Disclaimer: Mai-Hime does not belong to the Author but to Sunrise. Author owns nothing.
Additional warning: If the readers have not a slight idea about Mai-Hime, for the love of your curious mind, better not proceed with the story.
CHAPTER 3
INSIDE THE CONFERENCE ROOM
The raven haired young director followed the lead of her orange haired manager. She found herself inside a rectangular conference room that can house a good fifty people inside without crowding it. Judging from the number of already seated occupants, the reason for the massive expanse of the room cannot be doubted. It was efficiently serving its purpose. The two seats in front of them were unoccupied. Perhaps reserved for the two additional occupants that just came in.
A detachable wooden table was currently arranged in an elongated form where the occupants were currently sitting behind. There was a hollow area in the middle. Directly on the farthest wall was a rolled down white sheet used for projection. The phrase "Welcome to the Crimson Assassin Movie Briefing Conference" was flashed on the white sheet.
The raven haired young director found herself rooted on her spot. It wasn't because she was overwhelmed by the unexpected crowd in front of her. Neither was it because those crowds' hungry eyes were all over her. Nor was it because some of the artists male and female alike looked like they were about to devour her the moment they saw the raven haired young director in her black-tea-stained v-neck t-shirt with denim jeans matched with a pair of black boots entered the conference room. All of these faded into the background of the raven haired young director's attention. Her focus panned and zoomed in like a camera to one of the occupants of the room.
"Speaking of the devil." The raven haired young director thought. Her glaring emerald orbs were throwing daggers to a certain heavily clothed familiar figure who was painstakingly discarding her oversized cream hat and jacket. With those two pieces of clothing discarded, she was presented with the view of a gorgeous tawny haired woman with all the curves in the right places. The tawny haired woman removed her dark glasses and crimson orbs peeked behind eyelids. She bit the end of her dark glasses as her crimson orbs shamelessly undressed the raven haired young director with them. Her gaze fell on the raven haired director's ruined t-shirt and her crimson orbs twinkled with amusement.
"The nerve! This is your damn doing!" the raven haired young director grumbled in her mind when an amused smile crossed the tawny haired woman's feature. She composed herself when she noticed a figure approaching towards her.
"Welcome, Director Kruger. I am Yukino Kikukawa, the producer of this movie. Pleasure to meet you." a spectacled mousy brown haired woman approached the raven haired young director, holding her hand out for a handshake.
"Thank you. Pleasure is mine, Ms. Kikukawa. I will be temporarily handling the movie in the absence of Director Zhang." the raven haired young director took the offered hand before releasing them. Her emerald orbs were looking straight at the brown haired producer's eyes.
"Yes, we are well informed. We are sorry for the unfortunate event." The spectacled brown haired producer was quite glad that it will be the ever evasive genius young director who will be handling the project.
The raven haired young director was the only one in equal footing, if not higher, in terms of competence and excellence in cinematography with Director Zhang. A lot of projects were thrown at her feet but she was not one to just accept without taking matters into consideration. She was considered as one of those high-standard but very talented directors of the 21st century.
"Well, have a seat, Director Kruger. We will begin in a moment." The spectacled brown haired producer ushered the raven haired young director to her seat. The orange haired manager was already seated on her place.
The raven haired young director found herself seated on the head of the conference table. Next to her left was the tawny haired woman followed by the spectacled brown haired producer and a blonde woman. To her right was her orange haired manager. The other seats were filled by other people involved in the project who were mostly actors and actresses from various age brackets and crews.
Pile of thick white sheets of paper containing the details of the project were placed in front of each occupant. A microphone was also installed on the table to aid anyone who wished to speak raise the volume of their voice without straining their vocal chords. Refreshments were laid for anyone whose throat might scream for any liquid during the conference. An empty goblet and assorted beverages ranging from water to wine were also laid on the table.
"I would like to welcome everyone to the 'Crimson Assassin' movie storyline briefing." The spectacled brown haired producer spoke through the installed microphone on the table, allowing everyone to hear her soft-spoken voice and effectively catching their attention that were currently glued to the raven haired young director. "Let us begin with the introduction first. I would like everyone to meet Director Kruger from SEARRS Entertainment Co. Ltd. based in New York City. She will be working with us on the movie."
The raven haired young director rose from her seat bowing to everyone. "I am in your care. Let us work together for the success of this movie." she flashed them her formal smile before settling back to her seat. The occupants applauded as she sat down.
