Chapter 20

After a weekend of lazing around and letting her ankle rest, Monday morning rolled around, and the boys walked with her to school as usual.

"It doesn't hurt too much, does it?" Yanagi asked, worried about their pace.

"No, I'm okay. As long as I don't run or put too much pressure on it, it's fine." Just a dull ache otherwise.

He nodded. "Good to hear that you're healing. By the way, how'd things go on Friday? I'm half-tempted to walk you home and then go back to baseball practice."

"But then you'd be late for it every day. And considering you have two days where you're in the game dev club instead, I don't think they'd like that. Thanks for the thought, though."

Kuruma yawned for the umpteenth time and rubbed his eyes.

"Have you not been sleeping?" Yanagi asked. "You're even more tired than usual."

"I started working on the game at home. Even with help from the programs, it's taking a while to figure out the physics for the baseball portion."

"Maybe we should shorten that part, anyway. Don't even let the game finish before it gets attacked."

"I still want to have at least one inning before anything happens. There was some preloaded stuff to help with baseball specifically, but it's still a bit janky."

Wish I knew anything about this part of the process, so I could help... "Hey, is there anything I can do to help? I know I joined, but I'm still not sure what I can actually do to help."

"How are you at writing? We could use someone to handle that part. Honestly, I think it might be best to familiarize yourself with the programs. Poke around, create small things. We're going the pixel route, not 3D, because we probably wouldn't even finish the game in time that way, and I like sprites."

"Me too," Yanagi agreed. "Oh, right, I should do something other than be the model for the main character. Maybe I should work on the pixel version of Shiori's drawings, unless you think she'd prefer to do that part."

"What about music? You're the only one here with experience there."

"Make use of my parents forcing me to learn various instruments!" Yanagi laughed. "And I can record it all at home."

"I was planning on using music and sound effects that were preloaded..."

"Don't worry about that." Yanagi patted him on the back. "I'll make something even better, at least for the background music."

"Ah!" A scream rang out as they were walking down the hall toward class.

Yanagi rushed ahead of them, sliding to a stop in front of homeroom.

"Oh my gosh! What is this?" The girl at the front of the class had green goop all over her hands and a burnt voodoo doll, sitting on her desk, wearing the school uniform, with hair similar to hers and the same red bow.

"Ew! Did she actually curse you? I told you not to mess with her," the girl sitting next to her said.

"Shi..." Yanagi's eyes went straight to her.

Shiori smirked as she watched the girls freak out.

Yanagi sauntered over to her and leaned in close, hand resting on her desk. "Was that you?"

"What if it was?" She glared at him.

"I already dealt with her; you didn't need to escalate."

"Right, because talking helped so much back then."

He gritted his teeth. "Fine, she may have deserved that, but no more, right?"

"It really depends on her."

Yanagi sighed, running a hand through his soft blond hair. "If you keep going after her, you're just turning into the bully," he whispered and went to his seat.

"Tch." She cringed, cursing him for being right.

"Is everything okay in here?" Izumi asked as she sat down.

"Just peachy." Shiori pulled out a drawing of herself as a fortuneteller. "What do you think?"

Izumi's eyes widened. "It looks amazing." Didn't think she was going to go along with it.

Kuruma peeked over and nodded. "So, any chance you'll work on the character sprites, or do I have—"

"I can do it." Shiori shrugged.

"Cool."

I wonder how I can help with the writing. Would there even be much to write for this game? Wish I could say reading a lot would help me with that, but I'm not sure.

Mrs. Nagao walked in and froze when she saw the goop and voodoo doll. "I swear, this gets weirder every year. Go get cleaned up, please."

"But—"

"Just go."

"Shouldn't you find out who—"

"Please clean up. I doubt I'd be able to figure out who did it."

"I know it was Shi—"

"Unless someone saw them and there's proof, there's nothing I can do. Please, class, don't make messes in the classroom; you know you'll be the ones cleaning it up. Now, I know it seems early, since it won't happen until after Golden Week, but we have a one-day trip coming up, and even though we're just doing a nature trail, we're required to tell you all well in advance, so you can prepare and get permission."

"Golden Week!" a few students yelled.

"A nature trail? We're going to have to be outside?"

"Awesome."

"Ugh, can we stay home that day?"

I wonder if my ankle will heal by then. It might be fine for walking, but hiking? Who knows...

"Now, now." Mrs. Nagao clapped, grabbing their attention. "You can dream about Golden Week and the trip later, but it's time to start class."

Kuruma sighed as they got ready to head to baseball practice. "Wish I could use the computer lab today to show you what I've got so far."

"You realize we're all supposed to work on this together, right?" Yanagi nudged him.

"Yes, but I want us to actually finish the game. Everything is so trial-and-error right now."

"Um, if I get the program at home, can I try it there, too?" Izumi asked.

"Well... yes." Kuruma rubbed his tired eyes. "Considering that's what I've been using, I don't know why I didn't think of it."

"Hey, are you pushing yourself too much already?" Yanagi asked. "Don't want you collapsing or anything."

"I'm fine, just a little tired."

"Maybe you shouldn't stay up so late."

"But—"

Yanagi gripped his shoulder tightly and leaned in close, pointing at his face. "I know how much you neglect yourself when you get focused, and I promised your parents after the last time you ended up fainting, that I'd keep a better eye on you."

"Wait, what? They asked you to do that?"

"Don't deflect. Set a time limit and make sure you stay hydrated. If you don't... I'll glue myself to you even more than I already do."

"So you know you cling to me?"

"Obviously, and it goes both ways!" Yanagi laughed.

Izumi stared at them, her brows furrowed. He's pushing himself already?

"Besides, you're making her worry." Yanagi gestured to Izumi. "And we wouldn't want to do that, would we?"

Kuruma glanced at Izumi and sighed. "Of course not."

Why do I feel like I'm being used right now?

"Hey, this is the program to use, right?" Shiori asked, holding up the school tablet they gave each of them.

"Yes."

"Is there some sort of template I have to adhere to for the character sprites?"

Kuruma reached over and poked into their saved files. "You can use the default one it came with and colour over it."

If it's just pixels, I wonder if I could help there. Maybe do background stuff, so we're not worried about it looking too bad. Izumi peeked over, watching as he showed her.

"Okay, I get it." Shiori shooed him away. "Off you two go."

"See you two tomorrow," Kuruma said, and they headed off.

"This is going to take some getting used to," Shiori grumbled and poked at the colour palette on the side. "Okay, maybe not as hard to use as I was expecting."

Izumi leaned over, watching Shiori work. She's so amazing.

I should find something to do too, instead of watching her work.

Izumi pulled out the tablet to poke around, but ended up staring at Shiori's screen instead. "It's already starting to look like Yanagi."

"Oh... I shouldn't be working on this now, since I'll lose track of time. Let's go." Shiori stuffed it into her backpack and stood.

"Hey, did you hear? Someone collapsed on the baseball field."

On the baseball field?! Kuruma!

Shiori grabbed her wrist.

"What are you—"

"Walk, don't run."