Tokyo Soft Rice King.

Although I haven't been able to examine it closely yet, a little observation reveals that not everyone here has 'talent,' and many people don't have writing on their right hand.

Moreover, among the few talented individuals, their talents are completely unrelated to the performing arts.

If Saotome Fuyumi truly possessed the same "talent for seeing through illusions" as herself, she shouldn't be keeping these "incompetents" around.

"So the only right thing Director Fuyumi did was to recruit Akiko-sensei to our agency... Akiko-sensei is our ace voice actress. Now, when people mention our agency, the first thing they say is 'the agency that discovered Akiko Takanashi!'"

Akiko Takanashi was a little embarrassed by the praise and said, touching her cheek.

"Xue'er, you're exaggerating..."

"It's not an exaggeration at all! Everyone! Don't you agree? Isn't our Ms. Akiko amazing?"

Arisugawa Yuki spread her arms wide in an exaggerated manner, and the other artists around her, though unaware of what was happening, joined in the cheering and shouting.

"Oh! Miss Akiko! Our savior! A miraculous turnaround!"

"Director Fuyumi's only brilliant decision! Without Akiko-sensei, the agency would have gone bankrupt long ago!"

"Miss Akiko is a woman old enough to be my mother!"

Hey, wasn't that last one a bit too much? Although Kuroba Akira thought so too.

Moreover, they are all professional voice actors, and the cheers of just a few people created a feeling of nationwide support, which was quite exaggerated.

However, one female voice actress did not "join them in" and seemed unable to stand the noise, so she got up and left her seat.

Just then, Ziyin saw this familiar yet unfamiliar person and couldn't help but make a sound as well.

"Ah...that's...Senior Huang!"

Everyone looked over, and the female voice actress who heard the voice also looked up at them, her eyes full of confusion.

"...Little Huang?"

Arisugawa Yukiya countered with a question.

"Shion, do you know Ms. Niwa? Well, Ms. Niwa is a well-known voice actress, so it's not surprising that you know her..."

The woman called "Little Yellow" had a look of confusion in her eyes, probably because she couldn't understand why she was called Little Yellow.

After standing there for a few seconds and thinking, she seemed to have figured out the reason, and slapped her palm as she spoke.

"Oh, you're talking about Planet Pretty Cure, right... That elementary school girl with the yellow drill, I did voice that."

Unexpectedly, she met a senior figure in the voice acting industry here, who was also the person Ziyin had been imitating all along. This gave Ziyin a sense of reality that she had finally "entered the industry".

"Hello, my name is Shion Murasaki. I have been imitating your voice for a long time. You could say you are my voice acting teacher. I never expected to meet you here... I am very grateful to you for your 'guidance' all this time."

Ziyin bowed her head in thanks, appearing humble and polite.

"I see... My name is Niwa Kaede."

Niwa Kaede simply nodded in response, which seemed somewhat indifferent, but not cold; rather, it gave the impression that she was unconcerned about anything.

Then came another round of self-introductions and exchanging names. However, when Kuroba Akira mentioned his name, Dan Yufeng frowned and immediately asked a question.

"Your surname is Kuroba?"

"Yes, my surname is Kuroba... Is there a problem?"

Are you from Hokkaido?

"Uh...sorry, what did you say?"

When someone suddenly asked about his hometown, Kuroba Akira was a little speechless, since he knew nothing about his past in this world.

"...Isn't that right?...Never mind if it's not right, it's nothing, I was just asking casually."

When Hokkaido was mentioned, Arisugawa Yuki suddenly remembered something and turned to Takanashi Akiko to say it.

"I remember that Ms. Niwa and Ms. Takanashi are from the same hometown, right? And they're even distant relatives, I think?"

Akiko Takanashi nodded and said with a smile.

"Yes, we are all from Sapporo. As for relatives... it seems there is such a thing, because there is a famous family in our area with the surname 'Ame-no-Habakiri,' which seems to be related to that super famous sword, 'Ame-no-Habakiri'..."

Oh, Ame no Habakiri, also known as the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi, one of the three divine swords.

Kuroba Akira had also heard of this, mainly from playing various Japanese RPG games. Often, the ultimate weapon or super special move of a sword is called Ame-no-Habakiri.

Incidentally, the other two divine swords are Ama-no-Murakumo, also known as Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, and Futsu-no-Mitama, also known as Futsu-no-Tsurugi.

Akiko Takanashi continued.

"And then Miss Niwa is from a branch family of the Ameha family, and our Takanashi family seems to have been one of the branch families before, but we were expelled..."

This was the first time the mother had ever spoken about her hometown, and she frowned and said unhappily.

"Evicted? Why are Mom's house being evicted? Are they looking down on us?!"

Niwa Kaede corrected him calmly.

"It wasn't 'expelling' them, but rather 'being defeated'."

"Shattered wings...?"

This doesn't sound like a Japanese word at all, but after Kuroba Akira pronounced it several times, he realized it referred to the "shayu" in "shayu er gui" (to return in defeat)... but it probably doesn't refer to failure here.

Instead of explaining, Dan Yufeng began to explain the origins of his family and surname.

