This title is too long!:Volume2 Chapter5

Volume 2 Chapter 5 - May 8, I was touched by her

I'm a High School Boy and a Bestselling Light Novel author, strangled by my female classmate who is my junior and a voice actress.

This is my current predicament.

She—

Eri Nitadori continued to choke the sides of my carotid pulse with her icy hands.

Her hands were really, really cold. I could feel time from the sides of my neck.

I remained prone on the floor, and Nitadori was crouched on me. The only thing appearing in my sights was her upper body.

That would mean her hands reaching at my neck, her face, and the long black hair draped down the sides like curtains.

The backlight dimmed her teary face. It look really tragic.

Having cried so much, the tears gathered on the inside of her glasses, and slowly rained upon my cheeks. The tears fell gently, wetting my face little by little.

Nitadori opened her mouth, probably trying to say something. Once she was done inhaling, she uttered,

"W—"

It's long,

"h—"

In fact, it's probably rather fast.

"y—"

But I guess it's rather slow to my ears.

Why?

Why did things end up like this?

The ghost lights continued to linger in front of my eyes.

 

May 8, Thursday.

I took the usual Limited Express train from the local station, and sat at the usual seat.

It was the week after Golden Week ended, and the number of passengers riding were obviously fewer than the prior week. I might say it was back to normal.

The weather was clear, but the gusts were strong since morning.

My body shook violently along with the gusts as I waited for the train on the platform. It was said that there were strong winds in Kanto, where I am going to, but I hope the train won't delay because of this.

I hear the announcement in the train before it departed--

I recalled the After Record during the prior week.

 

Last Friday, at the After Record of the 'Vice Versa'.

Nitadori was dressed in plain clothing easy for moving in, and arrived earlier than the editor-in-charge and me, greeting her seniors over and over again.

Then, the recording began.

 

The 5th episode of the anime--

The last battle in the first volume of 'Vice Versa' was about to begin.

The first half of the anime episode was dubbed as 'part A', and Shin knew of Sin's struggles.

Sin would only show his tender side to his little sister Ema. In fact, Sin hated war, but understood that only a crusade could save his country.

And so Shin, who unwittingly knew of this, decided to take Sin's place so that Shin's country would not be 'defeated' in battle.

Shin disguised himself as Sin, and deliberately allowed himself to be captured by Pluto's forces.

In the ancient city where the enemy's main army was stationed, Shin was dragged to Pluto--and easily revealed to be an imposter.

We caught Sin! The subordinates were exuberant, but Pluto retorted,

"You fools! He's just an imposter who really looks alike! Does this guy's eyes look like one of a King?"

Shin nodded,

"I suppose."

And Pluto stood in front of Shin, smiling amicably,

"Well, I do praise you for having the guts to sneak in alone."

"Th-thank you very much! Can I head back now?"

"Sure, I shall send you on your way."

And with that, Pluto personally drew the sword, and sliced Shin apart.

His corpse broke apart.

After that was the commercial.

 

The anime After Record--

Before recording every main segment, they would have rehearsals, (Typically, it would be twice, but if the recording time they arranged for at the studio was insufficient, they would go through with once), actual recording, checks for mistakes, and preview records.

I don't know how it goes for other anime, but this is the case for 'Vice Versa'.

 

The break after Part A's recording was about to end.

They were about to start recording 'Part B'.

At the beginning of part B, Meek finally spoke for the first time.

 

This pretty glasses girl who sits behind me in class, who sat beside me in the train the day prior, and loved horse sashimi--

Had the script in hand, facing the thick soundproof glass, standing in front of the microphone.

Right beside her is a famous male voice actor playing the role of Shin. He's rather handsome, has amazing acting skills, and practically had no NGs in the recording of part A.

I--

And most of the people there realized it.

Nitadori's script was shaking terribly.

 

Of course, the script of paper and ink wouldn't shake on its own.

Nitadori's left hand was shaking slightly.

The left hand wasn't shaking much, but the front end of the script was shaking rather hard.

Nitadori's mouth was opened slightly, and she appeared to be muttering something.

