Disclaimer: I do not own Yo-kai Watch, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Yo-kai Watch Adventures
Chapter nine: A summer film festival
One day somewhere in Springdale, Kira, a thirteen-year-old girl who befriends yo-kai, was making her way over to the front door of a relatively large two-story brick house. Following along behind Kira were some of her yo-kai friends. Although she was, as per usual, accompanied by her three main yo-kai friends Venoct, Shadow Venoct and Illuminoct, Kira also brought along a fourth yo-kai friend, this being Swelterrier.
"Why are we here again, Kira?" Illuminoct asked.
"A girl who I know lives here, boys," Kira began, "And according to the girl, her mother has been displaying a rather authoritative and demanding attitude as of late, which from what I've been told is out of character for the girl's mother."
"Is the girl or her mother yo-kai sensitive?" Venoct asked, "Also, what's this girl's name?"
"The girl's name is Amy," Kira replied, "And before anyone says anything else, yes, both Amy and her mother are yo-kai sensitive. However, that will not prevent a yo-kai from hiding in their house, as it can simply cloak its presence."
"How does this Amy girl even know a yo-kai is responsible for how her mother's acting?" Shadow Venoct asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Amy told me that the last time she saw her mother get particularly riled up, she saw a purplish aura emanate from her mother," Kira explained, "It was brief, about only a second." Crossing her own arms over her chest, Kira said with a nod, "But it was enough for Amy to see. After she told me about it, it's obvious that her mother is being inspirited."
"Won't Amy's mom get snappy and make us leave before we can do our job?" Venoct asked.
"We'll do what Illuminoct does when Darkyubi tells him to stop acting dumb," Kira replied as she reached the front step, "Ignore it."
"One more question, Kira," Illuminoct began. Pointing to Swelterrier, Illuminoct asked, "Why did we bring him along?"
"He's new to our posse, so he needs experience," Kira said, "Likewise, I'll be taking the other yo-kai I've befriended out on jobs as well, to help them get used to how we do things."
"Umm, yeah," Shadow Venoct said, "I don't think it's necessary to bring Sergeant Burly along on any jobs anytime soon."
After a brief chuckle that sounded of self-amusement, Kira turned to face the front door and knocked on it a few times. When the door opened, Kira and her yo-kai friends were greeted by the sight of girl that looked to be about the same age as Kira. This girl had fair skin, brown eyes and brown hair in two pigtails. She wore a sailor fuku that had a blue neck, a skirt of the same color, and was currently wearing a pair of socks that reached her knees.
"About time you got here, Kira," the girl greeted. Leaning to her side, the girl saw Kira's yo-kai posse. "…Are they here to help?" the girl asked Kira.
Nodding in the affirmative, Kira said, "Yeah, these are some of the boys that I roll with, Amy. From left to right their names are Venoct, Shadow Venoct, Illuminoct and Swelterrier."
With a bit of a giggle that sounded cute, Amy said, "Swelterrier looks adorable."
"So, are we just going to stand around here and shoot the breeze," Venoct said, "Or are we going to get to work around here?"
Gesturing for Kira and the yo-kai to enter the house, Amy said, "Please, right this way, everyone. You'll find my mom in the kitchen right now, preparing some food."
"I hope this won't end in tears," Shadow Venoct remarked to himself as he, his brothers and Swelterrier followed Kira and Amy into the large two-story brick house. After a few seconds, Kira, Amy and the yo-kai saw Amy's mom at the counter in the kitchen. Her back was turned to them, so the women with a hostile attitude didn't see the visitors.
Acting immediately, Kira popped up the lens of her Yo-kai Watch and scanned around the area that Amy's mom stood in. As Kira did this, Amy's mom turned around as saw that Kira and her yo-kai friends were standing there. "Who are you and what are you doing here?!" Amy's mom demanded in a rather angry, authoritative tone, "I never told Amy that she could be bringing any guests over!"
"Then what about that guest, ma'am?" Kira replied as she just finished uncloaking a yo-kai that was actively trying to cloak its presence. Curious, Amy's mom turned to see where Kira was pointing to, and when she did, she screamed in alarm; standing about several feet away was a large, blob-like yo-kai that was purple in color, had a slightly lighter splat of purple on its head (the splat sort of looked like the yo-kai's hair), wore a purple hairband, and had short little arms. Judging by the eyelashes and what looked to be lipstick, Kira assumed that this yo-kai was a girl.
