Tokyo Soft Rice King.

It's even gotten to the point where it's become part of daily life. You'd have to be awake and speak in a married woman's voice to achieve that, right?

Seeing Kuroba Akira's surprised expression, Takanashi Akiko continued with a wry smile.

"Because if you don't have talent, you can only rely on hard work, right? But... actually, I didn't even know the specific meaning of 'hard work' before, which was really immature of me... back then..."

Akiko Takanashi reminisces about her past self and can't help but sigh.

Just then, Akira Kuroba secretly took out his phone from under the table and dialed the number he had exchanged with Mirai Takanashi the day before.

He felt that what Aunt Qiu was about to say was not only for him to hear, but also for the future to hear.

However, Akira Kuroba didn't know if Mirai Takanashi had woken up yet, and to avoid being discovered by Akiko Takanashi, he couldn't look down. So Akira Kuroba didn't know if the call had been answered, so he pressed the record function at the same time, thinking that if she missed it, he would play it for her later.

Then, just then, Akiko Takanashi continued to recount her past.

"Kuroba-kun, I actually entered this industry a long time ago. I've already told you why I wanted to become a voice actor. After that, I immediately took action. Around your age, I ignored my parents' objections and contacted my aunt who was living in Tokyo at the time, from my hometown of Sapporo. With her help, I entered a voice actor training center."

Kuroba Akira felt a little embarrassed after hearing this.

Aunt Qiuzi, what a terrifying ability to act.

Who can decide their own path at the age of fifteen, especially against their parents' wishes and stubbornly run away from Hokkaido to Tokyo?

That's incredibly brave!

“After that, I graduated from the voice actor training school in a year and joined a large voice actor agency... but after seven years there, I still couldn’t support myself.”

"Seven years..."

Including the year spent at the training center, that makes a total of eight years.

From fifteen to twenty-three years old.

Youth passes by in the blink of an eye.

She gained nothing.

"Yes, that was a full seven years... Now, when people talk about my past experiences, they all say nice things, like how I accumulated knowledge and skills before I could achieve great things later in life, and how my past efforts made me who I am today... But only I know that before I truly understood what 'effort' meant, I was just doing useless work that was disguised as 'effort'."

"Then at that time, even my aunt, who had always helped me, couldn't stand it anymore and advised me to go back to my hometown to inherit the family's hot spring inn. The agency also completely gave up on investing resources in me, feeling that I was no longer worth training..."

"And that's how I became a voice actress that no one wanted... because I was no longer valuable. I even thought about hanging myself back then, haha."

Hei Yuming couldn't laugh with her.

Aunt Qiu can laugh it off now, but how desperate must she have felt back then?

Saying she wanted to hang herself was definitely not a joke; she probably really did consider suicide at the time.

"Then I wondered why I had become like this? Was it because I lacked talent?"

“Every year, more talented young people flock to the agency. I watch those voice actors who are younger than me become famous step by step, while I can hardly even get supporting roles. Moreover, my voice is getting older and older... Really, that sense of despair... I guess many people will never feel it in their entire lives.”

"Back then, I both hated and envied talent. I complained countless times about why I wasn't blessed with talent. I thought about giving up, but I was just too unwilling to accept it..."

"I've tried so hard, why am I the only one who can't succeed? Am I not good enough? Or are others just luckier than me? I'm clearly no worse than them!"

"Well... at first it was probably to realize my dream, but by that time, I probably just wanted to prove myself... I really didn't want my career, to which I had devoted my entire youth, to end in failure."

Kuroba Akira felt a pang of heartache listening to this.

Because he really understood the feeling.

Especially when I see other departments' games launched and become very successful, I always think that even if it's just to prove a point, I have to get my game launched.

“Then I continued to look for a firm that was willing to accept me, and that’s when I met the most important person in my life who taught me the meaning of hard work.”

The key figure has arrived!

Kuroba Akira's eyes lit up, and he quickly asked.

"Could you tell me who that person is?"

"Actually, she's the head of the voice acting agency I'm currently working for. Her name is Saotome Fuyumi... Head Fuyumi is my great benefactor because she took me in when I was down on my luck after being abandoned by my original agency."

Saotome Fuyumi, she must be the one who guided Aunt Akiko and allowed that weak talent to blossom!

Akira Kuroba wanted to know more about how she had trained Aunt Akiko to become a national-level voice actress.

If he could know the secret, it would also help him in cultivating Ziyin in the future.

"And after that, she personally nurtured me. You could say that without her, I wouldn't be who I am today..."

Akiko Takanashi looked grateful, while Akira Kuroba continued to guide her conversation with questions.

"Was it Director Fuyumi who told you the specific meaning of hard work?"

"That's right, I can still remember those words clearly. They really gave me tremendous motivation to move forward when I was about to give up... However, those words were also quite cruel, because acknowledging her words was equivalent to denying my past life."

Akiko Takanashi spoke with a wry smile about those most memorable words.

“She told me that the so-called effort meant ‘making yourself able to do things that you couldn’t do before,’ but at the time I didn’t even know ‘what exactly I was supposed to do,’ and I was like a lost bird flying around in the forest.”