"I will make sure you will be well taken care of, Director Kruger." The tawny haired woman purred as she emphasized the last two words. The volume of her voice was toned down to an almost inaudible volume that went unheard by the other occupants except for its intended recipient who was the raven haired young director whose head was now slightly tilted to her left, regarding the tawny haired woman a side glance.
"Whatever." The raven haired young director thought, ignoring the comment and went on turning her attention to the conference instead.
This earned her a slight frown from the tawny haired woman beside her. "Oh. The play-hard-to-get-at-first-but-will-later-on-give-in-type, aren't you Director? Typical." the tawny haired woman thought as a ghost smirk formed on her beautiful face.
"With Director Kruger is her manager, Ms. Tokiha." The spectacled brown haired producer further introduced, gesturing her hand to the orange haired director who was seated to the right of the raven haired young director.
"Work hard for the movie, everyone. As her manager, I hope you will not overstress Director Kruger. She can be like a grumpy old man when stressed. We don't want that to happen, right?" the orange haired manager of the raven haired young director playfully said to make everyone comfortable with her. She wasn't disappointed when soft laughter and giggles were heard from the other occupants of the room.
The raven haired young director snapped her head towards her orange haired manager and shot her with a freezing death glare which was easily dismissed by said manager's wave of hand and smile. Another round of soft laughter and giggles were heard when the other occupants noticed the reaction of the raven haired young director.
"Alright, now that our guests have been introduced, it is time to introduce our very own stars who will be casting the 'Crimson Assassin' movie." the brown haired producer resumed to get everyone's attention once again. "Let's begin with the lead role. Our very own, Japan Superstar Ms. Shizuru Viola will be playing the character of Kiyohime."
The tawny haired superstar rose from her seat and bowed before offering everyone a polite smile and settling down without saying a word.
"Make that Japan Rude Superstar. Yeah. Sounds a lot better. Perfectly suits her snobby attitude." The raven haired young director commented in her mind. Doing an imaginary nodding of her head in the process, agreeing to her snide comment. " At least she knows how to be professional. Fake smile for the cameras. No surprise there. I've seen a lot in Hollywood." The raven haired young director rambled in her thought. Her emerald orbs glancing at the tawny haired superstar to her left as she took her cup of coffee and drank from it.
The tawny haired superstar glanced at the raven haired young director beside her. Her crimson orbs caught something written on the cup. She squinted her eyes to read what was written therein.
This did not went unnoticed by the raven haired young director whose slim eyebrow rose as her emerald orbs flicked towards the tawny haired superstar's squinting eyes before flicking it back to the cup that she held in her hand.
"What's so interesting about a cup of coffee?" She examined her cup. "N.K obviously my initial." Then, she tilted the cup a little for better view, her mouth forming an O. "Wait. There's a name and a phone number below it." She examined the cup further and saw a message with a faded kiss mark in red lipstick. "I like it darker harder faster and bigger. Ring me." the raven haired director read in her mind.
A smirk formed on her feature as she drank again from her cup of coffee before she intentionally placed the cup to her left where it was visible to the tawny haired superstar's eyesight.
"Charming." The tawny haired superstar commented dryly. The act of the raven haired young director was not lost to her. Her crimson orbs were now looking at the face of the raven haired young director whose emerald orbs were looking at anything but her.
"You look interested. Just making things easy for you." the raven haired young director retorted in a low volume, her emerald orbs were feigning focus on the continuous introduction happening in the room.
"My, my. Director is the player type but what Shizuru Viola wants, Shizuru Viola gets. Let's see how far you can resist, Director." The tawny haired superstar thought as she turned her attention towards the conference. Hearing things but not really listening as she worked her brilliant mind for her seduction plan.
The brown haired story writer was currently discussing the movie storyline in her need-a-little-improvement American English. She was pausing every now and then as beads of cold sweat started forming on her forehead. The brown haired story writer who started her discussion with confidence was now reduced to a stammering nervous woman.
The raven haired young director, seeing the brown haired story writer's current predicament, decided to intervene. Knowing full well that they will be wasting their precious time if the current slow pace presentation will continue to drag on. "Ms. Senoh, is it?" the raven haired young director started unsurely. The brown haired storywriter nodded and the raven haired young director proceeded speaking in her fluent Japanese accent language. "Pardon the interruption, Senoh-san. But if I may request, I would like you to continue your explanation using your native tongue. You can speak Japanese. Tokiha-san and I can understand Japanese and speak it just fine." the raven haired young director finished, smiling at the brown haired story writer who breathed a sigh of relief.
