Hurry and Praise Me

Aside from concern, Gu Xue inevitably had to endure a lecture from Gu Rou.

Things like how a girl shouldn't be doing this kind of work, how coming home so late is absolutely out of the question, and how she hasn't been eating properly, and so on.

Gu Xue couldn't find a single word to refute her, so the next day she made a point of waking up early, planning to head to the company an hour ahead of schedule. That way, she could draw for an extra hour and hopefully get home a little earlier.

Even if it wasn't guaranteed to work, at least the attitude was there. I'll go to the company early and try my best to be back by the early hours! Believe me, when has your sister ever lied to you?

That was roughly the sentiment...

However, waking up early was still quite difficult for Gu Xue. Although a single shower was enough to completely banish her sleepiness, the battle against her own laziness before getting out of bed was never an easy task.

Fortunately, Gu Xue managed it.

At 3:30 PM, Gu Xue smoothed out her skirt, changed her shoes, and opened the door.

By the way, Gu Xue still hadn't found a skirt with a slightly longer hem, and she didn't have time to go buy one, so she rummaged through her drawers and found a pair of safety shorts...

If she hadn't searched her memories, she wouldn't have even known they were safety shorts; in her eyes, they were basically just short pants...

Although she had complained about the concept of safety shorts in the past, she now had to admit that they were actually quite useful...

She took the train to the company.

As expected, the animation department was empty.

However, it wasn't as if the company was completely deserted. While the working hours for most animation staff were quite anti-human, the staff in departments like coloring had fairly normal schedules, usually starting at nine, though their departure times were unpredictable.

Gu Xue pulled out her chair and sat down. Just as she was about to check the key animation she had drawn last night to prepare it for Mihara Chisa, she discovered that the two cuts of key animation were gone. On the shelf where she had left them, only a note remained.

"I saw that your timing sheet was already filled out, so I took them to the director for review. If there are any issues, please contact me. This is my number: *******. Also, please remember my words. If you can't remember them, I will come by every three hours from now on to check on your progress. I hope this won't cause you any trouble—Mihara Chisa."

Holding the note, Gu Xue let out an "eh" and her face twisted into a bitter expression.

Terrifying. It was genuinely a bit terrifying.

Mihara Chisa was being a bit too serious, wasn't she?

I didn't give them to you yesterday precisely because I was afraid you'd already gone home... Is it really necessary to check in every three hours?

But come to think of it, Gu Xue hadn't returned home until nearly 5:00 AM yesterday, yet Mihara Chisa had still managed to collect the key animation. It seemed the other party was working just as hard.

Thinking of the other person's difficulties, Gu Xue felt a bit more at ease. She set the note aside and officially began drawing the fight sequence.

This was the real challenge.

A chaotic battle involving five people was indeed not easy to draw. Just the issue of positioning alone required Gu Xue to spend a significant amount of time sorting things out.

She clipped the key animation paper onto the registration peg bar, opened the storyboard, considered it for a moment, and then picked up her pencil to start drawing.

She ultimately decided to take it one step at a time, starting with the simplest explosive action before gradually sorting out the rest.

This cut was roughly the scene where the protagonist talks to the Four Heavenly Kings and then initiates the fight. According to the storyboard, the camera first focuses on A-Da, one of the Four Heavenly Kings. After a brief incantation, he charges toward the protagonist. The director's instruction was to emphasize explosive power and to clearly convey the sense of speed as he rushes toward the protagonist.

Gu Xue drew the initial incantation scene in a standard, professional manner. Aside from adding a motion where he raises and extends his arm during the chant and writing a camera instruction to add a bit of flair, there wasn't much else to mention. Next came the scene where A-Da charges at the protagonist—or rather, charges at the camera.

To convey explosive power and a sense of speed, Gu Xue crudely adopted the method of using external elements for contrast.

Simply put: dust.

A-Da moves from far to near, his silhouette growing from small to large, before stopping abruptly in front of the camera. Hand-drawn dust effects instantly kick up and rush toward the protagonist's direction. The effect was good; that feeling of a character suddenly appearing right in front of you was captured perfectly.

Then, A-Da pulls back his extended arm, raises his fist, and swings it at the protagonist. The fist enlarges until it blocks the entire screen—or rather, the entire sheet of key animation paper—and the camera begins to cut.

