A super great writer in the second dimension

　The story begins here.

　Sanzenin Arashi deliberately used various panel layouts and hints to make Otonashi Yuzuru ultimately donate his heart to Tachibana Kanade.

　This is an imperfect script, but for fans of the original work, it's a great source of inspiration.

　The next day, he brought the script to the studio and gave it to Aki Tomoya and Yukino Yukinoshita for review.

　……

　In the early morning in Chiba City, birds chirped and the morning breeze carried the dusty scent of office workers. NNV Studio had already opened its doors at seven o'clock.

　With only five days left until the release of AngelBeats!!, the studio staff are extremely busy, constantly making phone calls to confirm information with suppliers and processing additional online orders, leaving them overwhelmed.

　Sanzenin Arashi sat in his office, confirming the pre-sale precautions with Yukino Yukinoshita, and the final payment had already been made.

　After doing all that, he took out the script he had written the night before.

　"Take a look." Sanzenin Arashi tossed the A4 paper over.

　After taking the script, Yukinoshita Haruno glanced at it.

　[When Yuzuru Otonashi heard that his parents had been killed in a car accident, he felt it wasn't so bad. His father, when drunk, not only beat his wife but also his son; he was a man turned to scum by alcohol. Instead of being overly saddened by his father's death, Yuzuru was actually quite happy.]

　Because it's already broken.

　“Boss, you want to write something dark?” Yukinoshita Haruno narrowed her eyes. “You’re challenging the readers’ tastes, forcing dark cuisine into their mouths.”

　"Ahem..." Sanzenin Arashi coughed. "It's not that serious, is it? I've been writing healing stories all along. You know, going against the grain is just setting the stage, isn't it?"

　Sometimes, the writer has no idea how their writing will affect the reader's reaction.

　“If you call this kind of thing foreshadowing, then there’s nothing I can do about it.” Yukinoshita Haruno continued reading the script.

　[Yuzuru Otonashi was beaten by his father every day, his body covered in bruises like his mother's. He endured this cycle of beatings while also supporting his sick younger sister. He was completely broken.]

　The day after his parents died, he received compensation enough to support himself and his sister until adulthood. The first thing Otonashi Yuzuru did was visit his sister in the hospital.

　"Otonashi Yuzuru is such a good person. I can't wait to meet him in real life and have a passionate romance with him."

　Yukino slammed the script on the table and complained, "His life has been ruined by his sister, so why does he still go to see her? He's a saint."

　Sanzenin Arashi grinned, "As long as his sister is drawn to be super cute, there won't be any problem. You can keep looking."

　"No need to look, Boss. I couldn't take it anymore at this point. If I were a player, I would have smashed my keyboard by now." Yukino Yukinoshita said nonchalantly, "Our prequel needs to connect with the main story, actually..."

　"Wait a minute!" Sanzenin Arashi raised an eyebrow: "We can write Otonashi Yuzuru and Tachibana Kanade as childhood friends, and then Tachibana Kanade has a heart condition, and Otonashi Yuzuru has always been deeply in love with her since childhood!"

　"I've had enough of the amnesia trope!"

　“You woman simply don’t understand the concept of the afterlife. People have no memories at first, but they can gradually recall them, which naturally drives the relationships between the characters,” Sanzenin Arashi said stubbornly.

　"Boss, I'm so sorry, I got pregnant a few days ago because you forgot to wear a condom."

　"Pfft..." Sanzenin Arashi slapped the table: "We're talking about games, don't try to distract me with jokes like that!"

　"Hey~"

　"Hey, what are you talking about?!"

　..

156. Aren't you coming for a morning run?

　Unable to gain acceptance from Yukinoshita, Arashi Sanzenin took the script to Tomoya Aki.

　As a fellow man, Aki Tomoya might actually like it.

　"President, let me also say something, this script is probably not suitable..."

　Aki Tomoya adjusted his glasses and said regretfully, "Aoyama-sensei, you just proposed three revisions, but one of the three characters, Otonashi Yuzuru, Tachibana Kanade, and Otonashi Hatsune, has to become a bitch or a scumbag. But AngelBeats!! The main story is a story of healing and redemption, so this really can't be allowed."

　Sanzenin Arashi put the script away, glanced around, and saw a lily on the windowsill and several visual novel packaging boxes in the cabinet. This visual novel studio was probably the only place in Japan where you could play games while working.

　He pointed to several visual novel games on the bookshelf and asked, "Not even as good as those?"

　“That’s not the issue, Mr. Aoyama.” Aki Tomoya poured a cup of tea. “We’re discussing the game script from a director’s perspective, not the story itself. Admittedly, the story is very good. After Otonashi Yuzuru’s parents die, the climaxes come one after another. But the protagonist of a visual novel absolutely cannot be a scumbag, and the heroine absolutely cannot be a bitch.”

