Chapter 278: Yuki-chan, have you ever been in love?

After a few drinks last night, he seemed even more energetic this morning.

Upon arriving at the studio, the few who had been drinking yesterday had already arrived. In the large open space, he saw Inada Masami, whom he hadn't seen in a while, and beside him, Saito Yuki. She was wearing a thick, coarse-knit white cashmere sweater paired with a black skirt, her delicate and sweet cheeks full of youthful collagen; she looked utterly radiant.

"Naoki-san, good morning~" Saito Yuki greeted him happily when she saw Nagayama Naoki.

"It's been a while, Yuki-chan. Are you getting used to the staff apartment?" Currently, Saito Yuki had officially moved into the staff apartment.

Speaking of which, this staff dormitory already had five female artists; should they just hang a sign one day calling it the "Girls' Dorm"?

"Yes, the conditions in the dormitory are very good, and everyone is very kind..."

After exchanging a few more pleasantries with Saito Yuki, Nagayama Naoki asked Inada Masami about the recording studio reservation; today was specifically for Saito Yuki's debut song.

"Naoki-san, the recording studio is booked starting from 10 o'clock, and we have it for the whole day today," Inada Masami said.

Nagayama Naoki seemed to think of something and turned to Furuhura Otomo: "Otomo-san, don't you think we should build our own recording studio? As we record more and more in the future, it's very inconvenient to keep renting."

Furuhura Otomo thought about it. It was true; they currently only had two idol singers, but if the number of people continued to increase, the demand would indeed be significant. If they started remodeling from scratch, they would also need to consider the time; it was estimated that it wouldn't be ready for use until the middle of next year.

"Yes, indeed. Does Naoki-san think we should buy a plot of land in the city center or in the suburbs?"

"Of course, in the city center. Even if we want to sell it later, we can still sell it for a good price." Nagayama Naoki's desire to speculate on land suddenly awakened.

A black line appeared on Furuhura Otomo's forehead. He looked at the somewhat excited Nagayama Naoki and said, "Who thinks about selling a recording studio right after preparing to build one..."

"Hahaha, I'm just looking at the long term!"

Nagayama Naoki laughed it off. "Masami-kun, Yuki-chan, you two go ahead and prepare first; I'll be there in a while."

He let the other two go ahead while he stayed behind, needing to keep a slight eye on the ongoing public opinion war.

Calling Furuhura Otomo and Komori Masataka into the office, Nagayama Naoki became a bit more serious: "Otomo-san, Masataka-kun, how is the feedback from this morning?"

Komori Masataka revealed a smile: "Naoki-san, the number of people calling in is at least half of what it was before."

"Is that so? It seems the effect is quite good."

Furuhura Otomo also corroborated from the side: "Yes, many discussion articles have appeared among the major and minor media in Tokyo. Even in newspapers like the *Mainichi Shimbun*, there are discussions related to the unspoken rules of the film industry."

"It seems it has indeed attracted the attention of public opinion."

At this time, no one was holding onto Nagayama Naoki's minor scandal anymore. People's focus had shifted to the entire film industry. Those well-known directors and large production companies that truly represented the film industry should be receiving quite a few interview calls by now.

And that method of using scandals as evidence to imply that he used unspoken rules on actresses couldn't stir up any waves at all in the face of a larger topic.

"Naoki-san, according to the current situation, it seems we don't need to contact the media to continue spreading reports related to your previous films?" Komori Masataka said, "The scandal incident is almost over."

Nagayama Naoki nodded: "Yes, if the goal is to overcome the public opinion crisis, then it is indeed enough now. However, our Tree Friend Films has been attacked by similar methods many times. It's truly unwilling to just passively counterattack every time."

Furuhura Otomo also felt a sense of shared bitterness. Previously, Toei had linked *The Gas Station Robbery* to campus violence and social news, almost ruining the film's reputation. Public opinion attacks were truly bloodless killings.

"Then, does Naoki-san mean we should continue?"

"Yes, let's continue. They fired the first shot, so it's up to us to decide when the battle ends. This time, we must make them lose both their wife and their army."

"Otomo-san, if possible, arrange a few interview programs for me and Yin Tangxiu. Don't let the heat die down."

"Hai."

As it approached December, the whistling cold wind drilled straight into the neck.

Driving a convertible on the roads of Tokyo was a bit foolish. Even with the top up, one could feel the cold air seeping in from somewhere.

Nagayama Naoki had already planned to take out his newly purchased Toyota Century. It had been sitting in the garage ever since he picked up his sister once; it was truly a waste.

