Bold

Gu Xue snapped out of her anxious thoughts, covered her nose, and said with an amused, helpless laugh, "Miss Mihara, I'm not going to eat you. You don't have to react like that, do you?"

Mihara Chisa set down her spoon and clasped her hands tightly in her lap. Her face had gone completely pale. "What do you mean?"

"Huh?" Gu Xue wiped the cream off her nose, looking confused. "I was just chatting. What do you mean, what do I mean?"

"Did you look at the photos I sent?" This time, Mihara Chisa didn't hesitate. She looked directly at Gu Xue as she asked.

"I did. They're really pretty... Miss Mihara, what's wrong?" Gu Xue trailed off when she noticed something was off about Mihara Chisa, her brows furrowing.

Mihara Chisa said nothing, only biting her lip hard.

Under the table,

her nails had dug into her palms from how tightly she was clenching her fists.

Mihara Chisa wanted so badly to yell.

But something called reason stopped her.

She didn't dare.

She was afraid Gu Xue would think she was a pervert.

And then keep her at arm's length.

She was scared.

Because Gu Xue was her only friend.

"Miss Mihara? What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?" Gu Xue had forgotten all about the cream on her nose. Seeing Mihara Chisa sitting there in a daze, she hurried over, shook her by the shoulders, and called her name.

"..." Mihara Chisa mechanically lifted her head and looked at Gu Xue. Then, suddenly, she reached out and cupped her face.

"Miss Mihara?" Gu Xue, still with cream on her nose, didn't think much of it. She shook her again, very worried.

Seeing that Gu Xue didn't resist her touch, Mihara Chisa's eyes slowly brightened. The color returned to her face, and she gently squeezed Gu Xue's cheeks.

"Miss Mihara, may I ask what you're doing?" Seeing that she seemed all right, Gu Xue relaxed a little and finally noticed what she was doing.

Mihara Chisa took a deep breath, and the color had fully returned to her face.

"You've got cream on your nose." Mihara Chisa wiped it away, then let go of Gu Xue's face and said softly, "Sorry. I was thinking about something from the past. I'm fine now."

"What were you thinking about? Do you have a fear of marriage?" Gu Xue let out an awkward laugh, still shaken. She nudged Mihara Chisa's shoulder to get her to move farther in, then sat down beside her.

"...No. Sorry." Now that she'd calmed down, Miss Mihara was back to her old self. Thinking about what she'd just done, she turned her head away and didn't dare look at Gu Xue.

"Then..." Gu Xue wanted to ask if it had something to do with her old company, but she stopped herself, afraid of reopening old wounds.

Being too considerate of others wasn't always a good thing.

Mihara Chisa looked out the window without a word.

Mihara Chisa didn't actually hate Director Narita Kei, nor did she hate him for slapping her. She was responsible for those things too, and she felt that a large part of it was her own fault.

She didn't mind that people disliked her, either, because she had never tried to make them like her.

Nor did she think it was wrong of people to look on coldly as she fell on hard times.

She herself was cold.

What she hated was this:

People dismissing her, especially men.

Because of her gender, because of her looks, because she'd messed up and still been allowed to remain at her old company and even rise to the position of production chief.

They simply dismissed all of her efforts, everything she had put into her work. They could look at her with amusement and say things that weren't true, as if anything that fit their expectations must be true.

She hated that.

Mihara Chisa had no goodwill toward the world. She didn't believe people were inherently good, or in magic. After what she'd gone through at her old company, she didn't believe in men, either.

The only person she trusted now was Gu Xue, who boldly expressed and showed all the kindness she felt.

But having a terrible personality didn't mean she lacked common sense.

Precisely because she trusted Gu Xue and cared about her, she was cautious. She didn't dare to say how she felt outright because she didn't know how Gu Xue would react.

Sending photos had been a clumsy, nonsensical approach.

But she really had hoped for something.

Gu Xue's words just now had crushed that hope.

For a moment, she'd wanted to get up and run away. But, as if possessed, she'd reached out and touched Gu Xue, prepared to be called a pervert.

Gu Xue hadn't resisted. She hadn't looked disgusted.

Mihara Chisa felt as if color had suddenly returned to the whole world.

As long as Gu Xue didn't resist her touch, there was still a chance.

Even if...

"Miss Mihara?" Seeing Mihara Chisa staring blankly out the window, Gu Xue started to worry again.

