Chapter 18

Cover character: Maasa Rokubu

Scene 18 is the third chapter included in Volume 4 of Urakata!!

## Summary

Despite impending problems with the demands of the actors, Ryuuji surprises the other members of the Art Squad when he shows his capabilities and skills as an assistant director. He does a very good job of managing the cast and crew well and communicating with everyone properly, including Uichiro. Yet, Ryuuji refuses to try directing a movie. It is revealed at the end of the chapter that Ryuuji had actually directed the short film with the robot that Ranmaru had seen when he was small.

## Plot

At the actors' complaints, Ryuuji seems to be shaking in anger, but Ranmaru is taken by surprise when Ryuuji simply apologizes to them and delegates tasks to the rest of the Art Squad to make sure that each of their demands are met. And to address concerns about scheduling, Ryuuji simply says that they will do more prep work while they wait for the actors to get ready and continues to delegate tasks for others so that no time is wasted. He even approaches the filming crew to encourage them and reassure them of their skills while they are feeling uneasy about the intimidating actors.

Filming begins as soon as the actors are ready and they very soon encounter problems as Uichiro's directions seem to make no sense to the actors themselves. Ryuuji interprets the director's seemingly unreasonable demands for the cast to make them easier to understand, impressing the actors. Ryuuji even defends Uichiro, saying that he's purusing an interesting vision so the actors should trust that and do as he says. This surprises Maasa and she jokes that it must be an impostor Ryuuji for him to be backing up Uichiro. Ranmaru continues to be impressed by Ryuuji's performance as an assistant director as he checks off the boxes for being an attentive, considerate, and alert assistant director.

One night after filming, Ryuuji asks Ruka for stomach medicine since he was feeling a bit unwell. Maasa comments that she didn't know that Ryuuji had such skills and asks where he picked them up but Ryuuji responds by saying that it's just something members of the Art Squad should pick up since they're always present at shoots. Ryuuji says that he had no choice since he agreed to take the job, but Ranmaru thinks that he's more invested in the job than something he simply had no choice but to do.

The next day, the cast and crew are filming a scene where a woman is running in the bamboo forest. They took many takes of the scene, with Uichiro providing feedback each time to improve the shot. At the tenth take, Ranmaru notices that the actress doesn't look like she's doing very well. But Ryuuji was already stepping in to tell both Uichiro and the actress to take a break, even though they both insisted that they should continue, Ryuuji insists and gives the actress encouragement for her grit.

The other cast members notice the good job that Ryuuji is doing as assistant director, inspiring them to do their best. Ranmaru observes how Ryuuji's passion has the ability to inspire others and muses how that feelings spreads and brings everyone together as he is called to be a corpse in the film and receives encouragement from the cast members.

The night before the last day of filming, comments that Ryuuji should try directing something but he refuses, saying that even just the assistant director job is leaving him haggard (which it really isn't). He says that directing is much harder and is a job only for eccentrics, which starts a mini-argument between Ryuuji and Uichiro. Ranmaru thinks about how the two of them are always at each others throats but they always give their all.

On the last day of filming, the actor playing the detective in the film trips over the box full of dry ice and injures his hand after he touches it directly. Ruka and a fellow cast member immediately tend to him, but the incident has left a bad wound. The actress offers to take him to the hospital since she's done filming but Uichiro protests, saying that the detective is still needed for the last scene. Ryuuji rebukes him, reminding him that the actor's safety must always come first and Uichiro lets him go. Ranmaru worries that it was his fault since he should have been more careful but Ryuuji scolds him, telling him to find a solution instead of blaming himself. Knowing that only the detective's back needed to be seen for the scene and that Uichiro definitely did not want to cut such an important scene from the film, Ryuuji cuts his long hair to fit the length of the detective's, as they have a similar build.

The filming was able to end smoothly, thanks to Ryuuji cutting his beloved hair that he took so long to grew since he was bald. Uichiro sighs, commenting that he does owe Ryuuji now. Ryuuji's father, who was watching him the whole time, laughs to himself, saying that Ryuuji is so energetic.

Izumi is shown arriving back home, immediately greeted by his mom and younger brother who hadn't seen him for a while since he lives on campus. Izumi's mother asks her if he has remembered anything but Izumi only smiles as he says no and apologizes. Izumi sits down in his room to watch a DVD of the short film about the old man and the flying robot. It is revealed that that film was actually directed by Ryuuji.

## Characters

* Ryuuji Gouda
* Ruka Enjoji
* Ranmaru Kurisu
* Izumi Samura
* Maasa Rokubu
* Tomu Tenba
* Uichiro Hida