Tokyo Rebirth: Start From Picking Up Sayu

——Clang.

The metal knife and fork fell onto the porcelain plate with a crisp sound.

Yinglili looked at the message she received on her phone. Her originally leisurely mood suddenly tightened, and her whole body became nervous unconsciously.

"Eiriri...?"

"Mom, I'm full, so I'll go back to my room first...!"

Ignoring Sayuri Yuzamura's questioning look, she hurried back to the room holding her phone.

Even so, the random thoughts in my mind could never stop.

"That woman... sent such an incomprehensible sentence, what on earth did she mean!"

The girl muttered irritably, wondering how to deal with this difficult news.

Is it a reply?

Ignore it?

Are you going to say it back as rudely as usual?

Or should you pretend to be confused and ask what the other person means?

Thousands of thoughts are piled up in my head, but I have yet to make a decision.

At this moment, a photo was sent to the phone.

"ah……"

Through the screen, the back of the person you like appears there.

The boy was wearing a black housecoat and an apron. He was standing in front of the kitchen at home and was busy with his head down.

Yinglili was speechless for a moment, just observing the people in the photo carefully.

Suddenly, she realized the sender's intention.

——Stay away from my boyfriend.

Combining the previous news about the "cat stealing" and this photo full of demonstrations, it is not difficult to draw such a conclusion.

For no reason, she suddenly felt guilty.

Yinglili quickly exited the chat interface with Shiyu and put her phone upside down on the table.

Although the specific circumstances are not yet certain, it seems that the incident between her and Kato Yusuke has been known to the other party.

This is undoubtedly an embarrassing and embarrassing thing.

The girl picked up her cell phone uneasily and called her best friend involuntarily.

——Durruludurruludurrulu.

After a busy tone.

"Eiriri...?"

An attractive face appeared on the screen.

"Mei~~~!"

Ying Lili adjusted the angle of her phone so that the front camera faced her face, "I'm sorry for calling you suddenly. I wanted to chat with you. Are you free now?"

"Huh? But I'm getting ready to take a shower now, how about I wait until I finish taking a shower before contacting you?"

"Ah, but I'm in a hurry right now. Can you just keep talking to me and go take a shower?"

"Eh~~~? I feel so embarrassed like that."

"Please, please, I'll just ask a few questions and I'll be fine soon."

"That's it..."

After a little hesitation, Hui nodded gently, "Well, then I'll take a shower later~"

"Really? Thank you!"

"It doesn't matter~ So, Yinglili, what is the urgent matter you are talking about?"

"Well, what about that, Kei——!"

Ying Lili's eyes were wandering and her voice was erratic.

"What if, I mean what if...! If for some reason, a girl kisses a boy who has a girlfriend, and the other girl happens to know about it... What do you think we should do...?"

"--Eh?"

The girl on the screen blinked twice blankly, staring at her with a pair of obsidian eyes. After two seconds, she said:

"...Um, I'm sorry~ Yinglili. The signal here may not be very good. Did you just say something...?"

Hearing this, Yinglili had to repeat it again.

"Just...that is...if you accidentally kiss a boy who has a girlfriend, and his girlfriend finds out...what should you do...?"

There was silence.

"~~Well, just in case, let me ask first, Yinglili, the protagonist in the matter you are talking about..."

"--Is my friend!"

"Friend...?"

"Well, that's right."

Yinglili pretended to be calm and said: "A friend of mine encountered such a thing recently. I wanted to help her but didn't know what to do, so I had to come and ask Hui."

"That's it..."

An indescribable expression appeared on Hui's face, and she said troubledly: "Well, although I am very grateful that you are willing to trust me, I really don't know how to help you, Yinglili..."

"--not me!"

Yinglili emphasized: "I told you that he is a friend of mine."

"Ah, um... let's just take it as such."

"...So, would you like to listen to me tell me about my friend and give her some advice?"

"..."

Hui stared at her troubled expression for a while, then said hesitantly: "Well...it's okay if you just listen, but I can't guarantee that I can give you any useful advice?"

"It's okay, that's fine. Please, Megumi."

Yinglili took a deep breath and began to talk.

Things about childhood sweethearts.

That time of grieving alone after a friendship breaks up.

Later I met a boy who was like family.

And that special New Year’s Eve.