"..."

Interrupted mid-thought, Mihara Chisa suddenly turned to look straight at Gu Xue.

"What?" Gu Xue felt a little unnerved by her stare.

Her face was bright red, and yet she was staring right at me. What on earth was she thinking...?

"Nothing..." Mihara Chisa had summoned all her courage for one last, desperate attempt, and now it was gone. She immediately lowered her head like a frightened quail.

Gu Xue: "..."

Gu Xue asked again if something was wrong or if Mihara Chisa was feeling unwell, but Mihara Chisa shook her head each time.

She only said she was sorry.

In the end, Gu Xue had no idea what else to do.

They quickly finished their cold drinks, paid, and left the shopping center.

At the entrance to the shopping center,

Mihara Chisa, walking behind Gu Xue, suddenly stopped.

Gu Xue turned around and asked, "What's wrong?"

Mihara Chisa shook her head. Once Gu Xue turned away, she took the hair tie off her wrist, gathered her shoulder-length hair, and tied it into a ponytail. Then she jogged over to Gu Xue, her chest rising and falling as she took several deep breaths. Once she'd finally worked up the courage, she moved her right hand and quietly took Gu Xue's hand.

Gu Xue glanced at her, surprised, but didn't think much of it. She just assumed Mihara Chisa had finally relaxed enough to treat her as a friend, which made her happy.

They walked for a while.

"Miss Mihara, may I ask why you're scratching my palm...?"

"...I'm not."

"I'm not an idiot. How could I mistake something that obvious?" Gu Xue looked suspicious. "Wait... Miss Mihara, are you insulting me? Are you too scared to say it to my face, so you're secretly writing it on my palm?"

Mihara Chisa's face turned bright red. She'd actually drawn a triangle with a profound meaning, but since Gu Xue hadn't understood, there was no need to rush to explain. She just squeezed Gu Xue's hand hard, glared at her, and muttered in a very quiet voice, "Dummy."

"Hey... You just insulted me to my face."

Mihara Chisa turned away so she wouldn't have to meet Gu Xue's eyes, but her hand quietly shifted until their fingers were intertwined.

Gu Xue didn't notice at all. She was still asking Mihara Chisa what she'd written...

In the end, Gu Xue never found out what Miss Mihara had written.

They parted reluctantly... though it wasn't exactly reluctance. Mostly, Mihara Chisa had dragged Gu Xue along. Gu Xue was so focused on figuring out what she'd written that she let herself get led astray the whole way. If she hadn't come to her senses at the last moment and realized, just before the train doors closed, that she wasn't even on the right train, Mihara Chisa might have taken her all the way home...

But that had all happened yesterday.

Gu Xue got home safe and sound. She didn't dwell on any of it or give it much thought. She even slept in the next day.

She had to go to the office that day, and she had a feeling she might have to work herself to the bone again, so she deliberately stayed up late to reset her sleep schedule. But she'd stayed up too late.

She didn't wake up until after four in the afternoon.

After checking the time, Gu Xue didn't care anymore. She lay in bed, scrolling through her phone, thinking, I can't get there on time anyway, so being a little later won't matter.

Going to work could wait. Seeing Miss Mihara's beautiful photos was more important...

While Gu Xue was asleep, Mihara Chisa had sent her a few more photos.

Every one of them was gorgeous.

It was just that...

Miss Mihara seemed to be getting bolder and bolder.

Like the last photo.

Miss Mihara hadn't shown anything, but the top button of her shirt was undone, revealing her delicate collarbones and fair skin. She was wearing a pair of shorts Gu Xue didn't remember ever seeing her wear before, and her long, pale legs were dazzlingly white.

Seen from above, she was kneeling on the bed with her head tilted slightly upward. With her face faintly flushed, she looked incredibly alluring.

Normally, even if they were the same gender, even if they were friends, people didn't send photos like that...

After looking at the last photo, Gu Xue put her phone down and rolled over on the bed with the blanket in her arms. It wasn't as if the pictures had left her unaffected.

For a moment, she even felt the urge to jokingly message Mihara Chisa that she actually liked girls.

It would be both a warning and a test.

But considering how awkward Mihara Chisa was when she tried to show kindness, as well as what she'd been through before, Gu Xue decided it would be better not to.

Miss Mihara might be sending her photos for the same reason she'd brought her strawberry milk and taken her hand the day before: she was just trying to show kindness and friendship.

