Chapter 14

"Okay, cut. You're putting in too much emotion. The heroine hasn’t yet confirmed that the protagonist is repeating time loops, so it feels strange for her to be so desperate and worried. Think about the situation and her feelings when you act. Next, take 8."

"Okay, cut. Compare it carefully—your pause is too short. In this scene, the heroine realizes for certain that the protagonist has been time-leaping, so you need to hold your gaze on him a little longer. Next, take 15."

"Okay, cut. You’re mostly getting it now, but your blinking is off. When you’re holding your gaze on the protagonist, don’t blink. Control your eyes and blinking as part of the performance. Next, take 21."

We repeated the retakes over and over, each time comparing against the sample and adjusting to match. Technically, you don’t need to perform something exactly the same every time, but this was practice to see if you could act out the image as I had in mind. If you can match it without compromise, you’ll be able to pull it off in the real performance too.

Kotori-san followed my direction silently and corrected every pointed-out detail precisely. At this point, her movements were almost identical to my sample, and her lines and emotional expression were solid. Effort matters, of course, but talent really makes a difference. I didn’t expect her to improve this much in such a short time. Incredible.

Even being able to move exactly the same way is already amazing. For people who can’t, no matter how many retakes they do, they just never get there. Even imitating something as simple as a gesture can be difficult.

On top of that, since she’s an idol, she already does vocal training and pronunciation practice, plus her core strength from dancing and live shows keeps her posture steady. Her form is beautiful. With that foundation, her growth is naturally fast.

Honestly, even if I hadn’t taught her, as long as she kept doing lessons and building experience from small roles upward, she probably would have been just fine.

"Okay, cut. That’s good. You’ve improved a lot. No more issues with this scene."

When I replayed the recorded footage to check, Kotori-san was now moving almost exactly the same as I had in the sample.

"Kotori, you’ve really gotten good!"

"Kotoriin, amazing! You could go for Best Actress, seriously!"

"Yeah, compared to before, you’re a completely different person now… but still, your acting feels totally different from Nana-chan’s."

While the other two celebrated, Kotori-san compared her acting to my sample with a troubled look.

Being able to move the same doesn’t mean the acting itself is the same. I thought she’d be satisfied with that, but it looks like she’s more competitive than I expected.

"Kotori-san, what’s your goal in taking acting lessons?"

"Um… to get better at acting?"

"That’s not a goal, that’s a means, right?"

"A means?"

"Yeah. Like, when you do a live show, don’t you want the audience to enjoy themselves? To be moved? Isn’t that why you perform?"

"…I do."

"I think it’s the same for actors. If you act with the intention of letting the audience enjoy the film and be moved, your range and depth of expression will expand."

That was something I’d read in a book recently.

It sounded like such a deep line that I was impressed and decided to try using it myself. Truth is, I’ve never once thought about acting that way. For me, it’s all about money—saving up enough so I can live as a NEET someday.

Of course, I couldn’t say that out loud, or it would ruin everything.

"Um, could we try that scene again?"

While I was feeling smug about spouting a secondhand line, Kotori-san kept staring at the monitor, her expression serious, and asked with determination.

Her aura changed.

What’s this? She’s taking it more seriously than I expected, which honestly feels a bit scary. No way I can just admit, "Haha, I just quoted a book♪" at this point.

"Then, I’ll play the protagonist this time."

Up until now, I’d had Izumi-san, who was closest in build, play opposite her, but honestly, her acting was hopeless. Not that I blamed her—being suddenly told to act like a man is impossible to pull off well. And if I tried giving Izumi-san acting lessons too, we’d be here till nightfall, so I’d just let it slide.

But since Kotori-san’s acting was already solid now, it’d be better for her if I took the role of her scene partner.

"Mmfghh!"

I was about to say, "Okay, cut!" but my voice came out muffled since my face was buried in Kotori-san’s chest. In the final scene, the heroine hugs the protagonist, but since I’m shorter, my face ended up pressed right against her chest. She must’ve understood what I meant anyway, because she loosened her arms and let me go.

I thought she was about a D cup, but maybe she’s just the type who looks smaller in clothes.

"…How was it?"

"E."

"Eh?"

"No, I mean, it was Excellent. You really put emotion into it—it was fantastic! Should we check the playback?"

I accidentally blurted my inner thought, so I quickly diverted the topic and gathered everyone in front of the TV to review the footage. On screen wasn’t the old Kotori-san who only tried to mimic—it was someone genuinely trying to bring her role to life.

It was the scene where she notices the protagonist has been repeating time leaps thanks to emails from the future, confronts him half in doubt, and ultimately, after much torment, resolves to erase their meeting itself. Quite literally, to rewrite the past.

The heroine’s doubts, her inner conflict, her suffering, and her love for the protagonist were all portrayed exquisitely. Starting off tsun and ending in dere—a flawless tsundere performance.

