Sato was sitting on a small sofa in the lobby. His head was lowered and, from what Asakura could see from that distance, his body was trembling slightly.
“Sato-kun!” Asakura couldn’t help but call out, quickening his footsteps until he was standing in front of the young man.
The sudden call startled Sato out of his thoughts. Slightly confused, he looked up and blinked several times before his brain finally managed to recognize the other man.
“A-Asakura-san! I’m happy to see you again.” Sato smiled weakly. “Also, thank you very much for what you did back there.”
“Don’t mention it.” Asakura waved a hand dismissively, taking a seat next to Sato. “Those people are like a pack of wolves. They can’t see a pretty person without making a ruckus.”
“But you seemed to manage them quite well, Asakura-san.”
“Yes, well. I guess money can be scarier than beauty.”
“Yes. I guess you’re right.” Sato whispered softly.
“You’re late, you know.” Asakura chided, abruptly changing the subject.
“Eh?”
“Why didn’t you call to let me know you were going to come to the audition? Didn’t I tell you to let me know if you decide to give it a try? Also, I’ve checked the names of the actors who enlisted several times during this last week and…”
Reaching up to here, Asakura’s voice gradually faltered and, in the end, he stopped talking. Realizing what he just said caused Asakura to feel very embarrassed. What he had unwittingly admitted to was something shocking, even for himself. All this while he had been restless, looking for Sato’s name, waiting for his call to arrive. Those were things which he hadn’t said to anyone except for Kota. Having them now exposed to the other party involved made the overconfident Asakura feel stumped for words.
Sato, on the other hand, looked more confused than anything else. He kept blinking his bright eyes, patiently waiting for the other man to continue his sentence.
Being on the peak of embarrassment, Asakura turned his head to the side and coughed twice in order to clear his throat. There was no way he could continue his previous statement. As such, it was time for the conversation to take a different direction.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Anyway, how come you’re here?” he said, appearing to be very casual. “Did you finally decide to step out of your hiding place?”
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With that one smile, Sato’s entire complexion suddenly brightened. His expression became more animated, making it seem as though all his previous worries had vanished like smoke.
“Mh, indeed. It’s lucky that such coincidences happen.” Asakura replied, falling into a daze.
That enchanting smile came like a swift and ruthless attack. It knocked him silly, causing him to gape foolishly at the other man.
“I heard there was going to be a second part to this audition. Do you know if there is anything that I need to prepare beforehand?”
Sato’s voice gradually pulled Asakura out of his reverie. He cleared his throat again and tried to reply as professionally as possible.
“There is no need to prepare anything. The second part consists of acting in a scene together with other actors. You will be split in groups and will be given a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the part. Since judges want to see how well the performers adapt to their roles and just how much they can improvise, they didn’t ask for anyone to memorize any lines beforehand. You’ll be given scripts and can read from them.”
“Oh, I see.” Sato nodded, taking mental notes. “I was actually worried, thinking I would have to memorize my character’s lines in such a short time.”
“Normally, that’s how things are done in most common auditions.” Asakura smiled knowingly. “But Director Mayama is a rather eccentric man, and the producer isn’t any less strange either.”
“Are they really such unusual people?” Sato inquired with visible interest, leaning slightly towards Asakura without even realizing.
Witnessing this, Asakura felt mysteriously pleased. He smiled to himself before replying confidently.
“They are the weird duo of the movie industry. Almost everyone knows about them. However, no one can deny the quality of their joint projects. One of the reasons is the manner in which they deal with every stage of the project. When it comes to casting, for example, they aren’t looking for people with a good memory, but for those that can give a heartfelt performance.”
“That means they care about their work very much.” Sato nodded knowingly. “And they know which people to hire for the job. Having the talent for it but not the heart, can ultimately affect the overall performance.”
While they chatted like this for several minutes, all the interviews had ended. Thus, the first part of the audition was finally declared closed. There was an hour lunch break until the second part would commence, so everyone could go out and eat.
Seeing such a rare opportunity to spend more time together, Asakura hastened to take advantage of it.
