sinovels Chapter 98 Hearing the Sound of Waves
Chapter 98 Hearing the Sound of Waves
Chapter 98 Hearing the Sound of Waves
The highly anticipated drama of "Miyazawa's mother and daughter breaking up" did not end with the righteous side quickly winning, as in a fairy tale.
Instead, with the filing of that lawsuit in the Tokyo District Court, a long and ugly tug-of-war had just begun.
The legal process is very slow.
Although the court has temporarily frozen some of the assets under Guangzi's name, the once shrewd and resourceful "star mom" is still...
They did not surrender without resistance.
Photon is very clever. She knows she is at a disadvantage in terms of legal evidence, so she chooses to make a scene in the public sphere.
She frequently gave interviews to gossip magazines, tearfully accusing her daughter of being "brainwashed by bad men" and "ungrateful" in front of the camera, portraying herself as a pitiful mother who had raised her daughter alone with great difficulty but was eventually abandoned.
In early Heisei era Japanese society, "filial piety" was still a heavy burden on everyone's shoulders.
Despite the solid evidence of the gigolo and embezzlement, as long as Guangzi continues to plead his case, the direction of public opinion will remain uncertain.
"Even if the mother is wrong, isn't going this far too much?"
"Taking his own mother to court, this child is too cruel."
Rie Miyazawa did not gain the freedom she had imagined; instead, she fell into an even deeper vortex.
She was labeled "cold-blooded," "unfilial," and "wicked woman," and every day when she went out, she faced a barrage of reporters with their cameras and microphones, as if she were the one who had committed a heinous crime.
Amidst this suffocating atmosphere of low public opinion, NTV suddenly dropped a bombshell, forcefully diverting everyone's attention.
The news caused an uproar throughout the entertainment industry.
Fans who were originally looking forward to the male lead making a romance film were instantly outraged.
"Kanji Nagao is finally going to act in a romance drama! And it's in this refreshing school setting!"
But then, a huge wave of controversy followed, with the criticism directed at the female lead.
"Why Rie Miyazawa? Is she appropriate to use her now?"
"Is this a publicity stunt? Casting a 'bad girl' currently embroiled in a lawsuit against her mother as an innocent high school girl?"
"Has Kitahara-kun gone mad? This will ruin his reputation!"
Although Kitahara Shin had already exposed Mitsuko's gambling scandal, in the eyes of the public, Rie, who dared to sever blood ties, was still a terrifying anomaly.
Casting her as that innocent girl who needs to run on the beach is practically a provocation to the audience.
The lounge of the Nippon Television Building.
The noise outside was shut out through the thick glass windows.
Rie Miyazawa clutched the thin stack of scripts tightly in her hand.
She wore a simple white dress today, with only light makeup on her face, and looked a size smaller than usual.
After that incident, her arrogant and reckless attitude seemed to have been completely uprooted.
Now, she looks like a small animal that has just escaped from a trap, with every pore on her body open, alert to even the slightest movement around her.
She could sense that the TV station staff had been giving her subtle looks as she walked in.
There was curiosity, disdain, and even malice waiting to see them make a fool of themselves.
If this play is a flop—
If she can't keep up with Kitahara Shin's acting style —
Those who are waiting to trample on her will definitely crush her into the mud, so she will never be able to rise again.
"Your palms are sweaty, you're practically crushing the script in your hand."
A gentle voice sounded overhead.
Rie looked up abruptly, her eyes meeting Kitahara Shin's smiling gaze.
He was dressed casually today, holding two bottles of Ramune soda in his hand, and casually pressed one of the ice-cold bottles against Rie's cheek.
"hiss----"
Rie shrank her neck slightly; the cool touch eased her tense nerves a little.
"senior----"
She took the soda but didn't drink it. Instead, she lowered her head and said in a muffled voice, "People outside are saying that I only got this role because of your connections. They say I'm not worthy of playing your leading lady."
"They're right."
Kitahara Shin pulled out a chair next to him and sat down, his tone as casual as if he were discussing the weather, "You only got into the cast because of my connections. What's there to deny?"
Rie choked for a moment, then suddenly raised her head, her eyes filled with grievance and resentment.
"but."
Kitahara Shin abruptly changed the subject, opening his soda can, the glass marbles falling with a crisp sound. "Whether you can stay in this position, whether you can shut them up, depends on your performance from now on."
He pointed to the script in Rie's hand: "Rikako Muto. You've seen this role, haven't you?"
"I've seen it."
Rie nodded. "She's a transfer student from Tokyo. She's pretty and has good grades, but she has a terrible personality. She takes advantage of the male protagonist, borrows money and doesn't pay it back, and she's indifferent to everyone—she seems like a really annoying girl."
At this point, she expressed some concern, "Won't playing this kind of role make the audience hate me even more?"
"Hate?"
Kitahara Shin shook his head. "You only see the surface. Why did she do that? Because her parents divorced, she was forcibly taken to the countryside, she felt her life was ruined, so she raised her defenses to protect herself and wanted to escape back to Tokyo."
"All her willfulness, arrogance, and exploitation of others were actually her struggles while drowning."
Kitahara Shin looked into Rie's eyes and said, enunciating each word clearly, "Isn't this you?"
Rie was stunned.
She looked at the girl in a sailor uniform on the script cover.
That girl, standing defiantly against the world in the sea breeze of Kochi Prefecture.
Indeed—they look so alike.
The pain of being torn apart by one's family of origin, the despair of wanting to escape but having nowhere to go, and the feigned indifference to hide vulnerability.
"You don't need to think about acting skills or how to please the audience."
Kitahara Shin took a sip of soda, his eyes resolute. "You just need to vent all the grievances you've suffered these past few months, your anger towards your mother, and your urge to run away on this character."
"This movie doesn't need you to act; I just need you to play yourself."
Rie blinked, and a glimmer of light finally appeared in her previously dim eyes.
If that's the case—
If she were to play a bad girl who is also in a quagmire and struggling, then perhaps she really could.
but----
She suddenly realized what Kitahara Shin had just said, and puffed out her cheeks indignantly: "Wait a minute, what do you mean by 'playing yourself'? Senpai, do you mean I'm like Rikako, with a terrible personality, willful, and like to take advantage of people?"
She slammed the script on the table, regaining a bit of her usual spoiled bratness. "I'm not that willful! I'm perfectly obedient, okay!"
Kitahara Shin couldn't help but laugh when he saw her like this.
"That's hard to say."
He stood up, reached out and ruffled her hair, messing up her newly styled hair a little. "That look in your eyes just now was quite similar."
Rie covered her head, watching Kitahara Shin's retreating figure.
Although she was still muttering protests, the fingers holding the script had stopped turning white.
That fear of the unknown seemed to be greatly diluted by that bottle of Ramune soda.
As long as you follow behind him, it doesn't seem like there's anything scary about it.