< "Coming Closer to You: Love Line School" Episode 1 cruises along with ratings in the 6% range >
< "Student Council President," just who are you? >
< The savior in the middle of the chaos, was Kamiki Kaoru’s overwhelming presence an inevitable result? >
As soon as the drama began airing, a flood of articles poured onto the internet, entertainment papers, and magazines all at once.
< Sakurada Mina becomes a hot topic with her fresh, sweet acting! >
< "Who the hell do you think you are!" Sasaki Ryunosuke’s hateable delinquent performance >
The media lines of major advertisers and agencies that were sponsoring the show focused on promotional pieces highlighting the lead actors’ performances and characters, but—
< "Coming Closer to You: Love Line School," the supporting role that hit a peak 15% minute-by-minute rating >
< PD Matsushige Sojiro: "Please trust and watch every actor who appears." >
< Where is Japanese drama headed, with the lead roles thrown into disarray? >
The overwhelming majority of the buzz erupted over just 1 minute and 47 seconds out of the full 60-minute runtime.
Honestly, it was absurd to the point of feeling unreal for a response to a supporting actor who had only 1 minute and 47 seconds in the very first episode.
"……."
Kaoru shut his mouth bitterly, thinking that the spotlight had simply swung too far toward him as a kind of backlash because the lead actors’ performances were below par.
By his judgment, all this excessive media frenzy around him still wasn’t particularly helpful.
Still, Kaoru decided that with PD Matsushige Sojiro’s experience, things would gradually settle back to normal as the story progressed, so he calmly focused on his daily life.
Toshiro, too, perhaps because he now saw Kaoru’s acting every day, or perhaps because he had come to take it for granted, showed no particular reaction and instead fixated on some strange detail.
"Did you bring that fan yourself, or is it a prop?"
"...It’s a prop."
A trace of disappointment flickered across Toshiro’s stubborn face as he clicked his tongue.
"The fan was nice... what a shame."
"……."
Even if it was Toshiro, the fact that he was paying more attention to the fan used as a prop than to Kaoru’s acting or screen time made Kaoru let out a quiet sigh of relief. That was a good thing.
In the end, things would pass without incident. Thinking so, Kaoru drank his coffee and chatted with Toshiro about the stage script they would use for the next performance.
But... contrary to Kaoru’s hopes, that was only the beginning.
"...H-hey, Ai?"
"Hm? Hm? Hm? What is it?"
At her husband’s call, Ai lifted her star-bright eyes, full of anticipation and excitement, and looked at Kaoru.
Faced with his wife’s gaze, so intense it practically looked like lasers might shoot out, Kaoru gave an awkward smile and took her hand.
"N-no, nothing."
One minute before the drama started. Ai was glued to Kaoru’s side, clinging to his arm.
She was humming happily, her star-bright eyes sparkling as she stared fixedly at the TV, which was running commercials.
And that wasn’t all.
"Taaah~ taa~ ♬"
"……."
Sitting on Ai’s thigh, Ruby held the ultimate rabbit plush tightly in her hands and hummed to herself, then glanced at Kaoru—
"Taaah~ ☆"
"Oh!"
And then she smiled brightly at him with a cute, fresh grin just like her mother’s.
At his daughter’s affectionate smile, Kaoru made a dopey fatherly grin and truly felt Ruby’s reaction had changed by 180 degrees.
When Miyako opened the door, Ruby had been frantically greeting him at the front entrance in a walker... he would probably never forget that sight.
But why had Ruby’s reaction to her father suddenly changed so much?
Ruby, who only knew her mother...?!
Kaoru leaned down slightly toward Ai, who was searching Twitter on her phone, and whispered,
"Ai, did the babies watch the drama with you last week too?"
"Hm? Of course they did! It’s a drama with Kaoru in it! Aqua and Ruby were watching really intently too. Ruby got super excited because her own dad was on TV!"
"...Ah."
So that was it. Kaoru lowered his head and looked at his son, who sat on his lap and quietly watched the TV with that usual indifferent face that resembled his own.
Aqua had always acted maturely, yielding his mother’s lap to his younger sister because he was the older brother, and for some reason he had been sticking close to Kaoru lately... now he understood that behavior a little better.
