At night—
Having played our hearts out, we all took respective showers, and changed back to our normal clothes, participating in an almost too luxurious dinner.
At first glance, it was obvious we were dealing with fresh sushi, egg white carpaccio, boiled red snapper, orient clams grilled with charcoal brazier and shrimps, and in the middle of the dinning table an enshrined crab. Unparalleled seafood, is what you could call it.
“This is so delicious…slurp.”
“This feels like I’m eating in the Imperial Palace! Can I just eat all of this?!”
“The 100% Japanese sake! Kanaria-san really understands what’s important!!”
Following Mashiro’s initial comment, both Iroha and Sumire showed great pleasure at this banquet in front of them. Though I narrowed my eyes at the cost evaluation—
“Hehe~ How is the quality of Kanaria-chan’s catering service [Maritime Diner]?”
“So that’s why you didn’t come to the beach.”
Kanaria puffed out her chest in pure arrogance, and Ozu nodded along in assent. To that, the girl clicked her tongue as she waved with her finger.
“Kanaria-chan had to had to finish Makigai Namako-sensei’s script, chirp.”
“So fast! Are you serious?”
“Becoming a genius editor, something of this level is no difficult feat. Well, getting the feedback right away wouldn’t allow Sensei to take a breather either, so Kanaria-chan will be so graceful as to give him until the date changes.”
“That’s barely six hours though.”
She made herself sound kind with that, but that’s only to hide the devilish schedule, huh. Then again, that in itself made me feel respect for her. No matter how much I improve, or work efficiently, reading the 200kb (around one normal book) manuscript, and writing the feedback comments takes me at least 6 hours. We came to the Kanaria Residence at around 3pm, so barely four hours had passed.
She’s an existence far above me. Just what do I have to do in order to catch up with her? Then again, let’s leave the serious thoughts out for now. For a party like this, you have to properly celebrate. Iroha and Mashiro had high-class tomato juice, found in this very Kanaria Residence, with them, fully prepared.
“Everyone, do you have a drink with you~?”
“I’m always ready!”
One of them held not a small glass, but a full 1.8 litres bottle, but let’s ignore that. Checking that everyone was ready, Kanaria nodded and clicked her fingers.
“Okay, then let’s get this party going, chirp~”
“What are you doing…?”
“Music…Start!”
Da-da, dadara, da-da, dadara~ A music that could lower your IQ started playing. Together with the music, Kanaria slowly approached Mashiro in a dancing manner.
“Before the toast, let Kanariachan introduce the members, chirp~ First, she will begin with her favorite little Mashiro-chan~ She’s a shut-in and ultimate loner, but her literary talent is the real deal! She held back on going on a trip she really wanted to attend, and finished her manuscript like a really good kid. Looking forward to working with you, chirp~”
“Eh? Wait? What kind of development is this now?”
Left alone as quickly as she was introduced, Mashiro blankly stared at Kanaria, who already walked towards her next target.
“The next member is the ace artist of the [5th Floor Alliance]~ Your name was Murasaki Shikibu-san? Non non, Murasaki Shikibu-sensei, of course. Be it shota, lolis, or handsome guys, she draws everything with high quality, chirp~ Maybe Kanaria-chan should request you in the future? So please, let’s get along~”
“I don’t really get it, but it feels like I’m being praised, so I’ll take it? Cheers to that!” Sumire took a cheerful sip from her bottle…So you’re already doing a toast?
Turning in circles, Kanaria arrived next to Ozu.
“This is the genius engineer Ozu, also called Kohinata Ozuma-kun. Seducing office ladies with his sweet mask, does perfect work with any sort of task. He’s still filled with secrets, making Kanaria-chan want to know more about his hidden side, chirp. We’ll just go and deepen our friendship from now on~”
“Nice to meet you. My hidden side is pretty hollow, though.” Ozu shrugged with a smile where probably only I could tell if he was serious or joking.
Kanaria didn’t pay that much mind, as she once again danced on, this time towards me.
“Thanks for waiting, my leader Ooboshi Akiteru-kun. Splitting up your time to protect the others, asking for efficiency in every action you take. In our battle for Makigai Namako-sensei, Kanaria-chan is your rival, but please treat her well~”
“So you want to continue a positive relationship, huh.”
In the midst of her banter, I could spot her gazing at me, with the eyes of a thieving cat. But I calmly ignored her provocative manners. Kanaria saw this and let out a snicker, as she made her way to the final member—and froze up.
“Yes yes?”
Standing there was Iroha, who looked like an excited puppy, wagging its tail. She was openly showing how much she was looking forward to being introduced in an equal energetic manner. However—
“………”
“Yes yes?”
“…………”
“Yes yes yes yes?”
“………………”
“Yes yes yes…yes…?”
“Sorry, Kanaria-chan has no idea about you, chirp.”
“So merciless?!”
“Well, sorry~ Kanaria-chan looked into—heard a lot from the [5th Floor Alliance] through Makigai Namako-sensei, but unlike the previous members, she only knows your name and a bit of your personality, chirp.”
“Hmpf. Give me back all my excitement!”
“Sowwy~ She’ll give you a proper present later, so forgive Kanaria-chan~” Kanaria put both her hands together as she showed a wink.
Being treated like this, even the small devil Iroha honestly gave in, and pouted with her lips.
