The next evening, inside Kamiyā Yuu's room.
"Click!"
Kamiyā Yuu stared uneasily at his laptop. Just as he was about to click confirm and upload 'Red—Crescent Rose,' he quickly withdrew his hand, reopening the file to inspect it over and over again—carefully and repeatedly—making sure the animation truly met his standards and had no major flaws.
This behavior was clearly meaningless. Even if flaws existed, there was no longer enough time to fix them.
Seeing this, Kamiyā Sora, who was standing gracefully beside him, wrapped her arms around his neck from behind. Her silver hair brushed against his cheek as she asked in a rare, playful tone, "Nervous?"
"Yeah… the kind where I can barely speak," he admitted honestly.
Kamiyā Sora gently rubbed his cheek, her clear voice softening. "It'll be fine. This is a work we created together. If you don't have confidence in yourself, then trust me—trust the you that I believe in."
Kamiyā Yuu understood that. He had felt similar emotions in his previous life when uploading his novels. But the success or failure of a novel could be determined quickly. If this animation failed, months of effort would go to waste—and that was far harder to accept than losing a month's salary. Even knowing the chances of failure were extremely small, he couldn't help but feel nervous like anyone else.
Now, with Kamiyā Sora beside him, giving him a sense of warmth and support, even the idea of failure didn't seem so unbearable anymore.
—Seriously, if this were a battlefield, thinking like this would be raising a classic death flag.
The faint fragrance around him made Kamiyā Yuu take a deep breath. The restlessness in his heart gradually settled. Feeling the cool, soft touch of her hand resting over his, he smiled. "I get it. Then let's let the outside world judge the results of our month of hard work."
"Click!"
"Dear Yosuganosora user, your work 'Red—Crescent Rose' has been successfully uploaded!"
Kamiyā Yuu stared intently at the screen, clicking into the link and refreshing the page, waiting for comments from animation fans around the world.
…
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away in the United States, Robert was already sitting in his office, waiting for the release of Kamiyā Yuu's work. It was only 6 a.m. in New York—not even close to his usual working hours. But at this moment, he wasn't just a manager at "FakeBook"—he was simply an animation critic eagerly anticipating the debut of 'Red—Crescent Rose.'
"So slow!" Robert muttered impatiently, tapping his fingers on the desk.
"Ding-dong. The user Yosuganosora you follow has posted a new work…"
Robert's heart skipped a beat. Taking a deep breath, he clicked the link and entered the video page.
In his judgment, this 3D animation—based solely on its PV and related information—was already worth $100,000. Now was the moment to test whether his instincts were correct.
This was tied to his core performance as head of the animation section. If 'Red—Crescent Rose' succeeded, he would become the de facto leader of the animation division and gain the authority to reform it. If it failed, upper management would lose trust in him and reject his proposal to establish an online animation initiative.
…
"Hm? Tom, what are you doing?" A woman in the United States looked at her husband in surprise as he got out of bed unusually early. Normally, he would sleep soundly until around eight and needed her to wake him. Why was he up at six today?
Tom leaned down and kissed his wife with a smile. "Go back to sleep, dear. I just have something to take care of." As an employee of "Fake Book," he knew that today was the day 'Red—Crescent Rose' would be released, and he had learned the exact time from his boss, Robert.
The moment he memorized that time, he found himself waking up naturally today—even without an alarm clock.
'Red—Crescent Rose' had that kind of appeal.
"Mmm… then warm up some milk for me first. I want to sleep a bit longer," his wife mumbled before drifting back to sleep.
…
"Beep beep beep—!"
"Beep beep beep—!"
"Beep beep beep—!"
Leonid was jolted awake by the sharp ringing of a phone. Instantly furious, he grabbed it and roared, "Whoever this is, if you don't give me a good reason for waking me up, I'll throw you into a crocodile pit! God knows I never joke about this!"
There was a moment of silence before a timid female voice replied in Russian, on the verge of tears. "Sir Leonid… you were the one who instructed me to wake you."
Leonid frowned, his mind still groggy. After a moment, he snapped, "Me? I don't remember saying that."
"Have you forgotten your instructions at noon? You told me to monitor that user on 'FakeBook' and notify you immediately if they released anything."
"Ah…"
Leonid thought for a moment, his expression relaxing as his anger vanished. "Yelena, that was my mistake. You did well. Your bonus this month will be doubled."
After hanging up, Leonid stroked his chin and laughed. "So it's finally out… The full version better not disappoint. That rapid-fire impact was incredible! This is the first time I've looked forward to an animation like this."
Among all the accounts he followed on "FakeBook," there were only four: the President of the United States, the President of Russia, the current American pop superstar Mark Andra, and Yosuganosora. Aside from symbolic follows, Yosuganosora was the second person whose updates he genuinely wanted to see immediately. As an action film enthusiast, he had been completely won over by its innovative, high-impact style, which changed his perception of 3D animation.
…
"Dad, is it still not up?" Ralph sat on the sofa with his son, both staring intently at the laptop screen.
Ralph patted his son's head reassuringly. "Relax. The release time was personally told to me by Master Yosuganosora." As one of the earliest followers, he had spoken with Kamiyā Yuu before the PV was even released. Back then, he had generously praised Kamiyā Yuu's key animation, earning his goodwill and becoming one of the few people he followed back.
"But the school bus is coming soon," his son said hesitantly, eyes still glued to the screen.
"Then go to school," Ralph nodded.
"I mean… there's no computer at school. I don't want to miss the premiere. Dad, either call the school and get me half a day off, or let me take the laptop with me."
Ralph: "…"
For the first time, he realized just how much his son resembled him.
…
Similar scenes were playing out among "FakeBook" users all over the world who were following 'Red—Crescent Rose.' Especially for the small group of devoted fans who knew today was the release date—some watched TV with their computers open beside them, some set alert notifications before going to sleep, and others secretly checked for updates during work hours.
For a work that had only released a promotional PV, having such dedicated followers was truly rare.