To welcome Udagawa Nao, Shinji left the temporary base of the film crew and returned to the city to meet her.
"Welcome, Nao-san," Shinji said as he shook hands with Udagawa Nao. Then, with a smile, he asked, "Now that you're here in Fuyuki City, you won't be leaving again, will you?"
Before coming to Fuyuki City, Udagawa Nao had already discussed the employment agreement with Shinji over the phone.
Thus, she appeared calm, wearing her usual professional smile. "I don't want to go back to Tokyo. The cost of living there is too high," she replied.
"Fuyuki City has been developing rapidly over the past couple of years. Who knows, it might even surpass Tokyo someday," Shinji joked.
Nao shot him a glance. "You're dreaming, aren't you?"
Shinji shrugged innocently. "Of course not. That was just a pleasantry."
After the exchange of banter, Shinji asked Sister Shiki to prepare two cups of black tea for them.
While sipping tea, Shinji asked, "Nao-san, besides your salary, do you have any other requirements regarding compensation?"
Nao didn't hold back and directly stated, "I need a car and a driver."
"No problem," Shinji agreed without hesitation.
This woman would represent Type-Moon Company in business dealings going forward, so having a dedicated driver wasn't unreasonable.
'I'll send Alter for the job. She can double as a bodyguard while driving. She has no work right now and spends her days idling around anyway.'
Just a few days ago, Shinji had heard about Arturia Alter participating in a hamburger-eating contest. Her astonishing eating prowess had reduced the other contestants to tears.
"I'll arrange for a female driver for you. It will make communication easier," Shinji said with a smile, already assigning the tyrant knight to the role.
"One more thing," Nao added with a nod. "According to my contract with Bandai, I need to pay a 50 million yen penalty to leave and join Type-Moon Company."
"You don't need to worry about that," Shinji reassured her. "Type-Moon Company will cover the cost."
Fortunately, Nao was only a mid-level manager at Bandai. If her position were higher, the penalty could have exceeded a hundred million yen. Though the amount was in yen, it wasn't trivial.
Her position at Bandai was actually the main reason Udagawa Nao decided to jump ship to Type-Moon Company.
Although she was ambitious, Nao wasn't like Shinji, who had the foresight of a transmigrator. She didn't realize she might have become the head of Bandai in the future.
As a career woman in Japan, her best-case scenario at Bandai would have been to become a branch manager or a department head at headquarters.
This wasn't the world of Detective Conan where CEOs constantly find themselves in dangerous situations.
Running a mid-sized company like Type-Moon was far more appealing than being stuck in middle management at a big corporation.
Especially now, with Type-Moon Company rapidly growing yet lacking a clear business strategy, this presented an excellent opportunity for Udagawa Nao to shine.
Naturally, the conversation shifted to Type-Moon Company's development.
Though Udagawa Nao was a career woman, her work style was mild and measured—a stark contrast to Shinji.
Despite his cheerful demeanor, Shinji was extremely assertive at work, even bordering on tyrannical.
Aware of his own shortcomings, this was one of the reasons Shinji sought out Udagawa Nao to manage the company. He needed a counterpart who could complement his approach.
"Type-Moon Company has grown rapidly over the past two years. It now has a complete production system and reliable distribution partners," Nao began, first offering praise.
"To build a new entertainment company of this scale in just a few years—Shinji, not just in Japan but worldwide, no one could have done better."
Shinji smiled, aware there was more behind her words.
"Nao-san, we've known each other for a long time. Just say what's on your mind."
Nao took a sip of tea and asked, "Shinji, have you thought about the next focus for Type-Moon Company?"
After a brief moment of thought, Shinji replied, "Resource integration and internal optimization."
Currently, while all departments in Type-Moon Company were established, they operated independently.
To put it bluntly, internal collaboration was weaker than the company's partnerships with external collaborators.
This was a downside of rapid growth.
Shinji directly stated, "I'll leave the integration work to you, Nao-san."
Nao nodded. "Of course, but I'll need to thoroughly understand the situation within each department before making changes. It will likely take until the end of this year to complete."
Hearing this, Shinji felt reassured.
Balancing the interests of various departments wasn't easy. If Nao had claimed she could finish it in just a few months, Shinji would have doubted her sincerity.
"Take it at your own pace. I'm in no rush. Just ensure the movie releases aren't affected. If there's a conflict, we can prioritize releases," Shinji said.
"Understood," Nao replied.
"In addition to internal optimization, external expansion must also continue," Shinji emphasized.
"Your next task is to expand Type-Moon Company's film library. Take a dual approach—acquire rights to completed films while also investing in promising new projects to secure their copyrights."