“Either way, let us celebrate the wonderful encounters we had with everyone here, and—Cheers!”
“““““Cheers!”””””
Together with Kanaria’s high-pitched voice, the curtains raised for the nightly banquet in the Kanaria Residence.
*
“It wasn’t about Cthulhu praising the monsters of the sea…”
“I totally get that. The reverse of a cheeky shota makes my blood boil with passion.”
“Lovecraft’s stories are born from hate towards the sea, as well as fear towards the unknown.”
“Exactly. The turn-around does have good and bad parts to it.”
“It’s fundamentally different from the novels of Mash—Makigai Namako, who truly loves the sea and all its inhabitants.”
“Every person working on doujinshi has their own touch to it, with their very special fetishes, making each and every single one worth a read.”
“There’s those who don’t get the beauty of that at all, and just give a 1-star review for no reason—”
“And suddenly it’s just burning up…”
“—Really, that self-proclaimed upper caste is such a pain.”
“—Really, that self-proclaimed upper caste is such a pain!”
“How can you two talk about the most different topics, but end up at the same conclusion, chirp?!”
“This is what happens when Sumire-sensei and Tsukinomori-san get drunk. Ah, Tsukinomori-san didn’t drink any alcohol of course, she just got drunk off this atmosphere.”
—As I heard trifling conversations, I sat in the lounge alone, enjoying the calm breeze. Seeing that the party went on perfectly without me, I faded into the background, and left them behind. I don’t hate an enjoyable atmosphere like that, but I wasn’t planning on spending more time on it than necessary. Leaning against the railing with my arms, I had my smartphone in one hand.
Currently, what was going around in my head were ideas for a new possible character in [The Night The Black Goat Screamed]. I was planning on ending this with just a normal trip to the sea, being home at this point in time to work on that. But, with the roundabout happening at the Village Kageishi, we lost that important time, and now with all this partying…
“The negotiations with President Tsukinomori should be going well…I’d love to keep that going…”
The greatest index of the game we, the [5th Floor Alliance], create, aren’t sales. Naturally, we do earn a bit of money through our activities, but not nearly enough as much as we could, considering the fact that this might be in the mobile game genre, but not a gacha game. The reason we haven’t implemented such a system that would allow us to efficiently earn money quickly is because this is the method the most further away from what I aspire.
Our only model of income is built through advertisements in-game, items in the game, as well as money for the various characters’ episodes. Showing advertisements when the player wants to revive quicker after a game over, handing out correct maps, but besides that, new characters get added for free, or stories from ex-characters…Special stories from Makigai Namako-sensei being the most popular in the regard.
Well, I wouldn’t care if they play it for free, because I’m not looking for any profit in this. Just gathering fans that would support us. The moment we desire to earn large amounts of money, we can’t win against the big companies. What was most important was getting our skill and talent, albeit being only a weak 5-man team, admitted by a big company, and fortifying our IP with popularity.
“What should I do about the new character…”
Normally, I would have Murasaki Shikibu-sensei, Makigai Namako-sensei, or Ozu share their ideas, but…I need a new stimulus. The variations of characters I could come up with were pretty stale, and we already had something similar before.
“Maybe take Kanaria-san as a model? Her character is pretty rich…No, better not.”
Her character might be rich and interesting enough, but I feel like it’ll just get annoying right after we implement it. Just thinking of phrases for her would require double the amount of calories for my brain.
Squish.
Out of the blue, I felt the cold sensation of aluminium on my cheek.
“…What do you want.”
“I thought that you might be tired, Senpai, so you get a supply drop from your Kouhai.”
“…It’s just a normal re* bull. Does this actually work?”
“It sure does~ I put all my heart into it after all! That makes it more delicious and effective!”
“Isn’t this sweet enough already.”
…How do I say it, it feels calming.
For now, I accepted that blue can from Iroha, opening it up to take a sip. The carbonic acid sizzled inside my mouth, giving me the sensation of a soft trip, when Iroha rested her back against the railing.
“Somehow, you’re acting weird ever since [then]. Are you conscious of it?”
“…What are you talking about.”
“My my, trying to cover it up again~ Well, leaving aside the jokes for now. Um…how do I say it. If you happened to be conscious of it, or if it made things awkward, then I was just thinking that you could forget about it if necessary.”
Iroha slightly averted her gaze, her lips shaking a bit. Remembering the time back from the love shrine, I could feel my own body temperature rising.
“Don’t sweat it. I already forgot about it.”
“But, it started ever since then, right? You acting weird…”
“Adding to that, a lot of stuff just happened, and it tired me out. You don’t have to worry about me quitting being your producer or anything.”
“I’m actually not worried about that in the slightest. Just, [being tired], isn’t that rather rare for Senpai?”
“I’m not some super human.”
“Not realizing it quickly enough is the biggest problem, I tell you. Look, even now you’re working on your smartphone.”
“Ah, hey”
Iroha took my moment of weakness to lift up my smartphone.
“If you’re stuck, then how about I give you some ideas of mine as well~? What kind of attribute do you need this time around? A tsundere? Kuudere? Or something eccentric…Huh?”
“It’s as you can see.”
Opened on the smartphone was just one app to edit texts. And, several topics were lined up: [Name] [Gender] [Age] [Personality] [Outer appearance] [Concept]. All of them empty.
