How to raise a random guy's wife

“Two men!” Fumio Sagara sighed. “This should be a time to relax and rejuvenate, but instead I’m wasting my energy here.”

“If you’re bored, you can go enjoy your time,” Iori Hashima said, leaning back in her chair. “There’s no need to waste time here.”

Fumio Sagara looked conflicted. "Actually, if we think about it calmly, both your sister and my sister are at the age where they should be dating. We don't need to give up our own good life to stop them from pursuing love."

“That makes sense.” Iori Hashima nodded. “Even if we run into people like you and me, it’s fine.”

Fumio Sagara: "...Karma."

Iori Hashima shrugged.

“But then again,” Fumio Sagara adjusted his hat, “it’s not good for us to keep watching like this. We can’t keep stopping them forever.”

“I never said I was going to stop them, I was just keeping an eye on things for them.” Iori Hashima made a extinguishing gesture. “Nip danger in the bud. If there’s no danger, then it should still sprout.”

The question is, how do we determine whether something is truly dangerous?

"It's very simple, just see if the other person is similar to us."

“...That makes sense.” Fumio Sagara said with some regret, “It’s a pity we won’t be receiving any chocolates this year.”

Iori Hashima was taken aback. "You weren't prepared?"

"Aren't Valentine's Day chocolates for boys? How could I possibly prepare one?"

Iori Hashima pointed to himself, "I'm a man."

"...I'm a guy too, did you prepare one for me?"

"I think you're more considerate than I am, so you should prepare it for me."

Fumio Sagara fanned himself with his hat in annoyance. "I actually think you're more considerate than I am."

“It seems we both overestimated each other.” Iori Hashima shook her head in disappointment.

Fumio Sagara's eyes lit up. "How about... we go buy it now?"

Iori Hashima: "...It's not impossible."

-

“Speaking of which…” After a game ended, Mayu Sagara looked at Izumi Hashima beside her, “I wonder who prepared the chocolates for whom.”

“Oh right.” Bodao Chuhai thought for a moment, “It should be my brother who prepared it for your brother. He gave Kong Qing chocolates when he was in junior high school.”

"Is there still this?"

"It must have been Kong Qing who did something for him." Bo Dao Chu Hai still finds it a bit funny when he thinks about it now. "Back in junior high, someone even drew a sketchbook about them."

"Oh...don't they care?"

"Of course I took care of it." Kong Qing vividly recalled the trip to Bo Island. "Kong Qing gathered information and found the person who drew the book. Then my brother asked that person to draw himself to look more handsome and also helped print it. Then Kong Qing helped sell it."

"...As expected of them." Mayu Sagara asked curiously, "And then what happened?"

"I got caught by the teacher."

Mayu Sagara: "...That makes sense, after all, this involves dissemination."

“No, that’s not it.” Bodao Chuhai shook his head. “After finding the person who drew the book, Kong Qing controlled the content. The version sold to the students was the abridged version. For the adult version, he found an adult to sell to adults. In order to distance himself from the content, he seemed to have outsourced it several times, and in the end, he still made a profit.”

"It feels like something he's capable of doing, but since it was outsourced several times, how was he discovered?"

Bo Island looked helpless as he left, saying, "The teacher spent far more than the market price to buy notebooks for his own students."

"...Ah, this." Sagara Mayu was speechless for a moment.

It's true... heroes emerge from among the young.

"Oh, by the way," Bo Island said, trying to remain nonchalant, as if it were a casual remark, "Didn't you say you wanted to find a house?"

"Yes, we haven't found the right one yet."

"How about sharing a place?" Bodao suggested. "Could you ask Kongqing to help me find one?"

"what?"

“Um…that…” Bodao Chuhai hesitated for a moment, “I want to move out. After all, my schedule is different from my brother’s. I hope to have more time to immerse myself in my creative work. We have a collaboration on a project later, right? So I was thinking that if we shared an apartment, it would be more convenient for work, and we could look out for each other.”

As she looked at the screen, Hashima Shirai dared not meet Mayu Sagara's gaze.