Kaoru smiled as he used his long fingers to gently pinch Aqua’s plump cheek.
How cute.
The children, sharp like their parents, had caught on perfectly that their father and mother were on TV and were watching with rapt attention.
Kaoru had thought it wasn’t good for babies to watch too much TV, but then he remembered Miyako saying that they were probably doing it to see the parents who couldn’t always be with them.
Since they were already showing such cleverness, if he trusted them and raised them well as a parent, there shouldn’t be any problems.
Filled with proud, loving fatherly joy, he took his son’s tiny hands and gently helped him clap.
"Taa-"
"Yeah. That’s right, Daddy’s here~ Aqua clap attack~ clap clap."
"Taa..."
With a pacifier in his mouth, Aqua let out a low sigh, but since he didn’t seem to hate his father’s touch, he reluctantly leaned into it and kept watching the TV.
「 Coming Closer to You: Love Line School 」
"Eek! It’s starting!"
"Taaah! Papa!"
When Ai put down her phone and threw her hands up in celebration, Ruby also raised her arms and waved them vigorously.
Was it really that good?
Kaoru scratched his head, feeling a little embarrassed—
Bang!
"I-it started?!"
"Yeah! Just now!"
The bathroom door flew open, and Miyako rushed out with her hair still not fully dried. As she plopped down on the sofa and shouted, Ai raised the TV volume by three notches with the remote.
Once the drama began, silence settled over the house.
Ai, who had come out without even drying her hair properly, and beside her, his wife and daughter, who were watching with such intense laser-like focus it was almost oppressive.
And then...
"……."
Even his son, who was pretending to sleep while peeking through half-open eyes and watching the drama for some reason.
Kaoru himself had already finished filming on set and knew the script inside and out, so he had planned to focus mainly on how Director Sojiro had edited things and how the footage had been shot.
So...
So why did it feel...
Embarrassing?!
"Hmm-hmm."
Kaoru was hit by an indescribably strange feeling—embarrassing, nervous, and all at once—at this first-ever moment of watching his own acting as a third party, together with his family.
Was this what it felt like? Director Gotanda’s words suddenly came back to him: that when he edited a work he had filmed, he would watch it once, then once more when it aired, and after that he rarely looked at it again.
"...Are they holding the script because they can’t memorize their lines?"
Miyako muttered to herself while opening a beer can, unable to stand the clumsy acting of the lead actors any longer. Kaoru gave an awkward laugh.
He had already seen the leads’ terrible acting enough times on set to be sick of it, so he didn’t feel much interest.
But viewers were different.
"Hey, Kaoru... when are you coming on? You were late like this last week too—"
Unable to hold back any longer, Ai rubbed her head against Kaoru’s forearm and purred like a cat.
It had already been thirty minutes. It was about time for her concentration to start slipping.
Kaoru chuckled, raised his right arm, and wrapped it around his wife’s shoulder as she pouted.
"Just wait a little. I’ll probably be on soon. The director’s editing everything by scene number right now."
"Really?!"
"Yeah... I think I’ll be on soon."
Since the regular run was only eight episodes, the pace was very fast compared to other dramas, which was at least fortunate.
It was already episode two, and it had reached the part where the heroine, Arimura Suzu, was devastated after hearing that the vocal club would definitely be shut down.
If Kaoru’s guess about Director Sojiro’s intentions was correct, then around the latter half there would be the scene where the class representative, Murakami Koki, and the student council met.
"Taa-"
As sleepy Ruby started to grumble, Ai hugged her tightly and said,
"Just a little longer~ Papa’s coming soon~"
"Taaang- Mama-"
"Ruby’s getting bored too? Hehe—Mama is too. Papa is right next to me, but I still miss him so much!"
"……."
Kaoru gave a bitter smile and stroked his wife’s soft hair. The blame from the lead actors’ terrible acting was landing on him for no reason.
Like Ai said, if a lead role offer came in, maybe taking one wouldn’t be so bad.
He was busy with school and the troupe, but if he appeared in dramas as a supporting actor, then for the sake of his family, who waited for him with their necks stretched out, it might be better to take a lead role.
