Morishita Aoi guided Lin Ye, who had come to visit, into the company conference room. After giving a polite slight bow, she withdrew from the room.
"Please wait here for a moment. The president will arrive shortly."
The calm and composed female voice pulled Lin Ye out of his tangled thoughts. Nervously looking at the short-haired office beauty before him, he replied in clumsy Japanese accented with Mandarin:
"Alright, thank you very much."
Even though Lin Ye had already met many outstanding women, he still could not help feeling nervous in front of Morishita Aoi.
Click!
The conference room's glass door closed.
After finding a seat, Lin Ye sat there in a daze, thinking about the purpose of his trip to Japan to visit Yosuganosora Animation Studio.
Would the negotiation succeed?
And if it did, what should he do afterward?
This year, he had just graduated from university. He rejected the manager position at his father's real estate company and devoted himself entirely to his interests.
Now he was the leader of a subtitle group as well as the person in charge of its official video website. He barely managed to support himself through advertising revenue from the site.
But only barely.
An opportunity most people could only dream of did not even count as a proper beginning in the eyes of a rich second-generation heir like him.
The website had become stagnant.
He could not find any way to create even the slightest ripple.
In search of a breakthrough, he launched a crowdfunding project on his subtitle group's official website. Combined with years of accumulated allowance savings, he had barely gathered one million RMB.
He wanted to use that one million to purchase the exclusive Chinese streaming rights for 'RWBY.'
It was a stupid idea.
In China, one could freely upload and rebroadcast 'RWBY' without spending a single cent. Was it really worth paying one million yuan just for the title of being the exclusive legitimate distributor?
The plan was truly stupid.
Would a film with 'RWBY's box office success care about a mere one million RMB?
Would they casually sell the exclusive Chinese streaming rights for only that amount?
Any creator who valued their work—or any remotely shrewd businessman—would refuse.
If they were going to sell it that cheaply, they might as well keep the rights indefinitely.
Just as his real estate developer father often said:
"If a house can't be sold, then leave it there. Let it rot. Even demolishing it is better than selling it cheaply."
Deep down, Lin Ye merely hoped for a miracle like winning the lottery.
If that still failed, he would settle for purchasing ordinary legal streaming rights instead.
Being the only legitimate 'RWBY' streaming website in China would still have considerable advertising value no matter what. It should attract more traffic to his subtitle group's video platform.
...
Click.
The moment the conference room door opened, Lin Ye reflexively stood up.
Then he saw a young man around his own age walk in.
His appearance could not really be called handsome. He belonged to the type nobody would notice while walking down the street.
Yet despite being much more conventionally handsome, Lin Ye felt at first glance that he somehow could not compare to this man.
The difference did not lie in appearance, but in a kind of bearing that could not be clearly described with words.
The difference between a naïve newcomer fresh out of school and a seasoned veteran of society was obvious at a glance.
Having done extensive research beforehand, Lin Ye instantly recognized this seemingly ordinary young man as the animation director praised by the media worldwide.
The chief director of 'RWBY' and 'Magical Girl Nanoha.'
The true person in charge of Yosuganosora Animation Studio.
Taking a deep breath to calm his nervousness, Lin Ye stepped forward and respectfully greeted him in awkward Japanese tinged with a Chinese accent:
"Mr. Kamiyā Yuu, hello. I am Lin Ye from China. I came here today to discuss the legitimate streaming rights for 'RWBY' in China."
Kamiyā Yuu looked at the young man before him in surprise.
He had assumed a company representative would come, not someone so young.
Naturally, the proposed cooperation also interested him greatly.
In his previous world, Kamiyā Yuu had been Chinese. In this world, he was a Japanese-Chinese citizen. He often browsed modern Chinese websites and discovered that China's internet environment resembled that around the year 2012 from his previous world.
To be honest, he would gladly allow 'RWBY' to be watched for free in China legally.
A large reason he created animation in the first place was exactly this—not merely to create works for Japanese audiences, but to share what anime had brought him with the Chinese people of this world.
"You already know my name. Sit down first."
After shaking hands, Kamiyā Yuu smiled and gestured toward the seats.
The fluent Mandarin he spoke instantly left Lin Ye utterly dumbfounded.
—Holy crap! What the hell!?
After sitting down beside him, Lin Ye looked at Kamiyā Yuu in astonishment and praised:
"Mr. Kamiyā, can you speak Chinese too? And so fluently and authentically at that. If you spoke Mandarin in China, nobody would guess you came from Japan."
Kamiyā Yuu smiled and explained:
"I'm originally Japanese-Chinese. Hearing my native language again after so long also makes me very happy."
Lin Ye felt as though he had just heard something incredible.
That world-famous animation director was actually Japanese-Chinese!?
A subtle sense of excitement and pride arose within him.
Although Kamiyā Yuu was not technically Chinese in nationality, the fact that he carried Chinese blood was undeniable.
Kamiyā Yuu had never hidden the fact that he was Japanese-Chinese. The staff of Yosuganosora Animation Studio all knew it, and Japanese media frequently highlighted this identity when introducing him.
Given China's international status in this world, Kamiyā Yuu's identity as Japanese-Chinese had not faced discrimination at all. Instead, it was praised and became an important selling point that boosted his popularity.
After chatting casually for a while, Lin Ye began explaining the purpose of his visit.
Now that he knew Kamiyā Yuu was Japanese-Chinese, he felt even more hopeful about obtaining the exclusive Chinese streaming rights for 'RWBY.'
"Could you let me take a look at your video website, Mr. Lin Ye?" After hearing Lin Ye's offer of one million yuan for the exclusive rights, Kamiyā Yuu did not rush to respond and instead made a request.
Lin Ye's face lit up with joy.
"Of course!"
He hurriedly pulled a black laptop from his shoulder bag. After opening it, he entered the website address and pressed Enter.
The displayed website looked rather crude overall. Aside from decent categorization, there were not many highlights.
"So far, the daily IP traffic can reach one hundred thousand visits, with over a thousand regular users. Although it can't compare to major video streaming websites, it's still a large gathering place for China's current ACG community. Many fans who like 'RWBY' discuss it there."
After handing the laptop to Kamiyā Yuu, Lin Ye explained nervously.
Watching Kamiyā Yuu skillfully operate the computer and browse various pages and data, he froze.
—My god, Director Kamiyā is also some kind of computer engineer!?
After a long while, Kamiyā Yuu returned the laptop to him and sank into thought again.
The quiet conference room became oppressively silent, making Lin Ye feel unable to breathe.
"Hm."
After finishing his consideration, Kamiyā Yuu raised his head to look at Lin Ye and spoke words shocking enough to stun anyone:
"I can grant you the exclusive streaming rights for the 'RWBY' animated film free of charge."
"At the same time, I also have a cooperation proposal that I believe Mr. Lin Ye will be very interested in."