In my first stroke of luck in days, my condition improved after a single good night's sleep. Even my shattered thought processes were finally starting to come together to form something that made sense. Not one of my problems had been solved, but at least I had a clearer idea of what I was going to do about them.
It was time to turn things around. I wasn't going to let anyone get away with messing with my sense of reality anymore. One by one, I'd set everything back to normal mode. The most efficient way to start things off would be to list my problems in order of priority, and the easiest way to do that would be to reconfirm my own priorities in life.
Number one was to get the 05th Floor Alliance a spot at Honeyplace Works. The biggest hurdle to that now was Mashiro's feelings, but as long as she wouldn't let me confront her directly, dealing with that would be difficult. That was something to leave for later.
I decided instead to tackle the second biggest threat: the future reception of Koyagi: When They Cry. I'd let my subconscious work out what I should do about Makigai Namako-sensei's scenarios, while actively I would concentrate on something more productive.
I waited until break time. The time my classmates were always up in arms about having forgotten their textbooks, or about how they hadn't finished homework. Meanwhile, I set about working on the voice scripts for the five new characters we had. The ones Sumire somehow managed to finish up early. I connected my keyboard to my phone and began to type.
Makigai Namako-sensei was in charge of Koyagi's story. However, I was the one in charge of creating their stock battle and UI phrases. Coming up with long-winded stories was something I didn't have the talent for, but coming up with unique lines for each character like this wasn't beyond me. At first, Makigai Namako-sensei looked over any lines I wrote before
eventually deeming my skills "overwhelmingly adequate" and letting me take full control over it.
I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be a compliment or not, but not needing his approval anymore did make the process a whole lot quicker, and allowed him to focus fully on the main story.
"Okay, I think I'll take a small break now."
"Nice work, Aki. I'm done going over the illustrations too," Ozu called from behind me as I stretched.
"Thanks, Ozu. Whaddya think?"
"Lookin' good. Characters like these are really popular right now, and she even put all these little details in like the accessories and stuff. Murasaki Shikibu-sensei really did good. I don't think we'll have any issues with censorship overseas either."
That's one load off my mind...
Ozu always checked the scenarios and illustrations once I was done. I wouldn't be happy approving anything without at least a second pair of eyes going over it.
"Nice. Well, I just finished writing up these lines, so could you look 'em over too?" I asked.
The new characters were all pretty striking in their personalities and behaviors. There was one girl who lost her brother when she was young, and who was now extremely clingy with younger men; as well as an elderly lady who got off on seeing people losing their minds to paranoia. Then there was the guy who looked like a total scoundrel with his muscles and mohawk, but who was secretly really into girly stuff.
Anyway, you get the picture. They were all kinda out there, but it meant that their lines were easier to write.
"This girl with the whole brother complex kinda hits too close to home." "Huh? She's supposed to be super creepy."
"The other day, I was approached by a girl just like her, near the station.
She thought I was her brother, who went missing ten years ago."
"If that ain't a set-up for a dating sim..."
"It's fine in a game, but in real life, it's kinda creepy."
"Maybe that's how women come onto men these days. What did you say
to her, anyway?"
"I just took her to the police station."
"Ouch..."
Even when Ozu had girls throwing themselves at him at every turn, he never failed to completely crush them. Though I guess in this particular case the police were the right choice. That, or the hospital.
"It made sense to me, y'know? I told her the police could probably help find her brother, but then she cheesed it before we even got there."
"Damn, that means she could still be out there. She reminds me of that other girl, actually. The older one who asked you to be her younger brother."
"Oh yeah. I took her to the cops too. Y'know, I get these kinda girls mistaking me for their brother all the time. Maybe one of my parents is living a double life or something."
"I mean, that would explain how you ended up with a sister like Iroha."
Ozu was handsome enough to turn every single head as he walked by. Getting hit on was not a rare experience for him. Though the girls who did go up to him were always weirdos who acted like they were straight out of a visual novel, so it was no wonder he often complained about them. That didn't stop even more from coming out of the woodwork, though.
