Glancing up towards the sky,
Whenever I turn my back
Against this perfect world
I mumble out
"Where should I go?"
With you, someone who shares the same thoughts I do.
In the shadows of an alley, the hands on a clock
Restart the time that stood still
The arms extended out to you
And the unfinished puzzle
Have been left behind
Until we met
And realized something was missing.
So the last piece
Must be found
In order to move forward.
But you'll be fine...
Since I know how to cure you of your hikikomori ways.
Besides... I knew about you from the past, Satou-kun.
I came to rescue you, Satou-kun.
Welcome to the project!
Satou Tatsuhiro-dono, you have been chosen for my grand project.
Please come to the Mira Fourth District Park at 9 PM.
Nakahara Misaki.
Here. This is the contract.
Er... Huh?
An agreement regarding the recovery of the hikikomori and its pertinent support.
Um... Handwritten?
Not only that, but there's a fine of a million yen?
I want to help you, Satou-kun.
Is it okay for you to be meeting a suspicious person like me at this time of night?
It's dangerous.
Are you the suspect, Satou-kun?
N-No way!
In that case, it's not a problem, right?
Besides, my house is nearby.
Is this some kind of religious solicitation?
Huh?
I'm talking about yesterday's...
No. I was just accompanying Aunt Kazuko.
I've been causing trouble for my aunt the entire time...
So it's a small token of my appreciation.
More importantly, sign the contract.
Don't you want to know how to escape your hikikomori life?
If you sign the contract, I'll tell you how, Satou-kun.
Don't call me Satou-kun!
You're younger than I am!
Do you know how old I am?
From your appearance... Seventeen? Eighteen?
Yes, correct
I'm not a hikikomori.
Wait, Satou-kun!
You're going to regret it.
This might be your last chance!
I'll be waiting for you tomorrow at the same time.
Sign this and bring it with you...
Okay, Satou-kun?
Purupuru pururin pururin
Purupuru pururin purupuru rin
I don't get this.
Purupuru pururin pururin
Nakahara Misaki.
Little girls
Turn it down!
For some mysterious reason
Hello, every one! We will be introducing a wonderful guest on today's Sekira Sewashi Afternoon Time
Hi! I'm your host, Sekira Sewashi. Today's guest is the singer Mizumori Jirou-san. Glad to have you on!
Another day is coming to an end.
A day devoid of anything...
How long am I going to repeat this routine?
Long ago, I remember reading a science-fiction novel...
About the near future, where mankind is completely wiped out by an unprecedented war.
The protagonist is the sole survivor.
Extra-terrestrial organisms...
Or, in other words, aliens have kept the protagonist alive as a human sample.
They simulated the Earth, prior to its demise...
Making him oblivious to the fact mankind is extinct.
Therefore, if he stepped outside, the truth about the fabricated world would be revealed.
That's why they molded the protagonist into a hikikomori, in order to isolate him.
The protagonist being me, Satou Tatsuhiro...
Is being kept alive under a terrifying conspiracy plotted by aliens.
The dream and hope of the magical girl
That's...
This agreement is made by and between the hikikomori subject and the recovery support...
Where both parties agree to the specified terms as follows...
Article One: The Subject must divulge all feelings, including but not limited to suffering, dilemma, complaints, and whimpering,
...to the Supporter, in accordance with hikikomori recovery procedures.
Right... As if signing this will cure my hikikomori ways.
I'll be waiting for you tomorrow at the same time.
That girl doesn't know anything.
There's no way a hikikomori would go outside two days in a row.
A hikikomori is a hikikomori because he doesn't go out!
I'm not a hikikomori.
I'm a...
Liar.
This might be your last chance!
It might have really been my last chance.
But I lost that chance.
Don't tell me that girl's still waiting for me...
Oh, no.
That park is...
Young lady...
No!
No, that can't be!
I was going to meet a friend...
But he didn't show up.
Even when I waited for him the entire time...
What is his name?
What is your relationship with him?
Satou!
Satou-san, I'd like to ask you some questions.
Answer me, please!
A girl suffered through a traumatic experience because of your hikikomori ways, you know.
Why don't you apologize to her?
Is it my fault?
She's here...
Hey! You're one hour late.
Who the hell are you?
A nice girl who wants to save a hikikomori failure.
I'm not a hikikomori.
No way. The other day, when my aunt and I came by...
You revealed the truth yourself.
I told you that wasn't true!
An innocent person wouldn't have been so tense.
Did you bring the contract?
I'm not a hikikomori...
I know all about it.
Satou-kun, you're always here at this park on Sunday nights, staring out into space.
However, other than that, you never go outside.
Anyone could tell you're a hikikomori.
I... may be secluded in my apartment, but that's because...
I don't have a choice because of my job.
What kind of job?
So... SOHO.
Soho?
It stands for a person who works from home.
Which means I'm working from my home office and definitely not unemployed.
But you came in for an interview at my part-time job.
That was just an impulse... A spontaneous whim, you know.
Then let me ask you...
What kind of work are you doing?
Right... Don't be surprised.
Don't be surprised when I tell you!
A c-creator!
Because I'm doing creative work, people think of me as a strange person...
But that's what defines my amazing talent.
So just what are you creating?
Huh? Er... T-That is...
A state-of-the-art. IT revolutionary...
Right, PC-related...
Software production, something even Bill and Linus will be at awe of, is currently under development!
The contract.
Don't forget to bring it tomorrow.
Hey...
What kind of reaction was that?
Little girls
For some mysterious reason
Can't live
With just a cell phone
What do you mean by "bring it tomorrow"?
