After being busy all morning, Ichin went out with Hazuki, Kō Yagami, and Rin Toyama for lunch. When they came back, during the lunch break, he sat comfortably in his office playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2.
The moment he got the game from Nintendo, Ichin dove right in.
Although the Switch's hardware power was limited, the game itself was truly outstanding. Within those limitations, Nintendo had pushed every aspect to its very best.
With the game set to release at the end of July, Ichin naturally kept quiet on social media about getting his hands on it early.
This kind of thing was best enjoyed alone in secret, and maybe later—once everyone else started playing—he could show off his save file.
Zelda really is too good… As expected of Nintendo's flagship franchise.
At around one in the afternoon, Utaha finally arrived at the company.
"Ichin~ I'm back!"
Putting down his controller, Ichin looked at the girl walking into his office and smiled. "Welcome back. How was work?"
"Pretty smooth."
Utaha stretched lazily as she sat down on the office sofa. "Publishing went as smoothly as always, and the translations for Volume One and Two of my novel into Chinese and English are also done. Next month, the overseas editions can finally be released."
Her light novel career was, by now, sailing with the wind at its back. Ichin hardly had to worry about her at all.
Getting up from his chair, Ichin went over and sat beside her, letting Utaha lean into his chest.
"You ate lunch properly, right?"
"Of course." She lifted a hand and playfully poked his cheek. "I went with Sonoko to a family restaurant. The pasta there was pretty good. What about you, Ichin?"
"I went out with Hazuki and the others, had some ramen."
After chatting a little, Ichin encouraged the worn-out Utaha to rest in the office while he went over to the programming team to begin the afternoon's work.
Utaha, however, didn't nap. After a short rest, she got up and wandered out to chat with others.
The Dark Souls dev team was far too busy for her to bother, so she headed over to the BattleBlock Theater team instead.
Hazuki, who was in the middle of a discussion with the members about stage design, spotted her and smiled. "Utaha, finished with work?"
"Mm, all done."
Nodding, Utaha walked up beside her and glanced at the contents on Hazuki's monitor. "Designing a new stage?"
"Yep. Lots of stages to design for this game—it's going to take quite some time."
After explaining, Hazuki made a suggestion: "You're free this afternoon, right? Want to try out one of the new stages we just designed? The good thing about this game is that every stage can be tested individually, so it's really convenient."
"Sure, I'll give it a try."
She wasn't particularly skilled at platforming games, but no one could resist the temptation of experiencing a brand-new game.
So Utaha took a controller, sat down in front of one of the testing PCs, and began playing through the new stage—together with a very excited Sakura Nene.
Ten minutes later, cries for help from Sakura Nene echoed throughout the company.
Everyone in the art department looked up from their work to see Sakura Nene running frantically at the front, with Utaha chasing right behind her.
"I was wrong, Utaha! Please don't!"
"Stop right there, I promise I won't hit you!"
"Uwaaah! Somebody save me!!"
Kō Yagami pulled off her headphones, watching the two of them with curiosity. "Uh… what game are they playing?"
Beside her, Rin Toyama shook his head with a laugh. "No idea, but it sure looks entertaining."
The chase quickly carried over to the programming team's side.
Just then, the office door swung open. Ichin stepped out and immediately caught Nene by the collar, lifting her up. "Alright, what exactly is going on here?"
"Well done, Ichin!"
Utaha praised him cheerfully before turning her smiling gaze on Nene. "Didn't I tell you to cooperate properly to clear the stage? So why did you have to stir up trouble? Come now, time to accept your punishment."
"Uuuu, nooo! Ichin-kun, save me!"
Faced with her desperate plea, Ichin only spread his hands. "You've come to the wrong person for that. Did you forget? Utaha's the boss's wife. Who told you not to behave? Don't worry, though—when she says punishment, she's not going to do anything too cruel. Just listen and take it."
"That's right, nothing too bad."
Utaha's tone softened, but her words didn't. "It's just some Oreos stuffed with wasabi. Very simple."
"Uuuu, but I don't wanna eat wasabi…"
But there was no helping it. Nobody intended to save Nene. On the contrary, everyone looked on with barely hidden amusement as Utaha dragged her off toward the neighboring dev team.
Eriri had been watching the whole scene play out. Only after the two disappeared from sight did she shake her head and sigh. "Honestly. I'm right here as a living example, yet Nene still hasn't learned? Aoba, aren't you going to help your childhood friend?"
Aoba, seated nearby, immediately shook her head. "Forget it, forget it. Better to let her learn her lesson. Besides, this is kind of fun to watch."
She said it with a mischievous little smile.
At that moment, Ichin walked over and gave both Eriri and Aoba a light pat on the head. "How's your work coming along?"
"Don't worry, everything's going smoothly. And stop patting my head! I still want to grow taller, you know!"
Eriri shot him a glare before opening up her finished files, displaying several newly completed monster models.
"These should be fine, right?"
"And I've got mine too!" Aoba quickly added.
After reviewing their work, Ichin nodded in satisfaction. "Mm, very well done. Once you finish the remaining ones, send them over to the programming team for a final check. But I doubt there'll be any problems. Anyway, it's one-thirty now—what do you two want for afternoon tea? Ice milk tea?"
"Yes!!"
The entire team chimed in agreement. With everyone on board, Ichin had HR place the order right away. After all, afternoon tea for the whole company would take a while to prepare and deliver.
An hour later, the iced milk teas arrived. Everyone happily sipped their drinks as they went on with their afternoon work.
Bringing some of the teas along with HR to the BattleBlock Theater dev team, Ichin spotted Sakura Nene slumped over her desk, face full of despair.
Oreos with wasabi—apparently the punishment worked wonders.
He couldn't even imagine what kind of mischief that girl had pulled during testing to make Utaha punish her like that.
**
RedX43's Note:
➤ Want More? Get up to +70 Extra Chapters on Patreon!
➤ [email protected]/RedX43
➤ +300 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter Drop!
➤ Thanks for the support! 🙌