Friday, 6 December 2001.
18:00, ZAGE Complex, Japan.
The ZAGE Tavern sat only a short walk from ZAGE Tower and had become one of the most popular places around the entire complex whenever employees finished a long day of work. Despite its name, it was not limited to ZAGE employees. The public could enter freely, and that was exactly why the place was almost always crowded in the evening. Developers, office workers, students, tourists, and families regularly filled the tables, especially because the food was unusually affordable considering how good it was.
Inside one corner near the cafeteria section, three exhausted Team IZAN employees had finally found an empty table.
The first was Takata, a short man in his mid-thirties with neatly cut hair and the permanently tired expression of someone who had already survived too many production meetings. His ZAGE identification card hung casually from his shirt. Sitting across from him was Yuuya, slightly younger and taller, with longer hair that had become increasingly messy throughout the workday. Beside him sat Yuuhi, a young woman with shoulder-length hair and an attractive, cheerful face that somehow still looked energetic despite the exhaustion shared by everyone else at the table.
All three worked under Team IZAN.
And right now, none of them wanted to hear the words ZEPS 4 for at least the next hour.
Yuuya dropped himself deeper into his seat and groaned while staring at the plate of karaage in front of him. "Aghhh… this ZEPS 4 insanity is seriously killing me. I barely feel like I have time to breathe anymore."
Takata, who had already cracked open one of the large crabs he ordered, looked completely unconcerned. He pulled out a piece of meat before replying, "At least we have somewhere like this. Look at this damn crab, Yuuya. The price is ridiculously cheap for what we're getting." He pointed toward the food with his chopsticks and smiled. "If I worked somewhere else, this thing would probably cost twice as much."
Yuuhi happily ate another spoonful of banana ice cream before nodding several times. "He's right. This place is heaven. I don't even care how busy work becomes as long as nobody takes away my banana ice cream."
Yuuya looked at her with disbelief. "That's your motivation?"
Yuuhi smiled innocently and replied, "Yes."
Takata laughed. "Simple people live happier lives."
"Hey!"
Despite complaining, Yuuya quickly returned his attention to the karaage. The food was one of the reasons employees loved ZAGE Tavern so much. Zaboru had originally wanted restaurants around the ZAGE complex to remain affordable enough that developers could eat proper meals without constantly worrying about prices. As ZAGE expanded, the Tavern had gradually become almost an unofficial gathering point where different teams could relax after work.
Unfortunately, even good food could not completely erase development fatigue.
Yuuya sighed again and said, "But seriously… our projects are getting ridiculous. Shinji Mikami-san, Shinji Owara-san, and Shinji Suiyoko-san are practically machines now. I swear those three barely stop moving." He grabbed another piece of karaage before continuing, "And the worst part is Hideki Kamiya-san. He's usually the one telling everybody to calm down and stop taking everything too seriously, but now even he joined them. The man has become terrifying."
Takata chuckled. "Kamiya-san becoming serious is how you know development is getting dangerous."
Yuuhi rested her spoon against the side of her bowl and sighed. "It can't really be helped. ZEPS 4 games require so much more detail than ZEPS 3. Bigger environments, better animation, higher-quality models, physics, lighting, online functions… everything feels like it suddenly became twice as complicated."
Yuuya raised an eyebrow. "Twice?"
Yuuhi thought about it for a second. "Okay. Maybe four times."
"That sounds more accurate."
Takata continued eating his crab while listening to both of them complain. After a moment, he smiled and said, "The scary part isn't even how complicated the games are. It's how quickly everybody here adapts. Give ZAGE employees some new tool that would probably take another studio six months to understand, and somehow within a few weeks everybody acts like they've used it for years."
Yuuya nodded immediately. "That part is insane."
Team IZAN had been forced to learn an enormous number of new technologies over the previous months. ZEPS 4's architecture was different enough from ZEPS 3 that several old development habits simply could not continue unchanged. Fortunately, Unreal Engine—created and continuously developed by ZAGE itself—had made the transition considerably smoother. Whenever developers discovered an engine limitation, they could directly communicate with ZAGE's own Unreal Engine engineers rather than waiting for an outside company to provide support.
