Chapter Ten

"It Was a Gamble I Shouldn't Have Made."

Musani's uncertain future comes to light, while Minato prepares for his most daunting challenge yet.

Saturday, September 1st

~11:20am

If Minato Shimura thought that working the courage to ask Shizuka Sakaki out was the hard part about dating her, he would have scoffed if you told him the harder part was actually scheduling the date. Between her schedule of delivering lines for Miharu's Masterpeice, her small and recurring role in Two Piece series, and smaller episodic roles that popped up once or twice every few weeks or so, in addition to her part time shifts at the pub, the two communicated almost exclusively through text message.

Fortunately, he was not alone in the frustration. Shizuka Sakaki was becoming increasingly upset about their alternating schedules. She wanted to give Minato a real shot, and didn't want him to resent her constantly having an excuse to not go out. However, he was not absolved from blame either.

Minato practically lived in the depths of Musashino Productions, and on the rare instances he wasn't there, he was busy with Studio Hope working on Miharu's Masterpeice. (Which was very well received at launch, although Shizuka wasn't privy to the streaming numbers, just the checks inora handed her.) In fact, the only time the two got to actually spend together was on the free Saturdays after her delivering lines. The two scurried off to get lunch before Sakaki had to take a train to the pub for work, and Minato had more frames to work on. They've only been able to do this three times since Minato expressed interest. Far from being a conventional "date", they were able to engage in casual conversation and learn of each other on somewhat of a deeper level, and at least not be nervous and awkward about seeing the other.

For example, Shizuka's parents are actually supportive of her being a voice actor, despite the over saturation of the position, allowing her to follow her dreams while she was young and not age wondering "what if." Minato had two sisters, and both lived in Shinjuku, working corporate salaried positions for MgRonalds and Sentucky Fried Chicken offices. Shizuka remembered Minato coming into the pub on occasion before she met him, and actually thought he was attractive, but was "turned off" because he sighs a lot. Minato wanted to approach Shizuka because he found her cute, but of course, there is not truly a polite way to approach a woman at work. After all, Minato saw Matsui do it to a waitress, and got smacked and banned from the establishment as a result. Ironically, it would be by the woman he would one day marry.

Shizuka said that it was "all the more reason you should've shot your shot."

As such, this was the plan today.

Minato Shimura adjusted himself as he sat in the uncomfortable chairs of Studio Ambiance, his headphones covering his ears while he made taps on the sound board in front of him. On a black sofa behind him, Matsui Oda sat, sketching frames while an infant slept quietly on the cushion next to him, surrounded by a small pile of blankets. Beyond the soundboard, the soundproof recording room housed three other humans, separated by a thick glass.

The first of the three was the blonde director, Inora Kozuki, paced back and forth, her eyes darting over the paper script and giving orders to the other two people in the booth with her.

"Now the feeling that Junichi will feel in losing the contest is not the dramatic screaming of agony. It's pride shattering. Since we introduced him, he was this big bad tough guy. Now he's downed and feels he is a disgrace to his family. Later he is going to follow Miharu's cooking techniques, and probably get a call to assist her in the second season. So keep that in mind."

The man in glasses and fedora nodded, scribbling notes on his copy of the script, nodding as the director spoke. "Yes. Understood."

Then Director Kozuki turned her attention to the third person in the room. "Sakaki. Even though the odds are against you, and it looks like you don't even have a shot to even be competitive, I need you to sound quietly cocky. As if you knew you were going to win the entire time, and you were not even concerned about the possibility you might fail."

Shizuka scribbled in a paper of her own. "Got it."

"Furthermore, remember this is high school. You two are teenagers. Be dramatic. Play into your emotions. Last episode we came out flat." She walked to a microphone to the left of Shizuka, and read over her copy of the script again, before taking a deep breath. "Remember, I don't voice act, and I'm just being the judge. So go easy on me."

Shizuka laughed. "Of course, director."

Inora took a deep breath. "Ok, I think we're ready. Minato, are we ready? Minato? Minato!?"

Minato snapped out of his trance in staring at Shizuka Sakaki read. He fumbled on the sound board trying to regain himself, as Matsui Oda laughed on the couch behind him.

"Yes! Let me know when you want to start!" he said.

Matsui grinned sneakily. "Nice one, loverboy…."

"Shut up!"

Shizuka chuckled, making a mental note to address it later. She got to her feet, and adjusted the microphone so she didn't have to hunch. She cleared her throat and flipped to the page they would be starting on. Her counterpart did the same.

"Alright." The cool voice of Minato Shimura was heard coming from the other side of the glass.

"We are starting recording in three… two… now."

