After greeting Haruto, Hina, Ren, and the other core members of the production team, Sora turned his gaze toward the person in charge of the outsourced studio handling episodes eleven and twelve of Natsume Yuujinchou.
With Yume Animation's in-house staff alone, there was simply no way to finish all thirteen episodes of the first season in such a short time. From the very beginning, those two episodes had been outsourced. Even so, it wasn't as if they had been rushed. Those episodes alone had already been in production for more than five months. At the very least, they had not lacked time.
"Kantoku Morita, there are only a few weeks left before episodes eleven and twelve, the ones your studio is responsible for, go on air. So in this final stretch, I'd like to ask your team to put in a little extra care. I want the first season of Natsume Yuujinchou to reach the finish line smoothly."
Sora's voice was calm, but firm.
Across the table, the production Kantoku serving as the link between the outsourced studio and Yume Animation, Morita, broke into a broad, respectful smile so bright it almost looked rehearsed.
"Of course."
Even if Sora had said nothing, they already understood the weight of it. If those two outsourced episodes turned out well, they would become a valuable calling card for the studio's future. A project they could proudly point to, something that would help them secure more work later on.
But if they failed...
Well, ruining the reputation of a series that had already become a regional phenomenon in Tokushima at the level of Natsume Yuujinchou would be the same as digging their own grave in the anime industry. After that, no one would trust them with an important project again.
With other productions, maybe they could drag their feet, cut corners, and hand in something barely passable. With Natsume Yuujinchou, they did not dare.
"Then I'll leave it in your hands, Kantoku Morita."
Sora understood that as well, and that allowed him to relax a little. Only then did he lift his eyes toward the private room.
That was when he noticed something awkward. Even though dozens of people were chatting, drinking, and celebrating, the harsher tone he had used a moment ago had made everyone turn their attention toward him. Even Sumire was watching him with the same serious expression as the others.
Six months ago, most of the people in this room had looked at Sora with doubt.
Now, half a year later, they no longer saw him as an eighteen-year-old with too little experience, but as a rare talent, a Kantoku born for anime, the kind of prodigy the industry only saw once in many years.
When results spoke for themselves, age and lack of seniority naturally lost their force. The authority he seemed to lack on paper had already been quietly filled in by everyone else's conviction.
The mood had become too stiff, and even Sora felt a little embarrassed. He was just about to say something to ease the tension when the sliding door to the room opened.
Dressed in a black evening gown and clearly having taken the time to make herself up with care, Yumi stepped inside in high-heeled sandals, a black handbag hanging from her arm. Her appearance was sudden enough to draw every eye in the room.
Sumire's eyes lit up at once.
"Yumi! You're back from Tokyo?"
Over the past few months, she had grown surprisingly close to the investor. They were not close enough to be called best friends, but there was already a comfortable familiarity between them, enough that calling them friends would not sound exaggerated.
"I am. What I needed to deal with over there is pretty much settled, so of course I came back. What, didn't Sora tell you? He was the one who gave me the address for this dinner."
As she spoke, Yumi cast a direct glance at Sora and, without the slightest hesitation, walked over and sat down at his right.
No one in the room found it strange.
After all, she was the company's biggest financial backer, the main investor behind Natsume Yuujinchou. Her presence there felt only natural.
Sora blinked, caught off guard, then smiled.
"I got a little too into the drinks and forgot to mention it."
He raised his voice toward the rest of the team.
"Now everyone who should be here is finally here. So stop sitting there like statues and start eating already. A celebration can't run on drinks alone."
"There's no need to keep calling me Miss Yumi," she said from his side, her tone even and unhurried. "We've known each other long enough by now. Just call me Yumi."
Sora paused for a moment, then nodded with a faint smile.
"All right, Yumi."
She lifted her glass, took a sip, then used her chopsticks to pick up a slice of fish and bring it to her lips. She chewed slowly, elegantly, almost too composed and beautiful for a lively dinner like this.
She had spent nearly two weeks in Tokyo.
And the moment she returned, she went straight to the point.
"By the way, Sora... after the first season of Natsume Yuujinchou ends, do you already have any ideas about what you want to do next?"
