The fleet of black business vehicles, like a school of well-trained fish, steadily weaved through the traffic of Shanghai.
Outside the car windows, the scenery shifted rapidly. The glass curtain walls of skyscrapers reflected the blinding sunlight, forming a strange symbiosis with buildings bearing the marks of time, together weaving a picture of an Oriental metropolis filled with vitality and a sense of unfamiliarity.
Michiya Gōshin leaned back in the comfortable rear seat, his deep gaze calmly sweeping over the streetscape that carried a slight sense of familiarity outside the window.
The sudden and enthusiastic reception at the airport had made the entire promotional group for Alice in Borderland optimistic. In the front passenger seat, manager Nakahara Kazuya was on the phone, his tone excited with a hint of relief. Meanwhile, as the artist assistant, Kato Megumi still sat in the back with Michiya Gōshin, looking down to check the itinerary on her phone.
The convoy finally glided into a rather high-end hotel located in Puxi. The hotel lobby was magnificent, with a glittering crystal chandelier suspended from the high vaulted ceiling. Guided by staff in uniform, the team's check-in procedures were handled efficiently.
As Michiya Gōshin's artist assistant, Kato Megumi's room was deliberately arranged to be right next to Michiya Gōshin's executive suite, separated by just a door, to ensure she could respond to and handle various matters at any time.
Her room was a refined and comfortable single room. Although not as spacious as the suite, the facilities were complete, and the view was open.
After walking into the room, the girl simply swept a glance at the internal furnishings, then hugged her tablet and left the room, walking back into Michiya Gōshin's suite. After all, they still had to discuss the specific flow of tomorrow's promotional event tonight.
Sakurajima Mai's room, on the other hand, was arranged at the other end of the corridor on the same floor, separated from Michiya Gōshin's room by a distance of about five or six guest rooms.
Accompanied by her mother, Sakurajima Mai stepped into her luxury suite. Her gaze inadvertently swept across the empty and quiet corridor outside the door; the end of that direction was where Michiya Gōshin was staying.
A trace of complex emotion, difficult to capture, flashed extremely quickly through her beautiful eyes. It immediately reverted to her usual elegant and slightly distant calm as she began to unpack her luggage.
At noon, the core members of the production team and the Nenshi team held a simple welcome and pre-battle mobilization lunch in a tastefully decorated Chinese restaurant within the hotel.
Inside the private room, the huge revolving round table was filled with beautifully shaped, aromatic, and flavorful classic Benbang dishes and exquisite Cantonese dim sum.
Director Aoyama seemed to be injected with new vitality. The fatigue of many days was swept away, and his face glowed with exhilarating redness.
He was the first to raise the wine glass in his hand, his voice resonant and full of infectious power.
"Everyone, we have arrived safely in Shanghai today. You all witnessed the situation at the airport with your own eyes. This is an impeccably perfect opening, especially our Michiya-kun." He cast a gaze full of approval and expectation toward Michiya Gōshin, who sat a little further away.
"I believe your Chinese will definitely become a secret weapon. Come, let us toast together! To this successful opening, and to Alice in Borderland creating brilliance in the Xia Country market, cheers!"
"Cheers!"
The Nenshi representative also raised his glass with a face full of joy. The look he gave Michiya Gōshin was equally appreciative.
"Michiya-kun, tomorrow's stage will undoubtedly be your home court! We have already adjusted the promotional strategy. We must ask you to display your utmost personal charm!"
The atmosphere during the meal was enthusiastic, with cups raised and exchanged, overflowing with infinite longing for the future.
Michiya Gōshin responded to everyone's toasts and praise calmly and appropriately, his attitude as humble as ever. Sakurajima Mai sat opposite him. Occasionally, when their gazes met briefly in the air, she would only raise her glass slightly in an elegant gesture. Between the two, a tacit safe distance suitable for public occasions was maintained.
Night fell like a giant velvet curtain, slowly enveloping both banks of the Huangpu River.
Michiya Gōshin and Kato Megumi sat opposite each other on comfortable French sofas. On the mahogany coffee table between them lay the detailed script for tomorrow's fan meeting.
In the air, aside from the faint scent of paper and ink, there drifted a subtle, fresh aura coming from Kato Megumi. Just like the feeling she gave in person, it was calm, gentle, and carried a near-transparent sense of presence.
