Chapter 364: New Work
A simple event, in Japan, caused quite a stir. The first to bear the brunt was, of course, the news of the movie My Sister is a Delinquent Girl. And according to the company, the movie would follow the story of the TV version, the so-called TV sequel. It would naturally attract a lot of fans.
And following closely behind was the blonde girl who had attracted a lot of attention at the event, this audience member from China, Yu Linna. She had attracted attention at the event, especially after receiving high praise from the great author Yamada-sensei, which made everyone look at her in a new light. Of course, being good-looking was also one aspect.
In comparison, the topic of Watase Mako-sensei’s signing event was not so high.
As soon as the event was over, Yu Linna went back with Miss Sakurai. They were living together, so of course they had left early. If they hadn’t left early, they would have been staked out by fans, and it would have been very troublesome. Miss Sakurai was very experienced in this. Although she was not a big star in the entertainment industry, she had long since tasted the troubles of being a celebrity. These celebrities, if they were not careful, could easily be exposed in the eyes of their fans. If they were not careful with their words, they would be attacked by a group. So as a celebrity, it was a very important required course to try not to be exposed in front of the camera in private.
And Yu Linna could be said to have earned a small wave of heat in her home country. No one had expected that Yu Linna, who had gradually become outdated, would actually attract attention at the animation film event awards ceremony in Japan.
Far away in Guangnan University, the people who knew her were all stunned.
“Oh my god! Isn’t this Linna! How did she get to Japan! No wonder I was saying she had asked for leave and wasn’t coming to school.”
For example, Bai Ya. As soon as she saw the news about Yu Linna on Weibo, she immediately told everyone in her dorm. Then, the people in her dorm all rushed to dorm 383 to ask what was going on. And Fang Jiangning and the others really couldn’t come up with a suitable excuse for her running to Japan and not attending class, so they simply told them that she was actually at a writer’s exchange meeting in Japan to study.
And the truth that Yu Linna was Shion-sensei was also known by the dorm 382 next door. Su Ziyan was so excited she fainted on the spot.
“Ziyan, what are you doing! You have to be calm! You can’t fall down yet!”
Bai Ya held up the fallen Su Ziyan and said the lines that only an anime character would say.
“Oh my god, I actually did that to the Shion-sensei I’ve been thinking about day and night… patting her head and giving her snacks, and even hugging her, treating her like a child. It’s over, it’s over…”
“Ziyan, you have to pull yourself together! She’s not the kind of person who would mind that kind of thing!”
“Ah, I seem to have seen my grandma in heaven…”
“Stop imagining things! Your grandma is still alive and well! Didn’t she just send you plums last month? If you say that about your grandma, you’re going to be disciplined by her!”
Ignoring the antics of these two for now, after Xiao Yanhan saw Yu Linna’s appearance in Japan, she also felt with emotion in her heart, This person really won’t be calm wherever she goes. She was also looking for a new path, so, I can’t just stop my steps like this.
Xiao Yanhan’s determination to draw manga well was strengthened.
A few days later, Miss Sakurai was still teaching Yu Linna Japanese at home, but she unexpectedly welcomed an unexpected guest. The person who came to visit her was named Suzuki Hayato, a producer of a film and television company, and also an old friend of Sakurai Reina’s father.
“Long time no see, Uncle Hayato. Why have you come to find me?”
“I saw your show and wanted to find you. I thought you wouldn’t refuse.”
Mr. Suzuki had brought a contract and slowly explained his purpose. During this time, Yu Linna also came to say hello, and Mr. Suzuki also got to know this Yu Linna, who had attracted a lot of attention at the event. Then he began to state his purpose.
“Our company has been wanting to make a TV series recently, but we’ve been struggling to find a suitable screenwriter. The company’s upper management has decided to develop a theme about a female teacher and her student, but the script has been slow to be finalized and has been rejected several times. I was thinking of you, Reina, no, Yamada-sensei. You started out writing novels. Could you try writing a script for once?”
He had specifically called her “Yamada-sensei” and had also used honorifics. This showed that he was speaking to her with a working attitude, as a producer, and not as her father’s friend.
“No, I have no experience writing scripts. Writing novels and writing scripts are completely different things. And the theme you mentioned, about a teacher and a student, is not that easy to write. Even if you, uncle, want to come up with a script, we writers can’t write it for you.”
“But the only suitable candidate I can think of is you, Yamada-sensei. You are a bestselling author. You should be quite good at controlling the pace of a story. We really couldn’t find a suitable screenwriter, so we’re like this.”
“It’s not that problem. I absolutely can’t write a script. And I’m very busy with work. I also have to be busy with the work of the second season of the animation and the game adaptation. I can’t find the time.”
Sakurai Reina said with difficulty that she had no extra time. Even if she did, she would have given it to Yu Linna. She was a busy person. The work of the animation and game adaptation alone was enough to trouble her, not to mention the work of manga adaptation. It was a good thing that she still had a studio that could help her share the pressure. Otherwise, if she had to do it all by herself, she would be done for.
Therefore, it was completely unrealistic for her to write a script.
