Tokyo: Oreimo

Ultimately, it doesn't matter to her where the location is. Since she doesn't have to go to school, she can just rent a place nearby. Even if she lives in the company headquarters, it doesn't matter.

"I think we could consider the building near Nerima."

"Wait, that building? You don't mean that empty office building, do you?"

In the afternoon, they visited a small, five-story office building in Nerima Ward. The exterior was dilapidated, but the interior was surprisingly decent.

The previous tenant had renovated the place and moved out after a year.

The price is 8,000 yen per ping (3.3 square meters). If you rent three floors, the total area is 120 ping, which is nearly 400 square meters.

"Isn't it the easiest way? The partitions, basic decorations and facilities are all included, which will save you a lot of trouble in terms of decoration. You only need to add office supplies and such."

"What? I thought you would choose that newly built office building in Suginami Ward."

Ryouko Takashiro was slightly dissatisfied. The decoration there was obviously better, but the price per unit was only 2 yen more.

"The budget isn't enough."

Ryosuke's budget for rent is to keep it under one million yen per month. He doesn't plan to spend too much on office space in the early stages of the company; enough is fine.

This three-story layout can easily accommodate more than sixty people.

When funds become available later, the other two floors can be rented, and the privacy and advantages of a standalone office building will become apparent.

"Hmph, there's clearly so much money left in the account, how stingy."

Takashiro Ryouno complained that when she made the asset pledge, she handed over all the revenue from this game to Ryosuke to inject into the company, since she didn't have any particular expenses for herself.

The endless royalties from "Cardcaptor Sakura" were more than she could ever spend.

Phoenix Inu Saori made the same choice.

After deducting the expenses of transferring game copyrights and registering the company, the company now has 3800 million yen in disposable funds.

Ryosuke smiled and offered no explanation.

This might be a lot of money for a high school student, but for a company, it would quickly evaporate if not allocated and used in a planned way.

Money should be spent wisely.

"So it's settled then?"

Phoenix Inu Saori asked.

"Ah."

Ryosuke looked at Lingna, but the girl turned her head away.

"If you two agree, there's no point in me objecting, right? Let's go there. It's close to home anyway."

They weren't being honest; they were clearly planning their own secret base area while they were on site.

Ryosuke gave her an amused look.

"I will complete the company transfer registration as soon as possible, and it is expected to be officially launched as early as next week."

"Thanks for your hard work."

Phoenix Inu Saori shook her head and winked at Ryosuke.

"These are all minor matters. What are your plans for the future? Didn't you tell me you were hiring?"

"Yes, we've already discussed it with Editor Saito. We'll start producing the animation in two months, and we'll recruit the necessary talent in advance."

"Eh~ But I know absolutely nothing about this. What I want to ask is, are you not planning to continue making visual novels?"

Ryosuke paused upon hearing the question from Phoenix Institute.

He does have such a plan. Compared to animation, games have much lower costs and a decent short-term return.

Originally, the company planned to use games as its foundation and a source of revenue for animation production, so of course they wouldn't give up on that.

However, he currently lacks the budget to hire programmers, and Phoenix Academy will still be solely responsible for the development of the entire program.

Are you sure you don't need to rest for a while?

"Reading your story is a kind of relaxation for me."

Phoenix Inu Saori smiled with her eyes narrowed, seemingly glancing intentionally at Takashiro Ryouno beside her.

That posture made the blonde girl's hair stand on end.

What? This guy can say such cheesy things without batting an eye?

"If that's the case, then it's not impossible to do it simultaneously..."

Ryosuke rubbed his chin for a while.

He estimated his deadline and concluded that he should have enough energy to write another game script.

Have you considered the theme for the new game?

"It will probably be mainly about campus youth themes."

At this point, Ryosuke couldn't help but glance at his younger sister beside him.

I remembered the time she pinned me down on the sofa a while ago, and suddenly I felt like I was going further and further down the path of self-destruction.

It seems like both of the company's new projects after its establishment have stepped on this guy's landmines.

Chapter 93 I almost thought you were a good person

"That's all for today."

At Nerima Station, Ryosuke bid farewell to Ryouno and Hououin Saori.

We also made an agreement that next week is the last week before the start of the semester, and we must set up the company and secure sales channels for Fate/stay night this week.

This is crucial for securing funding; otherwise, once animation production begins, the money in the account will evaporate at an extremely rapid pace.

After returning home, Ryosuke went to his room and began working day and night to finish his manuscript.

Meanwhile, Takashiro Ryouno was huddled in her room, clutching her pillow tightly on the bed, staring blankly at her phone placed beside the bed, as if waiting for a message to arrive.

She mustered her courage and sent a text message, but two hours have passed and her phone hasn't made a sound.

"Liuli seems to still be angry..."

"School starts in a week. I wonder if I'll be in the same class as her at the new school."

Over the next few days, the shock of the 'Heaven's Cup' gradually subsided, but the anxiety about facing her best friend returned.

She turned to look at the door and then glanced at the clock.

The clock had struck midnight. Normally, she would have been asleep by now, but ever since the CM exhibition ended, she had been staying up until after 2 a.m., exhausted before she could fall asleep.

Whenever she thinks about how her friend will look at her with such disgust after school starts, she feels wronged, and tears well up in her eyes.

"How to do?"

The blonde girl hugged her pillow tightly, looking uneasy, and eventually drifted off to sleep with worry in her heart.

.....

Meanwhile, Ryosuke was writing furiously in his room, determined to finish the manuscript for "Fate/Zero" as soon as possible.

This is the top priority; one must eat one bite at a time.

In terms of overall workload, this novel with only four volumes is the easiest.

Finishing it before the start of the semester shouldn't be a problem.

The current chapter has progressed to the Three Kings' Feast.

When he was engrossed in his work, time slipped away unnoticed. By the time he put down his pen, it was already 2 a.m.

"call!"

Ryosuke let out a long sigh of relief, yawned, and was about to change into his pajamas and lie down on the bed.

My eyes caught sight of unread messages on the phone screen.

So I simply opened the phone case and clicked to view.

"Ok?"

To his surprise, the sender was Ruri Aragaki.

"Brother, do you have time tomorrow? I'd like to meet with you."

The opening was still quite polite, and the long-awaited text message made Ryosuke feel like he had traveled back in time.

Since meeting at the CM exhibition that day, this girl's best friend has not sent her any more messages.

Ryosuke thought that the other person would at least hold out until the start of the new semester, after making such a resolute statement as "I will never talk to you again starting today."

It seems like it wasn't long before he couldn't wait any longer and sent me a text message.

After thinking for a moment, Ryosuke typed in the text message.

"Okay, the location."

He received a reply just five seconds after sending it.

"It's the same coffee shop we met before. I'll be waiting for you at the same spot at 2 PM."

"it is good."

......

The following day, near Chiba Station.

Ruri Aragaki moved with difficulty, her heart heavy.

This is the first time she hasn't contacted Takashiro Ryouno for so long since her work ended in the middle of the month.

The only friend she could truly connect with in her social circle disappeared from her world, and it felt like her whole being had become hollow.

Work is all you do. You only feel relaxed when you're so tired that you don't want to think about anything else.

But with the start of school approaching, her mother forbade her from taking any more filming jobs outside the school during the final week, and she had to stay at home.

As soon as he stopped, all he could think of was Ling Nai's smile and the images of them playing together; he couldn't shake them off no matter what.

Until last night, she received a text message from Ling Nai.