Tokyo: Oreimo

She wasn't very sleepy yet, so she sat on the chair with her knees drawn up to her chest, her chin resting on her knees, her eyes fixed on the faint light.

She was thinking about Touma Kazusa.

"I'm always like this. I always underestimate myself, do things carelessly, yet I like to show off and say things against my conscience."

"By the time you realize it, everything is gone."

On that snowy night, this is how the character described himself.

"That guy looks a lot like me..."

Because she had treated herself the same way.

"but....."

“I’m not like Touma.”

The girl loosened her grip on her knees, lowered her legs, and placed her bare feet on the tatami mat.

The reason Touma Kazusa lost was not because she didn't like him enough, but because she never intended to win in the first place.

She had already conceded defeat before the battle even began, handing over the person she liked and then standing there, waiting for time to crush her.

But she was different; Phoenix Inu Saori didn't give her a chance to admit defeat.

The giantess kicked open the shell she had shrunk into, grabbed her by the collar and pulled her out, then looked down at her and said something like, "Let her come and steal it."

Although it was said euphemistically, in Ling Nai's ears it was actually saying, "Either come and take it, or get lost and stop pretending to be pitiful half-dead here."

What should have been a confrontation between rivals in love turned into a training exercise for them.

Ling Nai suddenly burst out laughing.

"What a strange person."

She recalled that day at the coffee shop, when she cried her eyes out in front of Saori.

I felt incredibly embarrassed at the time.

Looking back now, if Saori hadn't cornered her in that way, she would probably still be deceiving herself, pretending that it didn't matter if she saw him with someone else.

I'm afraid of losing, afraid of being rejected, afraid that if I confess my feelings, I won't even be able to keep the relationship I have now.

She was afraid of all the things that Touma and Sasa were afraid of.

That's why she was so upset when she saw Touma's ending, because that should have been her ending too.

but.

"Hououin Saori is not Ogiso Setsuna."

Setsuna will pretend not to notice Touma's feelings and use the excuse of "maintaining the friendship between the three" to keep Haruki by her side.

But Saori wouldn't do that. That woman had made her point clear from the beginning, laid out the battlefield in front of her, then stepped back, crossed her arms, and waited for her to charge at her.

"What is this female giant?"

The girl's lips curved into a smile.

"Doesn't this leave me with no excuse to run away?"

Chapter 194 White 2 Release

Time flies.

In mid-December, Christmas decorations began to appear on the streets of Tokyo.

The official version of White Album 2 has completed its final pressing stage and was released as scheduled. The Akihabara game store was almost packed with people on the day of the release.

Aniplex has produced a string of excellent works and has amassed a large and loyal fanbase online in just two years.

As the manager of the game store, Kenji Yamashita only regretted not asking Ryosuke for more stock, because the store was sold out in less than half a day as soon as it opened.

However, after seeing that his colleague across the street was in the same state, he felt somewhat better.

"Manager, is it really okay if I keep this one?"

Behind him, Miura was still clutching a copy of the official version of "White Album 2" on a disc, looking slightly dazed.

"Just don't sell it at a higher price, consider it a perk for working for me."

Kenji Yamashita was very satisfied with the new part-time employee; he was hardworking and rarely slacked off.

I had him play games in the store before, and even though he didn't like them, he ended up doing it anyway, and apparently that's how he became completely addicted.

Under his instruction, Miura experimented with all of Aniplex's works.

He was quite satisfied with this; having an employee to discuss games with during his free time was a rather interesting experience.

"Speaking of which, it's really amazing. It seems that every game that company has released since its inception has been a masterpiece."

Miura sighed sincerely.

Having never played visual novels before, he knew nothing about Aniplex and couldn't understand why the demo version of White Album 2 could make customers readily pay for bundled purchases.

After playing visual novels, his perspective on them has completely changed.

Especially after finishing several Aniplex titles and starting to try other games.

He originally thought that this was the general industry standard, but after actually getting started, he found that it was not at all what he had imagined.

After being refined by Clannad, encountering similar works again is simply tasteless.

Thinking about this, he felt a little grateful to Kenji Yamashita. If it weren't for him, he might never have thought of getting involved with this kind of work in his entire life.

"Thank you, store manager."

"It's nothing, it's nothing."

The two chatted casually.

