Bonus Chapter at 1500 PS
Support me at patreon.com/CulturedOne and read 50 Advanced Chapters
_______________________
Yukino let out a sigh of relief.
The truth was, Haruto's debut in the animation industry had been so explosive that she had deliberately spoken in a way to apply a bit of pressure. She didn't want him to miss this golden window of opportunity for expansion. Otherwise, given the company's annual operating costs for dozens of employees, the projected revenue from Puella Magi Madoka Magica could easily keep them afloat for the next twenty years without issue.
"However, Haruto, you seem to be collaborating on a manga with Shizuru, right?" Reina mentioned, having heard about this earlier.
She knit her brows slightly. "And on the literary front, your agent Ms. Hime is hounding you to release a new light novel. Now you're talking about launching a new project in the animation industry while maintaining your daily university studies... is it actually possible to pull all that off?"
"Well... probably," Haruto paused for a moment, then gave a light laugh. "Lately, I feel like my creative state is pretty solid. Juggling multiple works across different fields, manga, light novels, and anime, is actually manageable. My speed for writing novels and scripts has improved quite a bit."
"As for the manga, it's essentially a mid-length series, and I've already finished the vast majority of the storyboard drafts. I just need to hand over the latest weekly storyboards to Shizuru."
Reina and Yukino both froze, their expressions turning stone-cold.
"Are you even human?" Reina's voice wavered.
She was genuinely worried that Haruto was being too ambitious at a young age and would push himself until his health collapsed.
There were plenty of novelists who suffered from such immense pressure that they lost sleep and eventually fell seriously ill. Haruto, however, was casually tossing out words that would make any peer in his industry burn with envy.
Reina knew the agony of staring at a blank page every night, painstakingly revising drafts to make a plot even one percent better; yet, she saw none of that struggle in Haruto.
"Alright, today was a fruitful harvest."
Haruto reached into the prize bin of the crane machine and pulled out three rabbit plushies. He handed one to Yukino and one to Reina.
"These are for you."
"Wait, you were playing this for so long just to give us gifts?" Yukino was stunned.
"Yeah. You two waited for me to finish playing for so long, it would be embarrassing if I just took one for myself and left," Haruto joked.
"You might as well have just bought them. You must have spent a good amount catching these three," Reina whispered, her hands squeezing the white rabbit plushie.
"That's exactly it, Reina. Even I, as a guy, know that something bought with money isn't the same as something caught by hand. You're far too rational; you always look at everything in the world through the lens of probability. Try being a little more sentimental. You'd be cuter that way," Haruto said.
Reina stole another glance at Haruto but said nothing.
She and Yukino tucked the rabbit plushies into their bags.
Haruto then led them through bookstores and anime merchandise shops, where they bought some goods related to the light novels they had written in the past, eventually heading home satisfied.
Upon returning to his apartment, Haruto set aside the pile of shopping bags and stepped into his study.
The words he had spoken to Reina and Yukino that afternoon weren't just empty talk. He truly had concrete ideas for his next project. During the months spent producing and broadcasting Madoka Magica, he had frequently accessed the memories of Shiori. Consequently, his mind was now packed with a vast array of strange and wonderful series.
However, amidst that library of memories, two specific works had struck a chord deep within his heart.
One was an anime based on a game: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.
The other was an independent pixel-art narrative game: 7 Years From Now.
In the other world, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was adapted from the famous game Cyberpunk 2077. It utilized the game's world-building, maps, and settings to create a prequel animation. When discussing the game Cyberpunk 2077, it was a massive investment and a high-budget production that the whole world anticipated before its release. However, once it launched, it was met with a flood of negative reviews from players.
But the spin-off animation possessed a quality that far surpassed the original game. It was a phenomenon where a flawed game inspired a prequel that was nearly a perfect masterpiece.
After the game's botched launch, its popularity had fizzled out within months. Yet, two years later, when the spin-off anime broadcasted globally, something incredible happened. As the final episode aired, hundreds of thousands of players worldwide remembered their long-dormant game accounts. They logged in that very night, taking control of their characters for the sole purpose of brutally executing the boss who had devastated the protagonist in the anime.
Watching Edgerunners and then logging in to take revenge became a rite of passage for every fan of the show.
As for Haruto, when he finished recalling Edgerunners through his memories, he found he couldn't quite snap out of it for a whole week. It hurt, it hurt far too much. Since he didn't have the original game to vent his frustrations, the melody of the theme song "I Really Want to Stay at Your House" echoed in his head for days.
The depth of the plot, the sheer quality, and the themes the story conveyed left him shattered.
Personally, Haruto felt that Edgerunners was on par with Madoka Magica. While certain elements like the violence might make it controversial in some regions, it wasn't a problem for him.
As for 7 Years From Now... It was an independent pixel-art narrative game. This work was actually very similar to To the Moon.
It featured an exceptional plot that was deeply moving, melancholic, and a total tear-jerker.
However, because the original medium was a pixel-art text game, it hadn't become widely famous. Nevertheless, tens of thousands of players had given the story a near-perfect score, proving the excellence of its narrative.
Having witnessed the massive success of To the Moon, Haruto realized that many works that weren't "hits" in the original world didn't lack quality. They were simply obscured by their medium or lack of marketing. They were hidden gems, waiting for a single opportunity to explode into the mainstream.
Haruto was now in a position to provide that opportunity.
Of course, this was just his subjective judgment.
He felt 7 Years From Now was an extraordinary piece of work that audiences would surely love. Perhaps it was just a hunch, but he was willing to bet on it because of the emotion the story had given him. He wanted to convey that feeling to the anime viewers.
Organizing the relevant information late into the night, Haruto picked up his pen and began the initial writing process.
Over the next few days, while Haruto was busy finalizing the upcoming workflow for his company, the influence of Madoka Magica continued to radiate outward. The conclusion of the broadcast was merely the beginning of its rise in popularity. After a few days of processing, the fans were finally beginning to accept the ending.
Inevitably, this was followed by a roar of demand for the release of the Madoka Magica Blu-rays and the rapid production of the theatrical movie.
Furthermore, a movement sparked by unknown individuals began to sweep across in just a matter of days.
A manhunt to find the true identity of the Warrior of Love.
Madoka Magica was a masterpiece with ratings breaking 6% and a level of heat that dominated the entire market. To this day, not a single person in the industry knew who the scriptwriter actually was. It was too strange. It was impossible that the Warrior of Love was truly a newcomer with so little fame that no one recognized him.
That was total nonsense.
Speculations ran wild across the internet.
Haruto's creator account received hundreds of thousands of private messages every day.
Needless to say, every major animation studio was looking for him, hoping to recruit this "Genius of Love" into their ranks.
Haruto ignored all of it for the time being. His current focus, aside from the works still in the writing stage, had gradually shifted toward Initial D.
Nearly two weeks had passed, and the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Prime Manga, whom he had met previously, had sent him an update.
The internal meeting at the manga house had reached a unanimous decision. They would grant full support for the serialization of the Initial D manga.