Chapter 32: Seiyuu's Veiled Intention

“To become a successful voice actor, an audition is one of the method. Consistent practices, voice tuning, and acting lessons could help adding on the talent. Plentiful of helpful tips one could imply to prepare himself for an audition, and one of them was applying acting skills. Other than that, one must study the script given prior to the audition day, and do slate fittingly to the purpose of the voice acting taking place.” – Narrator.

Never ever once they got their eyes away from the guy. Fuku has introduced him as Miyu, one of the company’s voice actor. Despite the young age, he has been casted in five anime as supporting characters, and the one he demonstrated was as a main character of <Hush> movie. The reason behind his success was mainly because he has begun his voice acting career at a young age, similarly to Mura.

In comparison to The Seiyuu Club, the Miyu guy seemed much more promising in his job. But, he could act like an adult, which fascinated them to the point they could not ignore his demonstration. The three older men, believably the juries, discussed among themselves and nodded.

Miyu came out of the platform and comfortably sat on a chair when someone of The Seiyuu Club dashed to him. He was startled by the sudden appearance, but his beaming smile never ceased, almost like Fuku. Tilting his head on one side, his twitching eyebrows depicted his curiosity.

“Yes, may I help you?” Miyu happily asked. Or actually, it was just like his nature to readily curve a genuine smile for whoever approaching him. “I’m sorry that I didn’t recognize you. Have we met somewhere beforehand?”

“Oh, no, no! We haven’t even once!” Aki shook his head vigorously.

From a very clear view affront, The Seiyuu Club gradually flocked around the perplexed Miyu. He was not informed about the presence of these people by his manager, but it did not allow him to act rudely either.

“Good job for today’s audition, Miyu-kun!” Fuku clapped and thumbed up at the younger. “I’ll tell briefly about them to you. This is The Seiyuu Club of Bushida Academy, the high school students I’ve told you last time. They came here originally for discussion regarding their contract, but I invited them here. I hope you won’t mind.”

Miyu blushed a little, due to embarrassment, but he did not get mad. “Yes, surely you can! It’s just that,” he fidgeted with his fingers, “it was my first time to be surrounded like this.”

The Seiyuu Club grasped what he meant, so they slowly dismissed the circle. But, they lined up on both sides of Fuku, except the inspired Aki beside Miyu. Miyu smiled widely at him.

“Miyu-san! Thank you for your hard work! You are really powerful! I think you could see us gaping from the juries’ table!” Aki frantically grasped Miyu’s hands and shook them vigorously. “I’m so jealous!”

“Oh, no! I’m still learning. Besides, I’m not that good though. I mean,” Miyu glanced at the smirking Fuku, “Fuku-san and his friends are much better than me.”

“Don’t be shy,” Aki leisurely patted on Miyu’s shoulder, “You really are the best! I’m your fan!”

Miyu casually skimmed over the faces in The Seiyuu Club when his sight landed on Mura. He frowned at the latter’s presence. “Mura-san? What are you doing here?”

It was the second time that Mura’s real name has been exposed. The seniors looked at each other, wondering who Mura-san was. The stiffened Ishi and the ‘dead’ Mura stayed quiet, literally contemplating. However, an interruption by one of the seniors shocked them.

“He’s just teaching us how to voice act,” Taku calmly replied, “He’s really nice to us, despite the rumours about him.”

“I see,” A sigh escaped from Miyu. “I hope you’ll return soon, Mura-san. I heard the anime you’re supposed to act is holding their production. They wait for you, Mura-san.”

Their eyes widened as much when Mura suddenly replied, “Thank you for your concern, Miyu-san,” Mura realized he has become the center of attention, but he glimpsed at the worried Tori and Ishi by his side, reassuring his position among The Seiyuu Club.

One of the juries rose from his seat, bringing an empty glass to the water dispenser for a refill. He passed by the teens and decided to stop by. Fuku greeted him like a best friend, and it turned out that he really was.

