Anime rating game

"Where's Mashiro? When I left the company this afternoon, I told Ema that I asked her to take Mashiro home today."

"Mashiro is drawing in her room. It just so happens that it's just the two of us in the living room right now. Mom has something to discuss with you."

Hayase Kyūe pulled Masamune to the sofa, glanced back at the stairs, and said with a smile:

“Zong-jun, isn’t next Thursday Christmas? Although our family usually just has a big meal on Christmas, we don’t make any special arrangements or attach much importance to it.”

“But Mashiro had been living in England before. Westerners attach great importance to Christmas. Their Christmas is probably equivalent to our New Year.”

"Considering Mashiro's feelings, our family needs to take Christmas seriously this year as well."

Masamune nodded slightly and pondered for a moment:

"The Christmas tree can be prepared a day in advance, so that's not a problem. As for Santa Claus, who will play the role?"

"I come."

The sudden voice from Mashiro behind her made Hayase Kyrie exclaim "Ah!" before saying with some regret:

"I was planning to give you a surprise, but I didn't expect you to find out."

“I want to prepare with you.” Mashiro said softly, sat down between the two of them, and spoke again, “When I was little, my mother would dress up as Santa Claus, sneak into my room at night, leave presents, and quietly leave.”

"This year, I want to be Santa Claus."

"No problem!" Hayase Kurie excitedly hugged Mashiro. "I'll order a women's Santa Claus costume tomorrow. Mashiro will look absolutely gorgeous in it!"

"But what about the gift? Does Mashiro have anyone she wants to give a gift to?"

Mashiro pondered for a moment, then slowly spoke:

“I received many gifts at my birthday party last Friday, and I want to give them a gift in return.”

"Preparing gifts for so many people takes a lot of time."

"I will set aside time in advance."

Masamune silently calculated in his mind that most of the people who came were company employees, but there were also about twenty people who were not.

The company employees are easy to manage. Christmas Day is a workday, so we can simply gather them together and distribute gifts to each of them.

The remaining people, if they plan their routes in advance, should be able to get things done within three hours.

"Mom, could you also order a reindeer outfit for me tomorrow?"

"Huh...!? It might not snow that day, the sleds won't be able to glide at all."

"No sleds, just clothes like mascot costumes."

"No problem, I'll get it ready as soon as possible!"

Hayase Kyonie smiled and agreed, feeling a mix of curiosity, surprise, and relief.

Masamune was a loner from a young age, always appearing uninterested in others and indifferent to whatever they said.

Now, although he always says on the surface that he treats Mashiro like a daughter, he probably likes her quite a bit in reality.

Chapter 86 The Long-Awaited Christmas Gift

Early in the morning, at Musashino Company, Aoi Miyamori was running back and forth between the elevators and stairs.

When we were making our first animation at the beginning of the year, we relied heavily on outsourced artists, so we had to drive around every day to find people and do fieldwork.

Currently, the company has hundreds of illustrators, all of whom are full-time employees with signed contracts.

Although it puts a lot of pressure on the company's finances, it is indeed much more convenient, saves a lot of meaningless work time, and greatly improves the quality of the artwork.

Ultimately, working with many artists at the company means you can't slack off like you would when working from home, and you're bound to get entangled with other people.

Thanks to this, Aoi Miyamori, who was in a busy position as production manager, was able to get a lot of rest time.

"Miyamori, the president just asked us to come to his office sometime."

After distributing today's work, Aoi Miyamori was about to return to her workstation on the third floor when Taro Takanashi's voice suddenly came from afar.

"No problem. How's the episode you were in charge of going?"

"It should be finished within the next couple of days," Taro Takanashi said with a smile. "I have to say, without outsourced illustrators, my work is so much simpler. I feel a little embarrassed; is it really appropriate to take so much money for such a small job?"

"Indeed, but this would put a lot of financial pressure on the company."

"This is not something we should be thinking about at all. Besides, didn't the company make a lot of money this year?"

"But the expenses are also high. The company has too many employees, and the monthly salaries alone amount to 200 million. That much money is enough to produce a 12-episode animation."

Miyamori Aoi paused for a moment, then continued:

"With too many expenses, we will definitely need to increase other revenue streams next year. With the recent expansion of recruitment, coupled with the experience of producing three animations simultaneously this quarter, producing three animations at the same time may become the norm next year."

Taro Takanashi was stunned for several seconds before he came to his senses and laughed:

"As expected of Miyamori, no wonder you have a higher position and salary than me even though I joined Musashino earlier than you."

