"Vroom vroom vroom~!"
A bulky white van sped down the road, its dull engine roar drawing the attention of nearby pedestrians. They only saw the white van drift beautifully around a corner like a phantom before plunging into a dark tunnel.
"How is it? I modified this car myself! I went through a ton of trouble to have the engine shipped over from America. If that's not exciting enough, we can go even faster!" Fujiwara Tora, sitting in the driver's seat, laughed high-spiritedly, looking proud as he kept pressing down on the accelerator.
Pale-faced, Kamiyā Yuu watched the tunnel lights and vehicles flash past outside. Supporting himself against the window with his right hand, he forced a smile. "Mr. Fujiwara, I think this speed is already enough for us to make a round trip during lunch break. I mean, I'm not actually in that much of a hurry."
As soon as he finished, he hurriedly covered his mouth. The discomfort in his stomach from the acceleration and deceleration almost made him throw up the bento he had just eaten.
Seeing him like this, Fujiwara Tora felt too embarrassed to keep speeding up. He laughed sheepishly. "You're still no good, Kamiyā. Speed is a man's romance! Acting this weak won't win a woman's heart in the future."
—Compared to having a girlfriend, I think staying alive is more important. Besides, don't you have a girlfriend yourself?
Relying on sheer willpower, Kamiyā Yuu finally suppressed the urge to vomit. Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, he said, "Mr. Fujiwara, there are also women who prefer steadier men."
"Haha, true enough." Fujiwara Tora didn't continue on the topic. After the van smoothly exited the tunnel, he seemed a little puzzled and asked, "Kamiyā-kun, are you really planning to make an individual animation? That's not something you can do just by talking about it. As the production manager, my opinion is that you should be more cautious. Come to think of it, does Uehara-sensei know about this?"
"She knows. Although it's a personal work, Uehara-sensei is in charge of the character designs for this animation."
"Uehara-sensei actually approved it?" Fujiwara Tora turned his head in surprise, sizing up Kamiyā Yuu with a doubtful gaze. For Uehara Etsuki to approve Kamiyā Yuu's idea, either she believed it was highly feasible, or she simply didn't want to get involved.
Judging from the relationship between Uehara Etsuki and Kamiyā Yuu, it was obviously the former. But then, why would a veteran key animation master, even more experienced than Fujiwara Tora, agree to let a rookie go and tinker with an individual animation? There were indeed successful cases in the industry, but far more people ended up burdened with huge debts and saw all their hard work go to waste.
Kamiyā Yuu smiled wryly and explained, "Not just Uehara-sensei. The work I'm currently planning to make has already successfully passed the crowdfunding review in the animation section of 'Fakebook.' The reason I asked Mr. Fujiwara to help me contact a music studio this time is to produce the music, which is also the purpose of this crowdfunding."
"Fakebook?" Fujiwara Tora muttered the name, looking completely confused.
"It's a large online animation exchange platform. Barring any accidents, my work should be finished in a month. How about I show it to you then?" Kamiyā Yuu explained with a smile.
Fujiwara Tora rubbed his buzz cut and looked at Kamiyā Yuu strangely. "Haha, since Uehara-sensei already approved it, there probably won't be any problem. It wouldn't be right for an outsider like me to ask too much, but I'm pretty interested in your personal work, too. So when the time comes, please make sure to show it to me."
"Of course."
After driving steadily for half an hour, the van finally reached its destination. Once they parked, the two arrived in front of an old office building. From the outside, there was nothing particularly distinctive about it.
Fujiwara Tora led Kamiyā Yuu inside. When they reached the second floor, a staff member saw Fujiwara Tora and took the initiative to greet him with a smile. Kamiyā Yuu looked around curiously. This music studio seemed somewhat quiet, and he couldn't see any dubbing equipment.
