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Later that night, Seiji had a chat with Hisashi Juumonji over the internet. They hadn’t talked for a long time.
The last time he chatted with his otaku friend about Kaede, the incident with Shika had occurred, so he hadn’t contacted Hisashi until now.
“Have you found an artist yet?” Seiji asked.
“During this time, I’ve contacted many artists over the internet, but only a few have shown any interest in helping to create our game, and most of them are more concerned about their salary than wanting to cooperate. The ones that are willing to cooperate have all requested to see our game storyline first before making a decision.”
“Hmm… that’s understandable.”
“That’s why, Seigo, we need a storyline! At the very least, we need a general direction in order to convince others to join.”
“A storyline… I have some ideas, but haven’t put pen to paper yet.” Seiji told Hisashi about how he was currently busy writing his own novel and how he’d already had a short story of his published already.
“Oh, you actually had your story published; that’s quite something! This is definitely something that will convince others to join our venture!”
“Your younger sister knew about this a long time ago; didn’t she tell you?”
“I haven’t talked to Kaede much recently. How’s she doing?”
“From what I can tell, pretty good. She’s enjoying her job as infirmary nurse and health teacher, according to her.”
“That’s good, then.”
A moment of silence fell between them.
“I’d like to discuss a few options with you about the storyline,” Seiji said, restarting the topic of the dating sim game they planned to create together. “Basically, we need to discuss and decide the overall direction to take. Do you think a normal romantic comedy would be good, or do you want to do something special and more unique?”
“Please explain the other options in detail,” Hisashi said.
“The candidates I have in mind… include mystery and suspense.” Such asHigurashi .
“A heartwarming family story.” Such as Clannad .
“A boy in female clothing story.” Such as Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru .
“A love-triangle story.” Such as White Album .
“A magical monster story.” Such as Shakugan no Shana .
“An SM story.” Such as _____ Nurses .
“A harem conflict story.” Such as School Days .
“Those are all the candidates I have in mind,” Seiji said. “If you have any good ideas, feel free to bring them up as well.”
“No, I think that you’ve given me plenty of options already!” Hisashi sent him an amazed emoticon. “Seigo-sama, which do you like the best?”
“Why are you suddenly using honorifics with me? I personally like the normal romantic comedies the best, but if I were forced to choose from the latter options, I think the heartwarming family story is my type!”
“You’re quite normal.”
“That’s because I’m a pure and honorable gentleman!”
“How about the truth in your heart?”
“What I want is the most blissful and wonderful harem of all! The main character and all the female characters are all in love, and their lives together are wonderful, with no misfortune whatsoever! I prefer to toss all the strange things in the garbage bin and completely dispose of any bad thoughts!!”
“Being ‘normal’ to such a degree is actually a bit scary.”
“That’s who I am! How is it? You have any objections!?”
“Nope, this humble one truly respects you.”
“That’s more like it. I’ve already exposed my likes now—how about you?”
“Please allow me to keep it private…”
“Say it!!”
“I personally like the topic of traps! For a cute boy to wear female clothing and disguise himself in a school for girls is both interesting and has plenty of space for imagination, and creating a harem while masquerading as a female and a false lesbian is just scratching the surface! This topic definitely deserves to have greater development—for example we can combe it with SM, mystery and suspense, a love triangle, and harem conflict in order to build a deeper plot!!
“SM and mystery rank second and third in my personal list! The first helps me vent all my desires, and the latter stimulates my brain cells! My fourth and fifth are a love triangle and harem conflict! Winners in life should all sink into endless suffering! Be jealous of each other, hate each other, fight each other, and kill each other! Your explosions are my source of joy!!”
“You’re really quite a dark one.”
“That’s just who this humble one is! How is it? Any objections!?”
“None, I respect your courage for telling me upfront.”
Hisashi sent Seiji a series of moved emoticons followed by a handshake emoji. Seiji retorted with a series of shiny emoticons followed by a handshake emoji.
The two of them managed to have a heart-to-heart conversation across their computer screens.
Then, they finally calmed down and began seriously discussing the content they intended to create.
“In order to attract the audience and create a good first impression, some special topic is still going to be necessary,” Seiji said, sighing. “An excellently written romantic comedy story is the most attractive and will reach the widest audience, but it naturally lacks an impact that can draw in the audience at first glance.”
“Indeed,” Hisashi agreed. “It is difficult to appeal to the masses with merely the synopsis of a romantic comedy, and right now we need to appeal to them more than anything in order to attract an excellent artist who’s willing to cooperate with us.”
“Then let’s just use the boy-in-female-clothing trope that you’re so fond of,” Seiji said. “To be honest, I’m not really into this trope myself… but I admit that it can be interesting, and it’s worth trying to write.”
“Ohh, Seigo-sama!” Hisashi sent a series of excited and grateful emoticons.
“As for anything else, I’ll consider it appropriately… let me think a little more about it.”
“Alright! This humble one sincerely awaits!!”
…
The next morning, during class time.
Seiji received a message from Yukari Asamiya, saying that she wanted to meet up.
“Sure, but how come?” Seiji replied in this manner.
“I have something to say to you,” she told him.
Seiji wondered what it could be.
After class, he walked out of his classroom and headed for Year 1, Class 3, where he met the purple-haired girl.
“I’d like to reserve Harano-san’s lunch time for today.”
“What?” Seiji blinked in surprise.
“Harano-san, you always eat together with Uehara-san and Wakaba-san, right? This time, I’d like to have Harano-san all to myself. I request that you leave them this one time and eat together with me.” Yukari smiled. “It’ll just be the two of us eating lunch.”
“Er… isn’t it fine to have everyone eat together?”
“Nope,” the purple-haired beauty said with a trace of amusement in her voice. “I have something important to tell Harano-san… something that they can’t know about.” She raised a finger to her lips and made a shushing gesture.
This small gesture paired with her tone was quite alluring. Seiji was inwardly shaken.
“What important thing?” he asked.
“You’ll know when it’s time, but I’ll give you a small hint for now…”
Yukari walked closer to Seiji, who reflexively tried to retreat, but she caught him by the sleeve. She edged up super close to Seiji’s face and whispered something, looking into his eyes.
Seiji almost lost himself in her beauty and the faint fragrance that hung about her, but he clearly heard what she said and raised his eyebrows in response.
“That’s what it is, so I’ll see you then, Harano-san.”
After leaving him with her hint, Yukari released his sleeve, backed away, flashed a moving smile, and then turned around and left.
Seiji watched Yukari enter her classroom.
He never expected to hear that… Could it be… various guesses flashed through his mind.
And as for the other students, they only saw the purple-haired beauty and the handsome boy speaking oh-so-close to each other, then separating with a slightly intimate and mysterious atmosphere around them. It was akin to a teenage romance scene out of a movie.
“Class 3’s ‘Princess’ and Class 5’s ‘Magic-Devouring Dragon…'” a bystander muttered.
“What did they say to each other?” another asked.
“I heard that the ‘Princess’ confessed to the ‘Magic-Devouring Dragon’ during the school festival, but got rejected.”
“I heard this rumor as well, but then what’s up with this situation?”
The spectators kept gossiping.
Seiji didn’t pay any attention to this and left Yukari’s classroom, only to see Mika and Chiaki waiting for him.
“Seigo, what happened?”