“I’m not stuck in some particular actual direction. Well, there’s still some time to consider it, so I’m going to carefully plan this out.”
“I see………”
Returning my phone to me, Iroha was bored as she pushed her finger tips together. Five seconds, ten seconds, fifteen seconds, time passed, as she just looked like she had problems saying something. If I didn’t speak up now, I knew very well that Kohinata Iroha was the type to not speak up herself. Having no other choice, I tried pushing the conversation a bit.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’ll help you. Coming up with ideas for the new character.”
“Haha, where did that come from. Keep phrases that would bring about a rainy storm or a death flag to yourself.”
“How cruel! Even though I was just trying to be nice!” Iroha puffed out her cheeks.
Of course, I perfectly know that she can be kind as well. I’m not doubting her at all. And that’s exactly why—
“This is my job. If I even let you, our voice actress, help me in my own work, I’ll lose any reason to stand here.”
“I’m the same.”
“Eh?”
Turning around, Iroha’s face was far lower than I imagined. She had slid down her back along the railing.
“Before when Kanaria-san couldn’t introduce me, I realized that she was right.”
“………”
“Since I want to keep my identity a secret from Onii-chan, I can’t enter the [5th Floor Alliance]. I’m the mysterious voice actor X. Most of the talk of the [5th Floor Alliance] is happening in LIME, so I can’t be in there either. I just happen to be in the room by pure coincidence, but I’m not participating at all.”
“If you want, I can just introduce you as an assistant. I’ll just have to think of an excuse for Otoha-san…”
“No, there’s no need for that. Putting more lies over lies is not what I want…Just, I want to make something together with Senpai for the [5th Floor Alliance], some achievement. Hehe, a half-baked creator wanting a trophy, imagine that.” Iroha scratched her cheek with a troubled smile.
Her expression showed no annoying factor at all. If left alone like this, she’ll lock her opinion away. And I will not forgive that. In order to break that painful expression, I spoke up.
“How is this half-baked. Aiming for an achievement is top-class.”
“Senpai…”
The color in Iroha’s voice went up by just a bit. I can understand how depressing it can be to not have any named achievements in a group you’re participating in.
“That being said, the planning of [Black Goat] is pretty tough.”
“No cutting corners, no compromise, right.”
“Yeah. We have to create characters that everybody can love, and nobody has ever seen before…Also, now that you said you’ll do it, you’ll have to show me some real imaginative power, alright?” I snorted, and gave Iroha a provocative grin.
That was a necessary ritual. By showing opposition, I tell my Kouhai that she can come at me to take me down.
“…! H-Huh, so Iroha-chan can get serious, then?”
“Of course. Any half-assed character would trouble us after all.”
“I’ll show you, Senpai! You’ll be baffled at what I will come up with! In the end, you’re still a virgin, and you’ll have a limit on how much you understand of a girl!”
“I didn’t tell you to badmouth me that much!”
“Ahahaha~” Iroha stood up from the ground to poke my cheek as she laughed.
It’s always her being annoying, but this is our natural type of communication. Catching up to the belated schedule after the time loss we experienced in Village Kageishi together with Iroha—in a certain sense, that is my type of youth.
But, I have yet to regret treading the path I had taken. Rather, I feel like I’m going stronger than ever, so this much should be forgiven. In a normal youth romcom, Iroha and I would thus create the best character with barely any trouble. If I was a god, writing our story, that would be the outline of the story.
That being said, I—No, we had forgotten. This world wasn’t fiction like manga, anime, or light novels. Ridiculously unplanned and unfortunate events would eventually stand in our way. After all, this was indeed…reality.
“—With this, the negotiations have finished, chirp. The new character in the next update of [The Night The Black Goat Screamed]—will be proposed by me, Kanaria-chan!”
“…Eh?”
“…Huh?”
Having steeled our resolve, Iroha and I decided to start our work from tomorrow onwards, but as we returned to the party room, we were greeted by this weird declaration. Before, the room had been in a festive mood, but that had vanished completely, as an odd silence reigned.
Sumire and Mashiro were sitting on the sofa, their faces cast downwards, not even trying to exchange glances with us. Ozu just flashed his usual grin, making you think that he actually had a part to play in this.
—Just what happened?
Kanaria glanced at both Iroha and me, and showed an arrogant grin.
“Taking from your regular update schedule, there should be a new character coming soon, so you’re probably preparing for that, right?”
“How do you…?”
“Don’t underestimate the super idol editor Kanaria-chan, chirp~ Taking a look at your release schedules, the data makes it easy to reverse the schedule.”
“But, that’s…”
“It shouldn’t be a bad idea for you, right? The character setting is already finished~”
“Wha…”
With these words, Kanaria showed me the screen of her phone. Shown on there was a perfect character setting.
“Kokuryuuinkugetsu. Female. 204 years old. On the outside, she looks like a super cruel and cool-beauty vampire. As the invincible immortal overpowered character, she is being feared by her surroundings, but in reality, as soon as you eradicate her life span, she can be killed normally, so she’s quite the coward. And there comes the gap and the selling point.”
Kanaria went ahead to read out the words on the file out loud. Her own hand-drawing? There were rough illustrations added next to the original text. There might be illustrators out there who would hate to have an image like this set the character design, but she probably goes through what kind of request she has, and if the creator in question would react negatively to that, and works accordingly.
