Chapter 49: Aiko’s Hurdle

Shortly after Okada Yukiko, Otake Shinobu also accepted the offer to film the drama.

On the first day of filming for Mother, Seiko personally took Aiko to the set.

This time, the set was not in the flower district, but half of an elementary school that Ōmori Ryō had rented at “great expense”—that’s right, he couldn’t even bring himself to rent the whole thing.

Otake Shinobu was a mature woman of about thirty, tall and slender, with a somewhat weary face, but her demeanor seemed extremely forthright.

“I know what kind of people you are.
If the script wasn’t genuinely good, I wouldn’t have come to film this, even if you paid me more.”

Otake Shinobu said bluntly the moment they met.

Ōmori Ryō had never dealt with this type of actress before and was rendered speechless by her single sentence, not knowing how to respond.

Seiko happened to overhear and casually asked, “What do you mean by that?
Is it wrong to make a television drama?”

“Of course, there’s nothing wrong with making a drama,” Otake Shinobu said, looking at Seiko strangely.
“But I’m a native of Saitama Prefecture too, and I’ve heard of the great name of the Yamagami-gumi.”

“Since there’s nothing wrong with making the drama itself, what does it have to do with whether or not we’re the Yamagami-gumi?” Seiko asked back with a smile.
“Or are you saying that once someone has been a yakuza, they carry an original sin, and are no longer permitted to do the right thing, even if they want to in the future?”

This time, it was Otake Shinobu who was left speechless.

“You’re right.
I failed to judge the matter on its own merits and let my prejudice get in the way,” Otake Shinobu finally nodded after a long pause and asked with a smile, “I’m Otake Shinobu.
What’s your name, little lady?”

“My name is Yamagami Seiko,” Seiko introduced herself.

“Your surname is also Yamagami?
What is your relationship with the Yamagami-gumi’s Kumicho?”

“The current Kumicho of the Yamagami-gumi is my grandfather.”

“Heh, you come from quite a background,” Otake Shinobu laughed.

Seiko paid no mind to the teasing in Otake Shinobu’s words.
Her gaze fell upon the yakuza who were setting up the filming location, and she continued with a smile, “Ms. Otake, what do you think is the essence of a yakuza?”

“Thugs, thieves, robbers…”

Even though she was right in the middle of a den of thugs, thieves, and robbers, Otake Shinobu still spoke her mind truthfully, causing those around them to glance over repeatedly.

Seiko shook her head.
“That’s just the surface.”

“Then what do you think is the essence?”

Otake Shinobu asked back dismissively.
She had expected Seiko to say something defensive, but instead, she heard what was possibly an even worse answer.

“A group of incompetent, timid, and fearful social outcasts who have chosen to huddle together for warmth,” Seiko said.

Beside her, everyone including Yamagami Taka and Ōmori Ryō couldn’t help but cough a couple of times, reminding Seiko that there were still many “social outcasts” present.

“Oh? Why do you say that?” Otake Shinobu’s interest was piqued, and she asked with curiosity.

“Isn’t it obvious if you just look at where the yakuza come from?” Seiko explained with a smile.
“The well-known yakuza groups of today are either defeated soldiers who lost everything after the war and gathered to make a living, or dockworkers who banded together to snatch jobs for a pittance, or Koreans who couldn’t even return to their own country and gathered together for fear of being bullied…
Their commonality is obvious.
They are not cared for by mainstream society, and they themselves lack the ability to make a legal living, so they can only gather together and use some unsavory methods to secure a space for their survival.”

Otake Shinobu listened and slowly nodded.
“Indeed…”

“Therefore, to prevent a person from becoming a yakuza,” Seiko continued, “or to help a yakuza become a law-abiding citizen, the first thing that needs to be done is to give him a legitimate means of making a living.”

“Heh, so that’s how it is.”
Otake Shinobu began to laugh.
“Miss Yamagami, you truly have a silver tongue.
You’ve almost halfway convinced me.”

Seiko smiled, pulled Aiko, who was clutching her skirt, forward, and introduced her, “This is my younger sister, Yamagami Aiko.
She is the actress playing Reina in the drama.
Aiko, come and greet Ms. Otake Shinobu.”

“Hello!”

Aiko, being very obedient, bowed with surprising force, almost poking her little head into the ground.

Otake Shinobu also had a son who was just three or four years old.
She was at an age where her maternal instincts were overflowing.
Seeing the adorable Aiko, her attitude instantly softened.
She knelt down and ruffled Aiko’s hair, “Hello to you too, Aiko!
I’ll be playing Nao, so you’ll have to call me ‘Mama’ for a while.”

“Ma… Sister.”

Aiko opened her mouth but couldn’t get the word out.
She turned her head and hugged Seiko’s leg again.

“I’m sorry.”

Seiko gave Otake Shinobu an apologetic smile, then knelt down to face Aiko and whispered to her.

“Didn’t we already practice this at home?
Why can’t you do it now?”

Aiko puffed out her cheeks and hung her head, not saying a word.

Seiko was getting a real headache.
She had never expected that after everything for the drama had been prepared, a problem would arise in such an unexpected place—Aiko couldn’t say ‘Mama’.

To be precise, Aiko couldn’t call anyone else ‘Mama’.
Aiko could say ‘Mama’ to her mother’s photograph, she could say ‘Mama’ to Seiko, but she couldn’t do it with anyone else.

This was discovered by chance when Miyazaki, on a whim, was helping Aiko rehearse her lines at home.
Before that, Seiko had always been the one helping Aiko prepare her lines, so she had never noticed.

Of course, Seiko knew this wasn’t Aiko deliberately throwing a tantrum.
For a little one who had lost her mother at a young age and had recently lost her father as well, this was indeed a psychological barrier that required tremendous willpower to overcome.

One could only say that having been reborn with her memories, Seiko had been too psychologically mature since childhood, which left her with less empathy for Aiko’s trauma.

“Is Aiko-chan having some trouble?”

Otake Shinobu was very enthusiastic when it came to children’s matters.

Helpless, Seiko could only stand up and briefly explain her sister’s situation to Otake Shinobu.
Finally, Seiko sighed in resignation, “If it really doesn’t work, then we’ll have no choice but to replace her with another child actor.”

“No!” Otake Shinobu refuted at once.
“You just said this child has been preparing for this role for so long.
She has already put in so much effort and clearly wants to act.
How can you abandon her at the final moment?”

Seiko hadn’t expected Otake Shinobu’s attitude to suddenly become so intense.
She looked at Otake Shinobu’s reddened eyes and said, somewhat baffled, “But Aiko can’t say ‘Mama’…”

The reason Otake Shinobu had reacted so strongly was because when she heard that Aiko had lost her parents at such a young age, she couldn’t help but think of her own young son and her husband, who was lingering on his sickbed and perhaps didn’t have much time left.
Recently, she had been exhausted from caring for her husband and son and had to do her best to suppress her grief.
Suddenly being touched by this, her eyes couldn’t help but turn red.

“It’s alright, I’ll teach her!” Otake Shinobu said, gritting her teeth.