On Thursday, everything was as usual in the "TYPE-MOON" studio.
"Bah~" said.
Ying Lili tore off a piece of sketch paper, crumpled it into a ball irritably and threw it into the trash can. She slumped back in her chair and muttered to herself.
"...Sure enough, it still doesn't work."
"Eh? Teacher Eri Kashiwagi, did you say something?"
Mayu Sagara, who was sitting next to him, took off the headphones from his ears and looked over inquiringly.
"Ah...well, it's nothing, I was just talking to myself."
In order to cover up her inner embarrassment, Ying Lili took the initiative to ask back.
"So? Ms. Sagara, which picture are you drawing...wait - you are completely playing with your phone! It's working time now, right??"
"Ah~ Oops, have you been discovered?"
Mayu Xiangraku stuck out her tongue in a cute way and confessed:
"Sorry, sorry, I was just obsessed with watching the video sent by Ms. Kato, and accidentally forgot the time. Hey hey..."
"Hui Fa's video...huh? Where is it? Why didn't I receive the notification?"
"Ah, I didn't post it now. I was referring to the videos about the master that Ms. Kato posted in the contact group yesterday."
"That's it..."
"It means that Master is really awesome~! Teacher Eri Kashiwagi thinks so too, right?"
"Eh?"
"It's the music that Master created~"
Sagara Mayu put a little more force on the ground with one foot, and used the reaction force to push his swivel chair towards Eiri, placing his mobile phone in the center of each other's field of view, and setting it to open mode.
Eiri glanced at the phone screen, which showed a video of Kato Yusuke directing the musicians to perform.
"It's great~ I really want to see the handsome look of the master, but Miss Kato is too cunning. Also, these songs are really cute and nice to listen to~~~"
"...That idiot is doing such a showy thing again."
"Hehe~ He is the master after all."
Sagara Mayu said with a smile: "But to be honest, being able to hear such a great song makes me look forward to the completion of the game even more~~~"
Yinglili remained silent, feeling inexplicably anxious in her heart.
Such emotions are not directed toward others, but toward oneself.
She is currently in a certain bottleneck period, where her inspiration and creativity have been severely affected, so much so that no matter what she looks at now, she is a bit dissatisfied, and she doesn't know how to get out of the predicament.
Even though that person told her not to worry, she still couldn't get rid of this negative emotion and fell into a state of self-doubt.
Especially at this current point, the more eye-catching Kato Yusuke's performance is, the more she feels guilty.
It was clear that the other party had high hopes for her, but she couldn't draw anything. It was like being stuck in a quagmire, and this kind of pressure made her suffer.
Eiri watched the video with no interest for a while, casually said a few words about Sagara Mayu, and decided to continue drawing.
Use a pencil sharpener to trim the pencil slightly.
Then use a feather broom to sweep away the eraser scraps from the sketchbook.
Pick up the pencil.
Close your eyes and imagine the desired image in your mind.
After a moment, she opened her eyes numbly.
He obviously wanted to cheer up, but his mind went blank.
This situation has been going on for more than a day or two, and now I am gradually getting used to it.
She stared blankly at the blank sketchbook for a while, feeling tired of drawing for the first time.
The pencil turned several times on the delicate fingertips.
Faced with the situation of being unable to draw the original painting, she decided to draw something else first to warm up her hands, so she started writing.
Swish, swish~
The pencil cuts across the paper, and time flows quietly.
Half an hour later, Mayu Ippon put down her phone with satisfaction.
Seeing that Yinglili was still painting, she couldn't help but curiously poked her head closer, and then saw this picture——
On the drawing paper, a girl wearing gymnastics uniforms was tied to a vaulting horse in a sports warehouse. Several people without facial features were surrounding her, spraying some kind of paint on her body unscrupulously.
"——!?"
Xiangraku Mayu's beauty immediately turned pale, and she cried out with a blushing face: "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
"——Ugh!!"
Ying Lili shuddered, she was also so frightened that she even took out her pencil, "Wait, why are you so scary all of a sudden...!"
"Because, because..."
Sagara Mayu covered her face with her hands, opened her eyes wide between her separated fingers, and stared at the uncorrected sketch in the sketchbook that had not yet erased the sensitive parts.