While Kaoru was thinking that over, Ai, who had been watching TV with sleepy eyes under her husband’s gentle touch, suddenly jolted upright when the screen changed and music started playing.
"Kaoru!"
♬♪♩
Just like last week, when the screen cut over, the familiar tense low strings began to play before Kaoru appeared.
In time with the music, Ai’s star-bright eyes sparkled as she focused on the TV like a meerkat.
"Taat?!"
"Taa..."
"Finally!"
Ruby and Aqua, who had also been on the verge of falling asleep, and even Miyako, who had been spacing out while looking at her phone, suddenly brightened and focused on the TV.
Like a dying ember flaring back to life, Kaoru couldn’t help but flinch at their energy.
Had they really waited with this same intensity last week until he appeared, then cheered?
But Kaoru knew that with the remaining broadcast time, even if he appeared, only the part where he had filmed the meeting scene with Junichi and the council would likely air before it moved on to the next episode.
However.
"Huh?"
Kaoru tilted his head and voiced his confusion for a moment.
The drama, which had been moving along neatly by scene number, suddenly showed the set where the student council president and Hirano were supposed to meet in a scene expected to air around the next episode.
As the color palette shifted to a dry, faded tone and the story moved into the scene where the male and female leads discussed what to do about shutting down the club, Kaoru frowned, realizing his own judgment about Director Sojiro’s intentions had been off.
Why? There should still be some time before the confrontation scene. Was the council meeting scene with Junichi completely cut?
But whether Kaoru wondered or not, when the student council president appeared eavesdropping on the conversation between the male and female leads from outside the club room—
"Kyaaah! It’s Kaoru! Kaoru! Look, look, it’s Kaoru!"
Seeing his husband’s face on the screen at last, Ai clapped and grabbed Kaoru’s hand, pointing at the TV.
Her husband right beside her and her husband inside the TV. In an instant, Ai had somehow ended up with two husbands(?) and watched the drama with a flushed face.
"So what are you going to do?!"
"Why is Hirano-kun interested in someone like that?"
The drawn-out conflict between the male and female leads... but Kaoru knew.
That had been edited too.
The original lines had been much longer than what was airing now, but they had been stripped down to the bare minimum for the sake of pacing.
The problem was...
"........"
The student council president’s shots, as he unintentionally overheard the two of them talking, were edited with far more care than the lead actors’ scenes and were being broadcast that way.
His cold blue eyes moved briskly, and as he listened to their conversation, the student council president took his hand out of his pocket and crossed his arms.
It was a scene marked by Director Sojiro’s distinctive cut transitions.
Ai and Miyako were focused on the drama without knowing the details, but Kaoru, sensing the strange mismatch, began to bite his lip as a bad feeling crept over him.
Something... the ratio between the lead and supporting roles... felt reversed.
As if answering Kaoru’s ominous premonition, the heroine immediately left the club room, and the student council president strode into the room where Hirano Taisuke was waiting.
Ai and Ruby were so focused on the drama they looked like their necks might snap.
Miyako had gone completely silent.
Even a fool could tell that the conflict between the male lead and the student council president was about to reach its peak.
The tense low BGM and Kaoru’s cold, detached acting made it clear to viewers that this was a situation on the verge of exploding.
"The vocal club’s abolition has already been approved. We don’t have enough required members, we don’t have enough club members, and the financial report is missing because there’s no one in charge of management... It’s reached the point where we can’t just let it slide."
"Couldn’t you make an exception just once?! Why is this school so impossible about everything?"
The atmosphere was frigid.
Ai swallowed dryly, her fingers trembling with tension. Like walking a tightrope, the confrontation between Kaoru and the male lead looked ready to explode at any moment, and her heart began to pound.
Ruby was the same; she took out her pacifier and fidgeted with her tiny fingers while staring at the screen.
"It’s the school rules. School rules exist to be followed. You’re not a little child anymore, are you?"
That wasn’t how it was supposed to feel, was it? While his family was fully absorbed in the drama, Kaoru touched the corner of his mouth and tried to figure out what Director Sojiro was thinking.
Of course, he had deliberately played his face even colder to put Ryunosuke in his place, but that was only the actor’s own emotional performance. In editing, with BGM and cut transitions, it could be adjusted to match the original script’s tone however they wanted.
