Chapter 162. Sorry We Couldn't Make Lord Masato Go All Out
Not to mention a certain game designer who was already bewildered in the wind, over at Gensokyo Company the game was basically finished, and to test bugs, the employees spontaneously became testers and kicked off a tense, thrilling internal Apex competition.
Although Xander Masato felt they were just looking for an excuse to play games on the clock, he also thought it seemed fun, so he proposed that the winning squad would get a free set of Apex merchandise and earn the right to treat everyone to hotpot tonight.
Of course, they would be the ones treating, while Xander would foot the bill.
It's not that he didn't want to hand out cash directly.
After all, this was just a casual tourney.
If the amount was too small it would look stingy, and if it was too big and made everyone see red, that wouldn't be good either.
After dividing into teams and setting the rules, Xander also rolled up his sleeves and pulled Bronya and Kaguya into a squad, joining the match.
As for the result, in the first warm-up scrim, those three combined for twenty-nine kills, and then got collectively protested by the employees and were booted straight to the commentary desk on the grounds of "absolutely no gameplay experience."
"Wonderful—one magazine sprayed into the backs of Team 'I Want to Be Stepped On by Lady Remi,' and they're all down.
Oh!
Didn't expect the opposing 'I Want to Become Lady UUZ's Food' to be hidden dragons and crouching tigers, too.
They friendly-fired for a whole minute.
Ah, here comes 'Flandre-sis Is the Best,' and she cleaned them all up.
Lovely."
Hearing Xander's thoroughly punchable commentary, the two eliminated teams clenched their fists and gritted their teeth on the spot, desperately reminding themselves in their hearts: That's the boss, you can't hit him.
That's the boss, you can't hit him…
Speaking of those team names, we have to go back several months.
Back when Apex Legends had just been greenlit, while the new hires were still training and didn't have too much on their plates, Xander figured idle hands are the devil's workshop and grafted Gensokyo's setting onto each team name, even drawing dedicated character portraits.
Those somewhat otaku programmers had secretly mocked the boss's chuunibyou at first, but within a few days they had transformed into fans of certain characters and started going feral in the office.
Of course, he'd made slight adjustments to the names and portraits, only keeping the nicknames sounding the same, to avoid any awkward situations.
After all, Kaguya and Sanae were here, but he couldn't be sure about the others.
As for Eientei, he directly wrote a different set of lore.
Even if he gave Kaguya an alias, he would still feel uncomfortably awkward, so better to just change all the characters entirely.
Finally, when the match ended, Xander read the results with a deadpan face.
"Congratulations to Team 'I Want to Press My Face Against Pad Chief's Chest' for taking the win.
Tch, who came up with that name?
Careful, or Pad Chief will time-stop and strangle you with her stockings."
Hearing this, three bespectacled boys in the group were instantly overjoyed and exclaimed, "There's a perk like that?!"
Kaguya and Bronya on the side couldn't get a word in at all.
Watching this scene, they could only shake their heads in amusement.
After awarding the prize to first place, and to vent his frustration at not being allowed to compete, when ordering hotpot for dinner, Xander asked if anyone had dietary restrictions, then directly ordered spicy broth for everyone.
After that, he took Bronya and Kaguya home, retiring unsung.
After dinner, Xander, stretching lazily, suddenly noticed Seele sitting on the sofa snickering at her phone.
He grew curious at once and leaned in, hugging her neck from behind.
"What are you looking at that's making you so happy?"
Hearing her brother's voice at her ear, Seele gave him a peck on the corner of his lips with the sweet taste of the fruit she had just eaten, then smiled and spoke.
"Brother, everyone at Gensokyo is roasting you right now~"
"Roasting me?
Roasting me for what?"
Raising a brow, Xander shot back.
"For the hotpot tonight, of course.
Lots of people couldn't handle the spice and have started calling you a heartless boss."
"Serves them right.
Who told them to complain and keep me from playing?"
Seeing the displeased look on her brother's face—as if he were a kid who didn't get his toy—Seele burst into laughter.
Her brother was always mature and reliable in serious matters.
But when it came to these little things, he turned into a cute child instead, making her want to hug him and soothe him.
She didn't know whether calling a six-foot adult male "cute" was appropriate, but that's how Seele felt.
"It's all Bronya's fault for killing too fast.
I couldn't hold her back."
Suddenly being implicated, Bronya froze for a moment.
Holding her juice, she bit the straw and protested angrily.
"I only got nine.
Kaguya got three.
Doesn't that leave the remaining seventeen all yours?
Also, it was clearly Kaguya and me holding you back.