Kuroba Akira crossed his arms, his expression becoming very serious; these words had inspired him.

"It means the goals weren't set clearly enough."

Hearing that Kuroba Akira understood it so well, Takanashi Akiko became even more enthusiastic and continued to talk about the inspiration she had received from the director.

"Yes! But in order to set clearer goals, the next step is to 'break down' the necessary elements to achieve the goal into smaller, achievable goals, and then work towards them step by step... This behavior is called effort!"

"So that's it, segmentation!"

At this moment, Akira Kuroba finally understood the reason why [Voice Acting D] could be 'promoted' to [Mother-type Voice Actor EX].

If we only consider the versatility and potential of her talent, Akiko Takanashi is far inferior to other geniuses.

Therefore, for those who have no talent or little talent, they should try to 'only focus on one talent' and reach the top in one type.

The same applies to voice acting. Instead of trying to voice every type of character, it's better to focus on one type of character and do it better than anyone else.

Not everyone is like Ziyin, who can master girlish voices, mature female voices, and loli voices. Moreover, even Ziyin is not good at voicing mature female voices because her voice is not mature.

Moreover, even loli voices come in different types: languid, tsundere, and devilish...

Just like Rie Kugimiya, who turned her tsundere character into her own brand name!

It's better to specialize in one skill than to be a jack-of-all-trades and master of none!

That's exactly the point!

Of course, this kind of segmentation is actually a last resort.

After all, neither actors nor voice actors want their roles to become narrower, because if they want to break through and transform their careers in the future, they will face huge challenges.

Moreover, if you still can't reach the top after segmentation, then it's truly a complete failure.

So this is undoubtedly a big gamble!

Only a madman with an intense obsession would risk everything!

As expected, what Director Fuyumi said was the same as what Kuroba Akira thought.

"Yes, later Director Fuyumi told me that if I just wanted to become a voice actor, I could just continue to pick up other people's leftovers. But if I wanted to become a voice actor who could stand on my own, it wouldn't be enough to just be 'not worse than others,' but I had to be 'absolutely ahead of others' in some aspect."

"Is that why you chose to specialize in mother-type roles?"

"Yes, she analyzed the characteristics of my voice and believed that I could do better than anyone else when voicing married, mature women. This is one of my talents, but she also said that it is not my most important talent."

"Oh?"

Akiko Takanashi perfectly replicated Fuyumi Saotome's words from her memories.

"Talent is composed of natural gifts, potential, skills, experience, and knowledge... but the most important thing is actually 'will'."

"Theoretically speaking, human talent is limitless, provided the will is strong enough."

"I took you in because I saw in you that unwavering determination to become a famous voice actor no matter what..."

"My firm welcomes 'reckless madmen' like you!"

"So, if you really have no intention of turning back... then come and gamble your life on me!"

"I'll take care of your life! I, Saotome Fuyumi, will definitely make you a world-renowned voice actress!"

After saying these words, Akiko Takanashi opened her eyes, took a deep breath to calm herself, and then spoke.

"That's what Director Fuyumi said to me back then... Wasn't it inspiring?"

"Yes... I got a little excited just hearing that."

And these words sound familiar.

It's similar to what I said to Ziyin back then: "Give me half of your life!"

She really knows how to stir people's emotions, Director Saotome Fuyumi.

"Later, I underwent specialized voice acting training according to Director Fuyumi's arrangements... However, at this time, I encountered an insurmountable obstacle. If I didn't find a way to overcome this obstacle, it would be difficult for me to continue on this narrowing path."

"What kind of difficulty was that?"

Akira Kuroba asked the question casually, but Akiko Takanashi remained silent.

The most distressed expression she had ever worn appeared on her face, like a sinner being judged, her face filled with guilt.

"Kuroba-kun... can you promise me you won't tell Mirai what I'm about to say?"

Kuroba Akira first hesitated, then showed a thoughtful expression, and finally nodded resolutely.

"Okay, I promise you, Aunt Qiuzi, I will never tell the future."

However, if she heard it herself, then she won't blame me.

"Um……"

Akiko Takanashi also pondered for a long time, still feeling quite hesitant.

Originally, she didn't intend to tell Kuroba Akira about this; she wanted to take this secret to her grave. But once she started talking, she couldn't stop and wanted to tell him everything that had happened so far.

It wasn't that Akira Kuroba was anything special; it was just that Akiko Takanashi was under a lot of psychological pressure after her daughter entered her 'rebellious phase,' because she had never encountered any setbacks in raising children before.

Then, these secrets remained unspoken, lacking an outlet, and Kuroba Akira just happened to walk right into it... This was the same situation as when Aizono Moe wet her pants before, and Kuroba Akira became the best listener.

"Kuroba-kun, you're a very smart kid, so I'll briefly explain my situation back then, and you should be able to figure it out... I was just 23 years old at the time, unmarried, and had no experience dating men. Asking someone like me to voice a married woman with children, even if my voice was suitable, would still be a lack of experience as a mother..."

"Uh……"

Akiko Takanashi, like a sinner confessing in a confessional, clasped her hands together, regarding Akira Kuroba as a priest making confessions.