Ponytail

After coming to this world, Gu Xue had finally made her first friend.

Whether she had friends or not made no difference to the world. The planet kept spinning on its axis and orbiting the sun, while sad and happy things played out every moment.

Normally, after finishing the key animation and taking on no other work, Gu Xue should have been resting. But the episode director, Misawa Hiroshi, seemed confused about some of the key animation she had drawn, so he called her back to the company the next day.

It took Gu Xue a long time to explain what she had been trying to achieve with her drawings.

Misawa Hiroshi asked her several times whether she was sure it would work.

Gu Xue assured him several times that it would.

Only then did she leave the company, under Misawa Hiroshi's doubtful gaze.

Gu Xue wasn't surprised that Misawa Hiroshi was confused. Her key animation had clearly borrowed heavily from something—but not from anyone in this world. She had taken inspiration from Earth, and since this technique had never appeared in this world, it was no wonder he thought she was making things up.

But it would definitely work, and it wouldn't disrupt the overall flow.

On that point alone, Gu Xue was completely confident.

After resolving the last issue, Gu Xue really did take a break. She didn't even go to the company. Most people in the animation industry were freelancers, but Gu Xue was technically a contracted employee of snakehead. Even so, the company rarely required her to come in.

Of course, in return, her base salary was negligible. Most of Gu Xue's pay was still calculated by cuts. She hadn't done a thing all last year, and if she hadn't had an older sister, she would have starved to death.

Even now, Gu Xue couldn't guarantee she could support herself. After all, she still hadn't taken on much work.

She was still relying on Gu Rou for help.

Over the next two days.

The post-production work on the final episode of Ore-sama proceeded as scheduled. The production assistant filling in temporarily wasn't familiar with the situation and struggled to keep things afloat. The schedule wasn't delayed, but the job was truly exhausting. It wasn't until Mihara Chisa showed up at the company that the production assistant, who had nearly quit and run off, was finally able to breathe again.

With Mihara Chisa back at work, the process sped up considerably. Miss Mihara had gone back to being the same unpleasant person as before. When it came to work, she didn't care about anyone's feelings. She chased everyone down at every step to find out exactly how things were progressing, and absolutely would not tolerate anyone wasting time.

If Gu Xue had been at the company, she would have been spitting blood by now...

This really was the sort of thing that made people hate you.

Still, thanks to Mihara Chisa, the final episode of Ore-sama was making much faster progress...

The episode director, Misawa Hiroshi, had gained firsthand experience of what Gu Xue and Abe Shinichi had meant when they said, "A production assistant can take the quality of the finished product to the next level."

A production manager who didn't care if people hated him was a real pain.

He would even block the company doors in the middle of the night so nobody could go home...

But... although Misawa Hiroshi was very pleased with the progress and with Mihara Chisa, he was still a little worried. He had heard a few things about what happened that night, including how downcast Miss Mihara had looked and how Gu Xue had reacted. He'd also heard about the somewhat vulnerable way Miss Mihara had acted afterward.

It clearly seemed to signal that Miss Mihara was going to change... So why was she still acting like this?

With that question in mind, Misawa Hiroshi found an opportunity that day and tactfully asked Mihara Chisa about it.

Mihara Chisa merely replied with a blank face, "Don't be ridiculous," then left Misawa Hiroshi behind with an awkward grin.

Abe Shinichi, the director sitting beside Misawa Hiroshi and listening closely to their conversation, spun his chair around and patted Misawa Hiroshi on the shoulder. Teasingly, he said, "Looks like making animation really does make people stupid. As if someone's personality could change overnight because of one thing. It's not that easy. Reality's much crueler than animation."

"Miss Mihara still doesn't trust any of us, especially the two of us. That hasn't changed."

Misawa Hiroshi gave an awkward laugh.

He had a whole string of curses in his heart, but didn't know whether to say them.

It was embarrassing enough to ask Mihara Chisa out of misplaced concern and get told not to be ridiculous. Why the hell did you have to rub it in?

Seeing Misawa Hiroshi's mouth twitch, Abe Shinichi couldn't hold back a laugh. He patted him on the shoulder again and turned back to his work. But before he continued, he added in a low voice, "Though Miss Mihara hasn't changed, she might have made a friend."

"What?" Misawa Hiroshi hadn't heard him clearly.

Abe Shinichi said, "Youth," the corners of his mouth lifting.

