gasp or otherwise make some quiet noises it's okay. Don't be a hero—we have one picked out already!"
Even Kise, bored as he had been, chuckled as the policeman waved and saluted. Megaphone Man signaled, and the policeman walked off the set and out of sight.
"Robber-kun, are you ready? Yes? Great! Okay, extras. Spread out, let's have a bank lobby at lunchtime."
The megaphone clicked off. The other extras milled around. Kise saw a line forming. For want of any better ideas, he grabbed a form off a counter and joined the end of the line. Two of the counters had bank tellers behind them, and the first two 'customers' in line headed towards them. It had been barely a minute, but it was amazing how fast everyone had moved. Kise looked around, feigning boredom, which wasn't hard to do when standing in line, even if the line was purely for appearances' sake. Any moment, now…
"Action."
He'd been expecting it, so he didn't jump, but his heart rate sped up. This was it! It would probably be bad if he looked around, so he looked at the form in his hands and then at the line. Still five people before him.
"Next customer please!"
Oh. Maybe it wasn't show time yet. Did the movie need such a long scene of people standing in line at a bank? Oh well. The director knew what he was doing. Kise shuffled forward, moving with the line. He stretched surreptitiously and checked. Only four people in front of him now. Did he really have to stand in line like this? He shifted from one foot to the next. This was getting boring already. Maybe he should have gotten a second bottle of water. There was one in the lobby; he'd grab one after this take was o—
"EVERYONE FREEZE!"
Kise jumped and turned, instinctively seeking the source of that voice. The man—average height, broad-shouldered, stocking pulled over his face to hide his features—held a gun. Kise stared at it, and his heart started beating faster. Boy, he knew this was a movie, but even so, that gun looked real. Another man of similar height and build was checking the doors, locking them.
"Down on the floor!" the first man said, waving his gun menacingly. "Put your hands on your heads, and no one try to be a hero!"
The second robber walked up and pointed his gun at Kise. "You," the man said, and grabbed Kise.
"Whoa!" Kise stumbled as he was roughly pulled out of the line.
The second robber shoved him towards the counters, and Kise stiffened and raised his hands as the gun pressed into his back. The first man thrust two bags at the bank tellers. "Fill them, or the cutie here gets it."
Kise winced as the gun was jabbed in his back again, but didn't say anything. He watched the girls fill the bags and stole glances at the robbers, trying to see their faces.
The second man jabbed the gun into Kise's neck. Kise froze. "Whatever you're doing, stop it," the robber warned. He shouted at his partner. "Oi, hurry up, we haven't got all day. The cops will be here any—"
"FREEZE!"
Kise did jump at that, but managed to stop himself from turning around just in time. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the policeman, gun aimed at the robbers.
It dawned on Kise that he, Kise Ryouta, was in the middle of the potential cross-fire. Um. I really hope those guns are fake.
"Sergeant Horio," one of the robbers sneered. "Too bad you're all alone. By the time your backup gets here, we'll be long gone."
"You okay, kid?" the policeman asked, ignoring the robber.
Kise nodded, but the robber's grip on his shirt tightened, and he stopped. The robber dragged Kise behind a counter, keeping Kise between him and the policeman. Somewhere in the back of Kise's mind, he noted that both of them were now shielding the robber at the counter from the policeman.
His eyes met those of the policeman. The policeman nodded. Hope surged through Kise.
"Let the kid go," said the policeman.
The robber at the counter shouted at the girls. "Who told you to stop? KEEP FILLING THOSE BAGS!"
The policeman had two hands on the gun now, and Kise shivered as the tension in the air solidified, bracing himself. Would it be bad if he dodged when the shooting started? Was he supposed to stand there and not move, or would the actors know which way Kise was going to throw himself? Perhaps he could hide under the counter? What if he ran into the policeman or the robbers and ruined the scene? Nee-san would be disappointed; she'd been talking about getting him some roles like this, extras, maybe working up towards small roles. No, he'd let the actors run the show and take his cue from them somehow… but how would the actors tell him what to do?
He felt the collective gasp before the shot, felt the robber's hand on his shirt loosen, saw the robber fall beside him, red spreading through the man's shirt. Kise's knees buckled and he fell to his feet as the policeman leapt over the counter gracefully. More shots were fired.
It was all over in a second.
He gaped at the scene before him. The two robbers lay dead on the floor, and the policeman was completely unscratched. The policeman walked up to him. "Are you hurt?" he asked, extending Kise a hand.
"No, sir," Kise said, unable to pick his jaw off the floor even as he picked his body up and stood shakily.
"Good." The policeman patted his shoulder in a fatherly way. "You were brave, kid. Good job keeping it together." The policeman turned to the rest of the customers in the lobby. "Thank you, everyone, for remaining calm. I apologize that you had to go through this, but the situation is under control now."
Spontaneous applause broke throughout the lobby.
"CUT! That's a wrap! One take! Well done, Tsuruga-kun, well done!"
The first thing Kise did—as soon as he realized it was all right to move normally—was run to his sister. "Did you see that, Nee-san?" Kise said breathlessly. "Oh wow, he was so COOL!" In his mind's eye, Kise could see it all again: the stance, the shot, the leap, the quick shot. Unable to help himself—it had been amazing—he did the whole sequence again, pretending some crates were the counter, leaping over them just like Sergeant Horio had. "He did that, and that, and that, bam bam bam, and he was SO COOL!"
