Inside a luxurious villa.
Yuta said nervously to Seira Kurenai, "Miss Seira, this place is absolutely safe, right?"
"Of course. This is where I live. No outsider can get in here easily," Seira said with a smile.
Yuta finally relaxed.
Things had gotten way more out of hand than he had expected. He had originally figured that as long as he stayed home, the fans would never find him. What he had not anticipated was someone actually hiring a private investigator to track him down.
Completely uncivilized.
The PI had only needed two or three days to locate his address.
Fortunately, Yuta's survival instincts were strong. The moment things felt wrong, he packed his bags and ran.
At first he considered checking into a hotel for a few days, but quickly realized that would not be safe enough either. So he asked Aoi for help, and she brought him to Seira Kurenai, the bartender from the unmarked underground bar.
Even though Aoi had once mentioned "if it's just about money, I can borrow from Seira and her friends," Yuta had not imagined this woman was wealthy enough to live in a villa like this.
This might be an even thicker golden thigh than Aoi's. Too bad the woman probably had zero interest in anime, so there was no opportunity for him to latch on.
Come to think of it, someone this rich running an obscure underground bar and working as a bartender had to be the very definition of having too much free time.
"Shido."
Seira suddenly said, "Please take good care of me over the next few days."
"Likewise." Yuta replied.
"And Aoi too. Please make yourself at home." Seira smiled at Aoi.
Aoi was not one for pleasantries. She just gave a small nod and a quiet "Mm."
"Um..."
Yuta could not help asking, "Aoi, are you staying here too?"
"Obviously. Leaving you alone with Seira would be way too dangerous for her," Aoi said with complete seriousness.
Yuta: ...
What did she mean, too dangerous for Seira?
With his looks, should he not be the one in danger?'
Yuta grumbled silently to himself.
Seira grinned playfully. "Aoi is worried you might fall for someone else. Though personally, I think she's overthinking it."
"Don't be ridiculous! I'm not worried about anything!" Aoi denied it instantly.
Seira chuckled and dropped the teasing.
Yuta naturally did not take it seriously. He just said to Aoi, "Since Aoi is staying too, please take care of me during this time."
...
For the moment, at least, he did not have to worry about being found.
But this could not go on forever.
He needed to calm the audience down. If episode twenty-one's ratings dropped, or worse, if Radiant Warriors managed to overtake them, that would be a disaster.
Changing the script was out of the question.
Episode twenty-one was already well into production. It had not reached the V-edit stage that marked final completion, but with only days until broadcast, there was absolutely no way to rewrite anything now.
And even with unlimited time, he would not change it.
The core issue was the same as before. In the other world, Clannad had a game as its source material. By the time the anime aired, plenty of people already knew the ending, so the audience reaction was far more contained.
This world's Clannad had no game. Nobody outside the production and distribution teams knew what was coming. The anime was massively popular in its niche, and both Nagisa and Ushio had enormous fanbases. When bad things happened to them suddenly, emotions naturally exploded, which was why people were literally hunting him down.
To calm things down, he needed another carefully measured spoiler.
With that in mind, he opened his laptop, went to social media, and posted a message.
"Being on a nationwide most-wanted list is exhausting. All I want to do is make good anime... but never mind that. I have some wonderful news to share today. Nagisa is finally coming back."
Below the message, Yuta attached an illustration. It was a single cut from episode twenty-two: under bright sunlight, the male lead stood on one side holding a bag, the female lead on the other holding a parasol, and their daughter Ushio stood between them with a backpack on, her right hand raised in a wave.
Episode twenty-one had not aired yet, but episode twenty-two was being produced simultaneously. You could not wait for twenty-one to finish before starting twenty-two, or there would never be enough time.
His post did not specify which episode Nagisa would return in. It just said she was "finally coming back." Without knowing the details, most viewers would assume it was happening in episode twenty-one. That would protect twenty-one's ratings.
As for what would happen when episode twenty-one actually aired and people discovered Nagisa had not come back at all, and that Ushio instead...
Well, that was not Yuta's problem. People were free to draw their own conclusions. His social media account was verified and had a significant following, so after he posted the message, many people received the notification almost instantly.
Within a minute, comments flooded in.
"What?! Nagisa is coming back?!"
"Wasn't episode twenty-one supposed to be devastating?"
"I'm crying again. We finally get to see the whole family of three together."
"Turns out we were wrong about President Shido."
"I knew it! There's no way President Shido would ignore our feelings. Those people who wanted to kidnap him and force him to change the script, I am firmly against that."
"Anyone want to join me in forming a protection squad for President Shido?"
"Protect President Shido! We can't let those people interfere with his work!"
"Can't wait for episode twenty-one."
...
The reaction was exactly what Yuta had expected.
He skimmed through the comments, decided things were stable for now, and closed his laptop. Then he called production manager Raiga Todo on his phone to check on progress.
Todo first asked about Yuta's safety. Once he learned that the president had relocated somewhere secure, he said, "Production is on schedule. Episode twenty-one will air without any issues."
"Good."
Yuta continued, "I just posted something online to calm everyone down, but it's still not safe for me to show my face. Keep an eye on things at the office for me. Call me immediately if anything comes up."
"Understood," Todo replied.
Yuta gave a few more instructions, and once he had covered everything, he hung up.
After that, he settled into the room Seira had prepared for him and quietly got back to work.
_______________________
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