In This World That Favors Men, I... ~Starting a Sweet School Life in a World With a 1:8 Gender Ratio~ - 80

Chapter 80: Collaboration Project

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I got a call from Jun-san about work.

“Yuusei-kun, do you know Battle Flower Gale?”

“I do… Actually, I’m playing it right now. I’ve been on it since the monitor registration and just kept going.”

“Oh, you’re really playing it? Then that’s perfect. Hey, Yuusei-kun. Want to try a job related to BatFla?”

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To hear the details about the job, I stopped by the office of Youshun Agency on Aiyama Street after school today.

“BatFla is starting in-game advertisements and right now, they’re looking for advertisers for those ads.”

Come to think of it, I might’ve seen that kind of announcement in the “Notices” section. BatFla was a free-to-download app, and the monthly fee was pretty cheap too. So depending on how it was done, doing in-game ads made sense.

“What kind of ads are we talking about in a VR game?”

“There are different ways to do it, but this time, the plan is a ‘product collaboration.’ The product you want to advertise gets designed as an in-game item. Then it’s distributed or sold during a limited-time event.”

“Like a healing potion shaped like a soda bottle?”

That might actually be kind of fun.

“Exactly, that kind of image. So, the idea is to use that to advertise a product developed in-house by EXA.”

A product developed by EXA and since they called me, that meant… 

“You mean the Hexagon Pudding?”

“Exactly.”

“But if it’s just about the pudding, then you don’t really need me, right?”

“Of course, it’s not just that. In the game, the pudding will be designed into an item for sale. At the same time, in convenience stores, there’ll be a campaign where you get BatFla merchandise as a bonus when you buy a certain number or spend a certain amount of money on the product. It’s what we call a linked collaboration.”

“Ohh. Like those ‘buy two snacks and get an anime character file’ promotions?”

“Exactly. So for this one, besides the usual file folders, it looks like we’ll be offering a smartphone strap as the featured prize.”

A phone strap, huh.

“They can be surprisingly pricey, so getting one as a bonus would definitely be nice.”

“Right? Hexagon Pudding has a higher unit price and since it’s their first campaign, we figured we’d go all out with the rewards.”

“Yui would totally want that pudding strap.”

“Oh, really? Then if the project goes through, I’ll send a sample for Yui-chan and now comes the important part. There’s a proposal to include a miniature figure of you along with the pudding strap.”

“A figure of me…?”

“Yes. The figure would wear BatFla gear, modified into a cute chibi three-heads-tall style and to go with that, we’re thinking of doing an in-store poster featuring you in the same costume.”

Ah, so that was why I got this job offer.

“A BatFla cosplay, huh…”

“Right? It adds to the collab feeling, but since you actually play the game, we don’t want any risk of people recognizing your avatar. So for the poster, we’ll use a custom made avatar just for the commercial, so don’t worry.”

“I’m truly grateful for the consideration.”

“By the way, what kind of avatar do you use in BatFla, Yuusei-kun?”

“I’m a samurai class, so I carry a spear and wear armor and a kabuto. My hair is long and black. My iris color is dark brown. My skin is tanned and the age setting is ten years older than I actually am.”

“So a tough, battle-hardened warrior type? What kind of armor and kabuto design are you using?”

“The one I have now is a silver armor you can buy in the shop, with green option upgrades in some places.”

One of the cool things about BatFla is that you can add function-based options to your gear. In my case, to enhance the power of 【Wind Hana】, I use green-colored accessories and decorate my armor and kabuto with green thread.

“Got it, got it. For the collab project, let’s make sure the class and costume look very different from that. Otherwise, BatFla might run into issues with your monitor contract terms.”

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And that was how the work talk wrapped up. It went pretty smoothly, actually, but since I had come all the way to Aiyama Street, I figured I might as well wander around a bit before heading home. There had been tons of popular spots for girls around there.

“I guess I should start scouting for date spots.”

We saw each other every day at school, but even though we’d officially started dating, we were both so busy we hadn’t been on anything like a real date yet.

“I really didn’t expect to be this busy.”

Come the weekend, the girls—probably because it was the beginning of the school year—had mock exams and certifications and all kinds of plans. As for me, I’d been tied up with commercial-related stuff lately, with hardly any free time either. Our schedules were frustratingly out of sync.

Of course, at school, we couldn’t exactly be all lovey-dovey in public. Even though I wanted to flirt and laugh like a normal guy with them, I couldn’t exactly do it in public. Before I knew it, the long holiday was right around the corner.

When I asked the girls, they said for our first date, they wanted it to be a group date with all four of us. So I needed to prepare a plan for the date to accommodate all four of them. I’d already started looking up ideas on information sites.

Since we were all college entrance exam students, a long trip was out. So it had to be something nearby. Something close and guaranteed to make the girls happy. That was what I had to find.

“Alright, guess I’ll start checking out this area first!”

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