Originally, Jiang Hang thought this would be nothing more than an ordinary interview.
But after realizing that this world might not be limited to Detective Conan, his perspective had subtly changed.
If this world truly contained more anime characters he had once known before transmigrating…
Then the experience would be extraordinary.
After all, when a character from the world of anime appears right in front of you—and you can personally witness the story unfold beside them—very few people could resist that kind of opportunity.
Detective Conan was certainly a classic series. Many of its cases had even been childhood nightmare material for Jiang Hang.
However, the anime had been running for more than twenty years, yet the timeline of the main story had progressed by less than half a year.
Endless cases appeared one after another.
It was difficult to feel the satisfaction of watching a story gradually unfold when events constantly reset with every new case.
Shirobako, on the other hand, had once been a fairly popular anime.
It featured beautiful animation and was one of the rare series centered on the animation industry itself.
Naturally, Jiang Hang was quite familiar with it.
At first he hadn't made the connection, so he didn't recognize the name immediately.
But now that he had recalled it, information about the character quickly resurfaced in his memory.
The story of Shirobako was actually quite simple.
It followed five girls who loved animation, each pursuing their own dreams.
As the story progressed, each girl walked a different path within the animation industry.
Shizuka Sakaki dreamed of becoming a voice actress.
Her role in the early part of the story was fairly limited, and most of her scenes involved failed auditions.
Throughout the series, she continuously faced setbacks.
Only near the end did she finally achieve her debut, making her story a bittersweet journey that ultimately ended in success.
"Hm…"
Jiang Hang looked at the resume again.
"It says here she just graduated from a voice acting training school and hasn't signed with an agency yet."
"That means the storyline probably hasn't started yet."
Jiang Hang murmured quietly.
Back when he had watched the show, he even remembered posting comments online saying things like "Poor red-haired girl."
And now, several years later, he was about to meet her in person.
Even more strangely, he would be the one interviewing her.
The feeling was… quite surreal.
With countless thoughts swirling through his mind, Jiang Hang eventually relied on Meditation to calm himself enough to fall asleep.
The next morning, he woke up before the system alarm even rang.
Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, Jiang Hang carefully tidied up his appearance.
Then he spent an unreasonable amount of time standing in front of his wardrobe, repeatedly choosing and rejecting outfits for the afternoon interview.
By the time he finished, the entire morning had passed.
At some point, Jiang Hang suddenly realized something.
He didn't look like someone conducting interviews.
He looked more like someone being interviewed.
Finally, when the appointed time arrived, Jiang Hang went to the intermediary agency early and waited patiently inside a meeting room.
The first person to arrive, however, wasn't Shizuka Sakaki.
Instead, it was another girl.
Yuno Kisaragi.
When the girl walked into the meeting room with a visibly nervous expression, Jiang Hang didn't pay much attention at first.
In truth, he had already decided to hire Shizuka Sakaki.
This interview was mostly a formality.
Still, Jiang Hang remembered something she had written on her resume.
"I want to become someone special."
Although her background seemed completely ordinary.
She was a typical girl from the countryside who had entered an average university in Tokyo.
After graduation, she simply wanted to find a job and remain in the city like any normal person.
If there was anything unusual about her…
It was that she had reportedly failed more than twenty job interviews.
Of course, that detail wasn't written on the resume itself.
It came from the background information provided by the agency.
Sure enough, the pressure from those repeated failures was obvious.
When Jiang Hang began asking questions, Yuno Kisaragi was so nervous that she almost stumbled over the most basic self-introduction.
Jiang Hang felt slightly disappointed.
The girl who had boldly written "I want to become someone special" on her resume… only had this level of confidence?
"I noticed something on your resume," Jiang Hang said calmly.
"You wrote that you want to become someone special."
"What kind of person do you think counts as 'special'?"
This was Jiang Hang's final question.
To be honest, he no longer expected much from this candidate.
But unexpectedly, when she heard the question, Yuno Kisaragi seemed to fall into deep thought.
"It's a memory from when I was little…"
She spoke slowly.
"I was standing in a grand palace hall somewhere. Many people were cheering and offering blessings."
"A shining crown was placed on my head."
"The happiness and excitement I felt at that moment…"
"Even now, I can't tell whether it was a dream or something that really happened."
She described the memory with such warmth that it seemed she had completely forgotten this was still an interview.
Only after finishing her story did Yuno Kisaragi notice the strange expression on the young interviewer sitting across from her.
"…?"
Oh no.
I accidentally said what was on my mind again.
He must think I'm completely weird.
This interview is ruined.
Yuno Kisaragi screamed internally.
This was already her thirtieth interview.
Just yesterday, her family had called and informed her that they would stop sending living expenses starting next month.
Right now, all the money she had—both in cash and in her bank account—didn't even reach one thousand yen.
If she failed to find a job soon, becoming someone special would be the least of her concerns.
She might literally starve to death in Tokyo first.
While the girl's thoughts were filled with despair…
Jiang Hang's mind was experiencing a completely different storm.
The moment he heard that story about the palace and the crown, it had sounded strangely familiar.
And when she finished speaking—
He finally remembered.
The name Yuno Kisaragi wasn't particularly distinctive.
He had almost overlooked it.
But wasn't this the protagonist of another anime produced by the same studio behind Shirobako?
The series called Sakura Quest.
Compared to Shirobako, however, Sakura Quest had never achieved the same popularity or reputation.
After it finished airing, discussions about the show gradually disappeared.
Jiang Hang personally liked the animation style of that studio, so he had watched the entire series back then.
But several years had passed.
For a moment, he hadn't even remembered the protagonist's name.
Fortunately, her mention of that strange memory about being crowned as a king had finally triggered his memory.