It took more than half an hour to reach the recording studio.

This recording studio was used when recording songs for Kashiwabara Yoshie and Yin Teng Chunzi. They had always cooperated well, so there had been no changes.

After parking the car and walking into the recording studio, Saito Yuki was already warming up inside.

"Naoki-san, you're here." Inada Masami greeted him softly when he saw Nagayama Naoki. "Yuki-chan has already sung it a few times."

In order to maintain the best state, the recording studio had already turned on the heating. The warm air made Nagayama Naoki take off his windbreaker:

"So, how does it feel?"

Inada Masami was stunned by this question. Should this kind of question be asked to their manager?

"Uh... it feels like the song is very good..."

"... Of course it's very good, I wrote it! They are all classics!"

Nagayama Naoki knew he had asked in vain. He said this with a sigh; what he actually meant was that his songs were all classics proven by later generations.

And Inada Masami was stunned by such a matter-of-fact tone. This guy Naoki-san is really a bit arrogant, but why is it inexplicably convincing? (He's showing off again!)

Nagayama Naoki ignored the psychological activities of the manager beside him and walked to the control console, speaking into the microphone: "Yuki-chan, we're ready to start~"

"Hai!"

Thus, accompanied by the brisk music, Saito Yuki's sweet voice sang out:

"Ai yori mo koi yori mo hayaku (Faster than love, faster than romance)"

"Anata ni deatta itazura ga (The mischief of meeting you)"

"Watashi no subete o kaete yuku koi ni ochite yuku... (Changing everything about me, falling into love...)"

When listening for the first time, Nagayama Naoki was still smoothing his eyebrows.

After more than a month of targeted singing training and rehearsals for this song, Saito Yuki was very familiar with it, and her singing technique was also very proficient and smooth.

However, after a while, Nagayama Naoki always felt something was wrong.

"Yuki-chan, you sang very well. Shall we try it one more time?"

"Hai~" Saito Yuki didn't think much and, as the music started, began singing again.

And Inada Masami, who was also in the recording studio, was a bit worried now. "Oh no, oh no, Naoki-san's 'recording studio personality' is about to come out!"

As one of the old-timers who had been in contact with Nagayama Naoki since before the agency was established, Inada Masami had naturally heard Furuhura Otomo say that Nagayama Naoki was very different in the recording studio than usual. Furuhura Otomo even gave this state a special name: "Recording Studio Personality."

"When Nagayama Naoki is in the recording studio, don't ever anger him~" Furuhura Otomo had said this once while drinking after work.

At this moment, Nagayama Naoki couldn't help but recall the memory of Matsu Takako singing this song, comparing it with Saito Yuki in the recording studio.

Matsu Takako was already 20 years old when she created this song. She had attended university and appeared in many TV dramas, so she naturally had experience with emotions. Her singing voice had a longing for love, but also a sense of calmness and detachment... In short, it was the feeling after experiencing mature love.

And Saito Yuki was only 16 at this time. Although she might have been in love, she still couldn't achieve that feeling of having experienced it...

Nagayama Naoki listened to the sound in his headphones and felt it getting more and more wrong. His brows furrowed tighter and tighter. Without realizing it, he had actually let Saito Yuki sing it three times.

"Emotion... the emotion is wrong..." he muttered to himself. He called Saito Yuki out. "Yuki-chan... although it's a bit rude, there is a question that must be asked clearly: have you ever been in love?"

Saito Yuki's face turned red instantly. If she hadn't seen Nagayama Naoki's serious face, she might have thought she was being teased.

"Ah... this... first love or something, I have had it... but we've already broken up!"

As expected! Japanese girls are still very bold in junior high school.

"That's good."

"?"

Nagayama Naoki continued: "Then, Yuki-chan, what is your view on first love? And what is your attitude towards the next relationship?"

"Eh?" Saito Yuki felt a bit uncomfortable and glanced at Inada Masami, with a request in her eyes.

"Yuki-chan, daijoubu, Naoki-san is just needing to understand your feelings for the sake of producing the song." Inada Masami gave her a comforting explanation. However, seeing Nagayama Naoki in such a serious state, Saito Yuki soon calmed down.

"Ano, regarding first love... it's a feeling of regret, I guess. We naturally separated after entering high school. And as for the next relationship, I haven't had any thoughts yet (I haven't had time to have thoughts yet)."

Nagayama Naoki nodded. This was a very normal psychology for a little girl. So, what should be done?

Actually, the previous singing was already very good. Should he be nitpicking?