"Oh mah, dis certainly will not do, dahling," the blob-like yo-kai remarked in a mildly worried tone upon being discovered.
"What in the name of Gilgamesh is that thing?!" Amy's mom exclaimed as she pointed at the revealed yo-kai.
"It's a yo-kai called Dismarelda," Kira replied as she recognized the yo-kai, "Her mere presence can really bring down the mood of whatever area she's in. Those affected by Dismarelda's power tend to be rather argumentative, simply because she's nearby."
"So, she's the reason why my mom's been acting like a tyrant!" Amy declared as she pointed dramatically at Dismarelda.
"Quick, someone use Psychic on her!" Illuminoct exclaimed as he pointed at Dismarelda.
"Psychic?" Kira repeated in a confused tone.
"Or would you rather use Earthquake?" Illuminoct remarked as he turned to face his human friend, "Either way, it'd be super-effective."
Scoffing in an annoyed tone, Kira said, "We don't really have time for any of your patented stupidity, Illuminoct." Turning around to face Dismarelda, Kira pointed at the blob-like yo-kai and said, "Alright, Dismarelda, you're going down now! Swelterrier, I choose you!"
At that prompting, Swelterrier ran up to stand in front of Kira, turned so that he was facing Dismarelda. "Swelterrier!" the fire dog yo-kai exclaimed.
"Use Incinerate!" Kira ordered.
"Terrier!" Swelterrier exclaimed as he threw an elemental fire technique at Dismarelda, striking her right in the face and defeating her in one go. After she was defeated, Dismarelda poofed away in a swirling cloud of purple smoke.
After Dismarelda was gone, a shocked look appeared over Amy's mom's face. Noticing this, Venoct said, "Yeah, with Dismarelda gone, her influence on Amy's mom will be wearing off."
"Well I do feel a bit calmer now," Amy's mom remarked, "Not to mention relieved now that some giant terrifying-looking blob monster is no longer in my house." With an unsure look on her face, Amy's mom said, "Did…did that thing really make me act like a tyrant?"
"Sorry to say it, but it's true, ma'am," Kira remarked as she and the others all turned to face Amy's mom.
"Aww geez," Amy's mom said in a mildly ashamed tone, "I can't believe it. Amy, I'm really sorry about any crud that I gave you while that…that thing…was making me act differently."
"It's okay, mom," Amy replied in a reassuring tone, "You couldn't help it."
"Yeah, there's no need to sweat it too much," Kira agreed with a nod.
"Well anywho, I just about got lunch finished," Amy's mom said. To Kira and her yo-kai friends, Amy's mom said, "Would you all like to stay for lunch?"
"Sounds like a plan," Kira replied as Amy's mom gestured for everyone to come sit at the dining table so they could all eat.
Later, the Venoct brothers were hanging out in the living room of the house where Kira and her Grandma Sophia live. As Shadow Venoct read a magazine of some sort while Venoct and Illuminoct watched TV, Kira came walking through the front door with Swelterrier following her. "Boys, we got us another job!" Kira announced as she entered the living room. The Venoct brothers all turned to face their human friend upon hearing her announcement.
"So soon after that kerfuffle with Amy, Amy's mom and Dismarelda?" Illuminoct asked, "I mean, don't get me wrong, work is good because it means we get paid. It's just that we finished helping out Amy earlier today."
"And it's Amy again who needs our help," Kira replied, "You see, here's the thing. Amy belongs to a group of friends that consists of herself and three other girls."
"Aren't you one of those girls?" Shadow Venoct asked, arching an eyebrow.
Gently shaking her head, Kira said, "No, we aren't technically friends, although it's safe to say that Amy and I are on agreeable terms with each other."
"So, who are these three friends of Amy's?" Illuminoct asked.
"One of Amy's friends looks like one of those stereotypical pretty popular girls, although this first friends lacks the vanity and stuck-up attitude that most girls like that are known to have," Kira began, "The second girl that Amy is friends with dresses like a stereotypical goth but acts all happy and perky and stuff, and the third girl that Amy is friends with is what most would consider a normal middle school girl that the boys think has above average looks." With a nod, Kira continued, "It's that third friend that Amy talked to me about."
