The Anime Premieres

"All right. Actually, I don't know who your teacher is, either."

Shuya and Mai smiled awkwardly.

The little incident didn't affect their mood.

They shared their thoughts on acting class, then chatted about whatever came to mind.

Shuya didn't notice, but Mai-chan's affection for him was increasing day by day.

He treated her perfectly normally, while all his spare energy went into planning how to win Rena over.

After his workout, Hanazawa Sakura came to pick him up in person this time and took him to music class.

Before long, they arrived at Ayako Ishikawa's home.

Hanazawa Sakura was clearly less nervous around Ayako Ishikawa than she had been that morning.

Ayako Ishikawa was nearly fifty, but she'd taken excellent care of herself and didn't look old.

She also had a gentle, gracious air about her.

The only problem was... she was too busy.

After exchanging a few pleasantries with Hanazawa Sakura, she sent her home first.

Then, after chatting with Shuya for about ten minutes, Ayako Ishikawa hurried off to teach at the university.

But Shuya didn't think there was a problem, because his teacher had assigned a student to tutor him.

A beautiful, youthful, captivating twelve-year-old senior sister.

Her name was Sakai Seisen.

Even Shuya, who was used to beautiful girls, couldn't help freezing when he first saw her.

She was a classic Japanese beauty, with ink-black hair swaying in the breeze, delicate features, and snow-white, flawless skin. Her air was gentle and refined.

Shuya thought Senior Sister Seisen was even a little prettier than Mai-chan, though perhaps that would change once Mai-chan grew up a bit.

"Senior Sister Seisen, you're so beautiful."

Shuya began showing off the results of that morning's training. His smile was even more innocent and adorable.

"Th-thank you."

Seisen seemed like the shy type, and she did her best to avoid Shuya's gaze.

She tilted her head, then immediately realized it was rude and forced herself to face him, though her eyes kept darting around.

Seisen began to speak. "Inoue-kun, um..."

Her voice was as lovely as her name, clear as a spring bubbling over. It was like taking a sip of sweet, icy spring water on a hot summer day, leaving Shuya feeling refreshed from head to toe.

Shuya smiled. "Senior Sister Seisen, you can just call me by my name."

Seisen fell silent for a moment, then nodded and said gently, "Mm... all right. Then can I call you Shuya-kun?"

"Sure, Senior Sister Seisen."

Shuya smiled.

Seisen seemed a little happy to be called senior sister, too. "Then... Shuya-kun, shall we start the lesson?"

"Sure."

With a beautiful senior sister tutoring him, Shuya was in heaven.

This little senior sister was no ordinary girl. Even a big shot like his teacher, Ayako Ishikawa, had called her a musical genius.

Having a talented, beautiful senior sister give him one-on-one lessons was twice the fun.

Come to think of it, Senior Sister Seisen's appearance seemed a little familiar. Could she be an anime character, too?

And... why did I keep wanting to call her big sister?

Shuya wondered about it, but didn't give it much thought.

He began his first lesson with his little senior sister...

In the days that followed, Shuya kept busy.

As for his schedule, acting classes weren't held every day. Kato Nobunaga was a busy man and could only guarantee two days a week for Shuya, with more sessions added if he had time.

Ayako Ishikawa promised to teach Shuya one day a week. With her star pupil Seisen around, teaching Shuya the basics was no problem.

With his little senior sister guiding him, Shuya had music lessons every afternoon from Monday to Friday. Fridays were reserved for lessons with Ayako Ishikawa.

Besides acting and music lessons, Shuya kept working out. With adorable Mai-chan there to keep him company, exercise wasn't boring.

During the morning slots when he didn't have acting class, Hanazawa Sakura trained Shuya in voice acting. Occasionally, she even took him along for bit parts so he could gain experience.

Shuya wasn't ready to take a leading role yet. He could only play supporting characters, the kind who showed up for a few lines and then disappeared.

Hikari-chan in Alien Baby Hikari-chan was Shuya's only leading role.

The daily life of Chapter 27: The Anime Premieres

Shuya's days passed without a hitch.

He'd been absorbed in studying for several days. Then, on Monday the following week, Inoue Hikoo finally finished the storyboard for episode six of Alien Baby Hikari-chan, and Shuya went to the company to record again.

This episode marked a major turning point in the story of Alien Baby Hikari-chan.

Yuzuki Sasaki finally discovered Hikari-chan's unusual abilities, and Uesugi Yuichi was forced to come clean.

In Part A of episode six, Yuzuki Sasaki grew increasingly suspicious that something was up with Hikari-chan. She'd witnessed the strange phenomena Hikari-chan caused several times, but Uesugi Yuichi had always managed to brush them off.

But Yuzuki Sasaki finally couldn't take it anymore. She decided to uncover the truth.

On Sunday, she found out Uesugi Yuichi's plans and put on a hat, sunglasses, and a mask. Despite the sweltering heat, she wore a high-collared trench coat and tailed Uesugi Yuichi and Hikari-chan in an outfit that screamed "suspicious person."

She was spotted almost immediately.

Yuzuki had no choice but to change tactics and switch from tailing them to openly following them.