"This is the final confirmed event flow, Michiya-san."
Kato Megumi gently pushed a document, with key points and modifications clearly marked in different colored highlighters, toward Michiya Gōshin.
"The overall framework is basically consistent with the series of promotional activities we conducted in Japan previously. It mainly includes: opening greetings, screening of the core trailer and undisclosed behind-the-scenes footage, lead actor in-depth interview, fan interactive Q&A session, and finally the theme song performance and group photo with the whole audience."
"Since the only accompanying lead actors this time are you and Sakurajima-san, some game segments in the original plan that required multi-person collaboration have been cancelled. The focus of the event will be more on deeper interaction and emotional connection with the fans."
She paused slightly, her slender fingers turning to the next page of the schedule, where several key sections were circled with a striking red pen.
"The biggest changes are concentrated here. Because of your excellent Chinese ability, the Nenshi side and Director Aoyama have jointly decided to hand over several of the weightiest interview and fan interaction segments to you to complete independently. This includes the first in-depth personal interview after the opening, as well as the 'Zero-Distance Honest Q&A' segment with random lucky fans during the intermission."
Michiya Gōshin picked up the script, his gaze sweeping quickly and focusedly over those preset questions printed in Chinese, as well as the topic directions marked beside them that they hoped he would guide and deepen.
"For the theme song performance part, the original singer, Ms. Takahashi, will perform it independently. You and Ms. Sakurajima Mai only need to go on stage during the final chorus of the song to sing along with the entire audience; no separate performance segment is required."
"The flow is very clear. I have no questions."
Michiya Gōshin put down the script in his hand, leaned his body slightly back into the soft cushions of the sofa, and raised his hand to gently rub his brow, which was slightly sore from prolonged reading and the effects of jet lag.
After a while, he looked at Kato Megumi sitting opposite him. Under the warm lighting of the room, the girl was lowering her head slightly, intently scrutinizing the backup file in her hand.
The soft light outlined the profile of her quiet and serious side face. A few strands of fine hair hung by her cheek, adding a rare softness to her usually calm and expressionless face.
"Kato."
Michiya Gōshin suddenly spoke, breaking the tranquility in the room. His voice sounded exceptionally gentle in the night. "Running back and forth for the preliminary coordination and preparation work for this event... thank you for your hard work."
Kato Megumi raised her head at the sound and looked at him. Her gaze was soft, her expression very indifferent. "This is work within the scope of my duties, Michiya-san."
"After tomorrow's event ends, if everything goes smoothly, I plan to take some time to go for a walk with Mai-san to experience the night view of Shanghai and pick out some souvenirs along the way."
Michiya Gōshin spoke in a tone akin to casual chat, as if merely sharing an ordinary plan.
"What about you, Kato? Is there anything in particular you like?"
Hearing this, Kato Megumi fell silent for a moment, as if conducting a rapid thought process, or perhaps carefully weighing every word.
Eventually, she shook her head gently.
"There isn't... anything in particular I want."
Or rather, the thing she wanted was still a long way from being truly possessed.
"Is that so..." Michiya Gōshin didn't press her. He simply nodded naturally, his tone remaining gentle.
"Alright then. When I go out strolling tomorrow, if I see something I think suits you, I'll bring it back for you."
"Michiya-san, if you have no other questions about tomorrow's flow, I suggest you rest early to ensure you greet tomorrow's event in your best state."
"Okay, you rest early too."
Michiya Gōshin stood up from the sofa, ending tonight's work discussion.
The next day, outside a professional theater with nearly a hundred years of history in Shanghai, voices were already boiling over, and the atmosphere was scorching.
A huge theme poster for Alice in Borderland hung like a flag at the theater entrance. The tension-filled and story-rich gaze shared by Michiya Gōshin and Sakurajima Mai on the poster seemed to possess magic, firmly latching onto the eyes of every passerby.
The queue of fans waiting to enter snaked far along the shade of the ancient plane trees, the air filled with excited restlessness.
Observing carefully, the number of female fans occupied an overwhelming advantage.
