"All ready?" Theo asked Ryoko and Rio and he discussed all the details of the audition.
"Yes, boss, we can start the casting anytime." Rio replied.
"Great, you can proceed with it then, Amano-san." Theo said with a smile.
Rio nodded and proceeded to issue orders to her employees.
They would call the candidates who applied for the two main roles in the anime.
Kirigaya Kazuto and Yuuki Asuna were the two main characters of the SAO Anime.
Theo didn't remember who played these parts in his past life, he only remembered their distinct voices.
He only hoped that the voices he envisioned would appear in the casting.
While Theo prayed for the perfect actors to appear, in the waiting, an employee shouted the name of the first person who would audition.
"Laura Addams!"
Amidst the troves of participants, silence took over the place as the candidates realized that the audition was starting.
And the girl who was called immediately stood up from her seat and followed the employee to the room where the audition would happen.
When she entered the room, she was surprised by what she saw.
Laura could be considered a veteran in the industry, so she had her fair share of auditions, but she never participated in an audition where there was a huge screen in front of her where she could see two people looking at her.
"Hello, can you please state your name and for which parts are you auditioning?" An elegant lady seated by the side of the huge screen said.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"My name is Laura Addams and auditioning for the Yuuki Asuna and the Ayano Keiko's parts." Laura replied with a polite voice.
She had experienced too many auditions, sometimes she was successful, but sometimes she wasn't.
That's why she was auditioning for two parts, if she couldn't get the main role, she could at least get a supporting role.
Actually, the majority of the candidates did the same as it was a common practice in the industry.
After all, most of the time the main characters' roles had too much competition, and the supporting roles were easier to get.
Rio nodded and said, "The script is on the table in front of you, you can study it for one minute."
Laura nodded and didn't waste any time as she immediately picked the script and studied.
It was a simple manuscript of two pages where the actor had to demonstrate all of her or his skills.
As animation actors only used their voices, they had to carry all the emotion in their voices as it was their only resource.
When a normal actor worked, he/she was able to use their body and facial expressions to act, but voice actors had a substantial increase of difficulty in their jobs as the voice was the only available for them.
That's why voice actors needed to read and study the scripts carefully to see how they should act in every sentence they pronounced.
Shortly after, Laura said with a focused face, "I'm ready."
"Okay, Manu will act with you." Rio said as she pointed at the employee at the side who was also holding a script.
He was a simple employee that was just contracted, but he didn't have amazing skills to read the script, he just had to read and move on with Laura, and he didn't have to act.
His purpose was to give the act more complexity and make the candidates perform in different situations.
After all, if she just acted alone, Theo and the others would not be able to see the depth of the candidates' skills.
Shortly after, Laura started her act and she gave her all.
The act only lasted for around 3 minutes, but Theo and the others were able to see and hear how talented Laura.
At a certain moment, Theo closed his eyes and just heard her voice and tried to imagine her voice in Asuna's place, and he was satisfied with what he heard.
When Laura finished her last line, she had to close her eyes for a moment to get out of character, she gave her best.
She hoped she would be able to get the part.
Theo and the others asked her some questions before Rio said, "Thank you for coming, you will hear the news of the results next week."
"Thank you!" Laura smiled as she left the room.
She wasn't sure about the main character role, but she was confident she would be able to land a supporting role.
"She was good, huh?" Theo commented as they waited for the next candidate.
"Well, it says here she worked in several productions, it seems she is indeed as good as her resume says." Ryoko added as she perused through Laura's resume.
Shortly after, the next candidate arrived, and it proceeded just as Laura's audition did.
But even after all the candidates for the Asuna auditioned, Laura remained the best for the part.
"It seems so far, Laura will get the Asuna part." Theo commented as he looked at the list of candidates in front of him.
"Hmm, yes, but there were some candidates good enough for the supporting roles." Ryoko added as she also looked through the list of candidates.
Theo was very satisfied with Laura's audition, and he already could imagine her as Asuna, so he didn't have any complaints.
"These were all the candidates who applied for the Asuna part. Next are the candidates who applied for the Kirito part." Rio said to them.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmTheo and Ryoko nodded and waited patiently, but they were a little apprehensive.
After all, Kirito's part was the most important part, even more than Asuna's.
They had to find the perfect voice for him.
The auditions continued, and tens of candidates passed, but Theo and the others did not manage to find the best voice for Kirito.
There were even some veteran actors who auditioned, but they were incapable of giving Theo and others the best feeling for the part.
It was only when an actor who only played some supporting roles in a couple of animes showed that Theo had his eyes shining.
Theo did not care that the guy only acted in a supporting role because, in the audition, the guy nailed it!
"Thank you, Eto Kimi-san. We call you with news about the result next week." Rio said with a professional face.
Kimi nodded nervously and left the room, he just hoped he could get a part in the production.
He was relatively new in the industry, so he didn't care even if he just get a supporting role.
"Wow, he has the perfect voice for Kirito!" Theo exclaimed happily.
He was starting to get worried after tens of candidates and not seeing the one he could cast.
"I know, right!? He and Laura would be amazing together." Ryoko exclaimed equally happy.
The three of them could continue calmly from now on after finding Kirito's voice actor.
Although, they could not predict that an actor or actress would appear to best Kimi, they had the peace of heart to know that if it did not appear, they could hire Kimi for the part.
Just like that, the auditions continued until the last person who applied for Kirito's part was called.
Coincidently, Ozawa Nana was that person.
What would happen in this fateful audition?