After that, the teacher explained Ichin's request to the entire club.
Among the students in the club, some were gamers and had already heard about Ichin starting a game development studio. But it wasn't exactly common knowledge, so for many of them, this was the first time hearing about it. They all looked at him with surprised expressions.
Top of his class academically, and he still found time to start a game studio outside of school—and even achieved results? Was this what they called a genius?
Once they understood Ichin's request, everyone gladly agreed.
There weren't any competitions coming up, so their daily routine mainly consisted of regular practice. Now they had a chance to play a brand-new piece—one that would be featured in a video game, no less. As students, they were naturally excited about it.
Not to mention, Ichin was offering payment. And quite a generous one at that.
Performing music was what they were good at, and now they could earn some pocket money while practicing—and it was all officially approved by the school. Opportunities like this didn't come often. Who in their right mind would turn it down?
The sheet music had already been printed, so the teacher handed it out to everyone. This version was instrumental-only. As for the vocal version, Ichin planned to find someone else to sing it—ideally a veteran singer with real skill.
Since it was Friday and they had plenty of time, Ichin wasn't in a hurry. He took a seat off to the side and waited while everyone familiarized themselves with the score.
Half an hour later, the music teacher stepped up to the conductor's podium and began leading the group in their first run-through.
Being the first time, the students weren't completely fluent with the piece yet, but even so, it already sounded impressive.
Although it differed slightly from how Ichin imagined it in his head, it still carried a strong sense of rhythm and energy.
Perfect for a special combat scene.
Having two versions wouldn't be a bad thing at all.
Before long, the first performance wrapped up. Ichin could tell from the students' expressions that they weren't satisfied with how they had played.
But he didn't mind. Standing up, he clapped his hands and smiled.
"That was much better than I expected. Please continue practicing and polishing it. Once it's perfected, I'll arrange for a professional recording session. But before that, I'd like everyone to sign a confidentiality agreement. Even though it's just the music, it's still part of the game content—and I don't want it leaking ahead of time."
Confidentiality agreements were a normal part of commercial projects. No one was particularly surprised, and they all signed the agreement without complaint.
Aside from the non-disclosure clauses, the contract also outlined the compensation each student would receive.
Once they saw the payment amounts listed, everyone—including the teacher—was visibly shocked.
Ichin noticed their reactions and remained calm as he said,
"The game's on a fairly large scale, so my expectations are high. These rates are completely standard. So don't think you can just wing it—I want the same level of dedication you'd bring to a major competition."
With that said, no one had any objections anymore.
After the paperwork was done, Ichin didn't stick around. The job of guiding the students naturally belonged to the music teacher. He was just the composer—he didn't know anything about conducting, and he wasn't the type to interfere in something he didn't understand.
After leaving the school, Ichin hailed a taxi and headed to Fushikawa Publishing.
Utaha and Sonoka Machida were still in the large conference room, discussing things with the Kyoto Animation staff. Ichin didn't want to barge in, so he stayed in the editorial department instead, casually chatting with a few editors.
After coming here a few times, he'd become familiar with the staff, and now they often gossiped about various industry oddities together.
Things like:
—"This author spends all day slacking off."
—"That author can't think of anything but harem stories, completely ignoring actual plot."
—"Another author got writer's block, pulled too many all-nighters, and ended up in the hospital."
Strange incidents always seemed to pop up every now and then.
Even though Ichin wasn't directly involved in the light novel industry, being Utaha's significant other meant he often got to hear all sorts of juicy stories. He found them quite entertaining.
After about half an hour of chatting, Utaha and Sonoka Machida finally wrapped up their meeting and returned to the editorial department.
When Utaha saw Ichin, who hadn't messaged her but had come early on his own, she smiled and walked over. Without hesitation, she threw her arms around him.
"Ichin, when did you get here? You didn't even tell me."
Their affectionate display once again struck a heavy blow to the hearts of the many single souls in the department.
Ichin, however, didn't care in the slightest. He chuckled and said, "About half an hour ago. How did the meeting go? Everything smooth?"
Utaha nodded slightly. "Mm, it went really well. The scriptwriting is progressing nicely and aligns with my vision. There haven't been any weird changes, and they've even added some fun touches in places that don't affect the core plot. You'll see what I mean when the anime airs."
Utaha was deliberately keeping some details under wraps, which piqued Ichin's curiosity.
Kyoto Animation had a stellar reputation—they could take even mediocre source material and turn it into something far better. The trade-off, of course, was that the story often diverged significantly from the original.
But that wasn't needed for _The Metronome in Love_. Utaha's novel was already outstanding, so adapting it faithfully would yield amazing results.
So for her to allow changes even in that context... what exactly did they add?
Ichin thought about it for a bit but came up with nothing. He figured he'd just have to wait and see once the anime was finished.
With Utaha's business handled, the two of them were ready to head home.
Sonoka Machida, ever the responsible editor, took on the role of chauffeur and gave them a ride. She even stuck around at the studio to freeload a lavish dinner.
During the meal, Ichin updated everyone on the music progress. The first track had already been handed over to the wind instrument club at Toyogasaki to record an initial version. There were still several more tracks to come, which would be produced in the near future.
Chomping on her chopsticks, Aoba stared wide-eyed at him in disbelief.
"You seriously composed the song yourself, Ichin-kun? You can do that too?"
"Ah, I just started learning recently. It's going pretty well so far."
Everyone turned to look at him, blurting out in unison:
"Genius?"
"Haha, I wouldn't go that far. Just had a few ideas I wanted to try," Ichin replied modestly. "Though I did write the base melody, I asked the school's music teacher to help refine and arrange it. There's no way I could've done all of it on my own. Well—maybe I could, but I'd probably need a few more months of study."
Yagami Kō pulled a face and muttered, "A few months and you'd be able to arrange music? And you're telling us you're not a genius?"
"Exactly, exactly!"
"Seriously, Ichin-kun, you're just humble-bragging now."
"I could never pull that off."
Everyone chimed in one after another, and in the end, Ichin just threw up his hands.
"Alright, fine—I'm a genius."
Well, whatever the case, the fact that the game's music was now in production was definitely something worth celebrating.
...
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