How to raise a random guy's wife

Kobayashi Ran's godmother is also Kobayashi Sora's niece.

“Only when I faced the same situation did I understand the good intentions of that person back then,” Akane Akasaka explained. “This is what they mean by not knowing the kindness of parents until you raise your own child. Now that you know how much I have done for you, you can call me Mom.”

"Wow~ So you need qualifications for this." Kasumigaoka Utaha's monotone reading was devoid of emotion, full of technique. "I'm so happy."

Kobayashi Sora reminded him, "Let's talk about serious matters."

"Seeing myself sailing out to sea reminds me of my younger self?" Akane Akasaka fiddled with her phone. "That doesn't seem right."

Kasumigaoka Utaha admits, "There are still some differences."

“That’s right. Her reaction time at sea was much better than yours back then. What took you years to realize, she only took a few minutes.” Akane Akasaka chuckled. “You’re far inferior to her.”

Kasumigaoka Utaha's fingers curled as she gripped her arm tightly.

That cannot be refuted.

Akane Kousaka is telling the truth.

"That's not right!" Eriri frowned. "Ichigo was able to react so quickly because Utaha used two different approaches to guide me, which is why Ichigo was able to react so quickly!"

What started as a spur-of-the-moment rebuttal actually made Eriri's thoughts become clearer and clearer.

“Even if there is a gap between Shiwa and Izumi, it’s not as big as you say!” Eriri’s brows gradually relaxed. “As a creator, Shiwa is indeed not as good as Izumi, but as a mentor, Shiwa has already surpassed you!”

Kasumigaoka Utaha stared blankly at Eriri.

This little girl, who was often left speechless by her retorts, said something she never expected when she had nothing to say.

"Ah, this feeling..." Kobayashi Megumi and Kobayashi Sora whispered to each other, "Doesn't it feel like that character in the team who's usually just funny, but plays a decisive role when things are at their worst?"

"Now that you mention it..." Kobayashi Sora nodded, "They're exactly the same."

Chapter 594 Adding insult to injury

“Look,” Akane Kousaka spread her hands in Eriri’s direction, but her eyes were on Utaha Kasumigaoka, “even an idiot would understand.”

"???" Eriri: "You're the idiot!"

“It’s good to recognize your shortcomings, but it’s not good to be unable to see your strengths,” Akane Akasaka pointed out incisively. “Because of our similar personalities, you subconsciously try to emulate me, wanting to surpass me. As a result, you keep your eyes fixed on me and can’t even see yourself anymore. But you and I are completely different… at least in terms of creative work.”

Kasumigaoka Utaha murmured, "Different?"

“Let’s leave the manga aside and talk about light novels.” Since Kasumigaoka Utaha already understands Akane Kousaka’s attitude from years ago, there’s no need for Akane Kousaka to communicate with her in that same way anymore. It’s not very effective and inefficient. “There are two types of writers—gardeners and architects. What are they again…” Akane Kousaka thought for a while and then silently looked at Kobayashi Sora.

Kobayashi Sora searched her memory: "Architectural writers plan everything out; they have very precise outlines that clearly indicate how they want to do each step. Gardener writers, on the other hand, sow seeds and then wait for them to grow freely."

At this point, Kobayashi Sora understood what Akane Akasaka meant by the difference.

“You are like a gardener.” Akane Akasaka pointed at Utaha Kasumigaoka. “You start creating a story because of interesting scenes and characters, without relying on an outline, and gradually explore the story itself in the writing process. Just like a gardener sows seeds and waits for them to sprout and grow. And in order to achieve the final effect you want, you will revise it repeatedly and make major revisions to the work.”

Kasumigaoka Utaha, reflecting on her own situation, asked, "And then you're the architect type?"

Akane Akasaka sneered, "Before graduating from university, I was also a gardener."

Akane Kousaka's debut work, "Gotanda no Cardinal," sold only three volumes in six months, yet it achieved a record-breaking 100 million copies sold by the niche publisher Rokuseisha, and was quickly adapted into an anime.

However, because the publisher and the author had neither money nor connections, the animation was used from the beginning to fill the gaps in the broadcast schedule, thus becoming a terrible work.

Furthermore, due to the failure of the anime, fans of the original work also abandoned it.

The seed died before it could sprout.

From then on, Akane Akasaka stopped acting on wishful thinking and began to carefully plan each step of her actions to achieve her goals and prevent the same situation from happening again.

This change in behavior pattern is also reflected in her creative work, transforming her from a gardener to an architect.

Megumi Kobayashi gently nudged Sora Kobayashi, "What are the specific characteristics of the architect's style?"

“Architectural writers plan out the main plot of the story in advance and focus on solving key points in the outline during the writing process. Everything is under the author’s control, so there are relatively fewer revisions.”

"Is it just a difference in the number of revisions?" Kobayashi Megumi speculated. "It must be more than that, right?"

Kobayashi Sora explained, "It's not just different, it's worlds apart. Gardener-style writers discard far more drafts than architect-style writers. They revise their work repeatedly, even starting from scratch. During this process, new ideas emerge, and then the newly written content is scrapped and rewritten again until they are satisfied. In contrast, architect-style writers only need to determine the outline, and the rest are just minor changes that generally do not affect the overall design."

That's why Akane Kousaka was able to create various works at a high intensity for a long time.

This is one of the reasons why Kobayashi Sora and Akasaka Akane get along so well.

Kobayashi Sora couldn't control everything.

Akane Kousaka can create one work after another that is completely under her control, in which she can control everything.

"Are you an architect?" Eriri looked at Akane Kousaka strangely. "Wait a minute, didn't you drastically rewrite the story of 'The Girl Isn't Quite Right'?"

