"Coach, I want to play basketball!" Kamiyā Yuu knelt on the smooth gym floor, pleading with a trembling voice. Sweat mixed with blood trickled down his disheveled body, and the pitiful sight made a stout P.E. teacher not far away nod in satisfaction.
Kamiyā Yuu took two breaths and continued, "Coach, I want to become a chef!"
"?"
His tone suddenly sped up, losing all trace of pleading. "Coach, I want to drive an excavator!"
Then, like a broken record, he repeated, "Coach, I want to learn martial arts!"
"Coach, I want to do street dance!"
"Coach, I want to learn manga!"
"Coach, I want to learn how to write novels!"
"Coach, I want to make an animation!"
"Smack~!" The stout P.E. teacher slapped Kamiyā Yuu hard across the face, then pointed at his nose and scolded, "If you want to learn, go teach yourself in the consciousness space!"
...
"Snap!"
The crisp sound of fingers snapping echoed throughout the entire consciousness space, and the absurd little skit collapsed instantly. The empty white void was left with only a sofa and Kamiyā Yuu sitting on it. He yawned boredly, feeling a dull ache at how ridiculous his self-directed performance had been.
This short skit perfectly reflected the dilemma he was currently facing. With the help of the consciousness space, he realized that the number of things he wanted to learn kept increasing. The sense of fulfillment from mastering knowledge was so addictive that he often sighed, "So this is what it feels like to be a top student!"
"I still need to draft a plan for how to use the consciousness space." With a thought, a blank sheet of paper appeared before him, rapidly filling with Chinese text as his mind worked.
Without affecting his real life, he could spend about ten hours a day in this consciousness space. Two hours would be used to study the 'Complete Guide to Key Animation Techniques' given to him by Uehara Etsuki. Two hours would be spent simulating key animation practice for 'Mr. Onigiri Man.' Three hours would go toward learning computer programming and 3D animation production. Two hours would be used to connect to the internet from his previous world and conceptualize the manifestation scenes for 'RWBY.' The final hour would serve as a buffer to accommodate any timing deviations between tasks.
With the preliminary schedule complete, Kamiyā Yuu nodded in satisfaction and muttered, "That's the plan for this week in the consciousness space. After a week, I should have basically mastered the 'Complete Guide to Key Animation Techniques.' Then I can free up more time to study programming and further develop ideas for 'RWBY'—the 'Red' arc."
After thinking for a moment, he snapped his fingers again. What appeared in the consciousness space this time was a life-sized doll-like girl—Ruby Rose—along with dozens of shadow wolves of varying sizes. They stood completely still like highly realistic figures, yet possessed a level of detail no ordinary model could achieve.
"I'll set aside the shadow wolves for now. I'll start with designing Ruby Rose's character."
Kamiyā Yuu focused intently on the thoughtless girl-like figure. She changed in response to his mental commands.
"Smile."
Ruby Rose revealed a slightly playful smile, embodying the charm of a classic American girl-next-door. A drawing board and pencil appeared in Kamiyā Yuu's hands as he carefully sketched the expression, contemplating possible improvements.
"Smirk."
"Hehe~!"
Ruby Rose's smile widened, and she covered her lips with her small hand, hiding her mischievous grin.
"Laugh."
"Pfft~ hahaha!"
Ruby Rose burst into uncontrollable laughter, clutching her stomach and rolling on the ground, her small fists pounding against the nonexistent floor.
"Sad."
"Wuu wuu wuu~!"
Ruby Rose stood up, brushed off nonexistent dust from her body, and in an instant her expression changed—her pretty face now tearful and pitiful.
After testing hundreds of distinct expressions and thousands of different movements, Kamiyā Yuu recorded them all and further refined Ruby Rose's character, making every aspect more detailed and complete.
From her petite figure to her delicate face, from lively expressions to dynamic movements, from her gothic outerwear to her simple white undergarments—everything was designed by his own hands. Whenever he encountered a dead end or something he didn't understand, he simply went online to look it up. It was like inputting specific commands into a blank intelligent system; once the instructions became complex enough to generate responses to everything, Ruby Rose would, in a sense, "come to life" within his consciousness space.
Of course, Kamiyā Yuu didn't need to go that far—but he wanted to refine and expand upon Ruby Rose's character from the original 'RWBY.'
Whether or not those complex settings would ever be used, he would treat her as a real person.
...
Sunday morning.
Kamiyā Yuu woke from sleep and lazily stretched. Every time he exited the consciousness space, he felt refreshed, as if both his mental and physical fatigue had been completely wiped away. It seemed that, as long as he didn't overuse it, the consciousness space even helped him enter deep sleep.
The first thing he did after waking was walk to his animation desk and pick up the drawings on it. These weren't correction frames for work, nor were they assignments given by Uehara Etsuki—they were character design drafts of Ruby Rose.
The drawings perfectly outlined a petite and adorable gothic girl in a red cloak. She smiled brightly while holding a giant mechanical scythe, looking straight at Kamiyā Yuu. Every expression radiated a lively and sunny personality. In addition to the main character illustration, there were also flat expression sheets from multiple angles, with written notes describing her personality beside them.
"As expected, expressions—especially smiles—are the hardest to get right. I'll revise it again tonight if I have time."
Even though others would consider it an outstanding character design, Kamiyā Yuu wasn't satisfied. After placing the drawings back on the desk, he walked to the window and pulled open the curtains. The morning sunlight pierced into the dim room, making him squint slightly as he muttered, "Looks like there's still time. I'll go for a morning workout first, then make breakfast for Sora. Might as well stop by the supermarket and try making a Chinese-style breakfast."
In the consciousness space, he would occasionally learn practical skills and knowledge—such as martial arts, cooking, or even random trivia. Cooking, however, was difficult to fully simulate there, since he couldn't truly determine how flavors would turn out. Still, he could look up Chinese recipes from his previous world and memorize them in extreme detail. When it came to rote memorization within the consciousness space, it was something Kamiyā Yuu feared the least.