December 31st, the last day of the year.
At the cinema, the *Demon Slayer* theatrical film was still in its hot run. However, most of the employees at L.S Produ and its subsidiary companies had already taken their leave, with only a few remaining on a rotating shift to handle any unexpected emergencies.
As the president, Lin Zhiyan, of course, didn't lead by example and work overtime.
After breakfast, he sat on the sofa and silently began reading the newspaper.
Japanese people had the habit of subscribing to and reading the newspaper daily. Lin Zhiyan hadn't always had this habit, but as the president of a major company managing several subsidiaries, it was now necessary for him to occasionally browse mainstream newspapers to stay informed about current events and economic trends.
In the yard, his wife, Mayumi, was tending to the plants, with their elementary-school-aged son, Hideki Hayashi, helping her. Their middle-school-aged daughter, Lin Youxiang, was on the other sofa, engrossed in her phone, chatting with someone.
Thirteen-year-old Lin Youxiang was already a graceful young beauty. Standing 163 cm tall with delicate, well-defined features and a balanced, slender figure, she was a member of the school's Art Club. However, due to her strong athletic ability, sports clubs often recruited her to help out during competitions.
Combined with her sunny, cheerful, and energetic personality, as well as her excellent academic performance, she was incredibly popular at school.
Rumor had it that many boys—and even some girls—had a crush on her.
However, the Lin household had a strict rule: no dating before high school. Lin Youxiang herself had no interest in dating, so the issue of "puppy love" never even arose.
But just because it hadn't happened didn't mean Lin Zhiyan, the ever-vigilant "old-school father," would let his guard down.
Seeing Lin Youxiang staring at her phone screen with a joyful smile, he couldn't resist asking, "Who are you chatting with so happily?"
"Friends," Lin Youxiang replied without looking up.
"Boys or girls?" Lin Zhiyan pressed.
Lin Youxiang didn't think much of it and answered casually, "Both. We're in a fan group—a fan exchange group."
"A fan group? Whose fan?" Lin Zhiyan immediately became alert.
He was very concerned about and knew his daughter well, but he'd never heard of her being a fan of anyone.
If it were a female celebrity, that would be fine, but if it were a male celebrity...
He'd heard that some male celebrities would seduce their fans, even daring to make a move on underage girls. That would be disastrous.
Just as he was thinking this, he suddenly heard Lin Youxiang say, "Yours."
"Huh?" Lin Zhiyan was momentarily stunned.
"It's a fan group for you. A senior at my school started it. By the way, that senior is also the head of our school's art department, and her painting skills are incredible—even better than mine," Lin Youxiang explained in detail.
Lin Zhiyan froze for two seconds, thinking to himself, *So the male celebrity is me. That's a relief.*
After finally processing the information, he couldn't help but complain, "Someone at your school actually started a fan group for me? Really?"
"It's true, but there are only fifty or sixty people in the whole group, and not all the members are from our school," Lin Youxiang confirmed.
"Are you sure those people are really my fans?" Lin Zhiyan asked skeptically. "Not just pretending to be my fans to get into the group for you or your Senior?"
It was a classic move to fake a shared interest in an idol to get closer to a girl. Even if Lin Zhiyan had never used the tactic himself, it didn't mean he wasn't aware of it.
Lin Youxiang seemed to have anticipated his doubt. She replied without hesitation, "I was only invited to the group two days ago, and it already had this many people. So, no one joined for me. As for whether they joined for Senior... that's harder to say, but I don't think so."
She paused, then explained, "Everyone uses nicknames in the group, not their real names. And although it's an invite-only group, it doesn't seem like Senior invited many people herself. Most of them probably don't even know what she looks like. Besides, I've seen their messages—they're pretty 'professional.' They must be your real fans."
As she spoke, Lin Youxiang swiped a few times on her phone screen and then handed it to Lin Zhiyan for him to see.
Lin Zhiyan put down the newspaper and looked at the screen of his daughter's phone.
The group's name was: "Lin Zhiyan Unofficial Fan Exchange Group."
The chat history started from the moment Lin Youxiang joined the group. First, a group of people welcomed her, asking Lin Youxiang which of Lin Zhiyan's works she liked. Lin Youxiang replied: "I love every single one."
As soon as she said this, some people in the group became suspicious and said they wanted to test Lin Youxiang. They asked all kinds of questions about Lin Zhiyan's works, but Lin Youxiang was able to answer every single question quickly. This made the people in the group have no choice but to admire her, calling her things like "This newcomer is definitely a true fan," "Admirable," and "Can't beat her."
Lin Youxiang also showed off many limited collector's edition BDs of Lin Zhiyan's animations, which made the people in the group feel envious again.
After that, there were related topics about "Demon Slayer: Mugen Train" and "Uma Musume 2."
Among them, the related topic about "Uma Musume 2" was like this:
"There's still about a week left until we can see "Uma Musume" again, so happy."
"Too bad they're changing the main characters. Special Week and Silence Suzuka aren't the leads anymore."
"Tokai Teio and Mejiro McQueen are pretty good too. Even though they didn't get much screen time in the first season, I still really like them."
"I specifically looked up Tokai Teio and Mejiro McQueen. It feels like the two real-life horses they're based on have even more legendary stories. Maybe the anime will be even better than the first season after all."
"I heard the Uma Musume mobile game is also launching in February. If they throw in a few cards, maybe this anime's average volume sales will actually surpass EVA's."
"You're dreaming. The 'King's Power' of a mobile game can at most add 50,000 or 60,000 to the anime's sales. No more than that."
"50,000 or 60,000? How did you figure that out?"
"Isn't that the sales for Granblue Fantasy? Even when Granblue Fantasy was at its peak, it only sold 50,000 or 60,000. Even if Uma Musume becomes the top mobile game in Neon, it's impossible for the second season's average volume sales to surpass EVA's."
"Hard to say. Before the Demon Slayer Theatrical Film was released, I didn't think its box office would surpass Spirited Away either, but it actually did."
***
Lin Zhiyan watched for a while, finally understanding.
*They're actually quite "professional."*
Those who hadn't spoken in the group chat didn't know, but those who had were definitely true fans.
"By the way," Lin Zhiyan suddenly realized something. "Does your senior know I'm your father?"
After all, as a public figure, Lin Zhiyan had never appeared at Lin Youxiang or Hideki Hayashi's school. For any parent-child activities, Mayumi, as the mother, always attended.
Of course, there were people at the school who knew Lin Youxiang was Lin Zhiyan's daughter, but they were all people who had known him long before, not through Lin Youxiang.
Under these circumstances, the senior shouldn't have known that Lin Youxiang was his daughter.
However, in response to his question, Lin Youxiang simply nodded. "She does. But I didn't tell her. She found out from some source herself."
"Is that so?" Lin Zhiyan frowned.
He was a bit puzzled, but it seemed she wouldn't be broadcasting it, so it wasn't a major issue.