“Good morning, everyone!” the man lifted his empty glass in the air, like he prompted a toss. “How are you for now?”

The entire club and Miyu bowed at the man, respecting him since he was one of the juries. It must be that he was a person of much higher position in the company. The man rolled his eyes for being bowed at.

“Get up all of you. Sheesh, I should be telling earlier. Just treat me like how you treat Fuku, okay? Casually with the littlest hint of formalities,” The man scratched the back of his head. “You can call me Kenji-san!”

“Kenji-san?!” Aki cried as if he was in disbelief. “Kenji-san, the voice actor of Provoker in <Fire Rescuer>? And the same voice actor of Nari Akihito in <ID Destroyer>? I remember your voice, Sir!”

The man admitted himself as Kenji-san blinked in mixed astonishment and confusion over Aki’s enthusiasm. He averted from Aki’s glistering eyes and gestured at the shrugging Fuku. Somehow, he had no choice but to play along. “Uh, yes. All those characters were acted by me.”

“How cool!” Aki shouted louder. “I can’t believe it that we could meet Fuku-san and Kenji-san here!”

The situation was indifferent to a girl who has fallen head over heel to an idol, and she shrieked once the idol was standing in front of her. Aki could not curb his excitement that Tori had no choice but to drag him further from Kenji-san. Ishi and Mura bowed to apologize until Kenji-san had to stop them.

“It’s okay, it’s okay!” Kenji-san let out a giggle. “It’s just that it was my first time seeing a fanatic fan like him. What’s his name?”

“He’s Aki, Kenji-kun, the one you saw in the frame,” Fuku head locked Aki, teasingly poked his cheek. “I’ve warned you, Kenji-kun. You must be shocked once he’s here.”

A loud guffaw by Kenji-san denoted his fondness. “I like you, kid! Thank you for liking me!” He wiped his emerging tears by his eye tips. “So, why did you come? Are you joining the audition? You’re a club, right?”

“That’s right, Kenji-san,” Matsu as the president of The Seiyuu Club answered. Ishi has done great in becoming a middle man between the club and Fuku’s company, therefore he thought of contributing whatever he could do at the moment. “We are The Seiyuu Club from Bushida Academy. For half a year, we’ve practiced thoroughly in voice acting, and even trying variety of methods to improve ourselves.”

As Matsu was still talking, indirectly promoting themselves to Kenji-san, the elder suddenly bent and drew his face close to Matsu’s. His ogling eyes and raised brows remarked his curiosity, yet the students could not figure out what the matter was.

“You don’t have to be afraid of Kenji-san,” Miyu had to intervene since he witnessed how shook Matsu has been. “He’s just analyzing you. I’m sorry that I realized this late – we haven’t had a time for proper introduction, have we?”

“Ah,” only then Ishi came to his sense. He was too engrossed with the whole setup especially after he has watched Miyu’s captivating performance. “What if we begin from the seniors?”

“All right!” Matsu stepped forward and straightened his hand, “My name is Matsu, a third year. I’m The Seiyuu Club’s president. Nice to meet you!” he bowed low and quickly backed off to give space for Nami.

“I’m Nami, another third year in The Seiyuu Club. I’m the vice president, and a total opposite in personality to Matsu,” Nami paused to evade from Matsu’s swinging arm.

“Matsu and Nami, huh?” They did not notice from where Kenji-san fetched the pieces of papers in his hand, believably their resume. “Nice idea! You guys directly translated your respective names to English and rebranded yourselves as utaite. Am I right?”

Right off the bat! The mentioned third-years gaped in disbelief as Kenji-san’s assumption was indisputably correct. “Y- Yes, Kenji-san.”

“Good job!” Kenji-san thumbed up towards Matsu and Nami, or basically, towards Wave and Wood. “I like your voice! I’ve watched everyone’s song covers on Utube, superbly sang! I don’t know how you guys practiced, but those songs really suit your voices! Which means,” he slyly smirked at the other members of The Seiyuu Club, “The three of you is Tashikani!”

