Chapter 359: Motivated
Homura led everyone to the living room, where Muse's members, along with Yukiho and Alisa, were already seated.
Once everyone settled in, Homura spoke up.
"Do you girls have any specific impressions of the fights?"
"Hmm..." Honoka pondered, stroking her chin. "I feel like I understand a bit, but I don't know how to put it into words..."
"Yeah, that makes sense..." Homura nodded. "Well, there are way too many ways to describe it, so let me ask differently then."
"Let's take Heracles as an example." Homura said, turning to each of the girls' faces one by one. "You all know what he looks like, so how do you think he should fight?"
"Big, sweeping attacks?" Elf voiced her thoughts.
"That's it?" Homura was waiting for more, but she didn't say anything else.
"Well, he's so huge. Every move he makes is powerful, so I think a big, sweeping combat style is enough." Elf continued.
"Alright then..." Homura sighed. "You know, he's at least a famous figure from mythology. Don't just reduce him to being only strong, since that'd make him nothing more than a brute swinging around a giant weapon."
"Hmm... you're right." Elf thought about it and then nodded.
Homura pondered for a moment, then spoke up.
"He surely needs skills far beyond the average person, but his skills can't be at the absolute peak. Like you said, every move he makes is powerful, so his skills shouldn't be the best of the best."
"Also, the fact that someone that big is unexpectedly agile would really catch the audience off guard."
Homura went over everyone's opinions, giving them a general idea before making a stick-figure battle video, recording various combat styles so the artists would have a reference.
"Amazing!"
Rin couldn't help but exclaim as she watched Homura run the video, her eyes glued to the fluid yet dazzling movements of the stick figure on the screen.
"I've included all sorts of combat styles into this, from hand-to-hand combat to weapon techniques." Homura grinned and tapped his laptop.
"But a lot of these moves... Rin feels like Rin can pull them off too, nyaa..." Rin said with a puzzled look.
"Of course, with your athletic ability, doing these moves is no problem." Homura nodded. "But this is just for show—how powerful it actually looks depends on everyone's work."
Indeed, if they wanted mountains to crumble or the ground to split just because of a weapon swing, it all came down to what the artists needed.
"If anyone has questions, just come to me. I'll personally be the model and make sure you girls get the hang of it." Homura continued. "Oh yeah, leave Medusa's fight scenes to me. Her combat style is a bit unique."
Eriri thought about it for a moment, then nodded.
"Seriously, as long as you're here, so many problems just stop being problems..." Eriri sighed.
"Honestly, adding 'action director' to Homura-kun's title wouldn't be a bad idea." Nanami chimed in.
"Doesn't really matter to me. I mean, this action-directing job is basically for Another Dimension anyway." Homura shrugged his shoulders. "Alright, everyone, get to work. If you run into anything, just come find me. I also gotta start training the voice actors."
With that, the group split into two rooms.
"Our voice training sessions are back, but we're not in a rush this time, so we can take it a bit slower."
Homura announced to the voice actors.
"Besides refining the techniques you've already learned, I'll also be teaching you some new ones. Little by little, you'll all keep improving."
"Of course..."
Homura paused and suddenly smirked.
"Vegetable juice is still a must..."
In an instant, Honoka, Hanayo, Rin, and Yukiho turned pale, while the others didn't look much better. Only Nozomi raised an eyebrow, acting as if everything was completely normal.
"Homura-kun... do we really have to drink that..." Kotori's lips twitched.
"Relax, I made something good this time." Homura chuckled and shook his head.
Hearing this, the girls all let out a sigh of relief, though they were still a bit worried.
Could vegetable juice really taste good?
However, none of them asked because they would find out once they drank it.
===
Everyone had switched to busy mode and was living fulfilling days.
During the day, some went to school, while others stayed home, continuing their work. Even scriptwriters like Elf, Muramasa, and Nayuta, who didn't attend school, still spent time thinking more about battle scenes.
Through discussions, if Sagiri could draw something on the spot, she would. If she couldn't or didn't have enough time, she would solve it together after school with Eriri, Mashiro, and Izumi.
Most of the work was handled by Eriri and the others, but strangely enough, the one who barely got involved, Homura, was actually the busiest of them all.
Everyone had a single task, except for Homura.
As soon as he got back, he would give lessons to the voice actors, and while they practiced, he would work on his own assigned keyframes. Later, he had to review both Akane's and his own keyframes, rejecting anything that wasn't up to standard and sending it back for corrections.
For the approved keyframes, he had to submit them to the animation company within the deadline, but that was something for later since Ayano would help him with that when the time came.
Naturally, the girls all noticed how busy he was, but aside from being amazed at how versatile he was, they were more worried about his health.
Seeing their concern, Homura just chuckled and reassured them.
"At school, I'm actually super relaxed. If I ever get so busy that I can't even go to school, then you can start worrying about me."
With his perfect memory, he had already mastered all the school subjects, so going to school was actually a way to unwind for him.
"Ehh... that sounds nice..." Honoka sighed enviously. "When will I ever be able to casually say, 'I go to school to relax'?"
"Right now." Homura shrugged his shoulders. "I mean, isn't school less tiring compared to everything else?"
"Seriously..." Nico rolled her eyes. "Sure, all the stuff we do outside of school is exhausting, but at least we actually enjoy it. School, on the other hand, is just..."
"A total nightmare, nyaa~!" Rin nodded in complete agreement.
One could only say they truly lived up to their reputation as the underachiever squad.
===
In the blink of an eye, two days passed, and Saturday came.
Homura looked at Elf and Eriri.
"So, you're saying no one's going today?" Homura asked.
"Mm..." Eriri nodded her head. "Even though it's your new manga series, everyone's focused on the anime right now, so that's what we decided. But mainly, it's just us artists... I think Elf probably still wants to go."
"But if no one else is going, it wouldn't be any fun..." Elf sighed helplessly.
Needless to say, it ended up being a situation where nobody was going.
"Got it, then we won't go today." Homura nodded and smiled. 'It's rare to see everyone this motivated... Well, makes sense. It's our first anime, after all. If we can make it even better, why wouldn't we?'