So now you're going to turn black into white, huh!"
"Then they were just too weak."
"…You're right."
Kaguya smiled quietly on the side without saying anything.
In truth, those people weren't weak at all.
It's just that her husband and Bronya were too strong.
She hadn't even really started playing before the two of them had already wiped out every enemy they could see.
"Aiya, sounds like you're talking about something fun.
Can I join?~"
Someone suddenly landed on Xander's back.
A soft sensation piled up on his shoulders, and pink hair draped past his ear, tickling his cheek.
A wild Elysia appeared.
"Nothing much.
We were talking about the in-house tournament at the company this afternoon."
Before Xander finished, Seele snickered and twisted the knife.
"Because Brother wasn't allowed to play, he treated everyone to all-spicy hotpot tonight.
Now everyone's roasting him~"
"Seele, hush!"
Xander pinched Seele's cheeks in mild embarrassment, and the girl immediately cried for mercy.
"Ah-Yu, you're too mean~"
"I—I wasn't, really…
Right, Seele, how did you get added to their internal staff group chat?
Even I'm not in there!"
Quickly changing the subject, Xander asked Seele.
"Hmph-hmph, that's Seele's secret~"
"Fair enough.
Just keep an eye on it then.
If anything comes up, speak up."
He knew all too well how deceptively innocent Seele seemed on the surface.
He mustn't treat her like some airheaded sweetheart.
Assigned her "little spy" duty, Seele immediately raised her hand high and, pretending to be solemn, said, "Agent Seele has received the order.
I guarantee mission success!"
Ding ding ding~
Suddenly, Bronya's phone rang.
When she looked at the screen, a smile appeared at the corner of her lips.
She gestured to Seele and Kaguya.
"Mom Cocolia is calling.
Want to join?"
"Mm-mm!" Seele nodded happily.
"Concubine also wishes to join." Kaguya was a bit expectant as well.
Ever since that New Year's meeting with Cocolia, Kaguya was no longer afraid of her and even wanted to chat more.
Because as they talked, the topic would always turn toward her husband, letting Kaguya hear many stories about his past.
Chirping together, the three went upstairs to the second floor, and the living room soon felt empty.
Griseo had locked her door and was drawing something unknown.
Kiana had been pulled by Sirin to stream a duo game.
Mei simply wasn't home at all.
She had gone back for a visit, saying her father had returned, and that the father and daughter would have a long-overdue meal together.
She'd even taken a day off for it.
The remaining Elysia got even clingier.
She practically squeezed herself entirely onto him, pouting and acting spoiled.
"How nice.
It sounds like you have so much fun at the company.
But Eden assigned me a lot of homework, so I haven't had time to come see you at the office."
Hearing Elysia's little complaint, Xander suddenly realized that ever since work started, aside from weekends, he could only spend a short stretch of time with Elysia every evening.
Was she feeling a bit lonely?
Xander turned around so that instead of Elysia hugging him, he was hugging her.
Looking at her slightly downcast expression, he said gently, "In that case, graduate sooner, and then come over to be music director."
Upon hearing this, Elysia immediately shook her head quickly.
"That won't do.
Eeden is very important to you, right?
And I don't want to be separated from Eden.
I'll pass on being the music director."
"You're more important than all that.
Besides… who said there can only be one music director~"
Elysia was moved by the first sentence, but the second made her feelings vanish without a trace.
She puffed up her cheeks and pretended to be angry, giving him a twist.
"Ah-Yu, bad!"
No sooner had she said it than Elysia failed to hold back a giggle.
She tapped Xander on the cheek and said happily, "It's fine.
Eeden said that in two more months, I can come to the company as her intern.
Then we can be together every day~"
"That's pretty great."
Glancing at the time, he took Elysia's soft hand and, seeing her puzzled expression, invited her with a smile.
"It's still early.
Would the beautiful maiden Elysia like to go for a walk with me?"
He hadn't even finished the invitation when Elysia responded, barely able to contain her excitement.
"Of course!"
He called her a beautiful maiden—of course she wouldn't refuse~
Saying that, she suddenly moved behind Xander, then—heave-ho—jumped up and hugged his neck.
Seeing Seele do this last time, Elysia had long wanted to try it, but never found the chance.
Feeling Xander's arms lift her by the thighs, Elysia happily pointed toward the door.
"Ah-Yu Express, depart!"
"Alright, alright~"
Fulfilling Elysia's little wish, Xander carried her like that, and the two figures melted into the night together.
Everyone had their own thing to do, and time flowed quickly and quietly.
