The next day, Ichin headed out early in the morning to attend his classes. As for Utaha and Yukino, their first classes weren't until the third period, so they didn't leave together.
Since Ichin only had classes during the first and second periods that day, he went straight to the company after finishing them.
Utaha and Yukino would come over as well after their afternoon classes. In any case, Yukino had her own car, so there was no need for him to pick her up.
After arriving at the company, Ichin first stopped by his office to put his things down. As he stepped back out, he ran into Hazuki, who was also leaving her office.
Seeing that Ichin had finally come in after a day away, Hazuki smiled and said, "Oh my, you finally showed up? Hmm—looking at you like this, why do you seem a bit… drained?"
Hearing that, Ichin rubbed his lower back. "Ahem, it's nothing. I just didn't sleep very well."
Hazuki glanced him over from left to right, feeling that things weren't that simple.
Still, she didn't say anything more and took the elevator down together with Ichin.
Hazuki headed toward the Fall Guys development team, while Ichin went over to the Tales of Berseria team.
After greeting Yagami Kō, Ichin made his way to Aoba and Hifumi.
"Aoba, Hifumi, I looked over your work reports yesterday. There are a few areas that need revisions—I sent you the notes this morning. You saw them, right?"
Aoba and Hifumi nodded at the same time. Aoba spoke up first: "Yep, I saw them! I'll finish up the last bit of work that Kō-san assigned me, then start revising this afternoon!"
Hifumi added softly, "I've already started revising. I'll be done very soon."
After nodding, Ichin thought for a moment, then called Yagami Kō over as well. Addressing everyone in the art team, he asked, "Let me ask—has anyone here studied Cthulhu culture before?"
"Cthulhu?"
Everyone froze for a moment. Then a few of the artists raised their hands, saying they had a basic understanding and had played some games with related themes, but most of them didn't know much about it.
That was something Ichin had already expected.
Kō asked curiously, "Are you preparing a new project? Something related to Cthulhu?"
"Yeah, it'll involve some related elements. When it comes to monster design, the designers will need to understand certain aspects of it, so I wanted to ask first. If anyone's interested, you can look up some materials in your free time. Of course, if you really can't handle it, there's no need to force yourself. The new project is still a long way off anyway—I haven't written a single word yet, just have a rough concept."
That said, everyone knew full well that when Ichin claimed he only had a "concept," turning it into a full proposal wouldn't actually take him much time at all.
After finishing up with them, Ichin went over to the programming team and started on his work for the day. Barring anything unexpected, he would probably be spending the entire day there.
After Ichin left, Hifumi looked at Aoba with curiosity. "Um… what exactly is Cthulhu?"
She really didn't know much about that kind of thing.
"Ahh… that stuff," Aoba said, looking a bit troubled. She—and everyone else—knew very well that Hifumi was extremely afraid of horror-themed things. Let alone Cthulhu-style content that could utterly crush one's sanity.
Still, under Hifumi's curious gaze, Aoba carefully explained, "Well, it's… pretty terrifying and unsettling. Senpai, do you really want to learn about it?"
"T-terrifying?" Just hearing that made Hifumi nervous. When Ichin mentioned it earlier, she had already had a vague feeling, but she hadn't said anything at the time.
At that moment, Yagami Kō leaned over and said with a smile, "The main thing is that this mythos is completely different from what we usually imagine. The gods aren't based on humans at all, and their appearances are ugly and horrifying. The entire setting makes your skin crawl. Besides the visual horror, the psychological horror is also a major factor. The richer your imagination is, the more easily you get frightened when exposed to this kind of stuff."
After saying that, Yagami Kō picked up her tablet, quickly searched for some Cthulhu-related images, and handed it to Hifumi.
Sure enough, after just two or three glances, Hifumi's face turned deathly pale. She hastily handed the tablet back to Yagami Kō.
"I-I'm not joining this new project…"
Kō and Aoba exchanged a look and shrugged in unison.
As expected.
After lunch in the company cafeteria, Ichin returned to his office. He put on an eye mask, wore his headphones, and lay down on the office sofa for an afternoon nap.
Just as he had told Hazuki in the morning, he really hadn't slept well—after all, he still had to "pay his dues."
Combined with everything from yesterday afternoon and the night before, even a superhuman would be exhausted.
Lying on the sofa, just before drifting off, Ichin muttered to himself, "Mm, I'll take a short nap. After I wake up this afternoon, I'll go downstairs and get some exercise."
And just like that, he quickly fell asleep.
About ten minutes later, Eriri arrived at the company after lunch. She went upstairs, planning to call Ichin to team up for some Apex. After knocking and getting no response, she opened the door herself.
The moment she stepped inside, she saw Ichin lying on the sofa, asleep with an eye mask on.
"Eh—this is rare. He's actually taking an afternoon nap."
Seeing that he was asleep, Eriri gave up on waking him. She carefully closed the door, went back downstairs, and even stopped by HR to tell them not to let anyone disturb Ichin's nap.
After coming down, Eriri said to Gokou Ruri, "Ichin's sleeping. Ruri, how about the two of us queue up together?"
"He's napping?" Gokou Ruri was also surprised. After thinking for a moment, she took out her phone and said, "Let's call Kirino too. Three-player squads are more fun."
Hearing that, Eriri puffed out her cheeks. "If you think I'm bad, just say it outright!"
After sending the message and getting Kirino's agreement, Ruri glanced at Eriri and calmly nodded. "Mm. In terms of skill, you really are pretty bad."
"Ahhh! Shut up! I won't accept this—I'll definitely practice until I get better! Hurry up and get into the game!"
Not far away, Hazuki, who was sitting together with Yagami Kō, Toyama Rin, Aoba, and Hifumi while having tea, spoke up with interest. "Oh~ so that's how it is. Looks like little Ichin's nightlife is pretty exhausting."
The moment she said that, Aoba and Hifumi on the opposite side instantly understood—and their faces flushed red.
After all, they weren't seventeen or eighteen-year-old girls anymore. Anything they were supposed to understand, they understood well enough.
Yagami Kō, on the other hand, was much bolder. Propping her chin on one hand, she said curiously, "Hmm~ he really did look sleep-deprived this morning. Completely drained? Utaha's amazing!"
Toyama Rin, hearing that, wordlessly smacked her on the head.
However, the truth was far more outrageous than anything they had guessed.
---
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