What Hisashi wanted to discuss with Akira was about the return trip in the afternoon, wanting to confirm how long they planned to stay and where to meet up so it would be convenient to pick them up.
Akira glanced at Sasaki Oriko and little Ayano beside him, and smiled, "Actually, we can head back on our own."
"In fact, we should be ready to leave after watching the talk show in a bit."
Once the show was over, it would still be quite early before the afternoon closing time, so there was no need to worry about the crowds. Taking the subway or calling a cab would both be quite convenient.
So if possible, he didn't want to trouble him.
However, Hisashi smiled upon hearing this, "That's perfect. Actually, we've also had about enough fun here."
Then, he sighed, "I didn't expect that attending this kind of event would be so exhausting."
"Indeed."
Akira nodded in agreement, feeling the same way.
Since that was the case, Hisashi planned to take his wife and daughter home first, and then come back to pick them up; the timing should work out just right.
Seeing that it was hard to decline Hisashi's kindness, Akira could only accept with gratitude.
"Then I'll have to trouble you."
"It's a small matter."
With that, Hisashi prepared to leave with his wife and daughter.
Among them, little Ayano seemed quite reluctant to leave, turning back with every step and waving goodbye to Rin repeatedly, which made everyone smile.
Seeing this, Akira teased with a smile, "Shimizu-san's charm is indeed very powerful."
"What are you talking about?"
Rin rolled her eyes at him, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
She actually hoped to get such a compliment from Akira, but not in this context.
"Mochizuki-kun, you're here!"
At this moment, Eiichiro Oda also walked over.
He had actually noticed Akira and Rin long ago, but he only dared to come over and strike up a conversation after Hisashi had left.
Then, he asked with concern, "Did Mr. Sasaki want something from you?"
"Nothing, just discussing the return trip."
While answering, looking at Eiichiro Oda's reaction, Akira found it a bit amusing, "Mr. Sasaki isn't some evil villain, there's no need to be so afraid of him, right?"
"Well..."
Eiichiro Oda scratched his head awkwardly, "That's true, but when he came over to talk to me earlier, it really gave me a fright."
"Oh right, I want to introduce a few people to you."
Saying this, Eiichiro Oda led him and Rin over to the three people he had been chatting with, and began introducing them with a smile.
"These are the voice actors voicing the anime adaptation of One Piece: Tanaka Mayumi-sensei, the voice of Luffy; Nakai Kazuya-sensei, the voice of Zoro; and Okamura Akemi-sensei, the voice of Nami."
They were actually the voice actors?
Hearing the introduction, Rin sized up the three of them with surprise and curiosity, as this was her first time meeting professional voice actors in real life.
Among the three, Tanaka Mayumi was currently the most famous voice actor. Before voicing Luffy, she had already voiced many well-known characters, such as Krillin in Dragon Ball, Pazu in castle in the sky, and Liu Mao Xing in cooking master boy, among others.
Nami's voice actress, Okamura Akemi, was much less famous, but she had previously voiced Fio Piccolo in Porco Rosso.
As for Zoro's voice actor, Nakai Kazuya, he had the least experience among the three, having voiced absolutely no well-known characters before Zoro, making him almost like a rookie voice actor.
Akira also found the three voice actors before him quite novel, though he was slightly calmer than Rin.
This was because in many official One Piece events in the future, these voice actors would often appear as guests, so Akira was quite familiar with them.
Thus, even before Oda introduced them, Akira had already recognized them.
Their appearance here this time was obviously as guest speakers for this One Piece program.
And the reason it was just the three of them was that they were the only main characters who had appeared in the One Piece anime so far.
"This gentleman here is Akira-sensei, who, like me, serializes his manga in Shonen Jump. He is an incredibly amazing genius manga artist!"
Meanwhile, hearing Eiichiro Oda's introduction of Akira, the three voice actors were somewhat surprised.
Not all three of them liked to read manga in their private lives.
For instance, Nakai Kazuya was a normie in his private life, paying more attention to cars, music, and the outdoors.
So even though Oda introduced him, he didn't know much about Akira's situation.
As for Tanaka Mayumi, she had heard of Akira's existence, but she wasn't very clear about his works either.
Only Okamura Akemi was an anime and manga enthusiast herself, and she read Weekly Shonen Jump every week.
Therefore, upon realizing that the person before her was Akira, she was the most excited one, fully understanding Eiichiro Oda's high praise of him.
After all, he was indeed a rare super genius in the history of Shonen Jump!
However, what surprised all three of them was that Eiichiro Oda's evaluation of this Manga Artist, who was even younger than himself, would be so high.
In fact, even Akira himself was somewhat surprised, and then said helplessly, "I say, Oda-kun, isn't that a bit of an exaggeration?"
"Is it?"
Eiichiro Oda laughed instead, "I think Mochizuki-kun is just being too modest."
He could not only draw manga but also write light novels, compose songs, and all his creations were exceptionally outstanding, achieving remarkable success in every field.
If someone like him couldn't be called a genius, then there probably weren't many people in the world who could be.
Hearing this, Akira shook his head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, and said no more.
On the other hand, hearing the way they addressed each other, the three voice actors were surprised once again.
"Oda-kun?"
Were they actually on such good terms?
In any case, seeing that Akira didn't argue further, Eiichiro Oda smiled and continued to introduce Rin, "And this is Miss Rin, the lead vocalist of the currently super-popular music group 『Tsukirin』."
"It's a pleasure to meet you all."
Rin bowed politely, and the three of them responded in kind.
But this time, the one with the biggest reaction was Nakai Kazuya.
It really was *that* Rin?!
As a music lover, Nakai Kazuya naturally recognized this rapidly rising superstar, but he just never expected to meet her in person in a place like this.
...Wait, Akira?!
Then, he quickly realized something and looked at Akira in disbelief, a bold guess surfacing in his mind: Could this Akira-sensei be the very same Akira from 『Tsukirin』?!
If that was true, it would be absolutely terrifying