October 27.

"Wait up, Sir Gin…!"

In a huff, Dino ran towards the teacher who was quickly walking out of the school.

"Just so you know, I've clocked out already. You also have a half-day, Dino?"

"I do, but what are the flowers for?"

"I got them delivered here for a grave visit, don't worry about it."

"I see…"

"Are you heading home or to your studio?"

"At my studio. Don't you live nearby, sir?"

"I do," he responded as he pointed to the right of White Street facing outwards the school gate.

"Ah, I'm going in the same direction."

"Is that right? Let's get going, then. Someone's waiting for me."

"Your lovely girlfriend, I'm guessing~" Dino teased.

"Heck yeah, she's lovely. Also, she recently learned how to drive so she looks ten times cooler now in my eyes."

"Do you ever get fazed, Sir Gin…? And please don't gloat about her to someone that's single…"

"You started this, my guy."

"I know…! But hearing about things like that just makes me want to get myself a girlfriend!"

"Man… In retrospect we're two years apart and we started dating when she was 15. There wasn't really any issue with our relationship, but remembering how impulsive that was when we didn't know better makes my skin crawl a bit.

I don't really have any other dating experience so I don't really agree with a 'try it out' mindset and I tend to take this matter seriously. But that's just the ramblings of an old man. You do you whether you take small advice or not.

In the first place, do you have anyone you like in your class or in school in general?"

"Not really. I'm swamped with YouCube work so I couldn't really hang out with others."

"Well, I'm not the person to tell that you should socialize more since I didn't do that much and I started working at Giotto's when I was around your age.

If anything, I just recently started going to trips more and trying out new things because I never did them in my childhood or high school days."

"Is that why you agree to work with me?"

"Kind of."

"Then would you like to take a tour of my studio some time?"

"I'd like to have an element of surprise, so I'll wait when the semester ends.

And I'm home."

As they approached the junction between White and Cerulean Street, they saw a car coming out of the house closest to the left turn and Rin came out of the vehicle.

"I'll just drop my bag," Gin then handed the flowers to Rin and put it in the car.

Meanwhile, Dino was just there standing, somehow in awe.

"Grown-ups are amazing, aren't they? She really does look ten times cooler with a car. And with that house, she looks rich!"

"A student of Gin?" asked Rin.

"Ah, yes!

I-Is that your house, Ane…?"

"No? I'm just using the garage. If anything, that's your teacher's place."

Then once again, Dino scanned the house from the tall walls, high elevation, and overall modern and somewhat premium look to it.

"That's Sir Gin's house?! T-Then why did he go to the house next door?"

"That would be where I live… and it's complicated. But maybe I'll be living on his house in a few years' time with a ring on my hand."

"So cooool…!"

A figurative light suddenly blinded Dino as she looked at the proud smile the lady was making.

But beyond the sudden appreciation, an image of a high school student overlapping in his mind that is now so different from the woman now standing in front of him.

"Um… actually, I've seen you in the first Open Event when you were doing waitress work."

"Ooohh. Are you on the CA department, then?"

"I am."

"Then you must be Boneless Pizza."

"How did you know?!"

"Your teacher said it was fine to tell me about it. Yup, that's the same voice from your videos. I'm subscribed, by the way."

"T-Thank you…"

Out of nowhere, a hand pinched Rin's cheek.

"Don't flirt with my student, Rin."

"I'm not…"

With Gin coming back out, Dino prompted to then step back.

"I'll be going to my studio now, Sir Gin. Thanks for the advice earlier."

"Alright. Make sure to submit your report on Monday."

"Please don't remind me of that!"

After the sudden intermission, the couple then got in the vehicle with the heated seats on and drove to their destination.

While on the road, there was somehow a grin on Gin's face as he sat on the front passenger's seat as he looked on the road. In Rin eye's this happened every single time the two of them are together in a vehicle where she is behind the wheel. She never asks why, but she surmised it just had something to do with watching her drive for whatever reason.

"He'll get over that eventually."

After a few more minutes of driving, they arrived at the cemetery with a heavy sigh visualized by a wisp as the temperature continued to drop.

With their fingertips quickly turning pink, Rin took Gin's hand as they walked towards Eijiro's gravestone and started, "Still no snow this year."

