In late July, the final exams ended.
Nearly all high schools with a two-semester system began a twenty-day summer vacation. Compared to the schools across asia, it might seem shorter, but high school students in Japan had weekends off, finished school earlier in the afternoon, and did not have morning or evening self-study sessions.
By comparison, high school students in China would probably be in tears, because not only did they have morning and evening study sessions, they also had to make up classes on weekends…
...
[Chiba Business Tower]
On-Call
"I still have some things to take care of, so I'll head back a few days later. Hikage, you go ahead first."
Standing at the entrance of the building, Sato looked up at the tower in front of him while holding his phone to his ear.
"Eh? No way!"
"It's summer vacation! Aren't you even motivated to go home during summer vacation?"
On the other end came the distressed voice of Miyauchi Hikage, who was studying in Tokyo.
Sato curled his lips into a faint smile. "You're the strange one, Hikage. Back when you graduated, weren't you longing for the big city, for Tokyo? Why are you so eager to go back as soon as there's a break?"
"I… it's summer vacation! Shouldn't people go home during summer vacation?"
Miyauchi Hikage sounded flustered.
"Come on. You're probably just bored being alone in Tokyo. Didn't you make some friends? Why not go out and have fun with them?"
Miyauchi Hikage sighed, as if giving up resistance, and said with a troubled expression, "You know how expensive Tokyo is. How could I possibly go out every day?"
"It's nothing like the countryside, where within ten miles there's only Kaede-nee's dagashi shop."
Out of the corner of his eye, Sato suddenly caught sight of a figure walking toward him.
"I've got something to do, I'll hang up first. Hikage, go back on your own."
"Huh? Wait, what?!"
"Beep—"
After he hung up, Kosaka Akane had already walked up to him. The woman smiled and said, "Miyabi-sensei, were you just talking to your girlfriend? Did I interrupt you?"
Sato rolled his eyes. "Crimson-sensei, you should worry about yourself. If I remember correctly, you and Editor Machida are both single women past the usual age, right?"
"Miyabi-sensei, haven't you heard not to bring up topics like that in front of women?"
Kosaka Akane narrowed her eyes slightly, a dangerous glint flashing within.
Sato smiled and pointed at the Chiba Business Tower ahead. "Let's go take a look first."
"Hmph!"
Seeing him change the subject, Kosaka Akane snorted.
The two entered Chiba Business Tower together. Soon, a middle-aged man in a black suit came forward to greet them. After scanning the two of them, a hint of confusion appeared in his eyes.
In the end, he looked at Kosaka Akane. "Are you the guest who made a reservation earlier?"
Kosaka Akane nodded calmly.
"Then please follow me!"
A look of delight appeared on the man's face as he invited them upstairs.
They took the elevator to the seventeenth floor. After stepping out, they could see, beyond the glass wall, an empty office space.
This was a floor in Chiba Business Tower that was up for lease.
And the purpose of Sato and Kosaka Akane coming here was to rent office space for [Gensokyo Beyond the Mortal World].
Both of them were decisive people. After confirming each other's intentions during their previous meeting, they had held several more discussions over the past few days and finally reached an agreement on cooperation.
Both [Gensokyo Beyond the Mortal World] and the [rouge en rouge] circle were entirely under their control, so once the two of them reached an agreement, there would be no resistance.
And this time… two entities that could each be considered giants in their respective fields, the doujin world and the ACGN forum space, would merge into a single company.
Among them, Sato would hold 51 percent of the shares, while Kosaka Akane would hold 49 percent.
At the same time, Kosaka Akane would take charge of the company's operations. As long as there were no major mistakes, Sato would only have the right to make suggestions, not to interfere.
Judging from the revenue of the two groups, [Gensokyo Beyond the World] was actually far inferior to [rouge en rouge]. In fact, its revenue was less than one-fifth of rouge en rouge's.
But Sato had learned from certain talks in his previous life how to paint a compelling vision.
At present, the transition between the 2G and 3G eras was underway. Using this, Sato had drawn for Kosaka Akane a grand blueprint.
The offline publishing industry was already saturated, making it difficult to enter, but the online space was still largely blank. Once the era led by smartphones and 3G fully arrived, it would become an immeasurable blue ocean.
Therefore, Gensokyo, which controlled massive online traffic, possessed an advantage that rouge en rouge could not match. As a doujin circle, rouge en rouge could not build a platform with such overwhelming traffic.
Kosaka Akane herself came from a well-off family. Her father had built considerable wealth in his early years, and the elite education she received from a young age gave her outstanding strategic vision.
Naturally, she understood the feasibility of what Sato was proposing.
So after two days of consideration, she quickly reached a cooperation agreement with him. Timing was everything. If they failed to position themselves before the opportunity arrived, it would be much harder to start later.
Moreover, the comprehensive platform Sato envisioned, centered on online content but supported by offline efforts, integrating light novels, manga, illustrations, music, videos, forums, and more, was indeed far more powerful than the doujin circle she currently controlled.
As for the shares, she did not care much. If she could gain control, all the better, but if not, she would not force it.
After all, she would eventually inherit her family's business. Her involvement in the ACGN field was more of a passion. What she truly enjoyed was the sense of achievement that came from growing stronger step by step.
And she did not have the same trump card as Sato.
With the immense traffic of Gensokyo, Sato only needed to build a solid framework and wait for the right moment to take off. rouge en rouge, however, did not have such overwhelming traffic.
They were merely a single content producer, while [Gensokyo Beyond the World] had thousands upon thousands of content creators.
Although rouge en rouge had an overwhelming advantage in quality, it fell far short in breadth.
At this moment, bringing a mature operations team to collaborate with Sato was like providing help in a snowstorm. If Sato had already built his own team, rouge en rouge might not even qualify as adding flowers to brocade.
(P.S. A dagashi shop is a small store that sells various cheap snacks.)
(P.S. Also recommending the anime Non Non Biyori for second time. It's really good, pure slice of life, no romance, countryside setting, all girls, Nyanpasu~)