Three Women Make Quite a Show

Previously, Rin only worked with Shinji as an actress, and apart from being on set and doing interviews together, she didn't know much about Shinji's work.

In her mind, Shinji, this corrupt young master, probably lets others do the shameful things, and besides acting, he does all the things a playboy should do, like harassing girls, seducing girls, and being a heartbreaker...

"So, in your eyes, I only think about my lower body and nothing else?"

Maid Rin nodded in response to Shinji's slightly irritated retort.

"Pretty much, I really didn't think so until this month."

Maid Rin spoke the truth.

"However, I've seen how hard you've been working lately; look, you've even got dark circles under your eyes."

Rin pointed at Shinji's eyes and said, "Even if you wanted to pick up girls, no one would want you. You look like you have kidney deficiency."

Is it obvious?

Shinji couldn't help but rub his eyes; the recent cycle of working late into the night wasn't pleasant.

"It'll be fine in a while. Once the later parts of Fate/Apocrypha are all finished, I can focus on Kara no Kyoukai."

Rin shook her head slightly and handed a cup of black tea to Shinji.

The Director took the tea and slowly sipped it, savoring the flavor.

Rin looked at Shinji, who showed signs of fatigue, and a hint of pity flashed in her eyes. She gently massaged the man's temples.

"You can give massages now?"

Shinji was a little surprised; Rin's technique was far superior to last time. He simply closed his eyes and began to enjoy the maid's service.

"Grandpa Risei taught me," Rin reminded her. "You said last time that I didn't know how to massage shoulders, so I specifically went to him to learn."

"The old man knows this trick?"

"Grandpa Risei is proficient in Chinese martial arts, how could he not know this kind of massage?"

"He never told me that."

Rin curled her lip in disdain. "Tch, you don't even have the patience to practice martial arts, why would he talk to you about these things?"

"..."

Shinji awkwardly touched his nose.

It's not entirely his fault, after all, the Second Master never intended to properly practice Baji Quan in the first place.

Martial arts may look cool, but mastering it requires hard work.

Shinji's talent in martial arts is less than one ten-thousandth of his talent in Magecraft, and Shinji also has to spend time learning film and television production.

So he learned some fancy but ineffective martial arts from Grandpa Li Zheng, which was his limit to be able to beat up two street thugs.

Unlike this maid who's giving herself a massage, who can practically wreak havoc in a crowd.

"It's great that you've learned massage. I'll be relying on you from now on."

Shinji showed absolutely no courtesy to his maid.

Hearing this, Rin raised an eyebrow slightly. "Since you're so satisfied, young master, then the wages..."

"Go tell Ophelia that she's the one calculating your salary."

"Shinji, you sly fox!"

Rin stomped her foot in frustration.

He went to that one-eyed woman to ask for a raise, citing that he had become a better masseuse.

Rin believed that the woman would only reply indifferently, "Isn't this a skill a maid should possess?"

The massage only lasted half an hour before it ended. Shinji still had work to do and couldn't possibly spend the whole night cuddling with the maid.

Now, Shinji can do is finish his work as quickly as possible and free up some time so that he can have time specifically for Rin to massage him.

If Rin massages me every day, what if something happens in the meantime...? Hehehe~

Fortunately, the post-production of FA went smoothly. After several days of hard work, the post-production editing was completed, and only the music and voice-over remained.

Meanwhile, the filming of "Kara no Kyoukai" entered a new phase—the focus shifted to filming scenes Asagami Fujino.

This means that Old Karuta, who had been studying with the film crew for several months, will finally be performing in front of the camera himself.

Chapter 338 Three Women Make a Drama

"Ah..."

In front of the set in the studio, Hinako Akutagawa Chiko, who plays Asagami Fujino, sighed sadly and reached out to touch her black hair—her left sideburns were noticeably irregular, as if they had been roughly cut off with a knife.

The broken hair made Akutagawa Chiko realize something, and she began to look around at her surroundings.

This is a bar built underground.

It was abandoned six months ago due to poor management and subsequently became a gathering place for shady characters.

This abandoned bar has almost everything an outsider could imagine about its filth and disorder.

In the corner of the room were bar chairs piled up haphazardly, and in the center of the room was a pool table with all sorts of odds and ends scattered on it. Residues of cheap food bought from the supermarket were scattered all over the floor, and lunch boxes were piled up like a mountain on a chair.

Old Karuta frowned slightly, seemingly because the strange smell filling the room made her uncomfortable.

However, any normal person would feel very uncomfortable seeing this scene called ruins.

If there's anything normal left in this strange place, it's probably just the alcohol lamps used for lighting.

Using an alcohol lamp for lighting in this environment is itself a very strange thing.

"This--"

He looked around in a completely bewildered state.

Old Karuta knew that the girl he was playing was still not fully conscious, and he needed to portray that feeling of being unable to control the situation.

"Um..."

Old Karuta picked up the broken wrist prop that had fallen at his feet, using the watch that remained on the wrist, which had been twisted off by brute force, to tell time.

"July 20th... 8 o'clock...? Waaah...!"

Old Karuta suddenly groaned, supporting herself on the table with one hand and clutching her abdomen with the other.

[Imagine... imagine intense pain in your abdomen!]

Old Karuta bit his lip tightly, staggered, and half-knelt against the table leg, pretending that he could not bear the excruciating pain that felt like his internal organs were being squeezed, and that he could not even stand steadily.

"Cut!"

