She was right. At the moment, we were with the film crew by the mansion’s rear entrance, but we’d seen people out the front lining up for the attraction on the way in. We could hear screams from visitors inside the mansion even now, like this place was open for business as usual and just as popular as ever.
“Oh. That was right. It is wrong that the filming is from now. After the park is closing, the people are deleted, then it is filming.”
“Deleted... Um, I think you mean ‘after the people have left.’”
Deleted in this context sounded super unnerving. You wanna know something even more unnerving? It was sometimes hard to tell when Mizuki-san was being serious, and when she was just making mistakes in her Japanese.
“At this time, we come to the meeting before the filming. And, the recording of the documentary is finished first. It is a professional plan, and efficient.”
“So they’re not waiting till filming is finished to wrap up the documentary?”
“It’s time and situation. Time is money. Workers are busy. There’s a necessary thing to find the gaps, and fill them.”
“I thought ‘time is money’ was supposed to mean something deeper than that. But I get what you mean.”
It was something I’d never thought about just watching movies before, but of course there were times on set when there wasn’t any actual filming going on. It reminded me of my work on Koyagi—I’d recorded a few lines of “thank you for x downloads!” filling in with numbers up to ten million. Those were all done ahead of time. A professional film set probably employed similar tactics as we did, only they did it on a much bigger scale.
“Huh... Don’t that mean you don’t actually hafta be here then?” Otoi-san pointed out.
“Oh! Your sense is a sharp knife. Noticing too much, stabbing hard. Blood everywhere. Be careful when you walk at night.”
Otoi-san laughed. “Your Japanese’s taken a dark turn. That’s hilarious.”
“You call that hilarious? I call it dangerous!” I cried.
Mizuki-san was terrifying. Otoi-san too. I had no idea how she could just laugh off what Mizuki-san said.
Actually, these two were giving off such bad vibes that it was making me fade into the background, something that literally never happens! That’s gotta be, like, against the law or something!
“Yes, I am an actress. And I am different to the leading one. It should not be that I am here, normally.”
“I’m guessin’ y’came here just to show Kohinata the set, then?”
“Yes. I want to bring Iroha-chan. Only this.”
“Gotcha,” Otoi-san said, finishing off her pancake and starting to slurp on the straw in her cream soda.
Now I was really worried.
“Um, Otoi-san? Are you sure it’s okay for you to be eating that much?”
“Why?”
“Well, um, I saw the line for the bathrooms earlier, and they’re super long. If you start needing to pee—”
“Aaand triggered.”
“Huh?!”
I was just sharing my concern for her comfort. What could be so triggering about that?!
“Y’haven’t said anythin’ wrong in ages. I thought I finally had y’trained.” Otoi-san sighed.
“You can’t train someone if you literally don’t share any information with them. You’re asking the impossible!”
She laughed this time. “Well, I’m still not gonna explain. Just try not to trigger me.”
“That’s totally unfair!”
“Oh, you are doing a fun-seeming game. I want you to mix me in too.”
“This isn’t a game. Otoi-san’s telling me I need to avoid her triggers, but she won’t tell me what they actually are.”
“Triggers... These are something not to say, or not to touch. Is that right?”
“No comment.” Otoi-san completely dodged the question.
But it looked like Mizuki-san’s curiosity was piqued. Showing no signs of backing down, she instead put a hand to her chin like a detective in thought. Then, she clapped her hands together as an idea struck.
“The trigger word is bathroom. This relates to your first name.”
I blinked.
“GAAAAAAAAARGH!”
Otoi-san screamed with so much force it sent shivers down my spine—a million more than Tenchido’s ghost mansion could ever hope to achieve.
“Wh-Why did you say that, Mizuki-san?! Things were already awkward enough, and then you literally went and triggered her on purpose?!”
“Oh? I thought this was a guessing game. Otoi-san hides her first name stubbornly. You cannot touch it, so it’s the same. It’s not right?”
“Stop! Down! Down! I get what you’re saying, so for the love of heck please don’t say anything else!”
“Did I again make a mistake?”
“More than one! This isn’t an isekai! People aren’t just gonna yield to you the second you work out their secrets!” My eyes squeezed shut, I turned my face towards Otoi-san while I tried to hold Mizuki-san back. Otoi-san was gonna be majorly mad, and she was totally gonna kill us!
Slowly, slowly, I opened my eyes a crack. But Otoi-san was as expressionless as ever. No, actually...she was even smiling faintly.
“Ha ha ha. Y’can’t expect a new character to know everything. ’N’ I’m not immature enough to let it bother me.”
“O-Oh, right. Yeah, I guess there’s not much point getting so riled up about her going on and on about your triggers! That just goes to show how mature you really are, Otoi-san! Like cheese!”
I know it wasn’t exactly the most flattering thing to say, but sometimes you’ve just got to go with the flow. I just wanted to make sure Otoi-san wasn’t mad.
And it worked. She was still smiling—brightly, even. “I’ll just add Mizuki-san to my hit list for now.”
“So you did let it bother you!”
Sometimes, facial expressions could be misleading. I guess it was actions that spoke louder than both words and faces.
Case closed. I guess.