#i was looking for more dramas with oshiro since i liked his acting and stumbled upon this

[hokkienmee]

Ashita mo Kitto, Oishii Gohan - Gin no Spoon (2015) ↳ Episode 2

[mintchocolateleaves]

The very first AU that @detectivegeekshin and I talked about was the Actors au, and I can’t believe I’ve never written anything for it until now. But finally, my thoughts on the AU are coherent enough to be put into words. Have 3k of Actors auditioning for their roles.

Ran isn’t entirely sure why she auditions in the first place.

She’s never even really been confident enough to audition for a main role in her school’s drama club, has always stuck with extra roles, but now… now she’s deciding to audition for a role on television?

The thought almost makes her feel sick with nerves.

Still, there’s no point in never trying. She doubts she’ll get the part – other people have more experience – but she wants to try and learn more about the auditioning process. Maybe then, one day, she’ll be brave enough to go into it with more confidence.

Ran grabs hold of her script, goes over her lines and tries to memorise them. Then, she considers the role that she’s going for. The character is similar to her in personality, which is why she’d decided to choose a role such as this one to audition for.

“W-why am I doing this?” She asks herself, when she’s sat in the waiting room. She refuses to make eye contact with the other girls auditioning, lest she start worrying about how much better than her they’ll all be.

Instead, she waits, smooths out the paper she needs and decides that she’s going to test herself, throw herself further into the character designed for her. She bites her lip, tells herself it won’t go as badly as she expects it will, and continues.

She wishes that she’d let someone know that she’d decided to audition, hadn’t decided to stay quiet on the topic. Maybe she doesn’t want to let people down, but now, she wishes that she’d had someone come with her so she wouldn’t be going through it alone.

“Mouri Ran?”

Ran stiffens in her seat, then raises her hand, following after the woman who’s called her name. She walks behind her, listening to her explain that she’ll go into the room, and speak lines back and forth with the director, giving him a feel for how she falls into character.

She nods her head, tries to relieve herself of any tension that’s remaining in her shoulders and tells herself that it’s going to be alright.

“Nervous?” The woman who’s called her asks, putting a hand onto her shoulder. Ran nods. “It’s natural for an audition. Just try your best, and don’t take it too seriously. If it’s meant to be, it’ll happen.”

Ran smiles, nods her head, and then, steps inside a small office.

Inside, there’s a man with glasses, the man who will go on to become the director when they begin filming. He leans forward, bows and introduces himself as Oshiro Junpei.  

Ran bows back, offers her own name and takes the chair that he offers to her, trying not to seem as restless as she feels.

“We’ll take it easy,” Oshiro begins, “we’ll go over the lines we’ve prepared, and see how that goes.”

Despite it being easy, Ran feels her throat dry up. She feels like this is going to be very difficult a task. Still, she’s never been one to give up, so she swallows down her fear, prepares herself.

“We’ll take it from the top,” Oshiro continues, “and I’ll read for the other characters in the scene. Whenever you’re ready, Mouri-san.”

Ran closes her eyes, tells herself she’ll be okay, and begins.

“T-this child…”

-

Ran leaves the audition behind feeling proud of herself, but also convinced that she’s definitely not going to get the role. She’d stuttered on some words, inflected too much emotion into others and quite honestly, she’d just been nervous the entire time.

So, she doesn’t mention it to anyone after all.

She considers trying out for the school play, giving herself a bigger role this time so that she can learn how to navigate a more emotive role. The school drama club will be opening auditions soon anyway, and Ran’s always been told she could have a bigger role if she tried so she decides to focus on that.

“Have you seen the new Night Baron movie trailer?” One of her friends, Yumi, mutters during their lunch break one day, and Ran shakes her head, focusing on the homework she’d completely forgotten about. Usually, she’s on top of things like this, but the audition had cut into her day and now she’s running behind.

“No,” she answers, and she finds it’s the truth. She’s not an avid fan of the book series, even though she has enjoyed the first film that’s come out. “Sorry.”

“Oh, you’ve got to,” Yumi continues, pulling her phone out. Ran has the faint impression that she’s going to be forced to watch the trailer whether she wants to or not. “It’s so good, and the baron – Kudo Shinichi – looks extra fine in this one.”

Trust her friend to fangirl over an actor that they’ll never meet. It’s… well, it’s almost kind of embarrassing.

“Right, right.” Ran says, rolling her eyes. The trailer is brought up and begins to play as Yumi passes her the phone. “I’m sure we’ll watch it in the cinema at some point.”

-

She’s not expecting to get the call back.

Perhaps that’s why it shocks her so much when she receives an email asking her to come back in, to continue the audition with some of the other actors to see if they’re compatible.

Ran doesn’t really understand what they mean by compatible, not at first, but then she considers how actors need to have chemistry on set and then it sinks in. Someone wants to know if she’s compatible with the other actors, whether she’ll be able to create a believable character when interacting with others.

