Chapter 777

Naoki Nagayama, having come out of the Profound Sound Agency, did not go to the studio, but instead came directly to the Sanmeiju in Ginza.

Chinatsu Sakakibara was serving on the first floor, and upon seeing Naoki Nagayama, she was very surprised:

"Naoki-san?!"

"Chinatsu-san, Happy New Year~" Naoki Nagayama greeted her as usual, "How is business today?"

"Happy New Year~" Chinatsu Sakakibara nodded gently, and while leading Naoki Nagayama inside, she replied, "Since the opening, more people have come to drink tea, and quite a few people who drank too much at New Year's parties come here to sober up before heading to their next event..."

"Sanmeiju has become a sobering-up house, then~"

Naoki Nagayama laughed. With so many companies in Ginza and parties going back and forth, there must be quite a few people who need to sober up.

"Naoki-san, would you like to go to the booth on the second floor today, or the private room on the third floor?" Chinatsu Sakakibara asked.

"Today... let's go to the third floor!" Naoki Nagayama said, "Chinatsu-san, I have an appointment with someone here today. If some young people come looking for me later, just take them directly to the third floor..."

"Hai, I understand!" Chinatsu Sakakibara nodded in agreement.

After arriving at that antique-style private room, Naoki Nagayama slowly began to enjoy his Gyokuro tea and tea snacks, while his mind was busy thinking about the production of the animated film...

With such a heavy workload, it would surely be difficult for just a few people to complete it... However, recruiting too many people doesn't seem necessary either, and manga artists aren't that easy to find... So, what should be done?

Thinking slowly, a word gradually surfaced in his mind... How about... outsourcing?

"It really is eye-catching!"

Yoshihiro Togashi, wearing a coat, took the train to Ginza and quickly found the unconventional Sanmeiju.

The cyan-green ancient palace-style architecture is truly too obvious amidst the reinforced concrete~

Just as he was about to enter, a sigh suddenly came from behind him:

"Is this Sanmeiju? It really is eye-catching!"

Yoshihiro Togashi turned his head to look at that person—a clean-looking young man with a bit of baby fat; at first glance, he looked like a shut-in... And for some reason, he felt that in the future, they might very likely share some common traits!

Gosho Aoyama also noticed his gaze and looked a bit surprised, but he still nodded in a friendly manner:

"Sumimasen, this is my first time here..."

"Mine too..."

"It looks like it's very expensive..."

"Yeah, I heard a cup of tea costs 500,000..."

"Oh? Then who can afford to drink it?!"

"It must be the kind of people who drive Porsches or Rolls-Royces..."

"That's true..."

"..."

After a moment of silence, Gosho Aoyama was the first to introduce himself: "Nice to meet you, my name is Gosho Aoyama..."

"I am Yoshihiro Togashi, nice to meet you. Please take care of me in the future..."

Yoshihiro Togashi bowed in return...

Just like that, the first meeting between two future manga masters was spent complaining about the high prices at Sanmeiju...

After getting to know each other, the two realized they were both here to see Naoki Nagayama today, and felt even more that fate was truly mysterious~

"Naoki-san is waiting for the two guests in the private room on the third floor..."

Chinatsu Sakakibara led the way in front, signaling the two guests to follow.

The two young men, just starting out, looked around at the decor with great curiosity; the antique furnishings clearly weren't cheap.

"A private room? It must be even more expensive..." "I suppose so..."

After knocking and entering, the two saw a young man sitting in the center of the room, lost in thought; his face was one they had seen many times on television and in newspapers.

"Naoki-san, the guests you were waiting for have arrived~"

"Ah! Thank you, Chinatsu-san~" Naoki Nagayama turned his head, saw the two slightly nervous young men, and stood up, "Nice to meet you, I am Naoki Nagayama from Tree Friend. Please take care of me..."

"Ah, well, I am Yoshihiro Togashi!" "I am Gosho Aoyama..."

Naoki Nagayama looked them up and down, not seeing any signs of them being prone to delaying manuscripts or being mentally unstable... Yoshihiro Togashi couldn't even be called "Little Thief Togashi" yet!

After the greetings were finished, Naoki Nagayama invited the two to sit down:

"What kind of tea would you like to drink? Please order whatever you want... Chinatsu-san, please bring up more tea snacks later..."