"Isn't it obvious?"

"That's true."

As they spoke, the two entered the president's office together.

"Are you busy right now? I have an urgent task for you."

"It's not too busy, what's the task?"

Miyamori Aoi, bewildered, took the list from Masamune, glanced at it, and looked puzzled.

"Many people attended Mashiro's birthday party last Friday, and many of them were Musashino employees. Here is the list."

"Mashiro said she would give them a return gift on Christmas Day. I have already thought about what to buy for the people outside of Musashino, but there are just too many people inside Musashino, so I can't prepare a gift for each one."

"Therefore, you two help me think of some gifts, and I'll go and buy them later."

"This is too much trouble!" Taro Takanashi couldn't help but say. "It takes a long time to think about what to give as a gift to just one person. Preparing gifts for so many people, let alone thinking about it, just typing it out would take forever."

“I think this is a good idea. As for gifts, they can be divided according to job title, age, and other factors,” Miyamori Aoi pondered. “For example, artists can be given art supplies, those with children can be given toys, women can be given jewelry, and men can be given watches.”

"These days nobody wears watches anymore, so it's better to just give a cell phone. But cell phones are expensive, and everyone has different tastes."

Some people use cheap phones for several years, while others change high-end phones every year. There is no single standard for this.

Masamune thought carefully for a moment, then said again, "What gift would I want if it were my past self?"

"If it were me, I would probably hope that others would exchange the gift for a cash red envelope, which would make it more anticipated."

"But actually giving a red envelope would be inappropriate."

"Taro, what kind of return gift would you like?"

“Uh… Although I went to the birthday party, I never expected a gift in return, even when the president suddenly asked me…” Taro Takanashi was shaken and hesitated. “However, if you ask me if I want a gift, the answer is definitely yes.”

"But when you ask me this so directly, I feel like I have no expectations at all."

"If possible, I'd like to have two days off. I finally started working and the salary isn't low, but I don't have time to go out and have fun, so I've saved up quite a bit of money."

Masamune seemed to be thinking about it, and said, "That's not a problem."

"In that case, I'll write a three-day paid leave voucher and put it in the gift box so that Mashiro can give it to you as a gift."

"Let me make it clear in advance that the vacation voucher can only be used after you have completed your assigned work."

"Oh my god...! Long live the president!" Taro Takanashi shouted excitedly, then asked with a smile, "President, can vacation vouchers be used to extend annual leave?"

“Sure.” Masamune turned to Miyamori Aoi. “Do you want a vacation pass too, Miyamori?”

"Animation production is in full swing, everyone is busy, and a week of annual leave is enough. If the leave is too long, the work will not be finished."

Miyamori Aoi pondered for a moment, then smiled and said:

"If I could, I would prefer a complimentary invitation to a high-end restaurant."

"no problem."

"President, in that case, how about Takanashi and I go and ask each of the people on the list what gifts they want?"

"If you ask the person directly, you'll miss out on a lot of surprises."

"But compared to receiving an unwanted gift and having to pretend to be happy, I feel much happier receiving a gift that I want but can't bring myself to buy."

"Too."

Masamune nodded slightly and quickly made a decision.

"Let's arrange it like this then. I'd appreciate it if you and Takanashi could make a trip and see what gifts everyone wants. I'll buy them as soon as possible in the next few days."

"Understood!" they both replied with smiles.

……

"Ema, what do you want for Christmas?"

"? We've never really paid much attention to Christmas before, why all of a sudden?"

"It wasn't me. Mashiro wanted to give back for the birthday presents from before. Since there were too many people, the president asked us to come and find out what gifts everyone wanted."

"So this is ah."

Ema Yasuhara seemed to be deep in thought. Mashiro had lived in England before, and Westerners do indeed attach great importance to Christmas.

"Is anything okay?"

"It's best not to choose anything too expensive, otherwise, you won't feel very good about it."

What did Kui fill in?

If I told her the truth—that I chose a complimentary voucher for a fancy restaurant so I could have a meal with them—I felt she would choose the same thing as me.

Miyamori Aoi hesitated for a moment, then smiled and said:

"Sorry, please keep this a secret for a week. Just a friendly reminder, Taro chose a three-day paid vacation voucher."

Ema Yasuhara paused for a moment, then couldn't help but laugh.

"Is it possible to do it this way? If so, then I'll know what to choose."

"I want a job offer, the kind where I can start working right away without an interview."

"Huh...?" Miyamori Aoi asked instinctively, "Is it for Misa?"