How to raise a random guy's wife

Bo Island bit her lip as she went out to sea. "I'm going to go to the hospital to get checked out. Whether it's something serious or not, at least it'll put my mind at ease."

"Huh?" Mayu Sagara turned her head. "The hospital?"

“Yeah, but I’m too scared to go…” Hashima Izumi tugged at Sagara Mayu’s sleeve. “Mayu, do you have time? How about we share our test results?”

Mayu Sagara realized that what she and Hashima had said seemed to be different, so she coughed lightly, "Um... what are the specific symptoms?"

"I felt a bit of pain after drinking that day," said Bo Shima, digging his hand into his chest. "You feel the same way, right? Could it be an alcohol allergy or something?"

"Ah... this..." Mayu Sagara looked somewhat apologetic. "Are you feeling any better these past few days?"

“Much better… but I’m still a little worried.” Bo Island’s brow furrowed slightly. “I heard that people like me have a higher risk of getting sick than others.”

“This…” Mayu Sagara’s gaze shifted. “I don’t have any relevant experience. Why don’t you ask Utaha… or maybe Megumi?”

"Huh? Why?"

"Well..." Mayu Sagara recalled the day she helped Hashima set sail, "It was probably caused by external force..."

Bo Island setting sail: "Huh?"

“That’s the general idea for now,” Kobayashi Sora clapped her hands. “We will increase the interactions between the side heroines and the main heroines outside of the male protagonist’s story. By adding storylines where the main heroines are viewed from the perspective of the side heroines, we can enrich the game options, refine the main characters’ personalities, and explain their behavioral logic.”

Kobayashi Megumi looked at the others and asked, "What are your thoughts on this?"

"Um..." Mayu Sagara was eager to change the subject, "Isn't the amount of text a bit too much? Can it be finished before Valentine's Day?"

"With Megumi's and my help, and Utaha's speed, the revisions can be completed within a week." Kobayashi Sora asked Eriri, "Regarding the CG..."

“The galgame editor can save a lot of time,” Eriri said casually. “I only need to add a few key CGs.”

“I can help too,” said Izumi Hashima. “The animation is finished now, so there’s plenty of time.”

Eriri also wanted to know about Hashima's growth after setting sail to complete the anime, so naturally she wouldn't refuse.

"Then it's settled." Kobayashi Sora created a new document. "Now let's move on to the second thing. Do you remember the interview we talked about before?"

Hashima recalled, "About the production of Mononoke?"

“That’s right,” Kobayashi Megumi nodded. “Now that the animation is finished, it’s time to conduct the interviews.”

Mayu Sagara was somewhat surprised, "So early?"

"In order to boost Blu-ray sales." Eriri is very familiar with this tactic. "Release the behind-the-scenes stories when the animation is completed and the response is good, so that the audience feels that it is worth the money."

“Originally, production and promotion should have been carried out simultaneously, and the shortcomings of the animation could have been explained by describing the difficulties of production…” Kobayashi Sora explained, “But you were all very busy before, and there were no particular shortcomings that needed to be explained, so it was temporarily delayed.”

Mayu Sagara: "You just said 'excuses,' right?"

"The economic climate is bad, the industry is in a slump, there's a shortage of manpower, not enough funding... these are all common excuses. The gist is, 'I've worked so hard, so please don't be so picky. Can't you viewers have some empathy? You don't understand the difficulties of animation production.'" Kobayashi Sora shrugged. "Unfortunately, most viewers are just there to see the work, not to read the behind-the-scenes logs. So if it's not good, it's not good. And viewers who care about the work logs don't care about those flaws. But deliberately pointing them out actually makes those viewers who wouldn't have cared about them notice those flaws."

After sorting through this logic in his mind for a while, a question arose in his mind: "Then why do it this way?"

"It's about explaining to investors, or for the sake of my future work." Kasumigaoka Utaha, already a professional producer, answered the question easily: "As long as you push all the problems onto others, then your own abilities are not a problem."

I took a shot, but the ball didn't go in.

It's either a problem with the rod, a problem with the tablecloth, or the music is too loud, or the weather is too hot.

