My daily life in various anime crossovers can't possibly be this sci-fi.

Now, the four members of the club, as well as the two extra people that Tomoya invited for some reason, have all arrived.

The six of them found several school desks and put them together to make one large table, which would serve as the meeting space. Aki Tomoya casually sat down in a chair and tapped the table to announce the start of the meeting.

"Speaking of which, although our club is called a doujin circle, we haven't really done anything substantial." Aki Tomoya spoke first. "Before Astolfo joined us, we were just a three-person anime and manga enthusiasts' club."

In fact, Jiang Jinghua himself seems to have forgotten why he joined this hobby club in the first place, only to become a third wheel.

"As for myself, I have always been someone who has a strong love for anime and manga culture. I have always paid close attention to the situation in the fanfiction community, and I have even had the idea of ​​creating my own work, but unfortunately I have never put it into practice."

"But, just a short time ago, on that afternoon when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, at the moment when I met a girl by chance at Detective's Hill and forged a fateful bond with her..."

"I apologize for interrupting you, but I don't think there will be cherry blossoms in full bloom in August, unless you met the girl you encountered in a botanical research facility," Kasumigaoka Utaha added in a nonchalant tone.

"...Alright, alright, whether there are cherry blossoms or not doesn't matter! Anyway, the moment I formed a fateful bond with the girl I met by chance at Detective's Slope, I had already made my decision..."

"...Together with everyone in the club, we'll create a great Galgame with her as the heroine, one that's sure to win the top prize in a meme contest!"

what

Section 8, Chapter 8: Jiang Jinghua's Hidden State

"..."

Silence reigned.

This is probably what they mean by an awkward silence.

What's going on? Just for such a ridiculous reason?

However, there's nothing wrong with that. Jiang Jinghua couldn't help but think of Honoka Kousaka. Didn't that girl also suddenly get the urge to become a school idol while wandering the streets, and then actually take it seriously?

"Haha, that's quite a great plan, it seems pretty good." Thinking this, Jiang Jinghua still responded, so as not to dampen Lunye's enthusiasm.

……

The three women remained silent, while Astolfo responded excitedly, "Hey, hey, that won't do! We need to get more excited, like this: Wow—what a brilliant plan! I'm already fired up! Hmm, that's what a serious reply should be, right?"

……

"I'm telling you..." Aki Tomoya looked pained, "You two aren't working together to make this already awkward atmosphere even more awkward, are you?"

"Well, my back-and-forth with Astolfo was indeed quite awkward to outsiders," Jiang Jinghua thought.

In an attempt to salvage the extremely awkward atmosphere, Aki Tomoya began to talk even more enthusiastically to himself: "Now, the first heroine, Ms. Kato Megumi, is sitting right next to you... wait, where is she?"

“Isn’t it right here…” Jiang Jinghua pointed helplessly to Kato sitting next to him.

“I’m right here,” Kato Megumi replied with a smile. It’s amazing she can still smile.

“I think…” Jiang Jinghua shook his head helplessly, “Is this kind of leading lady, whom even the producer himself would ignore, really okay?”

"Ah...no, anyway...well, you should look at this from a developmental perspective: isn't a game themed around nurturing an ordinary, unremarkable girl into a dazzling leading lady a fantastic idea? Oh, and this way, maybe we can improve the game system, giving players more freedom to nurture the heroine and determine different story directions based on the different personalities of the heroines they get..." Aki Tomoya seemed to suddenly get excited, "For an industry increasingly plagued by homogenization, this would definitely be a groundbreaking masterpiece!"

Kasumigaoka Utaha, who hadn't spoken until now, suddenly spoke up: "You scumbag, your idea does seem to have some merit. But, since you've gathered us all together for a meeting and asked us to help you make a game..."

"It's not helping! It's cooperation! Cooperation!" Aki Tomoya said seriously, "If the game becomes a big hit in the future, everyone will share in all the profits, okay?"

"This is still in the early stages, and you're already thinking about dividing the spoils, you scumbag." Kasumigaoka shook his head. "It's better not to have such far-sighted ideas. First, let's talk about your thoughts on the game's production itself. Do you have any ideas?"

"Yes! I have it all planned out!" Aki Tomoya said confidently. "First of all, I'll leave the plot outline to Kasumigaoka-kun. After all, you're the romance novel genius who's the head of Nagakawa Bunko. Your fame is so great that it can be used as a gimmick for publicity!"

