"Sorry. Did I make you wait, Machida-san?" Haru sat down in the family restaurant where he had promised to meet his novel's editor. He wasn't sure why Machida had decided to meet him, but he was quite busy in the past day and could only meet her this time.
"Who are you?" Machida asked in confusion.
"It's me, Haru. I have dyed my hair black," Haru said.
Machida took off his glasses and nodded. She realized that it was him and had to admit that he had become more handsome. She wasn't sure, but she felt a charisma that gave her a reliable and secure feeling when she was around him.
"You're not going to school?" Machida asked.
"No. I've had some business done earlier," Haru said.
"Excuse me, do you need to order something?" The waitress asked with an excited expression when he saw him.
"Yes, can you give me a coffee?" Haru asked.
"Yes. Leave it to me." The waitress nodded with a sweet smile and went back to take his order as soon as possible.
"Oh, right. Congratulations," Machida said.
"Congratulations?" Haru was confused.
Machida nodded and said, "Utaha has told me that both of you are dating. I need to congratulate both of you."
"Thank you." Haru nodded and asked, "Is there something more?" He knew that this woman didn't call him because she wanted to tell him something.
"Haru, did I do something?" Machida asked him sadly.
"....." Haru was a bit strange and asked, "No. You didn't do anything wrong. Why do you think so?"
"No! There must be something! Are you dissatisfied with me? Are you bored with me?" Machida screamed while asking him a lot of questions.
Everyone in the restaurant seemed to be attracted to them and looked at them curiously. They were wondering whether they would see a fight between man and woman in a relationship.
"Oi, don't say such a misleading thing!" Haru stopped her and asked, "Seriously, what's wrong, Machida-san? Don't cry suddenly in the middle of the restaurant. They might think of me as a scumbag who dumps you for another girl."
"Isn't that the case? You're trying to dump me as your editor, right? You're now contacting another publisher to publish your work in that publisher, right?" Machida asked with a grievance tone. She had heard him having a business earlier and she thought that this guy was having a meeting with another editor.
"No. Of course not. Who is going to get rid of you?" Haru said.
"Really?" Machida asked.
"Really? I swear I am not going to get rid of you," Haru said.
"Why were you rejecting me when I invited you to publish both of your new books," Machida asked.
"New book?"
"Yeah, didn't you publish both Sword Art Online and 5 Centimeters per Second on your new website? Both of those books are great and with your popularity, both of those books will become very popular! I can talk to the editor-in-chief about the price of your book along with the percentage of the sales," Machida said. She knew once she could have both of his books then it would increase his chance to become an editor-in-chief of her company in the future.
Haru sighed and said, "It's not that I am not planning to publish both of those books, but I have a plan for those books."
"What plan?" Machida asked.
"I am going to buy a publishing company," Haru said.
"....." Machida blinked her eyes and became stupified.
"Here is your coffee."
Suddenly the waitress came together with his order and placed it on his table.
Haru saw a paper below the cup of coffee and knew that it was an email from this waitress. He smiled and said, "Thank you."
The waitress smiled and nodded telling him to call her later.
Haru sipped the coffee and it tasted very bitter, but it was better than the sweet one since it would be awful on his tongue.
Machida, who had been stunned, couldn't help but look at him. "You're going to buy a publishing company?"
"Yeah." Haru nodded and said, "I am not going to get rid of you. I am going to invite you to become the editor-in-chief of that publishing company." He knew that anime, manga, and games in Japan had contributed to 10% of Japan's entire GDP. That amount of money was too be to be given up and he had decided to fight the monopoly of this industry.
"So the business earlier you're going to acquire a publisher company?" Machida asked.
"No. That's different, but you don't need to think too much." Haru raised his index finger and said, "Wait for one month and I'll get the publishing company."
"I haven't promised you yet! Also, what company are you going to buy?" Machida had known Hiratsuka or Haru's aunt for a long time since she was a junior of Hiratsuka during her university time. She knew that Hiratsuka was very rich and wondered whether he had decided to buy a company with Hiratsuka's help.
"Media Factory," Haru said.
"Media Factory?!" Machida looked at Haru with an unbelievable expression since she knew Media Factory was a quite big company. Even though the position of this company was low compared to the other big companies in the industry of ACG (Anime, Comic, and Game), it was bigger compared to medium and small companies. She also knew that it had also published a lot of famous works too.
Media Factory, Inc. is a Japanese publisher and brand company of a lot of manga, music, novel, and anime. It was founded on December 1, 1986, and its headquarters are situated in Shibuya, Tokyo. It is a subsidiary of Recruit Co., Ltd.
This publisher is famous because it is possibly the first anime distributor to ask for sites to not link to fansub of any anime licensed by the company.
Haru knew that with him bornt in this world there was a butterfly effect such us this Media Factory in his past was famous because it had a record label, Pikachu Records, that produced Pokémon CDs and Pokémon soundtracks in Japan from 1997 to 2012.
There wasn't any Pokémon in this world and the worth of this company wasn't that much compared to the past, but this company was flourishing with a lot of boutique anime, light novel, and manga that had been published by this company.
Haru wasn't sure how much the valuation of this company was, but he felt that it should be around five billion yen according to his research (It is around 50 million USD). It might be quite a lot of but he felt that it was very worth it to have this company since it would also help with a lot of publishing business.
"Are you kidding?" Machida was surprised.
"No. I am serious. I also have a lot of ideas for new works rather than giving that money to a company. It is better to own my own company," Haru said.
Machida looked at Haru and had to admit she should marry this guy or something. She felt very envious of Utaha right now. "You're going to invite me to become editor-in-chief?"
Haru nodded and said, "I have known you for a long time and I think that you're the most trusted and talented person that I know." He held her left hand while looking at her eyes.
Machida felt that it was a foul method and said hurriedly, "G - Give me time!"
"I know. The company also isn't ready yet either," Haru said. He hadn't gotten his money and it was better to wait for a while since the process of acquiring a company wasn't that simple.
They talked for a while before ending their conversation since they had solved the misunderstanding between the two of them.
Haru looked at the time and didn't go back first since he needed to meet Nasa first to talk about his Instagram.