That evening, Mayumi's parents, Nanase Yoichiro and Nanase Chie, came to Lin Zhiyan's home for dinner.
Nanase Yoichiro, now sixty-seven, was retired. As for Nanase Chie, she had always been a housewife, so the concept of retirement didn't apply to her.
Despite their age, both were still in good health. Nanase Yoichiro even insisted that Lin Zhiyan drink with him.
Left with no other choice, Lin Zhiyan complied and had a couple of drinks with him.
The television was on, broadcasting NHK's Kohaku Uta Gassen.
This was Japan's traditional New Year's Eve program.
However, this year was different from previous years. Due to the pandemic, Kohaku Uta Gassen was held without a live audience—the first time in its history.
"Without a live audience, it just feels like something's missing," Nanase Yoichiro remarked, watching the broadcast.
"The atmosphere! That's what's missing," Lin Youxiang quickly added. "Without an audience, there's no atmosphere."
Lin Zhiyan, however, didn't mind at all.
He didn't actually enjoy watching the Kohaku Uta Gassen. He felt that most of the songs were terrible and simply couldn't appreciate them. Only a few were even remotely decent.
The main reason he watched it was that there were no other programs on that night. The Kohaku Uta Gassen's ratings in Japan were so high that other TV stations basically gave up on their programming for the evening—even animations weren't broadcast.
It wasn't that he couldn't just put on a Blu-ray of a movie or something, but the problem was that while Lin Zhiyan didn't like the show, everyone else did. Under the circumstances, he couldn't very well be too domineering.
Of course, there were other reasons. For example, singers he knew or had even collaborated with often appeared on the Kohaku Uta Gassen with their relevant songs.
When *Your Name* became a massive hit, its theme song "Zenzenzense" had been performed on the Kohaku Uta Gassen.
When *Love Live!* was at the height of its popularity, several voice actors from the main group, μ's, also performed on the show.
In 2019, when *Demon Slayer* became a massive hit, its theme song "Gurenge," performed by LiSA, was featured on the Kohaku Uta Gassen.
Now, at the 2020 Kohaku Uta Gassen, with the *Demon Slayer: Mugen Train* movie also becoming a huge success, LiSA, the singer of its theme song, was once again invited to perform.
The 2020 Kohaku Uta Gassen began at 7:30 PM. As in previous years, it was divided into two halves, with a five-minute news broadcast in between.
LiSA appeared about 13 minutes into the second half. Before her entrance, there was a short introduction for *Demon Slayer: Mugen Train*, featuring scenes from the movie and the caption: "All-time highest-grossing film."
This was followed by an introduction of the theme song's singer, LiSA.
After the introduction, she made her official entrance.
The hosts of the song festival offered a few welcoming remarks before the performance began.
However, although the theme song for the Mugen Train Arc is "Homura," LiSA didn't start with it. Instead, she first sang "Gurenge," the song she had performed in 2019, before moving on to the movie's theme song, "Homura."
So, she sang two songs back-to-back this time, which was quite an honor.
The problem was that during the difficult opening lines of "Gurenge," the program director had the camera zoom in for a close-up of her face, clearly capturing the singer's contorted expression.
The stage background was a bamboo forest. Besides the singer herself, there were accompanying musicians and backup dancers.
The musicians looked perfectly normal, but the two backup dancers were dressed as ghosts, wearing black clothes, white wigs, and horns, dancing to the rhythm.
It was a bit comical.
"Homura," which followed "Gurenge," didn't have such backup dancers, so it looked much more serious. The background also changed from the bamboo forest to scenes from the Mugen Train Arc theatrical film.
After the performance, the next singer took the stage.
Since it was already past nine and he had already drunk two glasses of wine, Nanase Yoichiro said he couldn't stay up any longer and went to his room to sleep, accompanied by Nanase Chie.
Not long after they left, Hideki Hayashi also yawned, said "Good night" to the remaining three, and returned to his own room.
Lin Zhiyan wasn't sleepy at all, but after watching LiSA's performance, he lost interest in the rest of the show. He quickly took out his phone to reply to New Year's greetings and sent LiSA a message, telling her he'd watched the Kohaku Uta Gassen and that she'd sung wonderfully, and that he hoped they could continue working together happily next year.
*The distorted expression on his face?* No need to even mention it. Just pretend you didn't see it.
After replying to all his messages, Lin Zhiyan put down his phone and stared up at the ceiling, lost in thought about his life.
He had already achieved the goal of becoming the number one box office hit. Now, only one goal remained: becoming the number one in average disc sales per volume.
The potential of *Uma Musume* Season 2 was beyond doubt. He couldn't say for sure if it would be as popular as the version from another timeline, nor could he guarantee it would surpass *EVA* in average disc sales per volume. But if it did, that would be great. Even if it didn't, he probably wouldn't be able to make another TV animation that could surpass *EVA*'s average disc sales per volume in the future.
In other words, no matter what happened, everything related to this would be concluded within the year 2021.
What would he strive for in life after this was over?
Or maybe he should stop striving altogether and just coast along, releasing an animated film every four or five years to barely maintain his popularity, and spend more time cultivating a successor and preparing for retirement?
"What's wrong?" Mayumi, who had been watching TV just a moment ago, suddenly noticed Tomohiko's bewildered expression and asked him.
"I was just wondering when I should retire," Tomohiko replied in a half-joking tone.
"Ah! Dad, you're retiring so young?" Lin Youxiang looked at Tomohiko in surprise.
Mayumi was also a bit surprised: "What's wrong? Why are you suddenly considering this?"
"Of course, not retiring right now, but it's bound to happen sooner or later," Tomohiko smiled.
As he spoke, he looked at Lin Youxiang and asked, "Youxiang, have you thought about what you want to do when you grow up?"
Lin Youxiang asked back, "Dad, do you want me to take over your company in the future?"
"If you're willing, that would be best, but if you're not, I won't force you," Tomohiko replied.
Lin Youxiang considered it silently for two or three seconds before saying, "I'm actually a little interested, but it's still too early for that. Besides, I want to keep watching the animations you make, Dad."
As she spoke, she made a fist gesture: "Go for it, Dad! Aim to make animations for another twenty years."
"Twenty years..."
Lin Zhiyan's lips twitched slightly. *You really are my good daughter.*
But then again, it was indeed too early to consider this.
*I should focus on achieving that final goal first.*