Ichinose Chizuru was indeed very familiar with the old movie The Crane of a Thousand Feathers (Senbazuru) from half a century ago.
Because she looked very similar to her grandmother when she was young, she had imitated and learned her grandmother's acting style more than once in private.
Under her grandmother's guidance, Ichinose Chizuru soon noticed her acting talent.
It's just a pity that her grandmother had retired from the entertainment industry for more than 40 years. The connections back then obviously couldn't play any role, so Ichinose Chizuru could only look for audition opportunities by herself.
Anyway. For the lines of this movie, Ichinose Chizuru didn't need the performance of those "selves" on the stage; she could restore more than 80% of the lines and actions independently.
Regarding her grandmother's scenes, she remembered every line and every action by heart.
However, as the drama on the stage began, the girls offstage soon clearly noticed the problems of these performing "Ichinose Chizurus."
"Except for the 'Chizuru' playing the heroine, the acting skills of the other Chizurus don't look very good?"
Sudou Ayami expressed her opinion bluntly.
The Chizuru playing the heroine indeed acted quite well. Although somewhat green, there wasn't much sense of incongruity.
But the performance of the other characters seemed a bit too stiff. Even laymen audiences like them offstage could feel how anxious the acting skills of these actors were.
And Ichinose Chizuru on the side also said somewhat awkwardly that this might be her problem.
She was bent on becoming an actress like her grandmother, so naturally, more energy was placed on her grandmother's role.
Although she was quite familiar with the lines of other roles, and usually studied other types of roles when taking remedial classes at the drama school, performing them naturally wouldn't be as natural as the heroine.
Even if she did inherit her grandmother's excellent genes and acting talent, if she stood on the stage now to play other characters in Senbazuru without much experience, it would probably only be worse than those "selves" on the stage.
"So, are these 'mes' all my own Shadows? Can a person generate so many Shadows?" Seeing that the habits shown by the selves on the stage during the performance seemed exactly the same as hers, Ichinose Chizuru couldn't help but have such a thought.
At this time, Miyauchi Hikage shook his head and expressed his opinion.
"These can indeed be considered Shadows, but they are definitely not the Shadow in your heart."
Several girls focused their eyes on Miyauchi Hikage.
Ichinose Chizuru mentioned the similarities between her acting habits and these "Shadows." She still had some say in her own habits.
"You mean, only one of the Shadows here is real, and the others are fake?"
If that was the case, she hoped her real Shadow was the heroine who performed the best.
Miyauchi Hikage pointed to the Ichinose Chizurus on the stage who were dressed differently and trying hard to perform.
"I mean, these should just be characters created by that Shadow Chizuru based on her cognition of herself. Didn't that Maid Chizuru mention the name 'Chizuru-sama' when introducing this place? I think the owner of this theater should be your real Shadow. These 'yous' are just fragments created by her according to her own ideas."
"Look, they are all doing what they are arranged to do. That maid seems very concerned about whether her performance can be recognized by us. If we show dissatisfaction with that Maid Chizuru, perhaps her fate is to be remade by the real Shadow Chizuru."
Saying this, Miyauchi Hikage pointed to the mirrors scattered around the mirror space, and then turned to look at Ichinose Chizuru.
"Kaguya briefly told me about you. Your original ideal was to inherit your grandmother's career and grandfather's hope to become an actress, right?"
He pointed to his eyes again.
"These eyes of mine can also see some revelations of the future slightly. Although not necessarily correct, I think it should be this obsession and entanglement in your heart that led to the appearance of this Mirror Theater."
Listening to Miyauchi Hikage's explanation, Ichinose Chizuru rubbed her hair.
It could be seen that she was unwilling to admit that her dream of becoming an actress was changing in the direction of obsession.
But her grandfather's support and death also became shackles pressing on her, making her never think about other futures after being admitted to college.
"No, you should still have thought about other possibilities," Miyauchi Hikage shook his head, pointing out Ichinose Chizuru's contradictions in daily life.
If she really wanted to debut as an actress, why did she conceal her best side in college, and even sneak to the remedial classes of the drama school, as if afraid that others would discover her dream of becoming an actress?
Currently, she hadn't become a rental girlfriend, a secret identity that sounded slightly ambiguous and unsuitable to talk about.
It could only be said that the current Ichinose Chizuru hadn't decided how to take the first step herself.
She was indeed not like Hoshino Ai, who didn't have much brains and would step into the idol circle at a young age out of curiosity about "love."
Nerima University, where she was studying now, could be considered a prestigious school. Being able to insist on being admitted to this university despite heavy family changes meant that her brain was definitely not bad.
Perhaps it was because she thought too much that led to the generation of this tangled emotion.
This was because she obtained the diary more than a month ago, and cultivated confidence relying on the diary in this month or so, that the current Ichinose Chizuru existed.
Otherwise, Ichinose Chizuru before entering college would probably only struggle more with her future development, and finally embark on the path of becoming a rental girlfriend to make money and hone her acting skills.
But if an actor was exposed to have served as a rental girlfriend before debut, given the current public opinion environment in the Japanese entertainment industry, it wouldn't be easy to receive any suitable scripts again.
Ichinose Chizuru in the original work also seemed to be going in the direction of stage plays. Actors in this direction might not become huge stars, but it was also a good direction.
Similarly, Miyauchi Hikage could roughly guess Ichinose Chizuru's real struggle—there was nothing wrong with liking acting.
But similarly, on the one hand, she wanted to fulfill her grandparents' expectations for her, realize their wishes, and become a famous actress. With her talent and conditions, although the process would be somewhat tortuous, she should eventually reach that step.
