“No it’s alright. I’ll bet it was troublesome”, said producer Kurosawa with a coaxing voice.
Somehow he’s in a good mood.
“I heard about it, you know? You saved a girl that jumped off the platform, didn’t you? Man, that was superb. I got the footage from some of the bystanders, you see. I could see that it’s clearly you. As long as we get the views, anything is fine, so we’re planning to do an interview after this. You don’t mind, right?”
“Eh? …haa…It’s alright.”
So after this, instead of doing comedic tricks, we can do heroic shows instead, huh? he said as he draws his greasy face closer.
“You’re famous with the people of the F2 and F31 demographics…but you probably don’t know what that means, huh. So basically housewives. Also, you see, you would probably appeal to the younger girls too when you get to the news. Don’t you think this is such a great chance?”
Seems like his head had switched into business mode already.
“I don’t really have a problem with it, but um…Are we fine with the part that we didn’t manage to finish today? Shouldn’t I go and apologize to the people concerned?”
“What are you talking about! If the views go up, then anything’s fine! Anything! That program is supposed to end in March, so missing an episode is nothing! We’ll take care of that troublesome stuff.”
“Wait, this is the first time I heard about it ending though.”
“Hahahah! Isn’t it fine if we can make a new regular program. You still have your spirit, so you’ll do just fine! Like we wish you could rescue people trying to kill themselves every day. Huh, I wonder if anyone’s gonna jump off tomorrow. Should I prepare a suicide candidate then perhaps? There’s some AD’s (Assistant Directors) that looks like they want to die anyways.”
This producer treats his subordinates as garbage, so it’s even scarier knowing that he might as well do that.
He approached a young AD nearby and wildly yelled “You’re gonna ruin the image of our whole department if you kill yourself now. If you want to die then at least resign yourself first and wait a couple of years.”
“I might digress a bit, but are you related with someone running a Ramen shop?”
“Hm…? My little brother owns a store called Akaryuudou. What of it?”
“As I thought, huh. No, it’s nothing.”
They are relatives.
But that probably doesn’t matter.
That saved the trouble.
In the worst case scenario, I would be fired and won’t be called again to record another program, but in reality I even got more work to do.
I guess I should say that that’s a load off my back.
“Alright, should we quickly make our preparations? We already prepared the studio, so we can immediately conduct our interview and record its reproduction into the VTR. Since it’s your appearance, it’s going to be so exciting.”
“Um…how are we supposed to reproduce the scene of me saving someone?”
“Don’t worry, don’t worry! The audience won’t mind the small details anyways! People who thought about things like that don’t watch TVs anymore! Hahaha!”
“……”
“If we make you wear clothes that emphasize your physique, we’ll get more views, right? Nakamoto-san, did you do sports in the past? You have a really good build, you know? Should we go with sleeveless shirts? That’ll get the housewives happy.”
“But it’s in the middle of winter though?”
“Don’t mind it, don’t mind it!”
As I was taken in by the flow, I was dragged into the studio.
In the end I refused the decision to reproduce the scene, but I had to compromise and give the interview with a sleeveless shirt.
Are there really people that would be happy with this?
After that I kept being manipulated and questioned by the news media for the entire day.
Either way, I was very busy. I was super busy.
I was just an ordinary person before, I don’t have a manager and I don’t even belong to an office.
So I had to deal with this all by myself.
Though I have the merit of hogging the appearance fee all for myself.
I realized as it turns out, my accounting skills is almost nonexistent, so I couldn’t even calculate the taxes involved in it at all.
Having bad thoughts like tax avoidance, tax evasion and undeclared income, I finished my work.
Night has fallen when I was released from the grasp of the producer.
I immediately checked my phone to confirm the time, and it was 5:01 PM.
I broke the promise I made with Angelica this morning.
That I would be home by 5. That I’ll eat something delicious together with her. I’ve neglected my daughter who’s been anxiously waiting at home.
“How should I tell her…”
I headed for the station as I walked under the veil of the night.
For now, I need to take Ayako-chan back from the net cafe.
All the while she was waiting there, she didn’t have anything proper to wear under the coat she’s wearing.
Since her clothes were torn apart, she was naked on her right side.
Do you think I could leave a seventeen year old in such condition?