"I'm not that amazing. My serialization was almost canceled during the process." Kasumigaoka neither confirmed nor denied Tomoya's praise.

"As for the character designs, original artwork, and so on, I'll leave it to Eriri-san!"

"Let me tell you, people are very busy too, they don't have time to spend on things like this! At most, they can spare a little bit of free time to do it," Eriri said. "So don't push all the work onto me!"

According to information obtained from Tomoya, Eriri Sawamura seems to be a fairly well-known illustrator in the industry.

"The leading lady is, of course, Ms. Kato Megumi. Of course, if Mr. Astolfo is interested..."

"Hmm! According to you guys, let me be the so-called 'second romanceable character'!" Astolfo exclaimed excitedly. Seriously, is it really a good idea to make someone of ambiguous gender the second female lead...?

"As for the male lead... ah, whatever, how about Jinghua-jun?"

"Whatever you want! You're going to make Kato-kun unhappy!"

"Huh? I don't care... really."

"There are still some miscellaneous tasks left... like the script and such, which I, as the producer, will handle. And... ah, Mr. Protagonist, how about you be the director of this project?"

"How come I've already been chosen as the male lead... Wait a minute."

"Rinya-kun, do you want me to be the coach?" Jiang Jinghua's expression suddenly vanished.

"Yes...yes, don't suddenly become so scary..."

"Ah, alright then. I'll evaluate your plan so far from a supervisory perspective." Jiang Jinghua revealed a strange smile.

Aki Tomoya looked at his friend, who had suddenly stood up, with some alarm. What was wrong with that guy all of a sudden...?

"First, have you resolved the issue of the background music?"

"Ah, that... uh, using the propaganda department's public domain materials should be fine..."

"Oh, okay. So, since we're making a memetic artifact, have you found a suitable person to inject the memetic?"

"Ah... well, let's think about that later..."

"Very good. So, you haven't even done the most basic thing—finding the right people for each position—yet you haven't done it properly." Jiang Jinghua, with a strange smile, spoke faster and faster. "Then, what about going a step further? For example, summarizing the basic architecture of the game system? Defining the game's selling points and providing design ideas that fit the theme for the subsequent outline design? And more detailed content, such as what subtle modifications and appropriate artistic exaggerations are needed for the protagonist's character design to achieve a memorable effect? ​​In addition, there is a detailed investigation and research on the current market situation, etc. If you are making a commercial work, these kinds of assignments are indispensable, you know?"

"These are just a small part of the problems that may need to be solved during the production process... If you want to make a successful commercial work, there are many other things that need to be worked on besides the work itself... Lunye-kun, have you thought about these problems?" Jiang Jinghua's smile became increasingly eerie.

"How...how terrifying, Lord Jinghua..."

"Let me make this clear first. I'm a complete failure; I rarely make up my mind to do anything. Because I know very well that I'm not capable, and I hate failure." Jiang Jinghua smiled, but the laughter was not pleasant; instead, it sent chills down one's spine. "So, if I decide to do something now, I will definitely do my best to do it well... because..."

"...I hate those guys who talk a good game all day but can't do anything about it..."

what

Section 9, Chapter 9: Look closely, this is what a plan should be.

How scary...

Eriri Sawamura trembled as she looked at the figure that stood there like a ghost.

What exactly happened to that guy just now...? Did he suddenly fall ill because the effects of the drug wore off? Should I be a good Samaritan and go to the infirmary to get two vials of sedatives or Prozac to help Jiang calm down?

Eriri Sawamura didn't know much about Tomoya, whom she made after starting high school. She only knew that he was a rather ordinary guy, both in appearance and personality. He had no special talents, was timid and withdrawn, and was someone who didn't inspire much interest.

However, the extremely strong presence emanating from the individual named Jiang Jinghua in front of her now gave her a feeling of extreme surprise, even bordering on fear.

"So, Tomoya-kun, let me confirm one more time. Are you truly serious about creating a text-based romance game that's qualified to compete in the 2018 meme contest?"

How terrifying... If I don't answer yes, I'll be killed... Eriri Sawamura couldn't help but think.