The only unfortunate part was that her partner was me. Our heights didn’t match at all, and visually it looked like a high school girl hugging an elementary schooler. Quite the twisted picture.

Before that, when Izumi-san had been her partner, the picture had been all yuri-yuri instead.

"Yep, that was spot-on."

"Spot-on?"

"It means really good. To think you could improve this much in such a short time—it’s kind of frustrating, honestly."

Just a while ago she was basically a beginner, but this level of improvement is too much. When I checked the clock, it was still only 6 p.m. We’d arrived at Goroha Iroha Pro around 3:30, and since I spent about half an hour calming Kotori-san down, that meant we’d only been practicing for about two hours.

To think she’s picked up in two hours what took me years of lessons to achieve—that’s just unreal.

Well, she still has rough parts here and there, so it’s not like she’s caught up to me. Probably.

"Um, that was… praise, right?"

"Of course it was!"

Clapping my hands as I said, "Bravo, oh bravo!", even Momiji-san, who had been staring in a daze, started clapping along.

"I don’t have anything left to teach you anymore. Consider this a full transmission of the art. From here, just use the DVDs I gave you and continue practicing on your own."

"What!? We’ve only done one scene!"

"It’s fine! You’ll be fine, Kotori-san! Well then, I’ll be heading home. Thanks for your hard work!"

"Hold on, hold on, wait. We haven’t even had a proper lesson yet, you know?"

I turned on my heel, ready to get out of here before I spent another minute around this cheat of a person, but Momiji-san grabbed my arm firmly.

"Teach me too!"

"Ah, sorry, forgot about you. Alright then, let’s resume the lesson without Kotori-san."

Apparently moved by Kotori-san’s performance, Izumi-san also asked me earnestly. I’d rather continue lessons with people who aren’t cheats and actually need the training.

"But first, let’s take a ten-minute break."

"“Ehhh!?”"

"Breaks are important. If you practice while unfocused, it’s meaningless."

"I didn’t do anything, so I’m still fine."

"M-me too, I can keep going!"

"That’s the spirit! Alright then, let’s continue without a break!"

"A-ah, um, I still want to practice too…"

I ignored whatever nonsense the cheat was muttering and decided to continue with the lesson, this time having Kotori-san play the protagonist so I could teach the other two.

Just like before, we started with them imitating my sample. No matter how many retakes we went through, neither of them managed to mimic as quickly as Kotori-san had. Still, they kept at it without giving up, and by around 9 p.m., Momiji-san was finally able to somewhat imitate the performance. Izumi-san, on the other hand, was still in the "let’s keep trying" stage to the very end.

It’s funny—she’s supposed to be the tsundere character, yet she was the worst at imitating one.

"I guess… I don’t have any talent…"

"Don’t worry about it. I was about the same at the start."

"…The start? How old were you then?"

"About three years old, I think."

"So I’m on the same level as a three-year-old…"

When I tried to comfort Izumi-san while she was feeling down, I somehow ended up making her feel even worse. Sure, I was three years old at the time, but on the inside I was already past thirty.

"Well, that was easy to understand. As expected from the genius child actress, Nana-chan."

"Really, thank you. Thanks to Nana-chan, I think this might actually work out."

"No, no, I didn’t do much at all."

And that’s the truth—I really didn’t. Both of them picked things up quickly, so it was easy. Especially Kotori-san. She was such a cheat, I never thought she’d improve this fast.

She seemed to have gained some confidence in her acting too, with a clear, refreshed look on her face. I guess that means—mission complete.

"Things like improv and the basics are also important, so once you can mimic to some extent, practice them in parallel. Then, think about the situation your role has been given, make your objectives and obstacles clear, be conscious of what actions you’ll take, always look at yourself objectively, and think about how you’ll appear on camera. Think, think, think—and act."

"“Yes!”"

Both gave a bright reply, but Izumi-san still seemed gloomy. It’s normal to not improve much after just a little practice, but having two outliers right next to you makes it feel harsher.

"Izumi-san, do you want to become an actress?"

"…The truth is, I always admired actresses. But people told me I was better suited to being an idol…"

I see. For an idol, acting skills aren’t exactly required, but if she really wanted to be an actress, then that changes things. If she builds her acting skills now and gets roles in dramas or films, it’ll be much easier for her to transition later. After all, idols can’t keep going forever.

"Then, how about I keep giving you lessons from now on?"

"Eh, really?"

"Yes. But in exchange, would you teach me dance and singing?"

Since Goroha Pro is an idol-focused production company, the level of their dance and singing training is really high. On the way to this practice room, I’d seen other idols taking dance lessons in another studio, and compared to that, what we do at Sun-Aka isn’t even in the same league.

We’re child-actor–oriented, so our dance training is mainly things like traditional Japanese dance. We do some hip-hop too, but not very seriously. As for singing lessons, they’re at the level of simple group choruses.

Lately, I haven’t had anything in particular I’ve wanted to study, so maybe seriously learning dance and singing could be good.