"What about her?" Venoct asked.
"That particular friend of Amy's is something of an amateur film maker," Kira explained, "Remember back when Katie, Alex and Shelly filmed Atticus and the Kyubi brothers in action, and how Bear filmed the lot of us helping Nate out that one time? Yeah, Amy's third friend does stuff like that, but a heck of a lot more often. She even has costumes, props, and writes out scrips for her movies."
"And how does this involve the lot of us?" Illuminoct asked as he gestured to himself, his brothers, Kira and Swelterrier.
"Amy's film-making friend wants us to act in the latest film she's trying to make," Swelterrier said, "She said that she's got a special video camera that can record audio and visual of yo-kai, so there's no need to worry!"
"Amy's friend says that she's short a couple of actors," Kira pointed out. Gesturing to herself and her four yo-kai friends, Kira added, "But she said that the five of us will be able to fill out the cast. What do you boys say?"
"You know, I've always fancied myself as something of a thespian," Venoct said in a mildly self-amused tone as he and his brothers got up and walked over to Kira and Swelterrier, "I can't speak for my brothers, but you can count me in."
"I'll give it a whirl as well," Shadow Venoct said as he pledged his services to helping with the film-making, "At least Amy's friends asked us first, rather than film us without us knowing about it until it was sprung on us." With a mildly annoyed scoff, Shadow Venoct added, "I wish that Bear told us about what he was doing."
"Will I get a beret to wear?" Illuminoct asked.
"I'm pretty sure I saw a beret among the costumes and costume parts that Amy's friend has," Kira replied.
"Then in that case, I'm in," Illuminoct said as he saluted Kira.
Clapping her hands together, Kira said, "Well alright! Let's go tell Amy and her film-making friend the good news!"
Later on, Kira, the Venoct brothers and Swelterrier were standing in Amy's living room with Amy herself and her three friends that Kira mentioned. Gesturing to the pretty popular girl, the goth girl and the girl holding a video camera in that order, Amy said, "For those who don't know, these are my friends Jane, Meg and Tomoyo."
"Hey," Meg said as she pointed to Swelterrier, "This yo-kai here is pretty adorable." Focusing on the fire dog yo-kai, Meg asked, "What's your name?"
"My name is Swelterrier," the fire dog yo-kai said to the goth girl, "And I'm here to help with the film thingy that Kira told me about!"
"Well luckily for us, I got a new video camera model that can record audio and visual for yo-kai," Tomoyo remarked as she held up her video camera. Giving the device a gentle pat on its side, Tomoyo said to Kira and her yo-kai friends, "I hope that the five of you are ready to star in your first ever film!"
"The Venoct brothers and I were already in one, but this will be Swelterrier's first," Kira replied.
Kira's response drew a slight giggle out of the amateur filmmaker. "Well then," Tomoyo remarked, "If that's the case, then I'm glad I'm working with experienced actors!"
"Hey, what's kind of movie is this going to be anyway?" Venoct asked, "Some revamp of an old fairy tale? A kind of holiday special that you're going to show during the appropriate holiday? A public service announcement-type film that warns of the dangers of some dangerous thing or another? Some sort of attempt at a romantic comedy?"
"It's going to be a mystery were a crime has to be solved before an innocent person accused of the crime goes to jail," Jane explained, "Although if Tomoyo's film were going to be a romance of some kind, you can bet your bottom yen that I'd be the female lead. As for my love interest in that film, I'd try to convince Tomoyo into recruiting Alphonse for that role."
"You know, I still can't fathom how a girl like you, regarded as one of the prettiest and most popular at school, could have a crush on a geeky-looking guy like Alphonse," Amy remarked.
"He has a certain charm," Jane replied, "What can I say?"
"I think we're getting off subject here," Meg pointed out, "Don't we have another one of Tomoyo's films to act in?"
"Yes, yes," Tomoyo said in a tone of agreement, "We got a film to make! Amy, would you be so kind as to hand out the scripts? Also, I'm going to need Jane, Meg, Kira, and Kira's blonde yo-kai friend to get into their costumes."
"Wait a minute," Kira interrupted, "We're doing the filming here at Amy's place?"
"A few of the scenes, yes," Tomoyo began to explain with a nod, "Mostly in the room that I temporarily repurposed as the scene of the crime, and in the other room that I temporarily repurposed as the detective's office."
