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冴えない彼女の育てかた
Tomoya Aki is an otaku who has a dream. His dream is to create the best visual novel game ever. The main heroine for this game and the inspiration for this dream is a background character named Megumi Kato who somehow stumbles into main character-esque traits in his eyes. To complete the game in time he has to call upon the aid of his anime loving professional friends who aren't so keen on the choice of his main heroine.
One and a half years ago at Toyogasaki Academy. Utaha confirms that the library is carrying the light novel she wrote Metronome in Love. She leaves and gets stopped along the way by Eriri Spencer Sawamura. We finally get to see how Eriri and Utaha meet. What exactly happened between them?!
Utaha and Tomoya go out on a date in Ikebukuro to celebrate the completion of the script. After going around to a book store and movie theater, they have dinner at a restaurant. That's when Utaha asks Tomoya whether she should attend a nearby university or one located in Kansai for college. Tomoya gives her his answer at the end of the date. Hearing it, Utaha decides to take a certain action.
Tomoya and the others arrive to meet Izumi, but to their surprise, Iori is there waiting as well. Iori reveals that his Dōjin Team, Rouge en Rouge, is making a new game that is in the same genre as the game Blessing Software is working on, and that Izumi will be in charge of its art. Tomoya believes in his team members, but Iori tells him that he is confident his game's story will be better.
Tomoya has noticed a fatal flaw in the script Utaha had written. While her script reads amazingly as a novel, it does not hold up very well as a game script. As the director, Tomoya decides the script needs to be rewritten and begins revising it. Fortunately, Utaha comes in to help as well after composing herself, and the two of them work together to improve the writing as a game script.
With the script rewrites and additional character route, game production has been significantly delayed, and it's becoming apparent that Eriri is running behind with the art. Utaha points out the quality doesn't reflect the time she's putting in. Even so, Tomoya trusts that Eriri will deliver in the end. So Eriri withdraws herself to her secluded family villa in Nasu Kogen to focus on her work...
Eriri finally finishes the artwork, but she collapses with a fever as she tells Tomoya she's done.
The game Tomoya and his colleagues completed "cherry blessing" gained a lot of popularity on the Internet because of Eriri's art and Utaha's script, leading them to sell out all their copies at their booth, and receive a massive amount of additional orders.
Replaying "cherry blessing", Tomoya notices details that makes him realize how dedicated Megumi had been to the game's development.
Tomoya celebrates Utaha's graduation from Toyogasaki Academy, and tells her that he would like to continue making games with the current members of the team.
After the meeting with Akane, Eriri had every intention of not working for Akane. However, Utaha points out that she agreed with her comment about her slump and that she should think about the opportunity this presents. Some time later, Eriri calls Utaha over and convinces her that she is out of her slump and is able to draw better than ever, while also letting her know that she has accepted the offer to work on Field Chronicles XIII. With Eriri joining, Utaha decides to join the project in more of a supervisor role resulting in both girls leaving the circle. While Tomoya discusses the future of his next project with Iori, Iori lets him know that he and Izumi have left Rouge en Rouge feeling that they could not do what they want by remaining in that circle. Tomoya goes up that slope where he met Megumi a year ago, and Megumi is waiting for him.
Tomoya is heartbroken by Utaha and Eriri's departure from the Dōjin Team, but Megumi takes the opportunity to ask Tomoya out on a date again. Back at Rokutenba Mall, the two of them go around the different stores reliving their previous date here. They visit a hat store last, and Tomoya buys her a certain hat to thank her for cheering him up and to repay her for the glasses she gifted him earlier.
