Chapter 305: Funny is Funny
The employee who leaked Clannad was Ryohei. After paying a hefty compensation for damages, he packed his bags in the dormitory and prepared to leave.
"Ryohei, why did you do this?"
asked Satoshi, his friend who shared a room with him. Both were veterans of the video game production department. Satoshi never imagined that Ryohei would leak the company's secrets.
"People always want to move up. I had been wanting to change jobs for a long time, so I gave them my sincerity." Ryohei replied, "The salary at Mizuki Games is double what it is here, and they also pay the compensation. Satoshi, there's a great shortage of artists there; otherwise, we'll go together, and we'll surely have better development opportunities than at Hinotori Publishing."
Nowadays, there's a shortage of artists everywhere. Last year, many Hinotori Publishing employees were hired.
"I'm not leaving." But Satoshi refused, "No company can surpass the work of Mirai-sensei. I want to stay."
He looked at Ryohei and asked, "Didn't you say it was fun creating Fate/Stay Night? Have you forgotten the feeling of the game's launch and the scene of everyone celebrating together? Back then, you promised to stay at Hinotori Publishing, why do you regret it now? Is money more important than games?"
"...Both money and games are important." Ryohei stopped what he was doing, looked at Satoshi, and said in a cold voice, "But Mizuki Games has produced six games of the same type, and what about Hinotori? It hasn't done anything in a year! It's outdated, and Mirai-sensei can't keep up with this era!"
Ryohei pointed outside and said, "Look at the outside world, all the visual novels on the market belong to others... Mirai-sensei has lost his authority. He's just a mangaka and it's impossible for him to focus on creating games. Our stay at Hinotori will only bury our talent. You should know that this is the golden age of visual novels. If you don't take the opportunity to change jobs, when other companies no longer need artists, we'll never have another chance!"
He spoke quickly, which angered Satoshi a little.
"That's no reason for you to leak the secret. And..." Satoshi gritted his teeth, "I believe in Mirai-sensei; he will undoubtedly create miracles again."
"Well, you can keep dreaming!" Ryohei shook his head and cursed, "The market is different from a year ago. Other manufacturers have spoiled the players. What can Mirai-sensei do? He can't change anything. Don't live in his myth. The remake of Pokémon is proof of it: that work was obviously successful, but he still said it wasn't!"
"What idiot in the world would recreate a successful work? Wanting to improve it! It's ridiculous, I don't think it can improve much!"
Ryohei was not satisfied with Mirai-sensei's decision, nor with the speed of Hinotori's games. He packed his luggage. He loaded it directly and headed for the door.
"Wait!" Satoshi finally stopped him and asked coldly, "You didn't take the Clannad script!?"
"What's so good about that stupid script? It's not a good story!"
Ryohei said and left. There was already a car waiting for him outside the staff dormitory, with a Suhua license plate.
"Senior, welcome..."
A handsome young man got out of the car. He helped Ryohei put his luggage away and invited him to get in. The two sat in the back seat and began to chat after the driver started the car.
"First I'll take you to get settled. The company has prepared an independent employee dormitory for you. The atmosphere is much better than at Hinotori Publishing." The young man smiled and said, "There will be a welcome party tonight. There aren't many people in our department. The director said that the senior's arrival is a big event and that everyone must attend."
The young man's words made Ryohei feel a little flattered. This young man was an employee of Mizuki Games' visual novel department, and Mizuki Games' headquarters was in Suhua.
The reason he called Ryohei senior was very simple: the first visual novel. The production team of Fate/Stay Night was called "senior" by their colleagues from outside. Many companies wanted to retain these artists from Hinotori Publishing, and they often gave them titles like "Lead Artist of Fate/Stay Night" and "Veterans of Fate/Stay Night."
Although it was false, many players believed it, and the advertising effect was very good.
"By the way, senior, do you have the Clannad script?" the young man asked.
"Yes, I have it all on my phone." Ryohei smiled, "They let me go without checking. I don't know what they were thinking... But this script has no highlights. I think it doesn't matter if they hide it or not."
The young man was curious, "The director told me it's a cheerful story about a campus. What's it about?"
"Nothing, just the daily life of some high school students." Ryohei replied, "And the protagonist seems like a bad boy." Apart from being funny, everything else is very common... It's a shame this script isn't complete. Mirai-sensei, responsible for the script, is still writing it. He has only written a few chapters.
He frowned slightly. The story of Clannad is too common, so common that it doesn't seem like Mirai-sensei's work.
"If I could stay longer at Hinotori Publishing, I could understand what this story is about." Ryohei sighed.
"Don't worry, senior." The young man quickly comforted him, "We all know the story at the beginning. Since there are no highlights, naturally there's nothing. The theme of Fate/Stay Night focuses on the Holy Grail War at the beginning, which explains its success. Do you think the theme of Clannad will surpass it?"
Ryohei shook his head. The theme of the game is very important.
The story of Clannad is about the meeting between the protagonist and an introverted and shy girl, and he wants to help her found a drama club... It's a common university project, and the content is fun. It's a cheerful game. Ryohei believes the theme should be a cheerful university love story, but Mirai-sensei said the theme is family, which is very strange.
Mirai-sensei didn't explain to the others what he meant specifically, but there was nothing wrong with family. The script Ryohei saw had no superpowers, no battles, not even dark elements. It was simply fun and cheerful. The story of a group of high school students at school, he thought about it and saw nothing special.
"I guess Mr. He Xi has given up on visual novels!" Ryohei stopped thinking and said, "Clannad is full of laughs, and the rest is pretty normal, but... the director asked me to retrieve the script, is... is he trying to plagiarize it?"
"How is that possible...? Plagiarism is illegal."
The young man shook his head and smiled. "In the part he showed the minister, he said that the text game for fun is very interesting... We want to use this script as a reference to prepare a new game, and we will definitely not plagiarize. Of course, some similarities are inevitable, but our speed is faster than Hinotori Publishing's, so it doesn't matter."
He said, "We are a professional game company!"
Ryohei was stunned and nodded, "You're right."
Mizuki Games' production speed is faster than Hinotori Publishing's, and their visual novels are relatively small, and they will undoubtedly be completed before Clannad. Even if there are similar plots, Hinotori Publishing can only accept it.
"Mirai-sensei, don't blame me..."
Ryohei narrowed his eyes. He didn't think he was wrong. The problem was that Hinotori Publishing was too poorly protected.
However, Ryohei was unaware that after his departure, Hinotori Publishing's video game production department immediately held a video conference and all members signed a new confidentiality agreement. In the future, if the content of any game is leaked without permission, Hinotori Publishing will take drastic measures to suppress it. Precedents like Ryohei's will not appear again.
Of course, Ryohei's incident also made some employees nervous. They asked in the video conference, "Mirai-sensei, can you prepare a new script? The original one was surely already known!"
Takumi rejected the question without hesitation.
"No, I know if I know. It's just a few chapters of the campus plot."
Mizuki Games mistakenly believed that Clannad was a fun game, and the news had already spread. Many readers also knew that it was a fun game. Funny is funny; Takumi was glad to see them think so. He planned to use terms like fun, funny, and relaxed to promote Clannad in the future.
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