Chapter 34. Kiyoshi Yuuma is Far Inferior to Tsubaki Furuhara
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On September 3rd, 1990, Pokeni's new game, Prestigious Academy, was officially released.
Unlike Onmyoji, this time most game retailers gave Prestigious Academy decent shelf placement. While it couldn't compare to a blockbuster title from Nintendo, it was still quite prominent.
As soon as Hirose Furukawa walked into the store, he spotted Prestigious Academy placed on the second row from the top, center of the shelf.
"Eh? Pokeni released a new title?"
Furukawa picked up the cartridge with some curiosity.
The bespectacled store manager glanced over and smiled, "Yes, it's from Pokeni. Their games are pretty good, so our president made sure to reserve a good spot for this one."
"Yeah," Furukawa nodded. "Onmyoji was great. I wonder how this one is."
He flipped the cartridge box to check the back but couldn't find an age restriction label.
"Huh? There's no age rating?"
"It's not rated 16+," the manager chuckled. "Prestigious Academy is an all-ages title. It looks like Pokeni has some ambitious goals this time."
Tsk tsk.
Furukawa clicked his tongue, frowning slightly.
What on earth is Pokeni's president thinking? Instead of capitalizing on their successful galgame formula, they go and make an all-ages game?
He read the game's description:
[In Prestigious Academy, you will play as the founder of a school. Build various facilities, attract students, and help them grow into talented individuals.
Set up classrooms to develop your students, enjoy club activities and romance on campus, and transform your school into a prestigious institution!]
Hmm…
After reading it, Furukawa hesitated even more.
With this kind of gameplay… should I really get it?
But then again, if he didn't buy a new game, there'd be nothing to play.
Lately, Furukawa had been stuck in a gaming drought.
Onmyoji had been too emotionally intense—he hadn't dared to play it a second time. But it remained his favorite game in a long time.
The store manager behind the counter, sensing Furukawa's hesitation, squinted and smiled: "If you're unsure, you can always come back in a few months. Pokeni's Onmyoji 2 is supposedly releasing around November this year."
"Really?!"
The moment Furukawa heard the words Onmyoji 2, his excitement spiked.
"Will it make up for the regrets of the first one? Will characters from the original return?" he asked eagerly.
"I'm not sure," the manager said, rubbing his round belly with a chuckle. "I only know a little about the release plans. As for the game content, only the devs at Pokeni would know."
"Emmmm… what a shame."
Furukawa bowed slightly.
Onmyoji 2 was definitely something to look forward to.
But… waiting over two months felt unbearable.
His gaze dropped to the Prestigious Academy cartridge in his hands.
The price was just 4,800 yen—quite affordable.
It's much cheaper than Onmyoji had been.
Should I give it a shot?
…
He bagged it, paid at the counter, and headed home with a hint of excitement and anticipation.
Back in his apartment, Furukawa popped in the cartridge and turned on the TV.
The familiar Pokeni logo splashed across the screen.
Next came the bold title: Prestigious Academy.
The music was bright and cheerful. A group of pixel-style, chibi high schoolers moved around the screen.
At the center was a school building.
In terms of both art style and music, it was unmistakably an all-ages game.
The colors and visual design also carried that distinct Pokeni touch, feeling more polished than most pixel games on the market.
He selected Start Game.
Choose school name: Default — Sunny High School
Choose map: Healthy Town, a well-balanced map (Recommended)
Choose first student: Kenta Taro
Selection complete.
The game began.
…
A small pixelated character walked to the center of the screen — this was Kenta Taro, arriving at school on the first day of the new semester.
A dialog box and a character portrait popped up in the middle, all in pixel style, not even a single proper character illustration.
[Hello, everyone.]
[I am Secretary Miyama, the Dean of Discipline at Sunny High School.]
[Although our school is newly established this year, we hope that one day it will become a prestigious academy with many outstanding students.]
[Alright, it's time for the opening ceremony. What kind of students will arrive, I wonder?]
Next came the new student entrance.
At the start of the game, along with Kenta Taro, two other randomly generated new students also joined the academy.
Honestly, at this point, Hirose Furukawa already felt the urge to quit the game.
But remembering what the store manager had said about this being Pokeni's ambitious new project, he forced himself to keep playing.
Following the tutorial step by step, Furukawa began constructing classrooms, staff rooms, playgrounds… adding various activity facilities and so on.
One goal was to provide systematic training boosts for the students, raising their subject stats. Another was to create more venues for interaction so students could get to know one another and eventually experience what the game description called "romance."
More importantly, the academy's initial funding was quite limited. If it ran out, the game would end in failure.
At its core, this was still a simulation management game.
So earning money was the top priority.
You had to nurture students, increase the school's reputation, and attract more outstanding students to enroll, thereby earning income through them.
…
The gameplay was fairly simple.
But after a while, Hirose Furukawa's expression grew increasingly serious.
To be honest, he could actually feel the fun and charm of the game itself.
But—
It wasn't quite what he imagined a Pokeni game to be.
"Eh? So after all that… raising students just means actually raising students?"
"And the romance is just normal, serious romance…"
Furukawa mumbled in frustration.
If he had never played Onmyoji, he might have thought this game was decent, good enough to pass the time.
But after experiencing Pokeni's Onmyoji, he couldn't help but feel… cheated.
It was like a favorite AV actress suddenly deciding to put on proper clothes and become a door-to-door salesperson.
I was expecting that kind of thing...
But you gave me this kind of thing…
Furukawa exited the game and opened the credits section.
When he saw the name of the producer, a sudden realization struck him.
"Ah! So the producer is Kiyoshi Yuuma, no wonder nothing felt right."
He put down the controller, sinking into deep thought.
He just couldn't understand—
Why did Pokeni change producers?
This Kiyoshi Yuuma was far inferior to Tsubaki Furuhara, wasn't he?!