In front of the Game Development Department activity room, I knocked on the door.
The next moment, I heard footsteps rushing inside, and the door quickly opened to reveal a blonde girl with a hopeful smile.
"Sensei, you're here."
"Yeah, I'm here."
The girl squinted happily. Behind her, a cybernetic cat tail with green markings swayed left and right as she stepped aside to let me in.
The first thing I did after entering the room was look around. As expected, there was no one else present. I even walked over to the storage cabinet and knocked on its metal surface, but there was no response.
"Um, Sensei," Midori said as she closed the door, a little nervous. "Right now… it's just me."
Hearing that, I couldn't help but look at her with a warm, affectionate gaze.
She must have endured a lot, waiting for a moment when no one else was around, and when I just happened to come to Millennium.
Unlike her sister, Midori was more introverted and shy, and tended to worry more. The fact that she had invited me here on her own must have already taken all her courage.
Feeling relieved that she had finally taken the initiative, I hurried over after finishing a discussion with Himari and Eimi about the budget for the Special Mission Decagrammaton.
Perhaps embarrassed by my gaze, Midori quickly pulled me to sit down and even brought me a drink from the fridge.
After taking a sip and cooling off a bit, I asked her why she had called me here today.
"You said on Momotalk that you wanted to talk to me about something. Did something happen?"
"Yes… I do have something I want to consult you about…"
As she said that, Midori suddenly fell silent, her expression quickly turning distressed. When she spoke again, her voice was on the verge of tears.
"Waaahh! Sensei, i-it's bad… something terrible happened!"
"Midori, calm down first. What's going on?"
I gently held her head and stroked it to calm her down while speaking softly. I had a feeling her emotional shift might have been exactly for this.
"I can't think of anything at all… even though the deadline is right in front of me… what am I supposed to do, Sensei… sob…"
Midori spoke in fragmented sentences while pressing her head into my chest.
Unlike Momoi, who was more impulsive and would shove her headphones into my chest or even use my clothes as tissues, Midori's movements were always restrained and gentle. If you paid attention, you could sense a subtle, youthful tenderness in them.
Though in terms of progress, she was actually far behind Momoi, who seemed carefree and had no such romantic intentions at all.
After clinging to me for a while, Midori finally calmed down. Her cheeks were slightly red as she apologized, then began explaining the situation properly.
"Actually, I've been worrying about this for a few days… As you know, Sensei, even though our Chrono·Verse·Chronicle 2 was successful, we only received a special award instead of an official prize, so the decision to disband the club was only postponed. If we want to keep the club going, we still need to produce more results."
That said, as long as the Game Development Department continued its activities properly and didn't do anything too outrageous like before, the threat of disbandment was unlikely to come up again.
Midori continued.
"Since we never know when or in what form we'll make our next game, we usually collect ideas regularly and then discuss them together."
I asked, "So the deadline you mentioned is about that?"
"Yes. There isn't much time left before the next idea meeting. I thought I had to come up with something by then no matter what… but I couldn't think of anything at all…"
Worry returned to Midori's face.
After thinking for a moment, I suggested, "If it's an internal agreement, maybe it's okay to extend the deadline by a few days?"
However, Midori, surprisingly, looked dissatisfied even toward me, whom she secretly liked.
"Sensei, as you said, it is a promise. If I can't keep it and ask for an extension, that would be irresponsible! As the illustrator and visual designer of the Game Development Department, I absolutely cannot allow that!"
Her words were firm and decisive.
Impressed by her sense of responsibility, I clapped my hands.
"Well said. A responsible Midori is really cool."
If it were Momoi or Aris, they probably would have accepted the suggestion without hesitation and little guilt.
Though she might act modest, compared to her chaotic teammates, Midori was practically the conscience of the Game Development Department, second only to Yuzu.
Midori snapped back to herself and said awkwardly, "Ah, sorry, I got a bit worked up. Anyway, extending the deadline is definitely not an option. That's why I messaged you, Sensei, to ask for advice."
"I see…"
I nodded, crossing my arms with a faint smile.
"Midori, tell me. For an artist, what do you think creativity really is?"
"Eh?" Midori blinked. "I haven't really thought about that… I guess I'm still not at the level where I can call myself an artist."
"No. Regardless of skill, having the awareness of being an artist is important for approaching problems correctly."
"Mm… that makes sense…"
Seeing that she accepted it, I continued.
"In short, I think creativity for an artist can be considered a form of 'beauty' itself."
Midori nodded. "Yes. Without aesthetic sense, it can't really be called good creativity."
"In other words," I continued, "if you're searching for creativity, why not start from things that are not commonly seen, but still possess beauty?"
After thinking for a moment, Midori's eyes lit up.
"As expected of Sensei! That's a great idea! Maybe I could try different kinds of games I don't usually play…"
…Has she been infected by Momoi?
I cleared my throat. "Or perhaps, you don't necessarily have to limit yourself to games."
Under Midori's puzzled gaze, I stopped circling the point and took out a stack of papers from my pocket, handing them to her.
The moment she saw them, her pupils shrank. Her face turned bright red as she looked up at me and stammered.
"T-these are…!?"
"That's right!"
I gave a confident smile.
"They're my selfies!"
Naturally, I am the very embodiment of "beauty" itself.
At that moment, Midori's face froze completely in stunned silence.