"It's said it will come next month. But it's good that we have decent cloud coverage. I really don't want to visit when the weather is too good."

"Now that I think about it, we always go here with a timing that the weather is neutral."

"And I prefer it like that. But I'm not going to go out again when there's heavy snowfall."

"That time, huh? You were such a pain when you suddenly disappeared."

"I know, I know."

Their footsteps stopped, and Gin knelt to place the flowers in a place where the wind will not take them. As he then stood, he let out another sigh, now with a tinge of dejection.

"Do you still remember the manuscript of a short story Kuroko wrote about the alternate reality if both of us died, Rin?"

"I do, of course."

"Honestly… just standing here again… The story he wrote got so ingrained to my mind that I start to imagine our empty graves beside Eijiro's, and it's scary to see in my imagery our date of birth and our supposed date of death."

"Mhm. But I lived and so did you. And once again, you managed to hold yourself and didn't kill anyone in that encounter. Horach being gone is an entirely different matter."

"I know."

"You're always one to forget things but remember strong memories for better or worse. I'm sure next month you will remember me falling down in paralysis, and getting confined in the hospital. Just like usual, go to me if your body feels like it's okay to cry."

"You're always so reliable, Rin."

"Of course I am! I've been dealing with you for six years I basically know the ins and outs of you."

"Ahahaha. What am I even going to do with you…

…?"

Suddenly, a man holding a bouquet of flowers walked up to them that was on a slow stride looking at the graves and stopped in front of the two of them.

"Excuse me, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but is this Mr. Eijiro Kurogane's grave?"

"Ah, yes. Can we help you?"

"I'm actually here to deliver flowers in behalf of Ms. Sora Aobana."

"Is that so? Then I'll take it from here. Thank you for delivering it."

"You're welcome."

Together with the flowers they brought, Gin placed the new bouquet securely.

"Sora from Hitoretsu sent flowers?"

"Yeah. I guess I'll message her later about it.

Should we go home?"

"Sure. I took the day off so I want to laze in the kotatsu."

"We're going to turn into slobs again, aren't we…"

▪ ▪ ▪

‹Gin›

After the Open Event comes uneventful days, maybe I've already said this phrase a hundred chapters earlier, but whatever, if it really is.

It felt like all of the heavy workload ended once the festival did too. For the past few weeks, all I have been doing is normal teaching work, and before I even knew it, it was already November.

This teaching tenure honestly felt like a blur. Perhaps it was because I never really made much connection with my students that I didn't really grow a lot of attachment to them. I personally feel that it's much better for me since I will only be back in Blue Ink for five months, but even if I probably will never teach again, maybe there was a lot to reflect from it.

Anyway, the final exams for the semester quickly arrived and ended, and the time to say farewells, even if it's not really that heartfelt.

The shorter days made it look like it's much later in the day when the afternoon rolls. After a vacant time that I allotted to clear up my desk in the staff room, I headed to my last homeroom, which was in the classroom of the second years in the CA department.

"Quiet dooooowwwwnnnn. It's time for your teacher to say his bye-bye speech. I'm not going to make this long so I can dismiss you early for your end-of-term break."

Surprisingly, the students obeyed immediately—which I don't know if it was because I said I'll give them an early dismissal or something else.

"Alright. Most of you will probably not see me again if not for a while, but a select few of you graduating students are probably going to see me really, really soon and you might hate me for it.

As usual, Giotto's will be a work training partner this year again, and what you saw back in the Open Event wasn't even how we actually work.

Getting kicked out of our kitchen is probably the worst punishment for anyone in our staff, and I've kicked out a student before, even a classmate. Full transparency, I didn't do WT because I had to help oversee the students back then. It's not usual that we put a student in the front line of the kitchen, but if anyone performs well, then we'll give them the opportunity, although it's very hard.

That said, we still don't have a list of students but our team will try our best to guide all of you and let you experience the restaurant experience.

If you have heard from your seniors, you'll probably attend seminars, make your resume, prepare your WT portfolio, meet with your parents, and do a mock job interview. After you've accomplished all that, all you need to is do your journal, your daily time record, the 100 hours, and you'll just have to worry about your final outputs then you're out of here.

