April 27th.
That morning, Yuta deliberately put on the most nondescript outfit he owned, the kind that would never draw a second glance, then tucked a wrench into his pocket and drove to Starfall.
He had barely parked in front of the building when several young men came charging over.
One of them tapped lightly on his car window.
Yuta did not roll down the window. He just opened the door and stepped out, then asked, "Who are you guys? Can I help you with something?"
"Is that him?"
"Is that Shido?"
"I don't think so. That bastard isn't this good-looking, and the hair is completely different."
"Dressed that plain and driving a beater like that? Probably not him."
The young men whispered among themselves.
Yuta was slightly nervous inside, but he kept a straight face. "If there's nothing else, could you let me through? I'm going to be late for work."
They exchanged glances and eventually parted to let him pass.
Yuta walked through the gap and headed upstairs.
Normally Starfall's front door was wide open, since outsiders never showed up and there was nothing to guard against.
Today the door was locked tight. You needed to swipe your badge to get in.
Yuta badged himself in, made sure the door closed behind him, and finally breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
Inside, people were buzzing with chatter.
"It's terrifying out there. Walking around, I kept feeling like everyone was staring at me with murderous intent."
"I got here early and the phone was already ringing. It didn't stop for a solid thirty minutes straight. I finally just unplugged the cord."
"I think our server crashed. Did we get hacked?"
"There's a bunch of people downstairs. They're here specifically looking for the president."
"Making anime really is a high-risk profession."
"I bet we're going to get dozens of boxes of razor blades this week."
"I used to brag to everyone that our company made this anime. Now I'm too scared to even mention it."
...
When Yuta walked in, everyone greeted him.
Someone asked with genuine concern, "President, are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Yuta said, then pulled the wrench out of his pocket.
Everyone stared.
The man was actually carrying a wrench. What a legend.
Although, was that not kind of dangerous? What if he accidentally killed someone with it?
Yuta could more or less guess what they were thinking.
After a moment, he explained. "Having a wrench on me is just a safety precaution. If I actually run into trouble, I'll only wave it around to scare people off. I'm not going to hit anyone with it. Don't worry."
Actually using it on someone was obviously out of the question. But as a deterrent, it would probably be pretty effective. Besides, having it was better than not having it. At the very least, it gave him some peace of mind.
After the explanation, regardless of what anyone was thinking, Yuta headed straight into his office, set the wrench on his desk, and started working.
A little past ten, a phone call came in.
It was Natsuki Takase from Anime Weekly, requesting an interview.
Back when Clannad season one's first episode had aired and the internet had lost its mind over Yuta wearing so many hats at once, Natsuki had interviewed him once before. But that time, the interview had been partly driven by Anime Weekly's own interest and partly because Arcane needed it for promotional purposes.
In other words, Arcane had arranged that one.
This time, Aoi had not given him any heads-up, which meant Anime Weekly had come on their own initiative.
If it had been some other publication, Yuta probably would have declined.
But Anime Weekly carried real influence in this world's Japan, and they were still a partner of Arcane's. It would be awkward to refuse.
Of course, no showing his face. That was a standing rule.
That afternoon, Natsuki arrived at Starfall with her cameraman at the scheduled time.
After some pleasantries, Natsuki said, "President Shido, I think I finally understand why you refused to show your face in our last interview."
"Oh?"
Yuta looked genuinely confused.
Natsuki was about to share her theory when she noticed the wrench sitting on his desk. She changed course. "President Shido, that wrench is...?"
"We anime creators are in a high-risk profession. As a scriptwriter, director, and president of Starfall, carrying a wrench on me is perfectly normal. Nothing strange about it," Yuta said with complete composure.
Natsuki: "..."
'Making anime is a high-risk profession? Since when? Carrying a wrench is perfectly normal? It is absolutely not normal.'
'Do you have a fundamentally different understanding of the word "normal"?'
Natsuki was screaming inside, but outwardly she just said, "You clearly take risk management very seriously, President Shido."
"Naturally." Yuta nodded as if this were the most obvious thing in the world.
Natsuki let out a polite laugh and changed the subject. "A lot of people online are calling you the devil right now. How do you feel about that?"
"I completely disagree. I haven't done anything wrong. How did I end up being called the devil?" Yuta looked genuinely hurt.
"But in the latest episode of Clannad season two, the female lead Nagisa died," Natsuki pointed out.
Yuta sighed deeply. "What happened to the female lead makes me very sad too. Very upset. To be honest, I didn't sleep at all last night..."
"Really? Because you seem to be in pretty good shape," Natsuki observed.
"That's just how it looks on the surface. Internally, I'm a mess. But even if I'm struggling, I have to push through. No matter what, I'm still the president of Starfall, the director and scriptwriter of Clannad. If I collapse, the female lead will never be able to come back," Yuta said with absolute seriousness.
Natsuki's eyes lit up. "Are you saying the female lead can come back to life?"
"Yes. The anime has the Light Orb system. Collecting Light Orbs can grant wishes, so she can definitely be brought back in the end. But right now everyone is cursing me out, and the pressure is honestly enormous. I just hope I don't break down before the female lead gets her revival." Yuta sighed again.
Strictly speaking, this was already a spoiler. But a small spoiler was necessary.
And even if he had not said it, someone would have figured it out eventually. The anime had repeatedly mentioned that Light Orbs could grant wishes.
In the other world, Clannad had a visual novel as its source material, so when season two episode sixteen aired, there had not been nearly this much outrage.
Even viewers who had not played the game would have had plenty of helpful fans explaining what was coming next, which kept things from spiraling out of control.
This world had no Clannad game. To calm the audience down, Yuta had to do the spoiling himself.
It was also his way of telling the fans: please stop yelling at me, or the female lead really will not make it back.
Surely people could understand his predicament.
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