“Tenba is the main family, and we, Danba, are the branch family. Besides that, there are Akabane, Asaba, and Hisaba, making a total of four branch families… Takanashi was once one of the branch families, but due to a certain incident in the past, he was ‘discarded’ and lost the right to inherit the character ‘Ha’. So he changed his name to Takanashi… which means ‘wandering bird’.”

Akiko Takanashi pinched her chin and suddenly realized.

"I didn't know there were these stories behind it..."

After all, Akiko Takanashi left her hometown a long time ago and had never heard her parents talk about these family matters.

After hearing this, Kuroba Akira realized that Kuroba was not among the four major branches, but judging from Dan Yufeng's reaction, Kuroba should also be related to the 'Yu' family, so he asked.

"What about Kuroba?"

Niwa Kaede's eyes dimmed.

"As for Kuroba... it's a 'non-existent surname'."

"what?"

"It's nothing... I'm probably just overthinking it. The surname Kuroba isn't only found in Hokkaido. In fact, in most people's minds, it's a surname that originated on Honshu Island... You probably just happened to have the surname Kuroba."

After finishing his sentence, Dan Yufeng left on his own, showing no intention of continuing the conversation.

The group looked at each other, all feeling somewhat bewildered.

"Well, everyone, don't worry about it. Niwa-sensei is just a bit naive... like she lives in her own world, but she's actually a very nice person."

Arisugawa Yuki tried to lighten the mood by suggesting this to Kuroba Akira.

"By the way, Kuroba-kun, would you be interested in working here after you graduate?"

Before Kuroba Akira could react, the two mature women, Takanashi Akiko and Daiko, stepped forward to protect him.

"Wait, Xue'er, I know the agency is short-staffed right now, but Kuroba-kun is my daughter's friend and a benefactor to our Takanashi family. Please don't make things difficult for him..."

Da Hongxiang chimed in.

"Yes, please don't make any moves on Amin. We can't live without him."

Shion and Mirai each held Kuroba Akira's hand on either side, their gazes toward Arisugawa Yuki somewhat unfriendly.

Yuki Arisugawa hadn't expected that a casual remark would put her on the opposite side of four women, so she quickly waved her hand to explain.

"Sorry, sorry, it's just that I thought the young man Kuroba seemed quite interested in our agency... Cancel! Cancel what I just said! Just pretend I didn't say anything!"

That's terrifying...

So this young man was the backbone all along?

Chapter 256 We Are All Superpowered Individuals

Arisugawa Yuki realized that she had made a major mistake in her judgment.

She originally thought that Kuroba Akira was just a high school student who came to visit and learn, so she tried her best to be enthusiastic and leave him with a good impression of Shiki Agency. Little did she know that this one sentence would trigger a landmine for everyone.

The main problem is that no one has told me who he is.

Before Akiko-sensei arrived, she said there were five people in total: herself, her daughter, the newcomer she was recommending, this incredibly beautiful girl named Shion Murasakinomiya, and then following behind her was her manager, Kurenai Tashiro…

These are all within Arisugawa Yuki's common sense, but Kuroba Akira, who has infiltrated this group, really cannot understand them.

That is, among the group that Akiko brought, only Kuroba Akira's identity is 'special'.

A future friend? Shion's boyfriend?

Whether you bring a friend or your boyfriend, it's all very strange, right?

Furthermore, Akiko-sensei called him "the benefactor of the Takanashi family," a term that carries significant weight, almost implying that she treated him like a "godson"... After all, this was the first time Arisugawa Yuki had ever seen Akiko show such protectiveness towards anyone other than her daughter.

Just now, when Teacher Niwa heard his surname, he became a little uneasy. Could it be that he is the young master of some big family?

That's why it's necessary to hide one's identity? Just like an emperor traveling incognito!

In short, Arisugawa Yuki sounded an alarm in her heart, realizing that she absolutely could not say anything offensive again, or who knows what kind of trouble it would bring to herself and the agency!

Because of the four women's overreaction, Kuroba Akira was categorized as a "person you shouldn't mess with" by Arisugawa Yuki, whom he met for the first time, and was thus kept at a distance.

In subsequent introductions to her agency, Arisugawa Yuki began to pay attention to her words and actions, becoming more cautious in her speech, resulting in her stammering and rushing through the introductions.

After quickly bringing the group to the director's office, she made an excuse and left.

After entering his office and sitting down on the guest sofa, Kuroba Akira couldn't help but speak to the others.

"I mean...aren't you all overreacting a bit? Ms. Arisugawa was just mentioning it casually; she didn't really mean to recruit me..."

Akiko said with an awkward smile.

"Well... I just think you're still young, Kuroba-kun, there's no need to think about all this now..."

This statement is actually very contradictory, because her daughters at the same age have already decided what they want to do in the future, as has Ziyin, who even gave up her studies for it. But for Kuroba Akira, it's like she doesn't need to think about the present and only about the future. It's a very double standard.

Kuroba Akira said, puzzled.

"Aunt Qiu, have you forgotten that I'm a high school student too? I have to fill out a career aspirations survey in the second semester of my first year of high school..."

"Hmm...aren't those just things you fill out randomly? You don't need to take them seriously, right?"

"Even if you don't take it seriously, you should at least think about the future. I can't be a student forever, can I?"