A super great writer in the second dimension

　But... none of these are problems.

　Sanzenin Arashi is planning to use Ito Shizuka as a voice actress...

　However, it's best not to let her know right now.

　..

105. Recruitment concludes

　Arashi Sanzenin remembers a character in Type-Moon who was voiced by Shizuka Ito.

　The voice actress for Tsukihime, Tono Akiha, seems to be her voice actress.

　She is also the voice actress for the head maid in Shakugan no Shana.

　She voices Kanzaki from A Certain Magical Index, Coco from Jormungand, Eren from Date A Live, and... well, not even the bitch girl from Assassination Classroom.

　In short, Shizuka Ito in her previous life was undoubtedly a top-tier voice actress. Her voice was certainly beautiful. In fact, if it weren't for that voice, Arashi Sanzenin wouldn't have been curious enough to look at the proposal, let alone invite her to join the studio.

　A voice actress's voice is undoubtedly as captivating as her face; Japan is indeed a society that values ​​appearance, and this is vividly demonstrated here.

　After chatting with Ito Shizuka for a few minutes, Sanzenin Arashi returned to his seat, removed the nameplate from the table, and took out his notebook to make up for the time lost in the morning.

　Since I didn't interact with readers last night, Sanzenin Arashi thought I might as well do a live stream—a live stream of a GAL Studio job fair.

　"Ok?"

　Arashi Sanzenin saw an email in her Twitter inbox named "Yukino Yukinoshita" with the subject line: Survey Results Receipt.

　'It's done so quickly?'

　School surveys are a crucial part of the process, especially for high schools.

　It can be said that this generation of students will be the main consumers of Sanzenin Arashi in the future. He believes that he must grasp the preferences of these people in order to do things well.

　Upon opening the email, Sanzenin Arashi immediately felt refreshed by its minimalist layout, with important text in bold and characters underlined. This was undoubtedly a report that pushed performance to its limits.

　What kind of compensation should we give her?

　Sanzenin Arashi glanced at Yukino Yukinoshita. If her older sister was this beautiful, her younger sister couldn't be much less so, or perhaps she was just in high school and therefore even cuter than her sister. But more important now was this report, which recorded the play history of the game Sylvie across the six classes of the school year.

　First, 57 out of 268 people have never played this game.

　Among the remaining 211 people, opinions on this slave girl varied, but they could be mainly divided into three core points.

　1. The author exploded, and the hearse drifted away.

　This can be ignored.

　2. We hope to incorporate more everyday elements.

　3. We hope to add erotic CGs.

　The first two are the girl's viewpoint, and the second is the boy's viewpoint.

　Sanzenin Arashi wasn't surprised that girls were playing this game, but not all of them were. At least 40 out of 57 people were girls. Sanzenin Arashi had seen quite a few girls playing the rather pitiful character, Little Sylvie.

　Incidentally, Yukino Yukinoshita also plays this game, and she's very interested in the backend parameters of Arashi Sanzenin.

　The backend parameters of the slave girls are not arbitrary, but rather quite complex.

　There are three parameters in total—material, psychological, and time.

　The material parameters are determined by what you do to Sylvie, the psychological parameters are the feedback Sylvie has given you from the beginning of the game until now, and the time parameters depend on the interval between your actions. These three parameters interact with each other, simply simulating human logical thinking, and then arranging the ending.

　Yukino Yukinoshita has concluded regarding the game Sylvie: unless a master psychologist plays the game with visible backend parameters, it is impossible to guarantee that the game will never have a bad ending.

　In this world, there is no GALGAME more difficult than one featuring slave girls.

　After carefully reading the report, Sanzenin Arashi made a decision: to add a GOOD END to the game.

　The good ending Sanzenin Arashi already has a rough idea in mind, and after the job fair ends, she will commission Mashiro to create the CG.

