101. A Script Beyond Imagination 2.0, and of course, the content as well

During the last class of the morning, the script that Tomoya Aki had printed during the break after first period lay spread open on Jiang Yu’s desk, and he was reading carefully through this second draft, submitted once again by Utaha Kasumigaoka after two days had passed.

Should he call it beyond expectation, or admit that from the very beginning he had perhaps underestimated the genius of Utaha Kasumigaoka?

No matter how harshly Jiang Yu judged the script, he had to admit that, by his own standards, he could no longer find any further flaws in it.

At first, there were still traces of deliberate additions to the dialogue and reductions in inner monologue, but the farther he read, the fainter those traces became. From the latter half of the common route onward, the script had taken on an entirely natural quality, as if it had always been meant to be that way.

And when he reached the ending of Shiina Mayuri’s route as written by Utaha Kasumigaoka, when he saw Okabe unleash that familiar, frenzied proclamation of victory, Jiang Yu felt a current climb up his spine and detonate in a thunderclap inside his mind.

Letting out a long breath, Jiang Yu closed the script, still immersed in the fantasy world Utaha had woven. He had a feeling that, with everyone in this club, they could create a game that would shake the entire industry.

Even if it was only a doujin work meant for release at the winter Comic Market.

The class bell rang on time. After the teacher left the classroom with the lesson materials in hand, the classmates he was not especially familiar with also drifted out in small groups.

Guessing that they would still be gathering in the audiovisual room at noon, Jiang Yu followed the flow of students downstairs, bought a sandwich and a coffee milk from the school shop, and slowly made his way to the audiovisual classroom.

When he pushed open the door, sure enough, the club members were already nearly all there.

“Huh? So it was you, Yu. Is Utaha-senpai not here yet?” Aki Tomoya looked up sharply at the noise, and after seeing Jiang Yu, he seemed visibly disappointed before saying that.

Yes, when I say nearly all there, I mean that among the provisional club members, everyone except Jiang Yu, who had just arrived, was present, and the day’s main figure, Utaha Kasumigaoka, had not yet reached the classroom.

As Jiang Yu shut the door behind him, he shook his head and said, “I don’t know. Ask Tomoya. Come to think of it, has no one in this club exchanged contact information until now?”

Tomoya gave a wry smile and nodded, just about to say something when the classroom door opened again. The figure he had long been waiting for walked in, speaking in a slightly languid voice.

“Then that’s a failure on the part of the producer and director, isn’t it? You’re the ones responsible for handling communication across the whole club, and yet none of us creators has both of your contact details at once~”

“Don’t slander us, Kasumigaoka-senpai. Megumi has both my and Tomoya’s contact information...” Jiang Yu retorted with a slight pout.

At those words, Utaha Kasumigaoka frowned faintly, and a momentary shadow passed over her expression as she muttered to herself, “So even this time, I was beaten to it by that main heroine?”

“Mm...” Eriri also looked with a strange expression toward Megumi Kato sitting in the corner. But Megumi herself merely played with her phone as if no one else existed, apparently paying no attention to the suddenly awkward atmosphere.

“All right, all right... then before today’s brief club exchange activity officially begins, let’s just swap contact info, okay?” Tomoya Aki stepped forward at the right moment and took over the topic, just like the producer who mediates the delicate relationships among club members in countless other circles.

“Mm... isn’t there no need to make it that troublesome? Tomoya, why not just create a group chat in LINE?” Jiang Yu rubbed his chin thoughtfully and said, half complaining and half suggesting.

Honestly, Jiang Yu never quite understood why one would ignore something like a penguin-style group chat and instead insist on exchanging individual contact details for the sake of easier communication.

“...Oh, right!” Tomoya blinked, then slammed his right fist into his left palm with an expression of sudden realization.

“...” With nothing to say, Jiang Yu could only watch Tomoya’s richly expressive reaction with a faint ache of exasperation.

After setting up the group chat, Jiang Yu was preparing to discuss the script with Utaha Kasumigaoka when his phone suddenly began to vibrate, and at the same time notifications for new LINE messages sounded from all around him.

Do your phones in school not need to be switched to silent?

Well... never mind. The one who complains loses, after all.

Hm, wait a moment. Seen that way, haven’t I already lost?

So please stop complaining for the moment and look at your phone, would you?

...Jiang Yu picked up the phone from his pocket, and the first person to speak on the screen was the one nicknamed Utaha Kasumigaoka.

“Then let’s talk about everyone’s impressions of the second draft of the script.”

“Um... Utaha-senpai, wouldn’t it be easier to just say it out loud?”

“Sa, let me hear your opinions and suggestions!”

“Hey, hey, are you completely ignoring me?!”

“The second draft by Kasumigaoka-senpai is of very high quality, far beyond what I expected. I had originally thought you might hand in a fourth or fifth draft, but it looks like only a few small changes will be needed from here.”

Jiang Yu looked somewhat headache-ridden at Utaha Kasumigaoka, who had suddenly become playfully mischievous, but he still answered her seriously on LINE.

“As the planner, director, scriptwriter, and unpublished novice author, have you found anything else that seems off? Let me hear it.”

Hey, hey, don’t pile on a whole string of titles like that just to hint at your dissatisfaction!

“A few minor things. The first half of the common route feels like it deliberately adds too much dialogue and cuts down on inner monologue. If Kasumigaoka-senpai can revise that, please do; if not, it’s not a big deal. And then, at the end of Shiina Mayuri’s route, I’d like Mayuri to respond after Okabe delivers his chuunibyou speech, something like, ‘You don’t need to keep forcing yourself into that tone anymore. Mayuri is fine now, so Okabe can cry for himself.’”

“That’s a great idea, Yu! I think it’s awesome!”

“I accept this suggestion. Also, I’ll revise some of the earlier parts. If I bring it out again after that, it should be the final completed version, right?”

“As for Shiina Mayuri’s route, let’s leave it like that. Some of the earlier events can be folded into the common route, and then written into the other heroines’ routes. There needs to be interaction between them. After all, in the finished version I have in my head, the earlier events are almost identical, with only subtle differences hinting to the player that they have entered a different route ending.”

“Like the world line divergence rate you mentioned?”

“That works. Though according to the project plan, the world lines the protagonist will experience... there are probably only four in total. By the way, isn’t it about time to stop this face-to-face communication being carried out through a chat app?”

“I thought you all were enjoying it?”

“...” x3 Even Eriri, who had been unable to get a word in until now, was rendered speechless by Utaha Kasumigaoka’s taste for mischief. Well, probably.

In short, the group, who could still be described as having a rather pleasant conversation, chatted back and forth on LINE until the afternoon warning bell rang.