The person involved became more and more enthusiastic as he spoke. He did not notice at all that the personal emotions he inadvertently showed in his statement had already exceeded the level that someone who had not personally experienced it should not have. He just kept talking.

Hui's eyes on the other side of the phone were strange. He wanted to remind her several times, but he couldn't find a chance to interrupt.

One of them spoke and the other listened.

A stupid person who doesn't understand anything yet dares to say anything.

A person who obviously knows everything but pretends not to understand is both a little bit disgusting and a little helpless in his heart.

Although Eiri used pseudonyms in her explanation, the overly specific description made it almost impossible for Megumi to guess who the people she was talking about represented.

"...Anyway, this is what happened. My friend has now received a warning from that girl, Kei, what do you think she should do?"

"Yes~~ Well, this is really a thorny issue. People don't know where to complain."

"Make complaints……?"

"Let me ask you, now that things have happened, does your friend have any thoughts on quitting?"

"quit……?"

"Well, after all... the boy your friend likes is already dating another girl, right? As long as you quit as soon as possible, maybe you won't be targeted by others?"

"——That won't work."

Yinglili shook her head vigorously, "My friend will never quit, that's what I think..."

"That~~ is really a very firm statement."

Hui said and sighed: "If that's the case... then there's nothing more to say, right?"

"Huh? I don't quite understand what Hui means..."

"After all, the master already has his own ideas. I really don't think other people have any good suggestions. If you have to say it, just do what you want to do, right?"

"Do what you want to do...?"

Yinglili murmured, lost in thought for a while.

after awhile……

"I think I understand."

The girl let out a shallow breath: "Thank you, Hui, I know what to do~!"

The eyes as clear and awe-inspiring as crystals of ice and snow stared over, meeting the eyes of those tranquil eyes like lake water.

A faint fluctuation flashed across Hui's eyes.

This was the first time she saw the other party showing such an expression. It was completely different from the sorrow just now, and it was extremely dazzling.

"Hey, Yinglili."

"Um?"

"Can I ask a strange question? This is just my personal curiosity. You can ignore it or laugh it off."

After she said that——

"Well, feel free to ask."

Yinglili didn't say much and agreed readily.

"Thank you, let me ask you a question?"

While adjusting her bangs, Hui asked nonchalantly: "Eirili, what kind of existence do you want yourself to be in the heart of the person you like?"

"……Huh?"

As expected, the girl showed a surprised expression and became troubled.

Hui didn't say anything to urge her, she just waited quietly.

As for why she would ask such a question, even she herself didn't understand.

Maybe this was just her little outing.

Ying Lili frowned and thought for a while, then suddenly recalled a certain conversation with her mother.

"Don't you think the girls around Kato-kun are too heavy? If one day he can't stand the strong stimulation, or gets tired of the quarrels and wants to be with a relaxed girl, then Isn’t that strange?”

The originally confused heart suddenly cleared away the haze.

"——I want to be a person who can make the other person feel relaxed."

The girl said, with a beautiful smile like a bouquet of flowers blooming on her face.

Hui was silent for a moment after hearing this answer.

She looked at the girl in front of her as if she were looking at Snow White in a fairy tale, so innocent that people couldn't bear to hurt her.

However, some things seem unavoidable...

She unconsciously clenched her fists and made up her mind again.

Even if the other party is Snow White.

Even if she is a bad queen.

‘...I won’t lose. ’

She smiled slightly, showing determination deep in her heart.

After all, she had already passed the stage of hesitation about this.

Unfortunately, she is more unwilling to admit defeat than the bad queen in the story, so she will not give up the prince to anyone else.

In order to prove that his relationship is not wrong.

In order to be able to openly show affection to everyone around me three years later.

She secretly declared:

——She is the most suitable girl for him in the world.

"...Phew, I feel a lot more relaxed after saying it~"

Yingli raised her arms high and stretched her body.

"Thank you for chatting with me for so long, Hui. I will tell my friend what you said to me and cheer her up~"

"Ah, you don't have to be so polite. I don't think I have helped anything."

"So... I'm sorry, I caused you trouble."

"Huh?"

"Because, this kind of thing sounds very shy, right? Mingminghui hasn't dated anyone yet, but I dragged you to talk about kissing and stuff like that... You must be in trouble."

"Well……?"

Hui's eyes wandered, and he unconsciously moved his gaze away from those blue eyes, and continued speaking along with the atmosphere.

