In crossover anime, who isn't a childhood friend?

With everyone present, and considering the increasing time pressure ahead, Yukino officially got down to business for the day.

"We have two pieces of good news and one piece of bad news right now."

Eriri began, "Let's start with the good news."

“After I went back and told my father about the upcoming activities of the Service Department, he was very supportive and lent me these devices.”

As Yukino spoke, she seemed to struggle as she lifted a box from under the table.

Without trying to be mysterious, she simply opened it, and then heard Eriri and Rikka exclaim in surprise.

"So much equipment!"

"It looks so professional! This means I don't need to ask my dad for help."

The box wasn't very big, but it contained a lot of equipment, which looked quite professional even to a layman.

Inside, the camera body, along with lenses, backup power supplies, a small drone and controller, a miniature microphone, and image stabilizer are arranged in layers.

"Photography is my father's private hobby, and my sister has been influenced by him to some extent... These are not important. In short, we don't need to worry too much about the equipment for now. If there is any additional need later, I will find a way."

"The minister is full of energy!"

"Don't call me that."

With no time to banter with Minamoto Chiya, Yukinoshita delivered the second piece of good news.

"As I mentioned before, I would report to the student council on our specific activities at the school festival and inquire about the school's support. The results came out this morning: the student council's application was successful, securing 20,000 yen in funding for us."

"Twenty thousand yuan..." Yuan Qianye pondered.

To be honest, the amount of money isn't much, but considering there are so many clubs in the school, and the Service Club is a relatively new club, the amount they're offering is quite good.

"Is there a problem?" Yukino looked over.

Yuan Qianye nodded and asked, "Will the money be given to us right now?"

"That's not the case. The funding will only be disbursed after our film is officially shown at the school festival."

"Not surprising at all."

While schools support student activities, they certainly won't be taken advantage of; they'll only provide support if they can see tangible results.

Otherwise, if any organization, large or small, doesn't care about anything and just gives money to anyone who applies for a legitimate reason, then unscrupulous people will definitely take advantage of the situation.

"Ah."

Now that we've covered the two good news items, here comes the bad news.

Yukino carefully considered her next words.

Eriri and Rikka unconsciously straightened their bodies, and their little faces both became serious, their previous playful smiles gone.

Yukino noticed this and couldn't help but chuckle: "There's no need to be so nervous. Although I just said it was bad news, strictly speaking, it's more like a challenge, which will make our upcoming activities even more interesting."

"So what exactly is it?"

"I heard about this from our Service Department's advisor, Ms. Hiratsuka."

"We actually have advisor teachers?" Yuan Qianye's focus shifted somewhat.

Rikka explained, "Brother, have you forgotten? On the third or fourth day after our club was founded, Hiratsuka-sensei made a brief appearance and told us to carry out our activities properly and not embarrass her."

Yuan Qianye tilted her chin, lost in memories: "I probably wasn't around then, I don't remember much."

"Hoo—" Yukino exhaled deeply.

Upon seeing this, Yuan Qianye immediately understood: "Ah, sorry, Minister, please continue."

Yukino looked directly into Chiyo's eyes seriously: "We don't have much time to begin with, so I hope you won't suddenly change the subject and bring up these unimportant topics again."

Although she tried her best to make her voice sound calm and composed, the faint chill emanating from her body still made her look extremely imposing.

"I'm so sorry, Yukinoshita-sama." Minamoto Chiya wasn't afraid at all. Instead, he picked up a small cookie and offered it to Yukino, asking if she wanted it. When she didn't react, he naturally ate it himself.

"..." Eriri and Rikka, sitting together, secretly glanced at each other, both pursing their lips and smiling slightly.

Yukino took another deep breath: "I learned from Hiratsuka-sensei that during the upcoming school festival, it's not just our Service Club that has the idea of ​​making a movie and releasing it then."

"Did our ideas clash with someone else's?"

"Yes, and there's more than one."

Unlike Eriri, who suddenly leaned forward and gripped the edge of the table with both hands, appearing somewhat nervous, Yukino remained as calm as ever.

"The entire Class C of Senior Three plans to work together to shoot a short film about youth as their class's work to participate in the school festival. In addition, our school's film club will also be presenting a film that they have been working on during the winter break this year at the school festival. It is said to be more than an hour long, which is close to the length of a normal commercial film."

Rikka covered her head with her hands: "So... our movie will be competing against them?"

Yukino shook her head and corrected her: "The school festival is an event for students to showcase themselves, not a sports meet or a competition, so there's no question of competing on the same stage. However, our films will be screened in the multimedia classroom, so there might be viewers who will compare the quality of our three films simultaneously."

"Isn't it still the same?"

It's like bumping into someone on the street wearing the same clothes as you. It's not scary to wear the same clothes, it's embarrassing if you look worse!

Yukino, however, remained calm: "I actually think this is a good thing. Pressure might even help us perform better."

"hehe."

