Reborn Image Girl and CCD Boy: Short Film

[Pure Romance] [One-on-One] [Rebirth] [School Youth] [Filmmaking] [Healing Slice of Life] [Socially Anxious Genius Girl and Oblivious, Gentle Boy] [Japanese Setting] [Club Activities] [Growth and Redemption] [Slow Burn] [Realistic] [Ensemble Cast]

In my past life, I was Arima Mio, an independent short-film director. I made seventeen short films, won six awards, and finally died at the Shibuya Scramble Crossing. Cause of death: overwork. My last trending headline read: "Arima Mio Has Run Out of Ideas."

So in this life, I swore I wouldn't touch a camera, write a script, or team up with anyone. I'd stay invisible until graduation.

...And then I ran into a boy carrying a secondhand CCD camera.

His name was Morikawa Yu. The film club's only member. So naturally oblivious it was infuriating. He found my storyboard and said, "It's like peeking into someone else's dream."

I said, "I'll only write the script. I won't film or appear on camera."

He said, "Okay. Then I'll film."

I said, "Why are you all alone?"

He said, "Because if I don't film them, those little things will disappear."

An injured calico cat. An old CCD camera with peeling paint. A clubroom covered in dust. A reborn girl with crippling social anxiety. A film club boy who is impossibly oblivious.

I hadn't wanted to film anything in this life. But he placed the camera where I could just reach it, then took two steps back.

"You don't have to look."

"You don't have to touch it if you don't want to."

In my past life, I chased awards through the camera lens until I chased myself into the ground. In this life, two people and one secondhand CCD camera make a three-minute short film. About a stray cat. About us. About the youth we'd forgotten.