The shop door was pushed open from the outside, and the doorbell rang crisply.

The person who came in wasn't a customer, but the manager of the shop across the street, carrying two cans of coffee and looking like he'd just escaped a disaster.

"Down the mountain, have you sold out here too?"

"They were all gone by this morning." Kenji Yamashita took the coffee the other person handed him. "What about yours?"

"Don't even mention it, we really didn't prepare enough." The shop manager across the street pulled the tab and took a swig, then his eyes lit up when he saw the disc in Miura's hand. "You have more here?"

Kenji Yamashita glanced at Miura, who immediately stuffed the disc into the drawer of the counter, as if afraid that he would change his mind.

He was so amused by this action that he almost burst out laughing. He turned around, hooked his arm around the person's neck, and pulled him out of the store.

"Employees' items are not for sale."

"Tsk."

......

White Album 2 was a success on its first day, with daily sales briefly surpassing those of the previous two installments.

With his existing fame as a foundation, Ryosuke considered it normal for the work to achieve this level of success after its release.

Three days later, Ryosuke sat down at his computer and took a moment to open a webpage.

The website's name is "Future Dimension".

This was the prototype of the large-scale forum that he had asked Gokou Mao to create.

FSN, Clannnad, and even the current White Album 2 all have their own dedicated sections on this forum.

With the release of White Album 2, Ryosuke officially started using the website.

The website address was embedded in both the outer packaging and the game itself, and Aniplex fans were successfully drawn to it as if they had found their way home.

As a result, 'Future Dimension' gained its first batch of high-quality users.

Because it's a new work, a main interface was specially arranged. Ryosuke clicked on it, and the forum was already filled with a large number of posts.

There were many messages and comments, and although there were a few criticisms, the overall tone was one of great praise for the work!

"Undoubtedly a masterpiece. I've played many games, but this is the first one that has made me so emotionally invested."

"If I recommend this game for Christmas, my girlfriend will get angry, so I only dare to play it secretly."

"Ugh, my stomach hurts so much... Really, it's a physical pain. It's best to have some stomach medicine on hand when playing this game. Seriously, I'm not kidding."

"As expected of Rumiko Takashiro, this kind of script is a perfect match for her paintings."

"Yes, but I still think that Touma is the most beautiful in her drawings. Why bother drawing a bitch like Setsuna so beautifully?"

"This is no longer a matter of liking or disliking; Touma Kazusa is my wife. That's all."

"Ha, you really have the guts to say that? Well then, I'll put my words here too: even if I'm dead and nailed to a coffin, I'll still shout out from my grave with my decaying vocal cords: Touma Misaka!"

"Exactly! Did you guys only play the prologue? Didn't you see how pitiful Yukina was? No matter what, the fact remains that a third party interfered!"

The famous scene where Haruki kisses Touma in front of Setsuna has now been jokingly referred to as a 'world-famous painting'.

"Hilarious! It reminds me of Touma's line, 'Why are you so skilled?! Should we have a proficiency test before dating someone in the future?'"

"How long are you going to keep arguing? Chunxi is a scumbag, anyone who's with him is doomed."

The screen was almost entirely filled with comments from the Party and government, with each side engaging in a fierce war of words.

Ryosuke felt a bit of a toothache after reading it, and there were many posts that broke his defenses and directly attacked the scriptwriters.

"Old Genji is a heartless scoundrel! I will live and die with Touma!"

"It's time for the cursed dolls to make their appearance again, get ready!"

"The Floating Line is simply hell. There's no crueler ending than this. I've suffered a physical and mental blow and need healing. Gen Urobuchi, transfer me my medical expenses, or I'll send you razor blades."

Ryosuke's lips twitched slightly as he looked at the comments.

If curses and sending razor blades really worked, then Gen Urobuchi's alternate account would probably be in the deepest abyss by now, right?

He scrolled down with his mouse wheel, and a post that had been trending caught his eye.

"A rational analysis reveals why the script structure of 'White Album 2' could cause such stomach pain."

The poster's ID is "Lifetime Member of the Touma Party," and the profile picture is a portrait of Touma Kazusa.

The content is a lengthy two thousand words, starting from the perspective of the two female protagonists in the prologue, analyzing the several branching paths in the final chapter, and even making charts to compare the emotional conflict points of each path.