How to raise a random guy's wife

It's obvious without even thinking that Eriri is staying up all night.

I closed the door, leaned against the cabinet in the entryway, bent down to take off my shoes, hung up my coat, unbuttoned my work clothes, and let out a long sigh of relief.

Kasumigaoka Utaha changed into slippers and walked into the living room. She took out a chilled non-alcoholic beer from the refrigerator, opened it skillfully, and took a big gulp.

She doesn't particularly like sweet drinks; she always feels a sticky feeling in her mouth after drinking them.

Coffee isn't refreshing enough, and water lacks flavor, so non-alcoholic beer becomes the best choice.

As she rubbed her hair and walked into the study, Kasumigaoka Utaha saw Eriri sitting in front of a computer and a pile of documents, playing on her phone. "Are you... working?"

"Huh?" Eriri looked up. "Of course it's work! A break during work."

That's what she said, but she had already been reading light novels for two hours.

This kind of thing happens all the time.

When things aren't going well, I want to do something else to change my mood, or look up information on my phone, look at other people's work to gather inspiration, and then before I know it, a lot of time has passed. When I come back to my senses, the thing I initially wanted to do hasn't progressed, and the inspiration I wanted to gather has disappeared...

But none of that matters.

Eriri pushed up her glasses. "Why are you only getting back now?"

As Kasumigaoka Utaha approached, she replied, "The recording is finally finished. The process was a bit complicated, so we all ate something together afterwards."

I didn't come in before because I was worried it would affect Eriri's creative process.

Since she's slacking off, there's no need to be so careful anymore.

Eriri wrinkled her nose. "Have you been drinking?"

“I still need to drive, this is the first can.” Kasumigaoka Utaha glanced at the printed papers on the table. “The script for ‘Virtual Heaven’?”

"Wasn't the outline already designed? Now we're designing the characters." Eriri sighed, remembering her worries. "The character designs are manageable, but when it comes to integrating their individual storylines with the main plot..."

Kasumigaoka Utaha casually flipped through a few pages. "Characters serve the plot...that makes sense, that's how game plots are."

The four basic elements of a work, listed in order of importance, are characters, plot, world view, and theme.

Basically, an interesting character is enough to carry a work. As long as the character is good enough, it doesn't matter if the plot is illogical, the world view is boring, or the theme is vague.

Of course, it would be even better if the characters were well-developed, the plot was engaging, the world-building was good, and the themes were consistent.

A work that excels in all aspects is not easy to complete. Different creators are good at different things, so they also have different focuses in their creations.

In some stories, the plot serves the purpose of character development; the development of each storyline is aimed at shaping the characters, which can sacrifice the rationality of the story to a certain extent.

In some cases, the characters serve the plot structure; the existence of each character is to advance the plot, and to a certain extent, the character's personality can be sacrificed.

Eriri is creating the story and characters for the game "Virtual Heaven". Because she needs to keep releasing new characters to attract players to draw cards, she can't sacrifice the story's plausibility in the early stages in order to develop the characters.

This makes character creation very difficult.

It needs to operate within the constraints of the world view and plot.

One character is manageable, but dozens of characters would be too difficult.

"Don't all virtual idols have their own established settings?" Kasumigaoka Utaha asked curiously. "Can't we just modify them and use them directly?"

“Those aren’t related to the main storyline, so of course we can use them.” Eriri flipped through the data card. “The key is the NPCs.”

"Ok?"

"There are too many uncertainties with virtual idols. If they become controversial, the only option is to delete the character. Therefore, they cannot be involved in the main storyline. Some key moments must be handled by original characters."

“This is clearly Kobayashi Sora’s suggestion,” Kasumigaoka Utaha immediately guessed who said it. “That’s right.”

“Original characters can also be added to the gacha pool later to attract players who aren’t interested in virtual idols.” Eriri said while organizing the files. “Back then, Akane Kousaka was able to design so many characters and storylines all by herself…tsk.”

After the success of "Your Name", Eriri thought that even if she hadn't surpassed Akane Kousaka, she had at least reached Akane Kousaka's level to some extent.

After all, the box office of 200 billion is there for all to see.

But when she actually started designing a game, she immediately remembered the heavy sound of Akane Akasaka slamming a huge stack of documents in front of her.

Kasumigaoka Utaha reminded, "That's just a rough outline; the real details haven't been filled in by us yet."

“Of course!” Eriri wrinkled her nose. “Besides, I’m in charge of a game that requires long-term operation now, which is different from her one-off deal.”

"You get carried away with just a little praise," Kasumigaoka Utaha retorted, "While what you've accomplished so far isn't quite as good as what she did back then."

"I've only just begun!" Eriri snatched the printer paper from Kasumigaoka Utaha's hand. "It's not finished yet, just you wait!"

Even if she gets discouraged, she won't be. A smile appeared on Kasumigaoka Utaha's face.

"You're smiling so suggestively..." Eriri glared at her. "You're not full, so you want me to make you something, right?"

"how do you know?"