　Arashi Sanzenin stretched and looked at the line of applicants in front of him. The number of applicants had been reduced by half. Yukinoshita Haruno's team was basically rejected by anyone with psychological problems, and Aki Tomoya's team was rejected by anyone he felt was unloved. So far, the only employee they had hired was Ito Shizuka.

　He wasn't worried about the manpower shortage at all. Sanzenin Arashi was recruiting people now simply to speed up the game's production, but that had to take a backseat to quality.

　Yukino Yukinoshita slammed her hand on the table: "What are these people thinking? As expected, the otaku group is more twisted than the average person. No, next."

　Aki Tomoya eliminated another person, saying, "Not approved, next."

　Sanzenin Arashi sat silently in her seat. The long line of job applicants that had formed at noon had dwindled to only about ten people.

　"They've withdrawn." Sanzenin Arashi clapped her hands.

　Half an hour later, everyone was eliminated.

　Seeing Aki Tomoya's somewhat dejected expression, Sanzenin Arashi smiled and said, "Now do you understand why I asked you to do this job?"

　Aki Tomoya could only manage a bitter smile: "Yes... I'm really very disappointed..."

　“These people will all be in the game industry in the future, right? How can they make an attractive game with this attitude? All they do is follow commercial templates and formulaic production. No wonder the Japanese game industry is regressing!” Aki Tomoya said with the demeanor of a director: “I can’t see any love in the eyes of these people.”

　Yukino Yukinoshita said, "It's good enough that we were able to recruit one person today. I was prepared for a total wipeout. Rin, you are still a student after all. You don't understand how demanding the conditions the BOSS has set are."

　“But then again, I don’t think the BOSS would be sitting here if he weren’t so demanding.” Yukino Yukinoshita shrugged and put away the documents.

　Ito Shizuka exclaimed in surprise again when she saw Sanzenin Arashi's car, and her expectations for her career grew even higher.

　The dinner to celebrate the new employee's joining is scheduled to be held at a family restaurant tonight. Sanzenin Arashi brought AngelBeats!!'s proposal with her. Starting tomorrow, Sanzenin Arashi will officially join the game industry.

　..

106. The planner of JC Staff intends to adapt Battle Through the Heavens into an anime.

　The celebration went on until late. Shizuka Ito poured out her grievances to Haruno Yukinoshita, telling her how she had gotten through the past few years. She had impulsively started making games, and she originally planned not to go to university, but to study at a voice actor training school and then become a voice actor.

　Arashi Sanzenin sighed a few times about the fickle nature of life, but the career development potential of voice actors is only so-so. People like Nana Mizuki are singers, and voice acting is just a side job for them.

　Taking advantage of Ito Shizuka's drunkenness, Yukinoshita Haruno revealed all of Ito Shizuka's secrets. In front of the cunning older sister, Ito Shizuka was like a helpless little girl who was "subdued". Then Aki Tomoya took a taxi home by himself. In the end, Sanzenin Arashi drove Ito Shizuka home, leaving only Sanzenin Arashi and Yukinoshita Haruno in the car.

　Arashi Sanzenin drove the car to the parking lot, then turned off the engine, turned on the interior lights, and glanced at Yukinoshita.

　"Now it's just the two of us, you know what I'm going to do, right?"

　Yukinoshita replied, "Is it my turn to appear?"

　Arashi Sanzenin nodded: "We are currently making a game and will use a completely new approach to interface design. The game's innovativeness will also be significantly improved. However, the problem is... as long as you're in this industry, there's one thing you can't avoid: if my game is released, the core technology will be cracked within half a month and then used in their own games. This is something I don't want to see."

　Yukinoshita nodded knowingly: "These are all normal industry competitions, so we can compete as well, it's just that our methods are a bit too extreme."

　Sanzenin Arashi nodded. The idea that technology couldn't be cracked for years, as depicted in fantasy novels, was utter nonsense; a brute-force crack was only a matter of time. However, Sanzenin Arashi's personality dictated certain things. He could tolerate the theft of minor, peripheral details, but he couldn't tolerate anything involving the core.