Anyway… this is truly one of the experiences of all time. Don't hold out your laughs. I know my memes.

I was able to do this work thanks to Principal Juushiro's efforts, and I'd say I learned a lot from this. I'm far from a good teacher, but I hope that I was able to impart my experience through my skills as a chef and as an artist, and that I hope that you will be able to apply them in the future.

Well, I guess that's it! This is my last day as a teacher and I'm going back to my full-time work reinstated as a sous chef. Thanks for everything, and I hope you'll all be well.

With that, class dismissed. Make sure you leave the classroom clean."

As expected, I wasn't really that emotional about this small chapter of my life. If anything, I'm relieved that I don't have to be constantly out of my comfort zone. I neither liked nor hated the job, but it was indeed an experience that I would look back from time to time.

▪ ▪ ▪

‹…›

"Are you going to work, Gin? Didn't you have a few more days of break?"

As the sudden busyness from Gin caught the eyes of Sumi sitting in the kotatsu, she could not help but ask as he was moving around the house retiring from his house clothes bit by bit.

"Not Giotto's, but I'm helping out someone today. I'm still not sure what time I'll be home but it will definitely be a bit late."

"Alright. Then I hope you be safe."

"Thank you. I'll be off in a bit."

Gin packed a rucksack and layered down as he would be fighting off the cold air pedaling a mountain bike he had owned but neglected in the past year and some, and got it fit with tires that would not kill him on the winter roads. In the first few minutes of pedaling, he had immediately convinced himself to get a motorcycle, and an electric one at that as it would have a charging network in the country more than anything else, but he threw the idea at the very back of his mind as he felt his legs feeling warm from the pedaling.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

After four kilometers safely accomplished with a well-mounted rig to view his phone's GPS, he arrived at a single apartment unit although questioning the lack of bike lanes in some parts of the roads even amidst the laws that have been placed to require it.

Then, he found a parking space beside a motorbike and locked his two-wheel.

"Ah, you're here, Sir Gin!" Dino stepped out.

"I've already secured my bike here. Do you mind?"

"Not at all! Please come in immediately. It's been getting really cold now!"

And so, the door shut with the entrance of Gin to the relatively spacious apartment.

"Please wear the slippers from the cabinet before you enter."

"Sure, sure. It's also my house rules."

While a little spacey, he finally got a look of the studio from the entranceway of the apartment and his entire expectation was subverted by immediately seeing the backdrop of the videos he watched filled with shelves, utensils hanging on the wall, a strip of magnet with knives in place, and at the center is an aisle with mostly a wooden counter and a high-end cooktop without an oven.

But most importantly, what caught Gin's attention the most are the light stands tucked on a corner of a room currently not used, tripods in which two are mounted with a camera while one is just standing between the counters. However, what his eyes were attracted to the most is the center camera also mounted on another tripod, but fixed on a track with wheels in them.

Q: What was Gin's first reaction upon seeing the studio in its entirety?

A: He removed his pants.

"Woah, I never thought of you to be someone that can get turned on from camera gear, Sir Gin…!"

"Dino, what the hell are you talking about? I have shorts underneath. Get your mind off the gutter, or are you projecting?"

"Oh, wow. You leave your teaching job after a few days and I never thought I would hear that from you."

"I'm just going to tell you this—I absolutely hate wearing pants when I don't really need to. Your heater is on so I can finally move around freely."

"I don't know how to tell you this… but you're kind of weird, Sir Gin."

"I'd be more surprised if people tell me otherwise."

"You're so different from when you're in school…"

"Now please stop calling me like a teacher, okay?

But man, you really spruced this place up, huh? And what in the world is this tracking contraption? I don't know how much YouCubers make but how do you have a dolly rig?"

"Wait, you know a dolly rig, Sir Gin?" Dino did not stop addressing him anyway.

"What do you take me for? But really, what's up with it?"

"Ah, well… More than anything it's not really used with its purpose. I just use it so I can easily switch angles with without moving a tripod. I can move it remotely from the other side of the counter."

"Cool… Are all those cameras in the mounts mirrorless?"

"They are. When I switched to them my videos suddenly became so much better than just using a phone."

