Chapter Text
It was a sunny afternoon, and the actress walks out with a freshly powdered face.
Her hair gleaming purple in the sun's gaze. A light that would be shaded out shortly as her posse of assistants begin fixing her outfit. The wave of heat begins to hit her where it hurts. She's afraid that her makeup would be washed away by the sweat.
Her assistants inform her of the scene. A long session was in progress, but she will have to persist for a little more today.
"You lookin' a little hot there, Claire-san."
Came the director, checking on her team. The way her ponytail is shaped like a banana catches the attention of the movie star. Funny how she rocks it though, even if it looks like that...
You'd think it would be weird after a while too but her other features would eventually make you forget how stupid she looks.
-Back to reality, realizing what she had said, her eyes glide towards the box of tissues being handed to her.
"I-Is there something wrong with my face?" Her eyes darting back towards said face as she spoke.
"Ah, no! Thank you, Director-san. Daiba was it?" She asks as she takes a few and gently pats her own face with them. This was the first time the two had met eye-to-eye and it shows.
"It's nothing... Just Nana is fine! The tissues were right next to my seat anyways."
The director averts her gaze immediately after that interaction. She didn't expect her lead to be this pretty up close. The way she started to scan her face made all of her features feel like they were being preyed upon. Even down to her pores seemed vulnerable, but she herself was glued to the actress at the same time.
The radiant sunlight began shining down on the actress again, the way it compliments her fair skin, and the way her hair begins to look more vibrant and warm under it makes her seem heavenly.
Flustered, she comes back to her seat, quietly anticipating everybody to get done preparing for the next scene. However this time, there is a tad bit more excitement than before.
The set has been adjusted accordingly, the cameras in position, the lights up and shining. The star of the scene, Hoshimi Junna reviews her lines for the last time this session.
"Roll Camera!"
The sound of film floods the room.
"Rolling!"
"Roll Sound!"
A beep that echoes through the premise shutting everyone up.
"Rolling!"
A confirmation that the production, was finally ready to start.
"Action!"
A clap is heard after the Director and her crew's back-and-forth, the filming for the last scene of the day has finally started. The actresses bring out their best for this take, it was the last one after all. This scene in particular was quite interesting.
Well, the whole movie in general is interesting. While the director indeed made the script, not everything was going to be kept the same. She was fine with things not going her way all the time, but in this movie she was in a lot more pain when things had to go. Thankfully for this scene, She seems to be the one who wrote it. Such a daunting task of writing, visualizing, and all sorts of other work wouldn't be expected of your run-of-the-mill director but Daiba Nana had never been considered as such anyway.
As a child, she had always dreamt of being on stage. So much so that she once attended a school for theatre. She's won multiple competitions with the scripts she would make. Scripts for plays that she knew she would never be able to act out, and...
She was right. Her friends from school had already gone on their own journeys, and the loneliness crept in. She eventually landed a job as a director on a small film production studio. Though the feeling of being left behind had already seeped in deeper than any stage fright could.
After a few projects with moderate success, they started running out of stories to tell. Realizing this, Nana had finally decided to whip out one of her old scripts from its grave. The play she desperately sought to act out: Starlight, a tragedy much like her own story. After much thought, she decides to revive it. Her portfolio was filled with ambitious writing, she never had quite the hit she was expecting based off her decorated childhood. Yet she believed that this one, that this could be it! The one who would fuel a dying star, the one who would finally give her that sense of fulfillment she had desperately been longing for. This project dedicated to the actors still blessed with youth in hopes that they could be there, to be the ones who get to experience her own hopes and dreams if nothing else.
The Starlight play is a story of eight people, with that a respective amount of members were part of the lead cast. There were of course, more than just those eight. In contrast to one school's class fitted to play more than one role as to compensate for the lack of members, they were much implored to focus on their one and only role. Nana only realized she was going to be lacking in talent after talking to one of the producers. An audition was held for the main cast, and the two leads picked were: the aforementioned Hoshimi Junna, the academically gifted type who had always yearned for a place in the spotlight, to be the star people would look up to in the night.
Tasked to be her partner was the always energetic Aijo Karen. The director picked them for a good reason of course. She was an uptight woman, she knew where her wanted to be and worked hard for it. They both certainly had the talent to make it, the looks, that light in their eyes! Karen grew up dedicating all her plays to her childhood friend. Junna and her were dreamers. They both had what it took to be on stage and that is why they were chosen to be the leads of course... But still, what Karen has is a childlike innocence that keeps her strong even during moments that'd make your typical actress give up and beg for another role, or just leave the production entirely.