Misawa Hiroshi looked at the man beside him, who had gone bald on top, taken on every project he could get in recent years, and watched his reputation plummet until he had no work worth mentioning. Lately, he'd nearly run out of jobs altogether. Suddenly, Misawa Hiroshi thought Abe Shinichi's smile looked rather gentle...

Meanwhile, Mihara Chisa returned to her desk, checked the time, picked up a bag beside her chair, and headed for the Coloring Department.

She had already washed the clothes Gu Xue had lent her last time. She had also asked Gu Xue for her name, and now she was going to return them.

Ore-sama was nearly finished, and the Coloring Department was now only handling the coloring work for the company's other project, You Are My Hero. The schedule was roomy. The work wasn't exactly easy, but at least there wasn't so much time pressure. They wouldn't have to deal with two projects—or different episodes of the same project—piling up at once until they couldn't keep up and had to outsource the work.

Even chatting, something that had seemed like a luxury just a few days ago, was possible now.

"Listen, remember that girl from last time? The one who looked so full of herself? It was hilarious watching her beg so humbly..."

Their conversation was so loud it could be heard clearly through the door. Mihara Chisa paused with her hand on the doorknob, then opened it. Every company had people who made a racket; she was used to it by now.

The two women, who had been laughing and chatting moments earlier, saw that it was Mihara Chisa and immediately fell silent. They exchanged a glance, then quietly turned away.

They were the two women Gu Xue had run into in the bathroom that day. Ever since Mihara Chisa had caught them gossiping there, they had avoided her whenever they saw her, seemingly feeling guilty.

Mihara Chisa had always pretended not to notice them.

As long as they did their work properly.

After entering, Mihara Chisa looked around and lowered her voice. She asked the middle-aged woman nearest the door, "Excuse me, which one is Utei Natsuko?"

She had only recently transferred to this company and had been rotating between departments, so Mihara Chisa didn't know everyone yet. She knew even fewer people in the Coloring Department, where the work was easy and almost anyone could do it about as well as anyone else.

The middle-aged woman set down her mouse and turned around with a smile. "You mean one of those two noisy girls from just now. The one on the left—her real name is Utei Natsuko."

Mihara Chisa stiffened and looked at the two women.

The woman called Utei Natsuko had heard them talking, too. She kept sneaking glances at Mihara Chisa out of the corner of her eye.

Mihara Chisa took a deep breath and walked over to her, then stood behind her without saying anything.

Utei Natsuko endured it for a while, then finally grew impatient and spun around, glaring at her. "What?"

"Don't you go by Naoki?" Mihara Chisa said stiffly.

Though she didn't know most of the people there yet, she had no reason not to recognize the people she'd worked with. The names of the coloring staff would appear in the end credits, so there was no way she could have misremembered.

"I don't like how my name sounds. So what? I can call myself whatever I want. Are you going to police that, too? I was wrong to say what I did last time. If you want to lecture me, go ahead. I'm right here!" Utei Natsuko snapped.

Mihara Chisa tightened her grip on the bag. Thinking of what she'd just heard at the door, she considered the possibility that had occurred to her. She really, really wanted to fling the bag in the woman's face.

But her good upbringing kept her from giving in to the impulse. She held out the bag and said stiffly, "I came to return your clothes."

"..."

Utei Natsuko suddenly froze, too.

Mihara Chisa held the same position, waiting for her to take the bag containing the clothes.

Utei Natsuko must have realized Mihara Chisa had heard what she'd just said about Gu Xue. Her face turned livid as she took the bag.

"Thanks." Mihara Chisa glanced at her, then turned and walked away.

After leaving the small Coloring Department office,

Mihara Chisa gently closed the door and stood there in silence for a while. Then she raised her right hand.

Not many people noticed that she wore a hair tie on her wrist despite her hair barely reaching her shoulders. And even if they did notice, they probably didn't think much of it.

She tugged lightly at the hair tie on her wrist a few times. After thinking it over, Mihara Chisa took it off, gathered her shoulder-length hair, and tied it into a ponytail.

Then she went to the bathroom, slipped into a stall, and fixed her appearance. With the mindset that "this is all I have," she took a selfie, her face bright red.

She sent it to Gu Xue.

"Gorgeous, gorgeous."

Gu Xue quickly replied with a voice message, her tone teasing.

One had fallen in love, while the other felt nothing.

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