That afternoon, Eriri and Yukino also came to the studio.
From Eriri's mouth, the art team got wind of the latest developments in the lives of their studio cats.
Hazuki sighed dramatically when she heard the news. "What a shame... Mozuku no longer has his balls. Otherwise, we could've paired him with Yukino's Mochi. I mean, Mochi's a single mom, but with looks like hers? Still a total catch."
Yukino's two cats, one big and one small, were both pure white and stunning. Their appearance alone turned heads the moment they sat down anywhere.
At Hazuki's remark, a small smile appeared on Yukino's face. "Even if Mozuku wasn't neutered, I don't think I'd pair them up anyway—he's just too fat."
As she spoke, she glanced over at Mozuku, perched a little distance away on a cat tree.
That body of his had only gotten rounder. Compared to a year ago, he was considerably more... well, plush.
"Hazuki-san, is Mozuku's health okay?" Yukino asked with concern.
Being questioned like that, Hazuki, the cat's owner, looked a little embarrassed.
"Uh, his health's actually fine. Sure, he's a bit... heavier than expected, but I do make him exercise at home. And I take him for regular check-ups—he's totally healthy."
She stood up, walked over to pick up Mozuku, and placed him gently on her lap.
"Yeah, healthy as he may be, this weight is... a little beyond what I anticipated."
Aoba stretched and turned around from her desk, looking at the cat. "Is it because of the neutering? I've heard cats gain weight really easily after being fixed."
"Not exactly. This little guy was already quite... well, plush even before that," Hazuki replied, deliberately avoiding the word "fat." "But yes, his activity level dropped a lot after the surgery, which slowly led to weight gain. Still, his vitals are all good, so I'm not too worried."
With most of the day's work wrapped up, everyone was in a more relaxed mood. They chatted about cats while casually finishing up a few remaining tasks.
Ten minutes later, the office door opened and Ichin stepped out, clearly in a good mood, drawing everyone's attention.
He looked around and raised two fingers with a smile. "Over the weekend plus today, Persona's pre-order sales went up another 200,000. And as a bonus, our other two games also saw a small sales bump thanks to the momentum. Hazuki, get started on planning for the October livestream events. I'll be going back to China in a few days to handle the Chinese voiceover work. Once I'm back, we'll coordinate on the details."
Hazuki nodded. "No problem, I'll take care of it. By the way, are you still planning to appear in the next livestream?"
"Hmm~~ about that..." Ichin thought for a moment and said, "Since I still have school, I won't be appearing for the next two or three streams. We've got plenty of people here who can host and keep things lively. Anyone interested can sign up, and we'll pick someone. Hosting the livestreams counts as extra work, so the host will get an additional overtime bonus. If you're interested, don't miss the chance!"
With that, Ichin made his way over to the programming team.
They were busier than the rest of the studio. Though the game's framework was mostly complete, the intricate systems, processes, and branching paths still needed to be built—and that was on them.
Umiko was sitting at her desk, reviewing a bug in the code, while Narumi, Sakura Nene, and Gokou Ruri were huddled together studying a new task Umiko had assigned them.
Sakura Nene heard footsteps near the entrance and turned to see Ichin walking in. She was about to greet him when he gestured for her to keep working.
Ichin then pulled up a chair and sat next to Umiko.
She finally noticed his presence, took off her headphones, and looked at him. "What brings you here? Supervising the troops?"
"Something like that. What are you working on—fixing an error?"
"Yeah. We had a bug during testing," Umiko nodded. "There was an issue with the models and textures. I've already had the art team fix that part, but we also encountered a programming issue. I'm debugging it now."
Even with Ichin beside her, Umiko didn't slow down. Before long, she located the faulty code in a config file and quickly corrected it.
"Okay, that should do it. Once the art team sends over the updated files, we can start a new round of testing."
Umiko let out a breath of relief and sipped her coffee.
"I heard a lot of commotion earlier. Pre-orders jumped again?"
"Yeah, nearly 200,000 more. Hollow Knight and Slay the Spire also saw a small bump in sales."
Umiko smiled at the news. While she had only contributed to Slay the Spire later on with a few new features, Hollow Knight had been her project from the ground up—she had a deep emotional attachment to it.
"That's great news. Stuff like this definitely boosts everyone's morale."
Resting her chin in one hand, she opened another test build and gestured for Ichin to check it with her. "So… about the next game. Are you really going to keep it a secret?"
"Hm?" Ichin raised an eyebrow and looked at her with a grin. "Didn't expect you, Umiko, to be the most curious one out of everyone. You really want to know?"
He glanced around at the other programmers—everyone was focused on their own work—then leaned toward Umiko and motioned her to come closer.
Umiko leaned in suspiciously. "You're making it feel like some shady back-alley deal."
"Can't be helped—we need to keep it secret. I don't want anyone distracted before Persona is complete," Ichin said in a low voice. "And that includes you, even if I tell you. Otherwise, I'm docking your pay."
"Eh? A pay cut too?"
Umiko frowned and thought for a moment before muttering, "Alright, fine. I doubt any game could actually distract me that— Wait, don't tell me it's—?!"
Ichin quickly motioned for her to lower her voice before continuing.
"I've got two concepts I've been working on in my spare time," he whispered. "One is an ARPG set in a dark, immersive world. The other… is a futuristic, sci-fi FPS. It'll have a full single-player story mode, and of course, online multiplayer, including a battle royale mode. I have a feeling you'd be especially interested in that second one, right, Umiko?"
...