“You’ll have an hour before the performance begins. Would you like to have lunch together with me?”
“Eh? I…”
Sato looked startled by this unexpected invitation. But he didn’t appear to mind the idea. Just as he was about to reply, someone came running towards them, calling out loudly.
“Sato! Sato!”
“Kyosuke? What are you doing here? Weren’t you filming today?” Sato asked, feeling stunned by one surprise after another.
“I finished all my scenes. The next one is in the evening so I have a few hours to spend with you.” Kyosuke appeared to be very pleased with himself, and he continued to speak without paying any attention to the person standing next to Sato. “I thought you might feel lonely and scared all by your lonesome, so I hurried here. Let’s go grab lunch if you…”
Just then, Asakura coughed lightly. The sound successfully attracted Kyosuke’s attention and the young man eventually noticed the presence of someone else beside them. The man was staring fixedly at him, his gaze so intense that it almost made him want to take a step backward. A second later, the dazed Kyosuke finally recognized Asakura and he let out a cry of surprise.
“Asakura-san! What a surprise to see you here!”
“Not really.” Asakura smiled and replied patiently. “My company is one of the main investors of the movie Sato-kun is auditioning for. Therefore, it’s only normal to see me here at this time.”
“Are you serious? So, the movie Sato will be appearing in is going to be one you invested in?”
“Kyosuke, stop saying such things.” Sato interrupted him. “It’s not settled whether I will get the part yet. I haven’t even finished the audition.”
“That… I am not worried one bit about that. There is no way you won’t get the part.” Kyosuke waved a hand at him. “As long as you pour your heart into it, just like you always do, there is no way you’ll lose.”
“Is that so?” Asakura mused quietly, glancing at Sato’s face.
He had to admit that he was very interested to see just how well Sato acted. Despite searching high and low, he couldn’t find anything that could satisfy his curiosity. Just a reality show Sato appeared in a little more than a year and a half ago, and a few pictures that were published in a magazine. But those weren’t enough to give him a feel of Sato’s true acting skills.
Perhaps he hadn’t searched thoroughly enough, or he might have found a few movies and one drama. But maybe in the end it was better to be surprised.
“Since we are all gathered here, why not have lunch together?” Asakura finally spoke. “There is a nice restaurant a few minutes away from here. Do you like Chinese food, Sato-kun?”
“Eh? Ah, yes. If Asakura-san recommends the place, it must be good.” Sato replied politely.
“Hey, how come you didn’t ask me as well whether I like it or not?” Kyosuke chided with a frown.
“That’s because you look like you can eat almost anything.” Asakura retorted with a straight face.
Hearing this, Sato unexpectedly burst out laughing. The sound attracted Asakura’s attention and he stared at the young man with an unfaltering gaze. It was the first time he saw that person make such a face. The corners of his eyes were wrinkled and his mouth was curved upward in a beautiful arc. His glowing complexion mesmerized Asakura for the second time that day, but this time the effect was even stronger than before.
Caught by surprise, Asakura felt a sudden urge to touch that smiling face. His fingers itched to stretch and feel the softness of that beautiful pale skin. Luckily, he held himself back just in time. Still, his heart rate increased slightly and his mind was boiling with conflicting thoughts.
‘This person is really dangerous.’ Asakura finally concluded, ignoring the fact that the dangerous one was most probably him and not the innocent Sato.
But in reality, there was no way to be certain about who was more dangerous than who. Was it the innocent, soft looking Imamura Sato or the overconfident and intrigued Asakura Ryuu?
A/N: This is the last chapter for this weekend 
I hope everyone enjoyed to see the budding friendship between these two people. Looking forward to reading your thoughts on it!
Asakura, my lovely friend. If seeing Sato smile and laugh makes him dangerous then I wonder how h
Then I wonder how he would feel when Sato is fully back to his once bubble self.
Hmm, I wonder about that too 🤔 I guess he would be a goner by then, too in love to even know what happened to him 😂🤭
thanks for the chapter <3
<333
Looking forward to the next chapter~~ 💜
💜💜💜 Two fresh chapters right from the oven will be posted later today 😁