Chapter 873: Should I accept Naoki Nagayama?!

On a sweltering afternoon, Naoki Nagayama arrived at the Ota Ward filming base for the first time in a long while.

As far as the eye could see, many people were weaving through the various sets; even under the scorching sun, there were crews filming on the outdoor stages.

After parking his car, he went to the management office responsible for the entire park's arrangements and saw Katsura Ishikaw buried in paperwork. Hearing the door open, Ishikaw didn't even look up as he said:

"There are no more slots for the filming sets for the next little while; the earliest reservations aren't until September... Ah, Naoki-san!"

Seeing that it was his own big boss, Katsura Ishikaw hurriedly stood up:

"Why have you come over here!"

"I came to visit the set..." Naoki Nagayama laughed, "It looks like the filming base is very busy right now!"

"Yes, with the expansion of the park and the construction of more scenes, many production crews have reached out," Katsura Ishikaw said. As the director of this park, he was now busier than ever. "The current schedule is booked until September."

"Ha, it seems the concept of a film city has great prospects!"

In recent years, the filming speed of Tree Friend Films had become renowned in the film industry, like putting a catfish into a calm fishpond, making all the other fish in the pond start to get nervous...

*You're rolling so hard, how are we supposed to make movies slowly and earn money! *

Consequently, many film production companies also began to accelerate their filming and production. It didn't matter if they couldn't catch up to Tree Friend; if they were just a little faster than their peers, they could earn a little more money!

And a filming base that possessed complete filming scenes and good logistical support was naturally a necessity for accelerating production.

Small production companies didn't have the capital to build film shooting bases, but the filming bases of big manufacturers like Toho, Toei, and Shochiku were hard to borrow... Just at this time, Tree Friend's Dream Factory was actually opening to the public?!

Everyone naturally started to gather here~

Now, the streets outside the Ota Ward filming base were transforming toward the peripheral service attributes of a film city, and there had even appeared agencies for extras...

Here, there was already a bit of a Hollywood feeling!

"Ishikawa-kun, which set are Shuichi-san and the others at today?" Naoki Nagayama had actually come to the management office to ask this question.

"Ah, Shuichi-san is in Zone B1..." Katsura Ishikaw was naturally most attentive to his own crew and hurriedly led the way. "I'll take Naoki-san over!"

"Haha, then thank you very much~"

"Not at all, this is what I should do..."

The two chatted as they walked toward the *Squid Game* set. Just as they opened the small door and entered the set, Naoki Nagayama felt a bit of dissonance.

Because his face felt very stuffy and hot—this was inevitable in a factory building in summer—but his legs felt a bit chilly... What was going on with that?

Continuing to walk forward for a distance, he saw a set designed to look like a street from over a decade ago, and in some places on the ground, white smoke was constantly rising...

"Does *Squid Game* have this scene?"

This wasn't filming the Heavenly Palace from *Journey to the West*, so why was it all cloudy and misty... He naturally recognized this as dry ice fog.

Walking to the director's area, Naoki Nagayama happened to see Shuichi Ito and the others filming Yutaka Nanjo playing marbles with an old man.

At this moment, Yutaka Nanjo looked at his opponent, who seemed to be suffering from senile dementia, feeling both conflicted and pained... He was about to use this to win the old man's marbles, then make him lose the game and die!

The dim, yellow light was like the warm afterglow of a sunset, because it was just after school ended in the evening, and children were mostly playing games outside with their companions at this time~

The light reflecting on Yutaka Nanjo's face brought not warmth, but pain and guilt... Naturally kind-hearted, he had just deceived his opponent, that old man suffering from dementia, and taken his marbles...

"Eh... I don't seem to have any marbles left..." the old man said slowly, looking at Yutaka Nanjo like a child. "Could you... lend me a marble?"

"..."

Yutaka Nanjo's face was both ashamed and pained. His hand subconsciously gripped the bag containing his marbles, thinking of his daughter outside and the staff standing by with guns... In the end, the desire to survive prevailed...

"I'm sorry..."

"Number 70, eliminated..."