In short, my skills are fine.

"This situation also exists in RER, and it's quite common," Kobayashi Megumi admitted. "In fact, most viewers know what's going on in this situation. There's a big difference between insufficient objective conditions and a bad subjective attitude. Most of them are just deceiving themselves—don't worry about it, let's talk about the interview."

Upon setting sail for Po Island, I immediately became nervous. "I... how should I prepare...?"

"Didn't we say before? You don't need to prepare anything, just say whatever you want." Kobayashi Sora said casually, "Just like a normal chat."

"Alright then..." Bo Island took a deep breath and patted his chest to encourage himself.

Eriri suspected that she was showing off.

"First, the first question," Kobayashi Sora typed, "what was the inspiration behind creating 'Mononoke'?"

Chapter 840 Strange Character Design

An opportunity...

Sagara Mayu was momentarily dazed.

Now that the animation is finished, looking back at the beginning of its creation feels like a lifetime ago.

Although it might sound a bit like bragging to say it.

But it seems I really did something... no, I accomplished something amazing.

It started as a vague idea, gradually took shape, and then, through day-to-day efforts, became a work that I really like.

When it was finally finished, there was a sense of relief, but also a feeling of loss and reluctance.

But as for the opportunity...

Hashima Izumi carefully organized her thoughts, reading aloud like a student answering a question from a textbook, "At first... at first, I was a little lost, because although I participated in the production of many works, I still didn't have a formal debut. I was a little uneasy... on one hand, I was looking forward to my debut, and on the other hand, I was worried about the outcome..."

When going out to sea, Hashima deliberately slowed down his speech so that Kobayashi Sora could keep up with his typing speed.

“Just speak at a normal pace,” Kobayashi Sora reminded him, looking up. “I can keep up.”

Kobayashi Megumi waved the recorder in her hand, "And there's a recording here too."

Given Kobayashi Sora's typing speed, a voice recorder wouldn't have been necessary.

However, due to Kobayashi Sora's personality, the voice recorder became a necessity.

"I was worried and excited at the same time, hesitating between being eager and indecisive, and ended up wasting most of my time thinking rather than taking action." Hashima Izumi looked at Kasumigaoka Utaha. "Later, I got inspiration from Utaha's 'White Album' and thought of using a retro art style to depict a story of emotional deciphering similar to Kasumigaoka Utaha's style. I originally wanted to draw it as a manga, but after Megumi reminded me, the animation project came about."

Eriri didn't expect there to be so many things going on, but thinking about her own creative experience, it seemed to be a similar process.

Get inspired, find your direction, and then begin creating.

"Many viewers have said that the story and the art style are very well integrated. How did you achieve that? Was the art style decided first, or the story first?"

"Since I'm an illustrator myself, when I'm planning to tell a story, the first thing that comes to mind is the visuals," said Izumi Hashima, much more relaxed. "After deciding on the retro art style, I started thinking about stories that matched it. When I think of retro, I naturally think of those ancient yokai stories that have been passed down to the present day. But telling those yokai stories that have been told so many times would just be a simple repetition. So I borrowed the names of the yokai as images to depict human emotions. However, the theme of deciphering emotions was decided before the art style was finalized."

Eriri glared at Kasumigaoka Utaha. Looking at it this way, the story of "Mononoke" was practically a love letter from Hashima to Kasumigaoka Utaha.

In comparison, myself...

"So, it seems that Kasumigaoka P has had a significant influence on your work. Could you elaborate on that?"

"Actually, if we're talking about influence..." Mayu Sagara noticed the issue with the title, paused, and changed her words, "Kasumigaoka P's influence on me was more like guidance, giving me a clearer direction. And on the way to that direction, the person who influenced me the most was Eri Kashiwagi."

Eriri: "Huh?"

"The first story in 'Mononoke,' 'Hannya,' is actually a reflection of myself." Today, Izumi Hashima can face everything in the past with equanimity and calmly talk about his somewhat dark and decadent thoughts. "Back in junior high school, I tried my best to be like Ms. Eri Kashiwagi, but she progressed too quickly. I was trying my best to catch up, but I felt the gap was getting bigger and bigger. In the process of creating this story, I was fortunate to see my own state clearly and break out of the cage that trapped me, which finally led to this story."