They were of various ages but were all dressed meticulously, holding all sorts of support items. Within this bustling crowd, two girls were queuing together. One was named Liu Meiyun. She wore a custom T-shirt with a DIY Q-version avatar of Michiya Gōshin and elements of the character "Yu" (悠). She held high a meticulously crafted support placard, her face flushed with a mix of excitement, nervousness, and incomparable pride.
She was a senior member of one of Michiya Gōshin's core fan sites in Xia Country, and also the post-production proofreader for the "Yu's Wings Subtitle Group," a rather influential Michiya Gōshin works subtitle group on the DiliDili platform.
For today's meet-and-greet, she had started preparing a month in advance, investing almost all her spare-time enthusiasm.
The other girl, who was being tightly held by the arm and half-dragged along by her, was named Shen Yuexia.
Compared to Liu Meiyun's overflowing enthusiasm, Shen Yuexia's attire appeared simple, even somewhat casual. She wore no makeup, her face carrying obvious helplessness and the perfunctory air of being "forced to do business."
She was not a fan of Michiya Gōshin. She even held a preconceived prejudice against this type of "Little Fresh Meat" young male actor, subconsciously believing that most of them were all style and no substance, lacking solid acting skills and inner depth.
Today, she was purely unable to withstand the pestering of her best friend Liu Meiyun and had been "kidnapped" here unwillingly.
"Yuexia! Look quickly, did that young lady over there draw that hand banner herself? It's amazing!"
Liu Meiyun shook Shen Yuexia's arm excitedly, her voice somewhat shrill from excitement.
Shen Yuexia sighed helplessly, trying hard to maintain her balance, and responded perfunctorily.
"Yes, yes, yes, I see it. Meiyun, I really don't understand. A Japanese actor—the language isn't even mutually intelligible—what's the point of coming to this kind of meet-and-greet?"
"When the time comes, he'll speak Japanese on stage. You can understand Japanese, but I can't. It feels a bit boring."
"Oh, you don't get it! Yu-kun's charm transcends language barriers!"
Liu Meiyun immediately retorted unconvinced, her eyes determined. "And even if you can't understand, just being able to see that face of his, which looks like it was meticulously sculpted by the gods, with your own eyes, and feeling his aura that is both cool and gentle... I feel it's worth it! I can recall it with satisfaction for a whole year!"
Shen Yuexia couldn't help but roll her eyes, expressing her inability to agree with her best friend's fanatical rhetoric of "Face is Justice."
She looked around listlessly at those young girls with fanatical light shining in their eyes, silently calculating in her heart. Once the event officially started and the lights went down, she would find a corner seat, secretly put on her earphones to play on her phone, and kill off these "long" two hours.
The tedious wait finally ended, and the ticket check began.
The crowd surged into the theater's interior in an orderly yet urgent manner, like floodwaters released from a gate. A while later, when the lights at the venue slowly dimmed, leaving only the follow spots in the center of the stage and the light emitted by the LED screen, the entire theater instantly quieted down. At the signal of the on-site executive director, the fan meeting officially kicked off.
First was a meticulously edited montage trailer, vividly displaying the suspenseful intellectual games, thrilling physical duels, and complex, subtle emotional entanglements within the show. It drew wave after wave of irrepressible gasps and admiration from the fans below the stage.
Subsequently, a professional host dressed in formal wear took the stage, introducing the guests present today with fluent Chinese and overflowing enthusiasm.
When Michiya Gōshin and Sakurajima Mai walked out side by side from behind the curtain at the side of the stage, the long-accumulated energy was detonated instantly!
Michiya Gōshin's styling today had obviously been carefully designed. He wore an extremely well-tailored deep black dark-plaid slim-fit suit. The fabric shimmered with a low-key luxury under the lights. Inside, he wore a crisp, pure white shirt, without a tie. The top button of his collar was casually undone, revealing a beautifully lined collarbone just right. It highlighted the solemnity of a formal occasion without losing the charming allure of casual unruliness.
His peerlessly handsome face seemed to come with its own soft-focus filter under the intense stage follow spot. A gentle yet slightly distant faint smile hung at the corner of his mouth.
Sakurajima Mai, meanwhile, chose a lotus-colored strapless floor-length gown. The dress was embellished with fine, shimmering sequins, perfectly outlining her exquisite curves. Her temperament was noble and elegant.
