How to raise a random guy's wife

"that......"

Kasumigaoka Utaha looked up. "What?"

Miyamori Aoi handed over a folder, "I looked into Mr. Fukaya's interpersonal relationships."

"Oh?"

"Because Secretary Kobayashi does this all the time, I thought I'd give it a try," Aoi Miyamori explained. "Then I found out that Mr. Fukaya's daughter is also in the animation industry, and I thought it might be helpful."

"Thank you for your hard work." Kasumigaoka Utaha nodded and watched Miyamori Aoi leave.

While casually flipping through the folder, I came across the information about Mr. Fukaya's daughter, Hitomi.

“Free art…” Kasumigaoka Utaha sighed, “If only production could proceed.”

There is a shortage of manpower for production.

Kasumigaoka Utaha realized that it seemed like she could start to despair now.

"Ten thousand......"

My phone rang; it was the advertiser, Fudo.

Kasumigaoka Utaha frowned. "This is Kasumigaoka Utaha."

"I'm Soejima. Ah... today's audition was truly hell."

"It's alright." Kasumigaoka Utaha's response was indifferent.

"Actually, they are all small investors, but I need to maintain good relationships with them, so I have no choice but to cooperate," Soejima said earnestly. "In reality, if a large investor were involved, they would be easy to deal with."

Big investors?

"That's all I can say." Soejima smiled. "See you later."

After hanging up the phone, Kasumigaoka Utaha fell into thought.

Speaking of major investors, there are Toei, Tokyo Electric Power Company, and Kōju.

Hongzhu and Toei clearly didn't want to get involved, otherwise they wouldn't have left so directly earlier.

So that leaves only...

"Shiyu?" Kobayashi Megumi's voice sounded from outside the door. "May I come in?"

“Of course.” Kasumigaoka Utaha temporarily put aside her thoughts.

"I baked some cookies." Megumi Kobayashi came in and handed a paper bag to Utaha Kasumigaoka. "Have a taste."

"Mmm." Kasumigaoka Utaha opened the paper bag, took out a cookie, and took a bite. The rich milky aroma spread in her mouth with a soft, crunchy sound, as if it had magic, dispelling the restlessness in her heart. "So delicious! When did you learn to make this?"

"I'm glad you like it. I haven't baked in a long time, and I was worried that my skills would have become rusty." Kobayashi Megumi's eyes were gentle. "You must be having a tough time at work lately."

"Yes." Kasumigaoka Utaha didn't hide it; there was no point in hiding it anyway.

“I know you want to improve through your own efforts and don’t want to rely on us.” Kobayashi Megumi put her arms on the table and leaned forward slightly. “But, being able to use our power is one of your abilities in itself.”

Kasumigaoka Utaha vaguely grasped something, "Megumi..."

"Breaking through your own limitations doesn't mean denying yourself. Using the power of power is still power," Kobayashi Megumi smiled. "Just because you act within the rules doesn't mean others will. And when others break the rules..."

Chapter 700 The Essence of Phenomena

“When you’re creating, Sora and I won’t interfere with your work, because you’re a professional in that area—just like you won’t interfere with our decisions.” Kobayashi Megumi held up a finger. “Now that you’re starting to try your hand at being a producer, we still won’t interfere with your decisions within your responsibilities. However, nobody’s perfect, and you can’t do everything perfectly. So, when necessary, delegating tasks outside your responsibilities to the right people is a skill that a qualified animation producer should have.”

"I'm telling you..." Kobayashi Megumi seemed to possess some kind of magic, and Kasumigaoka Utaha's previous frustration and despair had completely disappeared. The corners of her mouth turned up into a smile, "You guys spoil me too much, don't you?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha wants to become an animation producer, so Kobayashi Sora and Kobayashi Megumi teach her the basic knowledge that a producer needs to master.

Kasumigaoka Utaha wanted to push herself to the limit, so Kobayashi Sora and Kobayashi Megumi took the initiative to give her the resources to produce animation.

Kasumigaoka Utaha encountered various problems at work, and Kobayashi Sora and Kobayashi Megumi tried to help her without interfering with her.

We teach you knowledge, we provide resources, we grant you freedom, and we give you respect.

That's how it is with your own children... huh?

Past events flashed through her mind, and Kasumigaoka Utaha narrowed her red eyes slightly. "I said... Megumi."

"Hmm?" Kobayashi Megumi keenly noticed the change in Kasumigaoka Utaha's emotions, but the change was so sudden that even she couldn't immediately understand the reason.