It was better not to make her think, I thought you were my friend, but you want to sleep with me.

After all, once she sent that message, there'd be no taking it back.

Either she'd drag Miss Mihara into dealing with suspicion and confusion alongside her, or Miss Mihara would distance herself. Neither was good.

Suppressing and banishing those strange feelings, Gu Xue sighed, texted Miss Mihara that she looked beautiful, and jumped out of bed.

At four fifty, Gu Xue had finished getting ready. She sat on the entryway bench, put on her shoes, stood, and tapped the toes of her shoes together. Then she opened the door and left.

She took the train to the office. She was a little late, but not too late.

But she didn't see Miss Mihara, so she decided to go sit at her desk for a while.

Incidentally, Gu Xue could now completely ignore other people's stares. She was almost never embarrassed by being watched anymore. For instance, as she walked to her desk under everyone's gaze, her face stayed expressionless the whole time, making her look just like... an aloof high school girl.

No matter how much her chest continued to grow, her face and demeanor wouldn't change so easily...

When she reached her desk and was about to sit down, Gu Xue noticed a note Miss Mihara had left for her. She read it, pushed the chair she'd pulled out back in, and headed for the small meeting room in the corner of the office. Then she knocked.

"Come in."

Misawa Hiroshi's voice came from inside.

Gu Xue opened the door and went in.

There were only two people in the small meeting room.

Misawa Hiroshi and Mihara Chisa.

The Anime Mirai project was still in the planning stage, and a lot of things hadn't been decided yet, including what kind of animation they would make.

The only thing that had been decided was the staffing. Misawa Hiroshi would direct the project, while Mihara Chisa, who had taken it on, would serve as the producer and production manager.

The Anime Mirai project wasn't just meant to train new key animators. There was also special funding for animators, directors, animation directors, and other positions, all of whom were within the program's scope. So it wasn't surprising that Misawa Hiroshi would be made director, and Snakehead Animation was happy to use public funds to train newcomers.

"..." When Mihara Chisa saw Gu Xue come in, she silently pulled out a chair for her.

"Thanks," Gu Xue said. Once she'd sat down, she looked at Misawa Hiroshi. "Congratulations."

Becoming a director was definitely worth celebrating, especially for someone like Misawa Hiroshi, who had so many ideas.

Misawa Hiroshi gave a wry smile and glanced at Mihara Chisa. "Thanks."

Gu Xue glanced at Mihara Chisa, who had a rigid expression, and asked quietly, "What's going on?"

Mihara Chisa paused before answering. "I don't think the subject Misawa-san proposed would appeal to the market, so I rejected it."

The Anime Mirai project didn't mean making a TV series or a theatrical feature. They were only making an OVA-length animation, just twenty-four minutes long—about the length of one episode of a regular TV series.

It was a small-scale project.

So Mihara Chisa, who had taken on the project, was both its producer and production coordinator.

The work of a producer at an animation studio shared some similarities with that of a production coordinator, setting designer, and production manager, but it was hard to say exactly what the job involved. Different studios also did things somewhat differently.

To put it simply, if it was an adaptation, the producer's most important job was probably coordinating the ideas of the investors and the animation team, as well as negotiating with the producers on the production committee.

If it was an original work, the producer's most important job was to think through questions like, "Does this animation have a market? Who is it for? What should it be like?" Then they would find a director, screenwriter, and other trusted collaborators, discuss the project, put together a proposal, raise money, form a production committee with a studio, and negotiate with the various companies involved.

That was the work a producer at an animation studio did for a regular TV series.

The Anime Mirai project wasn't a regular animation project, and there was no need to raise money or search for people. But the finished works weren't simply screened for a panel of judges to score. They would be shown in theaters for a while and broadcast on television.

So Mihara Chisa had probably rejected Misawa Hiroshi's proposal because she felt it had no audience.

"What kind of project do you want to make?" Gu Xue asked Misawa Hiroshi, curious.

Misawa Hiroshi fell silent for a moment, then said, "A space mecha series. It's a man's romance."

"That's your romance," Mihara Chisa shot back before Gu Xue could say anything.

"I don't think this kind of project is suitable for training newcomers, and I don't think it would do particularly well in the market."

"...That's because you're a woman," Misawa Hiroshi muttered, sounding displeased.

Mihara Chisa took a deep breath. She seemed angry, right on the verge of exploding.