"Hmm~~ Regarding this issue, I'm prepared in every sense, so you don't have to worry about me, Eiri-ri...?"

Yinglili didn't notice the subtlety in the girl's tone. After inviting the other party to come to the house to play next time, she couldn't continue to disturb her and ended the call.

◇

At nine o'clock in the morning the next day, "TYPE-MOON" studio.

Yinglili sat on the workbench and confirmed today's schedule.

【Nagisa Furukawa·CG14, CG15】

【Gymnasium·Cultural Festival Performance 01】

Including two figures and one background, there are three pictures to be submitted today.

With nothing to say, Yinglili immediately started working after confirming the arrangements.

Compared with the picture I finished a while ago, although the part I am going to draw today is still a school scene, because it involves a cultural festival performance, there are suddenly more characters on the stage.

It is precisely because of this that the complexity of the painting this time is much higher than before.

Those scenes that highlight the protagonist alone are okay, but the zoom image of the protagonist on the stage gives Eiri a headache, especially when the audience's reaction has to be drawn.

That's what painting is all about. The more characters involved, the more things need to be considered.

Such as perspective, position, movement, posture, etc...

It is not an easy task to make these elements coexist harmoniously in a picture.

The only thing Yinglili was lucky about was that the game they were going to make was a daily love game, and there were no battle plots that required extremely high special effects. Otherwise, the difficulty would have to be raised a few more levels.

While she was doing perspective and composition in her mind, she was making rough sketches on the drawing paper with a pencil.

An hour later, the stadium scene was roughly storyboarded.

Eiriri came to the workstation next door with the storyboard in her hand, "Hey, Yusuke, help me take a look at this."

"Okay, give it to me."

Kato Yusuke was originally drawing the manga manuscript, but after hearing her request, he temporarily put down the work at hand and chose to help her read the drawings immediately.

——This is also what was promised before.

Just like the promise he made that night, he would do his best to help the girl break through the bottleneck.

Back to the topic.

After observing the storyboard in his hand for a moment, Yusuke Kato quickly discovered some problems and pointed them out directly.

"This picture doesn't work, Yinglili, your understanding of the scene is wrong."

Yinglili was not angry about this, and asked seriously: "Can you explain in more detail, what is the problem?"

"First of all, although this scene is a multi-person scene, the center and subject of the composition must still be placed on the protagonist. This needs to distinguish the primary and secondary relationships."

"If you were to paint this place, what would you do?"

"That's what I would do if it were me."

Kato Yusuke picked up a pencil from the table and started drawing on the blank paper while explaining.

“The composition here can be developed from the audience in the back row of the stadium, and the protagonist’s appearance on the stage is cut from a long shot.

Later, I added the lighting of the stage to emphasize the key points, and adjusted the depth of field and virtual field. This is almost the feeling. "

He stopped writing and handed the thing he had just drawn to the girl.

"..."

Ying Lili took the drawing paper and looked at it carefully for a long time, and then compared it repeatedly with the one she drew. She had to admit that the layering of someone's picture was indeed better.

When she thought that this was just something the other person drew casually in a few minutes, she couldn't help but feel frustrated and discouraged.

Kato Yusuke noticed this very keenly, and his tone became calmer:

"Of course, what I just talked about is just a way of thinking. Painting is like doing math problems. Everyone has their own way of solving problems. You don't have to force yourself to imitate me."

"I didn't think so. Stop being so sentimental, you idiot."

Ying Lili glared at him angrily, then returned to her work station with two pieces of drawing paper and began to reorganize her inspiration.

On the side, Izumi Hashima secretly watched their reactions and couldn't help but move closer to the side.

"Sister Sagara, don't you think the atmosphere between the teacher and Sawamura-senpai seems to have changed a bit?"

"Yes, yes, yes!"

Mayu Sagara nodded her head in disapproval.

"Moreover, Teacher Kashiwagi's condition is also different from before. Now he rarely fishes at work. Do you know why this is the case?"

"Sorry, I'm not very clear..."

"That's it. Well~ But isn't this also good? The two of us have to work hard and strive to be able to independently take on the original painting work as soon as possible~"

"Ah, yes...!"

Namishima Dekai nodded vigorously, took one last look at Eiri who was not far away, and then started practicing seriously.

…