After bidding temporary farewell to Oda, they wandered around for a while longer. In the end, Akira couldn't resist and bought some merchandise.
Of course, Rin bought some as well.
What he mainly bought were some limited-edition goods from 『JumpFesta』.
It must be said that the word "limited" is truly quite tempting.
Especially since these little "limited-edition trinkets" were easily affordable given his current financial situation, it was hard to resist buying a few.
Well, let's just consider it a souvenir for attending this event.
He consoled himself this way.
Meanwhile, after Eiichiro Oda, Akira and the others didn't run into anyone else they knew during the rest of their visit.
After all, in such a large venue with so many visitors, it was already quite a coincidence that they had met Eiichiro Oda.
As time passed, almost all the visitors had successfully entered the venue, and the congestion inside reached its peak.
With 80,000 people gathered inside, the heat naturally radiating from them even made it feel a bit sweltering.
Furthermore, when noon arrived, the situation in the dining area was even more frightening.
Although many people chose to bring their own food, there were still long lines in front of every restaurant, and the dining area was packed solid; not only were the seats all taken, but the open spaces were also crowded with people.
"Tsk, is it really that exaggerated?"
Seeing this, Akira couldn't help but click his tongue, decisively choosing to take Rin out of the venue through a side door to eat at a restaurant in the area outside the International Exhibition Center.
As for his three assistants, they would just have to fend for themselves.
Stepping out of the exhibition hall, a gust of cold wind hit him in the face, causing Akira to shiver and instantly feel much more alert.
Then, Akira sighed, "I didn't expect walking around an exhibition to be so tiring."
He wasn't just referring to physical exhaustion, but also mental fatigue.
For Akira, this fatigue came more from absorbing too much chaotic information in a short period, leaving his brain feeling like it couldn't quite process it all.
"Indeed."
Rin nodded in agreement, but then smiled and said, "This is my first time attending an event like this, and it feels really interesting."
It wasn't just that the official content was interesting enough; the thought that the visitors around her all shared the same hobbies, and that the topics being discussed were almost all things she was familiar with, made it feel quite magical.
Or rather, the fact that 80,000 people with the same interests could be gathered together was already incredible in itself.
Returning to the exhibition itself, they had spent the morning browsing most of the original art exhibitions for the manga they were interested in and had bought quite a bit of merchandise. What remained were the game demo area and the main stage programs.
However, neither he nor Rin were very interested in the game demos.
Rin didn't know much about games and had no desire to try them, while he simply felt that the quality of manga-adapted games these days was rather average and not very fun.
Even in the future, there weren't many high-quality manga-adapted games; most were just ways to cash in on fans.
Moreover, the game demo area was a super popular zone; for every game, you basically had to wait at least an hour, then you'd only get ten minutes of playtime, which felt like a bit of a waste of time.
As for the main stage programs, the only ones they were really interested in were those related to One Piece.
Mostly because Rin was interested in the conversation between him and Oda.
So, after finishing lunch, they didn't return to the exhibition immediately, but instead took a moment to rest and wandered around a nearby shopping mall for a while to recharge.
When there was a little over half an hour left before the One Piece program began, they leisurely returned to the International Exhibition Center and made their way to the backstage area of the main stage.
The backstage area was quite lively at this moment.
Besides the staff, Akira spotted Eiichiro Oda at a glance.
He was currently chatting with three people, and Akira found those three somewhat familiar.
However, before he could confirm, the figures of some acquaintances suddenly appeared in his field of vision walking toward him, immediately capturing his attention—
"Mr. Sasaki, why are you here?"
Looking at Hisashi walking up to him, Akira was a bit surprised.
"I came to find you."
Regarding this, Hisashi smiled helplessly, "I originally planned to call you, but the signal inside the venue is too poor; I couldn't get through at all."
"Then, I thought you might come to watch the One Piece program, so I tried my luck."
As it turned out, his luck was indeed good.
He met Eiichiro Oda here and learned from him that Akira would indeed be visiting, so he simply decided to wait here.
"I see."
Akira realized upon hearing this.
However, he still didn't know why Hisashi was looking for him, but he didn't rush to ask. Instead, he cast his gaze toward the woman and the little girl beside Hisashi.
If nothing went wrong, these two must be his wife and daughter.
Hisashi's wife had a gentle temperament, giving off a "Yamato Nadeshiko" vibe, and his daughter was very cute and didn't seem shy at all.
At this moment, she was holding her mother's hand, observing them with curious, wide eyes.
Sure enough, noticing his gaze, Hisashi smiled and introduced them to each other, "This is my wife, Sasaki Oriko, and my daughter, Sasaki Ayano."
"This is the Manga Artist Akira that I am currently responsible for, and this is—"
"—Sister Shimizu!"
Before Hisashi could finish his sentence, little Ayano called out Rin's name first, her eyes and tone full of excitement.
Just as Hisashi had mentioned before, his daughter was indeed a fan of Rin.
However, this excited shout startled a few staff members nearby, who all turned their attention toward them.
Noticing their gazes, the Sasaki couple immediately felt embarrassed; they didn't have time to scold Ayano and quickly apologized to the staff.
On the other side, Rin crouched down halfway and greeted little Ayano with a smile, "Hello, little Ayano, it's nice to meet you."
"How old are you this year?"
"I'm 8 years old this year—!"
Seeing both parties interacting harmoniously, and with no room to scold her for the moment, the Sasaki couple looked at their daughter with a mixture of helplessness and doting, then cast an apologetic look toward Akira.
Then, Sasaki Oriko lowered her head and said, "I am so sorry, we've caused you trouble."
"Please don't say that."
Rin gently stroked Ayano's little head and smiled, "Little Ayano is a very cute child."
"However, it would be even better if you could be careful not to shout in this kind of setting."
"I know—I'm sorry—"
Little Ayano was very receptive to Rin's words; hearing her say that, she apologized obediently and embarrassedly, looking as if she had been completely won over.
Seeing this, Akira and the Sasaki couple exchanged a smile, and then he gave a thumbs up to Rin on the sly.
So, little Ayano was left in the care of Sasaki Oriko and Rin for the time being, while Akira and Hisashi went to the other side to start discussing business.
At this moment, Akira asked with some curiosity, "Mr. Sasaki, what is the matter that you contacted me about this time?"