‘Alright,’ said the director, reaching out and stroking the assistant’s hand, ‘let’s proceed.’ The assistant held her gaze for a moment, and then grabbed the caressing hand. ‘But Ms Director, I’m so hungry!’ clasping the hand to her cheek, almost purring, ‘Can’t I just go down there and… tear up…

She woke up in a sweat. It was a dream, of course. She was above calling it a nightmare, but the crude barrage of sub tweets in her feed had left a wound in her stomach. It felt too real. People turning their backs on her, people stopping their donations….

“I’m sorry, I can’t ear you! Time’s up, there’s a penalty!” Ryuji stood up, leaned back, with knife in hand, arms outstretched, and started laughing like a real maniac. He turned to Andy. “I guess you’re expecting that even though I’m a hardened yakuza, I won’t even touch your woman…

The director adjusted her sunglasses and maintained her look over the monitors. Let’s see how that plucky idol deals with the next segment… She signalled for a cut, and the crew descended onto the set, like bees attending to the hive. The crew replaced the broken furniture, the make up…

  Chapter 06 He placed his hand under Mai’s chin and raised it up so they could look eye to eye. She glared at him, determined. “Pretty, so pretty, but violence against women is a big no no, unless it’s, wait, has that changed today? Let’s see.”