Lunch break.
After gently declining an invitation from female classmates to eat lunch together, Kasumigaoka Utaha walked toward the game club room with her laptop in her arms.
She had been discussing with Aki Tomoya these past few days, and the game's script had been confirmed. The general direction was set, and what remained was considering issues regarding plot development.
Branch storyline options, as well as the final endings displayed under different choices—all of these needed to be decided quickly.
In this game club, although Aki Tomoya as the producer wasn't exactly professional in ability, and some of his requests and viewpoints seemed somewhat chaotic with personal biases mixed in, Kasumigaoka Utaha still patiently gave him full indulgence. In areas where she could compromise and make modifications, she made every effort to satisfy the producer's ideas.
The roles between them seemed reversed, as if Aki Tomoya were an experienced producer while Kasumigaoka Utaha was the inexperienced newcomer.
From the beginning, the game production that Aki Tomoya had proposed on a whim seemed like a reckless endeavor to Kasumigaoka Utaha, but she didn't have many complaints about it.
Insufficient funding, unprofessional personnel, incomplete equipment—most importantly, the initiator Aki Tomoya didn't have a clear, detailed project proposal. He only provided the slogan "I want to create a beautiful girl romance game that will make all players' hearts flutter," while everything else remained undetermined.
Not enough money, project undecided, script pending—please look forward to it.
If anyone else had invited Kasumigaoka Utaha to such an activity that obviously seemed like a waste of time, she would have refused outright. But since the initiator was Aki Tomoya, it was different.
She would choose to help because she had reasons to do so.
As a rising light novel author, Kasumigaoka Utaha's journey on the creative path hadn't been smooth sailing.
When her debut work "Love Metronome" Volume 1 was first released, Fusukawa Publishing didn't promote it, so both the work's sales and reader feedback were mediocre. Her assigned editor even made the pronouncement of cancellation after three volumes, telling her to prepare mentally.
The feeling of having dreams doused with cold water was undoubtedly unpleasant. Combined with what she was experiencing at that time, negative emotions of discouragement, disappointment, gloom, and unwillingness came one after another.
The confident masterpiece she was proud of hadn't gained readers' recognition—such a blow was fatal for a creator.
During that period, Kasumigaoka Utaha fell into a cycle of self-doubt, even developing the extreme thought that she might not be suited for writing light novels.
Then, quite unexpectedly, a turning point came.
TAKI, a somewhat famous blogger online, suddenly began vigorously promoting "Love Metronome" with all his effort.
Perhaps it was this blogger's promotion that worked, or maybe the bookstore saw the book's potential—"Love Metronome" was placed in a prominent position, followed by dramatically different results.
The novel collection that had previously been ignored became a super popular hot commodity, to the point of being in short supply.
The moment her excited editor called with good news, Kasumigaoka Utaha felt as though she were dreaming—that feeling of dramatic ups and downs was like flying from an abyss to the clouds.
Afterward, when Kasumigaoka Utaha learned by chance that the blogger who had supported her was Aki Tomoya, her favorable feelings and gratitude transferred to him together.
It was Aki Tomoya who helped Kasumigaoka Utaha fulfill her dream, so conversely, when Aki Tomoya had a goal he hoped to achieve, she would choose to provide the same help.
What was owed must be repaid.
This was Kasumigaoka Utaha's principle of conduct.
Whether toward him or anyone else, it was the same.
...
Kasumigaoka Utaha slowly walked to the club room entrance, but saw Eriri leaning against the window sill on one side of the wall, lost in thought. Her azure blue eyes gazed into the distance, and the two golden twin tails hanging behind her had a beautiful luster.
Even Kasumigaoka Utaha had to admit in her heart that this was indeed someone who could easily make men's hearts flutter.
She took a light breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, the complex emotions were gone.
"Hasn't Tomoya arrived yet?"
Looking at the tightly closed classroom door, Kasumigaoka Utaha guessed.
Hearing the familiar voice, Eriri turned around and nodded upon seeing who it was.
This situation occurred occasionally. Although this classroom was freely lent to them for club activities, after use, they still needed to lock the door properly, and the key was generally kept by club president Aki Tomoya.
"How long have you been waiting?"
"About ten minutes or so. I don't know where that guy went."
"I'll go get the spare key from the faculty office. It's not very far."
Kasumigaoka Utaha said this.
"I don't have anything else to do anyway, so I'll come with you."
Eriri caught up from behind and stood beside her, and the two walked together.
After knocking and receiving permission, they entered the faculty office together. Kasumigaoka Utaha took down the spare key from the wall with the whiteboard stand as background and wrote her name where she had taken the key. When returning the key later, she could erase her name.
While waiting on the side, Eriri boredly twirled her hair ends with her fingers and inadvertently heard some news that concerned her.
Hiratsuka Shizuka: "Who were you just on the phone with?"
Sakata Gintoki: "That guy Murakami Yuu. He called me this morning saying he seemed to have a fever and needed to rest at home for a day. I just called to check how he's doing now. I was thinking of visiting him after work, but from what he said, it seems unnecessary—he said sleeping in the afternoon would be fine..."
"Sawamura-san."
The call beside her ear brought Eriri back to her senses. Kasumigaoka Utaha glanced at what she had been staring at, then turned back.
"We're returning to the club room."
"Oh... okay..."
Bringing her attention back, Eriri returned to the club classroom with Kasumigaoka Utaha.
Soon after, Aki Tomoya and Kato Megumi also arrived. Once everyone was present, they began discussing game production.
However, Eriri didn't seem very energetic throughout, making almost no comments during the discussion and remaining distracted the entire time.
Fortunately, this discussion was almost entirely about text and plot, which didn't have much to do with her as the CG artist responsible for original artwork.
This obvious situation was clearly noticed by the other three people present. After the discussion ended, Aki Tomoya was the first to speak:
"Eriri, are you okay? You don't seem very energetic."
In the past, this caring inquiry might have made Eriri involuntarily happy, but now she felt nothing like that at all.
"No, I'm fine. Don't worry."
Eriri shook her head and slowly stood up.
"If the discussion is over, I'll head back to my classroom first."
Aki Tomoya watched her obviously insincere reaction, opened his mouth wanting to say something more, but she had already left her seat and walked to the back door.
"Sawamura-san!"
Kasumigaoka Utaha called out to her in a voice louder than usual.
Eriri turned back with a puzzled expression.
Kasumigaoka Utaha slowly clenched her fists under the table, but still said softly:
"If you're worried, then go see him."
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