Saturday evening at the Nanase family home.
Nanase Mayumi was eating dinner, but despite the table laden with delicious dishes, her delicate, fair face looked listless. She sighed repeatedly, her expression heavy with worry.
"Mayumi, what's wrong?" her father, Nanase Yoichiro, couldn't help but ask.
Her mother, Nanase Chie, glanced at her daughter and smiled. "What else would it be? I bet she's worried about her Senior again."
"Brother Tomohiko, huh?"
Yoichiro chuckled in agreement. "His company's been established for a while now. Is everything going well?"
"The company's fine, but..." Mayumi mumbled, sighing. "He's just taken on too much work. He's the first to arrive at the office each day and the last to leave, and he doesn't even rest on weekends. I'm really worried he'll burn himself out someday."
"Feeling sorry for him?" Chie teased with a smile.
Mayumi fidgeted slightly before nodding. "A little," she whispered.
"Tsk! Mayumi, when I was at my busiest, you never showed me any sympathy," Yoichiro said, his voice tinged with jealousy.
"Dad, what do you have to be so worried about?" Mayumi pouted. "If anyone should be worried, it's Mom. Besides, you play golf to relax when you're stressed. Senior just keeps working on animation, unlike you."
Nanase Yoichiro's mouth twitched slightly. "I'm starting to regret inviting Brother Tomohiko over for dinner. I thought of him as a brother, but he's completely swept my daughter off her feet."
"Isn't that a good thing?" Nanase Chie shrugged, unconcerned. "It's much better than her liking someone we don't know at all, right?"
"That's true." Nanase Yoichiro nodded in agreement. "I just wonder how Brother Tomohiko feels about our Mayumi."
"Why don't we invite him over for dinner again and casually ask him?" Nanase Chie suddenly suggested.
As Nanase Yoichiro was about to agree, Mayumi interjected, a hint of displeasure in her voice, "My relationship with Senior is none of your business, okay?"
Seeing this, the couple relented.
About an hour after dinner.
In the bathroom.
Nanase Mayumi gazed at her reflection in the mirror, completely satisfied with what she saw.
She stood at 167 cm, with a flat stomach, a slender waist, and long, straight legs. Beneath her snow-white neck, two collarbones were clearly visible. Her breasts were full and round, and her entire figure looked balanced and graceful.
Above this was an oval face, framed by long, waterfall-like hair. Her eyebrows were fine yet distinct, with a slight curve at the ends like willow branches. She had peach blossom eyes with double eyelids, a straight nose, and small, thin lips. Her teeth were neat and pearly white, and her skin was flawless, fair, and dewy.
"Perfect," she thought to herself, but her satisfaction quickly faded.
What's the point of having such a perfect appearance? It won't help Senior with her workload.
Sighing, she shampooed her hair, rinsed off in the shower, and then soaked in the bathtub.
As she soaked, she fell into silent contemplation.
I can't help Senior with her work, but at least I shouldn't let her stay under so much pressure for too long.
I need to find ways to help her de-stress from time to time.
What could help her relax?
After much thought, she finally muttered, "Tomorrow, I'll check the store for any newly released games."
The next morning, just after nine o'clock, the sun shone brightly, and the weather was pleasant.
Nanase Mayumi, dressed casually and wearing a baseball cap, grabbed her phone and bag and headed to the nearest store that sold game discs.
The store was quite crowded, likely due to the weekend.
As Mayumi stood unsure of what game to buy, she overheard three boys nearby discussing:
"Trust me, get Key Corporation's Kanon. You won't regret it. It came out last June and sold over 100,000 copies in its first month. It's undoubtedly a masterpiece."
"Kanon? I know that one, but I heard it's really depressing."
"Depressing? It's healing and moving!"
"Games everyone's played are boring. I'd recommend this one instead: Phantom - PHANTOM OF INFERNO. It's a visual novel too, but it's different from the others. The plot is tight, each event flowing seamlessly into the next, with no wasted moments. And the climax? It'll make your blood boil and your heart race."
"Phantom...? Which company made that? I've never heard of them."
"A small company, their first visual novel. It just came out recently, and they released it very quietly. No wonder you haven't heard of it. Anyway, I had a blast playing it."
"I see. I'll buy a copy to try it out too."
As the three boys headed to the checkout with their game discs, Nanase Mayumi walked to where they had been standing and found the game titled Phantom-PHANTOM OF INFERNO on the shelf.
"Did you have fun playing? Hmm, this should help Senior relieve some stress, right?"
As for Key Corporation's Kanon, she had no intention of buying it. Although she hadn't played it, she'd heard it was a tearjerker, with its main selling point being its ability to make players cry. Besides, the three boys had mentioned during their discussion that the game was quite painful.
She was buying the game to help Lin Zhiyan de-stress, to prevent him from being under constant pressure.
If the goal was stress relief, of course she would buy a game like Phantom-PHANTOM OF INFERNO that was fun to play, not a tearjerker.
Moreover, from what the boy who recommended Phantom-PHANTOM OF INFERNO had implied, the game's story was handled exceptionally well.
Lin Zhiyan was currently developing his skills as a scriptwriter.
She hoped that in addition to relieving his stress, the game might also offer some inspiration or assistance for his future scriptwriting endeavors.
With this thought in mind, she took the game disc to the counter.
After paying and putting it in her bag, she stepped out of the shop and immediately pulled out her phone to call Lin Zhiyan.
When he answered, she asked, "Senior, where are you right now? At home or at the office?"
On the other end of the line, Lin Zhiyan sounded slightly puzzled but answered truthfully, "At home. I didn't go to the office today. What's up?"
"I just bought a game and was wondering if I could come over and play it with you?" Nanase Mayumi asked, her voice tinged with nervousness.
"Sure," Lin Zhiyan replied without hesitation. He then asked, "What kind of game is it?"
"A bishojo game," Nanase Mayumi answered.
Lin Zhiyan's heart skipped a beat. "Don't tell me it's Kanon?"
"No, no, it's not that!" Nanase Mayumi hastily denied. "It's called Phantom-PHANTOM OF INFERNO. I just bought it, and I'm not quite sure what it's about."
Lin Zhiyan: "???"
First of all, it's all in English. Second, the name is ridiculously long. What the hell kind of game is this?
He couldn't figure it out.
Without dwelling on it, he simply said, "Alright, I'll wait for you at home."
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