"'Kay, I've gone through the scripts now too." Ozu gave a satisfied nod. "That was fast!"
He must've been looking at them while we were talking.
"These are great. All super in-character," he said.
"Glad to hear it."
"Still, I didn't think you'd have it in you to write such an effeminate guy like this."
"Thanks, but you don't have to comment on it."
Having someone else look over something I wrote made me really self- conscious, like they were reading my thoughts directly. I would never be as confident as Makigai Namako-sensei, who could just write whatever he wanted and enjoyed without inhibition. I guess you could say confidence was what he really had going for him.
"Anyway, these are super good. The lines are perfect, and they match the character designs well. You really can do anything, huh, Aki?"
"Maybe, but not well. If I had any real talent, I'd be specializing in something instead of just picking up the loose ends. If Makigai Namako- sensei had the time, I'm sure he'd be able to come up with way better lines than these."
"Filling in for other people is a talent, y'know."
"Listen, if I was as great as you think I am, I could make this game by myself."
"Man, why'd you always have to be so modest?"
Even as we bantered, neither of us stopped in our work. As he checked the voiced lines, Ozu input them into a screenwriting software so they could be recorded later. It was a homebrew program. It made the lines easy to read for the voice actress while leaving enough space for notes, and assigned each line a file number so the sound engineer could manage the recordings better.
Otoi-san was the one who requested the file-numbering system, saying the program was too difficult to work with before. She demanded very kindly that we change it, or she'd kill us. Nowadays, she only got mad and made death threats whenever we asked for her help when she was otherwise occupied. I liked to see that as an improvement.
Ozu and I continued to work at a steady pace, and soon the break after third period was over. After taking so much time off yesterday, I was worried about how much catching up I needed to do, but it wasn't that bad in the end. In fact, it was a little easier because I managed to rest my overworked brain for a bit. Iroha would be able to record the new lines as soon as this afternoon. I opened up LIME and shot both her and Otoi-san a message.
AKI: Sorry for the short notice, but do you guys think you could do the new voiced lines for me after school today?
Iroha: Uh, I dunno. I'm not really feeling it. But if you got down on your knees and begged to hear my beautiful voice, I might consider it.
Her reply angered me, so I ignored it for the time being.
Otoi: 20 Suckies.
It didn't take Otoi-san long to reply either. I should probably explain. Suckies were an American candy that Otoi-san particularly liked. They were a famous brand of lollipop with a super loud and annoying commercial. Otoi- san worked for candy, not cash.
AKI: That's a lot of sugar. Do you want diabetes?
Otoi: Don't say that.
AKI: I'm just worried about your health.
Otoi: Doesn't matter. Can you get me the 20 Suckies or not? AKI: Okay...
Otoi: Nice one. See you in the studio!
And so our negotiations were complete. She had me in the first half when she suddenly got mad, but luckily nothing came of it. Though Otoi-san got offended about random things pretty easily, she was much more mature than Mashiro or Iroha, and could get over it very quickly. This time, it was the mention of "diabetes" that set her off. Last time it was because I asked her for some "water-splashing" sound effects. I still couldn't tell you what about that made her mad, especially since when I asked for sounds of people "walking underwater" she was totally fine with it.
Anyway, it was all solved when I asked her just to tell me outright if I said something that offended her, so we could just fix things there and then. A simple "don't say that," or "don't bring that up," was enough to get the message across.
"Diabetes..."
I had a list on my phone of topics or words to avoid around her. Here they were so far:
Water-splashing sound effects "Deal with it."
Swans
"Just leave it alone."
(Water) Leaks
Anything overly poetic
Diabetes
There was no pattern to these things whatsoever, but that didn't stop me
frowning at them and trying to work them out from time to time, like I did now.
Just then, my phone buzzed. It was Iroha.
Iroha: Don't just leave me on read!
Iroha: You don't wanna hear my heavenly voice?!