Very soon, it was the day before the Schicksal Game Expo began.
Because of jet lag from the flight, Xander Masato was still hugging Seele and sleeping soundly in the hotel, so only the other Gensokyo staff were responsible for setting up the venue today.
Not seeing Xander Masato at the site—not even the other two lead designers from Gensokyo Company—left some of the exhibiting members a bit disappointed.
They had wanted to get in good with these promising game designers early, and it would make it easier to discuss collaborations at the internal show tomorrow, right?
Unfortunately for them, they didn't know that Xander and the others wouldn't be coming tomorrow either.
As for games—
The hype for Apex Legends was getting higher and higher.
Especially after Eden updated another game track two days ago, the heat exploded even more.
Every day, the Gensokyo Company blog was flooded with countless player comments.
Those long-standing FPS studios looked at the decreasing daily active users of their games and didn't even dare think about how many players their titles would have left once Apex actually launched.
It's already like this before launch.
After launch, will they even get a chance to be played?
Aside from a few massive titles, all the small studios were trembling.
And this time Schicksal's representative on the FPS side, John, had also arrived at the hall to begin setup.
After a day of work, he smiled and saw off the seniors who came to reassure him not to be nervous and declined their dinner invitations.
Only after everyone left did he sigh.
They truly weren't nervous, because they weren't making FPS games, so they wouldn't run into that great demon king, Xander.
Glancing at the biggest booth in the center of the venue, he sighed again.
That spot had always been Schicksal's, but after the leadership change, whether to curry favor or not, they had given the best location to Gensokyo Company.
If they couldn't compete, they chose to add icing on the cake?
At that moment, he suddenly noticed a young man not far away who looked equally desolate.
Judging by his appearance, he was likely East Asian.
For some reason, John felt a faint sense of kindred attraction, and he walked over without thinking.
"Hey, brother, you don't look too happy."
Coming up beside him, John greeted him with a smile.
The young man smiled at these words but didn't say much.
"Judging from your clothes, you should be from Kamijo Tech?" John pressed on.
The young man finally responded.
"Mm."
He nodded slightly and then spoke somewhat bitterly.
"I'm in charge of an FPS project."
"!!!"
No wonder John felt the affinity—turns out they were fellow sufferers.
His expression grew warmer, and he asked in a whisper, "Did your original FPS also get delayed?"
He had looked through the expo's registration list and knew that Kamijo, like Schicksal, had switched titles for FPS.
As two of the world's three major tech conglomerates, Schicksal and Kamijo naturally had countless studios of various sizes under them, and they had plenty working on FPS.
It seemed John and this young man had become the "lucky ones" representing the two giants.
"Also?
Then you guys…"
"Yeah~"
"…"
A light appeared simultaneously in their eyes—the light of kindred spirits.
They shook hands and found each other more pleasing the more they looked.
If not for the wrong setting, they might have wanted to hug it out.
Finding an empty row of chairs to sit, the one from Kamijo looked younger, so he first lifted his water cup and said to John, "I'm younger, so let me call you big bro.
We two brothers hit it off at first sight.
Now I'll toast you with tea instead of wine!"
John waved his hands modestly.
"Hey, brother, no need for toasts.
To be honest, seeing you is like seeing my younger, energetic self.
Feels real close."
"Big bro!"
"Brother!"
After a "deeply affectionate" look, John patted his shoulder.
"As for this expo, I'll be frank—we're basically cannon fodder.
Little bro, don't take it to heart."
"Don't worry, I won't."
"Mm.
Looking on the bright side, Xander joining the Schicksal Game Expo this time will bring in far more heat than past years.
Once players get tired after grinding Apex, maybe we can sip some soup, too.
That'd be far better than our original marketing plan."
Aside from the confidence hit, John added silently to himself.
"Big bro's right.
Maybe we'll catch quite a bit of heat as well.
Besides, Designer Xander is my idol.
Getting to see my idol makes this trip a win already."
Scratching his head, the young man chuckled sheepishly.
"Indeed.
Designer Xander is too incredible.
In just a few short years there are so many achievements, it's hard to imagine what heights he'll reach."
"Exactly.
He even made something like Pokémon, yet he keeps exploring new games."
He sighed and continued.
"It's a pity our venerable senior at Kamijo ran into some issues and couldn't make the deadline, or I'd have high hopes for his game.
Going head-to-head with Designer Xander would've been a clash of titans worth watching, unlike the game I'm in charge of…"
"Not being able to make Designer Xander go all out—truly, I'm sorry."
John: "…"
So the kid was a rabid fan after all.
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