After hearing Tomoyo's explanation, Venoct turned to face Amy. "And you are comfortable with letting your friend do this?" the S-rank yo-kai asked Amy.
With an indifferent shrug, Amy replied, "Meh, she's done it at the houses of all of the humans here minus Kira. At this point, I've learned to just roll with the punches."
Turning to face Kira, Venoct asked with a mildly unamused expression, "We're going to get paid for this job, right?"
In the room where a crime scene set had been set up, Tomoyo was filming as Kira, Illuminoct, Jane and Meg were all in their costumes and acting out the scene that was being worked on at the moment. Kira and Illuminoct were dressed as private detectives, Meg was dressed as someone who one would suspect works as a curator at a museum, and Jane was dressed as a high society woman; it was clear that the character that Jane was playing is supposed to be very wealthy.
Laying on the floor in the room was a garden gnome statue that had been broken in half, then both halves were painted with golden paint. "So, Lady Pennyworth," Kira said as she pointed to Jane, "You are the one who owned the golden gnome statue, and were planning on letting the local art museum display it temporarily."
"That is correct, detective," Jane replied with a nod.
Pointing to Meg, Kira continued, "And you are the head curator of the museum that was expected to receive Lady Pennyworth's statue, yes?"
"Right," Meg replied.
Turing to face Illuminoct, Kira said as she handed him a sandwich sized plastic bag that held a small prop, "Okay Tony, you go and take this back to the office. Don't lose it, as it's important evidence in this case."
"Got it, Chief," Illuminoct replied as he quickly saluted Kira before taking the prop and walking out of the scene. After Illuminoct was off set, Kira turned to face Jane and Meg again.
"Now then, Lady Pennyworth," Kira said to Jane, "Can you tell me of anyone who you could possibly think of would have any reason to break the golden gnome statue? Or any of the other works of art that your family has collected over the generations?"
"What do you mean, detective?" Jane asked, pulling off a really convincing shocked expression.
Putting her hands on her hips, Kira explained, "Your family is by far the wealthiest living in this city, and it's been that way for at least the past four generations. No doubt that your family name has collected a number of enemies over that time. Enemies who are jealous of your wealth, or maybe someone who was cheated by your family, or at least feels that they were cheated." Giving her best suspicious look to Jane, Kira said, "No family that has been that wealthy for that long has a spotless record. Call me a cynic, but I've never seen or heard of an example that goes against the grain in that regard."
With a mildly resigned expression, Jane said, "Well, now that you mention it, my mother told me this story about something my great-grandfather did. My mother married into the family, so family members who were born into the family told me to disregard that story my mother told me." Gesturing to where the broken garden gnome laid, Jane said, "But in light of this crime, I guess that you should hear my mother's story. Or at least, what I remember of it. My mother died of an ailment of some kind back before I reached adulthood, so she can't tell you herself."
"And cut!" Tomoyo said right after pausing her camera's filming, "Good job, everyone!"
"Where did you get a garden gnome and the pain you used to paint it gold from?" Kira asked as she pointed to the prop that laid on the floor.
"Oh, I had to buy a few jars of gold paint from the hobby store in town," Tomoyo explained, "As for the garden gnome, I borrowed it from someone."
"Are they aware of the fact that their garden gnome is broken?" Kira asked.
"And now we'll move over to Jane's house to film the flashback scene for the Lady Pennyworth character," Tomoyo replied as she turned around and walked out of the room.
Later, after Kira, her yo-kai friends, Amy and her three friends finished the flashback scene that was filmed over at Jane's house, everyone took a break. "It's like I've been saying this whole time," Illuminoct said after taking a sip from a can of Soul Tea, "If you want to make sure that something will work, you've got to-"
The blonde-haired Venoct brother was cut off by a knocking at the front door. "Ooh, that must be Alphonse," Jane said with a hint of excitement in her tone as she got up, "I left a letter in his family's mailbox telling him to come over!"
"I still don't get why you have a crush on such a nerdy guy," Amy remarked before taking a sip from a can of soda that she was drinking, a bored expression on her face.