"It's less of a major overhaul and more of a rewrite," Akane Kousaka corrected. "It's two different stories based on two different outlines."

Kobayashi Megumi asked curiously, "Since it's a matter of an outline, why doesn't Gardener-style write an outline?"

“The outline limits my creativity.” Kasumigaoka Utaha has realized her problem. “If I’m forced to finish an outline, I feel like the story is already complete, and everything has happened in my mind. I can’t muster the interest to write it down.”

Kobayashi Megumi recalled Kasumigaoka Utaha's creative process: when writing the script for "White Album," Kasumigaoka Utaha was indeed constantly changing her mind, altering the plot and character settings at will.

Akane Akasaka opened her palm. "So you chase after me, but in the end you just spin in my palm. I am the outline of your life, and also the cage of your creation. The closer you are to me, the more restrictions you face."

An architect-style writer is like a train running on tracks, with a stable speed and state.

Gardener-style authors, on the other hand, are like speed demons—they can be incredibly fast, but they can also crash and burn—their skill ceiling is high, but their skill floor is even lower.

Akane Kousaka believes that Utaha Kasumigaoka has the potential to surpass her, since racing can take off if you find the right road.

As a result, Kasumigaoka Utaha ran onto the railway tracks in order to catch up with Akane Akasaka.

“Besides, you’re more of an ‘emotional stream’ than a ‘logical stream’,” Akane Kousaka sighed. “That makes things worse.”

Kobayashi Megumi didn't understand and looked directly at Kobayashi Sora.

“Emotional flow means that details and descriptions serve the characters’ emotions, focusing on the revelation, transformation and expression of emotions. Logical flow focuses on the development of the story and emphasizes the rationality of actions,” Kobayashi Sora added. “The former is driven by emotions, which makes it easy to empathize and is conducive to character development, but the narrative rhythm and logic are prone to problems; the latter is driven by plot, with a smooth plot development and clear rhythm, but the characters may be somewhat flat and become tools to promote the development of the plot.”

Reflecting on the delicate emotions and complex characters in Kasumigaoka Utaha's works, Kobayashi Megumi realized that Kasumigaoka Utaha was indeed an author who wrote with an emotional flow.

But is there a problem with that?

“Short stories with a strong emotional flow are just right, but if it’s a long story…” Akane Akasaka’s eyes were cold. “As the length increases, the weakness in the story’s logic becomes more obvious, and the emotional problems become even greater. There can be many enemies in a story, but there are only a few kinds of emotional dilemmas. Enemies can be fought repeatedly, but the repeated appearance of emotional problems is disgusting.”

Chapter 595 Flawless

The protagonist overcame his cowardice and mustered the courage to defeat the enemy.

It sounds like a good story.

However, when the story is lengthened, it becomes a tale of the protagonist being cowardly, mustering courage, cowardly, mustering courage, cowardly, mustering courage, cowardly, mustering courage...

Have they actually mustered up the courage?

To avoid this repetition, you need to change your mood.

The protagonist is cowardly, then musters courage; the protagonist is sad, then regains happiness; the protagonist is angry, then calms down; the protagonist is greedy, then becomes generous...

This led to a new problem.

How should we describe a protagonist who is cowardly, cries frequently, has a bad temper, and is insatiable at the beginning?

It's not just a problem at the beginning.

As the length of the story increases and the world-building and events unfold, logic-based authors are becoming increasingly popular.

In contrast, authors who are not good at developing worldviews and events and expressing emotions will become increasingly powerless.

The emotional shifts gradually dried up, while plot problems became increasingly apparent.

Kasumigaoka Utaha could write a game story, or an episodic story focusing on a single protagonist per volume, no problem.

But once she started trying to emulate Akane Akasaka and write long light novels like her, things became irreversible.

The gardener-style state is inherently unstable and requires repeated modifications; adding an emotional flow makes it a disaster.

The more you write, the smaller the advantage becomes, the bigger the problem becomes, and the more you need to revise. The more you revise, the more you write, the smaller the advantage becomes, and the bigger the problem becomes...

Endless loop.

"If Shiwa is an emotion-driven writer..." Eriri habitually guessed, "then you're a logic-driven writer?"

“No, not at all.” Akane Kousaka smiled. “When I’m driving the plot, it’s driven by logic; when I’m shaping the characters, it’s driven by emotions. I switch between them as needed, and they connect seamlessly.”

Eriri, being a tsundere, completely disapproves of Akane's arrogant demeanor.

But even if you don't like it, you can't refute it.

Akane Kousaka really did it.

Eriri finally understood why Akane Kousaka was so disliked in the industry.

This guy is the type whose skill level increases the more you realize how amazing she is.

When I first saw her, I felt that I could do it too if I tried hard.

After trying to improve herself, she discovered that Akane Akasaka was still better than her.

It seems like we're just a little short; with a bit more effort, we should be able to catch up.

The result is that this process is repeated continuously.

Even when I could no longer improve, I still felt that I was a little behind her.

But the difference is that I know I'm far behind.

Eriri looked at the original manga manuscript completed by Akane Kousaka.

To be honest, if Kasumigaoka Utaha wrote the script and Eriri adapted it, Eriri could also complete this kind of manga.

Having started as an illustrator, she is able to use more exquisite brushstrokes to express more information hidden in her paintings.

But is that much information really necessary?

For example, in the instant the door opens, Eriri is able to use more details of the room to show everything about her parents' past.

The more carefully readers look, the more terrifying truths they can uncover from the smallest clues.

However, Akane Kousaka uses almost rough lines to present a highly impactful picture that will shock you at first glance.

Both methods have their merits, but in this manga, Akane Akasaka's method of expression is clearly better.

That's what makes Akane Kousaka so terrifying.