Vol. 2 Chapter 104 – Adult Birthday (1)

The day after we returned from the beach.

That day, with no part-time work or other plans, I threw myself completely into game development work.

The task I was currently handling was mainly level design for the events to be implemented.

Since randomly occurring events were the heart of the game design, the quality of this work would directly impact how fun the entire game would be.

I absolutely couldn’t cut corners, so I worked with a level of concentration I’d never displayed in my regular student life.

From the moment I woke up, I barely stopped except for meals, continuing to work silently even after exceeding the amount of work I’d originally planned for the day.

Before I knew it, evening was approaching.

“Is it already this late…”

I muttered to myself, looking at the clock in the bottom right corner of my monitor.

I should probably take care of some household tasks… I thought, standing up from my chair.

I brought in the laundry, did some light cleaning, and checked what was in the refrigerator.

There was still enough food left for dinner, so it looked like I wouldn’t need to go shopping.

In that case, I could probably work a bit more, so I returned to my usual spot—

“…Hm?”

Right then, I had an incoming call from Sphere-san, who handled graphics.

I put on my headset and answered the call, and the usual mysterious sphere avatar appeared on screen.

“Are you free right now?” (Sphere)

“What’s up?” (Reiya)

“I finished the female paladin’s combat animations, so give me your opinion.” (Sphere)

The request was conveyed concisely in the usual synthetic female voice.

“That’s fine, but… you don’t need to send it to me individually. Couldn’t you just upload it to the repository?” (Reiya)

“No, I thought I’d get your opinion before showing it to Taiju.” (Sphere)

“Ah, I see…” (Reiya)

I understood what she meant by those slightly hesitant words.

I’d experienced it before too—Taiju-san’s criticism was sharp and precise, cutting right through both problems and hearts.

Sphere-san in particular seemed to have a strong rebellious spirit toward Taiju-san, so she probably wanted to improve the quality as much as possible beforehand.

“Just a moment. I’ll check it now…” (Reiya)

I repeatedly watched the animation she’d sent, changing the speed and background, pausing to check fine details, and viewing it under various conditions.

“It’s really well done.” (Reiya)

First, I gave a brief comment on how good it was.

I was impressed that such rich expression could be achieved within the constraints of a deformed 2D character.

Taiju-san and Yokoya-san were the same, but this Sphere-san was also excellent enough that it wouldn’t be strange for her to be working on much larger developments—aside from her personality.

I was reminded once again of what amazing people I was working with.

“That’s obvious. Save the praise for when it’s finished—aren’t there any points that bothered you?” (Sphere)

“When you ask about points that bothered me, it’s a bit difficult…” (Reiya)

“Just say everything that comes to mind.” (Sphere)

“In that case, let’s see. First, something that bothered me a little… when swinging the sword in the normal attack animation, the sense of speed is too uniform—” (Reiya)

As she’d told me to, I spent about thirty minutes saying everything that had bothered me.

“…That’s how I feel about it. What do you think?” (Reiya)

I asked somewhat humbly at the end, wondering if I’d said too much.

“Tch… it’s like having another Taiju… hold on…” (Sphere)

Sphere-san said that and muted her mic.

Since she told me to wait, I waited while looking at the stopped avatar on screen.

“How’s this…?” (Sphere)

A few minutes later, a revised version incorporating my feedback came back.

Incredibly fast… and it was much better than before.

“I think it’s much better than before. Did you reduce the frame count for the normal attack animation?” (Reiya)

“Yeah. You were right—it definitely has more sense of speed this way. Now that Taiju guy shouldn’t have any complaints either.” (Sphere)

“I hope so.” (Reiya)

Taiju-san really scrutinizes every detail, so I couldn’t be confident.

When I submitted my additional event proposal too… just remembering it makes my stomach hurt…

“But asking you about Hikaru-chan stuff is definitely the best approach.” (Sphere)

“About Hikaru… you’re still going on about that…?” (Reiya)

She was apparently determined to make me admit that this female paladin was modeled after Hikaru.

“Of course… anyone can tell when it’s this obvious.” (Sphere)

“No, no… it’s just a common character type… like Saber…” (Reiya)

“For such a common type, you sure gave unusually detailed specifications when creating the character design…” (Sphere)

The avatar on screen narrowed its eyes suspiciously.

“D-did I…?” (Reiya)

“The hair length should curl inward a bit more, the eyes should be a bit bigger and rounder… you made us redo it several times with stuff like that, didn’t you…?” (Sphere)

“R-retakes… I was just offering opinions…” (Reiya)

“Tell me the truth honestly. If you confess now, I’ll keep it between us…” (Sphere)

The avatar on screen stared at me with narrowed eyes.

If I had to say whether I’d referenced Hikaru or not, honestly, I had referenced her.