"Stuff it," Jane retorted as she walked over to the front door of her family's house and opened it. Rather than see a human, Jane saw a humanoid yo-kai sitting in a floating director's chair. The yo-kai had pale bluish skin, curly pink hair, and wore glasses, a yellow scarf, a dark bluish long-sleeved shirt, a pair of khakis, and brown shoes. He also held a director's megaphone.
"So, I finally meet the up and coming human filmmaker Tomoyo," the yo-kai said in a tone that showed he was expecting something more out of Jane, "I have to say, I'm rather disappointed that the human who many in the yo-kai world say can steal my thunder as the most popular filmmaker in the yo-kai world lacks…pizzazz." Shaking his head gently, the yo-kai continued, "Very disappointed."
"I'm not Tomoyo," Jane replied with a mildly confused look on her face, "I'm her friend Jane."
"Then bring me the human known as Tomoyo at once!" the yo-kai nearly exclaimed in a demanding tone as he pointed his director's megaphone right in Jane's face, "I am not one that it would be wise to keep waiting!"
"Hey Tomoyo," Jane called out as she turned back into her family's house, "Some weirdo in a floating director's chair is demanding to see you."
"You want I should sic Swelterrier on him?" Illuminoct called back from where he sat in the living room with everyone else.
"Hold your horses, there's no need for that messy business," Tomoyo replied as she got up, "I'll go see who it is." Walking over to the front door, Tomoyo came face-to-face with the yo-kai that was demanding to see her. Giving the yo-kai a confused look, Tomoyo said, "I'm Tomoyo. Who the heck are-"
"I challenge you to a filmmaking contest!" the yo-kai declared as he pointed his director's megaphone right in Tomoyo's face, "No one can show up I, Directator! The filmmaking legend of the yo-kai world!"
"Hold it, hold it, hold it," Venoct said as he and Kira came walking over, "Did I just hear that Directator is here?" Looking to the yo-kai that was challenging Tomoyo, Venoct sighed in a resigned, disgusted tone. "Oh great," Venoct sighed, "It really is Directator."
"Who?" Kira said in a confused tone as she faced her yo-kai friend.
"Directator here is a filmmaker who, due to his first ever film becoming successful, has become an egotistical glory hound who firmly believes that everything he does in infallible," Venoct explained to Kira while gesturing to Directator, "He may refuse to believe this, but his first film is pretty much his only successful film."
"That is far from the truth, blasphemous philistine!" Directator exclaimed as he pointed his director's megaphone in Venoct's face, "The critics all always praise every one of my films!"
"Yeah, the critics all always do praise your films, I will give you that," Venoct began after Directator lowered his megaphone back down, "But they're pretty much the only folks who do that. Everyone in the yo-kai world who is not a film critic thinks your films are terrible. Every one of your films other than your first film became box office bombs. The careers of several prominent yo-kai world actors were decimated beyond any hope of recovery because they were consistently roped into acting in your films."
"Sigh," Directator said, actually saying the word 'sigh' rather than actually sighing, "The uncultured masses of the yo-kai world are lost when it comes to appreciating true cinema art. It's rather tragic, if you think about it."
"The fact that any of your films other than your first one managed to win any movie awards at all is rather tragic, if you think about it," Venoct retorted.
"You know not of true cinema art!" Directator exclaimed as he once again pointed his director's megaphone in Venoct's face.
"Get that thing out of my face and keep it that way or else I will not be held accountable for what Illuminoct does to you when I let him do with you as he sees fit," Venoct said, an angry, annoyed look on his face.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute, hold up there," Kira interrupted, "Let's not resort to violence here. We aren't animals."
"At least one person around here has some degree of culture in them," Directator remarked, "But enough dilly-dallying. I am here to challenge the human known as Tomoyo to a filmmaking contest, to determine once and for all who is the better filmmaker in the yo-kai world! And mark my words, I will not be going down easily!"
"Hold on there a minute," Tomoyo said, a mildly surprised look on her face, "I'm a popular filmmaker in the yo-kai world? How? None of the films I've made were ever shown down there! Heck, I've never been there myself! Can humans even go to the yo-kai world?"
"Oh yeah, humans can, in fact, go to the yo-kai world," Kira said, "In fact, the Venoct brothers and I have been there multiple times."
"Although that does not quite explain how Tomoyo's films made it big down there," Venoct remarked, "Or at least bigger than most of Directator's works."
