Tokyo: Oreimo

be lazy?

Ryosuke was speechless. He was clearly writing the script for his new visual novel, wasn't he?

Is not prioritizing the release of "Death Note" NAME considered laziness?

"Don't always side with the Giantess. Shouldn't the older brother take better care of his younger sister? The important thing is to focus on finishing the NAME drawing first."

"Now you realize I'm your older brother? If you want to push for the manuscript, show some respect."

Ryosuke rolled his eyes, turned away and ignored her, continuing to focus on creating on the computer screen.

Anyway, Ling Nai will leave after a couple of prompts; it's become part of my daily routine.

"What? You want me to call you brother? You pervert."

Ling Nai snorted and muttered something.

Ryosuke pretended not to hear.

The girl tiptoed to his side and peeked out to take a closer look at what he was creating, but just as she was about to see it clearly, the window on the screen shrank.

“I told you before, right?” Ryosuke turned his head to look at Ling Nai, who was about to lean in, with a helpless expression on his face. “Reading the script in advance will affect the game experience.”

"Stingy!"

Ling Nai pursed her lips and turned to leave, but was stopped by Liang Jie.

"Oh, right."

As he spoke, Ryosuke took out a separately stored CD from the drawer and handed it to Ayano.

"You happen to have some free time lately, don't you? I think we can start the character design and CG production for this new game."

"Like the previous two games, this one will also have a demo version. The faster you complete it, the sooner you can get early access."

Ryosuke smiled, and his voice sounded like a devil's whisper to Ayano.

With such a great work to follow, the girl had very high expectations for Ryosuke's game development.

Both FSN and Clannad are considered top-tier games in the industry.

It's the kind of production where only one film is released per year, or one film every few years.

"You should have said so earlier!"

Ling Nai snatched the CD case from Ryosuke's hand and examined it closely.

On the surface of the box, there are two English words written in black marker.

"White Album 2? Literally, White Album?"

"But why 2?"

Chapter 163 Even though we cannot meet

On the first weekend after school started in September, neither brother nor sister stayed at home; instead, they both went out early.

Ling Nai went to the company to rush to complete the character illustrations and CGs for White Album 2. With the help of the company members, she was able to complete the trial version quite quickly.

As for Ryosuke, he had other things to do.

"Miss Hoshimi, I've arrived."

At the front desk of Tokyo Stardust Communications Co., Ltd., Ryosuke dialed the phone number of Shizuka Hayakawa.

"Takashiro-kun, please wait a moment, I'll be right there."

On the other end of the phone, a surprised voice came through, followed by a series of clanging and clattering sounds, like a chair overturning.

Ryosuke was about to ask a couple of questions when he realized the call had been disconnected.

Five minutes later, he saw Hayakawa Shizuka limping toward him in the corridor. Noticing Ryosuke's gaze, the girl waved happily.

"Takashiro-kun! It's been a long time!"

......

"Are you alright?"

Ryosuke followed Hayakawa Shizuka to the practice room inside SP Company. After sitting down, his gaze fell on her fair legs, where there was a noticeable bruise on her right knee.

"I'm sorry, Takashiro-kun, I hope you'll forgive my poor appearance."

"It's okay. I get injured sometimes when I practice dancing. I'll just have it treated later."

Hayakawa Shizuka looked a little shy.

Because he hadn't seen Ryosuke in so long, he was so excited when he received the call that he put down his guitar and rushed outside, only to trip over a chair.

Saying this out loud would make me look incredibly stupid.

"It's better to apply ice first. This kind of minor injury will become very troublesome if left untreated."

Under Ryosuke's repeated insistence, Hayakawa Shizuka could not refuse and could only let him take out an ice pack from the refrigerator in the corner of the dance studio.

Ryosuke casually grabbed a towel and wrapped it around the ice pack.

In cases of bruising, applying ice is the most effective way to stop bleeding and reduce swelling. However, the ice pack should not be allowed to come into direct contact with the skin, as this could lead to frostbite.