Seeming to feel the result was clear, the gunman nearby read it out. And as if wanting to escape, Yutaka Nanjo stood up and wanted to leave, leaving the gunman nearby to execute the old man.

But just at this moment, the old man tremblingly fumbled in his pants pocket for a while, as if he had discovered something:

"Here... there seems to be one more marble..."

A smile appeared on the old man's face: "One left..."

Upon hearing this, Yutaka Nanjo showed an expression of disbelief and hurriedly poured his marbles onto the ground, starting to count them...

"One, two, three... nine!"

Sure enough, one was missing!

"Cut!" Shuichi Ito, holding a megaphone, shouted loudly. "This take is good! Take a break, prepare for the next scene!"

"Oh oh oh~" "Whew~~" "Ha~"

The originally tense crew members relaxed all at once, hurrying to find ice water or other cool places, and Shuichi Ito, at this time, also discovered Naoki Nagayama's arrival.

"Naoki-san, when did you arrive?!"

"Just during the last scene!" Naoki Nagayama smiled, greeted Yutaka Nanjo, and then walked to Shuichi Ito's side. "Yutaka Nanjo's acting is very on point!"

"Haha, yes... internally somewhat kind, yet forced to deceive and hurt others... this kind of acting is rare!"

Shuichi Ito naturally didn't skimp on praise, making Yutaka Nanjo, not far away, feel a bit embarrassed.

Only then did he ask: "Naoki-san returned to Tokyo yesterday, right?"

"Mm, I rested at home, then went to the company this morning, and came to see Shuichi-san this afternoon!"

"Then did you bring a gift?!" Shuichi Ito teased.

"..." You're not a child anymore, why are you asking others for gifts all day long?!" Naoki Nagayama was very dismissive.

Shuichi Ito was full of pride:

"Hahaha, I'm asking for my Regarding Jia Yi-chan!"

"... I really can't do anything with you... The gift is in the car, move it over later..." Naoki Nagayama shook his head. "Remember, this is for Regarding Jia Yi-chan!"

"Heh~"

Shuichi Ito didn't believe it; Naoki Nagayama always brought gifts for friends when he went out! Immediately after, he curiously asked about Naoki Nagayama's experiences abroad, including that concert and the situation in New York.

"I have already signed a contract with an investment manager, and for the next period, the capital account of Tree Friend Capital will be managed by him," Naoki Nagayama said. "There will be some moves in the US foreign exchange market later. If Shuichi-san wants to participate, you can talk to Yuantai-san..."

"Mm, I will!" Shuichi Ito wasn't someone short of money now, but who would hate having more wealth?

"By the way, has Shuichi-san been following the filming progress of *Diary of the Seaside Town*?"

"Of course, I've been keeping an eye on it; it's almost at the end now..."

"That's good~"

"..."

The two chatted here, and the entire crew was able to have a good rest; the original break was only five minutes!

Now it had been almost half an hour!

Naoki Nagayama's forehead also started to sweat~

"Well, this set is indeed very hot..."

"Yes, but there's no way around it," Shuichi Ito nodded. "I've already had people use dry ice to cool it down..."

"Be careful when using dry ice~" Naoki Nagayama reminded. "Not too much... and it needs ventilation..."

"Of course I know, do you think I'm a three-year-old child?!" Shuichi Ito rolled his eyes, then looked at his watch. "It's about time; we have to finish this scene today!"

"Is it just the scene between Yutaka Nanjo and the old man left?"

"Yes..."

Almost at the end, Naoki Nagayama decided not to disturb them anymore, but before leaving, he grabbed Kijima Xu, who had been hiding in the director's area:

"Then that's it for today, I'll be going first... By the way, lend me Kijima-kun for a moment..."

"Go ahead, go ahead~" Shuichi Ito waved his hand dismissively.

"..."

Kijima Xu had nothing to say at this moment and could only follow Naoki Nagayama out of the set to the parking area.

"Naoki-san... do you want me to help move the gifts?" Looking at Naoki Nagayama taking out gifts from the gap in the back seat, Kijima Xu asked curiously.