"That's something that we can figure out for ourselves later," Tomoyo replied to the S-rank yo-kai, "For now, we've got to take care of this bozo's challenge, because I seriously doubt that he'll go away unless I agree to accept his challenge to see who the best filmmaker between the two of us is."
"You are wrong about me being a bozo, but right that I won't take no for an answer to my challenge," Directator said, a smug smile of satisfaction on his face.
"You…you do realize that my brothers and I can always just kick Directator's butt and make him leave by force," Venoct pointed out to Tomoyo, "Right?"
"I shall be seeing you this Friday evening with my latest film completed, miss Tomoyo!" Directator declared, "I hope for your sake that you have a film that can match it! Otherwise you will be laughed out of the cinema by the critics!" And with that, Directator poofed away in a swirling cloud of purple smoke.
After everyone stared in silence at the spot where Directator floated, Venoct turned to face Tomoyo. "…I'm serious about that offer," the S-rank yo-kai said to the human girl, "In fact, I bet that I can get my brothers to agree to kick Directator's butt for you pro bono."
"Girls, we've got to work overtime if we have any hope of showing up that pompous doofus," Tomoyo said to Kira and Jane, "Tell Amy and Meg that we're getting right back to work on the film right away!"
As everyone went back inside of Jane's house to continue with making Tomoyo's film, Venoct commented, "Just so you know, Tomoyo, my offer will stay on the table."
That Friday evening, Kira, the Venoct brothers, Swelterrier, Amy and Amy's three friends were all in a movie theater in the yo-kai world. "Wow," Amy remarked as she looked around the movie theater, which looked vastly different than movie theaters in the human world, "So this is what it's like in the yo-kai world."
"Long tahm no see, dahling," a familiar female voice with an accent said, prompting Amy and everyone else to turn and see Dismarelda standing there. "You know, dahling, it was rather rude how you kicked me out like dat," Dismarelda remarked.
"Even though you would have undoubtedly refused to leave peacefully?" Amy retorted in an annoyed tone, "And don't even try to say anything to argue with me. I know your type, giant purple slime monster, and yours is the type that flat out refuses to take a hint, regardless of how big of a hint it is."
"Dahling, you are too quick to judge," Dismarelda began, "If you had bothered to-" Dismarelda was cut off when Swelterrier started growling angrily at her as an angry dog would. Tensing up out of nervousness, Dismarelda turned around and proceeded to make her way further down into the theater as she tried to find a seat.
"Well that was quick," Illuminoct remarked, shooting Swelterrier a thumbs-up.
"Come on, everyone," Kira said, "We've got to find our seats. The films are about to start." Understanding the cue, everyone proceeded to find seats and sit down. Shortly after everyone in the group was seated, a Swelton walked onto the stage that was in front of the movie screen.
"Thank you all for coming," Swelton began, "Tonight, we in the yo-kai world movie industry will be showing two films for your viewing pleasure. Each film is by a different movie-making legend, Directator the genius film director yo-kai, and Tomoyo the human!" The audience, which consisted mostly of yo-kai, cheered in excitement, with many cheers of Tomoyo's name being heard all over.
"And now," Swelton said, "Without further ado, we'll begin the film showing with Directator's latest film, which was just finished earlier this week!"
…
After both films had been shown, the lights in the theater turned back on, and Swelton got back on stage. "And now, we will be hearing from our panel of five judges, approved by the theater as critics for the two films that were just shown here," Swelton said as he gestured to a long table that sat in front of the stage. Looking down from where she sat, Kira saw that one of the judges was a Ben Tover. To Kira's shock, the other four judges were the Kyubi brothers and Atticus.
"What the heck are they doing as judges?" Kira remarked to herself in a suspicious tone.
"As always," Ben Tover began, "Directator's genius shines through in his work. I have to say that his film is without a doubt the better of the two."
"That's where I'm going to have to disagree," said Frostail, who sat on Ben Tover's left, "I could not follow anything in Directator's film at all. The scenes were all either far too bland or far too overstimulating to the eye, the actors seemed to lack passion for the work they were doing, and as far as I could tell, there wasn't even an actual plot."
"The opposite of everything that my brother just said about Directator's film can be applied to that Tomoyo girl's film," Darkyubi, who sat on Frostail's left, remarked, "The scenes were as good as they could get considering the fact that Tomoyo was working with a far more limited budget than her opponent in this little contest, the actors all seemed to love what they were doing, and I was able to follow the film's mystery-type plot with very little difficulty, if any."