Iroha: Look, just apologize and I won't stay mad. Then you can beg me
to do the lines today!
Apparently, Iroha didn't like being ignored. Who'da thunk it?
At least she was being her usual self over LIME, and not doing her whole perfect-honor-student shtick. It was a relief, to be honest, and it was with a peaceful sigh that I left her on read once again. Ignoring her was the best way to deal with her when she went on one of her spamming sprees. As usual, it didn't take long for her to message me again.
Iroha: Okay, fine! I'll come do your dumb recording!
It went just as smoothly as I thought. Though Iroha took every opportunity she could to get on my nerves, at least she was serious when it came to her work. Even if I ignored her or sent her reams of abuse, she would never skip out on a recording if she could help it. I could almost see her growling and grinding her teeth at her phone.
The thought made me smile. That'd teach her for being so weird lately.
AKI: Thanks. Looking forward to your take on these characters.
My reply was short, sweet, and topped with just a sprinkling of motivation. Iroha replied by sending me a sticker of a grumpy anime character. That was fine by me, since we had all our players for the recording session now.
Fourth period eventually came to an end, signaling the start of lunchtime. Since it was on my to-do list anyway, I quickly glanced at the desk next to mine to see if Mashiro might miraculously be in the mood to chat.
She was scowling at her phone, typing something with lightning-fast movements. It was clear that she didn't want to be disturbed. She was curled over her desk like a prickly hedgehog, and not even our classmates had the guts to approach her. Mashiro must've been talking to someone on LIME— whoever it was, it looked like they were about to get an essay. Oh, but wait. Mashiro liked writing stories, right? That'd make more sense. I decided not to get in her way.
I'd planned to reply to her confession in person, but if she kept this up, texting her over LIME instead became a very real consideration. In any case, I wasn't planning on tackling it today, so I shoved it back to the bottom of my list.
The next problem was Makigai Namako-sensei's scenarios. I asked him to redo them over LIME yesterday, but it kinda felt like he didn't get it. It was like I could see him now, hunched over his laptop as he wrote sheet after sheet of diabetic fluff for the sake of what he seemed to consider "justice."
If only I knew where he lived, I could go in there and physically restrain him from writing anything else, but I didn't know. I just wanted to get him to write the horribly dark stuff he used to be so good at, without having to have a bunch of awkward conversations with him on LIME. The last thing I wanted was for him to be all demotivated.
I stepped out of the classroom, ready to go and have my usual lonely lunch
of bread.
"Ooboshi-kun."
I was stopped by Kageishi-sensei, who seemed to be waiting for me
outside the classroom. Right now, she was dressed like every single teacher you've ever seen in a stock photo.
"Is something wrong? I thought you weren't teaching us today."
"I wanted to ask whether you were feeling better."
"What? Oh. Oh, yeah. I had a good sleep last night, so I'm basically back
to normal."
"I'm glad to hear it. Let's go, then."
"Go where?" I asked to Sumire's back, which was already clacking away. She turned around, setting her sharp gaze on me. "Don't ask. Follow. You
made me a promise, right?"
"A promise? ...Oh!"
She did say something like that, didn't she? That she wanted a reward for
finishing up her deadlines early. Kind of cheeky, seeing how this was the first deadline she ever actually kept, but whatever this request was, it must've meant a lot to her if she was willing to break such a longstanding tradition.
"Got it. But this better be good."
"It is. It's..."
We were speaking quietly, ignoring the whisperings of the students around
us wondering just who this nameless guy was with the scariest teacher in the school. Sumire's gaze softened under her carefully made-up eyelids.
She sighed. "It's about my future." ***
The fourth floor of our science and arts block was known as No-Man's Land. The first three floors were filled with labs, records rooms, music and crafts rooms, as well as computer rooms, and a library. The fourth floor, however, was totally empty. It was a place of chaos and confusion, unbound by rules and social norms. None of the classrooms were in use. Instead, it was a dumping ground for unused tables, chairs, and an assortment of all sorts of things, courtesy of every other floor. On top of that, the students adopted an attitude of "it's a junk heap anyway, so who cares," leading them to throw their empty cans and candy wrappers all over the place up here.