Eriri stared blankly as Hashima set sail, and when she noticed Eriri looking over, she immediately turned her head away.

The faint blush on her fair face was quite noticeable.

“I’d like to remind you of something here,” Kobayashi Sora said, “I will be changing the way you address people later, so don’t worry about that. Just use whatever you feel comfortable with.”

Bo Island nodded as he went out to sea, "Mhm."

"There's another thing, junior high school isn't an option."

Bo Island setting sail: "Huh?"

Kobayashi Sora reminded, "Eri's original works were not suitable for junior high school students."

Eriri protested, "Some junior high students can watch this too, okay!"

Kobayashi Sora shook her head. "That's true, but it's better to keep it vague."

"You're absolutely right," Kobayashi Megumi praised with a smile. "Let's take a break first, and then... let's start with Utaha."

"How does it feel to transition from author to producer for Kasumigaoka Pro?" Kobayashi Sora asked, a question she had prepared beforehand.

Kasumigaoka Utaha thought for a moment, "It's alright."

"Hmm." Kobayashi Sora typed rapidly on the keyboard, her face expressionless as she recounted, "It wasn't as simple as I imagined, nor as difficult as I expected. The change of identity was relatively straightforward. Learning various related knowledge made me clearly realize the challenges of producing animation. The passion of the production team members for animation and the feedback from the audience made the whole process smooth and full of motivation. Thank you all for your support; it completely dispelled my initial anxiety~"

Kasumigaoka Utaha nodded. "That's what I think too."

"Huh?" Hashima Izumi's eyes widened. "Is this even possible?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha replied matter-of-factly, "It's always been like this."

"You must never act like this when others interview you," Kobayashi Sora reminded her. "Your current persona is that of a thoughtful, charming, and adorable older sister."

“What a weird character design…” Eriri complained. “Basically, anyone who knew her in high school and college knows that this is nonsense.”

"Don't worry, otaku don't think as much as you do." Kobayashi Sora had no such concerns at all. "Besides, it's normal for their personalities to differ between online and offline."

Without dwelling on that topic, Kobayashi Sora moved on to the next question, "What are your impressions of each other, teachers, on your first collaboration?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha succinctly replied, "Very good."

The boat trip to Po Island was a great example of what they had learned.

Kobayashi Sora cast a helpless glance at Hashima Island as he sailed out to sea, saying, "You'd better learn something."

Chapter 841 I really like it

It's hard to learn good things, but it's easy to learn bad things.

Hashima Izumi, who was just answering questions properly, immediately started imitating Kasumigaoka Utaha's way of answering questions.

He looked at Kobayashi Sora with anticipation, clearly very interested in how Kobayashi Sora would refine his answer.

"Ah... I'm sorry..." The expectation on the face of the person going to the beach was replaced by apology. "It must have been tiring. I was just having fun."

You really treat this like a joke.

Kobayashi Sora shook her head. "It's not that hard. This level of hardship is just routine for me."

Although it's no longer necessary, in the past, when Kobayashi Sora was managing a large number of alternate accounts, she had carefully studied the wording of online posts. Coupled with her exceptional memory, simulating this level of written interview wasn't a problem for her.

“The reason why Utaha and Eriri used this method is that, for various reasons, they were not able to face their fans with their true selves.” Kobayashi Megumi explained patiently with gentle eyes, “If you have similar thoughts when you go to sea, of course you can use this method. But if you really want to tell everyone who likes this work what your feelings and thoughts were when you created it, of course, it is better to say it yourself to achieve your goal.”

After carefully considering Kobayashi Megumi's words, Hajime thought, "I understand. I will answer seriously."

Driven by curiosity, Sagara asked, "Speaking of which, why didn't Eriri and Utaha show their real selves to the fans at the beginning?"

“Eri Ri originally drew 18+ content... and high school students at that.” Kobayashi Sora replied, “My brother bought the doujinshi, so of course the character's personality had to be adjusted accordingly.”