270 I Just Received a Phone Call from Your Grandfather (1/2)
Later that night, Seiji told Hisashi Juumonji about how ”Romance of Ice and Fire” had agreed to join them and set up a chat group, adding all three of them as members.
”It's great that Ice and Fire Sensei is willing to join us! Could I ask how you found Idle Fish? And why was it that you agreed to join us?”
”No need to use honorifics; you can just call me Ice and Fire,” Yukari typed in the chat group. ”I'm actually real-life friends with Idle Fish and knew that he was the author of Become Handsome. When you told me that the game scriptwriter would be the author of Become Handsome, I was astonished and told him about the fact that I'm actually an artist. After discussing it with him, I felt that it would be interesting to create a game together with you guys, so I agreed to join in.”
”I see... such a subtly wondrous connection of fate!” Hisashi exclaimed.
”Indeed, I was shocked to find out that my friend was the artist Ice and Fire; I never expected someone right beside me could turn out to be a potential collaborator,” Seiji typed. ”I chatted a lot with Ice and Fire at lunch today, and here's what we came up with for the game's storyline...”
Seiji explained what he and Yukari came up with during lunchtime to Hisashi.
”Two traps secretly competing against each other... this definitely sounds interesting! I give my full support to this story!” Hisashi even added several emoticons with excited expressions. ”Please go ahead with this storyline! Let's also add suspense and novelty to make the story even fiercer, deeper, and impactful!” Hisashi then added a few hot-blooded passionate emoticons.
”Suspense is a definite yes, but as for novelty...”
”I object! I don't wish to draw bloody scenes, and I've never drawn them before.”
”Isn't it good for artists to try topics they've never practiced before, Ice and Fire Sensei? Also, it can even be an advertisement for the game: we can promote it as 'a new, unprecedented genre fro Romance of Ice and Fire; she aims to surpass her limits!” Hisashi was clearly very passionate about this topic.
Yukari fell silent.
”Sweet Pig, no need to be so forceful with your requests. Perhaps Ice and Fire will want to try new things in the future, but not now,” Seiji typed. ”I think that just adding suspense will be fine and that adding novelty is slightly overboard.”
”If Idle Fish says so, then I'll retract my request. My apologies, Ice and Fire Sensei.”
”No, Sweet Pig-san,” Yukari responded, ”you didn't say anything wrong. Artists should challenge their own boundaries without fear. But... now is not the right time for me. I don't have any interest in drawing such a style.”
There was a brief moment of silence in the chat group.
”Got it.”
”Then this humble one shall continue searching for people,” Hishashi said. ”We still need to find a music composer for our game. Also... should we get an office for ourselves?”
An office... Seiji blinked at this proposal. ”Ice and Fire, what do you think?”
”I... think it won't be necessary.”
As he expected, she didn't want to reveal herself.
”I think it's unnecessary as well. Let's forget about the office, then.”
”This humble one simply wanted all the team members to be together and happily work in the same room... but if neither of you are interested, it's fine.” Hisashi sent an emoticon of regret.
”Actually, I'd also like an office, but Ice and Fire doesn't want to expose their true identity; please understand.” Seiji secretly sent a message to Hisashi. ”Also, don't expose the fact that this artist is currently a student at Genhana High School.”
”Got it! No worries, Seigo.”
...
One day later.
After the final period was added, he stared at the screen for a long while before finally removing his hands from the keyboard, stretching, and letting out a huge sigh of relief.
It was complete!
He'd finally finished writing this story!
Seiji felt a sense of satisfaction and achievement comparable to running a marathon after completing his draft.
He scanned over it one more time to confirm that there were no obvious errors like missed words before calling Shika over.
Shika sat down in front of the computer and began reading the story. Her eyes grew brighter and brighter as she immersed herself in the story.