Chapter 176. What Is It to Taste a Love Rival on a Lover's Lips
The Apex Legends entertainment invitational came to a close.
With so many celebrities taking part, it naturally tossed fresh fuel on an already blazing-hot game.
In just four short matches, a trove of meme-worthy moments was born that players wouldn't stop talking about.
More than half involved Kiana and the others, making people exclaim that they were downright geniuses at gaming.
A punch with mind and body as one, Heaven's gift, Apex players' static eyesight, and finally that airborne one-shot-through-three with the Kraber—each made players replay the clips on loop, never getting tired of them.
Beyond the game, Kiana—as the voice actor for Lifeline—naturally gained a massive surge in popularity.
Her blog, which hadn't had many followers, skyrocketed overnight to the million range, making the girl so happy she couldn't sleep, hugging her phone and giggling as she scrolled and scrolled.
The small wish she'd told Xander Masato about half a month ago came true.
At the end of the final match last night, the entire audience was cheering her name.
Although having so many people shout "Dominating Yuehai Fish-Cat" left Kiana shy and red-faced, that feeling of everyone cheering and celebrating her let Kiana taste something entirely new, like she might float away.
The day after the tournament, Xander Masato lay on Elysia's lap, scrolling his phone with a face that refused to accept reality.
"This doesn't make sense."
Although their team took first in total points by kill count last night, next to Kiana's heaven-defying final shot, any placement looked dull and dim.
The "no recoil" toggle is just always on, huh?
If he weren't the organizer himself, he'd really suspect the game had sprouted a cheater.
Flying up and blind-scoping a triple through—what kind of busted luck was that?
Now, opening his phone, whether it was the trending lists or gaming forums, they were all basically discussing that one shot from last night, while he had been reduced to a complete background prop—dragging along that clip of his shocked, bewildered face from getting one-tapped by the Kraber.
Every time Kiana was mentioned, he got whipped out and flogged again.
"Don't move your feet!"
Smack—Bronya swatted his foot.
To unwind from the half month of grinding work, Gensokyo Company had given everyone two days off.
By late morning, the laid-back bunch had gathered in the first-floor living room.
Sleepy beyond words, Kiana had been pulled by Sirin to stream some games.
That jaw-dropping performance yesterday had also brought nearly a million new followers to Sirin's channel, so of course she needed to stream more to maintain it—and conveniently tug in the currently high-discussion Kiana to juice herself a bit too.
As for Mei, she was in the kitchen making sweets.
Ever since Eirin Yagokoro took over as general manager, Mei didn't have to be so busy anymore, and Seele's position had started to be challenged.
Up to now, the two were vaguely showing a trend of splitting the court into two rival powers.
With downtime on their hands, Bronya and the others started looking for fun at Xander Masato's expense.
Squeezed together on the sofa, they held Xander's feet, trimmed his toenails, shaved his leg hair clean, then whipped out a pile of multicolored nail polish and happily started painting.
Hearing Bronya's voice, he looked down to see both feet pressed onto her lap, while Seele and Kaguya each held a little brush, earnestly painting his nails.
Half of his ten toenails had already been ravaged.
Xander sighed, withdrew his gaze, and let them have their fun.
"Elysia~"
He rubbed his face against Elysia's soft, silky thighs.
Since they were at home, Elysia was only wearing short hot pants; the zero-distance touch of smooth thighs made for quite the lovely experience.
"Mmh-hm~"
A bewitching smile curved Elysia's face.
Seeing Xander so dependent on her right now, her smile deepened a touch.
"Xander was already amazing, okay?
In that situation yesterday, there's nothing anyone could have done."
Gently stroking his hair, her voice was very soft.
Her full thigh flesh pressed together, leaving not a gap between her legs.
I wonder how good it would feel to squeeze something in there...
Xander Masato lifted his gaze.
The cropped top that revealed her waist was stretched taut and bulging; from below, he could barely see Elysia's face.
Even from under the raised hem, he could clearly see the ample fruits wrapped in lace.
After pausing to admire for a moment, Xander pulled his gaze back and turned his head, burying his face against Elysia's little tummy.
Her little tummy was warm, soft, and plush—burying into it felt very comfortable.
Sure enough, a bit of plushness is the most comfortable.