　“Hmm…” Sanzenin Arashi yawned. She had been working on the script all night and was really tired. “In that case, I’ll come find you again tomorrow.”

　As he spoke, he tore the manuscript in his hand in half, then folded it in half again until it was shredded, and threw it into the wastebasket.

　"Eek... Mr. Aoyama, what are you doing?" Aki Tomoya jumped up when he saw that Sanzenin Arashi had torn the manuscript to shreds. "Mr. Aoyama, please consider changing the character names in this script. It can be sold to other studios. There's nothing wrong with the script itself..."

　Snapped!

　The sound of the door closing startled Aki Tomoya, who could only shake his head and sigh.

　The script is fine, but the story isn't really suited to the visual novel format.

　Bringing such tragic stories to the screen, or making them into TV series, is the best option. However, using two-dimensional mediums, such as text and pictures, will turn the characters into bitches and scumbags.

　After returning home, Sanzenin Arashi began to rewrite the script. However, once the initial creative enthusiasm had passed, he seemed to cool down, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't write anything that caught his eye like he had at the beginning.

　Even if I wanted to explode, I couldn't come up with a script.

　Yukino Yukinoshita tried to communicate with him several times, since the boss couldn't afford to mess up before the game's release, but it didn't have any good results.

　Sanzenin Arashi's daily routine became getting up at six in the morning to exercise, running ten kilometers, doing a hundred push-ups, a hundred sit-ups, and a hundred squats every day. After breakfast, he would write a script, have lunch, take a nap, and then start writing the script again. When he got tired of writing, he would go to hit the sandbags. He broke several solid ones, which made Yukino Yukinoshita's heart pound with fear.

　That punch could definitely kill someone.

　This matter haunted Sanzenin Arashi like a demon in his heart. Now he could understand the personalities of those writers. It turned out that not being able to write good things was such a frustrating thing.

　On the third day, Sanzenin Arashi found a new way to vent her frustrations.

　He started serializing comics on Twitter, using drawing to vent his frustrations. The content was naturally not precise, and the lines were very unrestrained, but it made Sanzenin Arashi feel much better.

　This is a manga called One-Punch Man, which tells the story of Saitama, the bald cape-wearing hero, who defeats all the villains with a single punch.

　After drawing this manga, Sanzenin Arashi didn't pay attention to its popularity; instead, she found a new approach.

　Having finally found the direction for the script, he began writing day and night.

　……

　Today is the release day of AngelBeats!!

　The entire staff of NNV Studio worked overtime for a month, exhausted, but still managed to get the game to the point of being available for sale. Online sales officially began at noon, and physical sales points were also completed yesterday. Sanzenin Arashi, wearing a sports jacket and sunglasses, stood in front of an Animate store, staring at the store entrance.

　He remembered doing the same thing on the first day of Sword Art Online's release.

　This time, he got up at three or four in the morning and ran over here, only to see a queue that had been forming all night.

　It's extremely rare for a visual novel release to have people queuing overnight; even if it happens, it's usually in Akihabara.

　This was NNV Studio's first game release, and it had no prior reputation. If we were to force a claim on reputation, it would be based on the names of the artists and the script by Sanzenin Arashi.

　As Sanzenin Arashi watched the crowd thin out and those who had bought the game leave with their boxes, a strange feeling welled up inside her.

　To be fair, AngelBeats!! When made into a game, it's a completely different story from the animation; one is an adventure, and the other is a romance.

　It took only a month to make, and you could say that everyone on the staff poured their heart and soul into it. Now that the game has been released, it feels like a son getting married or a daughter getting married.

　Starting at noon, NNV Studio will begin the celebration banquet. All the game sales revenue from online sales has been deposited into NNV Studio's general account. After deducting all expenses, there are still several hundred million yen left. Although it's only a few million US dollars, Sanzenin Arashi is very happy with this money.

　When he arrived at the office, Ito Shizuka was standing there making coffee, dressed in sportswear, with dark circles under her eyes. However, this girl had finally learned her lesson and put on some eyeshadow.

　"Ah... President, I'm sorry I'm not wearing a suit to work today." As Ito Shizuka was speaking, she noticed that Sanzenin Arashi was also dressed in sportswear, so she shut her mouth and handed him the coffee. "Please enjoy."

　Sanzenin Arashi stroked her chin. It seemed that this girl had also gone to see the sales live; her little hands were trembling with excitement.

　After taking a sip of coffee, the door behind him was pushed open, and Aki Tomoya walked in.

　"Hey, I just finished my morning run. The game was released in a rush today, so I forgot to change my clothes before coming over."

　Aki Tomoya pushed up his glasses. "Boss, you went for a morning run too?"

　Sanzenin Arashi twitched the corner of her mouth.