"The goal is to eventually create a vast film library centered around the Fate series."
Even though Shinji prided himself as the world's best director, he couldn't singlehandedly handle all of the company's projects. Thus, investing in other film crews and acquiring copyrights from other companies was essential.
Shinji also wanted to launch a streaming platform, and the best way to attract users in the early stages was through exclusive content coupled with a vast library of works.
"The most important thing for the film library is creating classic IPs. Just Fate and Ultraman won't be enough," Shinji said.
Hearing this, Udagawa Nao raised an eyebrow. "Choosing the IPs is your responsibility. I'm only in charge of executing them well."
"Of course. I have confidence in my judgment," Shinji replied confidently.
The two talked until mid-afternoon, after which Udagawa Nao took the initiative to leave.
Although she mentioned earlier that she hoped not to return to Tokyo, her resignation process at Bandai wasn't fully completed, so she had to make one last trip.
Only when Udagawa Nao returned to Fuyuki City would she officially join the Type-Moon family.
Through their half-day discussion, Shinji became increasingly convinced that his decision to bring her onboard was the right one.
She might not yet rival the "Queen of Bandai" from Shinji's past life, but her years of industry experience had equipped her with exceptional skills and insight.
<+>
"How strange," Ryougi Shiki muttered quietly after Udagawa Nao left. "Shinji-kun, you didn't tell her anything about the supernatural world?"
"That's something for my Uncle to handle," Shinji replied casually. "It's not my place to interfere."
"Oh, is this one of those secret romances? How romantic~" Ryougi Shiki teased, resting her chin on her hand with a hint of envy.
"Heh, instead of worrying about gossip like that, you should focus more on improving your acting," Shinji countered.
Ryougi Shiki pouted. "I'm already one of the top students in my class! Even the two leads in your new movie don't match my scores."
"That's pretty good," Shinji replied half-heartedly, further annoying Shiki.
"Shinji-kun, with my great performance, don't you have anything to reward me with?"
'Should I reward you with myself?' Shinji thought, though he wisely kept it to himself, not wanting to risk a workplace harassment accusation.
"Do you really want to act that badly, Shiki?" Shinji asked.
"Of course!" she nodded earnestly.
"Hm… Let me think about it."
If Shinji were to cast Ryougi Shiki, it would undoubtedly be in the Kara no Kyoukai (The Garden of Sinners) series.
However, the eerie, Japanese horror style of Kara no Kyoukai was beyond Shinji's directorial comfort zone. It was simply a matter of his directing style.
More importantly, Kara no Kyoukai was too niche.
It might perform decently in East Asia, but Western audiences likely wouldn't be drawn to such stories.
Unlike Super 8, which Shinji had used to test his technical prowess, Kara no Kyoukai didn't serve any experimental purpose. Hence, he hadn't initially planned to produce the series.
But after his earlier discussion with Udagawa Nao about IP development, Shinji realized that using Kara no Kyoukai to solidify Type-Moon's position in the East Asian market might not be a bad idea.
Of course, Shinji himself wouldn't direct the series. Instead, he planned to hand it over to Tsuburaya Productions.
After all, Tsuburaya's legacy in horror filmmaking perfectly aligned with the mysterious, otherworldly vibe of Kara no Kyoukai.
The only issue was that Tsuburaya already had three ongoing projects: Mebius, Ultraseven X, and Magic Eye. Adding another project might strain their resources.
"Whatever, I'll back them up financially if needed. There's no way they'll go bankrupt," Shinji muttered to himself. "I've taught them so much; it's time to let them show what they've learned."
"So, Shinji-kun, what's your decision?"
Seeing Ryougi Shiki eagerly leaning on the desk, staring at him with puppy-dog eyes, Shinji chuckled.
"Shiki, once your training is complete, send your resume to Tsuburaya. While I won't direct the film, I'll personally handle the script and outline."
"Really!?"
"Of course. But are you truly ready to be an actress?"
"Yes, I'm ready!" Ryougi Shiki's face lit up. "Finally, I'm going to become a star!"
'Wow, wow, wow. A wealthy young lady so determined to become a star? Your father would probably cry if he knew.' Shinji thought with a twinge of sarcasm.
Still, the corners of his mouth curled into a sly smile.
'Heroic Spirit actors can't leave Fuyuki City, which has always been inconvenient for publicity.'
'If this young lady can rise to stardom, she'd make a great representative for external affairs.'
Unaware that she was already being plotted against as a "tool" by a certain two-faced director, the excited Ryougi Shiki cheered in anticipation of her upcoming big-screen debut.
<+>
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