This Christmas party was finally not as miserable as before. Aside from the employees of the 'Yosuganosora' animation production company, some guests also attended: representatives of outsourcing companies, well-known freelance key animators, and influential figures in the anime industry. Because of that, Morishita Aoi, Yūki Chinatsu, and the others could only drink lightly.
Kamiyā Yuu, meanwhile, was busy the entire time. He went to each department's gathering to introduce himself, shook hands with the newly hired employees one by one, and after finishing with the guests, had to deal with several reporters.
"Mr. Kamiyā, I heard you plan to release a new work in the January season. May I ask what genre this work will be?"
In a corner of the hotel, a male reporter holding a notebook asked Kamiyā Yuu a question. Of course, he wasn't an official television reporter, but a minor reporter belonging to some ACG-related website, generally used to dig up industry gossip.
"The official promotional PV will be released tomorrow. As for the genre, that isn't something that needs to be kept secret. Like our previous work, it belongs to the magical girl genre."
"I see. Your company possesses top-tier animation production technology in the industry, and your animation quality has received unanimous praise from viewers. Isn't it a bit of a waste to use that level of quality on a niche genre like magical girls?" The male reporter wrote down the answer in his notebook and asked thoughtfully.
"A work's popularity isn't determined by its genre, but by the story itself. If the story is exciting, then even if the animation quality is poor, it can still become very popular."
"So Mr. Kamiyā is very confident in this work?"
"I can only say I'm confident it won't disappoint."
Kamiyā Yuu's answers were basically ambiguous. Even though he had confidence in his work, he didn't want to be judged like Yamamoto Yutaka from his previous world, an anime director who made empty boasts.
Kamiyā Yuu had a very deep impression of this director. As one of the more influential directors in Kyoto Animation's history, many highlights in Kyoto's works had been created by him, such as the famous Haruhi group dance 'Hare Hare Yukai' and the opening 'Motteke! Sailor Fuku' from 'Lucky Star.'
However, after directing Episode 4 of the anime 'Lucky Star,' Kyoto Animation replaced him with Takemoto Yasuhiro from the same company. The official website's announcement dealt him a merciless blow:
"Our company has determined that Yamamoto Yutaka has not yet reached the level required to serve as a director, and therefore, the director has been changed."
From Kamiyā Yuu's personal perspective, the first four episodes of 'Lucky Star' really were quite boring...
Almost every anime directed by Yamamoto Yutaka suffered disastrous sales. The anime 'Kannagi,' which had originally shown great potential to break this sales curse, ended up collapsing because the author courted disaster by setting the heroine as "not a virgin," causing a large number of fans to erupt in anger and triggering the famous "mailing blades" incident. As a result, the anime's BD sales collapsed.
Yamamoto Yutaka was practically the Japanese version of Prince Ma.
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The Christmas party continued until nearly eleven o'clock before dispersing, and only then did Kamiyā Yuu finally get to rest. Yūki Chinatsu and the others, still unsatisfied, planned to go together to Uehara Etsuki's house to soak in the hot springs and continue their unfinished drinking party. After asking Kamiyā Sora's opinion with his eyes, Kamiyā Yuu declined the invitation and planned to spend Christmas at home with Kamiyā Sora.
Although Busujima Murasaki wasn't there, Uehara Etsuki also had a driver's license. During the Christmas party, she seemed to have considered that and hadn't drunk alcohol.
Kamiyā Yuu and Kamiyā Sora hurriedly caught the last subway train. The heating inside the carriage finally eased Kamiyā Yuu's stiff, icy body a little. After sitting down, he breathed warm air into his palms, rubbed them hard, and then pressed them close to Kamiyā Sora's small face beside him.
Because the two had jogged all the way from the parking lot, Kamiyā Sora's frail constitution, combined with the damp cold wind, had left her face as cold as ice, without the slightest trace of color.
It was already past midnight, and on top of that, it was Christmas. There were only one or two passengers in the subway carriage, huddled in their clothes and sitting far away.
"Sora, after you graduate, let's move over here. I've already chosen a nice high-end apartment." Kamiyā Yuu gently rubbed her soft ears with heartache, transferring the warmth from his palms to her small face.
Kamiyā Sora's face flushed faintly, perhaps because of the warmth of Kamiyā Yuu's palms. She looked around at the quiet surroundings, leaned her head against his shoulder, and answered softly, "Mm."
"Then it's decided. I'll prepare the furniture and other things. Once you graduate, we can move there directly."
There was a short silence. Kamiyā Sora didn't seem very concerned about Kamiyā Yuu's topic.
"Yuu, will we always be together from now on?" Kamiyā Sora rubbed against his cheek and asked as if acting spoiled. The scenery flashing rapidly outside the carriage, along with the faint hum of the subway, made her eyes somewhat hazy. After speaking, she covered her cherry lips with her delicate hand and yawned sleepily.
Kamiyā Yuu brushed her damp silver bangs behind her ear and smiled.
"Hasn't that already been decided?"
Kamiyā Sora slipped her delicate hand into Kamiyā Yuu's right hand and clasped it tightly. The smile on her small face was filled with the satisfaction and attachment of a girl in love. Leaning against Kamiyā Yuu's shoulder, she soon closed her eyes and fell asleep.
The lively Christmas party at night had already exhausted her. Besides, it was now past midnight. During school days, Kamiyā Sora was used to sleeping around nine or ten, so she felt especially tired.
The vacation system in Japanese schools was somewhat different from that in Chinese schools. China only had two long breaks, winter vacation and summer vacation. Japanese schools generally had three major holidays: spring vacation, winter vacation, and summer vacation. Spring vacation overlapped somewhat with China's winter vacation period. Aside from the meaning of early spring, it also carried the meaning of the Spring Festival, or New Year. Spring vacation was a holiday specially arranged by Japanese schools for the New Year period.
Usually, spring vacation runs from around December 20 to mid-January, lasting about half a month.
Winter vacation was from late February to late March, lasting about one month.
Summer vacation was from late July to late September, lasting about two months.
Kamiyā Sora's school was also on spring vacation, but ordinary third-year high school students didn't have the luxury that Kamiyā Sora did. Although it was nominally a vacation, most students would use this tiny break to attend cram school, year-round, rain or shine.
The situation of Japanese third-year high school students was very similar to that of Chinese third-year high school students. They basically withdrew from club activities, student councils, and other student groups that might delay their studies. All year long, there was only studying! Study! Study!
However, influenced by Japan's relaxed-generation educational philosophy, Japanese students' ability to withstand pressure was far worse than that of Chinese students. Almost every time a long vacation ended, and school resumed, news would appear about students taking extreme actions. For this reason, Japan's Ministry of Education had to specifically send information reminding parents to pay attention to unusual behavior in their children. Around the start of school, public service ads would also air on television, encouraging students to stay at home if they felt exhausted.