During the dozens of minutes spent waiting for 'RWBY' to begin streaming, Kamiyā Yuu felt as though he had lived through an endlessly long afternoon.
Every few minutes, his eyes uncontrollably drifted toward the time displayed on the screen. Whenever he felt as though an entire hour had passed only to discover that merely a few minutes had gone by, he would take a deep breath and begin overthinking again.
Even though he knew perfectly well that thinking about possible improvements to the 'RWBY' movie now served no practical purpose whatsoever—after all, the completed animation had already been delivered to Robert half a month ago—he still could not stop replaying the details of the film in his mind, searching for even the slightest flaw and regretting not correcting it sooner.
In truth, the "flaws" he identified would not even qualify as problems in the eyes of professional animation critics, much less ordinary audiences.
Kamiyā Yuu was nervous.
With a perspective beyond the era of this world, he knew 'RWBY' would definitely not disappoint viewers. Yet when a work finally faced judgment and affirmation from the public, it was impossible for its creator to feel nothing at all.
Inside the break room, Yūki Chinatsu suddenly shouted while lying across the sofa and staring at the giant screen.
"It's fixed!"
The webpage on the large display refreshed automatically. At the center of the page, the video playback icon and streaming window had finally appeared. Above the video was a red-text announcement:
"We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. Due to excessive server traffic, the playback page required ten minutes of emergency maintenance. To ensure viewing quality, you may click the links below to enter alternative distributed streaming pages."
At present, the webpage has been viewed by slightly over ten million online viewers.
That meant ten million people were participating in the first official broadcast of 'RWBY.'
This level of performance was no inferior to first-tier Hollywood animated blockbusters released in theaters.
"Clack~ clack~ clack~!"
Walking to the computer console in the break room in high heels, Morishita Aoi moved the mouse and asked Kamiyā Yuu,
"Yuu, should we read the comments first or watch the movie?"
The 'RWBY' movie was a work they had personally created. Every person present possessed an exceptionally clear understanding of every detail within the animation.
Even so, after exchanging glances, everyone smiled knowingly and answered one after another.
"Let's watch the movie first. Watching it together feels completely different from watching it alone," Miyauchi Ema suggested with a conflicted expression.
"Right, right! Our work is officially being streamed on the 'Fakebook' website~! Watching it one more time doesn't matter," Yūki Chinatsu agreed while raising both hands.
Matsuoka Taira rubbed his face awkwardly.
"I'm a little... nervous. Watching something we made together with ten million viewers..."
Kamiyā Yuu smiled.
"Then let's watch the movie first."
"Start."
The playback page on the giant wall-mounted display gradually lit up.
"Legends are the traces left behind by humanity's praise for the great heroes of history."
Inside an ancient and dilapidated wooden cabin, dim candlelight flickered weakly. The furniture crafted from old wood casts long shadows under the faint glow.
An elderly figure whose appearance could not be seen sat in a wooden chair, speaking slowly in a hoarse and aged voice. In her hands, a yellowed and tattered book gradually opened.
Sketch-like ink drawings slowly emerged across the rough pages. As the camera drew closer, the images gradually became tangible and real, revealing a dark world beyond ordinary imagination.
The old voice muttered in self-mockery:
"People are always excessively enthusiastic about discussing their stories, longing for endings where justice defeats evil. Perhaps it is only because they live within such a world that the unease within their hearts forces them to seek a tiny glimmer of light from these heroic tales to comfort themselves."
The world inside the book began moving.
It was a savage world blanketed in ash and dust, where indescribable monsters lurked within every corner. Weak human shadows could only be seen being devoured by gigantic creatures, collapsing into ashes upon the ground, or willingly stepping into darkness and vanishing.
······
Beacon Academy Plaza.
Huge airships continuously came and went, transporting visitors. Most people wore bizarre and unique outfits, and the special emblems on their clothing revealed them to be officially recognized Huntsmen.
"Hey! Hey! Yang! My sister!"
Within the bustling crowd, Ruby Rose, dressed in gothic-style clothing, excitedly bounced around while shouting in a certain direction.
Beside her, Weiss—wearing a pristine white dress—looked utterly helpless as she dragged heavy luggage and quietly distanced herself from Ruby, clearly afraid others might think she was associated with this country bumpkin.