"Oh? That's right, Kijima-kun can help give them to Shuichi-san!" Hearing this, Naoki Nagayama handed the gifts directly to him.

"..." *Just this? *

"Haha~" Naoki Nagayama laughed at the bewildered Kijima Xu, then said formally, "Kijima-kun, I called you out to ask for a favor."

"Please, go ahead!"

"I'm going to film a TV series in August—*Midnight Diner*," Naoki Nagayama said. "Currently, the company is a bit short-handed, so I need to pull some people from Shuichi-san's side..."

Kijima Xu hesitated: "But Shuichi-san is filming *Squid Game*..."

"Yes, so I have to ask Kijima-kun to quietly help me gather people while filming..." Naoki Nagayama said. "You know, just like when we filmed *Love Letter* before, execute it secretly!"

"But this?"

"Just four or five people will do! I'll scour the other sets for the rest!" Naoki Nagayama said. "With such a large crew, Shuichi-san shouldn't notice if a few people are missing for a while!"

"..." *Why doesn't Naoki-san communicate directly with Shuichi-san?! * Kijima Xu was puzzled.

"I will! But later!" Naoki Nagayama made a bitter face. "Shuichi-san was already very jealous that I went abroad to play, so if I ask him for help now, I'll definitely be given a hard time... Pulling people will be very slow..."

Although he would definitely achieve his goal in the end, he would definitely be sarcastically mocked, and maybe he would even set conditions, like asking for the film he directed to be the opening film at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

"But..." Kijima Xu looked at Naoki Nagayama gloomily. "Naoki-san, I'm also preparing *101st Proposal*... I'm also worried about manpower..."

"???"

Naoki Nagayama only then remembered that *101st Proposal* had already been handed over to Kijima Xu to execute~

However... Shuichi-san is a senior executive, so he can naturally push back a little, but Kijima Xu, you... what level are you at, daring to snatch people from me?

"Kijima-kun~" Naoki Nagayama patted Kijima Xu on the shoulder, staring at him, his tone gentle yet revealing encouragement. "I believe you will definitely coordinate it well!"

"..."

*This is a threat, it must be a threat! *

Kijima Xu looked at Naoki Nagayama's expression, which revealed the threat that "if I don't agree, *101st Proposal* will be infinitely delayed"!

"..."Yes, I will do my best!"

"Mm~"

At the Tree Friend building in Ikebukuro, Takeharu Kawahara drove Shizuka Kudo to the headquarters of the agency.

"Takeharu-san, why did Otomo-san suddenly ask me to come over?"

Shizuka Kudo, dressed coolly, had already started growing her hair long, looking youthful and energetic. This was exactly the image she was currently showing to all her fans—a vibrant young girl!

"I'm not sure either, it seems there's a task to be assigned."

Takeharu Kawahara had only received a simple message from his pager, so he had rushed over immediately after Shizuka Kudo finished recording a notice.

"Okay... could it be some large-scale variety show?"

Recently, Shizuka Kudo's popularity was rising rapidly, and she had also eaten up a portion of the field left vacant by Seiko Matsuda; she now had the trend of a rising star.

The overall level of the notices and activities she had received recently had risen by a grade.

She thought the agency must have secured a good opportunity for her again!

"Guessing here is useless, let's go up directly!"

Takeharu Kawahara greeted the receptionist, Jia Hua Xing, asked if Tomo Yoshimura was in the office, and then took Shizuka Kudo up to the top floor by elevator.

"Knock knock~"

"Please come in~"

Takeharu Kawahara pushed open the thick solid wood door of the office and saw Tomo Yoshimura, who was buried in processing documents.

"Otomo-san, I've brought Shizuka-chan over!"

"Ah, you're here!" Tomo Yoshimura didn't close the document, just said to the two, "Sit down quickly, drink something, wait for me to finish processing this document."

"Yes!"

The weather was hot, but the office of the general manager was naturally cool, and there was even a small refrigerator storing drinks... The treatment of the Tree Friend Group had indeed improved quite a bit~

This wasn't Shizuka Kudo's first time coming to the office. Naturally carefree, she unceremoniously took a bottle of frozen oolong tea from the refrigerator to drink... while Takeharu Kawahara was much more reserved, just sitting on the sofa and quietly drinking cold water.