Despite saying all that, what she was really thinking about was what happened at the hot spring hotel.

She wanted to use the shared accommodation to complete more simulations and gain experience for her creative work.

Or rather, it should be said that using the excuse of gathering material, we are trying more simulations.

But thinking about what happened during the previous simulation, I feel that if I were to tell Mayu Sagara directly about going to sea from Hashima, she probably wouldn't agree and might even be scared away.

Therefore, I can only express my thoughts tactfully.

Using creation as an excuse is utterly despicable.

“Okay.” Mayu Sagara nodded, staring at the screen, not daring to look at the island of Hashima setting sail.

While the trip to the sea from Hashima was about work, Mayu Sagara was thinking about all sorts of things in her life.

Bo Island went out to sea thinking it would be more convenient for work, but what I was really thinking about was having easy access to water in my personal life. I was really despicable.

Sagara Mayu agreed so readily, making Hashima feel even more guilty.

Sagara Mayu trusted me so much, yet I harbored ulterior motives and plotted against her. I was truly despicable.

The two despicable individuals started a new game, but their minds were already set on a completely different game.

-

While Kasumigaoka Utaha was tidying up the kitchen, Eriri quickly took a shower. Then, while Kasumigaoka Utaha was taking a shower, Eriri studied in her room how to tie Kasumigaoka Utaha into a gift with a red ribbon.

Eriri is usually bullied by Kasumigaoka Utaha, but this time she's going to fight back.

"It should be like this...like this..." Having just drunk red wine and taken a hot bath, the effects of the alcohol hit her hard, leaving Eriri a little dazed. When she came to her senses, she found herself already bound by a tangled ribbon. "Eh?"

"Eriri, did you see my bathtub...?" Kasumigaoka Utaha pushed open the door and saw Eriri with a red ribbon tied around her body. "Hmm?"

Eriri struggled for a moment, causing the ribbon tied around her wrists to sway. "Um... Happy Valentine's Day..."

Kasumigaoka Utaha moved closer to Eriri, "It seems like it'll be even more fun~"

"What...what are you going to do?"

"Of course, it's playing games," Kasumigaoka Utaha said with a smirk, "Adult games~"

Chapter 987 Looking in the Mirror

"It's trending again..." Eriri scrolled through her phone during a routine internal meeting. "I feel like I'm used to it by now."

Unlike regular company meetings, closed-door discussions are much more relaxed in terms of both topic and atmosphere.

There were only six people in total. Kobayashi Sora and Kobayashi Megumi stuck together, Kasumigaoka Utaha and Eriri stuck together, and Hashima Izumi and Sagara Mayu were thinking about how to stick together.

Compared to company meetings that summarize past achievements, current project progress, and future development directions, internal meetings are more like brainstorming sessions, generally not much different from casual conversations, and the content focuses more on the creation of works.

Mayu Sagara deeply agrees, "At first, I was very excited to be trending on social media, but after I found out that every time a virtual idol from our company was released, we would be trending, I got used to it."

“However, this time it’s a little different from before,” said Po Island as he browsed the page. “There seem to be a bit too many entries.”

Kasumigaoka Utaha and Eriri were looking at a phone. "Kurō, is it really necessary to go to such lengths?"

"Personally, I feel it was unnecessary. After all, the nail that sticks out gets hammered down, and being too flamboyant isn't a good thing." Kobayashi Sora spread his hands. "But unfortunately, I played a very small role this time. Things turned out like this without me even lifting a finger. In fact, I not only didn't try to generate buzz, but I also tried to suppress it, but I couldn't."

"So... this is real popularity?!" Eriri exclaimed incredulously. "This is outrageous..."

“It’s not an exaggeration at all,” Kobayashi Megumi cautioned. “You seem to be greatly underestimating your own influence.”

"One is an excellent and prolific illustrator, a manga artist who has serialized two manga series, the originator of the Kashiwagi Eri style, the original illustrator of 20 billion yen box office hits, and involved in the production and adaptation of various popular works," Kobayashi Sora explained in detail. "The other is a best-selling light novel author, a groundbreaking animation producer, and a scriptwriter of 20 billion yen box office hits."