It cuts to a slightly high-angle shot facing the protagonist. The fist enters the frame at this moment. In the next key animation, the protagonist ducks to avoid the fist, then uses both hands to grab the opponent's arm, one over and one under. He pivots his body, lifts the punching A-Da, and throws him to the side. He bends his right leg and delivers a knee strike to A-Da's abdomen, causing his body to arch as a circular shockwave explodes from his back.

Then, another of the Four Heavenly Kings enters from the side...

It only takes a few hundred words to describe, but drawing it was not nearly as easy.

Especially the knee strike scene, where the camera needed to follow the protagonist's rotation. Gu Xue drew from the time she arrived until all the other animators in the room had started their shifts, yet she had only managed to draw the scene where the protagonist ducks to avoid the fist. Fortunately, no one disturbed her, and her speed kept increasing. As long as she cleared her thoughts, everything else could be resolved quickly.

The biggest problem with these cuts was the director's erratic instructions. It was supposed to be an isekai theme, yet the director demanded a sense of realism in the fighting, while simultaneously insisting on inserting supernatural combat scenes for the sake of intensity. Combined with the large number of characters, the difficulty of the animation skyrocketed. This was the point that bothered Gu Xue the most. You want to have a chaotic supernatural brawl, fine, but why are you also chasing after realism? What is the point of that?

However, since she had already accepted the job, Gu Xue had to swallow her complaints and strive to draw the effects the director wanted. As she drew more key animation and her ideas became clearer, Gu Xue had to admit that Misawa Hiroshi actually had some talent; doing it this way really did manage to balance both impact and aesthetics.

At 7:00 PM, Gu Xue finally finished the first key animation for this cut. Two of the Heavenly Kings and the protagonist had touched and separated, while the other two hadn't even appeared yet. There were still cuts left where the Four Heavenly Kings would take turns attacking and getting beaten up, as well as cuts where they would surround the protagonist only to be beaten up again. The road ahead was long and arduous...

After filling out the timing sheet for this cut, Gu Xue put down her pencil and stretched, only to find Mihara Chisa standing right beside her.

"..." Gu Xue's shoulders hunched, and she said, "Do you have any idea how scary that is?"

"My apologies." Mihara Chisa placed the two cuts of key animation from last night onto Gu Xue's desk. "They passed. Almost no revisions were needed. Are you sure you want to do the second key animation yourself? Is there enough time? When will you be finished?"

Gu Xue flipped through the key animation that had returned to her hands and said, "It should be fine. How about this: I'll finish the second key animation for the previous day, then draw the new ones. If I really can't keep up, I'll tell you. Or perhaps I won't even need to tell you; if I really fall behind, you'll probably notice on your own."

Mihara Chisa looked at Gu Xue with a skeptical gaze, seemingly doubting that she would have the energy to draw new key animation after finishing the second key animation. However, since Gu Xue had said so, she considered it for a moment and could only nod in agreement, deciding to wait and see.

"...Alright."

"Here, this is a fresh, hot-off-the-press new cut." Gu Xue had noticed her lack of trust, but there was nothing to explain. She picked up the key animation she had just finished and handed it to her. It wasn't even a hint anymore; her face practically had the words "praise me" written all over it.

Unfortunately, Mihara Chisa didn't look at her face at all. Almost the moment she received the key animation, she began flipping through it. After finding no issues, she said, "Sorry for the trouble," turned around, and walked away.

Gu Xue stood stunned for a moment, her cheeks puffing out slightly.

A young animator nearby, who had been drawn in by the two's conversation, happened to witness this scene. His face instantly flushed red, looking as if he were about to die from the sheer sight.

Gu Xue came back to her senses, muttered to herself about what on earth she was doing, and turned around, only to catch a glimpse of a carton of strawberry milk that had appeared on her desk at some point.

Looking up at the aisle, Mihara Chisa was already gone.

People like that are the most troublesome.

Gu Xue picked up the milk and let out a sigh.

If you want to express your gratitude, just say it properly, and do you have some kind of misunderstanding about my tastes...

Buy me coffee, or even cola would be fine. Don't look at me like that, I can chug those down just fine, okay? Come on, I'll show you. Who actually likes drinking milk? Especially strawberry-flavored, I'd rather die than drink this.

Ten-plus minutes later.

Hmm... actually, it's pretty good.