"A game club?" Utaha arched an eyebrow, her brows furrowing deeply.
If he had dragged her all the way here for some childish club hobby, her time would have been better spent writing her next chapter.
Instead of answering directly, Tomoya remained silent for a dramatic beat, offering Utaha a lingering, knowing look.
"..."
The intensity of his gaze made Utaha visibly recoil, a creeping sense of unease settling over her.
Without breaking eye contact, Tomoya reached into his schoolbag and pulled out a paperback novel, holding it up like a trophy.
The cover bore a sleek, eye-catching design, and the title printed across the front read clearly: Love Metronome.
Utaha's usually unflappable composure cracked; her eyes widened slightly in genuine shock.
Pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, Tomoya spoke with breathless, obsessive reverence.
"Utaha Kasumigaoka. Writing under the pen name Utako Kasumi, you are a rising star in the light novel industry. Your debut masterwork, Love Metronome, has already shattered expectations and sold over half a million copies nationwide!"
He rattled off her closely guarded pseudonym and career milestones with terrifying precision, puffing out his chest as though he were the one who had written it.
"Utako Kasumi-sensei, I am your absolute number-one fan! I've read Love Metronome front-to-back more than ten times—every single volume is a masterpiece!"
The sheer, unfiltered intensity of his otaku devotion radiated off him in waves.
"!!!"
Even Eriri gasped softly, her blue eyes darting toward Utaha in sheer astonishment.
She knew Utaha as a notoriously aloof, brilliant senior in school, but she had no idea the other girl was secretly a best-selling commercial light novel author.
Utaha's frown deepened into a harsh scowl, an icy aura settling around her.
"Who gave you permission to dig into my private affairs?" she demanded, her voice dropping a few degrees.
She despised having her boundaries crossed, and having her secret pen name exposed so casually felt like a blatant invasion of privacy.
Sensing the sudden, lethal drop in temperature, Tomoya frantically waved his hands, sweating nervously.
"W-Wait, please don't misunderstand! I didn't hack into any private databases or cross any ethical lines! I'm just explaining why you are the only one who can write the script for my game!"
Without missing a beat, Tomoya pivoted sharply on his heel, turning his intense, burning gaze toward the blonde twin-tailed girl standing rigidly by the door.
"And as for you, Eriri..." Tomoya declared dramatically, pointing right at her. "You are far more than just a popular celebrity student on campus!"
"H-Hold on a second—!" Eriri stammered, her face draining of color as she clenched her hands into tight fists at her sides.
But Tomoya was entirely oblivious to her mounting panic and marched right on.
"Besides being a first-class honor student, Eriri is also none other than the legendary, best-selling doujinshi artist known across the country as Eri Kashiwagi!"
"Eri Kashiwagi?" Utaha echoed, raising an eyebrow. Noticing how alarmingly pale Eriri had suddenly become, a sharp spike of curiosity flared in Utaha's chest.
She pulled her smartphone from her blazer pocket, quickly typing the name into a browser.
"..."
A few seconds later, the search results loaded.
Utaha stared down at the screen, completely speechless.
Eri Kashiwagi wasn't just any regular indie illustrator; she was an elite-tier, wildly successful artist who commanded massive crowds at every Comiket—specifically for her highly sought-after, adult-oriented adult dōjinshi!
Looking up from her phone with a completely deadpan expression, Utaha cut straight through the tension.
"Alright, spare me the introductions. What kind of club are you asking us to join, and what is the actual objective?"
Tomoya's eyes practically sparkled with unbridled fanaticism.
He slammed both hands onto the empty desk between them. "I want to assemble a dream team to create a doujin game! I want you both to join me in building a masterpiece that will revolutionize the industry!"
"..."
The exact second those words left his mouth, whatever residual amusement Utaha felt completely evaporated.
She looked at Tomoya as though he had just suggested jumping off the roof to test gravity.
Even Eriri stared at him with a mixture of sheer embarrassment and utter disbelief.
"Let me stop you right there," Utaha said, her tone dripping with cold sarcasm.
"Tomoya Aki, do you have any earthly idea how brutally competitive the indie doujin game market actually is?"
Tomoya nodded without a single ounce of hesitation. "Of course I do! But I have absolute faith that our combined talents can conquer it!"
Utaha let out a dry, incredulous laugh. "And what, pray tell, makes you think a bunch of high school amateurs with zero production experience can pull off a 'groundbreaking' title?"
She leaned forward, her dark eyes narrowing.
"Are you well-versed in programming, engine architecture, asset management, and marketing? Do you even have the capital to fund a commercial-grade project?"
"Uh..."
Tomoya faltered, caught entirely off guard by the hard financial and technical reality.
But true to his stubborn nature, he quickly recovered, waving a hand dismissively.
"D-Details aside! I've played hundreds of visual novels and indie games, and I've been saving up money from my part-time jobs!"
Ignoring the holes in his logic, he eagerly pushed forward with his grand monologue, laying out his master plan with sweeping hand gestures.
"I've mapped it all out! With Utako Kasumi-sensei handling the scenario and script, paired with Eri Kashiwagi's breathtaking character designs and illustrations, the artistic foundation is unbeatable! And as for the musical score, my cousin is a musical genius who plays guitar in an indie band—she can handle the soundtrack!"
Utaha offered a thin, mocking smirk. "Before we talk about soundtracks and scripts, Tomoya Aki, what kind of game are you even trying to make?"
"Ah, right! I almost forgot the most important part!" Tomoya slapped his forehead in a theatrical display of realization.
He reached into his bulging school bag, pulled out a thick, ring-bound folder, and slid it across the desk toward Utaha.
The document looked surprisingly substantial at a glance, briefly tricking Utaha into thinking he might actually have a cohesive plan.
Maybe, just maybe, there was a real concept hidden beneath his eccentric exterior.
However...
The moment Utaha flipped open the cover and skimmed through the densely packed pages of text, a severe, throbbing headache blossomed behind her temples.
After reading through a few more rambling paragraphs, she closed the folder with a sharp snap and slid it across the table toward the blonde illustrator.
"Sawamura-san," Utaha muttered, rubbing her temples. "Do yourself a favor and read this. You'll understand my pain."
"O-Okay..." Eriri mumbled warily, picking up the stack of papers.
As her blue eyes scanned the contents, her expression transitioned rapidly from mild curiosity to sheer, unadulterated exasperation.
It wasn't a game design document. It wasn't a pitch, a plot outline, or a technical blueprint.
It was a chaotic, rambling wall of subjective emotional fluff, completely devoid of any concrete mechanics, settings, or core gameplay loops.
The entire hundred-page thesis boiled down to one singular, painfully vague directive:
Creating a game that makes the player's heart flutter uncontrollably for a heroine.
And that was literally it.
*****
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