She got so caught up in the illusion that she was on a date with Uesugi Yuichi that she forgot the whole reason she'd come. She only sneaked glances at his profile and grinned foolishly, her heart racing whenever their hands accidentally touched.

A girl in love had lost all her wits.

But then disaster struck.

Uesugi Yuichi was so focused on keeping an eye on Yuzuki Sasaki (even though she'd completely forgotten why she was there) that he failed to notice Hikari-chan crawling into the road.

As luck would have it, a truck came hurtling toward them, and the driver couldn't see the tiny Hikari-chan on the ground.

Hanazawa Sakura let out a piercing scream. "Ah!"

Yuzuki Sasaki saw the sight that froze her soul.

"What...? Watch out!"

Uesugi Yuichi looked over and shouted at once.

Yuzuki Sasaki didn't realize he was warning the driver.

He knew how powerful Hikari-chan's psychic abilities were, but Yuzuki Sasaki didn't.

Driven by her kind instincts, she rushed into the road, clutched Hikari-chan tightly to her chest, and trembled with her back to the truck.

"Sasaki!"

Watching the scene, Inoue Hikoo cried out in disbelief and instinctively rushed forward.

The driver saw someone suddenly dash into the road and slammed on the brakes in panic, but there was no way he could stop in time.

Amid the shrill screech of the brakes, a burst of light erupted from Hikari-chan in Yuzuki Sasaki's arms.

"Ta!"

Something miraculous happened.

The light stopped the truck.

"...Huh?"

After waiting a long time for the impact that never came, Yuzuki Sasaki cautiously opened her eyes and stared dumbly at the truck held back by the light.

"S-sorry!"

Uesugi Yuichi, seasoned by his time with Hikari-chan, quickly recovered. He rushed over, scooped Hikari-chan up with one arm, grabbed Yuzuki Sasaki's hand with the other, and fled, leaving the truck driver and a few pedestrians utterly bewildered.

Yuzuki Sasaki's mind was completely blank.

Not from fear.

She was flustered and happy because he'd taken her hand.

What a troublesome girl with her head in the clouds.

Still, it had to be said: Yuzuki Sasaki was utterly charming like this.

End of episode six.

Shuya checked the time. It was two in the afternoon, so they'd finished fairly early.

Since he'd had to record today, he could skip his morning and afternoon lessons and his workout.

With some rare free time, he'd planned to go back and raise the Quintuplets' affection for him, but Hanazawa Sakura dragged him off to do bit parts at another studio. In the end, he didn't get home until evening. He only had time to chat with the neighbors for a few minutes before going to bed.

Shuya felt like he was carrying burdens no five-year-old should have to bear.

Life had finally come for this little boy.

...Of course, that was a joke. Shuya wasn't that fragile.

With the recording for episode six wrapped up, April was almost here.

The first three episodes of Alien Baby Hikari-chan were complete, and Inoue Hikoo had arranged broadcasts with several TV stations.

In particular, the famous BTS TV Station. Through some shady backroom deal, Inoue Hikoo had somehow gotten Alien Baby Hikari-chan a prime-time slot.

The promotional PV was already airing on TV, too.

Its top-tier production quality, the buzz around Alien Baby, Inoue Hikoo voicing the lead, and Shuya's whole family appearing together had all stirred up quite a bit of discussion.

The line Shuya had thought of before, "Life is short, girls, fall in love," had also been included in the PV by Inoue Hikoo. The lyric from the Taisho era became a hit, bringing Alien Baby Hikari-chan along with it.

Inoue Hikoo really was a promotional genius—shameless enough to boot.

The only problem was that Inoue Hikoo had thought himself bald trying to come up with a better name than "Alien Baby Hikari-chan," so he'd had to stick with it.

All of Shuya's moms, big sisters, aunties, grandmas, and great-grandmas among his fans had already claimed the TV for that day, adding a whole crowd of viewers out of nowhere.

Before long, the first Monday in April arrived.

At seven in the evening, Shuya brought some snacks to the Quintuplets' house to watch the premiere.

Shuya and the Quintuplets sat in a row facing the TV. He'd already watched the finished episodes several times, so for him, watching the premiere was mostly a matter of ritual. He didn't care that much about it.

What Shuya cared about more was the Quintuplets' reaction.

Inoue Hikoo had positioned Alien Baby Hikari-chan as a heartwarming family show, especially one aimed at women.

The nuanced, character-driven story should have been right up their alley.

There was another selling point to Uesugi Yuichi's character, one Shuya only figured out later.

He was devoted to one person.

That was a quality many men in the Earth Federation lacked. With polygamy in place, men tended to have wandering hearts, even though most couldn't afford to take a second wife.

But that didn't stop them from running their mouths.

Uesugi Yuichi's inability to forget his late wife really stood out.

Only after he figured that out did Shuya understand how much Inoue Hikoo was willing to pander to the audience to make the anime a success.

Times were changing. More women had entered the workforce, and their economic power was growing. Inoue Hikoo had his eye on that trend and was hungrily eyeing the money in their pockets.

The upbeat opening theme of Alien Baby Hikari-chan began to play. To save money, Inoue Hikoo had Hanazawa Sakura sing both the opening and ending themes, and had Ayako Ishikawa compose the music and write the lyrics at half price.

After the opening, the beautiful animation unfolded.