Deeper and Deeper

Chapter 2

Orientation Venue

Workshop Organizer Icon
Workshop Organizer

There are two special instructors for the director course. One of them is here with us today.

Sakaki-san, could we ask you to say a few words?

Sakaki Icon
Sakaki

—Of course

ArcLand Cast A Icon
ArcLand Cast A

Hey...… wait. “Sakaki”…... could it really be…?

ArcLand Director Icon
ArcLand Director

Y-yeah… looks like it…

Sakaki Icon
Sakaki

—Hello. I suppose most of you are meeting me for the first time?

I’m Koryu Sakaki, and I’ll be one of your workshop instructors

Tsukasa Icon
Tsukasa

Koryu Sakaki…!!?

Emu Icon
Emu

I’ve seen him on TV before! He’s a famous director, right?

Rui Icon
Rui

…..That’s right.

Koryu Sakaki, he became a renowned director overnight when he won the Kikukawa Jiro Theatre Award as the youngest ever recipient.

He’s famous for his highly artistic productions, yet he’s made a name for himself in entertainment too, with lots of films and TV shows to his credit.

Tsukasa Icon
Tsukasa

Yeah. You see his name in the credits of pretty much every major hit.

Nene Icon
Nene

And he’s popular overseas too, right? Even heritage theatres invite him.

I remember reading in a magazine that he’s “Japan’s busiest director at the moment”…...

Emu Icon
Emu

Whoa~ I wonder what kind of person he is?

Tsukasa Icon
Tsukasa

Indeed. The image his work projects is that of a true artist, someone very particular about every detail…....

Sakaki Icon
Sakaki

I’m not really the kind of person who’s great at teaching others but—

ArcLand has done a lot for me, so I couldn’t bring myself to turn them down.

So feel free to take whatever bits of my talk you find useful and ignore the rest.

Here’s to making it a good experience for all of us.

Tsukasa Icon
Tsukasa

…He seems much more approachable than I’d thought

Nene Icon
Nene

Yeah. Didn’t expect that, honestly…

Rui Icon
Rui

(…He certainly is an intriguing man)

(Every stage production Koryu Sakaki has done is one-of-a-kind)

(Be it a complex absurdist play or an entertainment-heavy show…... everything he does has its own distinct “color”.)

(He digs deep into the human psyche, balancing beauty and ugliness in one, there’s an intense allure to them.)

.......They really did bring in someone extraordinary.

Sakaki Icon
Sakaki

……Heh.

Rui Icon
Rui

(……? Just now—)

Nene Icon
Nene

Rui? What’s wrong?

Rui Icon
Rui

Ah, no. It’s nothing.

(Just now, he reminded me of someone for a second, but…...)

(……Maybe I’m imagining it.)

Workshop Organizer Icon
Workshop Organizer

Thank you, Sakaki-san.

Our other instructor will be connecting in remotely from overseas due to scheduling conflicts.

As for who it is—

Wonderland SEKAI

MEIKO Icon
MEIKO

Oh wow! Sounds like that workshop was really something!

Tsukasa Icon
Tsukasa

Yeah! It was only the general briefing this time, but—

The environment they’ve prepared and the instructors were all just amazing!

Nene Icon
Nene

It was easily a hundred times fancier than I pictured… I couldn’t stop being surprised….....

Emu Icon
Emu

Nene-chan, you were so exhausted once the explanation wrapped up.

Luka Icon
Luka

Oh dear~ Are you alright?

Nene Icon
Nene

I’m fine. It just overwhelmed me a little…

Having world-level professionals teach us is such an incredibly rare opportunity for us.

Tsukasa Icon
Tsukasa

That’s right. As long as we face this challenge straight on like we always do, we’ll come out stronger.

We’ll give it everything we’ve got!

Emu Icon
Emu

Wooo!!

MEIKO Icon
MEIKO

Hehe. You’re all so fired up!

Rui Icon
Rui

…………

Luka Icon
Luka

Rui-kun, what’s wrong?

Don’t tell me you’re getting sleepy~?

Rui Icon
Rui

Huh?

Luka Icon
Luka

You’ve been looking a bit spaced out for a while now

Rui Icon
Rui

No, I’m fine

It’s just that… well… it hasn’t really sunk in for me yet.

MEIKO Icon
MEIKO

Hasn’t sunk in?

Rui Icon
Rui

For the directors’ workshop, there are supposed to be two special instructors joining from outside.

One is Koryu Sakaki, one of Japan’s top directors right now. And the other one is—

Flashback

Director Icon
Director

The rich, the poor, the wise, the foolish, the majority, the minority, none of that matters.

Everyone laughs, cries, and gets angry together—

And when the show ends, they’re connected by the same feelings.

That’s the kind of show I want to keep making.

Because beyond that connection, I’m sure there’s an amazing world we’ve yet to see!

Young Rui Icon
Young Rui

…………

Flashback Ends

Rui Icon
Rui

——Tom Gray.

He’s the director I’ve always looked up to.

Luka Icon
Luka

So that means you’ll get to learn directing from the person you’ve admired all this time?

Rui Icon
Rui

That’s pretty much it

...…Maybe that’s why I feel so ungrounded right now.

Tsukasa Icon
Tsukasa

…I get that feeling, trust me!

When I found out Amami-san was watching my performance, I was so shocked I thought I was dreaming!

Rui Icon
Rui

Fufu, yeah. I never imagined something like this would happen to me.

If my younger self heard this, he’d never believe it.

MEIKO Icon
MEIKO

…...I see. So he’s that special to you, Rui-kun.

Luka Icon
Luka

Hehe. It'd be such a wonderful thing to tell young Rui about.

How future you will put in so, so much effort—

—and one day, you’ll get to meet the director you admire.

Tsukasa Icon
Tsukasa

Rui! This is a chance you worked for!

I know you’re nervous, but time to switch gears and give it everything you’ve got!

Emu Icon
Emu

Do your best, Rui-kun!

Luka Icon
Luka

Zzz… zzz…

…Rui-kun, go for it~♪…

MEIKO Icon
MEIKO

Luka sure talks clearly in her sleep!

Rui Icon
Rui

…Fufu.

Thank you, everyone. I’ll give it my all and learn as much as I can.

Translation
Usagi
Proofreading
Usagi
QA