Empty

I was on the set the whole day. We did some romantic scenes, some gentle looks, same old stuff that people expect of rom-coms. I did enjoy working with such a great cast of actors. Everything was so effortless and easy.

I was craving some coffee. I would drink about 3 to 5 coffees a day. Ha ha.I asked co-star Alana if she wanted one as well.She looked at me with a smile and touched me slightly. "Toma, you are too kind. Someone from the staff could get the coffee for us."

"It's okay. I like to do it, to take a little breather."

"Sure, if it's no problem for you, I would love a cup of coffee," said Alana with a big smile.

I went and grabbed coffee. Then I found Alana, and we found a nice place to drink coffee and chat."What is your dream, Alana?" I asked her this curiously, but also because of my struggle with my dreams.

"It's a big question, Shirakawa." Alana just started with that thinking look on her face.

I interrupted just for a sec. "Please feel free to call me Toma. No need for formality. I know it is not an easy question to answer. I myself struggle with it."

Alana shifted focus onto me and asked me, "What is your dream, Toma?"

"I asked you first. Ha ha, you are not going to escape me. Ha ha," I joked. "Okay, I am not sure of my dream, honestly. That is why I told you I am struggling with it." I took a sip of coffee and looked at her with a smile.

"Hmm, for us actors, probably the dream is to be in a big movie such as this," she said with uncertainty.

Around us, there were no people in close proximity. We were sitting on something that looked like trash cans. The messiness of the big production cast and crew for the movie was a few steps away from us. The noise was usual. The commotion and going back and forward was usual.The lights, sounds, everything was like in a circus-loud, chaotic-but for us, it was just normal.

I enjoyed this short moment with my co-star Alana. She was also young like me, so we probably have time to discover what our dreams are or what we want them to be.We are very privileged to be in a position to be stars in so many romantic movies and series. The opportunity to now work together on this movie will give us even more fame. This is a very privileged position. I am very happy. The only thing that is sad is that not many people have this type of privilege and life.

The day was long. We shot many more scenes. After a full day of work, I was waiting for Dad to pick me up.

"Hmm, no answer. I will try to call him again."

The set was empty, and the street was starting to get empty as well. I started slowly walking in the direction of my home and trying to reach my dad.

My phone rang. It surprised me.

"Hi, son. What is going on? Everything good?" Dad asked me, relaxed and slowly.

I realized by the background noise that he was gambling. Also, by the tone of his voice, I realized he was drunk as well.
"Everything is good. I am done with work. I will go home soon."

My dad slowly replied, with his speech slightly mumbling, "Yeah, I will soon as well, I think I will. Small question, do you have some money?"

"I do. How much?"

"Send me just a little bit. I will return it to you."

"Of course," I said, knowing full well I would never see that money again.

The phone call ended with my dad's words, "I love you, son," and my empty words, "Yeah."

The rain started to fall. I was happy because I loved rain. Nice walk in rain. I am not going to take a cab. No way.I will grab those delicious noodles again. Noodles and rain, perfect combo.

The rain was starting to get heavy. I didn't have an umbrella, because umbrellas are for losers, of course. Why would anyone bring an umbrella ha ha?

I grabbed some noodles for my dad as well. The old gentleman who was making noodles in this dark alley was pleasant and nice, as he was last time.

The wind was soft and carried the scent of flavorful noodles. I was soaking wet but didn't care, actually, now that I got noodles. I can't say that I even cared before. Ha ha. The rain is so nice. Why hide from it?

I was climbing the stairs and amazingly saw this beautiful woman with an incredible red umbrella. That umbrella was maybe the second prettiest thing I saw, right after this woman. She looked so sharp and ideal. For a flash of a second, I offered her a big smile and then went on my way.I was walking toward my home, thinking if I saw this woman somewhere before, and I think I definitely did. I think I saw her at the same place once before. It must be her. There is no way that I am mistaken.

Well, in any case, I can't wait to get home. It is a little bit empty now, but I have these beautiful noodles. Oh God, I love food so much. It makes me warm and happy. Maybe I could even make some cold lemonade with these noodles.

The next few days, I had a busy schedule of acting on sets and doing press. Media was usually good to me, and they didn't bring up my dad much, probably out of pity or something. I don't know.

My agent came to me with a crazy idea, to have a debate on television, something easy to boost my popularity even higher. I said, "Sure, let's do it. I trust you, senpai."

The debate was scheduled on big television next Friday against one opponent.I was confident that this would be easy and just a publicity grab for both me and whoever I was debating or talking about, whatever.

On the set, the work was amazing. Today, Alana and I were scheduled to have a kissing scene. We did it professionally, and it was good, I think. Alana said it was maybe a little empty, the kiss. I said we could try again if the producer thinks it was not good enough. The producer thought it was amazing.

"Hey, Toma, I realized what my dream could be," Alana said unsurely.

"Ooh, wow! Tell me, tell me!"

"My dream is to be free," she said happily with a smile.

My face brightened up. My cheeks started to get a red color. My eyes got excited. "That sounds amazing, Alana. Let us both become free," I said genuinely.

She smiled back. "Let's do it."

A few blocks away in the center of Tokyo, in the House of Representatives of the government, in one office, an interesting proposal came on the table of one calculated and very popular politician.On Akari's table, the proposal to be in a television debate with some very famous young actor came. This interesting idea was a great opportunity to gather popularity, which for Akari meant no dilemma in taking an opportunity like this.Akari let her assistant know that she would participate in this debate, thinking that this would be just some empty publicity stunt to boost her ratings and popularity.

Akari grabbed some folders and papers on debates just to prepare slightly.Her phone rang, and annoyed, she answered, "Hey, Mom, it is not a great moment now."

Mum, with a quiet voice, almost always sounding sad, Akari could never tell if it was sadness in her mom's voice, started to ask about everything, dating life again, and so on.

"I really don't have time for this, Mum. Are you okay? Do you need anything?" Akari asked with not too much thought put into those words.

"Everything is okay, sweetheart," Mum said with this weird voice that Akari could not quite figure out.

"Bye, Mum," Akari said and hung up, thinking how these conversations sometimes have no purpose or results.

Akari stared at a bunch of papers on her desk, many numbers and calculations that could make anyone's head spin. She looked at those papers, and just for a couple of seconds, she could not shake this feeling of emptiness and loss. But after that flash moment, she returned to focus, preparing for this publicity stunt debate that was next Friday.

Minutes were passing by, and as she was preparing for this debate, she started to get a little bit more excited than usual.

I wonder if this actor is good-looking, she thought to herself.

The days were passing by like airplanes in the sky, like fish in the water.

The day of the television debate was here. The studio was still empty. Cameras were turned off. The lights were off. Everything was still in the moment, like a picture.

In this studio, many things happened. There is opportunity for many more things to happen in the future.
Many dreams can become reality in a studio big like this. But in just a few moments, this studio will become irrelevant as the focus will be on just two people that can't be more different.

Is the public going to react well to this debate? Will this debate go horribly wrong? Maybe we will never know.