Even the powerful microphone could not pick up on the voice, so I guess she probably was just muttering in her mind. This continued on for a while.

Her hands were shivering, her mouth moving as though she was chanting a spell.

I wondered how nervous Nitadori really was--

I was in a safe zone buffered by a layer of class, and I couldn't comprehend that at all.

It was the first time she was voicing a named character.

The first scene where her character would speak.

And inside this studio, the one who really 'wanted to run away at this moment'--

Was me.

But no matter my thoughts, the monitors everywhere aired the animation.

The production of the anime 'Vice Versa' appeared to have gone really well, and most of the animation was already comparable to the quality of the actual broadcast (though without the voices).

I heard from the editor-in-charge that this was a rare occurrence.

It was said that during the After Record of most anime, the visuals showed--

Would typically be the moments of the characters, uncolored, or hand-drawn manga styled straight from the storyboard.

In such moments, they would use the character names and marks to indicate the moments the voice actors are to speak.

According to an editorial I saw on a magazine, if the anime is complete, it would be much easier for the participating voice actors to follow the expressions of the characters.

 

Part B--

At the beginning of that scene was Meek, pushing a wheelbarrow that contained the severed parts of Shin.

The location was the dark basement of the castle, where nobody else was at.

Meek was obeying her master's orders, silently pushing the wheelbarrow to dump the corpse.

She threw Shin's corpse into an underground drain that acted as the waterway, and there were several ploops heard.

Meek was about to return after she was done with her mission, but she turned around upon hearing water, and found Shin revived--

"KYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

Meek's first line was a shrill, long, long, long scream.

In the novel's narration, I wrote,

"Her scream shook all the stones forming the tunnel"

 

I liked seeing all kinds of animation, and viewed the voice actors as stars.

So, during the 5 weeks I observed the After Record, I was so happy that I forgot I was working, and I enjoyed the actors' performances as much as I could.

The performance of these famous voice actors is really amazing, and I feel really moved every week to be able to personally witness their performance.

And then--

As for that rookie voice actress who is younger than I am, the girl was so nervous, her hand was shivering all this time.

"KYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

Her performance did not move the underground rocks, but instead, moved something deep within my heart.

I didn't remember exactly when Nitadori's hand stopped shaking.

The shaking of a script couldn't be recorded, so she probably regained her composure before the recording began.

I was completely mesmerized by her vocal performance that was displayed before my eyes.

 

Shin, who was supposed to be a corpse in pieces, revived after his body dipped in the water, and he emerged from it.

Why did he take so long to revive? The readers would often comment when it came to this point. My main focus back then was to express, and back then, I didn't notice this part at all.

Also, since Shin was chopped up, the clothes on his body fell off, so in this scene, Shin was naked.

Stark naked as he stood in front of her.

"..."

Meek shrieked, and fell limp on the floor, remaining silently.

Normally, in a novel, this will be passed off as an ellipsis--

But in an anime, a voice actor will use a breath to indicate the reason why a character is remaining silent. In this situation, all Meek felt was fear.

I heard Nitadori's breathing as she shivered due to fear.

"Arghh! It's cold! I'm freezing!"

And Shin deliberately said such exaggerated words so that this girl (though she's a homunculus) who's timidly looking up at him wouldn't feel scared.

"Erm, sorry for scaring you--eh, woah!"

Then, Shin realized that he was naked, but there was nothing that he could use to cover his body.

"It's cold!"

Shin had his back turned on Meek, rubbing his body with both arms.

Till this point, I saw that Shin's crotch was nicely covered by Meek's body or the torch on the wall--

Looks like a little bare butt is okay.

Then, Meek asked,

"A-are...you not going to kill me?"

Instead, Shin turned back, asking with a dumbfounded look.

"Hm? Why?"

"I'm your enemy...I intend to kill you."

Meek slowly stood up, and finished her words.

"Ah...well, but...I guess that's fine. Go ahead if you want to kill me. That'll be useless though, so I don't really recommend that you do that..."

"...?"

"Well, I'm immortal...in this world...you can tell, right?"

Meek stared at Shin for quite a while. The color of the beautiful eyes are different, one wine red, and one yellow, and they are emphasized.

