How to raise a random guy's wife

Bo Island slumped dejectedly on the table, staring at the blank storyboard.

I thought the previous four stories had gone smoothly, and adding a two-episode short story to wrap things up shouldn't be a problem.

I never imagined it would be this difficult.

It's been weeks already... At this rate, it might be too late.

After setting sail from Po Island, I tried to calm down and organize my thoughts.

The last story is called "The Storyteller Spirit".

In the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, the storyteller was a storyteller in life, but no one liked to listen to his stories. After he died, he would grab people and make them listen to his stories for three or four days.

He will entertain that person and repay that person.

But if that person is unwilling to listen, the storyteller will strangle them, hold their corpse and tell stories until the corpse rots and only a pile of bones remains.

Chapter 794 Rakugo Matsu no Naka

Once upon a time, there was a middleman who went to small towns to find antiques and made money by finding bargains.

One day, while the man was drinking tea and chatting with the owner in a teahouse on the street, he noticed a cat eating in the corner of the shop.

The dish containing the cat food turned out to be a very valuable antique.

In order to get the plate at a low price, the man casually suggested, "I really like this cat, and I'm willing to spend 3 taels to buy it."

The shop owner readily agreed, and after the deal was made, the man pressed his advantage, saying, "I heard that cats stop eating when their plates are changed—I'll take this plate with me too."

Thinking everything was going smoothly, he was surprised when the shop owner flatly refused, saying, "I can give you the cat, but this plate is a famous item worth at least 300 taels of silver. I'm not selling it."

The man was taken aback. "What? You actually know this is a luxury item! Then why are you using it to feed your cat?"

The shop owner replied, "Otherwise, how could I sell a cat for 3 liang (150 grams)?"

-

“I feel like I’ve seen this rakugo story before,” Kobayashi Megumi put down the script for “The Storyteller’s Spirit” and turned to look at Kobayashi Sora. “Is it just my imagination?”

Rakugo is one of Japan's traditional performing arts. Its content and form are similar to stand-up comedy, and many of its stories are directly taken from "Xiaofu" and "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio".

Rakugo originated from the storytelling and preaching monks of the ancient Pure Land Buddhism. It was a profession that used simple and easy-to-understand language to spread Buddhist teachings to others. It was not about preaching doctrines, but about telling stories so that the audience could understand them on their own.

It encourages people to do good, teaches them to be virtuous, and integrates education with entertainment.

Later, someone discovered that this thing could make money, and if the monk said so, then of course I would too.

Then rakugo (traditional Japanese storytelling) came about.

Interestingly, Rakugo also experienced a decline along with the diversification of entertainment methods. It was reborn through television, but lost its original flavor. Finally, thanks to the efforts of some Rakugo performers, it returned to small theater performances.

“It’s not just my imagination. There are many similar stories, and many works have used classic rakugo routines, so it’s normal to feel that they’re familiar.” Kobayashi Sora explained, “For example, the monkey with no jugenmu in Gintama is a classic rakugo routine.”

The story is about a child with a very long name, and the main humor comes from the rakugo performer having to repeatedly and quickly pronounce the child's full name accurately.

“The last story about going to sea fits well with the whole ‘Mononoke’ series. Both rakugo and ukiyo-e belong to the category of traditional culture.” Kasumigaoka Utaha pointed out the key point: “The problem is the final chapter. If it can’t be completed, no matter how high the theme is, it’s useless.”

Similar to previous stories, the structure of "The Storyteller's Spirit" remains the process of deciphering the truth.

The story begins with a rakugo performance, which sets the stage for the main event. Then, a medicine seller appears and sells medicine to the famous rakugo performer. The two rest at the same inn.

After dinner, the rakugo performer suggested that each of the people in the shop tell a story, citing the need to collect stories.

If the story is interesting, pay the shop fee for the storyteller.

It's not interesting if only one person explains how to make braised pork.

One man recounted his romantic escapades, and although he spoke with great enjoyment, it was still not particularly interesting.

When it was the medicine seller's turn, he told the story of Prajna, but because he spoke too slowly, the audience found it uninteresting.

The fourth person told the story of the storyteller, which received unanimous praise.

The rakugo performer paid for the shop, and then was advised by the crowd to tell a story.

Unable to refuse, the rakugo performer told a story called "Rakugo and the Yokai".

Legend has it that a rakugo performer was once very famous, but as he got older and his energy waned, he could no longer perform. So he began to create, wanting to write interesting stories.

But despite a long time of effort, things remained lukewarm.

Until one day, a monster found this rakugo performer.

"Your story is so boring, it's unbearable to read. I'm here to kill you."

The rakugo performer was terrified, but knowing he was powerless to resist, he begged the yokai to let him finish writing one last story before killing him.

The monster agreed.

The rakugo performer immediately began creating, and unlike usual, this time his inspiration flowed freely.

As the story was about to end, the rakugo performer realized that he would be killed by a yokai after completing the story.

But this story is so good that he will finish writing it even if it means his death.

After reading the story, the yokai did not attack, but turned and left, never bothering the rakugo performer again.

After hearing this, everyone applauded, but one of the clapping sounds was quite strange.

Some of it was... a little too crisp.

Everyone turned to look and found that a skeleton had appeared in the room at some point, sitting in the corner and clapping its hands repeatedly.

The jawbone moved, and the bone spoke, "Now it's my turn to speak."

The person who heard the story of "The Storyteller's Spirit" was horrified, exclaiming, "What is this thing?!"

“This is exactly…” the medicine seller slowly pointed out, “the storyteller you’re talking about…”

The first episode of "The Storyteller's Spirit" has ended.

