There are Many Flowers in Tokyo

Chapter Six

Lily had begun to wonder if the production company only had one driver on the payroll, because the man who came to pick them up that morning from the hotel was the same one to have collected them from the airport. He still looked just as handsome, if a little younger than her, and was smartly dressed in his uniform.

At only twenty-seven, Lily didn't think of herself as particularly old, but the driver couldn't have been far out of university. As she approached the waiting vehicle, Lily wondered if driving was his part time job, or something he'd stepped into as soon as he'd finished his education. He was certainly eager to fulfil his duties properly and opened the door for the ladies to enter the car, smiling politely and offering to take their bags for them.

They declined this courtesy.

British people weren't big on making a fuss; and having someone fawn all over them was doing just that.

Lily was much too tired to take in the journey. From the street level, she observed people starting their days, walking to bus stops or riding their bicycles diligently to their office buildings. The convenience stores had been open all night, and their proprietors signed for deliveries and swept their steps to make ready for the next influx of customers. It was a proud city, Lily thought. Everything was clean, the trees were beautifully trimmed and cared for, and the drivers were polite. It was obvious the people of Tokyo put a great deal of time and effort into keeping their home city safe and well maintained.

If they were to set foot in London, they'd have a fit. There was no end to the litter, the noise, or the grime which clung to every surface. Sure, there were regeneration projects and the tourist areas were kept in a generally nice state, but it didn't have a patch on Tokyo. London was a city people were desperate to escape from, and Tokyo was the sort of place people wanted to escape to.

'It's a pretty modern building,' Grace said conversationally. 'I looked it up last night. Audio dubbing booths and conference rooms...'

'But not a filming studio?' Lily asked. 'No sound stage or anything?'

'It'll all be location filming. I understand that they've already cleared the schedules and locations with the city and have all the permits. They want to keep to a strict deadline to meet the release date.'

'Are all the scripts finished?'

Grace nodded. 'They're sticking closely to the original text, so they managed to write them pretty quickly. There are a few changes, though.'

'Like what?'

'They asked me to put in a role for a white English speaking character. Something minor. He's going to work in the police station. They also wanted to add a few female characters in the background to add more depth.'

'Well, you did only focus on the core characters. I guess they're trying to drag it out for the ratings,' Lily reasoned. She could be mature and business-minded sometimes, albeit rarely. 'I mean, if they were going to be entirely faithful they'd only have enough for a two-hour film.'

'It's interesting to know that they want to go into all the side stories. I just hope it doesn't detract from the main storyline,' Grace fretted. 'I looked over some of the changes and approved them, but I won't know if I really like it until I see it all finished.'

'By then, it'll be too late to complain.'

'If it's bad, then I won't let them adapt anything else.'

Lily smirked, 'If it's really bad, they won't want to adapt anything else.'

'Ma'am,' the driver announced from the front seat in uneasy English. 'We are arrived.'