"Yes...that's right! I...I really want to contribute my own strength to the great anime empire!" Aki Tomoya next to him uttered a somewhat irrelevant but earnest statement.

"Ah, that's good then." This time, Jiang Jinghua's face showed a genuine smile, instead of the creepy smile he had shown before. "Well then, as the supervisor, let me make some arrangements for the next few days."

"First of all, Kasumigaoka, I hope you can complete the outline for this game in the next few days. Do you have enough free time in the next week to complete this task?"

“Since I’ve been invited here, it means I have enough free time to do this,” Kasumigaoka Utaha said. “I guess you could say that Scumbag is lucky; I don’t have any new book serialization assignments right now.”

"Okay, next up is Sawamura, who's in charge of the key illustrations. Your task for this stage is to create the character design concept art for the main characters, and ideally, complete some basic dialogue illustrations. How long will this task take?"

"Hmm... if I make full use of my time... then, um, two weeks! Two weeks should be enough!" Eriri Sawamura seemed inexplicably nervous. "I don't really have any manuscripts to finish lately..."

"Okay, then, let's move on to programming. Tomoya, are you confident in your programming skills?"

"It should be fine. Aren't text game engines quite advanced now and gradually becoming more user-friendly? I think it should be no problem," Aki Tomoya said.

“It would be great if we could remove the ‘should’. As for Astolfo and Kato, please practice reading the text aloud with feeling in the meantime.” Jiang Jinghua continued, “If you can read with emotion, we won’t need to spend a lot of money on voice actors. After all, the budget should be spent wisely.”

"I'll try my best... I guess."

"Yes! I will definitely try my best!"

"Besides that, I'll need to ask the two of you to act as models for Sawamura-kun, so you two should practice making various expressions when you get home, especially Kato-kun. Okay, now for my own work. When I get back, I'll draft a detailed medium- to long-term plan and help find people to handle the music and meme injection. I'll release the first draft of the medium- to long-term plan for everyone's reference tomorrow, and please feel free to offer your feedback. Also, I think communication during the production process is very important. After all, we're making a game now, not just some illustrations, a novel, and a few lines of code. A game is a whole, so the creators in all aspects should strengthen their communication."

"I'll create a group on social media. Please remember to join, and if you have any questions or ideas, be sure to ask them in the group. Understand?"

Everyone expressed their approval in their own unique ways.

"Okay, then, if there are no other questions, let's adjourn the meeting now." Jiang Jinghua sat down.

"Hmm... I should be the main character today, right..." Aki Tomoya muttered.

A few minutes later.

"Jinghua-kun, you don't look well." Kato Megumi patted Jiang Jinghua, whose face had been gloomy ever since he returned to the classroom.

The latter responded, "Of course it's bad... Oh my god! What was I thinking just now?"

I don't know what happened, but when he heard that Aki Tomo wanted him to be the director, he seemed to suddenly go crazy and said such shameful things in such a shameful tone in front of everyone...

"We're doomed! Even though they don't say it, they definitely think I'm a pervert!" Jiang Jinghua lamented.

"He's not a pervert anymore."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Jinghua looked at Kato Megumi, whose face, which never changed much, was adorned with a warm smile.

Kato Megumi continued, "Jinghua-kun's definition of perversion is really strange. How can what you just did be considered perverted? Do you think that being timid and hesitant like you is the proper behavior of a normal person?"

"Well, no, it's not that... I just feel... well, how should I put it, it's really inappropriate for someone like me, who's accomplished nothing, to do something like that to try and assert my presence, and besides, nobody would probably care..."

"No, that's not true. You're the only one who's ever thought of yourself as a good-for-nothing."

Is that so?

Jiang Jinghua remained silent.

Kato Megumi continued, "Take this incident for example. Although Tomoya-kun always seems a bit eccentric, his passion for anime and manga is genuine. If he chose you to direct his important debut work, it means he definitely trusts you, right? Otherwise, no matter how good our relationship is, he wouldn't let you ruin his important work."

"Is that so... But no matter what, that reaction just now was too contrived..."

“I don’t know what others think, but I think you’re not pretentious at all. In fact, you should be like this.” Kato Megumi chuckled. “You’re usually timid but become extremely serious when it comes to things you care about. Isn’t that a great trait? If Tomoya were here, he would probably say that.”

"..." Jiang Jinghua remained silent.