　However, this kind of thing is already an unspoken rule in the industry, and everyone understands without saying a word.

　The game framework presented by Sanzenin Arashi is quite novel. Imagine you've only been selling something for two days, and then someone else appears on the market with the same product to steal your business. What would your expression be?

　“It may sound like an overreaction now, but it will happen very quickly.” Sanzenin Arashi said, glancing at Yukino Yukinoshita: “Although it’s for the sake of making games out of love, in the end, everyone who doesn’t go out into the dark ends up giving away their things.”

　“I’ll get straight to the point. You know the company that’s currently our biggest competitor in the gaming industry, right?” Sanzenin Arashi said. “I might need the person you contacted last time. I’ll leave the contacting to you. As for the payment… let me think about it.”

　Yukino Yukinoshita waved her hand: "No need, it's all my father's connections. The real estate industry is much more competitive and shady than the game industry. The person I contacted last time was actually treated coldly. He even hoped I would ask him for help more often."

　Sanzenin Arashi shook his head: "Things must be done, favors must be repaid, and grudges must be settled."

　He took out a piece of paper with the words "Kasumigaoka Takeshi" written on it.

　"This is?"

　“My girlfriend’s father doesn’t seem to be doing very well, so I’m thinking of helping him out. Could you help me find out which company he works for, who his boss is, and what he’s been doing lately?” Sanzenin Arashi paused for a moment, then said, “This is something you and I both know, there’s no point in saying more.”

　Yukinoshita nodded thoughtfully, took the note and put it in her pocket: "I'll give you the results in two days. Tomorrow is the first day of the studio's operation. No instructions? Anyway, I know you're probably not around often."

　"Don't put it so harshly, okay? I'll write the script, I'll think of the story, and I'll draw the CG. Can't I even have a little free time?" Sanzenin Arashi said in surprise, "With a general manager as capable as you, how could I be afraid the studio wouldn't be able to operate? But let me make this clear first: the CG script and stuff will be ready in half a week. I've already written the script for AngelBeats!!, and the CG is in production. You'll have to work overtime for the remaining half week to finish it off."

　Yukinoshita chuckled: "So you even outsourced the entire physical production to me? Aoyama-sensei, do you know how much work that involves?"

　Arashi Sanzenin smiled and said, "Anyway, that's how it is. Let's all do our best. This studio is just starting out. We need to use excellent works to let players know this name. There's no need to set up an official website. This NNV studio will be under NICO Co., Ltd. and operated as a subsidiary department. Also, Sylvie from 'Slave Girl' will be under the NNV studio. Would you like me to give it to you, Ms. Yukinoshita?"

　"No need, I'll take a taxi home myself." Yukinoshita Haruno opened the car door and waved back at the occupants, saying, "Take care and get some rest~"

　Sanzenin Arashi twitched the corner of her mouth.

　You're trying to impress me, but I'm not falling for it.

　Back home, Sanzenin Arashi started updating the Nico Nico Douga website, turned on her computer to edit the "Games" section, added the detailed information about NNV Studio, updated her Twitter account, and then prepared to go to sleep.

　But just then, his phone rang.

　"Hello, this is Aoyama Arashi."

　After answering the phone and hearing the other person say just one sentence, Sanzenin Arashi showed a strange expression.

　"Is Mr. Aoyama listening? I'd like to discuss the animated adaptation of Battle Through the Heavens with you."

　"May I ask who you are?" Sanzenin Arashi asked politely.

　"My name is Gong Shouzhen, and I am a planner at JCSTAFF. Battle Through the Heavens has achieved great success online. Although this call is abrupt, considering that Mr. Aoyama is affiliated with the Shinazugawa organization, we will send the official written documents to the company he has signed with tomorrow."

　Sanzenin Arashi patted her forehead.

　JCSTAFF...isn't that the same company that publishes JCSTAFF articles?

　And isn't there something wrong with this plan?

