Shell

"You have nothing better to do? If you're so free, hurry up and draw the key frames." Mihara Chisa stood at the meeting room door with a cold expression, looking like she wanted everyone to stay a thousand miles away. "And watch what you say. We're the same sex. I don't have any special preferences."

Fine.

Gu Xue, who already regretted saying that, silently curled her lip.

She really is annoying...

You make it sound like I have some kind of special preference...

The thought of changing my opinion of someone out of sympathy never should have occurred to me.

That was just self-righteousness.

What might seem unbearably tragic to outsiders could already be ancient history to the person involved. Who was anyone else to care or sympathize? They didn't even know each other well. From the other person's perspective, a well-intentioned gesture might even seem like maliciously reopening an old wound.

After giving herself a mental pep talk, Gu Xue recovered from her indignation—and from the pity she had felt for Mihara Chisa.

She gave Mihara Chisa a slight bow. "Sorry. I was thinking about drawing just now and got distracted."

Mihara Chisa turned sideways, avoiding Gu Xue's bow.

Gu Xue did not mind. She simply slipped through the space Mihara Chisa had made and left the meeting room.

Mihara Chisa watched Gu Xue's ponytail sway as she walked away. Only after Gu Xue vanished from sight did she look back at Abe Shinichi and say coolly, "Director, if you think my affairs make good conversation material when chatting with others, I can tell you more details. For example, I was not only slapped twice. The president of C PICTURE also gave me a slap."

Abe Shinichi looked incredibly awkward. He guessed that she had overheard their conversation at the door. Raising both hands in surrender, he gave an embarrassed laugh. "Sorry. Please forgive me."

"..." Mihara Chisa stared fixedly at Abe Shinichi. Only when both he and even Misawa Hiroshi looked too uncomfortable to sit still did she continue, "Please review the storyboards. Miss Gu Xue already finished revising them, didn't she? Confirm them as soon as possible. Since you know about me, you should also know that I absolutely, utterly hate people like you who act recklessly! Please stop causing trouble for me and everyone else."

As she said this, Mihara Chisa kept her eyes on Misawa Hiroshi and Abe Shinichi. Both men looked mortified. If there had been a crack in the floor, they probably would have crawled into it.

It was awkward enough to be caught talking behind someone's back. She had even brought it up bluntly and used it to lecture them. They could complain internally that she lacked tact, but they really had no way to argue back...

Seeing how embarrassed they looked, Mihara Chisa did not press the matter further. She merely told them to hurry up and review the storyboards before turning to leave.

However, when she reached the meeting room door, she stopped again. With her back to Misawa Hiroshi and Abe Shinichi, she said in a very soft voice, "Please do not make things difficult for Miss Gu Xue. Even if she fails to complete the drawing assignment in the end, you have no right to blame her for a single word. You were the ones who changed the storyboards without permission and never discussed it with her. As far as I know, even highly experienced key animators would not casually take on shots this difficult. I checked just now—Miss Gu Xue has only been employed for two years. Last year, she was still doing in-between animation work such as tracing and cleanup. I do not know what kind of key frames she drew that gave you such confidence in her, but please show young people a little more tolerance. You grew up gradually too."

With that, she was about to leave.

After hearing Mihara Chisa's words, Abe Shinichi rubbed his thinning hair. Forgetting about whether things were awkward or not, he raised his voice slightly and smiled. "Miss Mihara, Miss Gu Xue reminds you of your younger self, doesn't she? Both in being entrusted with great expectations at such a young age, and in taking on a reckless assignment."

Back then, Mihara Chisa had volunteered to serve as production assistant for the final episode of Falling Feathers.

After the final episode blew up, everyone blamed her, and that was closely related to it.

Come to think of it, Gu Xue's situation really was quite similar to hers back then...

Mihara Chisa paused, though only for a moment.

"If you do not say it, no one will know your good intentions. If you truly care about her, why not talk to her more? If you keep wearing that poker face all day, she will not know. And no one will like it either." Watching Mihara Chisa continue walking without stopping, Abe Shinichi raised his voice again and said it jokingly.

Mihara Chisa ignored him and left quickly.

On the other side, Gu Xue returned to her seat. She temporarily put Mihara Chisa's matter out of her mind. Whenever work was involved, Gu Xue could usually get into the right state quickly.

Thinking about the shots she needed to draw, she pulled out her chair and sat down.

Honestly, Gu Xue still did not have any particularly good ideas for the moment. These storyboards really were difficult, even though she felt that she had improved.

The two cuts in episode six of Ore-sama had only involved the protagonist showing off. There were only two characters involved. Although Gu Xue had shown off her skills, those two cuts were not especially difficult at their core. This time was different.

This time, the protagonist was also showing off, but he was going to show off big. Not only did he have to brawl with the Demon King's Four Heavenly Kings one after another, there was also a chaotic group battle, followed by a final battle against the Demon King...

The battle between the protagonist and the Demon King was manageable, but the scenes of the protagonist fighting the Four Heavenly Kings hand-to-hand gave Gu Xue quite a headache. That was how drawing worked—the more characters involved, the more things needed to be considered. Perspective, positioning, movements, poses, and so on. The difficulty rose sharply.

To make a multi-person melee look good without making the audience feel that it was unnatural required extremely strong drawing skills. Gu Xue believed she could do it, but time was too tight.

Many hand-to-hand combat movements could not be imagined through sheer thought alone. Gu Xue inevitably needed references of real people fighting—movies, footage from fighting tournaments, photos, anything. She needed to observe how bodies and movements changed during combat. That took time, and there was no computer at her workstation. She could only search for videos on her phone's small screen for reference, which took even more time.

Fortunately, Gu Xue had studied karate and Sanda before, so she had some foundation. Otherwise, she really might not have taken on shots like these.

As she imagined the characters' hand-to-hand movements, scattered images appeared in her mind. Gu Xue could not help rising to her feet and physically acting them out.

"An elbow strike, tilt the head aside to dodge, then a headbutt. Step forward, lock the throat, lift the opponent, suddenly exert force to hoist them up and slam them down, throw a downward punch..."

Gu Xue spun and shifted through the narrow aisle, inevitably attracting many people's attention and causing some inconvenience. Fortunately, she had a foundation, and her movements looked convincing. She had the vigor of an energetic girl about to smash your head in. No one paid much attention to it, and some even found it rather pleasing to watch. If some shut-in nerd had done this instead, looking like a monkey performing tricks, someone would have smashed his head in long ago...

As she continued acting out the scenes in her mind, more and more images flooded in. Gu Xue's eyes grew brighter, and her ideas became smoother and smoother.

"Block the knee strike with crossed arms, press downward, turn sideways to dodge the wind blade, spin sharply, throw a punch at..."

Smack...

Gu Xue jolted and abruptly stopped moving.

Mihara Chisa stood in the middle of the aisle with one hand over her still-heaving chest. She took a deep breath, seeming as if she wanted to turn around and leave, but she restrained herself in the end.

Gu Xue awkwardly withdrew her hand and straightened up.

She wanted to explain and apologize, but she did not know how to begin.

Would you believe me if I said your chest moved first...?