After all, if my assumptions are correct, then she’s perfectly right. With this, her own motivation doesn’t go down even if the request’s details are ridiculously slim.
It’s too perfect.
The information density of the character design, an original character that comfortably fits into the world of [The Night The Black Goat Screamed] while still giving a new stimulus, grasping the hearts of the users right away. Everything is perfectly set up.
“Hey, Aki-kun. Together with this character design—how about you just let Kanaria-chan handle the illustrations, scenario, and new system?”
“…!”
“O-Of course you can’t!” The [5th Floor Alliance] is Senpai’s team, you know?!”
As I bit my lip, Iroha jumped in for me.
“Ehhh? But, OZ-kyun, Murasaki Shikibu-sensei, and Makigai Namako-sensei all agreed to it though~”
“When did you even have the negotiations?”
“Why did you think kanaria-chan opened up this banquet? The job is always done while drinking, isn’t that Japanese business?”
“Japanese business!!”
Seeing Kanaria puff out her chest in confidence, even Iroha was left unable to properly retort. Also, she was glorifying America’s influence before, and now she’s back to Japan?
“T-That’s not it, right? You didn’t betray us, right? Onii-chan, Sumire-chansensei! I can’t ask Makigai Namako-sensei because we didn’t exchange LIME contacts though!”
“Ah, Makigai Namako-sensei has no right to speak against this. This character is right up his alley after all~”
“~~~!! D-Don’t make it sound so perverted, Kanaria-san.”
Editor-san gave a broad coming-out for her author, whereas Mashiro of all people showed an embarrassed reaction.
“Hmmm…also, Iroha-chan. Why are you that against it, chirp? Isn’t this the best possible present for you?”
“I-I don’t understand! How is this supposed to be—”
“One week.”
“Eh?”
“In one week, Kanaria-chan will finish the character illustrations, the scenario, and the new system, chirp. With that, she can easily take care of Aki-kun’s schedule, and you can just take your sweet time to enjoy a break with him, chirp.”
“E-Ehhh…?”
With these words, Iroha lost a direction to direct her raised fist at, and just stared at me in puzzlement. Though, even if you look at me like that, I don’t know what to say either.
“Well, that’s how it is. Aki is just always overworking himself. Being able to give him a break once in a while would make me happy.”
“Ozu…”
“And, in the romcom sense, I really like Kanaria-san’s idea, so I’ll stay on this side of the field for now.” Ozu showed his usual carefree smile.
Next to him was Mashiro, who held her head in despair.
“Uuu…Mashiro also wants to enjoy summer with Aki…”
“Um, shouldn’t this be just fine for you, Tsukinomori-san?”
“Doesn’t matter. After all, Mashiro is—”
“Ahhhhhhhh stop right there! See, there’s some things you have to work over with your manuscript, so you’re better off shutting yourself in to rewrite that!”
“…Ah, yeah, that’s probably it.”
“Really, how could you forget, Mashiro-chan!”
Looking at the LIME chat of the [5th Floor Alliance], Makigai Namako-sensei is probably not against it either.
“That’s how it is. Not a bad reason, right, Aki-kun?”
Ozu, Sumire, Makigai Namako. Three of the main members, the most important members, are already in favor of it, on top of the new character basically being taken care of as well. Arguing purely on efficiency, there is no logical reason to reject this proposal. Yet again, I’m forced to realize that this woman, Kiraboshi Kanaria, the self-proclaimed super idol, isn’t this popular for no reason.
She understands the position of the other person during one’s business, fully follows every wish of the business partner, adding one’s own convenience to arrive at the best result possible. She’s got the basic down to the utmost level.
But, I don’t know what her goal is. What kind of benefit does she have from doing this? Is it to skillfully steal the members of the [5th Floor Alliance] from my hands? If so, what kind of action should I take, who always aims to give the [5th Floor Alliance] the greatest benefits?
“If we prolong our stay here for one week…Will you really finish creating the new character?”
“Of course, chirp~”
Kanaria answered my question with a straight gaze. Not even a second of hesitation, huh.
“Murasaki Shikibu-sensei always misses her deadlines, you know? Isn’t one week a bit unrealistic?”
“It’s fine, chirp. There has never been an illustrator who managed to stay out of Kanaria-chan’s grasp.” She gave a peace-sign.
Almost as if she wanted to show that, with a skill like that she possessed, she wouldn’t even need a week to create a high-quality product. No signs of panic on her face at all.
—I see, if she’s that adamant on it, then it can’t be helped.
“I understand, Kanaria-san. Please let us stay here—for another week.”
*
「How’s it feel to be locked in here for a week to endure the personal annoying experience?」
「Don’t even have the mental strength to think about that…」
「I guess having someone else basically do your job must be a complicated feeling?」
「…No, not as much. I think? As long as they can create the best possible product with the best possible efficiency, I don’t care too much」
「Even if you yourself aren’t part of it?」
「…Yeah」
「Strangely enough, this was the same question you asked president Midori back at the theatre competition」
「…Yeah. If the person themselves is fine with it, and the other person can provide equal or better results, then it’s not a bad thing. That’s why I became the stand-in for Midori」
「Then why are you feeling a bit complicated now?」
「…How would I know」
At night—
Having played our hearts out, we all took respective showers, and changed back to our normal clothes, participating in an almost too luxurious dinner.