After that, Ryosuke squatted down in front of her, one hand pressing on the ice pack and the other hand resting on his knee, maintaining this posture without getting up immediately.

"Ten minutes should be enough. You should feel better by now, right?"

Hayakawa Shizuka sat on a chair in the practice room with one leg outstretched. An ice pack wrapped in a towel was pressed against her knee, and the coolness seeped in through the towel, which did relieve the swelling and pain of that small bruise.

But she is now completely unable to pay attention to the feeling in her knees.

This is the first time I've been this close to Ryosuke Takashiro.

It's been a long time since I've seen him. He seems to have matured a lot.

Looking back, it seems like a year and a half has passed since she met him.

'Time flies. Back then, Takashiro-kun still had some fuzz on his lip, right? Now it's completely gone.'

To be honest, I originally wanted to get to know each other better, so I specifically applied to Chiba High School. However, because the group's fame has become increasingly popular, I simply haven't been able to find the time to go to school.

Performances and practice took up almost all of her time.

They hadn't been in touch for a long time, so much so that whenever she had a little free time, she would stare blankly at her phone, wanting to send Ryosuke a text message, but not knowing what to say.

Shizuka looked away and her gaze fell on her fingers resting on the side of the chair.

"Actually... it really doesn't have to be this complicated."

"It's no trouble at all."

Ryosuke glanced at her, then quickly looked down to adjust the position of the ice pack.

"You're an idol, right? You need to treat this minor injury promptly. If you leave it untreated and it gets worse, it will affect your dancing, won't it?"

For Ryosuke, it was just a matter of squatting for a while anyway.

"By the way, isn't Ito's manager here today? And what about your other teammates?"

He suddenly asked.

The reason I contacted Shizuka Hayakawa this time was specifically to collaborate on a song, with the aim of recording several classic tracks from White Album 2.

What puzzled him was that although he had only contacted Hayakawa Shizuka, she was the only person in the practice room on a weekday.

"I originally had a business event today, but knowing that Takashiro-kun was coming, Uncle Ito specially asked me to stay and receive him."

When Hayakawa Shizuka said this, her voice was half a tone higher than usual.

After she said it, her heart was pounding because she had lied.

Actually, she only told Asakura Mirai about the news Ryosuke brought today. She originally planned to mention it to Ito Shinpei as well, but her friends stopped her.

"Shizuka-chan, don't you want to be alone? It'll be inconvenient if we're here."

The friend immediately dismissed her idea of ​​telling the agent upon hearing the news.

"Anyway, I'll find a way to get Uncle Ito out of the way. When that day comes, you can just enjoy your time alone together."

Hayakawa Shizuka secretly glanced at Ryosuke and saw that he just nodded and didn't seem to think much of it, so she breathed a sigh of relief.

She remembered being dragged home by Asakura Mirai last night.

The image of Asakura Mirai smilingly helping her choose clothes was still vivid in her mind.

"This one won't do, it's too plain. This one won't do either. Ah, this one is good. This blue suits your skin tone and is the same color as your bangs."

"It's just a meeting, not a date. We're just talking about music..."

"Yes, yes, it's not a date. I called you specifically to send you a song, didn't I?"

"Once or twice, this is the third time, isn't it?"

Asakura Mirai gave a perfunctory reply, but her hands didn't stop. Finally, she pulled out a blue T-shirt from the closet, paired with a black and blue dress, and tied her hair into a loose ponytail.

"Perfect. Shizuka-chan is already cute, but she looks even better this way."

"future....."

"Alright, alright, we'll take care of Uncle Ito tomorrow!"

She didn't reply at the time, but just nodded with a blush.

Thinking about it now makes my ears burn again.

'That guy from the future...'

Shizuka looked away and then focused her gaze on Ryosuke.

"Ten minutes should be enough."

Ryosuke's voice suddenly rang out.

"Huh? Oh, okay!"

Shizuka seemed to have been startled awake, her voice sounding somewhat flustered.

Ryosuke removed the ice pack and checked the bruises on her knee.

The skin, which was originally a little red, has become much less swollen and lighter in color after applying ice.