“Huh,” Ran mutters to herself as she scrolls through the email, looking up the details. The call back will take more time this time, and another two scenes for the script have been included. Since the show is based around a detective shrinking in age, they want her to audition with the other characters who will be the main characters.

This includes three scenes. One for the detective as his teenage self, one as a child and one with the father of the role she’s auditioning for.

“This is really happening,” Ran continues to mumble to herself. She takes a bite of her lunch, glances around her classroom and smiles. If her friends question why she’s acting weirdly, she doesn’t answer them.

Now she feels a little hopeful about getting the role, and she really… really doesn’t want to let those around her down. If she gets the role, then she’ll tell them then.

-

Ran isn’t sure what she’s expecting from her call back, but she’s not expecting to be one of four girls in a room.

At the previous audition there had been a succinct lack of girls, so many that it had been almost overwhelming. Now, faced with so little, she feels even more overwhelmed. Mainly, because she’s pretty sure she’s seen them on television before.

She’s sat, about to compete with people more practised than she is? Ran#s never felt more nervous in her life.

Still, she sits, waits for her name, repeating her lines in her head. She phases through the scenes, imagines the inflection she needs to place on each word, the weighting, the emotion. She imagines the context, imagines herself as the character and bites into her lip.

Is she capable of keeping up her act long enough to be convincing?

Ran decides not to question herself. Her best bet is to simply… wait and see. No amount of fretting will help her, so it’s probably for the best not to fret at all. Even if the sentiment is easier said than done.

She jumps when her name is called, and stumbles to her feet, but by the time the door closes behind her for the second audition, for her call back, Ran’s back is straight, and she’s willed away the shaking of her hands.

-

The director, Oshiro, welcomes Ran back inside with a small wave of his hand, signalling for her to sit down in the spare seat. Beside him, there’s another man, someone Ran recognises from TV, an author. The author to the series that she’s auditioning for, Aoyama Gosho.

Ran tries not to let her nerves overpower her, dips her head in a greeting and offers a small bow.

“Here’s how we’ve planned things,” Oshiro says, when Ran glances around the room and cannot find any of the actors she supposed to be reading lines with. “We’ll go back over the initial scene you auditioned with me – I have the lines here – for Aoyama-san to get a baseline for your acting, and then we’ll go into the next room over and start your audition from there. How does that sound?”

Ran nods. “That – That sounds fine, y-yes.”

Reading the original scene goes much like the same way it had before. Ran reads the words, tries not to stutter over the words, and slowly finds that she becomes more and more comfortable as the scene continues, as she gets further into character.

“Alright,” Oshiro says, standing, “that’s enough for this scene Mouri-san. Let’s head into the main room and go over the scenes we’ve had you memorise.”

She barely resists a sigh of relief. Ran stands, follows behind the two men – Aoyama quiet, watching the audition without making any other commentary save for a nod, and a reassuring smile – and makes her way into a slightly larger room.

The room is mirrored against two walls, a rehearsal space for dance and theatre pieces. Ran avoids her reflection, doesn’t want to see the nervousness on her own face, and focuses on the four people inside the room.

She recognises two with an impressive ease. Two famous actors, people she’s seen on movie trailers and the TV hundreds of times before. Mouri Kogoro – In the past, Ran had always pointed him out to her friends, stated that they had the same surname with a smile – sits leaning against his chair, talking to a small child in another chair.

Ran doesn’t know who the child is, but she assumes he’s the child actor who will be the star of the show. A new acting role for him, she assumes. Unless he’s been on shows Ran simply hasn’t seen yet. His guardian, presumably his mother, stands nearby, dark curls framing her face.

The other actor she recognises, is one her friends will never let her live down. Kudo Shinichi, the same age as her but more successful in acting than many actors double their age, offers a smile to her as she comes in.

“Alright Mouri-san – ah, this will get confusing quickly, do you mind if I call you Ran-san?”

Shrugging her shoulders, Ran says that this is fine.

“Great,” Oshiro continues. Behind him, Aoyama takes a seat. “Let me introduce you to the cast you’ll be auditioning with.”

He waves towards Mouri Kogoro, introduces him, and the man glances up, offers a smile and a short wave. Then, a hand towards Kudo Shinichi, who offers a short, ‘yo’.

“This is Edogawa Conan, and the woman beside him, is his mother Edogawa Fumiyo.”

The little boy, Conan, glances up at the sound of his voice, makes a small chirping sound that’s almost a hello, and kicks his legs out against the chair. He’s adorable, Ran almost wants to hug him.

His mother, calmer, offers a small smile and says, “hello.”

Ran introduces herself, gives them all a small, ‘please take care of me today’, before glancing towards Oshiro, waiting for his direction.

“We’ll start with Mouri-san and Ran-san’s scene together, shall we?”

-

It goes well.

Ran and Kogoro share enough similarities in their body language that they could convincingly play a father and daughter combo without the casting seeming forced.

