[Game] Chapter 408-410

### Chapter 408: Back to Work, Nurturing Eriri

The seven-day New Year holiday finally came to an end—it was back to work.

After breakfast, Ichin drove Utaha and the two cats over to Yukino’s place, then headed to the company himself.

Yukino, now a soon-to-be university student, had plenty of free time. Since her final semester of high school hadn’t started yet, her daily routine was simply caring for the cats at home and reading books to enrich herself.

This kind of life was something Eriri envied greatly.

At the office, Eriri sat at her desk sketching while grumbling,

“Why is Tokyo University of the Arts taking so long with their assessment? I just want to get my early admission already!”

Standing behind her with a cup of coffee, Ichin said,

“For you, Eriri, it should be no problem, right?”

Eriri had applied for early admission to the Fine Arts Department at TUA as an art-specialty student. With her talent in painting, the awards she’d already won in Tokyo art competitions during high school, and her work experience at Ichin’s company, getting accepted was practically a sure thing—there was no risk of jinxing it.

“It’s not that it’s difficult, it’s just that the waiting is unbearable!”

While working on a design of the Onion Knight from Dark Souls, Eriri pouted,

“Five more days until it even starts! I wish I could be carefree like Yukino. Once I’m in, the rest of senior year will be a breeze.”

Just as she said that, Aoba’s voice came from nearby:

“Carefree? Not a chance, Eriri. Don’t forget, you still have to come to the office.”

“Eh…”

Eriri froze mid-stroke—she really had forgotten. But quickly retorted,

“Even so, coming to the office is way better than going to school!”

“That’s true.”

Aoba nodded in agreement.

“I never liked staying at school either.”

The two of them then started venting about high school life.

As someone who actually enjoyed studying, Ichin couldn’t listen any longer. Smiling and shaking his head, he returned to his office.

Unsurprisingly, Eriri’s early admission to TUA went through without a hitch, freeing her to enjoy the remainder of her senior year.

Of course, the tradeoff for not having to attend school daily was that she now had to come to the company.

But just as she’d said, working there was far better than school. At the office, she had plenty of friends to chat with about ACG, she could draw whatever she liked, there were always snacks, and since it was cold winter, Ichin would often treat everyone to hot milk tea.

Nutrition was never lacking—if anything, there was the danger of too much sugar.

Thankfully, Eriri was aware of this. Every time she ordered, she’d be the first to say,

“Three parts sugar only!”

It felt like a futile gesture, but who cared? It wasn’t every day, and if a bit of sugar brought happiness, who would refuse?

One day, sipping milk tea, she finished a modeling project and sent it to Yagami Kou.

“Kou-senpai, can you check this for me?”

“Oh? Already finished? That was quick.”

Kou opened the file, labeled “Nameless King,” and carefully inspected Eriri’s 3D model.

Since it was an important boss, she spent over ten minutes checking every detail.

“Mm, mm. As expected of you, Eriri. You’ve made real progress in 3D modeling.”

Hearing the praise, Eriri beamed.

Though her drawing talent had always been outstanding and she’d never shied away from being proud of it, 3D modeling was something she only started learning after joining the company.

Fortunately, she had both the passion and the talent for it. Otherwise, she’d have been limited to being just an illustrator.

Now, many of the key bosses and character designs had been entrusted to her. Her standing within the art team was clearly rising.

As long as she didn’t consider leaving, once the company grew large enough to have independent development teams, Eriri could definitely serve as an art director for one of them, overseeing entire projects.

Yagami Kou saw this too, and after discussing with Ichin, began deliberately nurturing her.

Though Eriri was slow to notice, that didn’t stop her from learning plenty under Kou and others. When the time came, she’d be ready to take on greater responsibility.

Meanwhile, the buzz from Persona’s three TGA awards gradually died down after New Year’s. Apart from his pre-Christmas livestream, Ichin hadn’t streamed again. He only released one Dark Souls combat demo video, showing off some monsters and a bit of gameplay featuring the Dragonslayer Armor that had appeared in the trailer. After that, there were no further updates.

Still, just that one stream and one demo video had fueled players’ anticipation.

Many streamers analyzed the footage, concluding that Dark Souls’ combat system had far more depth yet to be revealed.

And they were right. If everything was shown now, there’d be no surprises. Ichin himself posted online, reassuring fans to look forward to future reveals.

As for Titanfall, though no information had been made public, Ichin as the boss knew development was smooth. By July or August—summer—he planned a livestream to finally unveil it.

Skipping ahead to March, the Dark Souls team had several new bosses finished and ready for testing.

“Arghhhh!!! How did I die again!?”

While Ichin was in the programming division, helping refine code, he suddenly heard Eriri’s anguished cry from outside.

Narumi couldn’t help laughing.

“That’s the fifth time in just ten minutes! Is the Nameless King really designed too hard?”

“Well, it’s supposed to be a late-game boss. Hard is normal.”

Ichin remained calm.