　"Miyamori Makoto is planning this, right?" Sanzenin Arashi said politely, "I think Mr. Miyamori seems to have misunderstood something."

　"Hmm?" The voice on the phone sounded a little confused.

　"Battle Through the Heavens is a novel that I serialize under my own name. The copyright belongs entirely to me, and it is updated on all my Niconico websites. In other words, this novel has nothing to do with the Undying River Group. Do you understand now?"

　..

107. (This appears to be a fragment of a sentence or paragraph and doesn't translate directly.)

　"Mr. Aoyama, this disappearance is probably due to the HR department's inadequate investigation. I apologize for this. We will contact you again after our company confirms some information. I'm so sorry to bother you so late."

　After hanging up the phone, Sanzenin Arashi ran to the living room and opened the refrigerator; he needed a can of coffee to calm down.

　Because he wasn't sure if the planner was just messing with him.

　Upon opening the refrigerator and seeing the empty pantry containing only a pile of Baumkuchen cakes, Sanzenin Arashi sighed.

　Is this a reliable plan?

　He asked himself, first of all, whether it's animation or film, someone has to propose to do it, and then submit an animation production proposal to the [Animation Production Committee]. This proposal will include the [plot], [setting], [commercial orientation] and so on. For more prestigious companies, such as JD Animation, they will also prepare the staff, and the roles of director, production, and planning will be decided in advance.

　However, how could such a proposal be created without the author's own assistance?

　A guy claiming to be a planner from JCSTAFF suddenly called, making Sanzenin Arashi inwardly complain about the meticulously worded Miyamori Makoto.

　As a planner, do you not even understand these things, or do you think I'm easy to fool? Do you think your Jiecao Studio is so amazing that it can produce a project proposal without the author having any background information?

　Although the novel "Battle Through the Heavens" has its original text available on Nico Nico Douga, a whole host of settings haven't been revealed yet. The protagonist is currently just a Dou Shi (Battle Master) and is still playing around with Xiao Yi Xian (Little Fairy Doctor). You think you can make an animation with such a small amount of content? Whether JCSTAFF believes it or not, Sanzenin Arashi certainly doesn't.

　Besides, JCSTAFF, have you even found investors to support your animation production? Without investment, what are you even doing?

　Japanese anime episodes are at least 24 minutes long, and each episode costs around 10 million yen. Even if it's made into a 12-episode season, it would still cost at least 100 million yen. Based on the standards of Sanzenin Arashi, and without J.C. Staff's commitment to quality, this project is basically out of the question.

　Sanzenin Arashi doesn't object to anyone making an animation of Battle Through the Heavens.

　Anyway, this doesn't conflict with the movie.

　But this whole thing is weird. JCSTAFF sent people to ask Sanzenin Arashi to make an animation, and they even believed that the copyright of Battle Through the Heavens was in the hands of Shinazugawa Bunko. This whole thing has a weird vibe from beginning to end.

　This shows that JCSTAFF doesn't really understand the novel "Battle Through the Heavens" or the author "Qingshan Lan," or rather, they don't know what NICO is at all, but treat it as a blog-like place.

　Is JCSTAFF really that amazing? They made an animation of Battle Through the Heavens without knowing anything about it. Is Sanzenin Arashi really that jealous that the president of JCSTAFF must have been reincarnated by someone else to see Battle Through the Heavens?

　………………

　………………

　'Could it be that someone from the Shinazugawa Group acted as an intermediary in this?'

　After changing her shoes, Sanzenin Arashi was still thinking about this problem as she walked down the street. The more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed. Otherwise, why would this planner directly bring up the name of Shinazugawa to put pressure on her?

　Miyamori Makoto's statement: "Regarding the details, we will formally discuss them with the Shinazugawa Group, which has a contract with the teacher."

　This statement is clearly a message to Sanzenin Arashi: You just need to know about this; we'll handle the details, so don't interfere.

　Sanzenin Arashi kicked a pebble off the roadside.