(T/N: I see many people reading this, but why Pwerstone count this low? I did said I'll do Bonus Chapters on Powerstones, didn't I?)
At noon, after grabbing lunch outside, the four of them went straight to Yukino's apartment.
The moment they stepped in, Ichin saw Peppa running toward him.
Even though Peppa was now living at Yukino's place, the cat still recognized his true owner.
Scooping Peppa up into his arms, Ichin laughed.
"I thought you'd forgotten your parents now that you've got yourself a wife. Looks like you still have some conscience."
Utaha stroked Peppa's head, then followed Yukino into the living room, where she spotted Sesame curled up in the cat bed.
Sesame's belly had already grown noticeably round—clearly carrying kittens.
When Yukino approached, Sesame immediately got up and rubbed affectionately against her leg.
Yukino smiled, carefully picked Sesame up, and turned to Ichin.
"Senpai, shouldn't we find a time to take Sesame to the vet for a check-up?"
Ichin nodded.
"Yeah, we should. The day after tomorrow works. Tomorrow I've got a lot of classes, but the day after I'm free. I'll come with Utaha to pick you up, and we'll all go together."
"I'm coming too! I'm coming too!" Eriri raised her hand instantly.
Ever since Sesame got pregnant, Eriri had been showing up at Yukino's more and more often—dropping by almost every other day. She even brought snacks full of nutrients for Sesame.
Of course, feeding Sesame also meant Peppa managed to mooch plenty, so his weight had inevitably gone up a little.
A cat's pregnancy lasts two months, so with about one month left before delivery, there wasn't much worry about Peppa putting on too much weight in the meantime.
After sitting around Yukino's for a while, Ichin left Utaha to continue chatting as a guest, while he headed over to the company.
Persona's development had reached the testing and bug-fixing stage—a phase with no small workload. Ichin had to personally oversee things, since fixing any major hidden bugs could be extremely time-consuming.
At the office, the temporary playtesters were already hard at work, playing while hunting for in-game issues.
Among them was someone Ruri had mentioned before—her game-loving friend, Kirino Kousaka.
This tall, striking girl was in her senior year of university, majoring in economics with excellent grades.
When she first came for the tester recruitment, Kirino had already expressed her desire to join the company after graduation. After considering her background, Hazuki had been more than happy to invite her—but not to the programming or writing departments. Instead, she was eyed for the finance department.
Kirino had no objections. After all, that was her actual field of study, and she'd even earned her accounting certification.
Checking in on the art department, Ichin saw a few members still fine-tuning models, while most others were also joining in the test play, trying to spot issues themselves.
"How's the experience so far, Kō?" Ichin asked.
Yagami Kō had been playing for several days, but since her focus was on testing, her progress had been slow. Still, by now the main character's party was nearly complete, with the story just entering the arc for the last member, the elegant heiress Haru Okumura.
Clutching the controller, Yagami Kō beamed.
"It's amazing! When we were working on it, I only got bits and pieces of the story, but now that I'm playing through it, the full experience feels incredible! Cool, stylish, and totally chuuni! I did find some minor bugs here and there, but nothing major. Umiko fixes them quickly and rolls them into patches. Honestly, the game feels so good already."
After finishing, Yagami Kō waved Ichin toward the programmers, clearly wanting to keep playing.
Even though she'd helped create the game, her total immersion showed she was enjoying it just as much as any fan would.
As she herself often said, the art team didn't need to know the entire plot. They could get early glimpses if they wanted, but to preserve the genuine player experience, most—including Kō—avoided spoilers. That way, they could fully immerse themselves when the game was done.
After all, aside from being developers, they were also gamers at heart.
Heading to the programmers' section, Ichin found the testers hard at work.
Right then, Kirino was leaning beside Ruri, pointing out an issue.
"I mean, look—if players can freely move the camera, then why can't we look under the skirts? That's such a wasted opportunity! The characters are so beautifully designed, and the outfits too. Wouldn't adding a few more camera angles make things way more fun?"
"..."
Ruri twitched at the corner of her mouth, clearly exasperated.
"You didn't have to say that out loud, you know. And so what if it doesn't let you peek under skirts? I think it's better this way. You're not a little kid anymore—try acting less like a pervy fangirl!"
"Urusee! You're the perv here!" Kirino shot back instantly.
Their banter made the programmers around them chuckle helplessly.
Umiko, spotting Ichin, gestured in their direction.
Ichin walked over and said with a smile,
"Actually, about the whole 'no looking under skirts' thing—someone did bring that up before, same as you just did."
"Huh?" Kirino's eyes lit up, surprised.
"Really? Who was it?"
"Hazuki." Ichin chuckled.
"But I shut it down right away. Sure, we can make the characters attractive in design, but keeping them dignified is important too. Of course, that's just how we see it. Once the game's out on PC, well… it won't be up to me anymore, right?"
Ichin's thoughts were blunt. He had no plans to officially open a creative workshop, but he certainly wasn't against players making mods. If the community wanted to go wild with their own designs, he didn't mind in the slightest.
And if someone made an interesting mod, Ichin would be more than happy to try it himself.
Hearing that, Kirino suddenly clapped her hands in realization.
"Ohhh, right! Mods! That works too!"
Having been into games since childhood, she was very familiar with the modding scene in PC titles. Skyrim—better known in her circle as "Skimpyrim"—had once eaten up nearly 100GB on her computer thanks to her mod collection.
Satisfied with Ichin's answer, Kirino returned to her work, while Ichin moved on toward Umiko.
*
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