No need to tell Elysia that the weight she'd finally managed to lose had quietly crept back again.
His warm breath on her skin made Elysia reflexively tighten her belly.
Then she teasingly pinched his cheek—there wasn't much force to it; calling it a scold was more like calling it a little act of spoiled affection.
After enjoying it for a while, he finally, and a bit reluctantly, sat up when Mei came out carrying freshly made cookies.
With his toenails now colorful and gaudy, he slipped on his slippers, grabbed a still-warm cookie, and tossed it into his mouth.
"How is it?"
With her gentle voice, Mei set freshly steeped tea on the table.
Rich milky fragrance filled his mouth, and Xander nodded in satisfaction.
"Very nice."
"Brother, do you like eating cookies?"
Seele silently sat beside him, hugged his arm with her small hands, and asked softly.
"I like anything that Seele makes."
There was no way he didn't understand what Seele had in mind, so Xander answered without the slightest hesitation.
"That kind of answer is cheating!"
"I'm just telling the truth."
Noticing how Seele was clearly brightening up, Xander naturally turned the hand she was hugging to lace their fingers together.
"Xander, ah~"
Just then, on the other side, Elysia held a cookie in her mouth and leaned close to his other cheek.
Happily, he shared half a cookie with the fairy lady—and a taste of cherry-blossom lip balm.
Even though he felt Seele twist his waist, his expression stayed thoroughly content.
"Brother, Seele too…"
Imitating the move, the girl bit a cookie and leaned in, feeding her brother with a red face.
Licking her lips after, she boldly shot a provocative glance at Elysia on the other side.
But Elysia only kept smiling, as if she didn't mind at all.
She picked up a cookie, leaned in again just like before, and—without even asking—popped it into Xander's mouth.
He finished quickly.
Just as the unwilling-to-lose Seele was about to continue, she suddenly heard Elysia's laughter-laced voice.
"So Seele's lip balm today is apple-flavored?
How cute~"
"Huh?"
Seele stared in confusion at Elysia licking her lips, then looked at Xander's mouth, and realization dawned.
Her cheeks instantly flushed scarlet.
What's with "tasting a love rival's lip balm on a lover's lips"—so weird.
Mei had seen scenes like this so many times that she didn't bat an eye.
She just naturally sat across from them, sipped tea, and ate snacks.
Fight then.
Stir it up then.
She'd just sit back and enjoy the show.
Seeing Seele get pressed down in just two lines by Elysia, Bronya muttered a useless under her breath, then proactively changed the subject, looking to Mei to ask, "Mei, how's the latest project going with Anti-Entropy's side?"
She grabbed a cookie for herself too, and her eyes lit up quickly.
It did taste great—almost up to Seele's level.
"That little card game?"
"Mm, it's indeed a 'little' card game~"
Noticing the strange look from Mei and Bronya, he drew back the opportunistic, misbehaving hand under Seele's skirt, rubbed the dampness on his fingertips, and replied naturally, "It really is a card game that can bring people some joy.
I think there's no problem."
"Ah, sure, sure—because a 'little' card game absolutely needs over a hundred modelers, with fifty of them being senior veterans.
What a 'little' game indeed!"
Bronya bit off each word, speaking one by one.
"Ahem, don't sweat the details.
Why can't a card game be crafted with utmost care?"
"Heh~"
Without believing Xander at all, Bronya turned back to Mei.
"When are Sakura's people coming over?"
At that, Mei frowned in thought for a bit, then answered after weighing it over, "According to what Eirin said, they should report in at Gensokyo in two days.
After everyone finishes sorting out housing, and gets used to the work environment and into the groove, probably next week."
"No rush on that.
I haven't even written the game design doc yet."
Saying so, he looked at Mei.
"We should have hired quite a few lately, right?"
"Mm.
Roughly around a hundred.
They're currently helping out and learning in the Scarlet Devil Mansion and Hakugyokurou.
Do you have any plans for them?"
"Okay.
Pull five veterans and twenty-five new hires to handle Apex's post-launch operations.
Free up the Scarlet Devil Mansion crew—keeping them on ops after the game's already done is a bit of wasting talent."
Thinking it over, Xander continued, "The remaining game-dev folks can be folded into a new group.
Have Sugisaki Ken lead them.
