"Are these by any chance the works of Eromanga-sensei?"
Akane asked as she pointed at the character design of Illyasviel drawn by Sagiri.
"Yeah, Eromanga-sensei's specialty has always been flat-chested lolis." Homura casually joked.
"It looks like she's still evolving, far from reaching her peak, huh..."
Even though Sagiri's drawing skills seemed similar to Izumi's, Akane still thought highly of Sagiri.
'After all, from the information I've gathered, Eromanga-sensei is Minamiya-sensei's little sister, and on top of that, she's only twelve years old, younger than Izumi... How high is her growth potential I wonder? She's probably another Kashiwagi Eri, I suppose?' Akane remarked inwardly.
"As for Kashiwagi-sensei..." Akane observed for a moment and sighed. "Her transformation is truly remarkable... If it weren't for the unchanged main techniques and art style, I almost wouldn't have recognized this."
"Well, it's all thanks to her." Homura pointed at the last artwork.
"Ahh... Shiina Mashiro..." Akane shook her head with a wry smile. "The most surprising of them all... She's a world-famous genius painter, yet out of nowhere, she suddenly joined your circle. You truly left everyone dumbfounded, Minamiya-sensei."
"Well, that's because Mashiro genuinely loves manga." Homura laughed lightly.
"That's right, that's what makes her the most unexpected." Akane agreed. "I don't know how many people were left cursing their luck because Minamiya-sensei got ahead of them."
Upon hearing her words, Homura smiled inwardly.
Cursing their luck wouldn't help, after all, ever since he had learned of Mashiro's existence, she was reserved for him!
The two of them chatted for a while until Homura proposed to take his leave.
Before leaving, he took a picture for a memento, a selfie of the two of them. He, of course, had another purpose in mind.
Akane watched as the door closed then suddenly smiled.
"This young master is truly extraordinary... his abilities alone set him apart from the other young masters... it's so hard to pin down his true character..."
From the information she had gathered, Homura's daily life seemed to align with that of an average young man, closer to the kind of interaction he had online.
But today's encounter had left a different impression on her.
He got straight to the point, handled things efficiently, and even after discussing business, he would chat with her about other things without any hint of impatience.
Most importantly, from the way he looked at her, she could sense his appreciation for her, a mix of emotions including admiration and respect, as well as some complex feelings intertwined, leaving her unable to identify them clearly.
But what was noticeably absent was 'lust'.
"Clearly, I'm quite confident about my body..." Akane muttered to herself as she touched her thigh clad in black pantyhose.
She shook her head, grabbed a bottle of sake nearby, and once again immersed herself in her own world.
"This step... was the right one..."
===
Homura may not have known exactly what Akane thought of him, but he could make a rough guess.
Regarding the complex emotions Akane didn't even understand, it was the same kind of intricate feeling he experienced every time he encountered characters from anime, manga, and the like from his past life.
It was a blend of surprise, understanding, anticipation, and a whirlwind of complex emotions.
After today's interaction, Homura felt pretty good about it. As long as Akane didn't have any ulterior motives, the collaboration between their two circles would naturally continue.
As a result, Homura headed home with a relaxed mood.
===
Time flew by, and it was already Wednesday.
The game's progress was moving forward steadily.
Despite it being only three days, in terms of completion, the game was already more than halfway.
Mainly because of Homura's outrageous speed.
He had already constructed the entire external framework of the game. Whenever others made some progress, he just kept piling on more. At the same time, he also gave Megumi some occasional guidance.
Furthermore, he casually finished drawing some random background characters, completed all the designs for the Noble Phantasms, finished all the music, and was just waiting for someone to sing the theme song.
It could be said that for this game, he had completed almost all the tasks except for the characters' voices.
As for the other members, all the scripts were finally finished.
Elf had returned to her daily routine of eating, drinking, and having fun.
Furthermore, her own novel wasn't delayed either, and it seemed like her brother, who was also her editor, had considered thanking Homura in person several times but was stopped by her.
After merging all the scripts, Muramasa read through them over and over again. Unsatisfied, she started closely monitoring everyone else's progress, and whenever new character designs and illustrations were completed, she automatically played the corresponding scenes in her mind.
Her level of obsession was beyond ordinary!
Utaha and Nayuta, aside from completing their own novels, were also researching ways to incorporate fantasy elements into their writing. After all, even in Another Dimension, specializing solely in romance wouldn't cut it. They wanted to make sure they had a place in the circle's works too.
As for the character design group, Eriri had finished Sakura, Medusa, Cu Chulainn, and even Heracles over the past few days. Now, she was vigorously working on Gilgamesh's character design.
Sagiri wasn't satisfied with just drawing lolis, so she asked Homura for another task.
Homura reluctantly had her draw Medea, especially since she had already drawn Medea Lily, thinking it would be easier. Unfortunately, she ended up turning the grown-up Medea into a magical girl!
Homura couldn't help but shake his head and reject it, then asked her to draw some random side characters instead.
Mashiro and Izumi, on the other hand, didn't cause any trouble.
Izumi was satisfied as long as she could draw, and she used her time to learn various drawing techniques.
Mashiro was also content with just drawing. While she could have worked on character designs, she wasn't interested in drawing a bunch of random characters when there were main characters to focus on.
Finally, Nanami and Megumi were mentored by Homura and started to learn voice acting techniques.
Homura finally understood the peculiarities of the 'Teaching' skill from the System. When he had previously tutored Rizu and Fumino, the effects hadn't been very obvious. However, this time, the results were mind-blowing.
Not only did Nanami make significant progress, but Megumi also improved a lot.
Homura had initially wanted her to try Sakura, but Megumi insisted on trying Leysritt, the homunculus maid close to Illyasviel.
Perhaps due to their shared emotionless traits, it turned out to be an unexpectedly suitable choice!
While there were still some flaws in her voice acting, there were still more than ten days left. It was enough time for Megumi to meet the requirements.
'My Teaching skill has unexpectedly become the backbone of Another Dimension... I couldn't have imagined this back then...'
Homura pondered while lying in the backyard with Haru curled up on his chest, sleeping peacefully.
Suddenly, his phone rang, waking up Haru, who blinked sleepily at him with a heart-melting expression.
Homura patted her head and answered the phone.