Sendou Fiber also connected ZAGE's major offices around the world, allowing Team IZAN to share enormous development files with ZAGE Campus, ZAGE Hub, or ZAGE Base almost immediately. Internal communication tools made it easy to contact programmers, artists, hardware engineers, or specialists working in completely different countries.
From the employees' perspective, all of this had gradually become normal.
Only occasionally did they remember how absurd their workplace actually was.
Yuuhi looked thoughtfully at her ice cream and said, "Honestly, I'm more surprised that I haven't burned out yet. These last few months were insane. I'm learning new things constantly, working on systems I didn't even understand last year, and somehow I still feel… okay." She suddenly smiled proudly and pointed toward herself. "Maybe I'm secretly a genius."
Yuuya looked at her for a moment before replying, "That confidence came very suddenly."
"It's possible!"
Takata smiled and said, "Maybe you are, but I think ZAGE deserves some credit too."
Yuuhi tilted her head. "What do you mean?"
Takata wiped his hands before leaning back comfortably. "Before I worked here, weekends were basically fake. My old company technically gave us Saturday and Sunday off, but everybody knew we were expected to come in anyway whenever deadlines got close. Sometimes we worked weekends just so Monday wouldn't become a disaster." He shrugged before adding, "Here? Management actually gets angry if people keep working through rest days without approval."
Yuuya nodded slowly. "That still feels weird."
"Exactly," Takata replied. "If you're sick, you take sick leave. If you need vacation, you can actually request it without everybody acting like you betrayed the company. Overtime happens, obviously, especially now with ZEPS 4, but they track it properly. We get compensation, food, transportation, bonuses when projects perform well… hell, even the Tavern is partially subsidised."
Yuuhi smiled and added, "And they actually force some people to take leave if they accumulate too much unused vacation."
Takata laughed. "That happened to Shinji Owara-san once."
Yuuya nearly choked on his food. "Seriously?"
"Apparently HR basically told him, 'Please stop coming to work for a week.'"
Yuuhi immediately laughed. "I can imagine him standing outside ZAGE Tower looking completely lost."
Takata nodded while chuckling. "Probably wondering what normal people do during vacation."
The three laughed together, and for a moment the exhaustion disappeared.
Takata eventually became more thoughtful. "That's probably why we can survive periods like this without collapsing. ZAGE asks a lot from us, especially now, but at least the company treats employees like human beings instead of disposable parts."
Yuuhi nodded. "Yeah. Sometimes I complain, but I don't actually hate coming to work."
Yuuya sighed dramatically and said, "I hate coming to work."
Takata stared at him.
Yuuya immediately clarified, "I mean specifically at eight in the morning."
"That's different."
"Exactly."
Yuuhi laughed again.
Despite all their complaining, Team IZAN had good reason to be exhausted. Like every major ZAGE team, most of their future development attention had shifted toward ZEPS 4, although existing ZEPS 3 and other ongoing projects still needed to be completed. That meant the transition period was particularly brutal. Teams were learning new hardware while simultaneously supporting older projects, preparing future titles, and experimenting with systems that had never existed on ZAGE hardware before.
And Team IZAN had received particularly ambitious work.
Yuuya stabbed another piece of karaage with his chopsticks and groaned. "But still… those two ZEPS 4 projects assigned to us are fucking insane. The Red Devil alone is already—"
Takata's eyes widened immediately.
"SHHH!"
Yuuya stopped.
Takata leaned across the table and lowered his voice. "You idiot. What the hell are you doing?"
Yuuya blinked. "What?"
Takata pointed subtly around the room with his chopsticks. "This isn't the employee cafeteria. The Tavern is public."
Only then did Yuuya remember where they were.
Several nearby tables contained ordinary civilians. A university-age couple sat only a few metres away. Two businessmen were eating noodles near the wall, while a small group of teenagers had apparently come specifically because they wanted to visit the famous restaurant beside ZAGE Tower.
Yuuya's face immediately became pale.
"Oh my God."