At first glance, it was obvious we were dealing with fresh sushi, egg white carpaccio, boiled red snapper, orient clams grilled with charcoal brazier and shrimps, and in the middle of the dinning table an enshrined crab. Unparalleled seafood, is what you could call it.
“This is so delicious…slurp.”
“This feels like I’m eating in the Imperial Palace! Can I just eat all of this?!”
“The 100% Japanese sake! Kanaria-san really understands what’s important!!”
Following Mashiro’s initial comment, both Iroha and Sumire showed great pleasure at this banquet in front of them. Though I narrowed my eyes at the cost evaluation—
“Hehe~ How is the quality of Kanaria-chan’s catering service [Maritime Diner]?”
“So that’s why you didn’t come to the beach.”
Kanaria puffed out her chest in pure arrogance, and Ozu nodded along in assent. To that, the girl clicked her tongue as she waved with her finger.
“Kanaria-chan had to had to finish Makigai Namako-sensei’s script, chirp.”
“So fast! Are you serious?”
“Becoming a genius editor, something of this level is no difficult feat. Well, getting the feedback right away wouldn’t allow Sensei to take a breather either, so Kanaria-chan will be so graceful as to give him until the date changes.”
“That’s barely six hours though.”
She made herself sound kind with that, but that’s only to hide the devilish schedule, huh. Then again, that in itself made me feel respect for her. No matter how much I improve, or work efficiently, reading the 200kb (around one normal book) manuscript, and writing the feedback comments takes me at least 6 hours. We came to the Kanaria Residence at around 3pm, so barely four hours had passed.
She’s an existence far above me. Just what do I have to do in order to catch up with her? Then again, let’s leave the serious thoughts out for now. For a party like this, you have to properly celebrate. Iroha and Mashiro had high-class tomato juice, found in this very Kanaria Residence, with them, fully prepared.
“Everyone, do you have a drink with you~?”
“I’m always ready!”
One of them held not a small glass, but a full 1.8 litres bottle, but let’s ignore that. Checking that everyone was ready, Kanaria nodded and clicked her fingers.
“Okay, then let’s get this party going, chirp~”
“What are you doing…?”
“Music…Start!”
Da-da, dadara, da-da, dadara~ A music that could lower your IQ started playing. Together with the music, Kanaria slowly approached Mashiro in a dancing manner.
“Before the toast, let Kanariachan introduce the members, chirp~ First, she will begin with her favorite little Mashiro-chan~ She’s a shut-in and ultimate loner, but her literary talent is the real deal! She held back on going on a trip she really wanted to attend, and finished her manuscript like a really good kid. Looking forward to working with you, chirp~”
“Eh? Wait? What kind of development is this now?”
Left alone as quickly as she was introduced, Mashiro blankly stared at Kanaria, who already walked towards her next target.
“The next member is the ace artist of the [5th Floor Alliance]~ Your name was Murasaki Shikibu-san? Non non, Murasaki Shikibu-sensei, of course. Be it shota, lolis, or handsome guys, she draws everything with high quality, chirp~ Maybe Kanaria-chan should request you in the future? So please, let’s get along~”
“I don’t really get it, but it feels like I’m being praised, so I’ll take it? Cheers to that!” Sumire took a cheerful sip from her bottle…So you’re already doing a toast?
Turning in circles, Kanaria arrived next to Ozu.
“This is the genius engineer Ozu, also called Kohinata Ozuma-kun. Seducing office ladies with his sweet mask, does perfect work with any sort of task. He’s still filled with secrets, making Kanaria-chan want to know more about his hidden side, chirp. We’ll just go and deepen our friendship from now on~”
“Nice to meet you. My hidden side is pretty hollow, though.” Ozu shrugged with a smile where probably only I could tell if he was serious or joking.
Kanaria didn’t pay that much mind, as she once again danced on, this time towards me.
“Thanks for waiting, my leader Ooboshi Akiteru-kun. Splitting up your time to protect the others, asking for efficiency in every action you take. In our battle for Makigai Namako-sensei, Kanaria-chan is your rival, but please treat her well~”
“So you want to continue a positive relationship, huh.”
In the midst of her banter, I could spot her gazing at me, with the eyes of a thieving cat. But I calmly ignored her provocative manners. Kanaria saw this and let out a snicker, as she made her way to the final member—and froze up.
“Yes yes?”
Standing there was Iroha, who looked like an excited puppy, wagging its tail. She was openly showing how much she was looking forward to being introduced in an equal energetic manner. However—
“………”
“Yes yes?”
“…………”
“Yes yes yes yes?”
“………………”
“Yes yes yes…yes…?”
“Sorry, Kanaria-chan has no idea about you, chirp.”
“So merciless?!”
“Well, sorry~ Kanaria-chan looked into—heard a lot from the [5th Floor Alliance] through Makigai Namako-sensei, but unlike the previous members, she only knows your name and a bit of your personality, chirp.”
“Hmpf. Give me back all my excitement!”
“Sowwy~ She’ll give you a proper present later, so forgive Kanaria-chan~” Kanaria put both her hands together as she showed a wink.
Being treated like this, even the small devil Iroha honestly gave in, and pouted with her lips.