It got so bad that the principal eventually lost his temper, and now it was a no-go zone for students.
But, well, Sumire was leading me directly into this hellhole. We stepped over the yellow tape that cordoned off the stairs, and I could feel my heart thumping with a delicious guilt as we climbed the stairs.
It was like we were entering a whole new world. Why would she even take me here? If she wanted to talk privately, she could've just called me to the counseling office like always; though I guess this place was even more out of the way than that.
Once we were in the hallway, Sumire finally stopped and opened one of the windows.
"Come on, start rallying!" A peppy female voice came floating up through the crack in the window.
From the sounds of it, the tennis court was right behind this building. The girls' tennis team had to be pretty eager if they were starting practice the moment lunchtime began. I looked down at them, watching as their lives played out completely opposite to ours.
"Ooboshi-kun," Sumire began, a serious tone to her voice. "You can see those young girls down there making the most of their youth, can't you?"
"Yeah. So?"
"I wonder if you can try putting yourself in their shoes for a second. Imagine giving up your entire precious lunchtime and devoting it all to excelling at tennis."
"Yeah. Our girls' tennis club is one of the best around."
"Maybe so, but even then there's only a slim chance that any of them will go on to play professionally. The rest of them might achieve glory at an inter- high tournament or something, but that will be it. How much is that worth, really? Don't you think it's a bit of a waste of time?"
"Depends on the person, I guess. You'd never catch me joining a sports club, though. Not in a million years."
If someone chose to devote their entire life to a single sport, then maybe they could end up becoming a professional. But that was for people who were naturally sporty and suited for that kind of thing. I wasn't, and so there really wasn't any point in me joining a club like that. Even if I gave it my all, I could already see myself hitting my limit pretty quickly, making the entire idea completely inefficient and pointless.
Sumire nodded when she heard my dismissive response. "That's right. I'm exactly the same."
"Look, I don't really get where you're going with this. Mind getting to the point?"
"One of the other teachers has gone on maternity leave."
"Right..."
She sure was taking her sweet time to explain what the heck she wanted
withme.
"I'm happy for her, of course, in a way... But you see, everything in this
world is set to a certain equilibrium. It's like how you can't just create energy from nothing. The same applies to happiness. The level of happiness in the world is constant. When one person is happy, someone else has to become unhappy to compensate."
"Uh, I guess you could see things that way. So is this philosophy lesson over yet?"
"Let me be frank."
"Oh good, I was waiting for that."
The next second, Sumire was on her hands and knees with her forehead
plastered to the floor.
"Please help out the drama club!"
There was silence. An empty packet of potato chips tumbled by.
Come again?
"Where did that even come from? Were you just trying to waste my time?
Or were you trying to make me mad with all that waffle?"
"Eeeek! Ow! Ow! Ow! Stop jabbing your toe into my pressure point!
Aaaaaah!"
I stuck my foot into the point just above her tailbone, causing her to flop to
the ground with her eyes rolled back and her tongue lolling out. She began to twitch on the floor.
"Y-You brat! D-Do you like making me kneel in fr-front of you like this?!"
"Don't take this the wrong way. I simply struck a channeling point that'll fix your messed up pelvis, since you've been ruining it by hunching over a desk and chugging down alcohol all the time. Anyway, why didn't you just tell me what you wanted from the start? What was the point of all that deep stuff?"
"I-It was important! Ngh! I swear!"
"All right, then tell me how!"
"D-Don't shout! Please! I was gonna tell you right now!" Sumire whimpered, her eyes watering. "Wh-Why do you always jump to conclusions like that? I bet you also finish too quick in bed! You know girls hate that? Well, I mean, it's cute when it's a shota, but..."
"That's not the only pressure point I know how to hit."
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, sorry, sorry! I swear I'll explain everything right now!"
