Watching the three of them in that state, Tsushima Kagami stood up, grabbed a box of tissues from the side and handed them to Sayuri, then walked over to Machida Sonoko and poured her a cup of hot tea, and finally made his way to Kosaka Akane and began fanning her with a folding fan.
"Alright, President — don't be so angry."
"Didn't I already warn you all beforehand?"
"I told you not to get your hopes up, and yet here you are, lugging the disc all the way to the Manga Research Club to watch it."
"Honestly — you brought this on yourselves."
Kosaka Akane, still fuming, snatched the folding fan straight out of Tsushima Kagami's hand. She pulled her school uniform collar open, completely unconcerned with appearances, and started fanning herself vigorously down the front — as though that alone might coax her rage into something more manageable.
"I've heard plenty of stories about manga that suffered disastrous anime adaptations."
"But those were all mainstream TV anime."
"Sure, I knew adult OVA productions tended to be lower quality."
"But something this egregious — I've never seen anything like it in my life."
"Isn't this just desecrating Kagami's beautiful art style?"
"Exactly. I've only ever heard of disastrous adaptations causing psychological damage to authors and fans."
"Never heard of one causing physical harm to the audience before."
Sayuri, still clutching the wastebasket, looked over at Kosaka Akane with an expression of genuine suffering.
Machida Sonoko rubbed her temples and turned a pitying gaze on Tsushima Kagami.
"Well — anyway, Kagami. Condolences."
"I'll mention it to my uncle and see if we can avoid selling the IP to that studio again in the future."
"They paid almost nothing for it, and then they went and mangled the source material. Absolutely ruinous for the reputation."
"I'm fine, really — I already knew something like this was a possible outcome."
"If anything, you three had never been exposed to that kind of... cinematographic artistry before. The psychological and physical toll on you is probably far worse."
Kagami said it with a smile, directed at Machida Sonoko.
At that moment, Kosaka Akane — still seated — suddenly brought her fist down on the desk with another resounding bang, then stood up and looked straight at Tsushima Kagami.
"I've made up my mind!"
Kagami, Sayuri, and Machida Sonoko all looked at Kosaka Akane with curious expressions, asking in unison:
"Made up your mind about what?"
"Kagami — didn't you register Dassai-ya Cultural Inc. under your mother's name?"
"Were you already planning to keep as much of your copyright IP as possible under your own control and run it yourself?"
Sayuri and Machida Sonoko both turned to look at Tsushima Kagami at that.
Kagami gave a small nod.
"That's the plan, yes — keep as much of the copyright IP in-house as possible going forward."
"Then it's settled!"
"I'm going to apply for the Faculty of Business and Commerce at Keio University."
"Copyright management especially — that's the area I want to focus on."
"When I graduate, I'll come work at your company and handle all your IP rights for you!"
Tsushima Kagami blinked.
Isn't this supposed to be the kind of "copyright crusader" arc that only gets triggered after your own manga suffers a disastrous adaptation?
How did my one little OVA shake you so hard that you awakened to the cause of intellectual property rights?
Besides — your family has how many companies, and you want to come work at my little shell company of all places?
Kosaka Akane looked at him, still flushed with indignation.
"What — you don't want me?"
Then something seemed to occur to her, and she laughed.
"Oh, right — didn't Shizuku also say she wanted to apply to Keio's Faculty of Business and Commerce?"
"Don't worry — I'll strictly handle copyright management. I won't step on her toes."
"The overall running of the company is completely up to her, right?"
What do you mean 'up to her' — isn't this my company?
Well — technically, it's still Mother's company at the moment.
"That's not — look, right now it's just a paper company with nothing to it. You've got so many companies waiting for you to inherit back home, Senpai."
"Family businesses are family businesses."
"There's a completely different sense of satisfaction that comes from building something with your own hands, watching it grow from nothing."
"And everyone's seen what Kagami can do — it won't be long before he starts turning out one acclaimed work after another."
"When that happens, producers are going to start lining up to adapt things into live-action dramas and anime."
"Can you handle all of that on your own?"
"Eventually you'd have to find a professional manager anyway — so why not just hire me directly?"
Kosaka Akane took both of Tsushima Kagami's hands in hers, holding them firmly, her eyes sparkling with an almost KIRAKIRA intensity as she looked up at him.
"Since Senpai has gone this far in putting her case forward..."
"I really don't see a reason to say no, do I?"
Kagami smiled back at her.
The moment he agreed, Kosaka Akane released his hands, threw both arms above her head, and let out a jubilant cheer.
And at that, Machida Sonoko raised her hand from the side.
"Me too, me too, me too!"
"I could study law or something."
"Help you and Akane make sure every single clause in every copyright contract is airtight."
"After that, nobody will ever be able to swindle us out of our IP again!"
Tsushima Kagami looked at Machida Sonoko with genuine curiosity — this sudden declaration that she intended to pursue law was unexpected.
"Senpai, didn't you want to be a light novel author and an editor?"
"Ah, there's no conflict at all."
"Kagami, think about it — the company is already called Dassai-ya Cultural Inc."
"It would practically be a crime not to eventually found our own publishing imprint under it."
"And if you ever feel bad about it, you can always give me a concurrent title as Editor-in-Chief of the publishing division."
"Ahahahaha!"
Machida Sonoko was apparently already picturing the future: herself as Editor-in-Chief, seated in her own private office, receiving status reports from editors one by one.
"Then I'll go ahead and write you a rain check, Sonoko-senpai."
"But if it ever actually comes true, you'd better not start complaining about how exhausting it is~"
Tsushima Kagami looked at his future ragtag crew slowly taking shape, and felt a warm, quiet sense of satisfaction.
Of course it would be like this.
At home, you rely on family. Out in the world, you rely on your connections.
My senpai — my senpai are my Han Xin, my Bai Qi, my Zhou Yafu!
"Ah — if everyone's going to Kagami's company, then I want to go too."
"And this way, even after we graduate, we'd all still be working together, wouldn't we?"
"That's wonderful!"
Kosaka Akane and Machida Sonoko both turned to look at Sayuri — still clutching her wastebasket — and said, with matching smiles:
"Sayuri, you should probably think about which universities you actually have a realistic shot of getting into first."
"Honestly — you're deliberately leaving me out, Senpai!"
Sayuri set the wastebasket down, stood up, crossed her arms, and looked at Kosaka Akane and Machida Sonoko with undisguised displeasure.
"Kagami-kun — just say whether you want me or not!"
Sayuri tossed the question to Tsushima Kagami, and Kagami smiled.
"So — what would be your ideal role, Sayuri? Planning department? Sales department?"
"Hmm, neither of those really feels like me."
Sayuri fell into genuine contemplation, running through every department she could think of one by one, before finally grabbing her own hair in frustrated despair.
"They all sound like so much work."
"And I'm nowhere near as capable as the senpai — I couldn't manage that many people."
"Then we'll just have Kagami set you up a desk somewhere and you can be a professional paycheck thief," Machida Sonoko said, laughing.
Sayuri immediately objected.
"That would just make me a nepotism hire!"
"Sayuri, you're the one who keeps saying this won't work and that won't work — so what do you want?"
"At this rate, maybe you could be the cleaning lady and slack off all day."
Kosaka Akane joined in with a teasing grin.
"How terrible, Senpai — even at my worst, you can't make me the cleaning lady!"
Sayuri said it — then stopped. Her eyes went wide. They began to sparkle.
"I just thought of the perfect position!"
"I'll go work in the Tea and Hospitality Division — I'll bring you all coffee!"
____
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