"Kashiwa...Teacher Eri Kashiwagi! The game we make shouldn't have this kind of content, right? It should have a warm and touching theme, right?"
"?"
Yinglili looked back and forth between the sketchbook and her face, and waved her hands disapprovingly.
"Oh... you are talking about this. Don't worry, this is not the original painting of the game, but an essay I used to relax. You are also a creator yourself, why are you making such a fuss?"
"Essay to relax..."
Sagara Mayu stared straight at the helpless girl on the drawing paper, and said with some difficulty:
"Hmm... Well, although I also have the habit of drawing essays... but Kashiwagi Eiri-sensei's way of relaxing is really... um, has a unique taste? Shouldn't it be said that it makes you unable to calm down?"
"Really? That's how I draw it all the time anyway."
"Always!? Ah... No, he is indeed a master of the Ling system. Mr. Eri Kashiwagi is really amazing..." Maya Sagara praised unintentionally, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly in a dry smile.
"Hmph, what's this?"
Yinglili saw that her words were not sincere, curled her lips and said:
"Really speaking, the books Yusuke drew when he debuted were even more eclectic, and the content in them is so great that even now fans are asking him to come back."
Mayu Sagara put on a face that said nothing.
"...Wow~~This is the first time I have seen someone use the word "eclectic" to describe the author of NR works. Mr. Eri Kashiwagi, you really like the master~"
"haha a--!?"
Yinglili, who was still there just a second ago, turned red instantly.
"Wait a minute! I'm just talking about things! Why do you talk about liking this kind of topic? You're so annoying. Why are you either fishing or gossiping! Work hard!"
"Eh hey~ But~~~"
Sagara Mayu covered her mouth and snickered.
"Even if you say that, Master Eri Kashiwagi, all the work on my hands has been completed. There is nothing I can do until you and the master give me new pictures~"
"Well--!"
Yinglili's body swayed and she was speechless.
Are you dissing yourself because your progress is too slow...?
She couldn't help but think this, and couldn't help but feel disappointed.
At this time, Shiyu just walked into the office with two cups of coffee and placed one of them in front of her.
"Here, Sawamura, I'll give you this cup of coffee. You don't need to thank me."
Seeing this scene, Sagara Mayu couldn't help but start joking.
"Hey~ Teacher Kasumi Shiko is so partial! She only gave coffee to Teacher Eri Kashiwagi. Isn't your relationship going to be great?"
"Miss Sagara, what nonsense are you talking about? I originally made this cup of coffee for Yuu-chan, but he was asked to apply for music copyright, so I just gave it to Sawamura."
"Eh? Master is applying for music copyright?"
"Yes, Yu-chan's video of him singing at Cube Company yesterday was posted online. Kano-chan and Kato-san asked him to register his copyright. The three of them are currently handling the matter in the conference room."
"A video of Master singing!? A lie? Where is it? I want to see it, I want to see it!"
"On YouTube, you can find it by searching "Duanzi Family"."
"Okay~~~~~"
So Sagara Mayu immediately put on her headphones and started tinkering with her phone.
Shiyu turned his attention to the workbench, stayed on Yinglili's sketchbook for a moment, and asked: "...Sawamura, what are you drawing?"
"...Nothing." Ying Lili took a sip of coffee and said, neither salty nor bland, "I'm just writing an essay to relax."
"Oh?" Shiyu sat down on the seat next to her and looked at her with raised eyebrows, "In other words, you still haven't made much progress on the original painting, right?"
"You are making so much noise, please leave me alone."
"Well, it seems pointless to talk to you in this situation... Why don't you tell me what you are worried about? Maybe I can give you some advice?"
"You don't know how to draw."
"I am also a creator. Some things are essentially interoperable. How would you know if you don't tell me?"
"..."
Yinglili took a few more sips of coffee, hesitated for a while, and asked indifferently:
"Then... what if, I mean what if, you encounter a time when you have no inspiration?"
"For example, you obviously want to cheer up and are working hard to create, but you can't be satisfied with what you write. For this reason, you can't help but doubt yourself..."
"What do you do at times like this...?"
Shiyu took a deep look at her, then lowered his head slightly to think, and then raised his head after a while.
"Regarding this issue...if it were in the past, I would talk to my editor or go out to collect materials or something.