The leads got to know each other and ended up having great chemistry. Nana of course was delighted to see this. Having her dreams slowly translated into reality by these two stars, she couldn't believe it...
Back to the present, they're almost done wrapping up the scene. Karen's character loses her memories despite being so close to her goal, separating her and Junna's away once more. This particular part of the plot is already near the end, but was decided to be filmed in the earlier days of filming as to let the delivery of some materials arrive. There would only be the two actresses in this scene, and requires not much effort compared to the earlier ones. This was to let everyone blow off some steam, being the last one of the day.
Still, the pressure caught up to Junna.
"Cut!"
With frustration in her eyes, the actress sits down for a minute. It was almost the end, one of the final lines left to be said. As she decides to start laying down, Nana appears before her.
"Hoshimi-san, you okay? I know it's a bit of an emotional scene but we just need a li—ttle bit more to end it off." Junna realizes that she had called her by her name this time.
"I mean if you can't do it now then I guess we could spare some time
tomorrow for thi-"
"-No. I... I can do it!" She interjects. She brings herself up and starts stretching. The Director stares in awe, seeing someone get back up so easily got her own morale up as well. Still, she hesitated in letting the filming continue in fear of one of her actresses overexerting themselves.
"Are you really fine like this? I don't want to force my talents to stuff they don't want to do." She musters in a way that makes her seem honestly worried about the actress and her's careers. Much opposite to how the sentence was constructed in hindsight.
"I told you, it's fine. This is the last scene for today right? If I can't get through this much I wouldn't be much of an actress." She says without hesitation. Though, she did get a little quiter saying that last part.
After a good while of staring at Junna, she makes her decision.
"Hmm... Well, if you say so~" Nana walks back to her chair with her mind racing, trying to recall what was just said to her silently.
"Not much of an actress... Huh...?"
...
Before she could comprehend what she meant, the cameras were already rolling.
"Take 2, action!"
With a pep in her step, Junna springs back into action, somehow more energetic than before. A surprisingly quick take two marked the end of the session. Nana launches herself off her seat and is delighted to know more
about this actress of hers after that performance.
"Good work out there Hoshimi-san!" Filled with glee, she thinks that this girl truly was an actress. Despite the doubt that was permeating her words earlier, she still managed to claw her way out and rise back to her usual ability.
"I didn't expect you to come back so quickly after that."
She utters in disbelief, her eyebrows still visibly raised.
Nana laughs, still in shock as she begins to walk towards Junna, who is exhausted after an entire day of filming.
"I shouldn't have overexerted myself there..." Junna looks up at the ceiling of the set panting.
"It's fine~ I mean seeing you bounce right back like that really surpris-"
"Well, that's the end of the session anyways right! I should be-" Junna quickly notices the Director's appearance and realizes she was trying to talk to her...
"I'm so sorry! I was uh- carried away and got lost in my own thoughts..."
The actress stutters through this set of words like she was caught doing a crime.
Nana laughed once more, she all thought this was quite amusing. Junna never seemed the type of person to act like this, so to be this close to her like this was quite a moment of vulnerability.
"Wanna go out for some drinks? I've bought some of the crew and called off tomorrow's session. Don't worry about the cost, It's all on me!"
"I guess... if it's you Director Nana, I can't really refuse that offer!" Junna grabs Nana's arm as she lifts herself up, and she begins talking to the rest of the crew. Nana had to look at the shots and audio to see if anything needed to be fixed or changed post-filming.
A few hours later, the set has been closed for the day and everyone is getting ready to head back home. For a few members of the crew however, they have plans for later.
Looking forward was the director, she said- "See you at the bar~"
Even if the girl she was trying to talk to was already minutes away from her.
"See you!"
It seems that they matched each other's anticipation. Junna shouts out her words of agreement likewise to how Nana did it.
The two head home. Relatively strained, but with a reason to keep going. They realized that this production wasn't another soulless, work focused, and uncaring piece of content that they had been too used to.
This might be it. Daiba Nana would finally prove herself right. Her actress was however, just happy that she finally found her first gig after a long period of waiting. The doubt her parents would begin to cease.
Though, right now... The two worry about what to wear for tonight more than anything.