But that was purely because I thought it would be appealing when Hikaru was adapted into a character—it definitely wasn’t for personal reasons or showing off.

“Well, for the attack animation revision suggestions just now, I did reference how Hikaru swings her racquet when playing tennis…” (Reiya)

But conveying that head-on would probably create more weird complications, so I picked just one fact out of a hundred and deflected.

“Is that really all…?” (Sphere)

“That’s all.” (Reiya)

“You’re not planning to have Hikaru-chan play it first when it’s finished and go ‘I made this work for you…’ ‘Oh how wonderful! Hold me!’ and get all lovey-dovey, are you!?” (Sphere)

“O-of course not… there’s no way I’d mix personal and professional matters that much…” (Reiya)

This sphere is way too perceptive…

I inwardly shuddered at her deduction that deserved nearly 100 points.

“Really… can you swear there’s nothing impure about this work…?” (Sphere)

“I-I can swear that… of course…” (Reiya)

I couldn’t admit it, so I lied through my teeth.

But thinking about it again, that promise did seem pretty impure.

If asked whether today’s work progressed better than usual because of ulterior motives, I couldn’t completely deny it.

“Speaking of which, I heard you went to the beach with Hikaru-chan…?” (Sphere)

Maybe that previous conversation flipped some weird switch, because she started adding more fuel to her own fire.

“H-how do you know that…?” (Reiya)

I’d told them I was taking a few days off to hang out with classmates, but I hadn’t said I was going to the beach with Hikaru.

I had a general idea of who leaked it, but I asked anyway.

“I heard from Taiju.” (Sphere)

As expected, that bastard…

“Did you see her swimsuit?” (Sphere)

“Well, yeah… we went to the beach…” (Reiya)

There was no point deflecting that, so I answered honestly.

“Damn… taking advantage of being the boyfriend…” (Sphere)

“I’m not taking advantage… that’s completely paranoid…” (Reiya)

“She’ll never wear a swimsuit for modeling work! But she shows you her swimsuit so easily! What kind of swimsuit was it!? At least tell me that! Was it a bikini!? Was it a bikini!? Photos!? Show me photos!!” (Sphere)

“I didn’t take any photos…” (Reiya)

Actually, there were over a hundred photos taken and received during the trip stored on my PC.

But if I told her the truth here, she might hack me.

I was sensing at least that level of madness.

“Hey, isn’t this weekend Hikaru-chan’s birthday!?” (Sphere)

“You’re well-informed…” (Reiya)

“Of course! How much do you think I love Hikaru-chan!! August 8th!! I’ve been counting down since August 9th last year!! But you’re taking it all away!! Gaaaaahhhhh!!! I’m getting creative inspiration!!!” (Sphere)

“A-atashi…? Sphere-san, did you just say atashi—” (Reiya)

“Shut up! You’re probably planning to spend her birthday alone together and do naughty things!! ‘I’ve gotten a year older and become more mature than you…’ Getting seduced by Hikaru-chan putting on a slightly more mature sexy charm, layering bodies along with age and climbing the stairs to adulthood, you bastard!!” (Sphere)

“Don’t get angry over layered fantasies…” (Reiya)

“If you’re going to do it, at least leave the call connected secretly so I can hear!” (Sphere)

“Absolutely not…” (Reiya)

Besides, Hikaru isn’t the type to say things like that…

That pointless conversation was from a few days ago.

Time flew by quickly, and I found myself facing Hikaru’s birthday.

“Hey… Reiya-kun…” (Hikaru)

Sitting on my lap facing me, Hikaru called my name.

The girl who usually spoke energetically and cheerfully now had a strangely sweet voice that tickled my ears.

“Wh-what…?” (Reiya)

“It’s my birthday today… you know that… right…?” (Hikaru)

Her eyes were also half-closed in a way that gave a completely different impression than usual.

“Of course I know… we were just celebrating it…” (Reiya)

Over her shoulder, I could see the dinner I’d cooked and the still-untouched birthday cake on the table.

Both were things I’d prepared in advance for our first birthday spent together as a couple.

We’d been celebrating grandly and enjoying it together, but—

“Then you know what we should do next… right…?” (Hikaru)

She narrowed her eyes further and asked with a bewitching atmosphere completely different from usual.

Apparently Hikaru wasn’t satisfied with something yet.

Apparently… but I had no idea what that was.

“Eat cake together while playing games…?” (Reiya)

“Totally wrong~…” (Hikaru)

“Then I have no idea…” (Reiya)

“Then here’s a hint… I’ve gotten a year older before you and become an adult…” (Hikaru)

No way, she’s actually saying it…!

While internally reacting, I decided to trace back through today’s events from the beginning to understand how we’d ended up in this situation.