That guy's temperament and prestige are enough to keep these newcomers in line."
"Splitting them like this—you planning to run two projects at once?"
Bronya cut in with a question.
Hearing that, Xander shook his head.
"There's about half a year left before the Pokémon World Championships.
With only a few dozen from Sakura's side, that's nowhere near enough.
Running two at once can wait.
Let's expand headcount at the Scarlet Devil Mansion and Hakugyokurou some more; then we can try dual-track, even triple-track operations."
Smiling at Bronya, Xander teased, "By then, I'll probably need you and Kaguya to each helm a game.
Nervous?"
"Nervous about what?
You're not going to run away from Gensokyo, are you?"
Though the words sounded brash, anyone could hear the reliance in Bronya's tone toward Xander.
He opened his mouth, then smiled helplessly.
"Of course not."
"Then what's there to worry about."
Flicking her silver hair, Bronya stood up.
"Right, I forgot to mention one more thing."
"Mm?"
Stretching a body ever more criminally tempting, Bronya tilted her head, puzzled as she looked at him.
"I'm planning to set up a Gensokyo-players-only community.
You all can throw in suggestions, then hand it off to Sugisaki Ken and those newbies under him to build.
Fresh grads are likely more creative than the old hands at the Scarlet Devil Mansion and Hakugyokurou."
He was planning to take a page from NGA-style and miHoYo-style communities and make a dedicated community for Gensokyo.
Experience had proven that a good game-community environment was extremely important.
He didn't want it to be that, later on, whenever someone mentioned Gensokyo's games, the mood would instantly turn toxic.
"That's actually a pretty good idea."
Bronya's eyes lit up and she nodded in agreement.
At this moment, Kaguya—who'd been smiling and listening—suddenly raised her hand.
"Husband, this concubine has a proposal."
"Mm?
Let's hear it."
Smiling at Kaguya, he looked over.
She returned the smile.
"For each game team, Husband has designed a dedicated backstory, yes?
Then we can split the community into two sections: Gensokyo's games, and Gensokyo's game dev teams."
"Players can face-to-face propose suggestions to devs in the dev-team section, and we can also set up some 'role-play' based on the backstories Husband designed.
Wouldn't this count as promoting company culture?"
Hearing that, Bronya rubbed her chin in thought and nodded nonstop.
"That is a good idea.
By using the fantasy stories Xander designed to blur the line between players and the dev teams, once players learn and fall in love with those backstories, it also boosts their sense of belonging."
The more she spoke, the brighter Bronya's eyes shone.
"Then we can absolutely design some simple mini-games based on those backstories and release them free to play.
We don't need to spell things out too clearly—leave room for the players' own imagination…"
Xander's expression turned a bit odd.
He hadn't expected Gensokyo Game to be born in this very moment.
Seeing Bronya look like she was chasing inspiration yet couldn't quite grab it, Xander tried offering, "Then we open permissions for derivative fan creations and let players shift from being Gensokyo's players to being Gensokyo's creative participants?"
"Yes, yes, exactly that!
Xander, how did you think of it—you're a genius!!!"
As if enlightened by a divine splash of wisdom, Bronya shouted excitedly, then, unable to contain herself, rushed up, hugged him, and gave him a long kiss.
"Uh, I just stood on the shoulders of giants."
"By doing this, we fuse the game company and players together, so no class opposition forms… hiss, that's really good."
Mei also spoke, seriously considering it.
"Not just that.
Have you forgotten that virtual reality is due out in a few years?"
Bronya was fired up.
"Once we fully spread Gensokyo's setting through the player base, then perfectly recreate that beautiful world everyone imagines one-to-one in VR—at that point, Gensokyo will be players' second home in the virtual world!"
At that, even Xander was stunned.
He really hadn't thought as far as Bronya had.
But that actually sounded great.
Given what Gensokyo was defined to be, everyone could be a designer of Gensokyo.
Shaped by all of their designs, then constructed in VR by Gensokyo Company.
By then, we could even grant players appropriate personal edit rights to their own creations.
Just imagining it felt incredibly enticing.
How did that saying go in his past life?
"No regrets entering the East in this life; in the next, may I be born in Gensokyo?"
Looks like players won't need to wait for a next life.
Let Gensokyo Company realize that wish for them.
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