And then, Meek was on the verge of tears saying,

"If only I can't die...if that happens, I can continue to fight on and protect my master..."

"Humans are born, and fated to die. This goes for me too, but my presence here is just an exception...I just came to this world for a little while...I don't have any idea as to how I'm to head back to my own world..."

And upon hearing Shin's sad reply, Meek's voice became harsher.

"But I'm not human!"

"...?"

Shin tilted his head.

From here on, Meek let out a long spiel of words.

Meek was smiling, but it was not one of happiness, instead being one born of anguish.

“I'm a Homunculus, a created being—not a human!”

“...”

“Please look at these eyes! The left and right eyes are different in color! This is the proof of a homunculus...you probably don't know that, do you? The materials used to create us are gathered from corpses. When we are created, we are granted with only one eye. We are then brought to our masters...and we have a gemstone put inside. That is the other eye. The gem eye is a proof of loyalty, and a symbol of one not being a human!”

When she rattled off with this long line of words, shown on the screen is a terrifying scene of the 'eye embedding moment'.

It probably would be too grotesque to be shown directly, so the anime displayed it through silhouettes.

“I'm a homunculus, only to live for my master...”

Meek's monologue.

She muttered as she slowly put her hands at the back of her waist. Over there were her favorite daggers that were cross sheathed.

A flashback aired, showing Meek's past.

In the visuals, the others showed her some curious stares, looking at her as though she was a monster. In the town, she was scorned mercilessly by the people around her, and occasionally, brutalized without reason.

 

About this part—

Even I thought it was 'too dark'.

The homunculus in 'Vice Versa' were typically unfortunate.

They were born to be slaves, and had to obey their master's orders. Due to their unique eyes, anyone around them would be able to determine who they were, and not think of them as human.

Homunculus had far superior athletic abilities than humans, and if they had that intent, they could easily kill any master who was careless, but they could not do so. That is because their hearts were infused with the order 'to absolutely serve their masters'.

Because of such characteristics, the people who became the masters of the homunculus would typically think of them as 'puppets with a conscience'.

Well, I did write the relationship between Pluto and Meek (This has to do with the fact that Pluto's actually female) as a beautiful relationship between master and servant.

Pluto's personality was that of cruelty and lack of mercy. She viewed all subordinates as equal, no matter homunculus or humans.

In other words, she would call out to her subordinates however she wanted, and they would do their best to fulfill her orders.

 

Shin heard Meek's words with his butt facing her, and turned around.

Shin really wanted to tell her something, so he forgot that he was completely naked, saying with utter seriousness.

“Please don't be so frustrated about comparing yourself with other people.You—are you after all.”

Meek's hands were weakly slumped, not holding anything.

“...”

She was viewed as a 'human' for the first time in her life, and widened her heterochromia eyes.

“Ugh, it's cold...”

To settle a showdown with Pluto, Shin walked off while feeling really cold.

In the strategy both Shin and Sin came up with, Shin was to create a ruckus, die, and revive, and then die again, causing chaos in the enemy camp. He's the main character, but his actions feels like some zombie or some demon king in a horror flick.

Shin moved on to completely his mission.

“Wait!”

Meek called out with a serious voice. It was sudden, and Meek was different from before, not using any formalities. This was the first time Meek spoke like that.

“...”

So a fight is inevitable? Shin turned around sadly, but saw Meek take off the muffler on her neck, handing it to him, saying,

“Please...use this...”

“Eh?”

Shin hesitated for a while, and then smiled,

“Oh!”

He immediately beamed, and took the muffler with both hands, but right when he was about to put it on his waist—

“I guess it has to be like this after all.”

He wrapped it around his neck.

The protagonist—

Was naked, wearing only a muffler.

 

Of course, I actually wrote the story with this in mind.

In fact, after it was animated, it did look rather hilarious. He really looked like an unabashed pervert there.

Laughter could be heard from the control room.

 

“Thanks, it's warm.”

Shin beamed at Meek.

“Next, I want some pants...”

Shin muttered as he began running.

“...”