　Hey, you shut-in who goes for a morning run? Today I'm writing Sanzenin Arashi backwards.

　"Oh, everyone's here." Yukinoshita Haruno walked in from the door with a smile.

　Sanzenin Arashi was speechless.

　Haruno walked in, holding Mashiro's hand. The two were wearing school sportswear...

　“Boss, winter is coming soon, it seems we’re on the same page.” Yang Nai smiled. “Seeing Boss running ten kilometers every morning, I couldn’t help but drag Mashiro along for a run too.”

　Eh……

　Sanzenin Arashi covered her face and smiled.

　You bunch of bastards, look me in the eye and say that!

　Looking at his subordinates who were working late into the night with dark circles under their eyes, he thought to himself that this must be what it feels like to be called a teammate.

　..

157. Miss Maid, have we met somewhere before?

　Aki Tomoya laughed and said, "Haha, Ms. Ito, you're out for a morning run too?"

　Ito Shizuka nodded and gave a thumbs up. "Director Aki, doing this is good for your health."

　"Ha..." Mashiro yawned, slumped onto the table next to him, and fell asleep.

　Yukino Yukino smiled slightly, but didn't say anything.

　In the NNV studio's office lobby, all the members were dressed in winter sportswear, with dark circles under their eyes. Sanzenin Arashi coughed, and the door behind him opened again.

　A blonde girl with pigtails, wearing a white mask and black sunglasses, walked in, glanced around, and said directly, "Did everyone go see it last night? There were so many people!!"

　Aki Tomoya completely ignored her, turning his head away and pretending to play on his phone.

　Shizuka Ito coughed twice and sat down at the computer to check the documents, but her eyes were fixed on Eriri at the door.

　Yukino patted Eriri on the shoulder, and seeing this, the girl looked puzzled, "You guys..."

　"Hehe, Eriri-san is really restless, doing something so childish, checking the sales figures of her own work. She really has that youthful student vibe," Ito Shizuka said, turning her head.

　Looking at their stubbornly denying expressions, Sanzenin Arashi felt a surge of pride, yet didn't want to make it too obvious, and sighed inwardly.

　Each one of them appeared remarkably calm, even though they were all industry novices, or rather, newbies.

　So now I want to make myself look more mature.

　The cause of this incident lies with Sanzenin Arashi.

　He once said: "I would never look at any initial purchase queue. How could such a childish thing happen to me?"

　Although they said no, their actions spoke louder than words; they were truly a group of energetic young people.

　Sanzenin Arashi stared at Eriri, who pouted, "If you've stared enough, look away! Isn't this a victory celebration? Ugh, you people are so dishonest! If you want to laugh, then laugh!"

　Arashi Sanzenin smiled and waved his hand, "Although today is a celebration banquet, we still need to finish our work this morning. In fact, it's precisely because it's a celebration banquet that we must complete all the work for the day. Ms. Ito, go prepare the reports. Ms. Yukinoshita, call the distributors and have them transfer the payment to our account. Aki, come with me for a bit. We need to withdraw the commission from the contract."

　"What about me?" Eriri pointed to herself.

　She was very curious. Everyone else had a task, but she was the only one who didn't. That seemed like unfair treatment.

　Sanzenin Arashi slammed the energy bar she had put in her pocket onto the table, saying, "You can just sit here and eat."

　"Wh...why am I sitting here eating all by myself?!" Eriri pointed at herself and looked at me with an expression that said, 'I'm the animator.'

　Sanzenin Arashi patted her on the shoulder and said calmly, "You should know that it only takes me ten minutes to Photoshop a picture."

　Eriri was stunned, not understanding what she meant. After a moment, she realized what she meant and her eyes widened. "You, you haven't deleted that kind of boring stuff yet?!"

　"It's not something boring, but rather [Eri Sawamura's childlike and fragrant photos]."

　"I'm not childish at all!!"

　At this moment, Ito Shizuka stood up and asked, "President, what is this commission?"

　After saying goodbye to Eriri, Sanzenin Arashi said, "It seems you didn't read the contract carefully. We don't have any year-end bonuses, performance bonuses, attendance bonuses, or other benefits here, but we do have an extra reward compared to other companies."

　He paused for a moment, then said, “The core members who participate in the game’s development will receive a 1% commission on the total sales. This time we only had a small team, but we completed the game quickly. No one slacked off, and I saw that. So everyone will be considered part of the core development team of the AngelBeats project. Based on the sales volume of the first phase, everyone will receive a commission.”

　Ito Shizuka asked, "To be specific, how much is it?"

　Sanzenin Arashi made a shushing gesture and whispered, "Based on initial sales figures, 1% is about five million yen. Hmm, this is an employee benefit, so it's tax-free."

　Ito Shizuka was shocked.