“Either way, let us celebrate the wonderful encounters we had with everyone here, and—Cheers!”
“““““Cheers!”””””
Together with Kanaria’s high-pitched voice, the curtains raised for the nightly banquet in the Kanaria Residence.
*
“It wasn’t about Cthulhu praising the monsters of the sea…”
“I totally get that. The reverse of a cheeky shota makes my blood boil with passion.”
“Lovecraft’s stories are born from hate towards the sea, as well as fear towards the unknown.”
“Exactly. The turn-around does have good and bad parts to it.”
“It’s fundamentally different from the novels of Mash—Makigai Namako, who truly loves the sea and all its inhabitants.”
“Every person working on doujinshi has their own touch to it, with their very special fetishes, making each and every single one worth a read.”
“There’s those who don’t get the beauty of that at all, and just give a 1-star review for no reason—”
“And suddenly it’s just burning up…”
“—Really, that self-proclaimed upper caste is such a pain.”
“—Really, that self-proclaimed upper caste is such a pain!”
“How can you two talk about the most different topics, but end up at the same conclusion, chirp?!”
“This is what happens when Sumire-sensei and Tsukinomori-san get drunk. Ah, Tsukinomori-san didn’t drink any alcohol of course, she just got drunk off this atmosphere.”
—As I heard trifling conversations, I sat in the lounge alone, enjoying the calm breeze. Seeing that the party went on perfectly without me, I faded into the background, and left them behind. I don’t hate an enjoyable atmosphere like that, but I wasn’t planning on spending more time on it than necessary. Leaning against the railing with my arms, I had my smartphone in one hand.
Currently, what was going around in my head were ideas for a new possible character in [The Night The Black Goat Screamed]. I was planning on ending this with just a normal trip to the sea, being home at this point in time to work on that. But, with the roundabout happening at the Village Kageishi, we lost that important time, and now with all this partying…
“The negotiations with President Tsukinomori should be going well…I’d love to keep that going…”
The greatest index of the game we, the [5th Floor Alliance], create, aren’t sales. Naturally, we do earn a bit of money through our activities, but not nearly enough as much as we could, considering the fact that this might be in the mobile game genre, but not a gacha game. The reason we haven’t implemented such a system that would allow us to efficiently earn money quickly is because this is the method the most further away from what I aspire.
Our only model of income is built through advertisements in-game, items in the game, as well as money for the various characters’ episodes. Showing advertisements when the player wants to revive quicker after a game over, handing out correct maps, but besides that, new characters get added for free, or stories from ex-characters…Special stories from Makigai Namako-sensei being the most popular in the regard.
Well, I wouldn’t care if they play it for free, because I’m not looking for any profit in this. Just gathering fans that would support us. The moment we desire to earn large amounts of money, we can’t win against the big companies. What was most important was getting our skill and talent, albeit being only a weak 5-man team, admitted by a big company, and fortifying our IP with popularity.
“What should I do about the new character…”
Normally, I would have Murasaki Shikibu-sensei, Makigai Namako-sensei, or Ozu share their ideas, but…I need a new stimulus. The variations of characters I could come up with were pretty stale, and we already had something similar before.
“Maybe take Kanaria-san as a model? Her character is pretty rich…No, better not.”
Her character might be rich and interesting enough, but I feel like it’ll just get annoying right after we implement it. Just thinking of phrases for her would require double the amount of calories for my brain.
Squish.
Out of the blue, I felt the cold sensation of aluminium on my cheek.
“…What do you want.”
“I thought that you might be tired, Senpai, so you get a supply drop from your Kouhai.”
“…It’s just a normal re* bull. Does this actually work?”
“It sure does~ I put all my heart into it after all! That makes it more delicious and effective!”
“Isn’t this sweet enough already.”
…How do I say it, it feels calming.
For now, I accepted that blue can from Iroha, opening it up to take a sip. The carbonic acid sizzled inside my mouth, giving me the sensation of a soft trip, when Iroha rested her back against the railing.
“Somehow, you’re acting weird ever since [then]. Are you conscious of it?”
“…What are you talking about.”
“My my, trying to cover it up again~ Well, leaving aside the jokes for now. Um…how do I say it. If you happened to be conscious of it, or if it made things awkward, then I was just thinking that you could forget about it if necessary.”
Iroha slightly averted her gaze, her lips shaking a bit. Remembering the time back from the love shrine, I could feel my own body temperature rising.
“Don’t sweat it. I already forgot about it.”
“But, it started ever since then, right? You acting weird…”
“Adding to that, a lot of stuff just happened, and it tired me out. You don’t have to worry about me quitting being your producer or anything.”
“I’m actually not worried about that in the slightest. Just, [being tired], isn’t that rather rare for Senpai?”
“I’m not some super human.”
“Not realizing it quickly enough is the biggest problem, I tell you. Look, even now you’re working on your smartphone.”
“Ah, hey”
Iroha took my moment of weakness to lift up my smartphone.
“If you’re stuck, then how about I give you some ideas of mine as well~? What kind of attribute do you need this time around? A tsundere? Kuudere? Or something eccentric…Huh?”
“It’s as you can see.”
Opened on the smartphone was just one app to edit texts. And, several topics were lined up: [Name] [Gender] [Age] [Personality] [Outer appearance] [Concept]. All of them empty.