Megumi Kobayashi added, "It's only natural that the two of them would be so popular after collaborating again after a year to release a sequel to a highly acclaimed game."

"Another point to consider is the development of the industry. With the diversification of entertainment, the audience for galgames is getting smaller and smaller, and players rarely see such excellent works anymore." Kobayashi Sora concluded, "This is not only a celebration of your own popularity, but also a long-awaited carnival for galgame lovers, and a powerful release of their love for galgames."

While the revenue from visual novels is stable, it is still quite limited.

Most scriptwriters, after trying their hand at visual novels, go on to write light novels.

Many concept artists also go on to draw mobile game characters.

From frugality to luxury is easy, from luxury to frugality.

Once you've made a lot of money, it's hard to go back and spend time making small amounts of money.

From this perspective, the return of the dream team, Utaha Kasumigaoka and Eriri, is truly invaluable.

What's even more precious is the excellent quality of the final chapter of "White Album".

[This game completely shattered the rosy bubbles of beautiful love in traditional visual novels, breaking my illusions about love with a story so realistic it felt unreal. Perhaps a small, unintentional act of pity today could cause an irreversible storm later on. Immersed in it, I could only watch helplessly as everything I didn't want to see happened, sinking into a sense of despair and powerlessness.]

Mayu Sagara commented, "I definitely feel that way."

“I’m still thinking about how to express this feeling,” Izumi Hashima said, leaning closer to Mayu Sagara. “This description is so accurate.”

"I was wondering why you two have such dark circles under your eyes," Kasumigaoka Utaha said, her gaze sweeping over you. "You've been staying up all night playing games, haven't you?"

"You still need to get some rest," Kobayashi Megumi reminded her. "If you want to play games, you can do them at the company; that's also an important part of the research process."

[The overly realistic story made me reflect on the interpersonal relationships around me. While playing the game, I constantly criticized Haruki based on my own thoughts, but I increasingly saw a reflection of myself in him.]

“The comments below are also very interesting,” Eriri clicked on a long review. “I’m clearly playing a game, but I feel like the game is playing me. Some people are playing a game, and some people are looking in a mirror.”

There are also quite a few people making jokes.

[Why did this happen...? For the first time, I played a sequel; for the first time, I played the final chapter. These two joyful things intertwined, and these two joys should have brought me so much happiness. I should have been enjoying this dreamlike blissful time. But why did it turn out like this?]

"This comment is very insightful." Kobayashi Megumi showed the content to Kobayashi Sora.

[During my first playthrough, I felt I deeply understood Kasumi Utako's malice. The game always presented seemingly optimal solutions, making you believe that your current suffering was only temporary and that everything would eventually develop as you hoped. This self-deception, however, led you to a painful ending. After learning more about the game, in my second playthrough, I made what seemed like better choices, and what tormented me became two painful endings. Third playthrough, fourth playthrough... just when I felt numb, I suddenly realized that this wasn't malice, but a well-intentioned reminder. People always make various choices in life, and these choices bring different consequences. No matter what the choice, there will always be consequences I don't want to accept. The game ends, life continues. Facing more choices and an unknown future, I am still confused, but I have gained the courage to move forward.]

"Ah..." Kasumigaoka Utaha blinked, "So that's what I was thinking?"

"I'm telling you..." Eriri glared at her, "You're not just trying to torture someone, are you?"

“Hmm…” Kasumigaoka Utaha’s eyes flickered. “Not entirely.”

Yinglili: "..."

“Once a work is completed, the relationship with the creator is over. Even the creator cannot fully express the feelings of the players while playing the game.” Kobayashi Sora translated for Kasumigaoka Utaha, “I hope that players can feel the themes I want to express while playing the game, and I also hope that players can discover the deeper meaning I have hidden in the story, but I look forward to the unique feelings of the players themselves, and the unique power they gain from the game.”