This episode inherits the structure and style of the previous stories, using several characters to introduce the "form" of the yokai, while subtly hinting at the truth of time through the murals in the inn.

Up to this point, the story has flowed smoothly.

The problem lies in the second episode; the deciphering of "truth" and "reason" needs to be completed within one episode.

Amidst the horrified gazes of the crowd, the skeleton recounted the sixth story.

Rakugo is passed down orally from master to apprentice, and it usually takes ten years of hard work to become a rakugo master.

There was a master and apprentice who traveled around performing.

The master was once very famous, but as he got older and his energy waned, he could no longer perform, so he began to create works for his apprentices to perform.

My master is very experienced, and the stories he creates are very interesting.

The apprentice also became a very famous rakugo performer by drawing on his master's story.

Gradually, the apprentice discovered that his master's stories were not as interesting as before. At the same time, another rakugo performer gradually became famous. He then believed that his master had abandoned him and wanted to collaborate with other rakugo performers to give better stories to others.

So one night, the disciple found his master and asked him to write a better story.

The master said he was powerless to help, and the disciple took out a knife.

Left with no other choice, the master, with his aged body still attached, wrote a story for his disciple.

After reading the story, the apprentice stabbed his master to death and fled to a distant land.

Only after his master's body had turned into a skeleton did the disciple revisit the place, returning to the inn where the two of them had once stayed.

“And the name of that story is…” White Bone’s voice was old, “Rakugo and the Demon.”

Chapter 795 Iron Gates and Iron Windows

"At this point in the story, the monster's form and the truth of the matter are quite clear." Kobayashi Sora asked, puzzled, "Next, we'll reveal the true thoughts of those involved. Is there a problem?"

"The problem is..." Kasumigaoka Utaha shrugged, "What are the real thoughts of the person involved?"

“Hmm…” Kobayashi Megumi opened the script, compared it with the original artwork, and found the problem. “It can be explained from many aspects.”

“This situation sounds familiar,” Kobayashi Sora said, looking at Kasumigaoka Utaha. “It feels a lot like someone else.”

“Your feeling is right.” Kasumigaoka Utaha frowned slightly. “I’ve tried my best to minimize the impact on her, but it still turned out this way.”

This feeling of not knowing the truth or the outcome until the very end is clearly a style that Shizuko Kasumi excels at.

Regardless of the final outcome, upon rereading the text after knowing the ending, one can always find corresponding foreshadowing within the story.

The brilliance lies in the fact that even if Shizuka changed the ending to a completely different one, the story would still be smooth and reasonable, and there would still be corresponding foreshadowing in the text.

This demonstrates Kasumi Shiko's superb control over the plot.

She could manipulate those complex emotions with ease, making them whatever she wanted.

Hashima Izumi really liked Kasumi Utako's style, so even though Kasumi no Oka Utako didn't interfere much with her creative process, she was still influenced by Kasumi Utako's style while appreciating her works.

Finally, they created "The Storyteller's Spirit," a story that can be explained from every angle.

“There are two key questions here,” Kobayashi Megumi analyzed one by one. “First, what was the disciple’s true thought? What was the real reason he killed his master?”

“This should depend on the disciple’s opinion on the final story of ‘Rakugo and the Demon’.” Kobayashi Sora analyzed the different situations following Kobayashi Megumi’s line of thought. “If he thinks the story is good, then killing his master is because of his master’s betrayal. His master can write good stories, but only gives him average ones. The famous rakugo performer outside is very likely someone his master supported.”

“If you think the story is bad, killing your master is because you’re disappointed in him,” Kasumigaoka Utaha continued. “It’s not that your master didn’t want to create a better story, but simply that he lacked the ability.”

“Considering the famous rakugo performer outside, killing the master might be because he felt the master had become a burden, and the time spent taking care of him was hindering the apprentice’s self-improvement,” Kobayashi Megumi further analyzed. “Killing the master would give the apprentice more free time to compete with the rakugo performer outside.”

“Then comes the second crucial question,” Kobayashi Sora said, referring to the two key points Kobayashi Megumi had just mentioned, “the true thoughts of the skeleton.”

"Why did Master appear?" Kobayashi Megumi flipped through the script. "Was it to take revenge on his disciple, to expose his true colors, or to question his disciple about his reasons for killing him, to ask if his disciple was satisfied with his final story, or perhaps, as a rakugo performer, he wanted to give one last performance?"

"Finally, there are two key permutations and combinations," Kasumigaoka Utaha said, waving her finger and drawing lines in the air. "Different combinations will point to different [reasons] and will also change the theme of the whole story—that's why Izumi hasn't been able to draw the final episode B part yet."

While Hashima Izumi learned Kasumi Utako's style, he lacked her ability to control the plot.

As a result, when it came time to come up with an ending, even Izumi Hashima, the creator, couldn't choose the one he was most satisfied with.

To be fair, no matter how you arrange or combine the elements, it's a good story.

It is precisely because every option is so good that people are unwilling to just pick one when going to Po Island for a sea trip.

Kobayashi Sora recalled Kobayashi Megumi's earlier suggestion, "What do you think of that method Megumi mentioned before, using Eriri to stimulate me?"

“Although I feel it might be effective, it’s best not to use it if possible. It would be terrible if it overstimulated.” Kasumigaoka Utaha shook her head. “Besides, Eriri is also very busy right now. She has key drawings for the anime, character designs for the game, and two ongoing manga series… Even for her, this kind of high-intensity creative work is too much to handle.”