“I’m not stuck in some particular actual direction. Well, there’s still some time to consider it, so I’m going to carefully plan this out.”
“I see………”
Returning my phone to me, Iroha was bored as she pushed her finger tips together. Five seconds, ten seconds, fifteen seconds, time passed, as she just looked like she had problems saying something. If I didn’t speak up now, I knew very well that Kohinata Iroha was the type to not speak up herself. Having no other choice, I tried pushing the conversation a bit.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’ll help you. Coming up with ideas for the new character.”
“Haha, where did that come from. Keep phrases that would bring about a rainy storm or a death flag to yourself.”
“How cruel! Even though I was just trying to be nice!” Iroha puffed out her cheeks.
Of course, I perfectly know that she can be kind as well. I’m not doubting her at all. And that’s exactly why—
“This is my job. If I even let you, our voice actress, help me in my own work, I’ll lose any reason to stand here.”
“I’m the same.”
“Eh?”
Turning around, Iroha’s face was far lower than I imagined. She had slid down her back along the railing.
“Before when Kanaria-san couldn’t introduce me, I realized that she was right.”
“………”
“Since I want to keep my identity a secret from Onii-chan, I can’t enter the [5th Floor Alliance]. I’m the mysterious voice actor X. Most of the talk of the [5th Floor Alliance] is happening in LIME, so I can’t be in there either. I just happen to be in the room by pure coincidence, but I’m not participating at all.”
“If you want, I can just introduce you as an assistant. I’ll just have to think of an excuse for Otoha-san…”
“No, there’s no need for that. Putting more lies over lies is not what I want…Just, I want to make something together with Senpai for the [5th Floor Alliance], some achievement. Hehe, a half-baked creator wanting a trophy, imagine that.” Iroha scratched her cheek with a troubled smile.
Her expression showed no annoying factor at all. If left alone like this, she’ll lock her opinion away. And I will not forgive that. In order to break that painful expression, I spoke up.
“How is this half-baked. Aiming for an achievement is top-class.”
“Senpai…”
The color in Iroha’s voice went up by just a bit. I can understand how depressing it can be to not have any named achievements in a group you’re participating in.
“That being said, the planning of [Black Goat] is pretty tough.”
“No cutting corners, no compromise, right.”
“Yeah. We have to create characters that everybody can love, and nobody has ever seen before…Also, now that you said you’ll do it, you’ll have to show me some real imaginative power, alright?” I snorted, and gave Iroha a provocative grin.
That was a necessary ritual. By showing opposition, I tell my Kouhai that she can come at me to take me down.
“…! H-Huh, so Iroha-chan can get serious, then?”
“Of course. Any half-assed character would trouble us after all.”
“I’ll show you, Senpai! You’ll be baffled at what I will come up with! In the end, you’re still a virgin, and you’ll have a limit on how much you understand of a girl!”
“I didn’t tell you to badmouth me that much!”
“Ahahaha~” Iroha stood up from the ground to poke my cheek as she laughed.
It’s always her being annoying, but this is our natural type of communication. Catching up to the belated schedule after the time loss we experienced in Village Kageishi together with Iroha—in a certain sense, that is my type of youth.
But, I have yet to regret treading the path I had taken. Rather, I feel like I’m going stronger than ever, so this much should be forgiven. In a normal youth romcom, Iroha and I would thus create the best character with barely any trouble. If I was a god, writing our story, that would be the outline of the story.
That being said, I—No, we had forgotten. This world wasn’t fiction like manga, anime, or light novels. Ridiculously unplanned and unfortunate events would eventually stand in our way. After all, this was indeed…reality.
“—With this, the negotiations have finished, chirp. The new character in the next update of [The Night The Black Goat Screamed]—will be proposed by me, Kanaria-chan!”
“…Eh?”
“…Huh?”
Having steeled our resolve, Iroha and I decided to start our work from tomorrow onwards, but as we returned to the party room, we were greeted by this weird declaration. Before, the room had been in a festive mood, but that had vanished completely, as an odd silence reigned.
Sumire and Mashiro were sitting on the sofa, their faces cast downwards, not even trying to exchange glances with us. Ozu just flashed his usual grin, making you think that he actually had a part to play in this.
—Just what happened?
Kanaria glanced at both Iroha and me, and showed an arrogant grin.
“Taking from your regular update schedule, there should be a new character coming soon, so you’re probably preparing for that, right?”
“How do you…?”
“Don’t underestimate the super idol editor Kanaria-chan, chirp~ Taking a look at your release schedules, the data makes it easy to reverse the schedule.”
“But, that’s…”
“It shouldn’t be a bad idea for you, right? The character setting is already finished~”
“Wha…”
With these words, Kanaria showed me the screen of her phone. Shown on there was a perfect character setting.
“Kokuryuuinkugetsu. Female. 204 years old. On the outside, she looks like a super cruel and cool-beauty vampire. As the invincible immortal overpowered character, she is being feared by her surroundings, but in reality, as soon as you eradicate her life span, she can be killed normally, so she’s quite the coward. And there comes the gap and the selling point.”
Kanaria went ahead to read out the words on the file out loud. Her own hand-drawing? There were rough illustrations added next to the original text. There might be illustrators out there who would hate to have an image like this set the character design, but she probably goes through what kind of request she has, and if the creator in question would react negatively to that, and works accordingly.
