"I'm sorry, Nozaki-sensei..."
After a brief introduction, Asakura took the initiative to apologize: "For some reason, I messed up your script."
"It's alright, that was a script I wrote in high school. Looking back now, there were actually many shortcomings."
Nozaki Umetarou did not have the stubbornness and fastidiousness of a creator, like in some stories where they would say, 'How dare you alter my work, go die!'
Although his expression remained largely unchanged throughout, Asakura could feel a hint of gentle emotion from him: "And I can see that up until about the middle, you were actually still following the script. It was only after the lead actress almost had a problem that the style suddenly changed, which is a relatively common situation..."
Saying this, he looked at Asakura approvingly: "To be able to improvise and perform such an effect is already quite outstanding."
He then quietly added, "Is that young lady alright?"
"Thank you, she's fine. It's good that you don't feel we wasted your script."
Asakura breathed a sigh of relief.
"Not at all..."
Nozaki Umetarou shook his head: "On the contrary, I really liked your adaptation. It broke away from ordinary romance and became an interesting adventure... And those dazzling stage effects and acrobatics were even more outstanding, complementing each other perfectly! In fact, some of the scenes even gave me a lot of inspiration in return..."
"Yes, I liked that too."
Assistant Miss Chiyo also looked at Asakura sincerely: "Especially that self-driving vintage car's 'Ode to Joy' composed of honks, door opening and closing, and engine sounds... Can you tell me how you did that? That was truly amazing, was it a recording?"
"No, it's magic."
Asakura said earnestly.
"Hahahaha..."
Assistant Miss Chiyo's sense of humor seemed to be very low. She probably thought Asakura was making a strange joke and started laughing again.
Amakusa Shino, however, sighed: "Alright, alright, I get it. You'll be given full credit for this Founders' Festival. There's no need to repeatedly emphasize your club here; the club disbandment order issued by the Asakura was already revoked. Congratulations, you can rest easy."
Asakura nodded with satisfaction.
Then he curiously asked Nozaki Umetarou: "By the way, after learning that the script was written by Sakiko-sensei, I went and looked at your works... There's a question I'm a little curious about. Can I ask?"
"Anything that doesn't involve the core plot twist is fine."
Nozaki Umetarou said generously: "Of course, if you want spoilers, I won't answer those either."
"Of course not those."
Asakura asked enthusiastically: "Doesn't Sakiko-sensei's previous works often feature tanuki appearing in inexplicable places? Those should be the mascots of the work, right?"
"Actually, it's the editor... No, that's right, it's the mascot."
Nozaki Umetarou was about to say something, but he was subtly elbowed by his wife, so he immediately changed his words.
Asakura pretended not to notice the couple's small interaction and continued to ask: "I noticed that for a while, these tanuki suddenly disappeared, replaced by a bunch of Paras-like bugs... Of course, those bugs are also drawn very cutely, but I still want to ask what happened?"
"Because I comprehended love."
Nozaki Umetarou said solemnly in a very sacred tone.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Miss Chiyo coughed, her face red.
Nozaki Umetarou immediately began to show concern.
Asakura and Amakusa Shino's expressions both became subtle: Ugh, what a mushy couple.
"Then what's the reason Paras haven't appeared in the recent issues?"
Seeing that Nozaki Umetarou was convinced his wife was fine, Asakura asked again: "Could it be that your comprehension of love has deepened even further?"
"Mainly because Nintendo warned us."
Nozaki Umetarou said calmly.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Asakura, a bit stunned by the unexpected answer, coughed.
Although a bit strange, it must be said that the Nozaki couple both had good personalities, and chatting with them was quite enjoyable.
But soon, the two decided to leave, not even intending to participate in the final game segment.
According to them, they had to go back and work on their manuscript because the deadline was already imminent.
After seeing the Nozaki couple off, Asakura initially started to feel relieved that he could finally go to the drink station to get some less cloying beverages.
However, he hadn't walked many steps before he was stopped by Yukinoshita Haruno.
"Yo~ young man."
She greeted Asakura cheerfully.
"Is there something, Miss Haruno?"
Asakura sighed, feeling like he was getting a stomach ulcer.
"Of course, it's to congratulate you on your successful performance."
Yukinoshita Haruno nodded, her expression genuinely appearing interested in Asakura's performance: "That magic trick where you make a car appear from under a sparkling cloth, I've only seen something similar from David Copperfield. Compared to you, most magicians have wasted half their lives, simply wasting time creating some boring stuff."
"Alright... let's get straight to the point, Miss Haruno, what exactly do you want to do?"
Asakura couldn't help but interrupt her long speech and asked directly.
"Just to properly reacquaint myself with the future great magician, after all, being able to perform something like that in an improvised act is already quite overpowered."
Yukinoshita Haruno said cheerfully.
Of course, Asakura didn't believe a single punctuation mark of what she said.
"However, compared to Asakura-kun, Yukino's performance was somewhat unsatisfactory..."
Yukinoshita Haruno said leisurely, "Not only did she not actively take on the responsibility of carrying the plot like you, but even her brilliance as the heroine was stolen by that child who suddenly appeared... She barely participated in the subsequent acrobatics, and the only highlight was the harmonica she played at the end..."
"I think most people in such a situation would just feel overwhelmed. For Yukino to still be able to cooperate with our performance without missing a beat in that situation, she can already be considered quite outstanding."
Asakura couldn't quite figure out what Yukinoshita Haruno meant, so he could only speak vaguely.
"Although it's just my personal opinion as her older sister... But just like I told Asakura before, does Asakura really have no feelings for Yukino-chan at all?"
Yukinoshita Haruno said with a smile: "If you're truly interested, I, as her sister, might even be able to help you a little..."
Asakura subtly distanced himself from the deceitful woman: "I'm sorry, I'm very averse to having an older sister-in-law like Miss Haruno after marriage, so I can only regrettably give up."