The brown haired story writer felt like a heavy boulder had just been lifted off her shoulder. The oxygen in the room seemed to go back to its normal amount allowing her to easily breathe. Her reaction was relatively normal compared to the other occupants in the room whose heads snapped towards the raven haired young director. Eyeballs bulging like they wanted to come off of their sockets while their jaws were left ajar.
"You can speak and understand Japanese!? Why did you not tell us earlier!? You could have saved us the trouble of trying hard to speak in your American English!" a blond woman who was earlier introduced as the tawny haired superstar's manager blurted out the questions that were left hanging in the atmosphere. The sound of her yelling was amplified by the microphone in front of her causing everyone to cringe and instantly cover their ears in an attempt to save their eardrums from permanent damage.
"My, my. Haruka-san. No need to be loud." The tawny haired superstar commented with amusement in her voice when her crimson orbs caught the sight of the raven haired young director's expression.
The raven haired director was trying her best to resist the urge of covering her ears with her hands like what majority of the occupants of the room did. Instead, she went on concealing her emerald orbs behind her eyelids like it was the sensory organ that will be fatally damaged and not her eardrums. When she thought the ground was clear, emerald orbs peeped once again before she calmly answered the blond haired manager. "I apologize for the misunderstanding." She said addressing everyone.
"There is nothing to apologize, Director Kruger. We were at fault for assuming you and Tokiha-san cannot converse in our language." The spectacled brown haired producer interjected, wanting to proceed with the matters on hand. The raven haired young director just nodded at her.
The spectacled brown haired producer regarded the brown haired story writer who was standing near the projected PowerPoint presentation. "Shall we continue with the story line now, Senoh-san?"
The brown haired story writer nodded her head before starting her explanation with new found confidence and enthusiasm. "The movie is about a protagonist Kiyohime who was viewed as a ruthless and vicious assassin with the alias Crimson Assassin which is the movie title. She was known to be the one responsible for wiping out a number of population equivalents to that of a country. Her reason for killing was mistakenly attributed to her evil nature. She was perceived as a woman who killed for pleasure because she was not an assassin for hire. She worked alone. Unbeknownst to everyone, she was the female version of Robinhood who helped the poor at the expense of the abusive wealthy nobles after she sought out her revenge…"the brown haired story writer continued discussing the plots of the story.
The raven haired young director was pensively listening to the discussion before her. Her emerald orbs glued on the projected PowerPoint presentation in front. Her slim eyebrows were knitting together as her brilliant brain worked out how those scenes will be carried out effectively.
Unfortunately, this was not the case with regard to a certain tawny haired superstar whose crimson orbs were discreetly glancing at the stoic raven haired young director, having not a slight interest on the presentation before her.
"My, my. Someone is serious with her business. A kiss for your thought, Director." the tawny haired superstar can't help but notice how the raven haired young director's serious face was a complete turn on for her.
"The objective of the movie is to show the audience the reason behind Kiyohime's vengeance which can be traced back to the death of her female lover. It will help the audience realize that not all things that appear to be evil are really evil by nature. There is always good in everyone's heart. Judging an iceberg when only its tip is visible is dangerous and will often lead to incorrect judgment. The movie will be tackling some moral issues like relationship between women, obtaining justice by depriving others with their right to life, and how society can encage a person and forced him or her to go against his or her very nature, to name a few. We will be treading on dangerous and delicate path here. The story has a sequel of which release will depend on the success of the first installation…" the brown haired story writer continued her lengthy discussion.
The discussion about the story line was finally over. The timeline of the movie's projected length of taping duration was now flashed in front.
"Ten months!? Are they fucking kidding me!? Are we doing a TV series or a movie!? Who needs such a long time of taping? Two movies can already be shot in such long period!" To say that the raven haired young director was disappointed would be an utter understatement for the day. She found the projected timeline absurd and unnecessary, inefficient even. "The longest period that I had for taping was only four months. Four freakin' months!" the raven haired young director yelled in her thoughts. She tried considering other factors. "Okay, maybe they do things differently here. But I am the effin' director for crying out loud! I should be the one deciding the duration of the movie taping. Heck, I should even be the one deciding the schedule, shouldn't I?" the raven haired young director tried to calm her fuming nerves not wanting to be unprofessional and leave bad impression on the first day. Her mother's words were still engraved in her memory.