“And it’s not like I forced Eriri to test it. She insisted—‘I made this boss, so I’ll be the first to test it.’ Still, the fact that she’s died five times in a row and hasn’t quit yet… looks like her mental resilience has grown a lot.”

***

### Chapter 409: New Project – Fall Guys

After pointing out a few things that needed fixing and handing the task to Narumi, Ichin left the programming office.

Over in the art department, Eriri was still struggling against the Nameless King.

Unfortunately for her, Ichin had already tweaked the boss’s stats and moves to be tougher than the original version.

The “Nameless King” was a boss title, but in truth he was the Sun’s Firstborn, son of Lord Gwyn, the original Lord of Cinder—the so-called “Eldest Sun.”

In the original game, the Nameless King was strong, but there were plenty of strategies to beat him. With careful defense, players could even grind him down through shield-tanking and get past phase one.

But Ichin’s version was different. In the first phase alone, both the dragon’s moves and the Nameless King’s swings of the Dragonslayer Swordspear were brutally sharp.

As a hidden boss, Ichin had raised his difficulty right from phase one—let alone phase two.

Standing behind Eriri, Ichin leaned toward Ruri, who was watching.

“She hasn’t even cleared the first phase yet?”

Ruri nodded and whispered back,

“This boss really is hard, especially if you’re not used to this level of difficulty. It’s punishing. Luckily, he’s not required for the main story. If you can’t beat him, you can always go fight other bosses, level up, then come back—it’ll get easier.”

After all, as a stat- and gear-driven action RPG, Dark Souls always offered ways to ease difficulty for new players: pump stamina to 40, go sorcery and play at range, or even turtle behind a shield. Anything was better than rolling mindlessly.

But against the Nameless King at equal level, you needed real combat skill.

Sadly, Eriri wasn’t there yet. In the one minute Ichin stood watching, she was repeatedly battered, pulling back to chug Estus, then immediately pummeled again.

The boss had only lost about a third of his health, yet she was already down to just two Estus Flasks.

And this was a test build where Ichin had maxed out the flasks—15 flasks at +10.

To drain that down to two already showed just how “sloppy” she was with her hands.

As Eriri fell once more to the Nameless King’s Swordspear, Ichin asked softly,

“Not going to give her a hint?”

“I thought about it.” Ruri smirked but kept her composure.

“But she insisted on beating him alone—no hints allowed. Nothing I can do.”

As a veteran gamer, especially fond of action titles, Ruri had a dark-themed history herself—complete with chuunibyou days and failed light novel attempts. Though she hadn’t become a novelist, she still loved dark fantasy settings.

Dark Souls was exactly her type of game.

She had been the first to try the Nameless King once he was finished, and impressively beat him from scratch in under thirty minutes.

Not only that—after clearing it, she even suggested improvements: in phase two, link a follow-up thrust after the overhead slash, then chain into a lightning execution move.

It was a viciously brilliant design.

Ichin loved it. He praised her highly, implemented the combo himself, and even worked with her to refine other parts of the Nameless King’s move set.

The stats stayed fixed, but the fluidity of his attacks jumped to another level.

It wasn’t too obvious in phase one, but once players reached phase two, they’d feel it immediately.

After all, he was Lord Gwyn’s son, the Sun’s Firstborn—he needed to live up to the name.

Seeing Eriri throw a mini tantrum after dying, then pick the controller back up to try again, Ichin decided not to watch further and returned to his office.

The company was starting another hiring wave. In addition to public recruitment, Ichin had arranged a private job fair with Tokyo University’s Computer Science Department. Several good resumes had come in.

After screening them and checking attached portfolios, Ichin set aside five strong candidates from Tokyo University and seven more experienced developers from other schools, then forwarded them to HR for interviews.

Dark Souls development continued steadily. With BattleBlock Theater finished, Ichin hadn’t fully merged that team into Dark Souls. Instead, aside from some light support tasks, they were being prepared for a new project.

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout.

Ichin had already written the proposal, though he hadn’t shown it yet. Now, with interviews about to begin, it was time to bring it to Hazuki.

Calling her into his office, he handed her the document.

“Hazuki, take a look. This will be your next assignment.”

“A new project?” she smiled, flipping it open.

“I thought you’d have something lined up for me soon. Huh? Fall Guys? Isn’t this that game you mentioned once or twice before? I nearly forgot.”

As she read through, Hazuki’s eyes grew brighter.

She had watched obstacle-course game shows before—Western and Chinese ones alike. Their appeal was undeniable: whether contestants cleared the challenge spectacularly or failed in hilarious ways, it always made for great entertainment.

But turning that into a game? A massive multiplayer obstacle-course party game? That was something she’d never imagined.

The level design echoed the shows, but being a game meant it could go further—more exaggerated, more whimsical.

And with so many players at once, the chaos would only get funnier.

Adding elimination rounds gave it a competitive edge, too.

By the time she finished the proposal, Hazuki was convinced. As long as the stages were plentiful and well designed, and the online system was solid, this game would absolutely take off!