They saw the red light appear above the glass, signaling that they were free to start.

Junichi Takawara folded his arms and laughed. His heart racing as his opponent brought her dish to their instructor. His menacing demeanor, his cocky stature, and his bulging muscles could intimidate the strongest of students. That pressure in your head that you had to be better. Stronger. Smarter. One step ahead. Once that pressure sets in, mistakes made. Steps are missed. Focus is slipped.

If that wasn't enough, then his pedigree sure was enough to scare you. Every male in his family was a five star chef. Every. Single. One. Each of his three brothers, his father, and his father. That alone means people don't challenge him.

That is, unless your career had a death wish.

Or, unless you were Miharu Yamashida.

Miharu approached the counter with a lid over her dish. She was as casual, calm and relaxed as ever. She carried the food tray as if she were a nurse presenting a doctor with surgical tools. Her demeanor wasn't much unlike a doctor, except that she wasn't in the business of healing. She wanted going to surgically dissect Takawara's ego, with the precision of open heart surgery. She didn't just want to win. Just a nod in her direction wouldn't satisfy her needs. No, that would be too easy. She wanted to outright bury him. Make him feel inferior. Force him to his knees and beg for forgiveness for criticizing her impoverished childhood. Making fun of her working parents and her starved siblings.

But, spoiler alert, she was fresh out of mercy.

She placed her tray on the table, and removed the lid, sending steam and a delicious accompanying vapor spreading through the air of the test kitchen.

"Miss Fuji," Miharu began. "This is my curry."

Takawara laughed. "Where did you get that? From the dumpster behind Burger Queen?"

Miharu forced herself to ignore that jab. Junichi would be silenced in due time. The red haired student presented a plate of what looked like the most ordinary cut of whitefish, surrounded by a thin bright yellow liquid, and an odd-looking dark yellow rice paste mixture formed into a ball on its surface.

Professor Fuji seemed concerned as well. "Excuse me, uh… Miss Yamashida. The theme was 'lemon.' As you see, Mister Takawara submitted a lemon chick-"

Miharu did not flinch. "Yes ma'am, I can assure you I understood the theme."

The air fell deathly silent. The professor in concern. Takawara had his smile painted across the entirety of his face, barely able to contain outright laughter. Only a few more moments, and he could celebrate his victory.

That'll teach some low class wretch to question him and his lineage, he thought.

Miss Fuji had only heard of Miharu's personal cooking; only taking bites of her food that was prepared during lessons, but never a custom dish. She analyzed the meat, staring at it intently. (Too intently, as if it were to do a backflip or speak.) She savored the aroma. She took her fork and dug into the dish. She used her breath to cool it down, and then took a single bite.

Immediately, the room vanished. Fuji found herself in an entirely different space. As far as her eyes could see she, was surrounded by water. She sat in a comfortable deck chair, on the deck of a luxurious yacht, relaxing in her favorite purple bikini. She looked to her right, and could see Miharu Yamashida, in a scalding hot red bikini of her own, feeding her the fish curry. Fuji looked down at her feet, and saw that each of her feet were being thoroughly massaged by muscular men in swimsuits.

Only, there was one problem. The man massaging her left foot had the head of a fish, but the chiseled body of a god. The man massaging her right had the head of a lemon, also with the most perfect body she had ever seen. Yet as she opened her mouth to question it, Miharu shoved another mouthful of fish into Fuji's mouth.

Miharu leaned into her ear. "Are you enjoying yourself?" she asked seductively.

"Oh… yes." She moaned, snapping out of her trance.

Miharu smiled as she stepped away from the plate. "I am glad you enjoyed it!"

Professor Fuji opened her eyes and back in the test kitchen. Her mouth salivated for another bite. "What… what is this? This isn't lemon pepper fish, but-"

Miharu smiled. "Actually, it is! Technically it's Lemon Curry!"

Fuji and Takawara gasped. "Curry?" they gasped in unison.

Miharu nodded. "Yep! What is on top of the fish is lemon rice curry!"

"Well it is astounding! How!?"

"I knew Takawara was going to use chicken. But with an acidic ingredient like lemon, fish works better. But of course, that's only if you can pull it off. So I had to infuse the cut with more flavor, which is why I decided to make it a curry instead. Plus, I noticed he likes to bake his food. Most meats are best when broiled."

Takawara clenched each and every muscle in his body. "Impossible. There is no way it beat my chicken!"

Fuji looked at the other dish on the table. "Yes, it was very good. But it was… just that. It was good. It was too easy. It lacked passion. It was too… safe."

His eyes almost bulged out of his head. "What… what are you saying? Professor! Who is the victor!?"

