Before long, the four of them arrived at the studio.
As soon as they walked in, Ichin greeted everyone cheerfully,
"So, how did everyone enjoy themselves yesterday?"
Sakura Nene was the first to raise her hand. She ran up to Ichin with her phone and said excitedly,
"Ichin-kun, look! These are the photos from the competition Umiko-senpai and I went to yesterday!"
The picture showed eight girls, all wearing full survival shooting arena gear—camouflage uniforms with complete equipment. Because of her short stature, Sakura Nene stood right in the middle of the group.
Each of them was holding a medal in their hand.
"Hmm-hmm! We won the championship yesterday! So the event organizers made us custom medals! I even scored three points in the final match!"
"Whoa, that's awesome!" Ichin exclaimed.
He had tried that kind of game once before, but it really wasn't his thing—he didn't find it all that fun.
Still, with Umiko guiding Nene, she had clearly gotten the hang of it quickly and was already showing real potential.
Aoba joined in the conversation,
"I went to Hifumi-senpai's house yesterday! Sojiro is super cute—and not scared of people at all!"
"You went to Hifumi's house?"
Utaha looked at Aoba in surprise, then turned to look at Hifumi.
"Among all of us, Aoba, you're probably the first one who's ever been invited to her home, right?"
"Hehehe~~~"
Aoba giggled proudly.
Yagami Kō added,
"Utaha, you're absolutely right. None of us have ever been to Hifumi's place. In fact, we only found out today that she even invited Aoba over. That's something none of us have experienced before."
Kō's words made Hifumi bury her head on the table in embarrassment. She covered her face with both hands and avoided everyone's gaze.
Not wanting to tease her further, everyone took their seats and turned on their computers.
Glancing at Toyama Rin, who was working with her usual calm demeanor, Ichin thought for a moment, then opened the chat app and sent her a message:
[Ichin]: Rin, how did things go yesterday?
Seeing Ichin's message pop up, Toyama Rin's cheeks turned slightly red. She quickly typed back a reply:
[Rin]: Nosy kid, don't ask too much!
Now that's a textbook guilty response…
Ichin turned his head—just in time to catch Toyama Rin looking his way. But the moment their eyes met, she instantly looked away.
Yeah, there's no way nothing happened. Ichin didn't buy that for a second.
Still, looking over at Kō, who was already back to work, she didn't seem any different from usual.
But… ugh! The curiosity is killing him!
Shaking his head, Ichin exhaled and finally focused on work.
---
In the days that followed, aside from his birthday—where everyone gathered to throw him a celebration—Ichin's life gradually returned to normal.
Not long after the New Year sale, Hollow Knight released a free update. It introduced a brand-new area and, upon defeating the area boss, unlocked an arena mode for additional gameplay.
This update added more than just new content. A new online ranking system was introduced, where players would be ranked based on how quickly they completed the challenges. The list of bosses would rotate weekly to keep things fresh.
This new addition was more of a commemorative feature—it didn't provide any actual buffs or enhancements to the characters. Still, it was a great way to increase post-clear playtime for players. With weekly rotations and a ranking system added in, many players who had already completed Hollow Knight found themselves reopening their save files to jump back in.
As for future updates to Hollow Knight, Ichin had no plans to continue development in the short term. His focus was now entirely on developing Persona.
After officially merging the team from Lily into the studio, the total number of members had grown to over thirty—quite a decent scale. However, since their newly selected office space wasn't fully renovated yet, the team hadn't moved in.
Ichin believed that once everyone was settled into the new office, their development efficiency would increase even further.
On the music side of things, he successfully secured a collaboration with the producer introduced by Sayuri Sawamura. She would be handling the music arrangement, and he also asked her to help scout a suitable singer to perform the tracks.
Everything was steadily moving in a positive direction.
---
As the end of March approached, right before the new school year began, the renovations for the new office space were finally completed.
On Saturday, Ichin pinged everyone in the workgroup chat and brought the entire team over to the new studio location.
The office space Ichin had rented was a spacious 500 square meters—plenty of room for a team of thirty-plus people.
As he opened the doors to the new office and stepped inside, Ichin turned to everyone behind him and announced:
"This is where we'll be working from now on. From here, we'll also be looking to hire more people—especially in programming, finance, and HR. If any of you have good candidates in mind, feel free to recommend them. If they're suitable, I'll definitely consider hiring them. Alright, let's go check out your new workstations."
All the desks and chairs had been purchased in bulk and were of high quality. The chairs were well-known ergonomic brands. Most of the computers had already been installed, with only Kō and her group's systems left to be moved in. Ichin planned to have movers bring them over soon.
"Wow!!! This place is huge!"
Weaving her way through the rows of desks, Shinoda exclaimed excitedly,
"Ichin-kun, can we pick our own seats?"
"Of course not," Ichin replied with a chuckle.
"The art team will sit together, and the programmers will be grouped too."
He noticed Shinoda pointing at herself repeatedly and couldn't help but laugh,
"Alright, alright—I get it. Since you're in charge of animation, you'll sit near the art team. I'll arrange for you to be placed right beside them."
"Yay!!!" she cheered.
Naturally, there were private offices as well. Besides Ichin's office as the company founder, there were also designated rooms for Hazuki, the finance department, and HR.
Come to think of it… they were still a bit understaffed. Time to kick off the recruitment process.
Clapping his hands to get everyone's attention, Ichin addressed the group:
"Starting Monday, we'll officially begin working from here. Kō, I'll have movers come tomorrow morning to transport your computers over.
But for now—to celebrate the completion of our new office—I've made a reservation at a restaurant. Let's go have a team dinner!"
"Woohoo!! Big meal time!"
The Lily team members, who had been a little uneasy about joining a new studio, now felt completely at ease.
Everyone here was friendly and easy to get along with. It looked like their work life ahead was going to be both productive and enjoyable.
...