After all, if my assumptions are correct, then she’s perfectly right. With this, her own motivation doesn’t go down even if the request’s details are ridiculously slim.
It’s too perfect.
The information density of the character design, an original character that comfortably fits into the world of [The Night The Black Goat Screamed] while still giving a new stimulus, grasping the hearts of the users right away. Everything is perfectly set up.
“Hey, Aki-kun. Together with this character design—how about you just let Kanaria-chan handle the illustrations, scenario, and new system?”
“…!”
“O-Of course you can’t!” The [5th Floor Alliance] is Senpai’s team, you know?!”
As I bit my lip, Iroha jumped in for me.
“Ehhh? But, OZ-kyun, Murasaki Shikibu-sensei, and Makigai Namako-sensei all agreed to it though~”
“When did you even have the negotiations?”
“Why did you think kanaria-chan opened up this banquet? The job is always done while drinking, isn’t that Japanese business?”
“Japanese business!!”
Seeing Kanaria puff out her chest in confidence, even Iroha was left unable to properly retort. Also, she was glorifying America’s influence before, and now she’s back to Japan?
“T-That’s not it, right? You didn’t betray us, right? Onii-chan, Sumire-chansensei! I can’t ask Makigai Namako-sensei because we didn’t exchange LIME contacts though!”
“Ah, Makigai Namako-sensei has no right to speak against this. This character is right up his alley after all~”
“~~~!! D-Don’t make it sound so perverted, Kanaria-san.”
Editor-san gave a broad coming-out for her author, whereas Mashiro of all people showed an embarrassed reaction.
“Hmmm…also, Iroha-chan. Why are you that against it, chirp? Isn’t this the best possible present for you?”
“I-I don’t understand! How is this supposed to be—”
“One week.”
“Eh?”
“In one week, Kanaria-chan will finish the character illustrations, the scenario, and the new system, chirp. With that, she can easily take care of Aki-kun’s schedule, and you can just take your sweet time to enjoy a break with him, chirp.”
“E-Ehhh…?”
With these words, Iroha lost a direction to direct her raised fist at, and just stared at me in puzzlement. Though, even if you look at me like that, I don’t know what to say either.
“Well, that’s how it is. Aki is just always overworking himself. Being able to give him a break once in a while would make me happy.”
“Ozu…”
“And, in the romcom sense, I really like Kanaria-san’s idea, so I’ll stay on this side of the field for now.” Ozu showed his usual carefree smile.
Next to him was Mashiro, who held her head in despair.
“Uuu…Mashiro also wants to enjoy summer with Aki…”
“Um, shouldn’t this be just fine for you, Tsukinomori-san?”
“Doesn’t matter. After all, Mashiro is—”
“Ahhhhhhhh stop right there! See, there’s some things you have to work over with your manuscript, so you’re better off shutting yourself in to rewrite that!”
“…Ah, yeah, that’s probably it.”
“Really, how could you forget, Mashiro-chan!”
Looking at the LIME chat of the [5th Floor Alliance], Makigai Namako-sensei is probably not against it either.
“That’s how it is. Not a bad reason, right, Aki-kun?”
Ozu, Sumire, Makigai Namako. Three of the main members, the most important members, are already in favor of it, on top of the new character basically being taken care of as well. Arguing purely on efficiency, there is no logical reason to reject this proposal. Yet again, I’m forced to realize that this woman, Kiraboshi Kanaria, the self-proclaimed super idol, isn’t this popular for no reason.
She understands the position of the other person during one’s business, fully follows every wish of the business partner, adding one’s own convenience to arrive at the best result possible. She’s got the basic down to the utmost level.
But, I don’t know what her goal is. What kind of benefit does she have from doing this? Is it to skillfully steal the members of the [5th Floor Alliance] from my hands? If so, what kind of action should I take, who always aims to give the [5th Floor Alliance] the greatest benefits?
“If we prolong our stay here for one week…Will you really finish creating the new character?”
“Of course, chirp~”
Kanaria answered my question with a straight gaze. Not even a second of hesitation, huh.
“Murasaki Shikibu-sensei always misses her deadlines, you know? Isn’t one week a bit unrealistic?”
“It’s fine, chirp. There has never been an illustrator who managed to stay out of Kanaria-chan’s grasp.” She gave a peace-sign.
Almost as if she wanted to show that, with a skill like that she possessed, she wouldn’t even need a week to create a high-quality product. No signs of panic on her face at all.
—I see, if she’s that adamant on it, then it can’t be helped.
“I understand, Kanaria-san. Please let us stay here—for another week.”
*
「How’s it feel to be locked in here for a week to endure the personal annoying experience?」
「Don’t even have the mental strength to think about that…」
「I guess having someone else basically do your job must be a complicated feeling?」
「…No, not as much. I think? As long as they can create the best possible product with the best possible efficiency, I don’t care too much」
「Even if you yourself aren’t part of it?」
「…Yeah」
「Strangely enough, this was the same question you asked president Midori back at the theatre competition」
「…Yeah. If the person themselves is fine with it, and the other person can provide equal or better results, then it’s not a bad thing. That’s why I became the stand-in for Midori」
「Then why are you feeling a bit complicated now?」
「…How would I know」