"Do you have a nice attitude when you're not asking me for help?" Eriri scoffed. "I haven't eaten either, so I'll just treat this as a workout."

"You haven't eaten yet, it's so late. You're not waiting for me to come back, are you?"

"Who...who was waiting for you?!" Eriri snapped, "I forgot because I was reading a novel!"

"You just said it was a break during work, but it turns out you're just reading a novel."

"Mind your own business!" Eriri slammed the frying pan down with a loud clang.

Eriri's cooking style is mostly perfunctory; the downside is that it doesn't look very appealing, but the upside is that it's quick to make and the taste is passable.

"By the way, I'm planning to go to the science museum to gather information soon, do you want to come?"

"The science museum..." Kasumigaoka Utaha swallowed what was in her mouth. "Let's talk about it later. I've been a little busy lately."

"Aren't there only two episodes left?" Eriri grumbled, dissatisfied. "What's there to be busy about?"

“I’m an animation producer now. Once one animation is going smoothly, I naturally start preparing for the next one,” Kasumigaoka Utaha replied. “I need to find a lot of people to collaborate with.”

"And what about me?" Eriri opened her mouth, then quietly ate her food.

Chapter 783 Exercise for Weight Loss

"Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen..." Xiaolin Lan counted in her cute voice, "Eighteen, nineteen, two... three, four..."

"Hmm?" Kobayashi Megumi looked at her daughter curiously. "What about twenty?"

"I can only count to twenty..." Xiaolin Lan's little feet dangled, "because I don't want to stop, so I have to start counting again."

Kobayashi Megumi asked Kobayashi Sora with a smile, "Does Daddy want to stop?"

“This weight is no problem,” Kobayashi Sora replied.

He was doing push-ups, or more accurately, weighted push-ups.

Noticing a decline in her physical fitness, Kobayashi Sora immediately increased the amount of exercise she did, making sure to work out whenever she had a spare moment.

Feeling that the push-ups were a bit easy, I had Ran Kobayashi sit on my back to increase the weight.

Ran Kobayashi volunteered to take on the task of counting. Sora Kobayashi was supposed to count thirty, but now it seems like they've already counted fifty.

"Mom, do you want to try it?" Xiaolin Lan suggested. "It's like sitting on a cotton candy, you can fly."

"Hmm..." Kobayashi Megumi smiled, "If Mom sits on top, Dad won't be able to hold on for long."

"Dad?" Lin Lan's image of her father was somewhat shattered. "Really?"

Kobayashi Sora decisively denied it, "Of course it's not true."

"Let's give it a try then." Kobayashi Megumi sat on Kobayashi Sora's back. "Is it too heavy?"

"It's very light."

"Really?" Kobayashi Megumi put her hands on his shoulders and lifted her feet. "And now?"

"It's fine now."

"Let's begin then." Kobayashi Megumi counted, "One."

Kobayashi Sora lay down.

"two."

Kobayashi Sora stretched out her arms.

"one."

Kobayashi Sora lay down. "Hmm?"

"Two~" Kobayashi Megumi's voice was tinged with laughter.

Kobayashi Sora stretched out her arms. "Something doesn't seem right."

"Is it not working?" Kobayashi Megumi adjusted her posture. "Oh right, this seems to be very harmful to my back."

She pressed her legs together and lay on Kobayashi Sora's back, "This should be better, one."

Xiao Lin Kong Qing: "..."

"Daddy is so amazing!" Lin Lan looked at Lin Kongqing with admiration. "He can do so many while carrying Mommy on his back!"

Kobayashi Sora originally intended to stop after making two, but after being praised by her daughter, she had no choice but to continue.

“Dad’s back is so thick,” Kobayashi Megumi praised him. “It feels like sitting on a marshmallow.”

Ran Kobayashi hugged the rice cake that had come over to watch the commotion, "Right~" She grabbed the rice cake's big paw and cheered Ran Kobayashi on, "Go, Daddy!"

Kobayashi Sora lost herself amidst her daughter's repeated encouragement, and finally collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted.

"Looks like I've gained weight too." Kobayashi Megumi helped Kobayashi Sora up. "How about we do some exercise?"

"No need." Kobayashi Sora took the water cup from her daughter, took a small sip to moisten her throat, and said, "It's so soft and delicious."

He absolutely loved the feeling of hugging Kobayashi Megumi; she was so soft and sweet.

"Hmm..." Kobayashi Megumi puffed out her cheeks slightly, "I've decided, I'm going to exercise!"

Saying something is soft and pliable just means it's fat.

Although Xiaolin Ran didn't understand the specific differences, she could feel her mother's enthusiasm and cheered along, "Let's exercise!"

Nian Gao suddenly remembered that she hadn't finished her cat food, so she quietly went away to eat it.

Once Kobayashi Megumi made her decision, Kobayashi Sora wouldn't stop her. "How about weight loss yoga?"

Kobayashi Megumi thought for a moment, "Hmm... While weight loss yoga is great, I also want that feeling of being drenched in sweat."