I let go of Master's enemy. But I've completed the mission of 'dumping off the corpse, and Master never commanded me on what to do after that. But that man's Master's enemy, but he treats me as a person, but—

“...”

Meek was starting to feel conflicted, and she let out some white breath, watching him leave.

Right in front of her eyes was a shaking butt.

 

Nitadori made no mistakes in her lines during the rehearsal.

The sound director gave all kinds of instructors, but as an amateur, I did not know what was the problem.

After some instructions, the sound director asked me,

“Sensei, is there any problem with Meek's parts?”

“None!”

I immediately answered.

After that, everyone made a rehearsal, and the official voice work began—

As for me, all I did was watch and just let myself be moved, shouting in my heart 'wow, it's amazing'.

I suppose that if I had turned around during Nitadori's recital, I would be able to see Nitadori as she was. However, work was different from class after all—

Wondering that, I observed the performance of these professional voice actors.

 

Something else also happened on that day.

It was when the recording ended.

I chatted with the anime makers and the editor-in-charge for a little while, so I left the control room a few minutes later.

I exit the studio lobby, and found the voice actor portraying Shin talking with Nitadori by the wall.

It was a scene of a senior talking to a junior, but Nitadori had her head slightly lowered, and she did not look right.

It might not be an appropriate choice of words, but I had the mental image of 'a handsome voice actor flirting with a female high school girl'.

When this voice actor was confirmed to be playing as Shin, I searched through the internet—

'A handsome guy who has scandals with many voice actress'.

I managed to find a website that contained such rumors, and looked through all of them.

There were many exploits on the website, but I did not know how truthful they might be. Besides, I decided not to believe in internet rumors that easily (if I do, my real identity will probably be 'an experienced female author in her 30s who writes with a different pen name and loves BL works.)

Personally, I don't hate this voice actor.

I think that his voice and acting skills are brilliant, really suited to act as Shin, who starts off timid, only to gradually get stronger.

But when I see him talk with Nitadori happily—

This voice actor just feels like some evil wizard aiming to bring Nitadori to another world I don't know of.

But even so, this isn't something I could gossip about, so it was fine.

I told the editor-in-charge,

“I'll be going first then.”

This was a line that could be used at any given situation, and right when I was about to pass by them,

“Ah, sensei! Please wait!”

The voice actor spoke to me directly. The voice was exactly the same as Shin's, so I thought I entered the world of 'Vice Versa'.

I stopped, turned around, and he asked,

“Yo, what do you think of her performance?”

Her, in this case, would refer to Nitadori. As for performance, it would refer to her acting.

I was surprised, but Nitadori appeared to be more surprised.

“...”

Her eyes were widened more than before, and it felt as though her eyes were about to pop out from her glasses frame.

I merely glanced aside at Nitadori, and immediately turned my glance to the handsome, pristine face of the voice actor.

“Really amazing.”

I answered earnestly, with no sense of pretense at all.

That voice actor isn't a mirror, so I can't tell what sort of face I made back then.

And I don't understand why that voice actor would suddenly smile like that.

“Of course, isn't it? I was telling Nitadori about this.”

But the voice actor then said,

“I do remember that you're 17, sensei?”

I nodded, and he then pointed his palm at Nitadori, saying,

“I heard that she's 16. It's really unbelievable. Both of you are way too young.”

And then, he lamented,

“From now one...it'll be the era of you youngsters...”

No wait. This guy should be 25.

Before I can understand his words while I remain rooted, this voice actor said,

“Nitadori. This sensei will be writing stories that will get animated. I know sensei has that kind of foresight from his scent. All I have are sharp ears, and a decent appearance. In other words, you might be in sensei's care from now on, so you should take the opportunity to shake hands with sensei now, and increase your chances of interacting.”

He said some words I couldn't coment on, and prompted Nitadori to reach her right hand.

Nitadori slowly reached her slender right arm.

“I'm a rookie, and I'll continue to work hard to play as Meek. Please continue to take care of me.”

“...”

After much struggle, I manage to reach out and hold her hand.

Besides, in this life of mine, I have never held a girl's hand before.

“Th-thank you.”

Saying that, I touched Nitadori's hand.

It was really, really—

Cold.