"Oh! Ruby!?"
Hearing the shout from within the crowd, the blonde girl turned around in disbelief and immediately spotted Ruby jumping excitedly through the crowd.
The joy of the sisters reuniting filled her face with excitement. Her body transformed into a streak of yellow lightning as she rapidly dashed through the crowd and hugged Ruby tightly.
"Why~!? Why is Ruby here?"
Yang exclaimed incredulously before immediately biting Ruby's cheek affectionately.
At this point, the Ice Princess Weiss silently increased the distance between herself and the sisters even further.
After finally escaping from Yang's embrace, Ruby giggled and explained,
"I was too bored staying at home, so I came out to wander around. Yang, let me introduce someone. She's a friend I just met."
Ruby cheerfully wrapped herself around Weiss's arm.
Weiss responded with a disdainful snort.
"Friend? Calling me your servant would be more accurate. Who would ever be friends with a country bumpkin like you?"
······
Forest of Shadows.
The Huntsman team, formed by Ruby, Yang, Weiss, and Blake, cautiously advanced.
The eerie and sinister surroundings caused Weiss to unconsciously move closer to Ruby. Her face filled with unease as she nervously observed the environment, afraid something might suddenly leap out at any moment.
At the borderlands of darkness, even the sun overhead was obscured by dark clouds. Although it was not as dark as nighttime, the bone-chilling cold and bizarre atmosphere caused fear to arise instinctively from deep within.
"Ah~!"
Weiss suddenly screamed and instantly crouched down. The arrogance and disdain once present on her beautiful face had now transformed into panic and fear.
Beside her, Ruby burst into laughter instead of comforting her. She plucked a small branch from Weiss's collar and teased,
"Hey, Weiss, calm down. It's just a tiny branch."
Weiss's body trembled slightly. After hesitating for a moment, she stood up and stubbornly replied in a trembling voice tinged with embarrassment,
"I-I knew that."
After holding it in for a while and failing to think of anything else to say, she finally glared fiercely at Ruby.
"Everyone has things they dislike. Is that really so strange?"
While they joked around, Blake—quietly leading the group ahead—suddenly changed expression. Gripping the sword hilt at her waist tightly, she warned in a low voice,
"Quiet. Something's here."
Yang's eyes lit up as she looked around excitedly.
"What~? What~? There's something nearby?"
After a long silence with no movement, just as Ruby and the others began thinking it was merely their imagination—
"Rumble~!"
A sudden thunderous noise echoed through the silent and gloomy forest.
The path ahead abruptly split apart. Countless withered vines tore themselves from the earth and rapidly intertwined into a colossal monster towering dozens of meters high.
Its body was composed entirely of mud-covered vines, while ominous red light faintly glowed from within the tangled mass.
Everything about it clearly revealed its identity—
A Grimm. And a high-level one at that.
Grimm were born from darkness itself. The material composing their bodies could be anything: flesh, steel, stone, and more.
The only constant was the ominous red core radiating malicious light from within them.
"Wow~ Big guy!"
Yang exclaimed with interest.
"Cool!"
Ruby's eyes sparkled brightly as she stared at it.
In terms of lacking any sense of danger, the two sisters were truly alike.
Blake, with her long black hair flowing behind her, spoke gravely,
"As expected from the boundary between the world and darkness. We encountered a high-level Grimm the moment we entered. Everyone, stay careful."
Weiss brushed aside her silver hair and placed one hand confidently on her waist.
"It only looks big. Things like this are completely insignificant!"
"Oh~? Wasn't someone just terrified moments ago—ow!"
Before Ruby could finish speaking, Weiss grabbed her cheeks and pulled hard with a dark expression.
Enunciating every word carefully, she declared seriously,
"Ruby~! Do I need to repeat myself? Everyone has things they dislike. That's nothing to be ashamed of!"
"Does edamame count? I don't like eating edamame. It tastes weird."
Weiss released her helplessly, finally realizing that Ruby's thought process operated on an entirely different wavelength from her own.
With a flick of her right hand, a magnificent crystal rapier materialized instantly.
Turning toward the terrifying giant beast looming overhead, she calmly declared,
"Sure. Anyway, let's deal with this oversized thing first."