As if mocking Kaoru’s worries, the low strings swelled higher and higher.
"I don’t care about that kind of thing! Aren’t students supposed to come first?! You don’t care what happens to a student’s dreams?!"
At Hirano’s shout, the student council president took a big step forward and snapped back in a cold voice.
"Under the school rules, all students are equal, and they must be. Even you, who are related by blood to the family that founded this academy, and even I, who hold the position of student council president and am responsible for the honor and history of this academy. Don’t you understand that violating the rules and showing kindness to one individual can become an unfair burden to another?"
"Haah."
As Ai let out a tense sigh, the BGM that had just been building abruptly cut off, and the shot switched to a full view of Hirano Taisuke.
"Don’t spout bullshit!"
Although the profanity had been edited out for broadcast, Hirano Taisuke’s narrowed eyes and hot-tempered face gave the impression that the roles of villain and hero had been reversed.
When Hirano grabbed the student council president by the collar, Ai and Ruby, watching the TV, gasped and shouted in a burst of fierce outrage.
"Kyaa! What are you doing?!"
"Taaah!?!?!?"
"……."
Ai and Ruby vented their anger at that bad guy who had grabbed Kaoru by the collar. But soon, those cries faded away in an instant.
Clack!
"Aaaaaagh!!!"
"?!"
The student council president’s fan whipped toward Hirano’s wrist, and when it struck, Hirano clutched his wrist and screamed in pain.
The position had shifted, as if the righteous one were punishing the villain.
The student council president, raising his icy blue eyes to glare at Hirano, used his long white hand to straighten the clothes that had been pulled out of place by the collar grab and said,
"Mind your manners. Don’t test my patience."
"Ghk!"
Thoom—
"Kyaaaaaa♥ Kaoru is so cool!"
"Taaak! Taaahhh!!!"
With the student council president’s cold glare at Hirano as the final image, the drama ended, and Ai and Ruby erupted into cheers as if they had been waiting for it.
Miyako also finally let out the breath she had been holding and shouted at Kaoru.
"Amazing! Amazing! I can look forward to next week too, right?"
"Ah. Well..."
He was already moving into the middle part, and before long he wouldn’t even be on screen anymore!
Kaoru hesitated to answer Miyako when—
"Kyaaah! Kyaa! Kyaa! Ka! O! Ru! Seriously! Seriously! Seriously! You’re way too cool! That’s a crime! A first-offense crime that shook Ai’s heart!"
The rush of excitement, anticipation, and exhilaration hit her all at once. Ai, her face flushed bright red, patted her husband’s forearm with her small palm over and over as she made a huge fuss.
"Taaah! Taaahhh!"
Following their mother, Ruby wriggled and waved both hands toward Kaoru. When he saw those sparkling eyes looking at him, Kaoru gave an awkward smile and picked up his daughter, setting her down beside Aqua.
This was the first time Ruby, who adored him so wildly, had ever demanded to be held first.
Even at that historic moment, Kaoru couldn’t fully savor the joy. Instead, he kept turning the situation over in his head, trying to figure out what on earth had happened.
"Taa..."
Aqua was also staring hard at his father, a glimmer of something unusual shining in his blue eyes.
"Student council president! Can you hug Ai too? Please? Hm? Hm? Hm?"
"Uh, ah, okay."
"Taa! Taatatata! Taaah!"
"Taaah...!"
"Haha."
Kaoru broke into an awkward smile, cold sweat beading on him as he hugged the baby in his arms and the twins tightly, overwhelmed by the family’s enormous enthusiasm after seeing his performance and turning into huge fans.
For a moment, Kaoru sighed and looked at the TV, which had moved on to the next episode preview, with resentful eyes.
Director Sojiro’s intentions...
Was it for the ratings, or a director’s rebellion because he couldn’t stand the lead actors’ terrible acting anymore?
Or was it for something else?
He couldn’t know for sure unless he called and asked directly.
Still, Kaoru let out a low sigh at the creeping bad feeling.
How bad do the actors have to be for even the director to say that they will decrease the screen time of the main characters for a side character?