***

### Chapter 410: Yukino’s University Enrollment

With the Fall Guys proposal in hand, Hazuki left to get busy.

From here, Ichin didn’t need to worry too much. Developing Fall Guys wasn’t particularly difficult—just like BattleBlock Theater, the key lay in stage design.

And in that department, the company had plenty of talent. Among the incoming interviewees, one was even a specialist in stage design, making it all the easier.

“Still, whether it’s Fall Guys, BattleBlock Theater, Dark Souls, Titanfall, or the later Apex, they all have online multiplayer components. Looks like we’ll need to get server infrastructure running soon. That’s one thing we can’t take lightly.”

Server architecture wasn’t Ichin’s strong suit, so he left it to his team. Fortunately, the programming department had capable people who knew their way around it.

Soon, the new recruits officially joined the company. Some went into the Dark Souls team, while others—along with a few transferred from Dark Souls—were assigned to Hazuki’s Fall Guys development group. Work on the new project began.

Compared to Dark Souls, modeling for Fall Guys was far simpler, so progress was quick.

Meanwhile, the Dark Souls team continued tirelessly creating monsters, bosses, animations, and regional maps, constantly refining them.

And just like that, time moved on to April.

As second-year students, Ichin and Utaha no longer had to go through enrollment procedures like before. They simply picked up textbooks and schedules for the semester.

But today wasn’t about that—the main purpose was to accompany Yukino for her freshman enrollment.

Originally, Haruno was supposed to come herself. But with two urgent company meetings, she couldn’t get away and asked Ichin and Utaha instead.

Driving to Yukino’s apartment, Ichin picked her up, and the three headed for Tokyo University.

Sitting beside Yukino in the backseat, Utaha smiled,

“Today you officially become a college student. How do you feel?”

Yukino thought for a moment.

“Not much, honestly. It doesn’t feel very different—just studying in another place. If I had to say something, it’s that not wearing a uniform feels strange.”

Gone was the familiar uniform of Toyogasaki High. Today Yukino wore a youthful spring outfit—though since the weather wasn’t fully warm yet, she paired it with jeans.

But with her tall, slender figure, the jeans only accentuated her long legs.

Driving, Ichin glanced at her in the rearview mirror with a smile.

“You’re right, not much will change. But Yukino, once you start, you might relive your first year of high school all over again.”

Utaha caught on immediately, looking at Yukino’s delicate face.

“With how pretty Yukino is, you’ll definitely be chased by boys.”

“…”

Yukino’s expression stiffened.

Back in her first year of high school, she’d been confessed to constantly. At first, she politely turned people down, but it got overwhelming. In the end, she had to unleash her trademark sharp tongue, and only then did her school life finally quiet down.

Of course, that gave her a slightly odd reputation for a while, but she hadn’t cared.

Now, three years later, stepping into university—an environment far more open than high school—she realized things might become even more troublesome if she didn’t find a way to deal with it.

Glancing at Ichin and Utaha, she asked with some unease,

“What should I do? I just want to study in peace.”

Her expression made Utaha stifle a laugh.

“There’s no avoiding it. You are single, after all. Why not bring back your deadly sharp tongue?”

“I’d rather not.”

Yukino shook her head immediately.

“And senpai, you haven’t used yours in ages either.”

“Who says I haven’t? I’ve still used it—on Eriri.”

No, that’s just bickering, Yukino thought inwardly. Not quite the same.

She turned toward the front.

“Senpai?”

“You’re asking me?”

At a red light, Ichin eased the car to a stop and thought aloud.

“There’s really no surefire method. Like you said, you’re single. People are free to pursue you. The only real way is to make it clear, when someone confesses, that you’re not dating during college.”

If she didn’t want to resort to her sharp tongue, that was the only option.

As the light turned green and the car rolled forward, Ichin added,

“But honestly, I don’t think you’ll need to worry too much. Don’t forget—you’re in the law department. The workload there is tough. If anyone keeps bothering you, talk to your professors. As a good student, they won’t want your studies disrupted. And make a few friends in your department. Having people to walk with will make it easier to deal with things than being alone.”

Utaha agreed.

“Exactly. You don’t need a crowd, but you’ll definitely meet a few you click with. Worst case, like I said before, we can go to the library together. I’m already a bit known around campus. With me there, if trouble comes, I can help.”

They were still on their way to enrollment, but everything they said was likely to happen.

After all, Yukino really was beautiful.

At last, with their chatter filling the car, the three arrived at Tokyo University.

Parking, Ichin and Utaha led Yukino toward the freshman registration area.

It was bustling with new students and upperclassmen helping them move in or collect textbooks.

Walking through campus, as expected, Yukino drew many stares.

Her long, straight black hair, delicate features, tall figure, and slightly cool expression gave her the perfect aura of an ice-cold beauty.

Within minutes, the university forum had posts about her—complete with a distant photo.

And since Ichin and Utaha were already well-known on campus, discussions immediately turned to Yukino’s relationship with them.

Even at Tokyo University, gossip was inescapable.

***