Chiba City, Business Building.
Sato arrived at the floor where Nohara Hiroshi worked at Futaba Shoji. After giving him a call, he waited outside.
"Sato!"
Before long, Nohara Hiroshi came out of the office looking a bit dazed, with a somewhat simple-looking young man following behind him.
When he reached Sato, Hiroshi suddenly placed both hands on his shoulders and stared at him with bright, intense eyes.
"You're that Miyabi?"
The young man behind him also looked at Sato with curiosity.
Sato was briefly puzzled, then smiled and nodded. They probably found it hard to believe.
"Amazing!"
Kawaguchi stared at Sato in shock after hearing his confirmation. That terrifying middle school light novel author was actually Nohara-senpai's younger brother!
"It's nothing that big of a deal. This is what Dad asked me to bring you."
Sato handed over the items he was carrying, then said, "Want to go upstairs and take a look?"
Hiroshi and Kawaguchi both clicked their tongues. Nothing big of a deal? They had just spent quite a while looking up Sato's achievements. That was the peak of an entire field!
"Of course we're going!"
Coming back to his senses, Hiroshi replied decisively.
A serious look flashed in his eyes. "Sato, even though you've achieved a lot in the light novel field, the business world is full of schemes. It's another battlefield altogether!"
Sato looked at him with a strange expression. Sometimes he really didn't know how to respond to his older brother's sudden seriousness.
"Wait for me, I'll go put this away!"
Hiroshi said, then dashed back into the office, leaving Kawaguchi standing awkwardly in front of Sato.
Under Sato's gaze, Kawaguchi inexplicably began to feel nervous. Even though the boy in front of him was just a high school student, thinking about his terrifying achievements in another field made him feel like he was at a disadvantage.
He forced a smile and introduced himself. "Hello, I'm a newcomer under Nohara-senpai. My name is Kawaguchi Motoji."
Kawaguchi Motoji…
Sato paused for a moment, his expression turning subtle.
That was quite a name. After all, "Motoji" was… a pretty interesting word.
"Hello, I'm Nohara Sato."
"Sato, let's go upstairs together."
Hiroshi quickly returned after putting his things away, speaking with some impatience.
"Senpai, can I come along too?"
"Huh?"
Hiroshi froze, then instinctively looked at Sato.
Sato smiled and nodded. "It's not a big deal. If you want to come, feel free."
…
Chiba Business Building, Eastern Gensokyo Co., Ltd.
On the glass exterior wall, a massive cherry blossom tree was painted. Blossoms filled the air like a dream.
The stylized characters for "Eastern Gensokyo" were placed beneath the tree.
"Our company mainly operates online services. Our business focuses on light novels and ACGN forums, and in the future we'll expand into manga, anime, video, illustrations, and other ACGN fields."
"The company was formed by merging the website I created with a doujin circle founded by Kosaka Akane-sensei. Before the merger, both were among the top in their respective fields, so although the company is newly established, its influence and strength in the ACGN field are already quite solid."
Sato gave a brief explanation to Hiroshi and Kawaguchi as they walked.
Listening to Sato speak so fluently, Hiroshi felt dazed, and suddenly began to doubt himself. Did he really understand more than Sato?
"Miyabi-sensei, you're finally here!"
As soon as Sato entered the company, Kosaka Akane, who had been waiting, stood up and greeted him.
Then she noticed Hiroshi and Kawaguchi behind him and paused slightly.
Sato introduced them. "This is my older brother and his colleague. Their company is just downstairs."
"This is Kosaka Akane-sensei, my partner."
"Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you."
After exchanging business cards, Kosaka Akane looked at Sato with a smile. "Miyabi-sensei, the project plan is ready. Would you like to take a look?"
"I'll leave that to you, Kosaka-sensei. But now that the paid model for light novels is about to launch, how are the follow-up preparations going?"
"The preparations for the manga section are already underway. We've contacted quite a few underperforming but talented manga artists and doujin creators, and we're also preparing several decent-quality works ourselves."
"These should help inject some vitality once the manga section goes live."
Watching the two converse so confidently, Kawaguchi shrank behind Hiroshi and whispered, "Senpai, it doesn't seem like there's anything you need to do here."
"Shut up!"
Hiroshi glared at him, slightly embarrassed.
Of course he could see that he didn't need to do anything. Just from Sato's calm demeanor, it was clear he had everything under control.
Thinking back, if Sato had been able to create such a website on his own before, then he must already have had the courage and ability.
Looks like he really doesn't need me…
Hiroshi sighed inwardly, feeling both a bit sentimental and somewhat relieved. It felt like the younger brother he had always thought of as small had finally grown up.
"Sato!"
He suddenly called out.
"Hm?"
Sato turned around, looking at him with confusion. Kosaka Akane also watched with interest.
"I won't disturb you any longer. I'll head back down."
Why so sudden?
Sato instinctively said, "Won't you at least have a drink before leaving?"
Hiroshi smiled. "No need. Focus on your work. Kawaguchi, let's go!"
He turned and patted Kawaguchi on the shoulder.
Kawaguchi was still looking around at the office girls. Hearing this, he said in surprise, "Eh? We're leaving already, senpai?"
"Stop dawdling, let's go!"
Hiroshi hooked an arm around Kawaguchi's neck and dragged him away.
Kosaka Akane parted her lips slightly, a faint glimmer in her eyes as she said, "You have a good brother."
Sato watched Hiroshi's departing figure, then suddenly smiled.
"Yeah…"