Hearing that, Gin vigorously turned towards Dino with a bit of a furrow in his face.

"You're saying you jumped from filming with a phone camera to a set of professional ones…?"

"I did."

"Goodness, you're really rich, aren't you?!"

"Ehh… I wouldn't say that…

When I saved enough of my first payouts, I got a what the best flagship phone was back then and used it solely for filming. Then I got sponsorship deals which I immediately used to invest on better equipment."

"Ok, that makes sense and you get a boat load of views too…

You know, Dino, part of the factors of whether I agreed to help you or not was your channel itself."

"What do you mean, Sir Gin?"

"Here's the thing—I really hate the landscape of YouCube, but I can't do anything about it, obviously. I guess you could say that I'm a bit of a contrarian, but I'm less likely to watch a video if the thumbnail or the title is too much of a clickbait.

I mean like flashy colors and crap that doesn't tell much about the video itself. I hate them more so if they are outright misleading.

But the more I see your channel, the more I understand that you're sincere about this. Of course, you wouldn't be enjoying the growth you have without something that would catch people's attention, but you formatted things in a way that would stand out but still true to what's in the video.

Anyway, I could see from that alone that you're really passionate about this."

After processing the words Dino just heard, he turned away as he stood in front of the counter as though to hide his face.

"T-Thank you… I've never really had anyone to talk about this stuff in person, so I guess I'm kind of taken aback…"

"I think it's kind of the opposite for me, ahahaha. Back when TAC on Instanyan was just nothing, we have people to tell us we're doing a good job, but it was nice when we see comments online telling us the same thing.

It feels validating, isn't it?"

"Y-Yes…

A-Anyway…! I really should prepare for filming!"

"Oh? We're going to work, right off the bat?"

"No, Sir Gin. I'd like you to just watch for now so that you can see how I do things."

"You sure don't need any help?"

"I'm fine for now. I'm used to this after all."

As per his former student's request, Gin stayed put on the couch behind the cameras as he watched Dino turn on the cameras one by one and rolled out a television on a wheeled mount from another room.

"What's the large TV for?"

"It's pretty much my viewfinder for all my angles so I can see if things are in frame or in focus."

"I see…"

Afterwards, he began taking out ingredients from his fridge and grocery bags and set them out in a place that is out of the cameras' frame. From there, he started preparing the ingredients and the cameras started filming as he puts on a podcast to his speakers.

"…"

After half an hour of watching Dino do mise en place and preparing the meat, Gin has completely realized and awfully obvious reality is.

For a few years now, and at such a young age, Dino Arfa is indeed a one-man team.

He realized that there is so much Dino had to do outside what he is watching right now. At the center of all things, he has to film himself cooking a dish for several hours, but beyond that, Gin infers that he has to do all the shopping for ingredients, make sure that all the equipment is working, plan for future videos, do scriptwriting, voice over said script, edit the videos, film for B-rolls, and possibly more things that he has not yet considered outside school works that he needed to take care of.

With things finally coming into one place in his mind, all he could think of was one question:

"How is he not burnt out?"

Just like that, three hours have passed since Dino started, and he only finally took a break as he waited for the meat he is cooking to braise. After taking out a bottle of cold water from the fridge, he sat beside Gin.

"Almost done…"

"I couldn't help but bring this up, but when do you get the time to accomplish your assignments?"

"For school? It's times like this when I have to wait for something to cook, refrigerate or freeze," he said with a straight face.

"Huh… Does it always take you this much time to get filming almost wrapped up?"

"I always get fired up when it's a holiday, but I don't really shoot this fast."

"I can't fathom that you've been doing all this by yourself for three years…"

"But I don't think this really compares to the work chefs have to do like, say, in the restaurants."

As Gin listlessly leaned back, he remained silent and listened to what Dino had to say.

"At most, I can roughly shoot two videos in a day if I really want to. Sure, I do a lot more work than just that, but people inside a restaurant kitchen like you have to make dozens upon dozens of dishes everyday, if not hundreds.

I just want to put myself in their shoes, really."

Even now, Gin is still skeptical if everything that he is seeing now stems from a video featuring himself that inspired Dino. Even if it truly was the case, a part of him refuses to believe that this happened because of him as he felt a sudden sense of responsibility.