I snapped my fingers and glared at her, which she responded to by kneeling upright. To think this was the same woman who could so easily command a full class of forty students.
"Okay, okay, so let me explain everything in order. You know that I'm the advisor of the drama club right, Akiteru-sama?"
"Yeah, but only because you announced it in homeroom the other day. You didn't strike me as the club advisor sort."
"Right. I've never really spoken about it to you or the Alliance before." Sumire sighed before continuing. "Anyway, our club is in danger of disbanding."
"Disbanding?"
"Uh-huh. If we don't make it through to the prefecturals for the National Drama Fair, the club is toast. It was an ultimatum from the principal himself!"
"That sounds pretty sudden. What, is he trying to cull some of the clubs or something?"
"We don't have many members, and we've never really achieved much. I think it's because they don't want to waste any more of the school's budget on a small-time club like ours."
"What happened to your so-called 'Generation of Miracles'?" I suddenly remembered the term she used back when she was speaking about it in class.
Her lip curled menacingly. "That was a lie."
"Ugh. At least show some remorse!"
"Well, it wasn't strictly a lie. My members certainly have enough talent to
deserve that title..."
"What kind of talent are we talking about here?"
"That's not important. Long story short, the drama club's in danger of
getting disbanded."
Way to dodge the question. Though the quicker we could wrap things up here, the better.
"I mean, does it really matter if it does?"
Sumire and the rest of the Alliance (excluding our scenario writer) met up once a week for a small gathering. And yet, not once had I ever heard her talking about this drama club of hers, so she can't have been that attached to it.
"You'll have way more free time if the club disbands too."
It was common to read stories online of teachers cracking under the immense pressure advising put them under. Not only did they have their regular teaching jobs, but they had to show up on weekends to help lead the club activities too. They had to put in all these extra hours, but were barely compensated for it. You could say all you wanted about it being a wonderful thing to do for the students, but personally I called it slave labor.
In Sumire's case, she was already working two jobs as a teacher and an artist. To top it off, she advised a club as well. That she had any free time at all was already a kind of miracle. It was enough to make me consider being a bit more lenient with her deadlines.
"No. I can't let the club fail." Sumire shook her head, her brow furrowed. "This school has a pain-in-the-ass rule that every teacher has to be a club advisor. If the drama club goes under, things are gonna get really ugly for me."
"That does sound like a pain in the ass, but what do you mean by 'ugly'?" "Right now, Midori-chan is head of the drama club."
"Midori-chan?"
"You know? My sister! Kageishi Midori."
"Kageishi...Midori?"
It rang a vague bell. It made sense I would've heard the name before if she was Sumire's sister, but somehow I felt like I'd heard it somewhere else. "She's the bestest sister I could ask for! But I'm not gonna let you have
her, okay?"
"I don't want her."
Now that she mentioned it, I barely knew anything at all about Sumire's
homelife. All I knew was that her family was made up of stubborn teachers. That was why she had to shove her dream of becoming an artist aside and find a career in education. I never imagined that her younger sister would be
at the same school as a student, though.
Wonder what she's like...
"Midori-chan's super-duper funny! But she's also super-duper serious!" "Right..."
"And she's such a good girl too, always doing what her gorgeous sister
asks of her!" "Right...?"
"She leads all the sessions and does all the odd jobs for me too! Basically, she does all the advising work so that I don't have to!"
"Oh, I get it. So she plays advisor and you play pretend."
Okay, forget anything I said about being lenient with Sumire's deadlines. I could still remember her speaking about the club so proudly during homeroom. Maybe acting suited her after all.
"It's not like you care though, right? Thanks to her, I've got the time to do all the art for Koyagi."
"Yeah, I guess."
"Aah, it really is the perfect arrangement!" Sumire clasped her hands together. Her eyes shone briefly before immediately darkening once more. "But if the drama club disbands...my fate is sealed."
"Hmm? Oh, right."
