Chapter 13

“Hey Harto, have you heard?” Ian asked the second I arrived in class. I thought he wanted to talk about something important, like homework or quizzes, but what he said next made me feel disappointed in worrying in the first place.

“Carol is getting a role for the new movie.”

“... Which one?”

“She hadn’t told you?”

I shook my head. People involved in a project rarely announce the project ahead of the official announcement. If anything, I’m pretty sure their contracts often banned them from speaking up. Besides, Carol had nothing to gain from telling me. While I would celebrate her success, I had no reason to know ahead of time.

“Ah, right! I heard about it this morning!” Nadia said, joining in.

“Carol… huh? Isn’t she the voice actress from the other class?” one of our classmates said.

“Yeah. Now that I think about it, we do have several famous people here,” Ian murmured.

Carol wasn’t as social as Nadia, so she didn’t have as large a following. That didn’t mean she had no fame. She had her own group of fans. Many people respected her, and had it not been for her membership in the photography club, the radio club would have snatched her. Their president still came to invite her every once in a while, but she always declined.

“I wonder why…” I asked.

“Despite you yourself being here?”

While Eteralia didn't have a large school building, it had a long history. People considered it an elite school. It had a high acceptance rate for public universities when compared to other private schools, and it also had a lot of connections with universities all around the world. Students here didn’t need to worry about the future, or at least, the brochure said that.

The reason I came here was that I came from Eteralia’s middle school division. As to why my parents enrolled me in the middle school division… I had no idea. They recommended this school when I moved out of Solo.

“I mean, why did you come here, Ian?”

Unlike me and Carol, Ian came here during high school.

“It’s close to home, that’s all.”

“But you went to a different middle school?”

“We lived in a different place until the last year of middle school. I had to spend an hour in the car on a one-way trip for my last year.”

“Ah, I see.”

I have never been to Ian’s place, although he did say he didn’t need to expend a lot of effort to go home. Carol and Nadia, on the other hand, had someone to pick them up and drive them to school.

“I guess it’s kind of complicated to transfer in between semesters, huh…” Only after saying that, I realize we had someone who transferred in during an odd time.

“Haha, I’m one of those with weird cases.” Nadia laughed it off.

She didn’t seem too bothered, although I did feel bad bringing it up. Carol had asked her why she transferred, but she didn’t give us a clear reason. We both agreed not to bring it up, yet I accidentally did just that.

“Sorry.”

“No, it’s alright. I mean, it’s right, right? Who transfers in at such a weird time?”

“I guess, yeah.”

“That reminds me, Nadia. Didn’t Lily’s Long Adventure end? You haven’t gotten any projects, have you?” another one of our classmates said.

“Oh, right… What have you been up to?”

Now that they mentioned it, Lily’s Long Adventure did end just recently. It completed its long run of five years. To be fair, Lily looked very different from when she first began acting. She looked nowhere near the child actress she used to be. She had grown, and probably no longer fit the show.

“Well… I decided to take a break. Focus on high school,” Nadia said.

The conversation seemed to have taken the attention of the class. Despite the class being loud just a moment ago, most of the conversations happening around us had ended, and more people surrounded Nadia.

“I mean, I haven’t been able to live an active middle school life because of it.”

“Right, you must be really busy,” the class president said.

“Didn’t they propose a continuation of the series? Basically, a show with the teenage version of Lily?”

I think I had heard that rumor before. Lily’s Long Adventure had been so much of a success that they wanted to make it longer. Nadia, as Lily, could no longer go back to her childhood form, and they wanted to capture the vibe she had as a host, so some people said that there existed plans to continue it, but as a teenage show. Nadia would not just tackle the character as someone older, but the show would discuss more serious topics as well.

“Wasn’t it cancelled because they didn’t want to lose the show’s charm?” Ian asked.

Some people feared that forcing it to continue would make the show lose its magic. A show about a kid exploring the world, learning a lot of new things, and most importantly of all, having fun. Discussing more serious topics would damage that vibe.

“You can say it’s because of that,” Nadia whispered.

“What was that, Nadia?” Class Prez asked.

“Ah, nothing. It’s just, you know, contracts and stuff. I can’t talk too much about this.”

Class Prez clasped her hands together. “Sorry for that!”

“It’s alright.” Nadia waved her hand.

•••

“Congratulations on your project!”

“Congratulations!”

The three of us met in a sushi restaurant after school. Since we came here to celebrate Carol’s new project, Nadia wanted to go somewhere private. Somewhere where neither of them would be disturbed by people wanting to take pictures. This sushi place had private rooms, meant for family gatherings, but it worked in our favor today.

It’s also all-you-can-eat. Ring a bell and give them your order.

“Thank you,” Carol replied calmly, but I could see the happiness hiding behind her eyes. Despite her usual calm and serene demeanor, you could see her emotions if you knew where to look.

“Still, a movie? That’s epic!”

I nodded in agreement. It was huge news.

“When will the recording start?”

“It already began, actually.”

“Oh? But you didn’t seem too busy.”

If anything, she had a lot of time. She often appeared to edit our manga, and she hung out with us often as well.

“You’re not stretching yourself thin, are you?”

Carol shook her head. “I have a private studio at home. It’s more than enough for them.”

“Ah, right. I heard most of your voice would be through a telephone.”

Carol played the role of a mysterious boss. The movie was based on a comic. In this comic, the main characters needed to solve a murder. Throughout the story, a mysterious boss would guide them along the way. Her identity was clouded by mystery, and she kept the detectives questioning her true intentions. Based on the comic, she wouldn’t appear on screen at all, although that might change in the movie.

“So you didn’t have to worry about your voice sounding different?”

Carol nodded. “Surprisingly, the director insists that I use my own recording studio. He says it adds to the mysterious air around it.”

I could see that. A character who never appeared on screen, who always spoke in puzzles. It would be best if her voice sounded a bit different.

“I heard they have a couple of famous VAs involved.”

“Yes.” Carol began listing some of the people involved. I didn't know a lot of them, but I have heard about their names.

“And Rizka Radani.”

For a moment, I saw Neila tensed up. “Ah, Rizka. Right…”

“Is something up?” Carol asked.

Nadia relaxed again. “No, I’m just surprised. I didn’t know she did voice acting, and I never heard she had any intentions to go into that field, so it’s a real shock to hear it.”

“.... I didn’t know the details of her assignment, but I knew she played a side character.”

“She played Keth, one of the antagonists,” I said.

I had looked up the cast, surprised to see some names I recognized. After reading through the cast, I read through the entire story. The physics teacher didn't feel well, so he taught for an hour and then gave us an assignment. After that, he returned to the teachers’ room, leaving us up to our own devices. I could study physics at home, though. After reading through it during lunch, I was too curious to wait.

“Are those spoilers?” Nadia asked.

I shook my head. They knew she would be an antagonist from the start. She has bothered the detective efforts since they first met her. What they didn’t know was how much of a role she would play in the story, and this part I wouldn’t tell Nadia, because it does count as spoiler.

“From the start, Keth will be bothering the detectives because of a grudge from several years prior.”

“I see. That must be a deep grudge.”

“Yeah.” Before I could accidentally spoil the story, I lifted up my glass.”Anyway, to Carol’s new project!”

“Yeah!”

We toast to a glass of warm water.