"Hai~"

Chinatsu Sakakibara nodded and waited for the other two to order.

However, Yoshihiro Togashi and Gosho Aoyama looked at the tea leaves and prices on the menu and silently gasped in their hearts... It really is expensive!

Not a single pot of tea was less than 100,000 yen!

Seeing that the two young men were a bit reserved, Naoki Nagayama smiled and said: "Please don't worry, I am the proprietor of Sanmeiju, so feel free to order any tea; it doesn't matter~"

"..." The handsome guy opposite them said something astonishing without changing his expression!

In the end, Yoshihiro Togashi and Gosho Aoyama didn't go for the top-tier Gyokuro or Yame tea, but instead ordered mid-range Oolong tea...

Naoki Nagayama shook his head; they were indeed thin-skinned... They couldn't even let go when trying to fleece someone!

After Chinatsu Sakakibara left, Naoki Nagayama began to chat with the two, and his first sentence was:

"Togashi-san, Aoyama-san... how long would it take you to draw 10,000 manga pages?"

"???"

"10,000 pages?"

"A lifetime, I guess!"

"You couldn't finish it in a lifetime!"

The two, who had just stepped into the manga world, were directly confronted with a problem they couldn't solve~

"In terms of an animated film, that's only ten minutes of footage!" Naoki Nagayama used what he had just learned and shared the knowledge that He Jian had told him, "You should have understood this during your previous communication; I invited you two to meet because Tree Friend hopes to produce an animated film..."

The two young men who had just met looked at each other and swallowed hard~

"President Nagayama... we have only drawn some manga before and helped out; we have no experience in producing animated films!" Yoshihiro Togashi shook his head.

Gosho Aoyama also said: "That's right, I'm okay at drawing, but producing a film... although I wanted to be an animation director, I haven't succeeded yet!"

Naoki Nagayama smiled:

"Of course, I'm not asking you to be in overall charge; you are only responsible for the visual part... As for the rest, I plan to outsource it..."

"Eh?"

"Which studio do you think is better? Mushi Production? Tatsunoko?"

"Uh..."

The two young men were even more nervous. The ones Naoki Nagayama mentioned were all famous animation production companies, and the two of them, who hadn't been in the industry long, really couldn't evaluate them.

They had originally thought Tree Friend just wanted an animation director and that they were just here to interview for a job!

Naoki Nagayama lowered his head and pondered for a while:

"It really won't work; I still have to build a studio myself!"

"???" How did it become building a studio himself?!

"How about I just invest in one? Being an angel daddy seems pretty good too!" Naoki Nagayama clapped his hands, "It seems Hayao Miyazaki hasn't established a studio yet!"

"???" Who is Hayao Miyazaki again? Oh, oh, oh, that "Wind Child"!

"He shouldn't disagree, right? I only ask that he makes 'My Neighbor Totoro' first!" Naoki Nagayama rambled on a bit nervously, "He shouldn't have started work yet, right? He shouldn't have started writing the script for his next one yet..."

"???"

"Never mind, anyway, I'll just throw money at them. If I inject 100 million, I'll be the priority no matter what, right!"

The atmosphere in the private room was incredibly strange; one young man was saying all sorts of messy things, and the two young men were listening tremblingly.

Until the very end, Naoki Nagayama raised his head:

"You two, join in too!"

"???" "!!!"

"We are going to build the strongest manga studio in all of Nihon!!"

If "Hunter x Hunter," "Detective Conan," and "My Neighbor Totoro" were all in this studio, who could possibly compare?!

At this moment, Yoshihiro Togashi and Gosho Aoyama only felt that they had come to a very strange place today and met a very ominous boss... However, he paid a bit too much...

When the two walked out of Sanmeiju in a daze, they were still calculating in their heads:

A base salary of 500,000, which is 6 million a year; 0.5% of the animated film box office; quarterly bonuses, semi-annual bonuses, year-end bonuses... Room and board included, paid annual leave, year-end travel... and benefits like snacks and afternoon tea...

The atmosphere was lively, and there were many single young ladies—he didn't know what that was about, but it sounded very nice.

Just like that, the two young men, just starting out, were tricked by Naoki Nagayama into accepting the job offer, and once the studio was built, they would become some of the founding employees...