Acting like you know everything!
Even I have a computer.
Creating one or two software titles...
Is something I can't do.
I told you to turn it down!
This is the last straw. I can't take it anymore!
The dream and hope
Hey! Come out!
If you don't come out, I'm going to break this door down!
The dream and hope of the magical girl
That does it...
That's me!
Shut up! Stop the anison!
Satou... san?
Huh?
You're Satou-san, aren't you?
Is that really you?
Are you real?
You're...
The aniota who moved in next door...
Was you, Yamazaki?
Hey, you.
Huh?
Join the Literature Club.
With those persuasive words, I decided to spend my three years of high school in the Literature Club.
Not that I had any interest in novels.
Therefore, my daily activities consisted of...
Playing card games...
And listening to the slightly odd senpai's conspiracy theories...
What the hell was I doing?
I could have been doing a number of other things.
Two years flew by quickly.
When one day, near the day of senpai's graduation...
That...
Oh, bullying.
That's horrible.
Should I help him?
Can you handle it?
Those guys are middle school students.
Bullying...
Isn't cool!
I was easily taken out...
To senpai's dismay.
However, the kid being bullied was rather moved by my actions.
Senpai!
Huh?
I'd like to sign up.
That was Yamazaki.
A rather unexpected reunion, four years after my high school graduation.
It's a little messy, but please sit.
Right...
I never would have imagined my anison neighbor was Yamazaki.
I'm sorry about all the noise.
Surprisingly, this apartment has thin walls.
And listening to the song every day has numbed my senses.
Normally, you'd notice that after a few days.
But what a surprise to find out Satou-san was living next door...
Although I knew you were attending a university in Tokyo.
You're a senior by now, right?
Yeah...
I've been enrolled in a vocational school in the area since spring.
When I was looking for a convenient place to commute to school from with inexpensive rent...
I liked this place.
Since four years ago, I kind of predicted he would turn out like this.
Are you being pushed around in your current school?
Weren't you crying just now?
The people from my class are a bunch of idiots.
They don't know a thing about games...
But they act as if they know everything about them.
Especially the girls!
I'd like to ask them, "What are you attending school for?"
At this rate, the future of Japan's game industry looks bleak.
Satou-san?
Let's drink!
Sure!
I remember that!
Those were really fun times.
If only those laid-back days lasted forever...
Yeah, really.
Design Academy?
Right. Haven't you ever seen the commercials on TV?
I'm attending the Game Creator course...
For now.
Game Creator course?
Don't be surprised!
A c-creator!
Huh?
Yamazaki-kun, this...
Can I borrow it?
Huh?
You're on time tonight.
Did you bring the contract with you?
Huh?
What I told you last night wasn't a lie.
I graduated from the game creator course of a design school.
But it looks brand new...
I can understand most of the material by reading through it once.
I've always been like that.
What does object-oriented programming mean?
So now you understand I'm a creator, right?
Then... Can you show it to me?
Huh?
The game Satou-kun made.
It's still incomplete and...
I can't show it to the public...
Something like a graduation project is okay, too.
It's crude work I created before I became a professional.
Give me a break.
Satou-kun, you're amazingly talented, right?
I-If you insist, I'll show it to you.
My works of art from the past.
Although right now would be impossible.
I forgot where I put them...
And I'm up to my neck with work.
How about next month?
Okay, then. Next month.
I'll contact you again.
Yeah.
Satou-san.
Ya...
Yamazaki!
A college drop-out and a hikikomori for three years...
To think Satou-san was a NEET...
On top of that, showing off to a girl...
By telling her such blatant lies.
I was caught in the spur of the moment.
While we're on the subject, I need to ask you for a favor, Yamazaki-kun.
If it's about borrowing a game I made, then it's out of the question.
I've just recently enrolled at that school.
I don't have anything I could lend you.
Should we... make it?
Huh?
The game.
Not only to show it off to that girl...
If it succeeds, Satou-san may be able to recover from being a NEET.
I don't think it'll be a waste of time for me to get some experience.
Shall we create a game?
Let's do it, Yamazaki!
Satou-san...
What kind of skills do you have?
Skills?
Like the ability to draw or compose music.
Or write programs.
No way, I can't do anything like that.
In that case, there's no other choice but the scenario.
Scenario?
The script.
Forget it. I haven't written a composition since middle school.
Weren't you in the Literature club?
Have you ever read any of my novels?
Now that you mention it, not even once.
First of all, writing sentences is a hassle.
Hey! Do you have any willpower at all?
Now I remember.
Despite being a wimp, this guy quickly snapped and yelled at others.
No wonder he was bullied.
I'll do it, I'll do it! Something like a scenario shouldn't be a problem.
In that case, good.
The biggest problem will be the time factor.
You promised to show it to her next month...
Although we can slightly extend the deadline.
Is making a game that difficult?
Of course it is!
If it becomes a big project...
It takes years, a staff list in the hundreds, and tens of billions of yen.
What?
However, in this world, low budgets, people without partners...
Inability to create decent programs, cheap music...
Abysmal conditions like those do exist, but it's still possible to create a game.
Not only that... There's a certain category where you can even reap huge profits.
Amazing, Yamazaki! That's it!
However, that path is a bloody one.
Saying "I quit" in the middle of the project is completely unacceptable, okay?
Yeah, you have my word.
So what's the genre for this game?
An eroge.
Huh?
Somebody save me!
The Net's sea is my sea.
To be blunt, you're not normal!
So this is the world...
Next episode, Welcome to the Bishoujo!