September. The new school term began.
During the rest of August, Ichin and his team continued their projects steadily, and by the end of the month successfully launched the very first season of Fall Guys.
As one of the activities to keep the hype going, the season pass was released free of charge, with plenty of great rewards tied to season levels.
Of course, alongside it came paid skin packs, giving less-skilled but well-off players a chance to grab premium cosmetics.
For the big spenders, the price of a skin pack in Fall Guys was nothing—just fifty or sixty yen-equivalent, not even close to the kind of ¥648 packs common in mobile games.
Since the skins were of high quality and couldn't be unlocked through grinding, sales turned out surprisingly strong.
That morning, Ichin arrived at school with Utaha.
After they split up, Ichin had barely walked into class before several guys surrounded him with questions about the game.
Though Fall Guys didn't look as large in scale as action or RPG games, it was undeniably fun—and even several girls in class, who normally didn't play games much, had gotten hooked.
After Ichin dropped them a few hints about upcoming updates, the bell rang and everyone settled into their first lecture after summer break.
The second half of sophomore year meant classes much harder than freshman year, but for Ichin—who constantly engaged in practical work and research—it wasn't particularly challenging.
After class, the professor called him into the office.
"A recruitment fair for graduating students?"
Ichin nodded and immediately agreed. "Of course. Our company's already planning to expand. Hosting a recruitment fair right here on campus would be perfect."
Plenty of fourth-year computer science students had excellent skills, and Ichin had already been planning to scout a few of them after term started. A job fair was inevitable anyway.
Compared to public job fairs, an on-campus event might draw fewer candidates, but Tokyo University's graduates—even fresh ones—were guaranteed to be high-caliber.
And thanks to his good relationship with professors, Ichin could even learn in advance about students' abilities, making recruitment much easier.
Besides programmers, Ichin also wanted a few economics majors to form the future business department—handling the company's integrated online merch store and managing business partnerships for upcoming games.
But there was no rush. That could wait until fall, a couple months away.
After a quick discussion with the professor, Ichin left the arrangements to the school. All he had to do later was bring his people to the assigned venue.
At noon, Ichin picked up Utaha, then met with Yukino, and the three headed to the cafeteria together.
On the way, Yukino said, "During break, my sister messaged me. She said she has no lunch today."
Ichin chuckled. "Haruno already came pestering me this morning, but unfortunately we used up all the ingredients last night—and she herself ate quite a lot. Looks like she ran to you to complain instead."
Yukino nodded, a small smile on her lips. "Yes. She said you didn't reply to her message at all—not even a read receipt."
Ichin pulled out his phone and tapped it on. "Well, obviously. Who checks their phone during class? I'm a model student!"
Both Utaha and Yukino rolled their eyes in unison.
Ichin's grades were indeed stellar, but no one would ever believe he behaved properly in class.
Back in high school, Utaha had seen him many times ignoring lectures to sketch out game project plans.
Even in university, when she occasionally sat in on his classes, he'd busy himself with side work or whisper conversations during lessons he already knew by heart. And even when called on, he'd stand up and answer perfectly, without missing a beat.
Utaha poked his arm. "I might believe that from someone else, but you, Ichin? Don't embarrass yourself."
"Fine, fine."
At the cafeteria, after ordering, the three sat down to eat.
Between bites of fried rice, Ichin told them about his talk with the professor regarding the job fair.
"Ahh, job fairs… true, it's about time for seniors to start job hunting." Utaha nodded. "And yeah, the operations side really does need more people. Right now it's mostly Hazuki handling partnerships with her own connections. That can't last forever. Still, beyond fresh recruits, you should bring in a couple experienced hires to lead the teams."
"Don't worry. Public recruitment already started at the end of August."
Still, with expansion continuing, the company would need to lock down a new office space by next year—
A dedicated office building.
It didn't have to be huge, but it had to be independent—better suited for the company's future.
In Japan, the company would need at least three development groups, plus an online operations team, a business department for partnerships, and a whole set of support and logistics teams.
All of that together would make the company more structured and push it step by step toward becoming a true major studio.
Right now, its internal organization was still too simple.
Snapping his fingers, Ichin decided he'd ask Haruno tonight to scout for potential locations.
If an existing office building was available, they could start renovations step by step. If it was empty land, construction would take longer, but that was fine.
Financially, the company was in great shape. Such an investment was no problem.
Watching Ichin's shifting expression, Utaha leaned toward Yukino and said knowingly, "Looks like he's plotting something new again."
Yukino thought for a moment, then said, "Recruitment, expanding staff… is this about moving to a new site?"
"Oh? You figured it out, Yukino?" Ichin looked at her with surprise. "I didn't even say anything yet."
"It was just a simple deduction from what you've been saying."
Yukino smiled and shook her head. "If that's the case, you'll need to go through my sister. I'd say be ready to get taken advantage of."
Ichin spread his hands helplessly. "On that point, I'm already prepared. She won't gouge me on price—but she'll definitely squeeze every other advantage she can out of me."
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