"You make a fair point."
Aoi did indeed agree with Kaito's argument.
However, she quickly shifted direction. "It is true that cheerful is easy and sadness is hard. But precisely because it is hard, it carries limitless potential."
Kaito was visibly caught off guard.
He looked at Aoi and let out a cold laugh. "Is that what you really think, Miss Fuji?"
"It is." Aoi nodded.
"Then let me ask you this. What exactly is your opinion of Lumen's proposal?" Kaito stared hard at Aoi, his voice barely containing his anger.
Aoi hesitated for a moment but ultimately spoke honestly. "To be frank, your proposal is rather mediocre. In all likelihood, Arcane would not invest in something like this."
"Mediocre? What part of it is mediocre? I think it simply does not suit Miss Fuji's personal taste."
"You are not wrong about that. It does not particularly appeal to me."
"Ha. So you really are making investment decisions based on personal preference."
"..."
"So what you are saying is that you have no intention of investing in our proposal and plan to invest in Starfall's proposal instead?" Kaito's tone had grown noticeably aggressive.
Aoi frowned slightly but answered honestly all the same. "Starfall's proposal does merit investment. However, the final decision still needs to go through a series of discussions."
That was the last straw for Kaito Amanai.
He shot up from his seat, his voice rising sharply. "Miss Fuji, it is clear to me that you understand nothing about anime, and you understand nothing about investment!"
With that, he stepped forward, snatched his proposal off the table, and turned to leave.
"Wait."
Aoi fixed her gaze on him. "What do you think you are doing?"
Kaito paused mid-step and looked back. "I am going to speak with your president."
"Oh?" Aoi seemed slightly puzzled.
"With all due respect, putting someone like you in charge of investment review is an insult to me!" Kaito snorted coldly.
He made no effort to hide his fury.
Were it not for Aoi's notable background, he probably would have dropped the honorifics entirely.
Even after being spoken to like that, Aoi showed not a trace of anger.
But just as Kaito reached the door of the meeting room and was about to walk out, she spoke up.
"Going to the president would not help, because I am the president of Arcane."
"What?" Yuta could not help blurting out in shock.
Kaito, who had been halfway out the door, was clearly just as stunned.
He whipped around and stared at Aoi, disbelief written across his face. "That is impossible! I was told that Arcane's president goes by the name Chihaya."
Chihaya, and a man at that.
When had it become Aoi Fuji?
"The previous president was indeed Chihaya, but he has been reassigned elsewhere." Aoi explained this with perfect composure.
Kaito said nothing, though it was safe to assume he was cursing inwardly.
An awkward silence hung in the air for a moment before Aoi spoke again. "Your name is Kaito Amanai, correct? Since you feel that having me conduct the investment review is an insult to you, then from now on, Lumen should not bother coming to Arcane seeking investment. Even if you did, no one here would fund your projects."
Kaito's body trembled slightly. Then, as if resigned to his fate, he muttered, "Fine by me. Who needs investment that is decided by someone's personal whims?"
With that, he left without another word.
Only Yuta and Aoi remained in the meeting room.
Aoi turned her gaze to Yuta and asked abruptly, "Does President Shido also believe I make investment decisions based on personal preference?"
"Just Shido is fine." Yuta replied.
"If Miss Fuji saw something worthwhile in my proposal, then it absolutely was not a decision based on personal preference. I would say, rather, that Miss Fuji possesses a remarkably keen eye for investment. I have no doubt that Arcane will thrive under your leadership and become the dominant force among planning companies."
Aoi gave an ambiguous smile at the flattery, then said, "Would you mind if I went through your proposal one more time?"
"Please, go ahead." Yuta gestured with his hand.
Aoi said nothing more and lowered her head to read through the proposal again.
This time, she read even more carefully, as though afraid of missing even the smallest detail.
As Yuta waited, he could not help growing nervous.
His competitor had been eliminated, and Aoi had said there was a possibility of investment. But "possibility" was just that, a possibility. It did not guarantee anything.
The real test started now.
One minute. Two minutes. Three minutes.
Time itself seemed to slow to a crawl.
Just when Yuta's patience was nearly spent, Aoi finally spoke. "President Shido, who wrote the scripts that you attached to your proposal?"
Scripts, meaning the episode screenplays.
Yuta knew that Starfall was at a disadvantage on paper, so he had attached the first three episode scripts to give himself a better shot at securing investment.
In hindsight, it seemed like those scripts were a major reason Aoi had taken an interest in his proposal.
His mind turned quickly, and he answered, "I wrote them myself."
"You wrote them yourself?"
"Yes."
"But I was under the impression that you came up through the production assistant track..."
"You have heard of me, Miss Fuji?"
"I did some research beforehand."
"I did come up as a production assistant, but that does not mean I cannot write scripts. In fact, I am also a key animator. When the time comes, I plan to handle both the character designs and the scripts myself."
Character designs referred to the model sheets for the characters, essentially the visual templates. Since no single person could produce an entire anime alone, each episode typically involved multiple key animators. A unified character template was essential.
Without one, a character might look one way in one frame and completely different in the next, making it impossible to produce a coherent anime.
Yuta wanted to stay as faithful to Clannad as possible. Background settings and similar elements could be delegated to others, but the scripts and character designs were two areas he absolutely needed to handle personally.
It was a shame he had never worked as a director and did not have enough time.
Otherwise, he would have taken on the director's role as well to push the faithfulness even higher.
Aoi had not expected Yuta to be so versatile.
She felt a flicker of doubt, but that was all. She did not press him to prove it.
After a moment of thought, she said, "President Shido, your proposal truly does carry potential. However, what Kaito said earlier was not entirely wrong."
"With Starfall's current capabilities, producing this anime well enough to achieve sales above ten thousand is an enormously difficult task. So I have a suggestion, and I would like to know whether you can accept it."
"What is it?" Yuta asked immediately.
"I would like to have a more capable studio handle the production of this anime."
Aoi continued, "Of course, you would remain the producer, and you would personally handle the scripts. As for character designs, if you are able, those would be yours as well. If not, we would assign someone else. Starfall would still be involved in the production, but in the capacity of a support studio. How does that sound to you?"
"I..." Yuta nearly let a curse word slip out.
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