"I've never really asked you, come to think of it. But Dino, what exactly is your goal?"

He looked intently at the teenager beside him, but eventually pulled away his gaze as a minute passed with only silence between them. He didn't pressure for an answer, and only waited from Dino's lips to open.

"I… I don't know, really…"

With that response, Gin sat properly and placed his hand on Dino's shoulder who is suddenly wearing what appeared to be a blank but conflicted look in his face.

"Some years ago… I think months before the first Open Event, I was on a trip work trip to make a mural with my friends, but that's beside the point. Somehow along that trip, I learned to cherish the present, well, frankly my girlfriend is involved with a lot of things in my life. But beyond the importance of what is 'now', as I grew up, I started thinking what lies in the future, what future lies within that future, and so on.

I'm not faulting you for this, but the way I see it you seem a little short-sighted. While it seems that you have a balance with this and your studies, what would happen if tomorrow, YouCube is suddenly gone?"

From Gin's grasp on Dino's shoulder, he felt a flinch.

"The site could be gone with numerous reason, and if that happens, what's next?

You see, beyond the work I've done, I'm also a freelance illustrator under a pseudonym. I think it's safe to say it's relatively successful. I get clients, I get to talk to companies and artists that I used to just admire… but what's next for me?

I'm fortunate enough to have a stable job, or even be certified to teach, but more than anything I prioritize my day job a lot. I was able to set boundaries. I learned that while I was an artist first before a chef, things have changed and I consider my illustrator work as something secondary so I was able to set a ceiling for that.

In the first place, I'm not one to dream big even as a child so I'm content with what I have—a job, a roof on my head, a partner, and even hobbies.

However, that's different for you. Maybe you have other things to aspire for and have bigger goals, so perhaps you should give a bit more of your future a thought.

But for now… you have a video to finish."

Abruptly, Gin ended the serious talk to not put too much weight on Dino's shoulder. Evidently, he is not an ordinary high schooler as his time is divided with his studies and an activity that takes a lot of his efforts, so Gin believed that a bit of a nudge is good for now.

"Then… can I ask you something, Sir Gin?"

"Yeah?"

"You say you're content with your life right now, but surely there's something that is driving you, isn't there?"

Frankly, Gin was not expecting that his question would boomerang to him after all that he had said, but without even giving the question further thought, he was ready to answer.

"I can't say there's something I aspire to do aside from work because I have a cause. You may not see the big picture right now, but that cause is basically to get married."

Out of the several months Dino had seen Gin, nothing has compared to the look of confidence right in front of him.

"O-Oh… I honestly don't know what to say."

"Well, take that with a grain of salt, though. I'm not really a role model you should follow because I basically resolved myself to date with an intent to marry when I was in the same graduating year."

"What?!"

"I was already 20 back then, but that doesn't mean I'm on a rush. I'm fine with my state of things."

"I…

I'm going to turn the heat down on the pot…"

"Yup, you go," accompanied with a hand slapping Dino's back.

"Ow…!"

In another hour, Gin has finally watched Dino plate the dish in front of the camera, and he was asked to join on the counter. Reluctantly, he stood up and walked to the wooden counter immediately seeing himself in the camera feed while Dino scooted a bit for both of them to fit in the frame only seeing themselves from the chest down to the hip.

"I never really noticed this, but you're really tall, Sir Gin…"

"In Orion standards, yeah. But are you still recording…?"

"Sure am! Can you please wave your hand at the camera?"

As per requested, he awkwardly flailed his hand while constantly looking at the preview.

"Anyway, let's give it a taste together. I'd like to see some genuine reactions, but you'll have to mind that there is a camera in front of you."

Nervous, Gin grabbed himself a spoon and scooped a spoonful of the stew.

"So this is how I'm going to debut…?"

"I plan to introduce you in my voiceovers."

"Alright, alright…"

Perhaps there was a little bit of a culture shock on Gin as he never thought to touch spoons with someone as though it was a toast, but he nonetheless brought it to his mouth and silently savored the food.

"How is it, Sir Gin?"

Finally, he placed down the spoon, stepping back and suddenly looking around the kitchen.