But on the other hand, she didn't want her future life to be disturbed too much, and just wanted to be an actress peacefully.
It was also this entanglement that caused the negative emotions in her heart to become like this in the Metaverse.
According to Miyauchi Hikage's perception, Ichinose Chizuru's Shadow was now located in the deepest part of this Temporary Palace, probably watching the situation here from afar.
Miyauchi Hikage continued to explain: "My eyes can see some things that ordinary people can't see. For example, I can see some fate trends on you more or less, but I can't see this trend on these 'Chizurus' at all, so I feel that this shouldn't be your real Shadow."
"After all, there are many such Shadows existing based on cognition in the Metaverse. Even if they are disposed of, it will not affect people in reality."
Regarding Miyauchi Hikage's guess, Ichinose Chizuru was still a little uncertain, but she couldn't find a more reasonable explanation currently.
She looked at those selves performing hard on the stage.
They discussed so loudly below the stage, while those selves on the stage were still continuing this story at this time.
Observing carefully, there were indeed some signs of rigidity.
"So how can we see that real Shadow, and what should we do with these Shadows??"
Miyauchi Hikage shrugged.
"This play should last a while longer. Let's wait for this play to end and see the situation of these people on the stage before making preparations."
Miyauchi Hikage pointed to the Chizurus with awkward acting skills on the stage: "Acting like this on the stage, I think after the performance ends, we will be able to see their outcome."
Of course, if Miyauchi Hikage wanted to break the situation, he could just use his Unlimited Blade Works to confront this Temporary Palace hard.
This kind of temporary space couldn't withstand the bombardment of his Unlimited Blade Works.
Let alone using Unlimited Blade Works, even a simple Broken Phantasm, this Temporary Palace probably couldn't withstand too much firepower.
But the current Miyauchi Hikage acted as a mentor-like identity. If he wanted these girls to grow up quickly, he couldn't use such rude means.
This time, he planned to act as a support by analyzing the situation of this world, at most playing with Card Magic of the Card Master, to see if these girls could solve this event relatively independently with their abilities.
Although Miyauchi Hikage didn't directly say his thoughts, Shinomiya Kaguya saw that Miyauchi Hikage had no intention of taking action directly now, and roughly understood Miyauchi Hikage's intention.
Although it was a pity not to see Miyauchi Hikage take action, she also checked the performance on the stage more attentively.
Sudou Ayami looked at Miyauchi Hikage one more time.
Sure enough, this man was not that simple.
Clearly, the opponent's strength could be said to be infinitely close to the special-grade level on the bright side. Logically speaking, this Temporary Palace shouldn't be a particularly difficult place for Miyauchi Hikage.
From this point of view, the other party did have some similarities with the Mysterious Person.
Moreover, the kind of detailed understanding of their experiences occasionally shown by Miyauchi Hikage, even if the other party had those eyes that could see through fate, thinking carefully, it still seemed a bit inexplicable.
Therefore, Sudou Ayami naturally had a trace of suspicion about Miyauchi Hikage's true identity buried deep in her heart.
It was just that now didn't seem to be a good time to test. Let's wait until they solve the Temporary Palace in front of them first.
On Ichinose Chizuru's side, after hearing Miyauchi Hikage's words, she couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.
These acting skills shown by herself were based on her own acting skills.
It was precisely because of her lack in this aspect that led to such a large deviation in the portrayal of these roles by these selves.
If this self was really "disposed of" because of acting problems, she felt that this seemed to be because of her own problems.
Ichinose Chizuru continued to watch the performance on the stage with a sense of shame in her heart.
Shinomiya Kaguya even took out her phone to film these things directly and posted some clips in the chat group to share the situation here with the girls.
It had to be said that Shinomiya Kaguya might really have a bit of talent as a photographer.
No wonder she had the idea of becoming a photographer in the original work.
This movie itself had a duration of one and a half hours, but in terms of stage play, the time had been compressed and many things were omitted. Therefore, after more than an hour passed, the performance on the stage finally came to an end.
Although in terms of story, this was a work from half a century ago, this kind of romantic tragedy story wouldn't fade too much due to time.
Even though the performance of other Ichinose Chizurus was somewhat unsatisfactory, the Chizuru playing the heroine still tried her best to complete her task and character setting.
When the story ended, they, as the audience, also applauded sparsely.
"It seems these Chizurus are also very nervous. It seems the main character is about to appear soon," Miyauchi Hikage clapped his hands lightly and reminded the girls.
The girls also sat up straight immediately, especially Ichinose Chizuru, who was even more nervous.
Sure enough, after waiting for a few minutes, a burst of merciless scolding came from the other side of the stage.
"With such a level, are you rehearsing with your heart or not? To let our guests see such a terrible performance is simply too atrocious!"
The voice was still very recognizable, but the tone seemed even more unkind.
Several people looked towards the source of the voice.
Then Ichinose Chizuru looked at herself who looked only 15 or 16 years old with some astonishment.
Although she had basically completed her development when she was fifteen or sixteen, at first glance, she didn't seem to be much different from her current self.
However, at that time, her family hadn't had any accidents yet, and her whole appearance looked much more immature than her current self who needed to consider various things.
Seeming to feel Miyauchi Hikage's gaze, the younger Ichinose Chizuru walked over. clearly slightly shorter than the main body Ichinose Chizuru, but her whole body exuded a condescending aura.
"As the audience and guests of the theater, do you think there is anything that needs improvement in our theater's program?"