Shinji called for a halt, peeked out from behind the monitor, and waved to Old Karuta.

Seeing the expressionless face on Shinji's face, Old Karuta thought to himself, "Oh no," and then walked over.

"I..." she asked tentatively, "Do I have a problem?"

"Control your expression." Shinji didn't mince words and said directly, "Try to restrain your expression as much as possible, otherwise it will ruin the image of Fujino as a emotionless person when she's not having an episode."

Old Karuta probably knew his own shortcomings, and quickly said, "I will."

Shinji nodded and said to her, "Have the makeup team do your makeup. We'll start again in five minutes."

The bar scene in the set was almost 100% accurate. After all that commotion on set, Old Karuta had several red "bloodstains" on his body.

Since the scene needs to be filmed again, we definitely need to restore Old Karuta to the state he was in before he woke up.

"Okay, I understand."

Akutagawa Chiko agreed and then walked towards the other end of the set.

Shinji sat back down in the Director's chair and carefully examined the footage that had just been shot.

If you don't read the 2.3 storyline, outsiders' impression of Old Karuta naturally comes from that classic illustration of her reading a book, and their impression of her should be that of a quiet, literary girl.

While a literary girl is not the same as someone who is emotionless and uninteresting, most people would think that such a refined girl would not have many emotional fluctuations.

However, the truth is quite the opposite.

Don't be fooled by the "literary girl" persona of Old Karuta. Even without entering her Heroic Spirit state (taking off her glasses), her expressions are still very rich, giving one a feeling of shattered dreams of being a literary girl.

Old Karuta gives off a cold feeling, mainly because of her rejection of outsiders.

When he truly engaged in conversation, Old Karuta's expressions were quite varied. While not as eccentric as some comedic cartoon characters, they certainly conveyed a sense of normalcy.

You should know that when Gao Yang's Chihuahua used the Lanling Wang to tease Old Karuta about keeping a gigolo, Old Karuta immediately blushed with embarrassment.

If she really had no assets, no background, and no connections, how could this 17-year-old old hag possibly blush?

I don't know if it's because performing in front of a camera, or because Old Karuta thinks it doesn't require interacting with people.

She finds it difficult to maintain a "cold" demeanor, especially when she's in character, and often displays subtle facial expressions.

From a girl's perspective, Old Karuta's "old woman acting like a virgin" is kind of Cute Point.

However, it wasn't a good thing when playing the role of Asagami Fujino, especially during the period before she completely went insane.

However, Shinji wouldn't completely dismiss Old Karuta just because of this. As long as she controls herself and doesn't show any unnecessary expressions, with Old Karuta's current Acting Skills and her latent yandere tendencies, it wouldn't be difficult for her to handle a role as suitable as Asagami Fujino.

After filming two more takes, Shinji announced that the shoot was approved, and then moved to the side to begin filming Ryougi Shiki and Asagami Fujino's first meeting.

"Photography?"

"OK!"

"Light?"

"OK!"

"..."

Shinji went through the routine questioning once, and then had the script supervisor call out "Action!"

The film set was decorated like a German-style café. Ryougi Shiki walked in with a blank Ryougi Shiki and focused her gaze on the two girls sitting on the left side of the café— Tohsaka Rin, who played Kiritsugu Flowers, and Asagami Fujino Akutagawa Chiko.

That's right, the actress playing the flower is the maid who's been working with Shinji lately.

In fact, Shinji's idea was that his younger sister Sakura would have been more perfect to play the role of the flower.

Unfortunately, Sakura is currently in university, and in order not to interfere with his younger sister's studies, Shinji has no choice but to target someone close to him.

Actually, Rin is a bit "old" to play the role of a flower, but fortunately, Rin is still young enough to be considered a teenager. With makeup, she can easily play a high school student.

Not to mention that when Hana was little, her twin ponytails looked exactly like Rin's during the Fate/Zero era, making her a veritable "young Rin with Tohsaka hairstyle".

Anyway, Senka's role in the <Painful Remnants> arc isn't much more significant than that of the thug being chased by Fujino, so having Rin make a cameo appearance is perfectly fine.

Ultimately, the main characters in this scene are not the flower with the most lines, but the quieter Ryougi Shiki and Fujino.

"The Two Elements... Formation."

Rin murmured Shiki's name, a hint of hostility in her voice. The once impeccable young lady had suddenly become nothing more than decoration.

"I'm waiting for my brother. I have nothing to say to you."

Deliberately maintaining a calm demeanor, Rin spoke in a barbed tone.

She doesn't need to act in this scene at all; she just needs to replicate Shinji's tone when they're arguing.

Ryougi Shiki calmly replied, "Your brother told you he can't come today. You got stood up~"

"Tsk."

Rin clearly showed her displeasure.

Similarly, this familiar expression is Rin's exclusive meme for Shinji Matou.

"Shiki, it was you who did this...!"

Rin's hands trembled, and she seemed to be greatly shocked that Ryougi Shiki had come here to deliver a message.

In reality, he was expressing his dissatisfaction with his "master," Shinji, treating him like a jack-of-all-trades.

[I may be a maid, but I'm not your servant, am I? Why am I being cast as an actress?]

Seeing Rin's expression, Shiki seemed to have sensed something, and a hint of... gossip appeared on her face.

"Don't talk nonsense, I'm a victim too. I can't meet with Hua Xian, so please help me get rid of her."

Ryougi Shiki is actually a provocative display of power.