Chapter 13. Seele Just Went Into the Wrong Room~
"You're saying you two stayed up too late playing the new game Xander made last night, so that's why you slept together?"
"Yep, yep! Bronya, you have to believe Seele.
How could Seele take the initiative to do that kind of thing!"
"So that's how it is."
Bronya had originally planned to ask Xander about the game's specifics, but in the end she decided to drop it.
In a month, success or failure would speak for itself.
Since nothing strenuous happened last night, that afternoon the three of them finally went out shopping together again.
They had a pleasant time, to the point that Bronya felt a little dazed, wondering whether it had been right or wrong when the two of them quarreled and split up back then.
That night, after they returned home and washed up, Xander was in a good mood.
Humming a tune while toweling his hair dry, he walked back to his bedroom.
As soon as he entered, he found that the quilt he had folded was spread flat, with something inside wriggling and bulging.
He walked over, pinched a corner, and lifted it.
A pair of sky-blue eyes, darting about, quickly fell into his line of sight.
"B-Brother, if Seele says she accidentally went into the wrong room, would Brother believe it?"
"...I believe it."
Saying that, he lifted the quilt and slipped in as well, sitting down in the spot already warmed by Seele's body heat.
"It's too cold outside.
If you go out in just pajamas, you'll catch a cold.
Sleep here tonight."
"...Mm.
Seele will listen to Brother."
Even though it was already almost summer.
On the other side, from this day on, Bronya never again saw the light in Seele's room turned on at night.
Won't take the initiative?
Bronya felt the kid still hadn't been beaten enough.
...
A month flew by in a hurry, and in the blink of an eye it was the day before the Mini-Game Festival opened.
As a festival for discovering talent in the game industry, the St. Freya organizers took it quite seriously.
Unlike other regions that casually ran their mini-game festivals online and called it a day, they would directly use St. Freya University's largest venue to hold it offline.
After a week-long exhibition, the games would be simultaneously launched on the Titan game platform, and the top-ranked works would receive a two-week front-page banner recommendation.
You have to know, Titan is one of the three largest game platforms in the world.
A two-week banner recommendation is enough to make those companies producing AAA blockbusters green with envy.
Therefore, this Mini-Game Festival was a carnival for indie studios or individual game designers worldwide.
The organizers did not allow big companies to take the field.
Once discovered, they would be severely punished.
This was an opportunity given to newcomers.
To participate, either you were a small studio, or your company had been established for less than three years and was small in scale.
Xander and Bronya had asked Cocolia to found a company named "Gensokyo," which perfectly met these conditions.
Small in scale and under three years old, they smoothly obtained exhibition qualifications.
Out of regard for their former employer being Anti-Entropy, the location they were assigned was quite decent.
"Yo, thanks for the hard work, everyone."
Carrying a bag of water, Xander smiled as he walked over to Ken Sugisaki and the others, who were drenched in sweat after finishing the setup.
"Just helping a bro.
It's nothing."
Iori Kitahara waved it off, took a bottle of mineral water, went glug—glug— and downed it in one go, then wiped the sweat from his forehead before speaking casually.
"It's just, I didn't expect you to quietly make a game and even get into St. Freya's Mini-Game Festival."
The weakest in stamina, "Gramps Kirito," was already sitting in a chair.
Holding a bottle of water, he spoke with some emotion.
His tone inevitably carried a trace of envy.
As an otaku who loves games, he was also quite interested in game production and wanted to steer his future work in that direction.
What was still a dream for himself had unexpectedly been realized by his good friend without him even noticing.
"Exactly, exactly.
You didn't say a word before.
When you told us, I was shocked!"
Ken Sugisaki mimicked Iori, glug—glug— finished a bottle, then simply sat on the floor.
Looking at Xander, he asked curiously, "By the way, what kind of game did you make?
The booth setup looks so abstract.
Is that a lighthouse, and a moon?"
Since there were hundreds of participating games, each booth wasn't very large, and a dozen people would about fill it.
Unlike other booths that simply put up the name and logo and set out a few phones or PCs for players to try, his booth used printed cardstock and hollow models to create a scene of a lighthouse on a cliff under a full moon.
"Was it a printing error?
Look, the cliff edge has become a bunch of pixel blocks.
Don't tell me your game is one of those pixel games from before we were even born?"
Pointing at the pattern on the cardstock, Iori cracked a joke.
"No way.
Come on, a pixel game would be way too..."
Kirito chuckled, but before he could finish, Xander's voice cut in.
"Yeah.
It's a pixel game."
"Huh?"
"Mm?"
"Eh?"
All three froze at the same time and looked straight at Xander, trying to see from his face whether he was joking.
"Don't stare.
I'm serious."
Waving to stop their gawking, Xander smiled casually.
"Hey, hey, hey, do you know what you're saying?
That's a pixel game.
No one's made those for over a decade!"
With tech development at this stage, even newbie designers could find plenty of polished assets in public free databases.
Who still needed those pixel models where you can't even see the character's face clearly?
"Have you lost your mind?
How about we skip exhibiting?
I'm afraid you can't handle the pressure."
Iori was already ready to back out, and even Kirito's eyes wavered this time as if he wanted to say something.
"Don't be nervous, don't be nervous.
Relax.
I have confidence in my game."
He hurried to soothe his three buddies.
Seeing Xander so confident, their flustered mood settled a little.
Then he slung an arm around Iori's shoulders and winked at them.
"Thanks for taking time off to come here with me and help out so much.
Of course I won't shortchange you."
From their high school to St. Freya, even by train it took several hours.
The few of them had basically gone on a "business trip" with him, and they'd likely be busy during the week-long Mini-Game Festival to come.
As for accommodations, the organizers had booked a dozens-story hotel nearby, so that wasn't a worry.
But when it came to food, drinks, and fun, he certainly wouldn't skimp on his brothers.
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