Chapter 13 – Welcome to Tokyo

Sea of people. Turning left or right everything, one could see were just waves and waves of people. Some are going to their school, while others are going to their job. This is Tokyo. One of the most impressive cities in the world. A city full of vigour, people and anime. Yes, anime.

Our hero is currently in the famous Akihabara, a wet dream of every weeb on the planet. Centre of anime, manga and hent…I mean other weeb stuff. And you may ask where in Akihabara is he? Well, my dear readers, he is currently in the famous maid cafe waiting for his potential business partner, a mangaka whom he is meeting today.

While they were having a conversation they also of course agreed on where they will have their meeting. A maid cafe isn't the most professional place but for this kind of talk, it is perfect. Also, this is Kira's first time seeing maids, so the man is excited.

So, here we are in the present, Kira is sitting in the corner of the maid cafe, which is all in pink, with pink carpets, doors, chairs and tables. With interest, Kira was looking around the café, while he was also getting more nervous, five minutes and she should be here.

Thinking of this, he heard a clang and a voice that said "Welcome mistress". Kira turned his head to the door and saw what looked like a middle-aged woman with a brown cap on her head and a pair of glasses. She was wearing a blue shirt and brown jeans – an odd combination.

With her looks aside Kira immediately knew.

'That's her.'

…

After she entered the door and greeted the maid-san, Higurashi-sensei looked around and saw a young handsome man wearing a dark blue suit sitting in the corner of the café. He had his head down and Sensei guessed he was looking at his phone.

So, without waiting, the mangaka approached the said table.

When she came close to it, the young man looked at her, got up from his chair and deeply bowed. 

"Nice to meet you Sensei, my name is Kira Rowe and I am the CEO of Nexus Animation, it is a pleasure."

Higurashi-sensei returned all the pleasantries and finally could take a closer look at this young man.

With a nice and handsome smile on his face, Rowe-san looked even younger than she thought he would be, also she was surprised by one slight thing…

'He doesn't look Japanese at all…'

You may think what is she talking about, but remember nobody and their grandma knows about Nexus Animation, yes people heard about it and their foreigner CEO but they all quickly forgot about it. The other important thing is, that Higurashi-Sensei heard the full name of Kira on the phone, but with the name Kira she assumed our main character would be at least half-Japanese, but…

'He looks like a typical example of a European. '

Only a couple of seconds passed while she was thinking and she quickly readjusted herself and her expressions. Higurashi-sensei alongside Kira Rowe sat down prepared to talk. Not negotiate because they weren't even close to that phase.

Before Kira even opened his mouth, Higurashi-sensei asked.

"Why do you want to adopt that manga?"

…

'That is a tricky question to answer.'

And he is right because think about it, what is the reason the crew of NA and Kira with them decided to adapt 'Kuu Neru Futari Sumu Futari'? The answer is simple – they have no money. So, they think a short Slice-of-Life manga that is quite good would be easier to make, but can he tell that to the mangaka before him? Yes, if he wants her to at best look at him furiously or at worst get his face slapped to oblivion.

He can't tell her they have barely any budget because Higurashi-sensei probably wouldn't want to risk the work she sweated so hard to make get butchered by some lousy, no-name, cheap anime studio.

Then there is only one thing our boy can do…

'It is time to bullshit'

"Ms. Higurashi I read a lot of manga in my life and slice-of-life manga is one of my favorite genres. The moment I by accident saw your manga and read the first chapter I knew I wanted to see what it would look like in the anime format. Unfortunately for some reason, nobody adapted your manga, so I was left disappointed."

In one breath Kira spouted a lot of bullshit and seeing that Sensei is keenly listening to him, he changed his disappointed expression to a light smile and continued.

"But by some destiny, I became the CEO of Nexus Animation and my first thought was I need to turn your manga into a great Slice-of-Life anime. I really like that story, so please permit me to adapt it."

That was the end of the first part of Kira's persuasion. What will be the answer of Higarashi-sensei?

After pondering for a little bit, Sensei opened her mouth and said.

"So, you like the story?"

Kira felt glad for a second because she was still here and she was asking questions, a good sign indeed.

"Yes, and because it is not that long we in the studio think that we would be able to give justice to the source material."

"How much anime do you plan to create with that one, how much focus will you put on it?"

That is a normal question to ask for a mangaka and a common fear of theirs. A lot of studios tend to take on a lot of projects and you know how it goes, more focus will go to the projects the anime studio deems as the more profitable one and the other will get a lot fewer resources and a good story with fewer resources can turn into a crap.

Kira carefully selected his words and with a warm smile, he tried to lessen the worries of the mangaka.

"As we are quite a new studio, we decided we are going to go step by step and that means anime by anime, all our focus will be on your manga Higurashi-sensei."

'That should be it, I really don't know what to say anymore, let's hope this would be enough.'

Kira put everything that he learnt into these couple of sentences and now the judgment answer was coming.

Mangaka got up...

'Shit, not good'

Before Kira did something unnecessary because of him starting to panic, Higurashi-sensei sighed and said.

"I am still not 100% sure about your studio but you came all the way to Tokyo, you a CEO, that is enough for me and after all, even if this is my manga, with a lot of pain I must admit this is probably the last train for me to see it on the biggest of screens. I hope you will give everything to make it a success…"

And just like that with a smile from all parties and with a handshake the door of salvation for Nexus Animation slightly opened.