Kaji, Shimo and Taku cowered at Kenji-san’s sharp deduction. It must be it – those three have been together ever since they entered the Audition Room. If one acknowledged Tashikani as three people singing as a group, thus relating them to the harmonious voice mergence in the song covers, people would discover that Tashikani was actually Taku, Shimo and Kaji’s first name syllable.

“We are,” Kaji stuttered, yet he had the urge to speak out on behalf of Tashikani, “I’m Kaji. These are Taku and Shimo. We’re the second-years in The Seiyuu Club.”

“I’ve guessed it right! Fuku, pat my head!” Kenji-san shouted till the floor quaked due to his resonating sound.

He sounded childish, but Fuku did not seem to ill-treat him. Fuku did pat Kenji-san’s head, as if he was congratulating and celebrating the event. The atmosphere somehow altered into an utterly carefree air, like nothing serious has taken place just now.

“You guys are the new utaite on Utube? For real?” Miyu grabbed Kaji’s hands and shook them vigorously, purely in excitement. His shimmering eyes portrayed his happiness to be able to encounter actual utaite for the first time in his life. “You won’t believe it! Tashikani and Wave and Wood in my sight! I have been repeating your covers for ages! My mom gets sick of my passion, but I definitely won’t stop!”

Kenji-san furrowed at the documents, thinking over something deeply. His twitching brows depicted his wonder, and instead of asking Fuku, he undoubtedly question the utaite. “It’s written here that you were applying for voice acting? Didn’t you find it strange?”

“It’s what we call an opportunity over another opportunity,” Fuku cuddled Nami and Matsu on the shoulders, “From appearing in the public as utaite, they will fit themselves in our world as voice actors too.”

“I disagree,” Kenji-san pulled a pout, out of nowhere, “They sing really well. It’s a waste if they are just utaite!” He dramatically bent his upper body backward to sigh, “I suggest you to just sign up as singers!”

There were mixed emotion displayed on each of them. Nami and Matsu seemed contented despite their small smiles, Taku stoned while standing, hence Kaji and Shimo frowned probably in disbelief. “Can we know what the reason is?” Taku gently asked.

“Simple. You guys are talented singers. Neither utaite nor voice actor are enough!” Kenji-san thumped his own chest, “Please accept my offer! Be our singers!”

Only then, the five of them shrieked in thrill over Kenji-san’s suggestion. Ishi took a glance of Aki, Tori and Mura behind him. Ever since the introduction session kicked off, the first-years have been keeping quiet. He pondered if they were watching the scene, or they were swayed by the unknown future of their visit on that day. Ishi gave a nudge at Mura to startle him, but Mura budged only a little.

“I don’t really mind because I’m in another company,” Mura said monotonously. “However, I didn’t think there would be another founder of Fuku-san’s company who would scare Aki.”

Ishi stared at the serious Mura. He knew Mura was not playing around like how he used to be. “What do you mean, Mura?”

Clenching fists and gritting teeth, Mura could not retain himself from keeping his observance as a secret. At least, he should have one more person to discuss with. “I don’t know why, but to me Aki is currently trembling in fear. Look at him, acting all friendly, but he didn’t realize it was inauthentic.”

Both of them were staring at Aki. Ishi tried figuring out Aki’s actual emotion on his face, but he was not good in reading countenance. In his sight, Aki seemed just fine.

“I think he knows that Kenji-san is in this company. Though Kenji-san is older in age but childish in mannerism, Aki could see the fact that Kenji-san has far different course of mind than Fuku-san. From how I’ve observed today, Kenji-san is actually rejecting Fuku-san’s recommendation, too bad that Aki understood this completely,” the accumulating lump in Mura’s throat felt suffocating. “I believe Miyu-san and other voice actors in this company were recruited by Kenji-san, and he won’t let Fuku-san get the same advantages as him. Therefore, his solution is to put The Seiyuu Club as singers instead of voice actors, and Aki is afraid that he might get kicked out too.”