Mouri Kogoro, Ran thinks as she is going over the scene with him, scolding the drunken man his part requires him to be, is a very good actor. She remembers sitting downstairs with her mother watching his previous roles and admiring the way he carried himself.

He’s usually the main character in crime shows, a smart detective, or a forensics scientist, so for him to be playing a deadbeat character, shows just how capable he is with his roles.

“Can you two go back over the scene?” Oshiro asks. “Ran-san, try to be more familiar, your supposed to be family.”

Personally, Ran isn’t very close to her father at home. He’s usually working, away on business trips, and so there’s always a degree of tension when he’s home. They simply don’t know how to react around one another, sometimes.

But the character she’s auditioning for lives solely with her father, would have a closer connection. They’d know how to react to one another, and Ran realises that she has to push past her own experiences and adopt the different experiences that her character would have lived through.

“Okay,” Ran says, nodding her head and beginning the scene from the start.

-

The next scene is one with Conan.

The child ambles up in front of her, and sticks his hand out, saying that he’s very pleased to meet her. He compliments her, states that she’s very pretty, and Ran lets out a small laugh, thanking him.

“How old are you?” Ran asks, out of curiosity as they ready to begin their scene. Conan lifts five fingers up, grins. He says that even though he’s five, he’s going to be playing a character who’s six.

For a five-year-old, he’s fantastic. He responds to his cues, and he builds a rapport with Ran in little time at all. He doesn’t stumble over his words, and Ran realises this is what child actors are raised to be like.

Even if sometimes he pauses, trying to remember his lines, he’s brilliant. He inspires awe, Ran thinks. And he’ll go on to be big.

“Ran-neechan,” Conan says once they’re finished, “you did really good.”

Ah, children. Ran loves how they always have the purest compliments at hand. She really does.

“Good, good,” Oshiro says. His tone seems to suggest otherwise however, an almost dry tone, as if he’s beginning to think that Ran shouldn’t be here.

Of course, she shouldn’t be. Ran’s no actress. She’s not experienced enough yet for a TV show. Here by a complete fluke, she’s simply trying to ride out the experience and come away having learned something.

“And now for the final scene?”

-

Before they start the final scene, Shinichi leans forward, offers Ran a smile and says, “hey, don’t freak yourself out.”

Ran, who has been doing exactly this, but doesn’t want to admit as such, shakes her head and says, “I’m not freaking out at all.”

“You’ve got the look of someone who’s freaking out.”

She doesn’t really have anything to respond to that, so Ran shrugs, sends him a half smiles and says, “this is actually my first audition altogether.”

His eyebrows raise further than Ran thinks is possible. He leans forward and says, “you’re doing really well, don’t let Oshiro-san’s expression fool you. He does it to push you further, to see how you’ll react under pressure.”

His lips flick up into a smile, and then he steps back, readying to begin the scene. Ran watches him, feels a grin of her own forming on her face. It’s the opposite of the expression she’s after for the scene though, so she forms her face into slight irritation, readies to begin.

Shinichi leads them in, offers a small yawn – his character is meant to have just woken up in the scene after all – and says, “so? What do you want? It’s Sunday after all…”

She breathes out a small sigh. Glances down and says, “So you forgot…”

“Ah? Am I forgetting something?”

“Not just something,” Ran says, lifting her voice into slight irritation. Not angrily, but enough that she’s probably rolling her eyes at the him, exasperated even. She takes a step forward, frown falling into face. “I said ‘today, I’m finally free from karate training’. ‘Then lets go buy you a phone?’ you said.”

They finish the scene soon enough, with Ran ordering Shinichi to get changed, claiming that she’ll make him breakfast. The scene might be short, but Ran feels herself falling into it, comfortable with Shinichi as they’re actually childhood friends, not simply playing the role of them.

Maybe in another life they were, or maybe Shinichi’s a good enough actor that he makes people feel comfortable when they’re sharing a scene with him. Ran doesn’t know.

All she knows is that he offers her a wink as they finish, heading back to his seat. He says, “see you another time, Ran-san.”

Ran barely has the time to say the words back, because Oshiro stands, and he’s leading her outside of the room, ending the call back without allowing her the time to say goodbye.

See you soon.

Ran feels her cheeks flush as she leaves the building behind. She really hopes that she will.

-

“I think we should go for her, the chemistry between her and Kudo-kun was perfect. Completely what I had in mind when writing these two characters.”

“I agree on those two, but the other interactions were a little stiff. She’d need to work at it.”

“Then have her work at it. I think that’s our girl.”

“…I’ll let her know then. Mouri Ran is going to be a star.”

-

“Hey,” Shinichi says, the first day on set, when they’re all preparing to read over the script, the read through offering any final edits. “You made it.”

“Yeah,” Ran says. She pushes her hair behind her ear, offers a smile. “I’m pretty excited.”

Shinichi’s lips lift up, the edges of his mouth quirking upward. He says, “So am I.”