Chapter 206: Can Minami Yuji Fly? (9000 characters!) (Patreon)

The trip from Ichigo Pro to the address Nakashima Tetsuya had given him didn't take long.

About twenty-odd minutes later.

Minami Yuji pulled off his helmet and looked to one side.

This wasn't the movie set or film company he'd pictured.

It was…

"Kakiya Studio…?"

Reading the white sans-serif lettering on the signboard at the ground-floor entrance, Minami Yuji looked a little surprised.

He was just about to pull out his phone and ask Nakashima Tetsuya how to get inside for the meeting when a voice rang out from the side.

"Oh? Minami-kun's already here. That was quick."

Minami Yuji turned around and was the first to offer a handshake as Nakashima Tetsuya came walking over.

"Ah… Director Nakashima, hello. It's been a while," he said with a smile. Then his voice paused. "Who's this with you?"

Right. Something was different from usual.

A middle-aged man in a formal suit was standing next to Nakashima Tetsuya.

"Ah… this is Kakiya-san, the one I told you about, just back from studying in Hong Kong, China. He's also the action director for our Dragon Among Men."

Nakashima Tetsuya gestured with an outstretched hand as he made the introduction.

"Oh?"

Minami Yuji lifted his face to look.

In his previous life he'd met returnees by the dozen, but a China returnee was a first, never mind a Japanese one.

Most of all… he had no idea how things were back in his old homeland.

Minami Yuji had always wanted to find a chance to visit the Celestial Empire.

But the chance had never come.

Now that he'd finally met someone who was practically a fellow countryman, naturally he was curious.

"Hello, Kakiya-san. I'm Minami Yuji, playing Fujiwara Kazuma."

He stepped forward and held out his hand.

"Eh…?"

Facing Minami Yuji's politely smiling face, Kakiya Kenji froze for a moment.

It wasn't that he found the boy rude. He simply felt a strange sense of kinship.

And it had nothing to do with Minami Yuji's good looks.

Having studied in China for so many years, Kakiya Kenji preferred handshakes to the 45-degree and 90-degree bows that people in Japan broke out at every turn. Handshakes were just cleaner and more direct.

But he was in Japan, surrounded by people who bowed at the drop of a hat, so he had no choice but to do as the Romans did.

And now, at long last, here was an actor who didn't bow in that exaggerated way like everyone else… Naturally, he felt an indescribable warmth toward him.

Smiling and nodding, he held out his hand and shook Minami Yuji's.

"Hello, Minami-kun. I'm Kakiya Kenji. I'll do my best to help you make Dragon Among Men a success. Please, come in, come in."

The two of them nodded to each other and exchanged a few more pleasantries, and that counted as introductions done.

Kakiya Kenji promptly led Minami Yuji and Nakashima Tetsuya into his studio, chatting with Minami Yuji as they walked.

To his surprise, this seemingly very young actor knew China just as well as he did.

In some details of daily life, he even knew more than Kakiya Kenji, who'd only just returned to Japan.

It was as if the boy had once lived in China for a very long time.

That made Kakiya Kenji like him even more. He'd been worried the boy would carry himself with the cocky arrogance of so many young, promising actors.

But now it seemed that was nothing like the case.

Once they were fully inside the studio, Kakiya Kenji seated Minami Yuji and Nakashima Tetsuya, and said with a smile and a sigh of admiration:

"Well, I never expected Minami-kun to know so much about China, and about action films too… With insight like yours, I feel confident about the training ahead."

"Training?" Minami Yuji blinked.

"That's right. Minami-kun, you've read the script for Dragon Among Men. You must know that many of the shots can't use a stand-in and need you on camera yourself. From now on, I want you to make time every so often to come here to Kakiya-san's place for action coaching."

"So that's how it is."

Understanding dawned on Minami Yuji.

He'd already sensed that Nakashima Tetsuya wouldn't have called him over just to meet Kakiya Kenji.

He just hadn't expected it to be about training.

Still… thinking about it a little, it made sense.

The script for Dragon Among Men had plenty of difficult action sequences.

For example, there was one scene where he had to jump from an elevated bridge onto a cargo truck below.

Of course, on the day of the shoot they'd lay foam padding and the like underneath.

But a bad landing could still very well mean an injury.

To prevent that, rehearsals were usually necessary.

Minami Yuji fell into thought.

Watching him ponder, Kakiya Kenji slowly shook his head.

He'd expected the hesitation, really.