"It's currently the month when anime are ending. Aside from a few special cases, the voice recording for most anime was completed long ago," Fujiwara Tora explained as he walked. Soon, he pushed open the door to an office and shouted, "Shindō, you here? Shindō!"
"Clatter~!"
A strange sound came from the messy, dim office. A dispirited middle-aged man with a thin face and a full beard crawled out from under the desk, then yawned sleepily. He had long hair tied up casually, giving him a certain deep, artistic charm.
In short, anyone who saw him at first glance would think he was the gloomy uncle type involved in the arts.
"Noisy as hell. Fujiwara, what are you doing here at this hour? Didn't we finish the dubbing revisions for that animation last month?" The dispirited middle-aged man named Shindō frowned and glanced at Fujiwara Tora.
Fujiwara Tora shifted his burly body aside to let Kamiyā Yuu enter, then laughed. "Personal matter. This time, my friend has business with you."
Kamiyā Yuu walked up to the desk and greeted him with a smile. "Hello, my name is Kamiyā Yuu. I'm a key animator."
"Shindō Tsukasa." The dispirited middle-aged man named Shindō Tsukasa sat down in his office chair and lit himself a cigarette. After glancing at Kamiyā Yuu, he began puffing smoke. "For now, you can consider me the person in charge of this company."
Kamiyā Yuu didn't feel awkward because of his coldness. He got straight to the point. "Mr. Shindō, I came to your company this time because I'd like to commission you to produce two pieces of music. I'll provide the scores myself."
"If you're recording a song, just go to the recording studio. Someone there will guide you," Shindō Tsukasa said boredly with a yawn. Singers recording out of personal interest or rookie bands often came here to record songs. Including post-production fees, recording one song usually costs anywhere from tens of thousands to several hundred thousand yen.
"One of them is indeed a song, but I can't complete it by myself. That's why I wanted to commission Mr. Shindō." Kamiyā Yuu took a white envelope from his pocket and placed it on the desk.
"Hmm?" Shindō Tsukasa looked at Kamiyā Yuu with slight surprise. After setting his cigarette aside, he opened the envelope and carefully browsed through it. Before long, he frowned and looked Kamiyā Yuu over. "Is this a commission from your company?"
"No, it's under my own name. I'll also be personally covering the production costs."
"Mr. Kamiyā, how much do you understand about music?" Shindō Tsukasa asked slowly.
"These two songs were both written by me," Kamiyā Yuu thought for a moment, then explained. This world didn't have 'RWBY.' Since he was the one creating this animation here, he would attach his own name to it.
Both Shindō Tsukasa and Fujiwara Tora froze.
Noticing Shindō's troubled expression, Fujiwara Tora stepped forward to smooth things over. "Shindō, if there's anything wrong with the songs, you can just revise them. With your expertise, handling something like this should be easy, right?"
Unexpectedly, Shindō Tsukasa glanced at Fujiwara Tora as if looking at an idiot. "There's no need for that. Both songs are above standard. Even if I wanted to compose one myself, it would take quite a bit of time. A classical ensemble piece and an English theme song—since both came from Mr. Kamiyā, then you should understand how difficult it will be to perform these two pieces."
Fujiwara Tora froze. Although Shindō Tsukasa wasn't particularly famous in the industry, his level was definitely among the top tier, and he was also the person in charge of this music studio. Yet now, such a professional musician had given the music Kamiyā Yuu provided such high praise.
"Price isn't an issue," Kamiyā Yuu said seriously. Perhaps it was because introducing himself as a key animator earlier had caused Shindō Tsukasa to have many doubts.
"One million three hundred thousand yen. That's the base price. I'll help you contact suitable singers and a classical ensemble to try it out. I'll inform you of the specific contract tomorrow night." Shindō Tsukasa looked at Kamiyā Yuu with a strange expression, then took a stack of documents and a fountain pen from the desk and placed them in front of him. "Please fill out this form first, Mr. Kamiyā. It's a bit troublesome, but please fill it out carefully."