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“Knight of Ice and Fire and Silver Knight have both applied to be voice actresses… won’t this be too much work for you two?” Seiji asked after he finally managed to get Hoshi and Hisashi to stop fooling around. “Since you’re also acting as our artist and music composer respectively, I think it’s too much to ask you to be voice actresses as well.”
“Perhaps,” Yukari said, “but I want to do this. Since I’ve already joined in, then I should do what I think would best add to this game instead of caring about my losses, don’t you think? Of course, making my request is one thing, and whether or not you approve it is another. If Milord feels that it’s inappropriate, I shall accept it as well.”
“I agree with Knight of Ice and Fire,” Rion and Kotomi said. “Everything should be decided by Milord.”
Seiji fell silent for a moment and contemplated the matter. “Sweet Pig Knight, what do you think?”
“It could be a problem if any of you are overburdened,” Hisashi responded, “but I agree with Ice and Fire Sensei. They should do as they feel best, rather than being concerned about their losses.”
“So you approve of their request?”
“I have no objections.”
Seiji fell silent again for a while. “You’re all absolutely certain that you can work as voice actresses on top of your other job?” he asked solemnly.
“I’m not certain, but I’ll try my best!” Yukari promised.
“Same for me,” Rion and Kotomi said.
“Alright… so we now have three voice actresses for three female characters: Phantom Knight, Knight of Ice and Fire, and Silver Knight.” Seiji came to this decision.
“You should make it four,” Chiaki said. “If the other two can be accepted as voice actresses in addition to their original positions, then I believe that Blue Sky Apprentice Knight should be accepted as well.”
“Hmm… that’s reasonable. Then, shall we formally initiate Blue Sky as an official knight?”
There were no objections. And so, Mika became an official member of their group.
“Now that we have voice actresses for four female characters, this humble one is of the opinion that with just one more, we’ll complete our female cast!” Hisashi said. “And this humble one just happens to have someone to recommend.”
“The person that you’re recommending… could she be…”
“It seems that our king instantly saw through me. That’s right! I’m about to recommend my younger sister who fills me with pride!!” Hisashi sent a brilliantly shining emoticon.
Yukari’s curiosity was piqued. “Sweet Pig Knight has a younger sister? What kind of person is she?”
“She’s a great beauty! Milord knows her in real life. As for her beauty and talent… not only am I proud of her as her older brother, even Milord recognizes her beauty and talent!”
“Yes… indeed,” Seiji admitted. Kaede Juumonji was indeed a beauty who had both looks and brains. “But is she really willing to do this?”
“I’ve already asked her. I wouldn’t have recommended her if she wasn’t willing. Milord, what’s your opinion on having her as the fifth female character?”
“I… think that it’s fine.”
“Then let’s invite her immediately!” Hisashi instantly sent Seiji Kaede’s internet ID for the chatting application.
Seiji added the ID “Merry-Go-Round” to their chatting group.
“Good evening, everyone. I’d delighted to be able to join you all. I shall do my best to do my part as well.” Kaede greeted them politely with a smiling emoticon.
Everyone else greeted her as well, and explained their group’s purpose and setting to her before they resumed their conversation.
“Back to the main topic, as for our game scenario… are we going to use my idea of writing the female characters’ route based on our voice actresses?” Seiji asked. “Does anyone have any other ideas?”
“I think that using Milord’s idea is fine; I have no other ideas.” Yukari sent an emoticon of approval.
Chiaki, Mika, and Rion and Kotomi sent the exact same emoticon.
Kaede asked about the specifics of the story, and Hisashi gave her a basic outline. After she understood, she agreed as well.
“Okay then, let’s go for this as the basic plot, and then write the overarching scenario,” Seiji said. “In that case, I’m going to need to have a personal discussion with each of our voice actresses… and before that, what’s everyone’s opinion the main theme—a boy disguising himself as a girl in order to secretly enter a renowned girls’ high school?”
Everyone unanimously agreed on this theme.
“Then it’s settled. This concludes the second meeting of the Knights of the Round Table!”
Seiji rose from his computer seat after ending the group chat. He intended to get himself a cup of tea.
He saw that Shika was quietly sitting at the table, sipping at some tea. Seiji sat down beside her, poured himself some tea, and took a sip.
“Shika-chan, do you have any good ideas about what to write next?”
“I do have some I think are good… but Brother, aren’t you currently working on your game’s storyline?” Shika looked towards him curiously.
“I do have to write that, but it doesn’t mean that I can’t work on both at the same time.” Seiji smiled. “I don’t have any intentions of writing a new work after finishing the game’s storyline. I want to continue writing together with you to the end.”
“Brother Seiji…”
“Tell me about the ideas that you think are good. Is it a second volume of Brother Monogatari, or a new story?”
Shika’s eyes lit up. “I have ideas for both.” She went back to her room and retrieved her notebook.
Seiji looked at the ideas that she pointed out to him. Compared to the rough ideas she had when he first asked her to come up with story ideas, these were much better planned out and mature.
The main plot point in the second volume of Brother Monogatari was Redfrost leaves.
The storyline would still be about an investigation of some mysterious magical item, discovering the truth, and resolving the incident—the style of the first volume would remain unchanged. There would be a mysterious atmosphere for the setting, with romance and tragedy injected into it as well.
The adopted older brother and adopted younger sister’s backgrounds and true relationship are expanded upon, and more mystery and suspense is added to their relationship.
And Seiji believed that the greatest selling point of Brother Monogatari’s second volume was that one of the female side characters from the first volume revealed her true identity as an exorcist! She got into intense conflicts with the main sibling characters.
At first, the adopted younger sister believed that as an exorcist, the other girl wanted to eliminate her adopted older brother who was possessed by a demonic spirit.
However, she later discovers that this isn’t the case. This exorcist girl’s real goal is to steal the demonic spirit so that it would possess her instead! She wanted to become undying so that she could be more powerful.
A demonic spirit was doing the job of an exorcist, while an exorcist was attempting to transform into a demon… it was a strange reversal of roles.
After finding out the truth behind the Redfrost leaves, the adopted older brother is on the verge of facing off against the culprit when the exorcist appears and voluntarily asks the culprit for some Redfrost leaves. Her goal was still the same: to become more powerful.
“Is it alright if you’re no longer a human after you become more powerful?” the older brother asks.
“Humanity… I wanted to discard it since long ago,” the exorcist replies.
The female exorcist had an obsession with the concept of getting stronger. After remaining silent for a while, the adopted older brother decides to attack the culprit first in order to destroy the Redfrost leaves.
The exorcist attacks the main character in order to prevent him from doing so.
After a fierce battle, the adopted older brother defeats the main culprit but is unable to destroy all the Redfrost leaves, and the female exorcist escapes with a portion of the Redfrost leaves.
Afterwards, when she reappears at school, everyone else still sees her as a normal, rather beautiful girl.
But in the adopted younger sister’s eyes, she has already transformed into a monster.
“As fellow demon comrades, let’s get along well with each other,” the former exorcist says to the adopted older brother, smiling.
“Why is it that you’re willing to sacrifice so much for the sake of power?” he asks.
“In order to become justice,” comes the answer.
Seiji felt that this female side character was quite charismatic. It was difficult to say whether she was on the side of good or evil, or whether she was an ally or an enemy. Although the main characters learn her true identity and goals, there was still a mysterious air around her, which matched the overall atmosphere of the story.
By the way, this character’s setting… he felt a subtle sense of deja vu.
“Shika-chan, did you base this female exorcist on a real person?” he asked.