I looked in the direction Sumire's finger was pointing. There, outside the window, was the tennis court, filled with lively girls and the sounds of bouncing tennis balls. So that was where she'd end up.
"So what you're saying is that the teacher who went on maternity leave used to advise for the tennis club, and if the drama club disbands, you'll have to take her place?"
"That's right! I hate tennis!" Finally, her strict facade was completely broken. She was clinging to me now, tears and snot, and a mysterious sweat running down her face. "Our girls' tennis club is one of the best around! Their training sessions go on forever, and they're always practicing basically 24/7! Midori-chan won't be there either, so I can't slack off, and I won't have time to draw anything anymore!"
Image here
"Yeah, this is a bit of a doozy. Are you even good enough at tennis to instruct them? Especially when they're so elite?"
"Of course not! For my whole school life, I was always in the culture clubs!"
"Makes sense. You're an artist, after all."
"And, and, all I ever got in P.E. was a D!"
"Oh, you poor soul. Anyway, I get it: you're not cut out for the tennis club.
So why does whoever's in charge of this kinda thing think it's a good idea to make you the advisor?"
Sumire froze at what I thought was quite a reasonable question. Sweat continued to pour down her forehead as her eyes darted this way and that. I didn't need a lie detector to work out this was something she really, really didn't want to tell me.
"Wait. Don't tell me you—"
"I-It's not my fault!" Sumire wailed, grinding her face into me and covering me with snot. "I-I didn't know what I was saying! The principal just came up to me and said I looked like I was good at sports! And I told him 'yes sir, this is the kind of body that can't lose even against the strongest athletes!'"
"What the hell kinda way is that to speak to your boss?! Ugh! You're such a clown!"
"But I gotta pretend to be good at sports or all the other teachers'll think I'm a nerd and bully me in the faculty office! If the vice principal catches word of it, he might use his authority to fire me!"
"You're overreacting. This is real life, not one of your weird mangas. Well, I mean, maybe that kinda stuff happens in other schools, but you know when to keep your mouth shut so... Well, most of the time, I guess..." My voice trailed off. Sure, I would've liked to believe her fears were all fantasy, but I was just a high schooler. The real world might have been much scarier than I thought. "Ugh. You know, this is what happens when you try to be someone you're not."
Sumire sniffled like a toddler in response.
I sure hope she had some kind of contingency plan in case any other students happen to wander up here.
"Okay, I get what you're saying. If the drama club disbands, it'll be bad for the Alliance too. I dunno what you're expecting me to do about it, though.
Isn't this a problem only the members can solve?"
"Please! You know I kept to my deadline just for this, right?!"
"You should be keeping to your deadlines anyway!"
"If you don't help me, it's practically guaranteed I'm gonna end up the
tennis club advisor! If that happens, you can kiss my punctuality goodbye!" "What punctuality?"
"Just, please, can you come and see one of our lunchtime practices? Then
you'll know what I'm talking about!" Sumire's arms were wrapped tightly around mine now, and it was clear she wasn't planning to let go without a "yes."
I'm ashamed to say that the soft sensation of her adult body and its heat sent a thrill racing through me. It was just for a second, though. For someone with such a hot body, she sure wasn't able to keep me interested even when she was clinging to me like this.
I sighed as I attempted to tear myself away from her. "Fine!"
"Yes! My lord!" Sumire hopped up and down excitedly, like I was a parent who just gave in to her pestering for the latest game console.
"So where does this club of yours practice, then?" I asked reluctantly. "Over there."
"Huh?"
Sumire pointed down the hallway, which was blocked off by piles of
tables and chairs. On closer look, I could see a tiny gap between the piles, enough for somebody to squeeze through.
"We practice in an unused classroom right at the end of this corridor. No one ever goes there, because it's supposed to be haunted, but it's the perfect space for us!"
***
"Y'know, I'd say you and Murasaki Shikibu-sensei are a pretty good match for each other."
"Look, I don't care if you're my best friend or the pope, never say that again."
"Yeah, my bad, I guess it was kinda mean. Sorry!"