Yuuhi covered her mouth, trying desperately not to laugh. "Yuuya-kun… you might actually be in trouble."
"I didn't say anything important!"
"You literally said the project name."
"Only one!"
Takata stared at him in disbelief. "That is not a defence!"
Yuuya quickly lowered his voice. "Okay, okay! Nobody heard me."
Takata looked around suspiciously before whispering, "You better hope so. Those projects aren't even publicly announced yet."
Yuuya swallowed nervously and returned his attention to his karaage, suddenly finding the plate extremely interesting. "I'm going to pretend the last thirty seconds never happened."
Yuuhi smiled mischievously and said, "Maybe I should report you."
Yuuya immediately looked toward her. "Please don't."
"Hehehe…"
"You're enjoying this way too much."
Takata shook his head and resumed eating. "Just be more careful. ZAGE security will probably kill you before Kamiya-san does."
Yuuya paled again. "That didn't help."
Of course, none of them realised that someone sitting several tables away had heard almost everything.
The man looked completely ordinary at first glance. His clothes were simple, his hair had been slightly changed, and a small pair of glasses helped hide his face. He sat alone with several plates surrounding him, most of them already empty.
There was karaage.
A ridiculous amount of karaage.
Some grilled meat.
Rice.
Several side dishes.
And enough food for most people to assume he was waiting for several friends.
He was not.
Zaboru casually picked up another piece of karaage and continued eating while listening to Team IZAN complain about work.
He had originally visited ZAGE Tavern simply because he was hungry.
Very hungry.
That was normal.
His Enlightenment Body required an absurd amount of food, and after spending most of the day reviewing ZEPS 4 progress reports, checking development documents, and helping several teams solve technical problems, he decided that eating somewhere outside his private office sounded much more pleasant.
So he disguised himself slightly and came to the Tavern. When he heard his employees talking nearby, Zaboru had no intention of interrupting them at first. He actually found the conversation entertaining. More importantly, it gave him something executives rarely received: completely unfiltered feedback. Managers naturally cleaned up reports, team leaders organised complaints before presenting them, and employees usually became a little more careful whenever Zaboru joined a conversation. They were comfortable around him—Zaboru had always encouraged that—but there was still a natural difference between joking with coworkers and joking directly in front of the man who owned the entire company.
Sitting several tables away while nobody recognised him gave Zaboru a much clearer picture. Takata, Yuuya, and Yuuhi were obviously exhausted by ZEPS 4 development, and that concerned him, but they did not sound miserable. They complained about deadlines and difficult systems while simultaneously praising the working environment, employee treatment, learning opportunities, and even the food inside the Tavern. Zaboru smiled slightly when Yuuhi declared that she might secretly be a genius. Maybe my Aura of Influence deserves a little credit there.
Then Yuuya casually mentioned one of Team IZAN's confidential projects.
Zaboru nearly choked on his karaage and slowly looked toward him. Bruh.
Fortunately, Takata immediately noticed the mistake and stopped him before anything genuinely sensitive escaped. Zaboru relaxed again and decided there was no reason to make a big deal out of it. Yuuya had made a stupid mistake, but people made stupid mistakes. Unless someone intentionally leaked company information, Zaboru had never enjoyed treating employees like criminals over every small slip.
For a few more minutes, he considered remaining where he was and allowing them to continue talking freely. Then another thought crossed his mind. These three had spent most of dinner discussing how exhausting the ZEPS 4 transition had become. Sitting with them might actually give him a better understanding of what Team IZAN was dealing with.
Not as some distant CEO conducting an interrogation.
Just as another game developer eating dinner after work.
Zaboru grabbed his enormous plate of karaage, stood from his table, and casually approached them. Takata noticed him first and briefly studied the unfamiliar-looking man, while Yuuhi glanced over curiously. Yuuya remained completely focused on his food until Zaboru stopped beside the empty chair and smiled. "Hey, mind if I join you guys?"
Yuuya looked up and casually replied, "Sure, man, there's still—" before suddenly stopping. He narrowed his eyes, looked at Zaboru again, and then immediately recognised him. "Wait… Boss?"
To be continued.
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