"…?"

"This is our lunch, right?"

"It's a bit late already, but yes."

"Then can I get myself a plate?"

"Ah, it's on the third cabinet."

"Also, you didn't make any rice! What the heck! Where are they?"

"U-Uhh…?"

As if blanked out in front of the camera, Dino can only dumbfoundingly watch as Gin suddenly began searching for rice in the cupboards and looked for the rice cooker. Realizing anew that he is still recording, he just shrugged in front of the lens.

"You know what I learned when I was teaching, Dino? Sometimes the things you do in school can be restricting. It's mostly apparent in the VA department, but you can't really let loose in school, right?

This is so good that I might just give Sir Dean of CA a visit and see if they could let a bit more creativity in the curriculum."

"I'm glad to hear that, but you're very roundabout with your words, I see?"

"Maybe…

Ah, I haven't shown my reaction for the video."

Without realizing that he was out of focus in the feed as he was closer to the backdrop, he still gestured an OK hand sign to the camera and brought it down as Dino's eyes followed, somehow making a face of disappointment thereafter.

Dino Arfa falls victim to the Circle Game.

"Gottem."

~ ~ ~

"My plan is actually to introduce you in the video that I'm filming right now which is why I asked you to appear on the camera, and perhaps I'll plan out videos where you can make things solo."

"I see…"

After a late lunch, the two then sat face to face as Dino asked for a meeting as he shows a document file from his laptop with his scheduling.

"But how do you want to be in the videos, Sir Gin?"

"My voice is already on the internet so I really don't want to do voiceovers. You could just call me anything you want and I'm really more of a show than tell guy."

"Surely people wouldn't really connect the dots and find out who you really are?"

"That may be the case, but do you know about vtubers?"

"I do… I watch a cooking vtuber from time to time and they use a blue screen suit, I think."

"It's good that you know. But I'm not going to pretend that I didn't know that past personas of the streamers I follow. In fact, it actually is really easy to stumble upon them, even sneaking in your recommended feed. And some people actively seek out for it whether the intent is malicious or not.

And in your case, your voice is basically in hundreds of videos while you're keeping your face in private. Who's to say you've not met people that recognized your voice and have put things together?

I'm not proud of it but there's a time where I'm kind of terminally online but I learned that from it."

"I didn't really think about that…"

"I guess one way to approach it is just accepting that thought and don't really comment about it. Or you could also do the 'if you know, you know' way.

But anyway, can we get back to the planning?"

"Oh, right. I think we can settle on that for now, but maybe we can still expand on it."

"Oh, wait!" suddenly, Gin perked up and leaned forward with a jolt of enthusiasm. "Here's an idea: I know it's nothing new but why don't we host a series where I recreate anime food?"

"I'm not really much of an anime fan, but if you have insights on what we could do then I can consider it. But since I don't really know much about the topic, I'm not confident I can narrate to that."

"Ah, right…" as he free fell to the sofa, he began thinking about what he could do to greenlight the idea he does not want to immediately give up with.

But then, I light bulb lit up in his head as he got up with a snap of a finger.

"Voice changer."

"Voice changer?"

"Voice changer. That's how I'll be able to do voiceovers on my own. I've known about a paid software that can do it really good. I can even work on the post-prod outside editing and I think I can even do recordings at home."

"You're suddenly really up for this, Sir Gin… but let's try doing a dry run for it. But do you have an idea on how we'll do it?"

"For some shows… we basically have the storyboard. We just have to replicate the exact scenes in real life. There's a film not even really related to food that is at the top of my head. That could be a good shtick and it I think it falls on transformative content so YouCube won't bonk us."

"That does sound good… but let's pick this up at another time. I need to shoot a montage and B-rolls then I can wrap up filming."

"Ah, got that."

Thus, Dino cleared the countertop and framed a new plate of the dish while Gin once again watches on the side. And after five minutes of handheld filming, Dino declared the shooting wrapped up.

"Wait… that was it?"

"Yep! Now I can proceed to do the final cut and do voice work from here."

"H-Huh… Can we play the footage you shot just now?"

And so Dino pulled out the memory card of the camera and transferred the file on the laptop for them to watch it in full.