And although there were people in the industry who had transitioned from being a novelist to a screenwriter, there were very few who had succeeded. After all, writing novels and writing scripts were two different things. It was not so easy to successfully transition.
Yu Linna listened on the side, half-understanding. Her Japanese level was not high, and there was not much she could understand. Many of the things she even couldn’t understand. But she probably knew that they were talking about a script.
“Is it about script work?”
Yu Linna asked in her not-so-fluent Japanese.
Miss Sakurai patted her head, signaling her not to worry.
“Yes, but you don’t have to worry too much. I didn’t take it. This kind of work is still too difficult for me.”
Mr. Suzuki was in a low mood after hearing this. Was this trip also in vain? He had already met with Reina’s father before. He had really hoped to get Yamada-sensei’s participation. As long as she was there, she was a golden brand in any case, and could attract the attention of some fans.
But he had indeed been thinking too beautifully. Just how helpless must he have been to have thought of letting a writer be a screenwriter and write a script? As the script was rejected again and again, Mr. Suzuki had no more tricks up his sleeve. The new script was about to be submitted soon. If there was no finalized version, this project would probably have to be postponed.
If it didn’t work out, then forget it, Mr. Suzuki thought so.
“By the way, this Miss Yu, I’ve seen you on TV. Are you still in school?”
Helpless, Mr. Suzuki put aside his work and first chatted with that Yu Linna about family matters, talking about some private topics. He was also very tired of always talking about work.
“Yes, I am. I’m studying at a university in China… my profession is a writer.”
“A writer? You’re a writer too?”
“Yes, I am… although I’m not particularly popular in my home country, I am a professional writer.”
She introduced herself in that non-standard Japanese.
“By the way, I’ve also written a script for a TV series. I’m half a screenwriter, I guess.”
She added at the end.
Why did she introduce herself like this? Perhaps it was because she was interested in the script he had mentioned. Actually, she was also trying her luck. She was wondering if she could take on his script and give it a try. She had been in Japan for so long and hadn’t written anything decent yet, but she could try to fight for a TV series script.
Of course, she also felt it was unlikely, because this was Japan. For a foreigner like her to fight for the opportunity to write a script, wasn’t that a fool’s dream? It was impossible for him to consider her. Too unrealistic.
Mr. Suzuki also did not have any special thoughts after hearing this, at most just sighing with emotion, and then there was nothing more. He didn’t think it was a big deal that she could write a script.
“Then do you have any works?”
He said this completely as a polite remark, with no meaning behind it.
Yu Linna, with the thought of “it’s fine to just try,” opened the webpage of the TV series she had written. Although it didn’t have much attention in Japan, it was also translated in Japan, even though not many people watched it. When Mr. Suzuki saw these few works, he couldn’t help but be stunned.
The Smile of the Rose and Wulin Kitchen Maiden, these TV series, he remembered, were written by the Chinese Shion-sensei. Could it be that this little girl was Shion?
Mr. Suzuki would also occasionally pay attention to a few Chinese authors, and Shion-sensei was one of them. He saw that the screenwriter of these works was all done by Yu Linna, and his heart couldn’t help but waver a little.
To be frank, with the Japanese aesthetic, the two TV series that Yu Linna had written did not suit the audience’s taste, but she did indeed have some experience with scripts, and she was also a writer who had transitioned to a screenwriter, which was quite rare.
How about letting her give it a try?
As for whether the higher-ups would object, he felt that he should let her try first. If it didn’t work out, he would make other plans.
“Miss Yu, no, Shion-sensei, how about this? You first use a week to write a first draft of the script for me. I’ll hand it in to see if it works. If it does, we’ll talk about a formal contract. If not, we’ll talk about it another time. How about that?”
“Alright, I agree.”
Originally, Yu Linna hadn’t thought it would be successful. She had also just had the thought of giving it a try. She hadn’t expected Mr. Suzuki to be paying attention to Chinese authors, which had helped her in an invisible way. At least he was willing to give her a chance.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?”
After Mr. Suzuki had said his goodbyes, Miss Sakurai felt a little uneasy. She still felt that it was a little inappropriate for Yu Linna to take on the script work. After all, a writer and a screenwriter were completely different professions. Could she really be competent?
“Mmm, I’m doing it voluntarily, and I also want to try out a script.”
“But the script has to be written in Japanese. If you write in Chinese or English, they won’t read it.”
“…It’s fine. I will work hard.”
Sakurai, seeing her like that, didn’t seem to have a way and could only let her be. Although she didn’t think this child could succeed. After all, the examples of writers successfully transitioning to screenwriters were too few.
From then on, Yu Linna entered a state of active preparation. Every day, besides studying Japanese, she had an extra job, which was to write a script in Japanese. She had only been learning Japanese for a short time, and now she was directly writing a script. Miss Sakurai didn’t even know if she could write it, because when she first started writing, many of the words were wrong, and the romaji was also wrong. Miss Sakurai could already foresee her tragic future.
But the mistakes Yu Linna had made, she would usually not repeat them after the first time and could quickly adjust. Therefore, her progress was quite fast, which was also beyond Miss Sakurai’s expectations.