Kasumigaoka Utaha's smile gradually turned dangerous. "You wouldn't be raising me like a daughter, would you?"

“It’s trust,” Kobayashi Megumi corrected. “Because you’re very reliable, both Sora and I trust your abilities, whether in creative work or decision-making. It’s your abilities that have helped you gain our support.”

That's what they say... but they haven't addressed their own question at all.

Kasumigaoka Utaha stared at Kobayashi Megumi.

She even changed her address to "senior sister" specifically.

"Come over sometime, Lanlan misses you a lot." Kobayashi Megumi stood up naturally, her calm expression showing no change. "I won't disturb your work."

Kasumigaoka Utaha stared at Kobayashi Megumi's retreating figure, wondering if she was overthinking things.

She called out, "Hui..."

Then I saw Kobayashi Megumi suddenly quicken her pace, as if she hadn't heard me, push open the door, walk out, and close the door behind her.

It wasn't just my imagination!

Kasumigaoka Utaha puffed up her cheeks, then chuckled softly.

"I'll settle the score with you later." Kasumigaoka Utaha scoffed, the smile on her face gradually fading.

Is making good use of other people's abilities also a skill...?

Kasumigaoka Utaha took out a pen and wrote down the problems she was facing on a piece of paper.

Question 1: The art director has been selected;

Question 2: Discussion on rebates by the production committee;

Question 3: The sound check meeting is progressing slowly;

Question 4: There are vacancies in the production staff.

Leaving aside the others for now, question four falls under the scope of human resources. Recruiting is a matter that can be handled by the human resources department.

With a light touch of the pen, Kasumigaoka Utaha's thoughts became clearer.

Problem 3 is clearly a derivative of Problem 2. If we can find a way to solve Problem 2, we can solve both problems at once.

To solve problem two, a large investor is needed to stabilize the situation.

Although Toei and Akane are big enough, they clearly have no interest in this.

That leaves only TEPCO.

Kasumigaoka Utaha took out her phone, about to dial the number of Hosoya, a producer at TV Tokyo, when she suddenly stopped.

Something seems off.

But Kasumigaoka Utaha couldn't quite put her finger on what was wrong.

Calm down, calm down.

Kasumigaoka Utaha recalled what Kobayashi Megumi had just said.

Make good use of other people's abilities.

She raised her hand and hesitantly tapped her forehead with her fingertips.

If it were Kobayashi Sora, how would she think?

As the fingers tap, memories in the brain are awakened.

At the time, Kasumigaoka Utaha had raised concerns with Machida Sonoko.

It's normal for other smaller companies to choose to modify their contracts due to various considerations.

However, as a producer at TV Tokyo, Hosoya had absolutely no reason to do so.

But he still got involved.

And then there's the advertiser, Soejima, who should have been on the production team's side, but instead mingled with other producers, which makes absolutely no sense.

If Hosoya was trying to gain something from the audition, then he should have also attended the audition and disrupted it in various ways.

But he didn't come.

The advertisers mingled with the producers, yet they called to offer reminders, seemingly out of good intentions.

These contradictions made Kasumigaoka Utaha instinctively sense something was amiss.

By clarifying the background, this anomaly becomes clearer and cannot be ignored.

However, lacking Kobayashi Sora's clear thinking, meticulous logic, and terrifying intelligence network, Kasumigaoka Utaha was unable to figure it out for a long time.

Those people aren't fools; behind their various unusual behaviors, there must be an underlying logic that they haven't yet figured out.

We need to see beyond the surface to the essence.

When it comes to this, the one who is most skilled in this area is of course Megumi Kobayashi.

“Hmm…” Kasumigaoka Utaha put her finger to her lips, trying to pull her thoughts away from the matter and re-examine the whole picture from an outsider’s perspective.

What they did was all superficial.

What matters is their objective.

Music producers, game producers, and event producers are all working hard to earn more money, and there's nothing wrong with that.

The problem lies with TV Tokyo producer Hosoya and advertising agent Soejima.

But from the perspective of making more money, their actions are clearly wrong.

So their goal is not just to make more money.

What other purpose could there be besides making money?

What are they hiding?

When it comes to hidden thoughts, Kasumigaoka Utaha almost instantly thought of the quintessential tsundere—Eriri.

Even though it's a hidden thought, it's so easy for people to discover, as if it's intentionally meant to be discovered... Huh?