‘Haaaa! So… I guess I really ended up coming here after all.’ Asakura mused silently to himself.
He was standing with his back straight, facing the mountain resort as if it was a terrible enemy.
The structure was built emulating the old-style architecture. It’s overall appearance and decorations were blending the old with the new in perfect harmony. Inside, there were tatami rooms with little to no furniture. Apart from the outdoor baths, there were also two large indoor baths, one for women and another one for men.
Everything, from the walls and floors, to the entire structure, was made of cypress wood. The beautiful color, together with the overall appearance, gave the building a warm and rather nostalgic feeling.
Coincidentally, or rather not, this was the place Sato and the rest of the crew were staying at for the duration of the filming.
After taking in the image of the building from the outside Asakura began to pace in front of the entrance. He kept mumbling to himself like an old grandpa in front of a store. Rather than an imposing Managing Director who came all the way there of his own accord, he resembled an animal who had been cheated by a sly hunter and ended up trapped in an outdoor cage.
‘I made the decision to follow him here on the spur of the moment. Damn Kurosawa and his stupid ideas! What should I do now? What should I say when I see him? Should I tell him the truth, that I came all the way out here to see him? Or would it be best to play it cool and say something like ‘I came here on business’? No, that sounds fake and plain stupid even to myself. Argh! This whole thing is driving me nuts!’
After almost ten minutes of fidgeting around, Asakura finally decided it was best to get inside first, lest his weird behavior attracted people’s attention. He had already received quite a few apprehensive ogles from guests that were coming and leaving. After all, seeing a grown man walking around in circles with such a fretful expression would put almost anyone off.
Once he finally checked in and left his luggage inside the room, Asakura went to the lobby in order to mull over what he should do next.
“At this hour they should be filming. Would it really be alright for me to go to the campsite now or should I wait for them here? But what if they don’t return to the resort today and I have to wait until tomorrow to see him?” Asakura mused, brushing a hand through his hair from time to time.
At this point, his formerly neat and stylish hair resembled a tousled bird nest.
A few minutes later, after reassessing his situation, Asakura finally reached a conclusion. Since he was already there, he should at least try to achieve his purpose; and that was to find Sato. Perhaps he might even be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of him performing in front of the camera.
‘I wonder how he looks dressed in his costume. From what I gathered his character always wears simple white clothes, with very little ornaments. But even so, with that fair skin of his, and those bright eyes, I’m sure the pure white robes will make him look out of this world. Ah! I really want to see it now!’
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.
With that objective in mind, Asakura finally made the decision to check out the filming site. He asked someone at the front desk to help him rent a car. As he was now stranded there with no means for personal transportation, there really was no other alternative apart from renting.
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Probably he wasn’t the only one with such an idea in mind, because it didn’t take longer than fifteen minutes for the clerk to satisfy his request.
Staring at the car key in his palm, Asakura began to feel nervous again. But this time he decidedly ignored it, focusing solely on the mental image of Sato’s appearance as Oinuma Zetsu.
Based on this, it is safe to say that Asakura was a rather simple man, driven by worldly desires of unearthly beauties.
The campsite Asakura was heading to was something thought of by the Mayama-Fukuoka eccentric duo. Though thinking about it, Asakura was almost certain Producer Fukuoka may have introduced the idea first.
In order to make it easier for the crew to spend an extended amount of time filming so far away from the resort, they had thought up an unconventional idea. That was to set up a camp very near the filming location.
It consisted of several large tents and an improvised outdoor kitchen and a bathroom.
This restricted space may not have been anything too lavish, but it still served its purpose in relieving the crew of tiredness and hunger. The actors would still return to the resort in order to rest when they weren’t scheduled for filming, or in order to take baths. But at least this way they could work more efficiently.
As a businessman himself, Asakura had to appreciate Fukuoka Shintarou’s ‘outside the box’ thinking. In this way they save some money, while also taking care not to exhaust the actors uselessly by going back and forth multiple times per day.
Asakura took his rented car up the mountain road and reached the campsite in less than half an hour.
It truly was a very convenient spot. Not too far away from the resort, with a large open space where the tents were erected. There was even a stream nearby which provided cold, fresh water.
As soon as he reached the campsite, Asakura spotted an improvised parking lot. There were already several vans there. Judging by their number, they were used to carry the actors and other supporting crew members.
After he got out of the car, he looked around, trying to spot that familiar face. He could feel his heart beating faster with each passing second. The longer he looked, the more nervous he got.
Not even a couple of minutes later, he was suddenly startled out of his thoughts by a noisy commotion.
Up ahead, just a little further away from him, a rather large group of people was huddled together. Based on their urgent tone, it seemed that something had happened.
“How could this happen? Wasn’t there anyone around?”
“No. I heard he went on ahead and that was the last time anyone had seen him.”
“What about Director Mayama? Does he know?”
“I just sent him a message. He should be here shortly.”
“What should we do? Do we wait or call the authorities for help.”
Asakura looked on as the people continued to chatter noisily. He recognized them as being some of the actors whose scenes had to be filmed out there in the mountains. He met most of them at the table reading, but never got too close to them.
‘Sato should be somewhere around here as well… Hm?’
He was just about to turn around and go look for Sato, when he heard one of the actors mentioning a very familiar name. Thus, he stopped in his tracks and continued to listen to the group’s conversation.
“What about Touma-kun?”
“He left a little while ago to search for him. Since they were getting ready to film a scene together, he was the closest to the area.”
“Have you tried calling?”
“Sato-kun didn’t take his phone with him.”
Hearing Sato’s name as well Asakura’s breath caught in his throat. Before he could think further, his legs were already moving and he closed in on the group in large strides.
“Excuse me. What is going on here?”
Asakura tried his best to keep his voice from showing any emotion. But on the inside, waves of nervousness washed over him, making him feel uncomfortable all over. Despite trying his best to refrain from thinking murky thoughts, his mind kept forming dark scenarios about Sato and what could have possibly happened to him.
Hearing the sudden question, the fretful group became quiet and slowly turned towards the newcomer. Everyone looked at him with anxiousness written on their faces. That, combined with the dead silence that welcomed him, gave Asakura an ominous feeling.
“What happened?” he asked again, hoping this time at least one of them would answer him.
“Ah! Asakura-san!” One of the young actors recognized the man after a moment and hurried towards him.
The others followed after the youngster. Even though not everyone knew who Asakura was, they had all seen him talking to director Mayama and producer Fukuoka more than once. Hence, they tacitly concluded and agreed that this person might be able to help them manage the current situation.
“Asakura-san, thank heavens you’re here! Something terrible has happened and we don’t know what else to do.” The young man spoke again with urgency in his voice. “Sato-kun… Sato-kun he…”
But before he could continue, someone made his appearance at the edge of the forest.
The young actor’s eyes widened and he called out to a person outside of Asakura’s line of sight.
A/N: Sato-kun encountered a dangerous situation perhaps. But what could have happened? 
I reckon he walked away from Touma just to have him follow him anyway >_>
Thanks for the chapter <3
Touma is quite persistent…
Ohh, what did happen..? 😟
Thank you for the chapter <3
Well… since it’s Touma… nothing good I guess ^_~
<333