"I also shoot at 240 frames per second so I have some leeway to do slow-mo.

Sir Gin?"

Watching the simple pans has failed to hide the disappointment coming from Gin as he facepalmed beside Dino after replaying the footage three times.

"Pop the SD card back to the camera…"

Without prompt, Gin stood up to close the blackout curtains all over the apartment to not let any natural light in. Then he took one of the studio lights and made it so that it would be propped as an overhead light. Upon seeing the ceiling rails to mount lights, Gin asked:

"Do you have a black backdrop?"

"I-I do…?"

"Can you please bring it out? And also… are your studio lights remote controlled?"

"They are…"

After getting everything that Gin needs, a look at the viewfinder suddenly changed in a way that the black background heavily emphasized the counter and especially the plating.

"Okay, one last thing—do you have a handheld stabilizer?"

"I don't."

"Alright. Then would you be alright if I rotate your dolly rig ninety degrees?"

"Eh?"

As it seems that the rig can be moved easily, they removed the tripod and carried the rig perpendicular to the counter upon Dino's approval with a dollop of confusion.

With the image in Gin's head finally starting to take shape, he then rummaged through his bag and took out several palm-sized LED panels.

"I knew these would come in handy. And just my luck that your tripods have a tilt head grip. I think this will turn out good."

"Sir Gin, I still don't know what you're trying to do…"

"You'll see, you'll see."

Upon getting hands on the remote controllers of the studio lights, he turned off all illumination simulating an almost pitch-dark environment due to the blackout curtain, although it was still within the time of daylight. Then he propped one of the LED lights that lit up to an orange hue and placed it far from the scene to make an ambient lighting.

"Please take a look at the live feed, Dino."

With the focus of the overhead studio light solely on the countertop, Gin turned the light on and off with the remote to simulate flickering lights.

"Woah, that's cool…"

"Now you do what I just did. I need to practice something," and Gin handed the remote to Dino.

Afterwards, he stood behind the camera on the dolly rig and very slowly panned the camera forward with it, and downwards with the tripod grip until he was very close to the plate while intently watching the small screen of the camera.

"That's absolutely going to work…"

"Dino? Can you do the handheld pan you just did earlier but without going past the black backdrop? Also, a very zoomed in shot would be good."

"S-Sure…"

"I'm suddenly just going with his flow…"

As Dino pointed the lens at a much dimmer environment, Gin then stood on a stool and took a light panel with a cool white light and made a big, sweeping motion over the plate.

"Oh, wow. I like how the lighting changes dynamically."

"That's good. Are we now ready to shoot the real deal, Dino?"

"…"

Instead of getting a response, all Gin got was a silent look from Dino with a hint of astonishment painted on his face.

"Earth to Dino?"

"I've never seen you like this, Sir Gin…"

"Hmm? How? What?"

"I have seen you teach us for like five months…" as he was in the middle of his words, Dino pulled out his phone and opened its front camera pointed at Gin, "…but this is the first time I've seen you actually enthusiastic about something."

As if he had seen a ghost, Gin flinched upon seeing the grinning face full of excitement displayed in the phone screen and even genuinely asking himself whose face it was. But upon fully realizing that it was indeed him, as if a switch has been flipped, his expressions reverted back to the usual blank one at the tip of a hat.

That image now in his mind made him wonder how many times he had made such an unbelievable expression, at least for him. Even at that moment, a part of him still doubts that it was truly him as to this day, his deep-rooted sorrow still takes a front row seat in his heart and mind.

If nothing else, he was truly confused at such a sight.

"Anyway…!" Dino clapped, "I'm really liking the test footage we just got, and it was thanks to you, Sir Gin. Those things would have never crossed my mind… how were you able to come up with that?"

"It's more like I just picked things up from what I've watched and seen with my eyes. Also, I have a filmmaker friend that I helped out with a crazy stunt shot a few months ago. He's an insane director."

"I guess you really are an artist, Sir Gin."

"Now where did that just come from?"

"I mean, isn't it amazing how you're able to visualize what's on your mind and execute it quickly?"

"If that's how you see it, then it's much appreciated."

"Alright, then! Let's finish this and be done for the day!"