The Golden Week holiday arrived in the blink of an eye.
A light drizzle had fallen yesterday, carrying away the dry heat of the past few days and bringing a refreshing coolness back to the weather.
Puddles of water still remained on the streets after the rain, reflecting dazzling light beneath the sunlight. If you got close enough and looked down, you could see the blue sky and white clouds reflected in them.
Sato was sitting in the entryway putting on his shoes, his head slightly tilted as he held a phone between his shoulder and ear while talking.
"Mm, so I probably won't be back until tonight. You brought your key, right?"
"Good. Then I'll see you later."
After hanging up with Fujinomiya Konomi, Sato finished putting on his shoes and headed out.
...
Futaba Business Building.
Sato went straight to the floor occupied by Gensokyo Corporation. When he walked in, the receptionists froze for a moment before quickly recovering and greeting him.
Sato nodded to them and walked into the office area.
Behind him, the two receptionists had already started chatting excitedly.
"That's the big boss of our company?"
"Yeah. It's my first time seeing him. He looks even more handsome than in the photos!"
"Me too! But he looks so young!"
"Of course. I heard he's still a high school student."
"Nani?"
"..."
After entering the office area, Sato immediately sensed how busy everyone was.
It gave him the feeling of having walked into Fujikawa Shoten. At this moment, Gensokyo Corporation was just like Fujikawa Shoten had been back then, with editors everywhere chasing authors for their manuscripts.
"Ryona-sensei, your manga hasn't been updated for two weeks already. If you don't update it soon, your ranking weight will drop, and it'll be difficult for you to get recommendations in the future!"
"Hm? Sasaki-sensei, you want to take a temporary hiatus? Are you sick? I see, then there's nothing we can do. All right, I understand..."
"..."
Although there were still editors everywhere chasing people for updates, fortunately, there was no such thing as having a series abruptly canceled.
"How is it?"
Kosaka Akane had somehow arrived beside Sato. She looked at the busy scene before them and asked with a smile.
"Very busy!"
Sato looked at the scene before him for a moment before speaking. The company was indeed much busier than when he had visited last time.
Sometimes, being busy represented vitality. It meant that the company was developing vigorously.
"How are the game's sales?"
He turned to Kosaka Akane and asked, getting straight to the point.
Kosaka Akane turned around and walked toward the office, her voice coming from ahead of him. "We need to look at the data in the office."
Sato followed Kosaka Akane into the office with the floor-to-ceiling windows.
The office was bright, and the view was excellent as well. Sitting inside, they could see the bustling city outside and the clear blue sky.
The sky was above their heads, while the city stretched out beneath their feet.
The beautiful view before them was captivating.
Sato noticed a cup of coffee on the desk, still giving off faint wisps of steam. Kosaka Akane had presumably been drinking it while admiring the scenery outside.
"Miyabi-sensei, what would you like? Black tea, green tea, or coffee?"
"Plain water."
Kosaka Akane rolled her eyes at Sato with a charming expression. "The big boss comes to inspect his own company and only drinks a glass of plain water. If word gets out, people will probably laugh at us, won't they?"
"How about green tea?"
Sato said helplessly, "Whatever you want."
Before long, Kosaka Akane placed a cup of freshly brewed tea on the desk in front of Sato.
"Have the sales figures come in yet?"
"I don't know. Let me check."
Kosaka Akane sat down at her desk and turned on the computer, beginning to receive the feedback from the retailers.
They needed the feedback to better adjust their subsequent production plans.
This time, the game "Yosuga no Sora" had released approximately fifty thousand copies in total. Of these, thirty thousand were the all-ages version, while around twenty thousand were the eighteen-and-over version.
This world had already passed the era when eighteen-and-over galgames were wildly popular, and many pure-romance galgames were gradually beginning to emerge.
Such sales figures were no small challenge for either Kosaka Akane or Sato.
After all, in the current industry, a work selling even fifty thousand copies over an entire year could already be considered a major success, let alone a game like theirs that had shipped fifty thousand copies right at launch.
Kosaka Akane's Rouge en Rouge had produced quite a few galgames in the past. Almost all of those games had sold more than twenty thousand copies, with some even reaching forty thousand, fifty thousand, or even sixty thousand copies.
But those were cumulative sales, representing the results of an entire year or even several years.
Last year, in the entire galgame market, selling around seventy thousand copies would have been enough to enter the top ten. If all fifty thousand copies of their initial shipment could be sold, then a top-twenty position this year would certainly be within reach.
"Miyabi-sensei, are you nervous?"
Suddenly, Kosaka Akane poked her head out from behind the computer screen and asked Sato.
Sato was holding his teacup and drinking tea. Hearing her question, he looked up at her and said calmly, "What's there to be nervous about? Our production team this time is incredibly strong."
"Kashiwagi Eri and Eromanga-sensei are handling the art, while Kasumigaoka Utaha is handling the script. A combination like that can absolutely be called a galaxy-class battleship. Besides, I have a lot of confidence in this script."
"Aren't you forgetting that you're also the producer?"
"There's nothing much to say about that. After all, I didn't participate very deeply in the actual production."
"But your name alone is worth a lot!"
Sato hesitated for a moment before saying, "There should still be a difference. After all, this is a galgame. Not everyone likes this type of game, and compared with light novels, games are considerably more expensive."
A volume of a light novel cost around seven or eight hundred yen.
A single galgame, however, cost ten times that amount!
For example, both versions of "Yosuga no Sora" this time were priced at seven thousand yen.
Not everyone was willing to spend that much money.
Ding!
A crisp notification sound suddenly came from the computer. Kosaka Akane's eyes lit up, and she quickly turned her head to look.
The retailers' sales feedback had arrived.