As soon as Shizuka Hiratsuka entered the private room, only a few dishes had just been served. She immediately sat down on Haruno's other side and lightly tapped her on the head.
"Well? What bad things were you saying about me behind my back this time?"
"Hehehe, how could I? My relationship with you, Shizuka, is the best!"
But having known Haruno for years, Shizuka would never believe her words. She turned straight to Ichin.
"Ichin, you tell me."
Taking a sip of cola, Ichin placed some food into Utaha's bowl and replied with a smile,
"Nothing much. We were just asking Haruno-nee about blind dates, and then she mentioned you, Hiratsuka-sensei."
"As I thought. Nothing good ever comes out of your mouth."
She shot Haruno a glare, but Shizuka couldn't be bothered to argue further and focused on eating her food.
"Oh right, I haven't asked—who's paying for dinner tonight?"
Ichin raised his hand.
"Oh, it's you? Then no problem." Shizuka shook her head.
"I was thinking, if Haruno were the one paying, I'd have ordered two extra expensive dishes."
Eriri grinned.
"Actually, Hiratsuka-sensei, you could still order if you want. This guy's loaded."
"I know, but there's no need. I'm not exactly short on cash either. You've already ordered plenty. If it's not enough, we can always add more later."
Taking another sip of cola, Shizuka looked at Yukino and Eriri with a sigh.
"In the blink of an eye, even Yukino and Eriri have graduated. Time really does fly."
Ichin nodded.
"It does. It's already been three years since I started my studio. Speaking of which, maybe it's about time I gave Kō and the other founding members a raise?"
Utaha agreed.
"They should, yes. Last year, aside from the bonus after Persona's sales shot up, everyone only got a small salary increase across the board. But Kō and the other veterans deserve their own separate raise by now."
With the projects at the company growing larger and larger, Ichin not only had to maintain the usual welfare, but giving Kō and the others a raise was well-deserved.
For him, raising a few salaries wasn't a big deal anyway.
After thinking it through, Ichin decided he'd call them together tomorrow for a small meeting to bring it up.
"Though Umiko isn't around right now, it doesn't matter. The salaries all come out of my pocket anyway."
The rest of the evening passed peacefully over dinner.
Eating and chatting, everyone happily spent over an hour together.
When it was over, they each went their own ways, with Ichin giving Eriri a ride home.
April's school season slowly passed by. Yukino had completely adapted to life at Todai, her daily routine revolving around the classroom, the library, and the cafeteria.
After class, aside from occasionally dropping by the company, she usually went home to spend time with her cats—soothing herself by cuddling them and drawing energy from their presence.
Eriri's situation was similar. But the coursework in the Fine Arts Department wasn't difficult for a genius illustrator like her—at most, it just consumed more time.
At the company, after a month's work, the first test version of Fall Guys was finally completed.
Of course, it only had two competition stages, and just a handful of costumes made, but it was enough to begin testing gameplay.
Since there were only two maps, a public test wasn't possible, so they had to keep it internal. Fortunately, with so many people at the company, testing was easy.
Once everyone opened the program, they all joined the single available room—sixty people filled it instantly.
Ichin didn't join in, instead sitting beside Utaha, watching her play.
Utaha picked a cat costume for her Fall Guy, setting it to a creamy white. Watching her silly, adorable character drop from the sky as the game loaded, she commented with interest,
"Just the art style alone should be enough to attract a lot of players."
"You won't be saying that after you actually play… though for now it should be fine."
Since this was only an internal test, Ichin figured there wouldn't be too many trolls—no one should be trying deliberate sabotage.
Utaha glanced at him suspiciously but didn't press further, as the game was about to begin.
On the starting line, sixty colorful, oddly shaped Fall Guys crowded together, the sight itself already amusing.
Countdown—3, 2, 1—Go!
At the sound of the whistle, the characters dashed forward toward the first obstacle course.
It was a jumping stage: rows of spinning circular platforms ahead, each with a rotating bar sweeping across. One wrong move, and you'd get smacked clean off.
Utaha hadn't made it into the front row, so she calmly stayed in the middle pack, waiting for her chance. Timing it carefully, she jumped onto the first disk.
Her rhythm was good—she cleared the first platform, dodged the sweeping bar, and hopped easily onto the second.
So far so smooth—until a Fall Guy ahead of her got whacked by the bar and bounced from the third platform all the way back to the second… landing directly on top of her!
"Ahhh!"
With a scream, Utaha's Fall Guy lost balance and plummeted off the platform into the clouds, respawning back at the starting line.
Seeing the Fall Guy who had respawned beside her at the same time—and the ID floating over its head—Utaha's face twisted in irritation.
"That Eriri! She did it on purpose, didn't she?"
Ichin burst out laughing at the sight. It was just too funny—this was exactly the kind of chaotic entertainment the game was made for.
Even while laughing, he didn't forget to coach Utaha on her first playthrough.
"You saw the controls earlier, right? Besides grabbing walls and props, the grab action can also grab other players."
"Grab… players?!"
Utaha immediately understood. She tailed Eriri's character closely, jumping just as Eriri leapt, and landed squarely behind her.
Eriri, who had been focused on catching up to the front, suddenly noticed Utaha closing in behind her. A bad feeling surged in her chest.
And sure enough, the next second Utaha's Fall Guy stretched out its pudgy little arms and latched right onto Eriri's back.
"Noooo!!!!"
Wham!
Both of them were swept off the platform together.
"KASUMIGAOKA UTAHA!"
Unfortunately, Utaha was in Ichin's office at the time and couldn't hear Eriri's furious cry.
For the next half-minute, the two of them just kept sabotaging each other on the very first obstacle. By the time twenty players had cleared the round, the two of them still hadn't even made it past the first section.
Even though she was eliminated, Utaha wasn't the least bit disappointed. Instead, her face was lit up with joy.
"This game really does make people happy so easily, doesn't it, Ichin!"
But the very next second, the office door was slammed open.
"Kasumigaoka Utaha! I challenge you to a duel!" Eriri shouted.
*
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