Now, as long as Yuu-chan is willing to treat me gently, my inspiration will continue to flow out, okay?"
Yinglili frowned and muttered: "I think most of the time what comes out of you is not inspiration, but other things, right?"
"...The erotic author of Hua Ling's novel is so incomprehensible about the style. Every word she says is extremely obscene. It will only make people worry about her future social life."
"I don't want to be pretended to be a model student when I write, only to find out later that it was actually a sultry female author who was immersed in erotic delusions who said that!"
"...I listen to your troubles with good intentions, and you treat me like this?"
"Who told you to deliberately speak in such a misleading tone, and even show your face!"
"...I don't know what you are talking about, and I don't remember that I have ever made that shameful face... Well, in short-"
Shiyu put the mug with coffee on the table and sighed: "I understand your situation in general. To put it simply, Sawamura, are you in a bottleneck period?"
Yingli straightened her face and closed her lips.
Shiyu looked at her covert behavior, tilted her head slightly in amusement, and pondered for a moment.
"Well, to be honest, I don't have any good advice to give you in this regard. You still have to get through this kind of thing on your own after all.
Whether you will perish or rise from the ashes depends entirely on you, and no one else can help. This is a process that every creator must go through."
A brief silence.
"Tsk...why do you sound like someone who has experienced it? You just wrote one work! How can you get such a deep understanding?"
Facing Yinglili's question, Shiyu lowered his eyes slightly and answered softly.
“…Perception is only affected by experience and has nothing to do with anything else.
For me, just the process of pursuing Yu-chan has been a lot of pain.
Compared with that kind of thing, creative bottlenecks are nothing to mention.”
"Kasumigaoka Shiyu...you..." Eirili looked at her speechlessly, her expression a little moved.
"Well, let's not talk about those things that are there or not."
Shiyu waved his hand lightly and dismissed this somewhat sad topic.
"At least it's a good thing that you haven't given up your efforts yet. As for the bottleneck period, you will naturally break through when the time comes."
"...What." Yinglili said with a bitter face: "It's just as if you didn't say anything. I am really a fool for having expectations for you without permission!"
"Ah, am I serious? For creators like us, the most terrifying thing is not the pressure, but the blind indulgence and self-abandonment of those who value us, right?"
"……What's the meaning?"
"It means that you and I both belong to the type where the greater the external pressure, the more potential can be stimulated. On the contrary, there will be a lack of motivation to forge ahead."
Shiyu made a statement calmly.
"Fortunately, Yu-chan has no intention of pampering you in this regard, and you haven't given up on your efforts either.
Wouldn't that be great?
As long as the two of you can maintain this state, your bottleneck period will be broken sooner or later.
All I can say now is that the time has not come yet, it’s useless no matter how much you worry, you might as well relax a little.”
"opportunity……"
Ying Lili recited this word softly and fell into deep thought.
At this time, Sagara Mayu suddenly shouted.
"Ah~ It's Hasumi-san and Kato-san, are you here? I heard from Teacher Kasumi Shiko, have you applied for the music copyright?"
At the entrance of the office, the two people whose names were called walked in together.
Hasumi Kanoko answered Sagara Mayu's question.
"Well, although it took a while, I finally submitted all the information. The next step is to wait for the patent office to review it."
In fact, she had been preparing for this since she received Hui's contact yesterday, but due to the large amount of information that needed to be filled in, she postponed it until today.
Mayu Sagara added: "By the way, I just watched the video of Master singing online. Everyone in the comment area said it was so cute and sounds great!"
The person who spoke to me this time was Hui.
"Um~ Let's not talk about the "good-sounding" comment. Those who say "so cute" are probably girls, right?"
"Yes, that's right! And most of them are members of Master's support group~!"
"Hmm~ I guess so."
"..."
Shiyu glanced at the direction of the entrance and wondered: "Kano-chan, where are Yu-chan and the others?"
"Kato-kun's words are still in the conference room."
Hasumi Kanoko smiled and explained.
"The people at Cube are talking to him. It seems they have found the employee who leaked the video. They are now negotiating to handle the matter. Kato-kun should be here soon."
Shiyu nodded gently to express understanding, and then continued to untie Yinglili, playing the role of a close big sister.