"If that film of Tomoyo's is an example of all of her films that have been showed here in the yo-kai world, then I may very well want to see all of them," Kyubi, who sat on Darkyubi's left, said, "I can see how a human girl of her young age has become such a popular filmmaker here."
"Despite the fact that I just learned that my grandaunt apparently won't be getting her garden gnome back, I believe that Tomoyo's film is one of the finest works of film that I have ever seen," Atticus remarked, "Although both directors clearly have passion for their work, I think that only Tomoyo knows what the heck she's doing. Furthermore, I could tell from how the actors in both films acted that, unlike Directator, Tomoyo actually cares about the folks who act in her films."
"There's the judgements from the critics, folks," Swelton said to the audience, "Anyway, once you all leave the theater room, be sure to stop by the lobby and fill out a ballet to vote on which film you thought was the best. The results of the vote will be posted all over yo-kai world news outlets tis Monday!"
After everyone began to file out of the theater room, Kira and the rest of her group met up with Atticus and the Kyubi brothers down where they sat. "What are the four of you up to," Kira began, "Getting yourselves made to be critics for this film showing? What are you playing at?"
"Nothing, really," Atticus explained, "After the yo-kai world found out that it was the Kyubi brothers and I who dealt with the Tarantutor a while ago, we gained something of a minor celebrity status around these parts. So much so that we were brought in to serve as critics for this film showing."
"Also, as it turns out, the usual critics who review Directator's films all have a hive mind way of thinking that's led by an old friend of Directator's," Kyubi added, "That leads me to believe that a lot of the positive reviews that most of Directator's films got are biased."
"Well that certainly explains a lot," Venoct remarked, sounding very much like his beliefs have just been justified.
"Well alright, boys!" Kira said to Atticus and the Kyubi brothers, "Glad to see that you lot have confidence in Tomoyo's chances as a filmmaker!"
"She's better than Directator, I'll give her that," Atticus replied, "And speaking of Tomoyo…" Turning to face Tomoyo, Atticus said in a cool yet neutral tone, "When would be a good time for us to begin discussions on how you're going to replace my grandaunt's garden gnome?"
The following Monday morning, Venoct, Shadow Venoct and Illuminoct were sitting at the table in the dining area of Kira and her grandma's house in Uptown Springdale. Walking down from the second floor was Kira, who had an amused grin on her face. "Hey boys, guess what?" Kira began, "I just learned who won the film contest between Directator and Tomoyo."
"It was Tomoyo, right?" Venoct replied, drawing a nod in the affirmative from his human friend. When Kira confirmed Tomoyo's victory, the Venoct brothers all cheered. "Well I for one am glad that Tomoyo beat that pompous oaf at his own game," Venoct said, "Directator could do with a serving or two of humble pie if you ask me."
"I prefer pumpkin pie," Illuminoct remarked, "Although I never even heard of humble pie. Does it taste good?"
"Although there is an actual pie that's called humble pie, I was actually using an euphanism," Venoct explained to his blonde-haired brother, "Directator had allowed his reputation, fueled by apparently biased reviews from all of the usual yo-kai world film critics, to go to his head. He really needed to be brought back to reality."
"…Is it usually served with whipped cream?" Illuminoct asked.
Sighing, Venoct said, "I can name at least one other person who needs a dose of reality…"
END, YO-KAI WATCH ADVENTURES CHAPTER NINE
Author's notes:
I would have gotten this chapter out a bit sooner, but I got distracted by Psychic Specters, which I got the day it was released here in the states. I was originally going to make this chapter about a fashion show, since clothes designing is Amy's dream, but I switched to making it about amateur filmmaking, partly because the Directator quests in Psychic Specters caught my attention, but mostly because I could not for the life of me think up enough stuff for a chapter that was themed around fashion and fashion design. Anywho, I'll be working on the tenth chapter of this story in between my various other obligations, such as classes, video games, and my other writings.
As a side note, I would like to apologize, but I had to address how Dismarelda pretty much got away with messing with Amy and Amy's family. I just couldn't let that stand. Some form of reprimand had to be dealt to Dismarelda, otherwise it would continue to bother me.
