Back in his office, Nakayama Takuya poured himself a cup of coffee.
Meals had to be eaten one bite at a time; roads had to be walked one step at a time.
The Sega-CD hardware was only a new stage. What truly allowed that stage to shine—were the "stars" performing upon it.
And among all genres, the one that could best leverage its massive storage capacity and exert the strongest influence on the market was undoubtedly the RPG.
In the current gaming world, when it came to the biggest name in RPGs, aside from Enix—already tightly bound to Nintendo—there was only one other: Squaresoft, in which Sega now held shares.
Takuya picked up the phone on his desk and dialed a familiar number.
The call connected, and a slightly tired yet still energetic voice answered:
"Moshi moshi, this is Square."
"Sakaguchi-san, it's me—Nakayama Takuya."
Takuya leaned back in his chair, speaking as casually as greeting an old friend.
On the other end, Sakaguchi Hironobu sounded surprised, then laughed.
"Oh! Executive Director Nakayama. A rare guest indeed. Calling me at this hour—are you about to propose another earth-shattering idea?"
"I wouldn't dare call it earth-shattering," Takuya replied lightly. "Just checking in on an old friend. And by the way—how's Final Fantasy IV coming along? Has it turned all your hair gray yet?"
At that, Sakaguchi let out a long sigh—one filled with the suffering and helplessness of a creator.
"Don't bring it up, Nakayama-kun. Right now we're slowly importing all the art assets into the program. This is the most time-consuming part. Every frame of animation, every effect—we have to polish them repeatedly. Only after this can we start segmented testing."
"Exactly why I'm calling to comfort you."
Takuya chuckled softly—then shifted his tone, a subtle, irresistible lure slipping into his voice.
"I have something here. Something that could make Square's next project easier to develop—yet a hundred times more impressive."
Silence.
Then a bitter laugh from Sakaguchi.
"Executive Director Nakayama, please don't joke. We haven't even filled in the crater that is FF4. How could we possibly think about the next one? If another project lands on us now, I'll have to buy hair-growth serum for the entire team."
His programmer-flavored lament only made Takuya smile wider.
"What if I told you… this project could free you completely from cartridge limitations?"
Silence again.
Takuya knew the fish had noticed the bait.
Slowly, he cast out the second hook:
"What if I told you that your music would no longer rely on synthetic sound chips—and you could use actual orchestral recordings, exactly as they are?"
…
"And what if," Takuya's voice dropped, almost like the whisper of a devil, "you no longer had to use pixel art to tell stories—because you could include long, fluid, movie-quality animated cutscenes?"
Gulp.
Takuya could clearly hear the sound of someone swallowing hard on the other end.
Five full seconds later, Sakaguchi finally spoke again—his voice hoarse, trembling almost imperceptibly:
"Executive Director Nakayama… what on earth are you talking about? Are you describing a fantasy?"
It was beyond what any game creator of this era could imagine.
"I never joke about things like this."
Takuya gently spun his chair as he spoke.
Sakaguchi fell silent—then suddenly became urgent, energized as if electrified.
"This is a new console, isn't it?! Sega's new console?!"
"You can think of it that way," Takuya answered, deliberately maintaining a little mystery.
"A new stage capable of everything I just described. So—Sakaguchi-san, are you interested in letting Square become the very first headliner on this new stage?"
"Yes! Of course yes!"
Sakaguchi practically shouted. His earlier exhaustion had completely vanished, replaced by a surge of adrenaline.
"When can we meet? Friday? No—that's too far! Tomorrow! I'll come to Shinagawa tomorrow!"
"Don't rush, Sakaguchi-san," Takuya said with a laugh. "Good things require a little preparation. Friday. I'll bring everything to Square myself."
"Friday! Then Friday it is!"
Sakaguchi agreed instantly, as though afraid Takuya might change his mind.
"It's a promise!"
After hanging up, Takuya opened the safe in his office and took out a thick manuscript.
It was bound in a hard black cover—different from ordinary documents.
On its front were only two words:
Chrono Trigger
He made a copy of the manuscript, sealed it in a kraft envelope, and headed straight for the console game development department.
Scanning the room, he quickly found the person he was looking for.
Koyama Rieko.
She sat at a development station, holding a Mega Drive controller, fully absorbed in the screen.
On the monitor played a battle scene from Golden Sun 3: Dark Dawn—brilliant Psynergy effects intertwining as damage numbers burst across the screen.
Takuya didn't interrupt. He simply stood behind her quietly, watching.
Only when the battle ended and Koyama picked up her pen to enter notes into a test form did she notice his reflection in the monitor and turn around.
"Executive Director? When did you arrive?"
"Just now."
Takuya smiled and pointed at her screen.
"Judging by your progress, things are going smoothly?"
"Yes."
Koyama brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear, regaining her usual composed professionalism.
"We're doing segmented testing now—polishing each chapter and each system module separately. No major issues, just minor adjustments. We expect to finish the first integrated build by the end of next month and begin full testing."
She paused, then added:
"Since it's the third game in the series, we didn't make drastic changes. We want to ensure the trilogy offers a consistent, unified experience for players."
"Well done."
Takuya genuinely appreciated her precision and discipline—precisely why he had come to her.
He handed her the kraft envelope.
"What's this?"
Koyama accepted it with both hands, feeling its weight.
"A new story. And a very big project."
Takuya's tone was calm, but the meaning behind the words made her heartbeat quicken.
Instinctively, she opened the envelope and pulled out the manuscript.
"Executive Director… this is—?"
"On Friday," Takuya said, meeting her eyes and speaking each word clearly,
"hand your current work to your deputy temporarily."
"Then come with me—to Square."
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