Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ Happy Endings, And Other Lies ❯ Happy Endings: 18 ( Chapter 18 )

Second season of the anime aired April 2nd, 2015. It was prime time, and Kyoto Anime had taken over production, with the higher level animation and character designs more closely matching what ShinoAki did, and retaining the Fincher-moments style we had pioneered/stolen from Fight Club for our show.

So many people were involved. I’d done a goodwill tour at the various studios, shaking hands and signing autographed pictures, Yukino wearing the full kimono indulgently some of those days. It was probably a lot like what an Idol did. I found Nana working in a studio, recording the song for the opening. Lots of takes, but it was getting there. Experts were helping. She had met Yui, finally, and they’d become friends, bonding or something or other. Wouldn’t explain. They did a couple WeTube duets of 80’s tunes from Karaoke. Many people can’t pull that off, but Yui’s voice was improved and they were getting attention by fans. My books provided a view beyond what the anime had dropped, which rewarded those who bought and read ahead, and the joy of spoilers. My final volume was headed to print, final for high school anyway. The confession would be delayed until later that year.

I have decided that the sequel to my novel series will be titled My College Romantic Comedy Was Wrong, As Expected. I was already writing it, with introductions of Haruno and Saki as adults and away from the pesky morals of high school. It was marketing to adults rather than the young adults and more general audience of SNAFU. This was also expected to gain more attention by housewives and salarymen who wished for a happier love life. It would also allow me to make jokes about the ceiling.

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“Thanks for agreeing to meet with me, Hikki,” Yui said, downcast. We were at her apartment. There were signs of mess and missing things from the room. 

“I was really shocked to hear from Totsuka that you broke off the engagement. What happened?” I asked her.

“How to explain… Have some tea first while I try to compose my thoughts,” she said, pushing a cup towards me. I sipped at it.

“Tastes strange. Is this a foreign brand?” and I fell over unconscious.

“Here, Hikki. You fainted. Some water, Swallow!” she urged. Some pill went down my throat. I started to feel really strange as I woke up. For one thing I was chained down on her bed with handcuffs. For another I was naked. As I came awake in this very unfamiliar setup I found Yui atop me, also naked in all her glory with a very scary smile on her face.

“I tried to get your attention. I tried so hard to be the right woman for you, and you kept turning me down. You were nice about it, but I can’t get over you. I need this, Hikki. I need you to love me.” And the worst thing was my body was responding.

“But I love Yukino! She’s your friend. How can you do this to her?” I tried to resist as she positioned herself.

“I’m doing this to YOU, Hikki. As many times as it takes. I’m fertile right now. Give me something to remember you by,” she smiled, then descended.

I shivered awake, finding Yukino atop me instead, in her room at the family mansion.

“Wow. That was not a nice dream at all. Can you stop?” I asked her. She paused, surprised.

“I thought this was every man’s dream to wake up this way?” she said, confused.

“Bathroom break. Full bladder.”

“Ah, that’s why.” She lifted off and slid aside so I could rush for the bathroom and then have to wait until I could finally relieve myself. Relief eventually came. I returned to bed and cuddled up with my wife, explaining the dream. Nightmare. It was a nightmare. Probably a result of questionable spicy shrimp Peruvian restaurant tacos yesterday and Yui and Nana’s latest video, a duet of them singing “I wanna tear you apart”, a 1980’s punk rock song with fast English lyrics about obsession and self-destruction and probably rape.

“Okay, so that’s frightening. Let’s give you a new memory to wash that bad dream away,” she suggested, hauling me into position atop her. “You have control!” she insisted.

That was better.

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The movie deal fell through. There was negative talk from the forums, mostly from Ebina and her hate group, about my actual marriage to Yukino despite the book release claiming the opposite. Backers were very uncomfortable with the idea of this fact when the tie ins and sponsorships were so dependent on real lives and their celebrity status.

This also meant that we’d have to work with the studio to change episodes to cram the ending into the finale and rush the plot. We’d aired the first couple episodes, so the rest would need to be edited, which required coordination between different studios, though we did have a Plan B contract setup, and this was activated.

“I have an idea,” said Yukino after several hours of meetings broke up.

“And what might this idea be, wife of mine?” I asked her, curious.

“Its something you should have come up with, so I’m going to offer it because you didn’t,” she warned me. She told me.

“That is delicious. We should practice that and then do the same trick. Think Yui and Nana would help?” I asked her. She considered, then got out her cellphone, activated it, turned on services and got onto Lines. She began to laboriously type a question in. A short time later was a response.

“They’re willing. Can you get the contract for Cover song approved?” she asked me. I contacted my agent and explained. An hour later the contract was signed and forwarded. “Dave Gehane’s agent approved it. Said its pretty standard so the rates are low.”

We went to the studio to practice the song, and then joined up with the increasingly popular NanaGahama duo.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” asked Yui, who was less certain but determined.

“It’s the best response. Ebina is filled with wrath. And she’s jealous of your wedding plans, mostly because Saika is off the market for her creepy doujins.”

“You know I had to have Saki modify my uniform. I don’t fit it anymore.”

“You’re telling me,” complained Yukino, around her pregnancy. The bump was obvious after 4 months. “So what parts are we taking?”

“We’ll do all of them and then singly,” recommended Nana. “I can mix them in post, and then edit the video.”

“Where’d you get footage for the crowd?” I asked her.

“We shot video of the graduation ceremony. I’ve got rights to it,” explained Yui.

“Well, okay then. Let’s do this. And the music started up, I looked into the lens of the camera and did my best to croon out the lyrics for Policy of Truth by Depeche Mode. We did several takes for different angles, and repeated in the studio recording room for the girls individually and then as a group. Nana’s solo version was far better than mine. She had a very strong voice, and a lot of passion for this song. Later we did a lip sync in the Soubu Gym after the teams went home, with help from Shizuka for the doors and Yukino for permission. Lights would be CGI’d in later, in post, as would the crowd.

Two days later, which was impressively quick editing and mixing, the song dropped onto WeTube for N@NaG@hama duo, with surprise guests. I got it linked up on in the announcements page on the anime website after approval by the focus group, of course, and the director. This cut off complaints at the knees.

“We never meant to make our marriage public,” I commented in the video. “Family is private.”

The Yukino-base went totally nuts. The Yui-base went totally nuts as she and Yukino sang backing vocals. Nanako got a lot of compliments over her singing, and I wasn’t badly insulted for mine.