"I am declaring that the better dish was presented by Miss Yamashida, indisputably so."

Frozen to the spot, Takawara still stood with his arms falling to his side. He was shaking. He was shocked. He was hurt. He refused to believe the result. There is no way he lost to that… that street rat. No. She had to have cheated.

Miharu removed the light blue bow tying her hair, and the dark red strands fell down the back of her neck. She turned her head over her shoulder and looked at her opponent.

"Street rat you called me? I honestly think your dish would have been better if you actually served a street rat."

That final, precise, surgical blow to the ego was all that was required to Junichi to fall to the floor in a heap. "GOD DAMN IIIIIIIIIIIIT!" he screamed, falling to his knees and punching the floor as hard as he could.

Miharu looked at him, prideful of her win for sure, but mostly in disgust. Junichi falling to the floor and throwing a tantrum from someone of his family of chefs was unbearably pathetic.

"Unbelievable." She sneered.

"SHUT UP!" he snapped. "How? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!? I'm better than you!"

"You're better? That's funny, because one of us isn't on the floor graveling."

"YOU'RE A PEASANT COMPARED TO ME! THIS ISNT HOW THIS IS SUPPOSED TO GO! I HATE YOU!" he roared.

Miharu stepped past him. "Then I've made the mistake. I shouldn't have challenged you. Because moving past the insults, I now see you weren't even worth my time to begin with. Just take the L, it'll be easier."

Professor Fuji stepped in. "That is quite enough, you two!"

"What!?" Yamashida took offense to the statement. "I worked him like a stripper pole, and he gets to fall out and throw a tantrum? You know damn well he would be belligerent if he ended up defeating me!"

"Yes, but-"

Miharu turned her back. "I thought this was the best culinary academy in the world. I thought people here had some pride." She glared at Junichi on the floor still. "Get off the floor. Grow up, and BE BETTER!"

She then stormed off.

"WHOOO!" Inora roared. "Great session everyone!"

Shizuka stretched, smiling. "I feel really good about that one!"

Minato turned the red recording light off. "Absolutely. The audio was clear. All of you were very well in character. Nice."

Inora looked at her script. "This episode is gonna be the best yet!" she proclaimed. "We've been working up to this battle since episode one! Shizuka, do you want to grab a bento with me? Matsui is just engaged and weird, and Minato can't because he's lame, and broke."

Minato leaned into the microphone on his end. "Love you too, Nora."

"How about it? Sakaki?" Inora asked.

Shizuka smiled, and took a quick glance at Minato on the other side of the glass. As soon as their eyes met, he looked away, unable to hide his quick face of concern.

"I'm sorry, Director. I have something important I have right after this."

Monday, September 10th

~11:45am

Aoi Miyamori sat at her desk, typing away emails, and updating her calendar. Returning phone calls. Checking on the episode schedule, taking the entirety of her morning. She was so engrossed in keeping her entire department in check, she barely noticed when received a tap on her shoulder.

She turned around to see the soft eyes and blonde hair of Erika Yano.

"Miyamori. A word? Watanabe wants to see us in the conference room."

Again, any time you are requested by the upper level staff, you are never fond of what follows.

Aoi reluctantly rose from her seat and followed, unsure of exactly where this was headed. She was caught up on all of her work, the studio was… running at least. Therefore, her mind braced for the worst news. What, were they shutting down this time?

Fortunately, the conference room was not full of faces as dreary as the rainy day outside. Jun Watanabe and Kinoshita Seiichi sat at the large conference table. Watanabe on his phone, per usual. You would think it was glued there. Kinoshita sitting beside him, scribbling ideas on a sheet of paper, that may as well been in a foreign language for how illegible it appeared.

Aoi and Erika took their seats, Aoi's heart unable to withstand any more bad news.

Watanabe put his phone away and adjusted his hat. "Well, let's get started." He sighed. "This will be short. The bad news is that we are going to lose Two Piece. While the industry is slowly moving to seasonal productions instead of weekly, this anime is too popular and makes too much money for the authors to want to withstand content droughts."

Aoi's heart sank. Erika nodded.

"However," Watanabe continued. "We haven't lost the anime. We have until the end of the season, as our contract stated. At the end of our run, we are to turn over all background designs, character designs, key frames and color palettes. They want as smooth a transition as they can get."

Aoi found a good smile, if only for a moment. She wouldn't have to turn away the staff prematurely. And for that, she found a big victory in a studio as small as theirs. The newcomers would have time to prepare for their departure from the studio, and possibly get full time positions in the studio.

"Then we shift to Exodus!?" Erika asked.

