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***
*** Two years later. ***
- Tsuyu, you're really good at drawing....
A suspicious look was thrown at me. She had learnt me more than well over the years, and to come in like this without any preconditions....
- What do you want?
Being with me had an effect on her, and she was becoming more and more different from our peers.
- To take you in.
- М?
Now she tilted her head to the side.
- What's the details?
- I've been studying programming for two years now, and now I have the code for a smartphone game ready to go. Except...
I handed her my phone, which already had the game on it. And pointed to the icon, which she pressed, and after waiting for the splash screen she giggled.
- Yeah, yeah...
I sighed.
- I can't draw....
For about thirty minutes, Tsuyu was dealing with a game that was a mixture of a tapper and base defence. From the tapper there is a time roll, from the base defence actually the game itself, in which the main task is to prevent the enemy to your base.
- Hmm...
Putting aside my smartphone, she looked at me carefully.
- What do you want me to do?
- I dug into the laws... I have every right to use heroes even from the top 10 if I contribute 10 per cent of my profits to a special fund. After all, their brands are registered by Yuei and all the academies in Japan are funded from that fund, and not just the academies....
I sighed.
- So I need you to draw two dozen maps in a slightly cartoonish way. I've sketched out the Roads on them....
I'm handing her a notebook.
- ...I need maps with different terrains on them.
She nodded.
- I also started by drawing two dozen characters in the same cartoonish way. Each of them in five variations. The first, the simplest, I'd even prefer it to be the shape of a baby in nappies and with one but the most striking feature. The second, a child of about six to ten years old, there should be a school uniform, some neat, some in rebellious style, some just in casual clothes. The third in the uniform of the academy in which they were trained. A fourth in their first hero costume. And a fifth in their current costume.
Tsuyu made notes in my notebook.
- We'll divide the heroes into three groups. Let's say the first five will be available ONLY for real money. The second five for real and crystals, which will be earned in the game is difficult but possible. The eleventh to fifteenth are available for regular in-game currency. And from the sixteenth to the twentieth the so-called starter set.
- What else is there?
- Isn't that enough?
I raised an eyebrow in surprise.
- You draw it first, I'll evaluate it, you tweak it, I'll evaluate it again, we'll launch the game and then we'll further refine it. There will be a few additional cards that can be released. And special techniques to introduce, and by the way, there in the notebook notes which techniques of which characters should be carefully drawn 'by frame'.
Tsuyu nodded.
- I'll do it.
- Just like that?
- Yes.
- Okay, ten per cent will go to the Yuei Foundation and the rest will be split.
- А?
- Well, I'm going to exploit your drawing skills... so you should get some benefit from it.
- Ah... but...
- Tsuyu, I know you like drawing and it's easy for you to understand, but remember one simple thing. ANY work has to be paid for.
She glared at me for a couple of minutes and then nodded.
- Good.
And then she went to my desk and sat down at it and took out a piece of paper...
- You've decided to start now?
- Yeah.
- Good. Then I'll keep working too, I still need to finish the code a bit.
She nodded and there was a cosy silence in the room.
*** A year later. ***
- Izuku.
- Yes, Mrs Beru?
- You're giving my daughter too much money...
The woman frowned.
- She recently bought herself a very expensive drawing tablet... It's not that we don't have the money to buy one, but we don't want to spoil Tsuyu at all, and now...''
I frowned slightly.
- ''Mrs Beru, but I'm not giving your daughter money...''
The woman frowned now.
- Are you saying that my daughter lied to me?
- No...
I shake my head.
- What I'm saying is that you know where your daughter got the money from, but you forgot about it.
She frowned even more, and considering her face is as unemotional as Tsuyu's, it speaks a lot about her displeasure.
- Do you remember about eight months ago we came to you with the documents, you laughed back then saying that we were doing nonsense?
I saw confusion in the woman's eyes.
- Did you... did you seem to be playing at creating some kind of company back then?
- I wasn't...
I shake my head and take out my smartphone and quickly go to the game shop where I find our game.
- ...we created it. A game company. For now, for smartphones.
I show the woman the game.
- I wrote the code, Tsuyu did the graphics. So Tsuyu earned the money honestly and if you think a drawing tablet is a gimmick, you're wrong. It is a necessity, just like buying a powerful laptop for me, where I could not only write code but also look for bugs.
- Are you telling me that at fourteen my daughter earns enough to buy an expensive tablet?
- Not only that.
I shake my head.
- А?
- She's also taking various art classes, just like I'm running around taking programming courses. In fact, now we only see each other on weekends, and even then we devote time to creating a new game and releasing content for this one.
Beru blinked.
I continued to stare at her, but then Tsuyu came down from the room.
- Izuku? What are you doing here? Why aren't you coming up?
- I'm just...
I nodded at her mum.
- Your mother was worried that I spoil you too much.
- But that's just--
She shrugged.
- All I do is paint, and you give me forty-five per cent of your income....
- Forty-five per cent?
Beru looked at me, and I sighed.
- 'You just haven't seen my efforts to draw anything...'
I shook my head.
- ...So your daughter is being rewarded handsomely for her work.
- Pfft!
- Especially since it's a touchstone, so to speak....
- А?
Both Tsuyu and her mum looked at me in surprise.
- Well... we're going to be heroes...''
I shrugged my shoulders.
- ...And heroes have agencies...so I'm thinking we'll either join one, or I'll create mine and Tsuyu will join it.
They blinked in surprise.
- So here I am looking at her and seeing how she handles the money. And so far, she's doing more than well....
I nodded.
- By the way, I've made a leap in my learning here....
Tsuyu tilted her head to the side in surprise.
- I think that by the end of next year, I'll have finished my studies in some specialities. I actually only need to write my thesis.....
- Did you decide to brag?
Tsuyu tilted her head to the other shoulder.
- Nah... it's just that I've got all the knowledge I need to design and make OUR costumes.
- А?
The faces of both mother and daughter began to express utter astonishment.
- You're telling me.
- Yeah, we can get our costumes now and start getting used to them. Find their weaknesses and fix them.
- But you're still kids!
I sighed.
- So, I'm not suggesting we do a lynching....
I shrugged.
- ...But we might as well hire heroes for training. Let's say once a month. And that would allow us to be fully prepared by the time we enter.
- I agree...
Tsuyu has taken the floor.
- But I'll pay for the materials for the costume, as well as your work in making the costume.
I nodded understandingly, though I wanted to argue, but I could see in my eyes that it was useless. She wouldn't make concessions and let me pay for everything myself.
- And we'll pay for the heroes as a group.
I nodded.
- Good.
- That's good. Now let's go to my room, I'll show you sketches of new characters, new costumes, and other things I've had time to draw....
- Good, at the same time I'll explain to you how I want my costume to look like... because with my drawing skills.....
I shake my head.
- It's easier to buy a biker costume....
- I'll help...
She grabbed my hand and dragged me even more insistently to her room.
- Thank you...
Once in her room, the first thing she did was thank me and kiss me on the cheek.
- For what?
- I knew that my mum wouldn't like buying a tablet, but she wouldn't believe me, I earn my own money, and you are in her authority... after all, you study at universities....
- So you can pass the graduation exams too....
I shrugged.
- I can, but only because of you.
- You're not.
- I'm right...
I was looked at with eyes in which I read the demand not to argue.
- I didn't understand before, but now...
She shook her head.
- It was you that I reached out for... it was because of you that I began to learn more... it was you that explained many obscure topics to me....
She sighed.
- All thanks to you...
- Okay. Don't embarrass me and come on, show me what you've drawn.
- Yeah...