Just by standing side by side in the center of the stage, that excellent height difference, matching aura, and eye-pleasing looks constituted a perfect picture sufficient to drive all fans crazy.
According to the established flow, the host first conducted a round of relatively conventional interviews with the two lead actors.
The questions mainly revolved around their understanding of the roles, the most memorable moments during filming, their evaluation of their collaboration, and so on.
Michiya Gōshin and Sakurajima Mai both responded calmly in Japanese. Through professional simultaneous interpretation projected onto the large screen behind them, the fans below listened attentively, occasionally bursting into knowing laughter or applause.
After a while, when the host changed the topic, wearing a mysterious and excited smile on his face, and announced that they were about to enter the "Deep Interview" segment hosted independently by Michiya Gōshin, a dramatic scene suddenly appeared on stage.
Countless gazes converged on the tall and upright young man in the center of the stage. They saw him calmly take another exclusive microphone from the host. He adjusted his standing posture, his figure appearing even more tall and extended.
His gaze, like a gentle searchlight, slowly swept across the faces filled with anticipation below the stage. Then, right under this public attention, he spoke clearly and steadily in that perfectly rounded Mandarin.
"Hello everyone, I am Michiya Gōshin. I am very happy, and also very honored, to come to beautiful Shanghai and have this kind of face-to-face exchange with everyone."
"The show Alice in Borderland meant a brand-new challenge and breakthrough for our entire team. We poured a lot of heart's blood and emotion into it. Today, I want to use Chinese directly to chat more deeply with everyone about the stories behind this show, talk about the character as I understand him, and also share some of my personal, perhaps immature, thoughts."
"?"
The fans below the stage, especially those female fans who already held extremely high favorability and expectations for Michiya Gōshin, instantly fell collectively into a petrified state!
Their eyes widened to the limit, as if they dared not imagine their own ears. After a while, everyone snapped back to reality, confirming that Michiya Gōshin was indeed speaking genuine Chinese. Thus, the venue immediately erupted with thunderous applause akin to a tsunami.
"He spoke it! He really spoke such a long paragraph of Chinese!"
"Oh my God! This Mandarin pronunciation... how does it feel more standard than mine, a native Xia Country person?!"
"His voice sounds too good! Deep and magnetic!"
"Brother is simply a god descended to earth. Is there anything you can't do?!"
Liu Meiyun excitedly bounced up directly from her seat, clutching Shen Yuexia's arm beside her tightly. She screamed incoherently, her voice carrying a sobbing tone.
"Yuexia! Did you hear that? Yu-kun actually spoke Chinese directly! So fluent! So standard! I'm not dreaming, am I?!"
At this moment, Shen Yuexia also sat in her seat somewhat dazedly. She stared at the man on stage who was talking eloquently in terrifyingly fluent Chinese.
After listening seriously for a while, she realized that the other party was absolutely not mechanically reciting prepared lines, but truly engaging in back-and-forth communication.
He would subtly adjust the rhythm and stress of his speech according to the reaction of the fans below the stage, and even occasionally interject a harmless little joke, causing the audience to burst into bursts of knowing and enthusiastic laughter and applause.
This... this was completely different from the image of those "traffic stars" in her mind who recited hollow lines!
Shen Yuexia watched him handle himself with ease under the stage lights, watched the profile of his focused and charming face when he frowned slightly to think about a question...
The girl seemed to be able to feel her own heartbeat uncontrollably speeding up. A stream of scorching air rushed straight up from the bottom of her heart, causing her cheeks to uncontrollably flush with scalding heat.
The subsequent fan interaction segment pushed the atmosphere of the scene to its highest peak.
In the "Zero-Distance Honest Q&A" segment independently hosted by Michiya Gōshin, lucky seat numbers were drawn by random rolling on the electronic big screen.
The fans who were drawn would obtain the precious opportunity to go directly on stage and ask him questions at close range, and would also receive a lead actor poster signed by him personally and a specially prepared exquisite gift.
Perhaps Liu Meiyun's day-after-day devout prayers finally moved the heavens, or perhaps the unintentionally involved Shen Yuexia carried some kind of metaphysical lucky aura. When the rapidly rolling numbers on the big screen finally froze, they impressively displayed the seat numbers held by the two of them!
