Async (Ryuichi Sakamoto x Reader)

1986 : Behind the Scenes (part 2)

(Tokyo, Japan. 1986)

~Ryuichi's P.O.V~
The years have been very busy for me as I have expected. I'm now currently packing, preparing for the flight to China that I'm a cast in the movie. "Sensei!" I heard (y/n)-chan calling me from the living room. I stopped packing for a moment and went to the living room. "Yes? What is it?" I wonder why she called. "見て見て!それが北野さんです!" (Mite mite! Sorega Kitano-san desu : Look! There's Kitano-san!) I looked at the television and she was right. "Oh, yeah. It is Takeshi-san." I was surprised.

"Is he in a game show?" I asked. "He made the game show!". "What is it called?" I asked again. "風雲！たけし城!." (Fuun! Takeshi-jou) 'Takeshi's Castle', huh? I wish for luck to the guests to beat Takeshi-san. "Anyway... have you finished packing yet, (y/n)-chan?". "Almost. I was grabbing my toothbrush and I got distracted." She was embarrassed to admit. "I'll go finish it.". "Let me help you with it."

(Tianjin, China) [It's also written as Tientsin but I'm more comfortable writing it in the Chinese romaji]

~Your P.O.V~
We're in China now! The flight didn't take that long since we flew across the strait. The set for Ryuichi-sensei's character is in Tianjin, not at the Forbidden City. I'm surprised that they got the permission from the government since the name is both literal and metaphorical. The movie's title is The Last Emperor and I never watch it before. If you ask me from the historical side, I doubt that I can explain it.

The place that will be used for most of the scenes is the house that the last Emperor used to live when Japan and the Red Army seized China. It's fascinating since the movie is history based so it has to be as accurate as it can be. We stayed in a hotel that was already booked in Beijing. I hope the locations to the different sets are close.

We went to the first set for sensei's first appereance, a ballroom of a restaurant of some sort. Again, sensei wore a full suit but he had to hide his right arm. I decided to check on him and he just finished adjusting his suit. "Ah! (y/n)-chan!" he was happy to see me. "Can you help me with my tie, please? It's hard to fasten it with one hand.". "S-sure." I helped him adjusting his tie but this is too close! "Thank you." He smiled and tidied up.

We went to the hall to meet up with the other casts. "Sensei." I called. "Yes?" I asked that he said that he doesn't want to act again. "Yes, it's true... but it's Bernardo Bertolucci! I can't say no to him." Fair enough then... I did peek on his script and sensei has some lines and he'll appear in most of the second half. Since the movie follows the actual timeline, I'm guessing that sensei's character will end when Japan declares defeat.

"You must be Ryuichi-san's assistant." A man immediately noticed me. "Y-yes, I'm his assistant. I'm (y/n), it's nice to meet you." I bowed. "Pleasure to meet you too, miss (y/n)." I shook his hand then he introduced himself with the two ladies with him. "John Lone, I play as the emperor and these two lovely ladies with me play the empresses. Joan Chen as empress Wanrong and Wu Junmei as the secondary consort Wenxiu.". "The second wife to put it easily." Miss Wu explained. "It's a pleasure to meet you too, miss Chen and miss Wu." I smiled.

'John Lone? I think I've heard that name before...' I remembered he played in Rush Hour 2 with Jackie Chan. "She's an excellent assistant. Always making sure that everything is in place.". "That sounds more of a manager than an assistant." I heard the two men talking about me. "You can say that I'm an assistant manager." I blurted. Sensei softly chuckled at my reply. Then the four of them went to do the shoot while I as usual, volunteer to help behind the camera.

The scene opens with Mr. Lone singing Why So Blue? And his voice is smooth. The scene then continued to the emperor walking back to greet his wives. The camera then panned to the background, showing Ryuichi-sensei sitting at the back of the room with his two escorts, listening and watching the emperor and his wives.