The moment that question left her mouth, Sumire - sitting to Sora's left - and several of the people near Yumi immediately tensed.
In truth, the production of Natsume Yuujinchou was already close to completion. More than ninety percent of the work was done.
Episodes eight and nine had already been completed. Episode ten was more than eighty percent finished. Episode thirteen had already entered its final voice recording stage. As for episodes eleven and twelve, although they had been outsourced, they were essentially complete as well.
In other words, within another two or three weeks, most of the company's employees would likely have very little left to do.
But Yume Animation already had more than forty people directly on payroll. Salaries, rent, utilities, taxes, equipment maintenance - when everything was added together, the company was still burning through several hundred thousand yen every month.
As a shareholder and investor, it was only natural for Yumi to be concerned.
Sumire was not really in a position to ask. The other employees even less so. But now that Yumi had brought it up herself, no one bothered hiding it. Every ear in the room was focused on the conversation.
Sora looked at her for a few moments, as though he already had a guess about why she had brought up the subject.
"Why did you suddenly decide to ask that now?"
Yumi held his gaze and answered softly.
"You know that my family's company, Noriko Animation, still carries a lot of influence in the industry. We've worked many times with Tokyo's four major broadcasters, with Seiun TV, Aobane TV, and also with the Southern Network, which has been expanding quickly. Because of that, if I really make an effort to ask around, I can hear things that normally never leave those stations."
She paused briefly before continuing.
"From what I've heard, people inside the production departments at Southern Network, Seiun TV, and Aobane TV have already started considering reaching out to Yume Animation. Of course, that's all it is for now - a possibility. Those broadcasters are full of internal factions, different interests, power struggles... Even if some of them are interested in your work and want to air one of your anime, they'll still have to go through meetings, convince the other sides, and fight through their own internal politics before anything actually happens. And in the end, even if they do come to you, everything will still depend on whether the anime proposal you bring them is strong enough to catch their interest."
She set her glass down on the table and finished without any detour.
"I'm telling you this mainly because I thought it would be better to warn you in advance. If you want to make use of that opportunity, you should start preparing now. You're the company's animation Kantoku, and you're also the scriptwriter. At the beginning of any production, the most important part always comes from your side first. Without a strong idea, there is no project."
Yumi's words sent waves through Sumire and the others nearby.
A Kantoku who had debuted less than a year ago, who was only eighteen, was already being noticed by two of Tokyo's four major broadcasters, and even by Southern Network, the private network many in the industry believed was the closest to securing nationwide broadcast rights?
It sounded almost too absurd to believe.
But the moment they recalled the first-week Blu-ray sales of the first volume of Natsume Yuujinchou, that disbelief weakened at once.
With results like those, of course he would be noticed.
Sora lifted his glass and smiled.
"Natsume Yuujinchou has only aired up to episode seven so far. There's no need to rush. If they come looking for me, we can talk then."
"Even so, if you can prepare in advance, it would still be better..." Yumi began.
He cut her off calmly, without the slightest wavering.
"Don't worry. If the major broadcasters really want to work with me, I'll definitely be able to come up with a project good enough to pass their review."
The smile on his face was light, but the confidence behind it was anything but shallow.
After all, setting aside the profits Natsume Yuujinchou was still expected to bring him, there was something else giving him that assurance: the steadily growing store of emotional points inside the system. That was his true source of confidence, the reserve no one else could see.
Yumi studied his expression for a moment and chose not to press further.
"As long as you're keeping it in mind, that's enough."
Outwardly, she remained perfectly calm.
Inwardly, however, she could not help grumbling to herself.
This guy was far too confident. There was no way he was not hiding several more ideas on the same level as Natsume Yuujinchou and Voices of a Distant Star.
Before she even realized it, she had already started thinking about how to use her position as a shareholder and investor to force more of those absurdly brilliant ideas out of him.
The celebration did not end until late into the night.
And the next day, the reception desk at Sora's company received an invitation sent from Tokyo.
Its contents stated that Sora had been nominated for this year's Best New Animation Kantoku award.
Because of that, he was invited to attend the final award announcement in Tokyo on the night of December 31.
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