Rikka and Eriri didn't think so at all, but they still forced a smile and replied with an "maybe so" emoji.

In short, this news did indeed add to their anxiety.

Seeing this, Yukino was at a loss, as she wasn't good at comforting people, so she could only turn her attention to Minamoto Chiya.

The guy who had suddenly gone silent at the beginning had somehow taken out his phone, was staring at it with a slight smile on his face.

That smile inexplicably made Yukino uncomfortable, because she instinctively thought of the past, when he seemed to only show that kind of smile when he was facing Saeko or Utaha, who were his girlfriends.

Warmth, gentleness, and a subtle hint of doting...

"Rokka, look, Toka sent a message."

The phone screen that Chiyo showed was a short video of Toka holding Chiyo and taking a selfie at school.

Rikka smiled and asked, "Mom went to school to see her sister today?"

Gen Chiyo explained, "Well, it seems we just happened to be passing by Toka's place today, so we took Chiyo to see her older sister's school life."

"Wow, Chiyo's grown so much!" Eriri leaned over and said, "She's getting cuter and cuter."

"Not only that, she always has a lovely milky scent. Let's go see her together next time we haven't seen her in a while. Last time she said she wanted Eriri and Yukino to hug her." Rikka extended an invitation.

Gen Chiya then handed his phone screen to Yukino.

Yukino's gaze softened, and the discomfort in her heart vanished like a receding tide.

It turns out it was just Sister Shihua who misunderstood him; she had misinterpreted things...

Although this little interruption wasted a bit of time, Eriri and Rikka both relaxed considerably as a result.

Good.

Then we quickly got back to the main topic.

"Let's start by showing everyone the movie themes and general plots they've come up with. Who wants to go first?"

After Yukino spoke, Eriri and Rikka were a little embarrassed and didn't respond immediately.

This was to be expected. Seeing that Gen Chiya was also unmoved, Yukino opened the notebook that had been on the table to a certain page and took the initiative to set an example.

"Then everyone, please take a look at mine first. If you have any questions or feel that it is imperfect or unreasonable, please feel free to point them out. Don't be shy."

She acted naturally, but after presenting her script, she was still somewhat uneasy, accompanied by a faint sense of shame at having her writing reviewed by others.

Gen Chiya got up and came behind Eriri and Rikka to look at the script that Yukino had given them.

Yukino's handwriting is just like her, always neat and beautiful, pleasing to the eye and a treat for the eyes.

For the next few minutes, there was no other noise in the ministry.

The only sounds were the rustling of the curtains in the breeze and the piano etudes coming from upstairs.

The three of them finished reading very quickly.

Rikka and Eriri were filled with amazement.

The script provided by Yukino is tentatively titled "Strangers in Graduation Photos".

The core plot revolves around the protagonist noticing a new student in a class photo after everyone has taken the picture. He and his friends begin investigating who this student is, and as they piece together the information, they are shocked to discover that this person passed away years ago, and this "senior" from years ago seems to have had an unfulfilled wish...

The core of the story relies on suspense, and the subsequent developments rely on in-depth exploration to continuously enrich the story's excitement, ultimately settling on warmth and reconciliation.

In short, it's a very standard youth campus story with a touch of sadness, but ultimately it returns to reconciliation and warmth.

"What do you guys think...?"

As Rikka finally looked up from the script, Yukino asked for everyone's opinions.

Before she knew it, the tea in her cup was empty.

Eriri took a deep breath: "I think it's amazing! I feel almost embarrassed to even show my own script."

Rikka sighed, "As expected of Yukino, this isn't even the general plot. You've even written out some character designs and detailed opening scenes, which I haven't done."

"Don't worry about that. I just happened to think of these things when I was writing, so I just wrote them down."

After hearing Rikka and Eriri's thoughts, Yukino finally turned her gaze to Minamoto Chiya.

Although it's a bit apologetic to say this, Yukino does care more about his opinion than the other two.

"The plot is short and concise, yet complete enough, and the storyline is well-structured with a clear beginning, development, climax, and resolution. I think it's quite good."

"Just polite talk?"

"That's the truth."

Yukino nodded thoughtfully, but her expression didn't reveal her attitude towards the evaluation.

Afterwards, she quickly had Eriri and Rikka, who looked somewhat awkward, each bring out the rough plot they had prepared.

Eriri's script is titled "The Private Corner on the Blackboard," and it mainly tells the story of a small area in the lower right corner of the classroom blackboard that has become a place where students anonymously write their innermost thoughts, including their expectations for the holidays, their complaints about exams, and their encouragement to someone.

The protagonist uses this small corner to write a secret confession that others cannot easily discover, connecting with the person he likes, exchanging feelings, and ultimately the lovers become a couple.

It's a very simple campus romance story, and some of the plot designs are quite good. In particular, the part where the male and female protagonists openly use coded language to flaunt their affection in front of others without anyone noticing is quite interesting and befits the creator's identity.

As for Rikka, the script she provided was titled "A School for One".