After a few minutes, Tomo Yoshimura signed his opinion on the paper and then closed the document:

"Sorry to keep you waiting~"

"No, no, not at all~" Takeharu Kawahara waved his hands repeatedly. "Otomo-san, why are you in such a hurry to have us come over? Is something wrong with Shizuka-chan?"

"Ah, it's not a bad thing!" Tomo Yoshimura smiled, took a document bag from the table, walked to the sofa, and handed it to Takeharu Kawahara. "This is a song, Shizuka-chan's next song~"

"??" Takeharu Kawahara said in surprise while opening the seal. "But isn't Shizuka-chan's next song already decided?"

"Mm, change it to this one!" Tomo Yoshimura's words were indisputable.

"Uh..."

A song that had already been decided, and it actually had to be changed temporarily?! The changes in manpower and material resources involved were not just a little... Not to mention, was Otomo-san so sure that this song was better than the previous one?!

Takeharu Kawahara and Shizuka Kudo looked at each other, both surprised.

Until he pulled out the sheet music and saw the name on it: "*I Want to Shout I Love You*? Lyrics and composition... Naoki Nagayama?!"

Takeharu Kawahara looked at Tomo Yoshimura in surprise:

"Is this Naoki-san's new song?!"

"Yes..." Tomo Yoshimura picked up his teacup and took a sip. "Naoki-san thinks this song is very suitable for Shizuka-chan, and also believes that Shizuka-chan has reached a critical moment and can push upward! That's why he specially created a new song for her."

Takeharu Kawahara was excited; this was understandable! Why change the song? Because Naoki-san's new song would definitely enter the top ten of the charts!

This was almost an unbreakable theorem!

Shizuka Kudo's previous *Sunshine Girl* had topped the charts for an entire summer! Now that the weather was hot again, people were singing it again!

Shizuka Kudo also took the sheet music very curiously and started to look at it.

"

Although there is no reason for me to be obsessed with you, those arms of yours will never be entangled with mine.

(There is no reason for me to be obsessed with you, yet those arms never entwine)

Before I knew it, my eyes were stolen, and it all began.

I won't let go, I won't waver, crazy for you.

I want to shout that I love you.

Let's take that first step with courage!

"

"..." Looking at these explicit lyrics, the young girl's complexion started to become strange. "What kind of tiger-wolf words are these!"

This was completely a song of confession!

"It's a very enthusiastic song, right?!" Tomo Yoshimura laughed. "This is a very difficult song!

However, Naoki-san believes in Shizuka-chan very much, believes that you will definitely be able to understand the emotions within it, and be able to interpret it very well! That's why he specially created it for you!"

Tomo Yoshimura thought Shizuka Kudo might be a bit excited, and a bit worried about not singing it well, so he continued to encourage her.

Hearing Tomo Yoshimura's words, Shizuka Kudo's heart surged even more!

"What does this mean?!"

"Why would Naoki-san create such an emotionally enthusiastic song for me?! This is a song for someone with a secret crush to confess!"

"And he's sure I'll definitely be able to understand the emotions within it?!"

"Is he interested in me?!"

"..."

Thoughts kept running through her mind, as if a bunch of people were arguing, making Shizuka Kudo's head feel a bit big, but in the end, one thought echoed in her mind, the voice getting louder and louder...

"Doesn't Naoki Nagayama already have Akina Mori?! Why is he interested in me again?!"

Another voice followed closely behind:

"Should I accept Naoki Nagayama?!"

"..."

The latter voice became louder and louder, gradually surpassing the other thoughts, completely occupying Shizuka Kudo's head, making her feel a wave of dizziness.

And at this time, Tomo Yoshimura and Takeharu Kawahara were discussing the subsequent recording and the adjustments for the next song, and also chatted about finding a music teacher for Shizuka Kudo to make up for lessons in her spare time...

Neither of them discovered that Shizuka Kudo's expression was becoming more and more broken... ===== CHAPTER 874 =====