"Ah!"
"It's us! We were drawn! Heavens! We can go on stage and interact with Yu-kun up close!"
Shen Yuexia was also completely stunned, her mind going blank, as if all thinking ability had been formatted in this instant.
Under the gaze of countless scorching eyes mixed with extreme envy and jealousy around them, the two girls walked onto that stage where light converged like two sleepwalkers.
The intense spotlight hit them mercilessly. The piercing light made Shen Yuexia subconsciously narrow her eyes, her vision somewhat blurry.
But she could clearly feel that the man, dazzling as the sun, was standing just a few steps away from them. He was taller and more upright than he appeared on screen, his posture like a pine tree, his skin nearly transparent under the strong light, so good it was flawless.
When those deep eyes looked gently at them, Shen Yuexia felt her breathing stagnate.
"Hello there. I am very happy to meet you in this way."
Michiya Gōshin smiled, speaking to them in his deep and magnetic Chinese.
Liu Meiyun was trembling all over with excitement. The Japanese greeting she had prepared long ago was stuck in her throat. Ultimately, she could only mix it with sobbing Chinese, stuttering to express her surging love.
Michiya Gōshin listened with extreme patience, a smile of encouragement always on his face. Occasionally, he would nod gently to express understanding and response.
Two minutes later, when this lucky "microphone" was passed into Shen Yuexia's hand, she felt the small microphone weighed a thousand pounds.
The girl subconsciously opened her mouth but found her throat so dry she couldn't make any sound. Any question that had been hovering in her mind earlier vanished without a trace at this moment.
She looked up at Michiya Gōshin, who was close at hand. She could clearly smell an extremely faint and unique scent coming from him. She only felt her cheeks were shockingly hot, and her heart beat wildly as if it were about to break free from the constraints of her chest.
"It's okay, no need to be nervous. Just treat this as an ordinary chat between friends. I see you seem to have come with this cute friend beside you, is that right?"
Michiya Gōshin's tone was natural and sincere, instantly dissolving most of Shen Yuexia's embarrassment and stiffness like a warm current.
"Yes... yes."
Shen Yuexia finally found her voice, though it still carried a noticeable tremor. She mustered the greatest courage of her life, raised her head, and bravely met Michiya Gōshin's eyes.
"I... I actually didn't know much about you before. Today I was dragged here by my best friend... But, but seeing you with my own eyes today, hearing you speak with my own ears..."
She took a deep breath. "Your Chinese is too amazing, and your acting skills are also astonishing. I also want to become a fan like my friend!"
Hearing this, Michiya Gōshin was obviously stunned for a moment. Immediately, a more genuine smile blossomed on his face.
"Thank you for your recognition. This makes me feel very happy, and it is also the motivation for me to continue working hard."
He solemnly handed two posters, the ink of the signatures still fresh, into the hands of Liu Meiyun and Shen Yuexia respectively, and shook hands with them in turn gently.
When Michiya Gōshin's slender fingers with well-defined joints gently touched Shen Yuexia's palm, which was damp with sweat due to nervousness, she felt as if a weak but clear electric current instantly rushed from the contact point through her limbs and bones, bringing a trembling numbness that froze her entire person in place.
Walking down the stage dizzily as if stepping on clouds and returning to her seat, Shen Yuexia still felt like she was having a bizarre and beautiful dream.
She looked down at the poster in her hand that still bore Michiya Gōshin's autograph. On the poster was [Arisu Ryohei], played by Michiya Gōshin, gazing forward with those complex eyes interlaced with confusion and tenacity.
Liu Meiyun was still chattering excitedly beside her, speaking as fast as a machine gun, repeatedly savoring those brief dozens of seconds on stage just now, but Shen Yuexia could no longer listen.
Her entire mind was already occupied by the man on stage who had resumed interacting with other lucky fans, his whole body seeming to emit endless light.
Shen Yuexia gripped the poster in her hand tightly, as if making a vow.
"From today on, I am a true 'Ai-Yu-Ren'! When I get back, I want to finish watching all his dramas and all his interviews!
"Baby Yun, is your subtitle group still recruiting? I want to learn Japanese, I want to join you guys!"
"Then come!"
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