"Anyway... let's leave it at that for now~ Yuki-chan, try one more time. This time, try to recall that feeling of regret and reluctance, but finally feeling relieved."

"Eh... hai, I'll try..."

For a little girl, this attempt was naturally a failure. While thinking about the emotion, she was distracted while singing, and the whole song became a bit intermittent.

However, this kind of singing still allowed Nagayama Naoki to find some highlights. He called Saito Yuki out again:

"Yuki-chan, don't be so gloomy. This time, I feel the emotion in a few segments was quite on point."

"Huh? Is that so?"

"Yes, but because your emotion is unstable, we might have to record a few more times, extract the matching segments... and finally combine them into a song."

"Hai, I understand."

Although he didn't have the convenience of absolute pitch, Nagayama Naoki had the best version of the song in his mind, so he just needed to listen and compare it with the recording studio.

Such intermittent recording, sometimes a sentence, sometimes a segment, plus the need to protect Saito Yuki's throat, requiring a rest after a period of time—to record this one song, Nagayama Naoki actually spent the whole day in the recording studio!

By the time he announced the end, Saito Yuki even felt her eyes moisten. She had sung *Yume no Shizuku (Drops of Dreams)* nearly a hundred times in the recording studio. Not to mention the sore throat, she felt like she was going to vomit from singing...

"Yuki-chan, that's enough for today. Later, wait for me to edit the song's audition, and then listen to it again. We might need to make some adjustments then."

"... Hai," Saito Yuki said with a hoarse voice...

On the way home, Nagayama Naoki felt a long-lost fatigue.

Speaking of which, he seemed to have developed obsessive-compulsive disorder. If the works he handled couldn't reach the same level as the original in his memory, it felt as if he had wasted some precious resources.

However, for those songs sent out and handled by others, he didn't have such a strong feeling.

"It seems my skin isn't thick enough! But I shouldn't participate too much in production in the future; it's too tiring."

Having spent the whole day in the recording studio, even lunch was just simple sushi. Only then did Nagayama Naoki feel his stomach protesting.

Winter nights always get dark early, and with the cold wind blowing, only a pot of steaming sukiyaki could soothe his hungry body.

Nagayama Naoki drove very slowly, his eyes scanning the streets on both sides.

He soon found an izakaya where white steam could be seen rising from the windows.

After parking the car, he walked in quickly. "Sumimasen, please give me a sukiyaki, a large portion."

The chubby chef made people intuitively feel the deliciousness of the izakaya food: "Hai, please wait a moment~"

While waiting for the sukiyaki, Nagayama Naoki watched the variety show on TV. Sure enough, the interview program Furuhura Otomo mentioned had already been broadcast. When a host was interviewing an artist, they talked about the unspoken rules of the entertainment industry, things like pillow business, accompanying meals, participating in private gatherings, and so on...

Not long after, the ordered sukiyaki was served. While putting the side dishes into the pot, Nagayama Naoki was still thinking,

"It's still a bit off, it hasn't boiled yet."

After enjoying a steaming sukiyaki, Nagayama Naoki felt warm all over when he returned to Shanying Yuan.

The lingering fragrance made Ying Taro circle around him. It was obvious that saliva had already secreted in his big mouth.

"Are you still not full? Ying Taro?"

He went to check the timed feeding machine. Today's food had already been eaten clean, and after Ying Taro reached the food bowl, he actually started to act like a spoiled brat again, whining.

"Ying Taro, you can't eat too much, you'll get fat..." "Ying ying ying..." "Today's portion is already finished!" "Ying ying ying..." "Don't bark, even if you act spoiled, I won't give you dog food!" "Ying ying ying..."

In the end, Nagayama Naoki couldn't block the big dog's spoiled offensive. Thinking that he had gone out to eat delicious food, he made this guy hungry again:

"Alright... I'll give you two more teething sticks! It's agreed, no more requests!"

"Ying ying ying..."

After getting the teething sticks, when he came to the living room, Nagayama Naoki found that the phone's message light was still on, so he walked over and pressed the answer button:

"Moshi moshi, Naoki-san? This is Morikawa Kuniharu..."

Editor Morikawa Kuniharu from Shogakukan actually called.

"Naoki-san, is everything okay? I'm calling with good news. Due to the previous news heat, the sales of *Love Letter* have increased significantly, and the third printing is coming. If you are free in the near future, please come to Shogakukan... That is all."

Scandal... The sales of *Love Letter* actually increased significantly?

Nagayama Naoki finally understood why Japanese writers regarded romantic affairs as common...

..... ===== CHAPTER 279 =====