After Gogyo Ruri left the office, Kamiyā Yuu continued reviewing Sakura Kyōko's character design proposal while dialing Sound Director Shindō Tsukasa's number on his phone.
Once the call connected, Kamiyā Yuu held the phone between his shoulder and ear. His hands slowly flipped through the dozen or so complex character design sheets as his gaze carefully examined every detail and annotation.
"Hello, Shindō."
"It's me. What brings you to call at a time like this?" Shindō Tsukasa's teasing laughter came through the phone.
"As you guessed, it's about work. It might be a little urgent. The design for the new character is finished. When can you prepare the audition for the new voice actress?"
Before the character design was finalized, Kamiyā Yuu did not want to rush into selecting a voice actress. After all, a voice was part of a character's identity. Different characters required different voices.
"Ah~ I've already informed the voice acting agencies about that. We can start whenever you're free to come over."
Kamiyā Yuu sighed inwardly. As expected of an industry veteran, he had already completed all the necessary preparations.
After thinking for a moment, he asked uncertainly, "Tomorrow afternoon?"
"No problem. I'll notify the applicants to come over. By the way, we're holding a voice actor gathering in the evening. Interested in attending? If a young and successful company president like you shows up, all the female voice actresses will definitely come. An old man like me has long passed my prime. The last gathering I organized was rejected by several voice actresses. In the end, only one female voice actress attended. That was truly a disaster."
"Sorry, but aside from official company gatherings, I rarely participate in evening activities."
Kamiyā Yuu refused without hesitation.
Until Kamiyā Sora graduated from high school, he had no intention of frequently participating in outside evening events.
"That's quite a decisive rejection. I really don't understand young people these days. When I was your age, I was a regular at bars and parties."
Shindō Tsukasa's tone was full of regret.
Just from his voice alone, one could easily imagine a frivolous middle-aged man who never took his work seriously. It seemed there was a reason he was still single in his forties.
Kamiyā Yuu's face darkened as he looked away from the design sheets.
"Are all people involved in music this casual about life? Apologies to all young people. They'd probably party even harder than you. I'm just an exception. Because of family circumstances, it's not convenient for me to go out often at night."
"Fine, enough joking. The main reason I invited you is that several fairly famous female voice actresses are participating in this audition. I can't handle them all by myself."
Shindō Tsukasa's tone turned serious.
This was a good opportunity to increase the Sound Department's reputation within the voice acting industry.
Kamiyā Yuu frowned and organized the design sheets in his hands. Since Shindō was being serious, it was difficult for him to refuse.
"I'll leave before six."
"Then we'll head directly to the izakaya after the auditions. The schedule is a little tight, but your attendance will be a huge help to the Sound Department."
"Alright. I'll leave the preparations to you."
Kamiyā Yuu hung up the phone and stood up, taking Gogyo Ruri's character design proposal with him to find Uehara Etsuki in the Key Animation Department.
After Yosuganosora Animation Studio expanded, the arrangements of each department had changed. It was no longer suitable for everyone to work in the same office, so the company adopted a structure similar to Kyoni Animation Co., Ltd.
Each floor housed a dedicated animation production department.
As the supervisor of the Key Animation Department, Uehara Etsuki was permanently stationed on the third floor.
Before assigning this project to Gogyo Ruri, Kamiyā Yuu had already discussed it with Uehara Etsuki. Thus, when he arrived at her office, no further explanation was necessary. He simply handed over the entire proposal for her review.
"This is Kuroneko's Sakura Kyōko character proposal. What do you think, Sensei?"
Uehara Etsuki accepted the thick stack of more than ten pages with surprise.
Even for a Key Animation Director whose primary job was character design, producing work at this speed would be difficult.
Not to mention that Gogyo Ruri had only worked on it during her spare time.
As soon as she opened the first page and saw the artwork, she became even more astonished.
Several months ago, she had seen Gogyo Ruri's artwork. At that time, her drawing ability was roughly on the level of an experienced animator, still quite some distance away from becoming a true key animator.
Yet now, among these character design sheets was a complete magical girl transformation outfit for Sakura Kyōko.
The design matched the magical girl theme while possessing a style all its own.
In terms of overall quality, it was no worse than character designs produced by Uehara Etsuki herself, a recognized master of gothic aesthetics.
There were also many sets of everyday clothing designs for Sakura Kyōko, all perfectly fitting the character's image.
If Kamiyā Yuu had not told her these were drawn by Gogyo Ruri, Uehara Etsuki would have assumed they came from an experienced Key Animation Director.
Covering her mouth with her sleeve in surprise, she finished reviewing the stack before looking up at Kamiyā Yuu with a strange expression.
"Kuroneko really drew all of these herself?"
"Yep."
Kamiyā Yuu sat on the sofa with his arms crossed and answered affirmatively, somewhat puzzled about why Uehara Etsuki was so surprised.
Uehara Etsuki gently shook her head.
"If it were only Kamiyā-kun improving at such an absurd rate, I could understand it. But Kuroneko's progress in key animation has been just as astonishing. In only a little over three months, she has gone from being an animator to someone capable of standing on her own as a key animator. Just what kind of miraculous magic did Kamiyā-kun use?"
Hearing this, Kamiyā Yuu laughed.
So Uehara Etsuki was praising Gogyo Ruri's improvement.
As her teacher, he felt immensely proud.
A smile appeared on his face as he modestly replied,
"Just like how Sensei guided me back then, all I did was assign Kuroneko projects and offer suggestions. The reason she's improved so quickly is entirely due to her own hard work."
Hearing Kamiyā Yuu's completely insincere modesty, Uehara Etsuki couldn't help laughing.
His words praised both Uehara Etsuki and Gogyo Ruri, but combined with the undisguised pride on his face, it was genuinely amusing.
Of course, this sort of unreasonable humility was something Kamiyā Yuu would only display in front of her.
What followed was an extensive discussion regarding Gogyo Ruri's character proposal.
The conclusion was that, purely from a design perspective, Gogyo Ruri's proposal had both strengths and weaknesses compared to Uehara Etsuki's version.
The primary difference lay in the portrayal of Sakura Kyōko's personality.
As for the magical girl costume, Gogyo Ruri's version possessed a touch more of the simplicity and practicality one would expect from an ordinary girl.
Over the next two hours, they discussed every aspect in detail—from the artwork itself to the written character descriptions.
By the time they finished, the Japanese tea on the office desk had been replaced several times.
In the end, however, they still reached no definitive answer.
Uehara Etsuki wanted Kamiyā Yuu himself to decide.
Should Sakura Kyōko remain the version he originally envisioned?
Or should he choose Gogyo Ruri's reimagined version of Sakura Kyōko?