"Oh?" Yashiro-san said, and Kise realized he'd forgotten the other man was there. "My, that was a good copy. Tsuruga-kun had to practice that a few times, but you picked that up immediately!"
Kise straightened, suddenly embarrassed, and looked at his sister. "Um." He scratched the back of his head, remembering where he was.
Nee-san laughed. "Ryouta's a quick mimic. It's helped with the modeling. It's only been a year since he started, but he's got a name for being pretty reliable now, thanks to that."
"You don't say?" Yashiro-san looked at Kise. "What did you think of Sergeant Horio, Kise-kun?"
Kise grinned. If Nee-san liked him, Yashiro-san was probably a nice guy. "I was seriously worried for a moment there. I hadn't expected to be taken hostage, and those guns looked real. Then Sergeant Horio showed up, and when I met his eyes and he nodded, I totally forgot he was just acting! I felt like he'd really protect me and make sure I was okay, you know? He's seriously awesome. You know him, don't you, Yashiro-san? Can you introduce me? I want to say hi and tell him how amazing he was!"
"That sounded heartfelt." The actor who played the policeman walked up and gave Kise a dazzling smile. "Sergeant Horio, at your service. Though this guy—" he thumbed a finger at Yashiro-san— "calls me Tsuruga Ren."
"Tsuruga-san," Kise said, mesmerized. "You were seriously awesome. I mean, seriously. Can you teach me how you did that?"
Yashiro-san laughed. "Unfortunately, we don't have the time, since the director will want the next scene in a few seconds." He reached into his coat, pulled out a business card, and handed it to Nee-san. "You know, our agency is always looking for talent, and there's an audition coming up in the near future."
It took a moment for Kise to connect the dots. "So if I pass the audition I could work with you every day?" he said, looking at Tsuruga Ren. He hoped the audition was tomorrow.
Tsuruga-san and Yashiro-san exchanged glances. Tsuruga-san smiled that dazzling smile again. "It's possible. You'll have to bring it up with Yashiro-san. He controls my schedule."
Kise grinned. Tsuruga-san was amazing. "Nee-san, please," Kise said, tugging on his sister's arm.
"Yashiro-senpai, thank you," Nee-san said, carefully tucking the business card away. "I'll call you later, if you don't mind? I have to get him back to school, since I only got permission for the morning."
Kise's heart sank. Oh boy. Even after this, he wasn't getting out of school today? He gazed longingly at Tsuruga-san, who paused in the middle of drinking some water. Tsuruga-san studied Kise for a moment, and Kise took the opportunity to study Tsuruga-san. He was tall, though Kise wasn't that much shorter, and now that Kise was looking at him properly, he looked a lot younger now…
"Tsuruga-san, how old are you?" Kise blurted.
Tsuruga-san took another sip from his bottle. "Eighteen."
"Seriously?" Kise's jaw dropped; he could have sworn Sergeant Horio was a lot older than that. "But you felt so much older!"
Yashiro-san laughed. "My, Tsuruga-kun, it looks like you have a new fan. How old are you, Kise-kun?"
"Fourteen," Kise said, still goggling at the idea that he'd trusted his life to someone barely out of high school.
"Time to go," Nee-san said firmly. "Yashiro-senpai, thank you again. Tsuruga-san," and Nee-san blushed. "Thank you for taking care of my brother."
"Of course," Tsuruga-san said. He nodded politely at Nee-san, and then at Kise. "Good luck."
It wasn't until they were settled in the car that Tsuruga asked, "Who was that? You seemed to be well-acquainted. She called you senpai."
Yashiro-san buckled in. Tsuruga had just gotten his license not that long ago. From the speed with which Tsuruga had obtained his license, it was clear he'd driven before, but Yashiro was taking no chances. Safety first. "Kise-san? I knew her from university. We were in the Business Club together. I graduated the year she joined us, though. It's amazing I recognized her!"
"Oh, I see," Tsuruga-kun said.
Yashiro raised his eyebrows. "That's all?"
"I was just wondering why you were so familiar with a woman I'd never met before." The car reversed out of the spot, and then they were moving forward. "Where to?"
"There are things you still don't know about me, Tsuruga-kun," Yashiro said, wagging his finger. "Back to the studio."
They drove in silence for a while before Yashiro could stand it no longer. "And? What do you think about the boy? Kise-kun?"
"Her brother?"
"Yes. He's a model. Only been doing it a year, but Kise-san says she's getting regular requests for him. From the looks of it, he can act, too!" Yashiro waited, but Tsuruga Ren could be annoyingly inscrutable when he wanted to be, and right now it looked like he wanted to be. "Well? Aren't you curious?"
"He's athletic."
"Aha," Yashiro said. "You did see him mimic you."
Tsuruga shrugged.
Yashiro smiled and turned his attention back to the road. Tsuruga drove pretty well even down narrow streets. Yashiro made a mental note to discover whether Tsuruga could do more than just drive normally. There was always demand for actors who looked natural behind the wheel.
After a few more minutes, Yashiro said innocently, "I wonder if he'll audition?"
"Are you recruiting my competition already, Yashiro-san? Is that what managers do?"
Yashiro chuckled. "Oh, is he competition?"
Tsuruga's mouth thinned, and the car sped up.
"Tsuruga-kun, I was only joking!" Yashiro gripped the seatbelt, wailing. "Please slow down! Please!"