Darkness had settled over the apartment.
Yuta got up and turned on the light.
The bulb was not very bright, which took a little getting used to, but it was not his home and he had nothing to say about it.
Yuzuki brought out several dishes and then went to call the younger siblings to the table.
Even Rumi had needed a moment to remember who Yuta was when she first saw him, so the other three younger siblings had no idea at all. Yuta greeted all three of them in a friendly way, and they were polite enough in return, but they were visibly stiff and reserved in a way that was a little different from how kids usually acted around him outside.
He did not pay it any mind.
He found a spot to sit, and he ate.
Yuzuki's cooking was far better than he had expected, and Yuta found himself genuinely thinking that it would be wonderful to have her cook for him every day.
Of course, it was just a passing thought.
The most he would do was compliment her cooking to her face. There was no way he was saying something like that out loud.
Once the meal was done, Yuta stood and excused himself to leave.
Yuzuki walked him downstairs, and then he said to her, "Get in. I have something I want to talk to you about."
"Eh?"
Yuzuki blinked in confusion.
"It's cold out," Yuta said simply, and got into the car.
Yuzuki hesitated for a moment, then pulled the door open and climbed into the passenger seat.
"Yuzuki."
"Yes?"
"Stop drawing the layouts for Code Geass. I should have been clearer with you from the start. That style isn't the right fit for you."
"President, I..."
"Hear me out first. Code Geass is probably going to be the only mecha show our studio ever makes. We're not planning to go back to that genre. Unless you're thinking about leaving Starfall someday, learning that style isn't going to do much for you even if you master it. Of course, if you want to improve your drawing skills overall, I'm completely behind that, but please know your limits."
"I understand. I'm sorry, President. I really am so sorry about all of this."
"Alright, alright. I just don't want something like this happening again. Honestly, the moment you went down, you nearly gave me a heart attack."
That was not an exaggeration.
Yuta had genuinely been terrified in that moment.
If someone dropped dead in the middle of production on a show, there was no keeping it quiet, and the fallout for Starfall's reputation would have been devastating.
Fainting from overwork rather than dying outright was, in every sense of the word, a lucky outcome.
He exhaled slowly and added, "Anyway. You cooked me dinner tonight, so as far as I'm concerned, this is settled. Don't push yourself that hard again. Got it?"
"You have my word, President. I'll be more careful from now on." Yuzuki answered with complete sincerity.
"Good."
Yuta paused, then asked, "Are things alright at home? Is your income enough to support everyone? If it isn't, let me know. I can't give you any special treatment on salary, but I can think of other ways to help bring in a little extra on the side."
"No, it's fine, but thank you very much," Yuzuki replied.
Yuta was not entirely convinced, but since she had said it was fine, it was not his place to push further. He just said, "If you ever do need anything, just tell me. Don't feel awkward about it."
"I will." Yuzuki nodded.
"Alright, you should head back inside. I should be getting home too." Yuta wrapped up the conversation and gave a small wave.
Yuzuki stepped out of the car and closed the door, then bowed deeply. She watched the car drive away until it was completely out of sight before finally turning and heading back upstairs.
...
After that conversation, Yuta figured the matter was fully put to rest.
The very next morning, however, the moment he arrived at the studio, his phone rang. It was Aoi.
"Shido, we have a problem."
"What kind of problem?"
"Are you at the studio right now?"
"Yes, I just got in."
"Go online and see for yourself. I'll come by and we can talk it over properly."
"Got it."
Yuta agreed and hung up.
The moment the call ended, Aoi's assistant Sumire sent him a link.
He opened it, read through it, and gradually understood what was going on.
In short, a tabloid outlet was stirring up trouble.
That morning, an online publication called Anime Talk had posted an article. The piece opened by talking up how big Code Geass had gotten and how well it was doing, and then pivoted sharply and turned its sights directly on Starfall.
Nobody knew where they had gotten the information, but they somehow knew that a key animator at Starfall named Yuzuki Amane had been hospitalized after collapsing from overwork.
The article did not say outright that Starfall was a terrible company, but the implication running through every sentence was unmistakable. The message was clear: a company like Starfall did not deserve to produce a cultural phenomenon like Code Geass.
Yuta read through it with a deepening frown.
If the article had gone all-out trashing Code Geass itself, it might have provoked a backlash from the show's fans. But this piece was doing something more calculated.
It gave Code Geass its flowers, mentioned how impressive its performance had been, and then swung at Starfall specifically.
Calling it an attack on Starfall was perhaps not quite right, since everything in the article was technically true and nothing was stated as an explicit smear, but the writing was clearly designed to steer public opinion toward one conclusion: that Starfall was a company not worth respecting.
Think about it. Someone already collapsed from overwork. You can only imagine what conditions must normally be like in there.
What kind of company could justify the trust viewers had placed in them? What right did a studio like that have to be behind something as big as Code Geass?
Ordinary viewers had no real insight into Starfall's inner workings and had no idea what had actually happened with Yuzuki.
Reading the article without any context, plenty of them started piling on without a second thought.
"I never expected Starfall to be this kind of company."
"What a shame. Code Geass is such a great show."
"I'm done watching Code Geass after this."
"Trash company."
"I thought wrong about that bastard Shido. I can't believe he's this kind of person."
"How is that key animator doing? Is she still in the hospital? They're not going to make her pay the hospital bills herself, are they?"
"Honestly, Code Geass was never as good as people made it out to be. The logic is all over the place, the so-called battle of wits is incredibly shallow, and for a show that sells itself as mecha, the main character barely touches a mech. It's an insult to the word 'mecha.'"
...
To be fair, people criticizing Code Geass had always existed. There had just been far more people praising it, and given how Code Geass was leaving every other show in the fall season in the dust, the detractors had never been loud enough to make any real noise.
But now the situation had changed. If Starfall itself was a company with problems, if Yuta was someone whose character was in question, then who would still feel comfortable standing up for either of them?
Under those conditions, the critics naturally grew a lot bolder.
"This Anime Talk..."
Yuta had never dealt with them before. They were a rival publication to Anime Weekly. The two outlets competing with each other had nothing to do with him under normal circumstances, but now that they had decided to come after him directly, that was a different matter entirely.
If Yuzuki had died rather than simply fainted, Yuta would have had no ground to stand on no matter what he said. But that was not what happened, and given the actual situation, there was absolutely nothing to be afraid of.
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