After all, most TV dramas and films shot in Japan didn't need much professional action training.

Minami Yuji was young. It was only natural that he wouldn't want to suffer through hardship.

That was what he was thinking when he heard Minami Yuji's voice.

"I don't think it needs to be that much trouble."

Just as I thought?

Hearing that, Kakiya Kenji shook his head and sighed quietly to himself.

It seemed Minami Yuji was about the same as most of the young Japanese actors he'd met.

It was just that…

With an ordinary film shoot, if the lead said something like that, wires and stand-ins would do in a pinch.

But Dragon Among Men was different.

There was no way the actors could skip training entirely, and handling certain scenes with wires would look far too fake.

So whether Minami Yuji liked it or not, this was a hurdle he had to clear.

Thinking that, Kakiya Kenji's expression turned serious, and he was about to speak up and persuade him: "Minami-kun…"

But before he could finish, he heard the rest of Minami Yuji's sentence.

"No need to go to the trouble of waiting until tomorrow. Why don't we just start training right now?"

"Cough, cough, cough!!!"

Kakiya Kenji, who'd been about to persuade Minami Yuji, broke into a violent coughing fit.

His face turned toward Minami Yuji in sheer disbelief.

The thing was…

No need for that much trouble?

Start training today, right away?

Kakiya Kenji was dazed.

He'd met actors with initiative.

But never one with this much initiative.

One second ago the boy had been asked for his wishes and to fix a training schedule.

The next, he already wanted to begin…

Was that a good thing?

The answer, of course, was…

"Sure! Starting today is absolutely no problem."

Kakiya Kenji shot to his feet, suddenly full of energy.

He'd spent the past few days practically begging heaven and earth over this training, terrified that Minami Yuji would turn out to be a frail, prima donna dead weight.

If that had happened, he'd have had the worst luck imaginable.

He'd barely landed this chance as the action director of Dragon Among Men. Wouldn't a dead-weight lead drag him down completely?

But who could have guessed?

Minami Yuji not only lacked the delicate temperament of the average young Japanese actor, he was even asking for training himself…

It was a dream come true!

Nothing else mattered!

Just from that drive alone, he could say with confidence that even if the boy had loose footwork, rubbish stamina and no foundation whatsoever, he could still whip him into respectable shape!

"So this is what the practice room looks like inside."

Minami Yuji let out a cry of surprise.

And he had every reason to.

Right in front of him stood all sorts of strange and wonderful training equipment.

Ropes hung down from a ceiling five or six meters high.

Climbing holds of every color were fixed to the walls.

Two to three meters out, there were walls covered in blue plastic sheeting.

The floor was laid with surprisingly soft exercise mats.

"Normally I have the stunt performers train here."

Kakiya Kenji explained, smiling, what each piece of equipment was for.

"What are those two walls for?"

Hanging on every word and learning plenty, Minami Yuji pointed to the two walls on the other side, five or six meters tall and wrapped in blue plastic sheeting.

"Oh, those? They're for training professional action actors to jump between walls, left and right."

Following the direction of Minami Yuji's finger, Kakiya Kenji chuckled and explained as he'd done before.

"Can I try it?"

"Try it? Ha ha… that's still a bit too early for you, Minami-kun, I think."

Caught off guard by Minami Yuji's request, Kakiya Kenji was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help a soft laugh.

He didn't look down on Minami Yuji at all. In fact, he thoroughly admired the boy's eagerness to learn and train.

But some things aren't a matter of admiration.

As he'd said, the two walls jutting out on the left and right were equipment for professional action actors.

They trained actors to kick off the walls on both sides and climb to the very top at the same time.

And that top was a full six-odd meters high.

In terms of building floors, that was roughly from the first floor to the third.

Even experienced professional action actors wouldn't dare claim they could make it up on the first try.

Let alone Minami Yuji, an actor with no action foundation at all.

Of course, after years as an action director, Kakiya Kenji had seen his share of freaks with terrifyingly high physical stats.

But still…

Reaching the very top on the first look?

How high would the stats have to be for that?

The mere thought made him shake his head. He was clearly overthinking this.

Then he went on, smiling.

"All right, Minami-kun, more importantly, please come over here. Today I'll teach you some basics, breakfalls and wall-straddling moves…"

He didn't finish. His voice suddenly stopped.

His eyes, which had been smiling, went wide.

Because right before his gaping stare,

Minami Yuji's whole body…

took flight…