"If I may say my objective opinion concerning the length of duration of Crimson Assassin's taping and its projected date for release, I believe that the time allotted can be slashed down to six months." The raven haired young director began catching everyone's attention. When she was satisfied that the occupants of the room were already listening to her attentively, she continued. "The six-month time period is a conservative projection giving allowance for some holidays, slack time, and fortuitous event that may happen in the middle of its filming. This can eventually lead to efficient cost cutting, trimming down the budget which can still be invested in other profitable projects." The raven haired young director glanced at the spectacled brown haired producer who seemed to be considering her proposition. She revert her attention to the movie casts and continued her speech. "Tying down the actresses and actors for such a long period of time when it can be cut down will not really help them in their career development. It will instead hinder them in venturing into other opportunities." The raven haired young director finished giving the occupants of the room time to think about her proposition.
"I am afraid I have to disagree with your proposition, Director Kruger. The budget for this movie is a trivial matter for me. All the talents involved in the project are aware of its long duration and they are allowed to take other projects that will not be in conflict with the taping schedules. The timeline is designed to accommodate our lead cast's schedule." The spectacled brown haired producer looked at the raven haired young director apologetically.
"I see." The raven haired young director nodded. "Accommodate our lead cast's schedule huh." The raven haired young director added in her head despite her proposal being point blank rejected. "So, how many projects is she into now, Suzushiro-san? If the information is not very confidential." The raven haired young director inquired looking at the blonde manager, whose mouth was like a fish out of water, attempting to open them before deciding to close them again in hesitation to say anything. The loud blond manager was rendered speechless not knowing what to answer. This reaction pricked the raven haired young director's interest and curiosity.
"Is Director Kruger referring to me?" the tawny haired superstar looked at the raven haired young director whose emerald orbs passed through her, focusing on the blonde manager.
"Not now, woman. I don't have time for your antics." The raven haired young director grumbled in her thought. The unexpectedly long conference was draining her especially when her food intake for the day was the single coffee that she bought from Starbucks earlier.
When the blonde woman seemed to be not planning on answering her query any time soon, she decided on dropping the matter. "I understand if that is confidential. I don't have any further proposition or inquiry for that matter." The raven haired young director finished before turning her attention on scanning the schedule of taping lying in front of her, completely ignoring the tawny haired superstar.
"Was I just ignored?" the tawny haired superstar blinked her crimson orbs not believing that she was completely ignored by the raven haired young director. "Oh. Nobody dared to ignore Shizuru Viola, Director Kruger. I mean nobody. You don't know who you are playing with, Director." The tawny haired superstar fumed in her mind.
Suddenly, the room dropped to dead silence as sinister dark aura started to emanate from the tawny haired superstar. The invisible dark power swirled around the room before eventually engulfing it in its entirety. Everyone felt chills ran down their spines. They felt like they were in the presence of some evil spirit as the aura inside the room turned ominous. Everyone turned frigid, afraid for the lives that they might lose if they attempted moving a muscle.
All these went unnoticed by the unperturbed raven haired young director whose emerald orbs were still focused on the pile of white sheets in front of her. "This is freakin' impossible. Average of ten days scheduled filming per month!? Is she seriously that effin' busy? Why the hell take a lot of projects at once? And why is the number of project that she is currently into a confidential matter!? Since when did that trivial shit become confidential at all anyway?" the raven haired young director grumbled in her thought as she kept scanning the sheets of paper. The piercing crimson orbs staring at her started to make its presence known to her but she decided to ignore it.
"I believe this conference is over." The tawny haired superstar announced with finality before moving out of the conference room with bruised ego.
All the occupants in the room who were sensitive to what had just recently transpired breathed a sigh of relief. The atmosphere in the room returned to normal and everyone started packing up.
"Brat." The raven haired young director commented albeit snidely in her thought, the tawny haired superstar's walk out scheme not lost to her.
"Thank you for coming, everyone. Your presence is very much appreciated. Thank you for your hard work." The spectacled brown haired producer formally ended the conference.
The walk-out drama of the tawny haired superstar was not something new to them. The tawny haired superstar was not one easy to handle. She was one of those difficult stars with a not so good attitude. Bringing her to the conference alone was quite a feat.
The spectacled brown haired producer's eyes turned towards the raven haired young director who was leaning on her seat with a pensive look. "I hope you have the patience to deal with her, Director Kruger." She wistfully thought.
And just like that the conference came to an end.