Jun Watanabe nodded. "Precisely. We have Kinoshita pulling double time so we can get it aired this summer. As for Bordertown Depopulation Girl, I am barking up trees trying to ship the script around to see who wants to give it the green light."

Aoi asked. "So where do we go from here?"

Watanabe connected with Aoi's blue orbs. "Well, the hardest part is about to come. Dire straits for the studio."

Yano, Seiichi, and Miyamori looked confused. "How?" they asked in unison.

"Retention." He responded.

"But the new comers are contracted until the end of the season." Aoi said. "I don't understand."

"The anime studio getting Two Piece is Alpha One Pictures. It's fairly common for bigger studios acquiring anime to poach talent from smaller studios that were already familiar with it. Such as producers, and most notably animators."

Aoi gasped. Before she could stop herself, her mouth released one word. "Yasuhara."

Erika hung her head. "Yeah, I imagine they're getting ready to approach her. They've already contacted both Hiroaka and myself."

Watanabe sighed. "Expect a call Miyamori. But just know, if the offer is attractive, the studio bears no ill will against you if you jump ship. There will always be a place for you at Musani."

Aoi defiantly stated. "No, I won't go."

Friday, September 14th

~6:30pm

Minato Shimura stood in front of the mirror, with Inora Kozuki sitting behind him.

"Well, you look quite spiffy. If I do say so myself." Inora said, rocking an infant in her arms. "Thank you for taking care of Hope today."

"It's fine." He replied. "I got to catch upon some frames for Miharu. Plus, Shizuka stays closer to here."

Inora made such a large grin Minato almost shuddered. "It's weird to see you in the dating pool. I thought for sure you were going to get an apartment with six cats and be done with it."

"I thought for sure you were gonna shut up." Minato quipped back.

"Where are you taking her?" Inora asked, pleased with herself.

"We are going to go look at cats in the shelter, because she likes cats. Then we're going to get spicy ramen. At that one shop you showed me, by the train station."

"That sounds cute."

"Works perfectly, because it'll take her straight home, and it's a few blocks away from me."

Inora replied. "If you're fifteen, I mean. You didn't let me finish."

"It's a first date!" Minato shouted defensively. "And dinner and a movie is too cliché."

"I'm just surprised you asked her." Inora said. "She's pretty. Your last girlfriend was in high school, and boy was she ug-"

"I know, you can stop at any time!" Minato said. "I am full aware, it is a gamble I shouldn't have taken. I get it."

"You are testy this evening." Inora said slyly.

"Well it's not every day I get a hot date with a hot girl, only to get hot words thrown at me by my best friend. Usually I just sit around hot girls and draw all day."

Inora smiled. "Well I hope this hot girl works out."

"You and me both." He said.

"Just be careful. Because if you get too excited, then… you know."

Inora looked into her arms at, Hope, the sleeping infant.

"Oh…" Minato said, understanding it, but not sure how to reply. "Thank you, Inora."

He began to file out of the room awkwardly.

"And don't forget to give her complements!" she rang out.

"Well aware, Inora. Thank you." He hustled to the apartment door.

"And don't forget to wear clean underwear!" she yelled.

"THANK YOU INORA!" he replied before slamming the door.

Next time on Love Is Like a Good Anime Right?

Episode Eleven "Perfect"

Authors Note:

Thank you all for reading.

It has struck me that story has been ongoing since 2015. 2015! I remember writing scenes and concepts this on scraps of cardboard at my old job.

So, this is a perfect time to announce this. The end is in sight on the series, and I am going to see it through in a timely manner. Soon. There are going to be only three more chapters until this story is complete.

See, originally, I was going to do about 17 to 20. The plan was to cover Musashino Productions working on Two Piece, and Exodus, with the last chapter being a celebration on them starting Bordertown Depopulation Girl, and some cute Minato/Shizuka. But as I began writing it, I realized that it would be forever until I got around to finishing it. Plus, in the amine Musani only works on one anime per season, and I wanted to keep that structure.

Unfortunately, the romance I wanted is going to feel rushed. I'll have to really buckle down and write some of the best work I have ever created to make that trade off worth it.

So, keeping with the anime, I decided on 12 chapters, but at the last minute made it 13. Chapter 10 and 11 were originally the same chapter, focusing mostly on Minato and Shizuka, and touching on the future of the studio lightly, simply to set it up for the final two chapters. But at the last minute, I decided to split them, so 11 is all about Minato and Shizukas first date (which will be a READ, trust me) and I expanded on chapter 10, adding two extra scenes to make it worth the read. Then 12 and 13 will serve as the highest points of both plot, and romanticism, and will carry us out towards the end, and the future.

Thank you so much for reading. Until next we meet.