Lara went inside the studio, and Natsu followed behind her. Ryu walked over to them and greeted them, saying they were waiting for them in the meeting room. Ryu led the way towards the room and opened the door, wishing Lara the best of luck. Lara, with determined eyes, went inside with Natsu following her.
Inside the room, a few employees were already seated, with Nik also present. Mr. Kudo and Mr. Renya, the studio's owner, were at the head of the table.
As Lara and Natsu entered, Mr. Renya and Mr. Kudo stood up to greet them. Ryu introduced Lara to the team and Mr. Renya.
Mr. Renya smiled warmly. "It's so nice to have you here, Ms. Lara. I hope everything's fine with you after such a long journey."
Lara smiled back. "Sure is, it's a pleasure being here."
Natsu thought to himself: "Even though she's a bit weird, she knows how to be professional."
Mr. Renya turned to Natsu. "And you must be Ms. Lara's manager?"
"Yes, sir, I am Natsu," Natsu replied.
"Natsu, I expect good work from you too as Ms. Lara's manager," Mr. Renya said.
Natsu bowed slightly.
"Please have a seat, Ms. Lara," Mr. Renya instructed.
Lara took a seat, with Natsu sitting beside her.
Nik waved towards Lara and Natsu, Lara waved back, while Natsu simply nodded.
Ryu closed the door behind him as the meeting began.
Ryu walked towards the cafeteria and sat down, sighing tiredly.
Suddenly, Yuma and Uma scared him from behind, making him jump.
"Stop it, you two!" Ryu exclaimed, still startled.
"Sorry, just playing around," Yuma apologized.
Yuma and Uma sat down with Ryu. "Don't you two have designs to work on?" Ryu asked.
"We already took care of that," Yuma replied.
"And now we're free, but you look tired."
"You should stop stressing about everything," Uma advised.
"I try, but..." Ryu trailed off.
"If you just ignore the unnecessary things you're stressing about, you won't be this tired and worried," Uma suggested.
"Maybe you're right," Ryu admitted.
"Hey, what about the new project, Lara's one?" Yuma asked.
"The meeting just began. Let's see. We can only wish for the good," Ryu replied.
"I don't understand one thing. Why is there a need for a manager for an author? That never happened before, not just in our studio, but I've never heard of a studio providing a manager to an author," Uma wondered.
Ryu explained, "That was strange to me at first too, but Mr. Kudo said that they can't let go of this project after the losses from previous ones. Considering the fact that Lara's story is getting popular worldwide, it will be a perfect opportunity for our studio to make the first move of making it an animation series. And also, Lara isn't native to Japan, so it will be difficult for her to manage her work alone. To avoid any hurdles, she was appointed a manager so that she can get any help she wanted easily."
"Our grumpy manager does thinks ahead." Uma commented.
"Anyone wants iced tea?" Yuma asked
"Me!" Uma and Ryu said together.
In the meeting room, Nik was giving a presentation about their studio. As the presentation concluded, he sat back on his seat.
Mr. Kudo handed the contract paper to Lara. Lara's hands were shaking with happiness as her dream was about to come true.
"It's the contract paper, Ms. Lara. It lists down all the terms and conditions from us. If you have any objections or want to add something, please let us know. For the monetary terms, it's also listed in the contract. If you want any changes, please let us know that too," Mr. Kudo explained.
Mr. Renya added, "We won't put much pressure on you. Take your time, Ms. Lara. We will wait till tomorrow. So, for now, the meeting is concluded."
They all got up from their seats and greeted each other before leaving the room, leaving Lara, Natsu, and Nik behind.