September 20, 1993.
On this day, a few young people came to Pokeni Corporation.
Basically, they were all fresh-faced kids, 17 or 18 years old, barely 20.
Oh, no, except for that one boy wearing glasses who was a bit chubby.
President Aoki Haruhi was leading this group of kids on a tour of the company, introducing what everyone was doing and how games were made, while also recounting Pokeni's glorious history to date.
In reality, this "glorious history" had only been glorious for 3 years.
From this perspective, Pokeni was definitely extremely green.
"Eh? Why are there so many young people today?"
As soon as he entered the company, lead artist Sakata Taiji noticed something was amiss.
The lead programmer, Akanishi Ken, pursed his lips to signal him to keep his voice down, "The President is showing some university students from Keio University around the company. He's probably trying to take the opportunity to promote the company a bit and then recruit a few interns, right?"
"Huh?"
Sakata Taiji blinked, mechanically set down his briefcase, and sat at his workstation. As he organized his tasks for the day, he stole glances at the college students out of the corner of his eye.
There looked to be about six of them in total.
Four men and two women.
The two girls were delicate and quite cute; one of them even wore round, black-rimmed glasses, giving her something of a manga-girl vibe.
"It feels like new hires haven't gotten treatment like this since the 90s," Sakata Taiji said skeptically.
Indeed, Akanishi Ken expressed his full agreement. Wasn't it the bubble economy era before '90? All of Japan was taking off; entrepreneurs were desperate to snatch people up, offering college students all sorts of generous benefits, sometimes even giving them gifts before they'd even signed a contract.
In that era, talent was worth more than anything, and there was almost no need for interviews.
It was different now. The economy was sluggish, companies were folding one after another, and there simply weren't that many positions left for young people.
Nowadays, it was basically college students breaking down doors to get into a company; for a president to invite them to tour the company in advance like this was truly rare.
Unless this group was very important.
"Top students from Keio University can barely be considered talent worth competing for, I suppose," Akanishi Ken replied. "Before you arrived just now, the President already had me introduce some of the programming tasks."
Among the visitors today were students from various majors, including computer science and social sciences...
"Who has the President taken a shine to?" Sakata Taiji couldn't help but ask out of curiosity.
"Take a guess?" Akanishi Ken smirked, acting mysterious.
Sakata Taiji scanned the room. "That girl with the glasses, maybe? Actually, she's quite pretty; with her glasses on, she has a sort of dorky charm. Maybe the President likes that type."
"Nope," Akanishi Ken laughed happily.
"You might not believe it when I say it."
"HR Ayase Akane said that for today's invitation, the President was actually here for just one person."
He directed Sakata Taiji's gaze with his eyes.
The latter took a glance and was completely shocked.
Because Akanishi Ken's gaze had fallen on the most inconspicuous, and perhaps even slightly sleazy-looking, boy among all the students.
It was that chubby boy with glasses.
"Huh? Seriously? The President actually has his eye on someone like that?"
***
At this moment, Aoki Haruhi was enthusiastically leading students from Keio University on a tour of the Pokeni Corporation, animatedly recounting the history of P Corporation's game development to them.
Everyone was listening with great interest.
Especially the bespectacled boy in the group, the one Sakata Taiji had described as having a sleazy air about him—
Hidetaka Miyazaki.
The young Hidetaka Miyazaki was thinner and had a fuller head of hair, but his features were almost unchanged; one could tell at a glance that this guy was the "Old Thief" Miyazaki.
From certain angles, he even looked a bit like Liu Cixin.
However, he remained very low-key throughout the tour; although his eyes shone with excitement, he barely spoke and didn't ask any questions.
The others, especially the pretty girl in the group, were extremely lively.
She chirped around Aoki Haruhi like a little bird.
Aoki Haruhi even found her a bit noisy.
The girl's heart was set on Aoki Haruhi, while President Aoki seemed to only care about Hidetaka Miyazaki.
He patiently asked, "This student, what do you think? Would you be interested in interning at Pokeni?"
Hidetaka Miyazaki was taken aback. He pushed up his glasses with his finger, visibly nervous.
At this time, the Old Thief was still just a slightly introverted, chubby young man, and even though his heart was stirring, he didn't show it in any obvious way.
His mouth only twitched upward in a faint, trademark sinister smile, betraying that despite his lack of verbal confirmation, he was extremely interested in Aoki Haruhi's invitation.
Before college, this guy had been kept on a tight leash by his family, having almost no opportunity to come into contact with video games, but that didn't mean he wasn't interested in them.
Hidetaka Miyazaki was born into a poor family in Shizuoka, Japan. Since his parents couldn't afford books or manga, he often went to the library to flip through various books.
Ironically, he was forbidden from playing video games as a child, so he could only read game guides and play board games, but this did nothing to dampen his creativity and imagination.
After entering college, however, he began a retaliatory experience of gaming. How did that saying go again?
The more you couldn't have as a child, the more you want when you grow up.
The more something is forbidden, the more mysterious and attractive it becomes.
A boy who has never been in love is always full of fantasies about girls.
Having never played video games, Miyazaki was naturally full of yearning for them.
Unfortunately, he didn't have the money to buy a game console, so his inner desire was only further suppressed.
Invited to Pokeni, Hidetaka Miyazaki was instantly swept into a mysterious world by Aoki Haruhi, as if a girl he had long secretly admired had lifted the veil from her face before him.
Hidetaka Miyazaki was instantly captivated.
"Pokeni is definitely a place where dreams can be realized, and the atmosphere of the big family here is quite strong."
After finishing, Aoki Haruhi shifted his gaze to the others and added:
"Well, I hope everyone here will come to intern at Pokeni in the future. Who knows, maybe a game that shocks the world will be created by your hands."
"Sir, I'm a computer science major, so I'll probably be doing programming work, right? Can programmers also participate in design?"
"Of course."
Aoki Haruhi nodded earnestly, "Employees in any position have their own ideas and creativity. Pokeni never restricts individuals; as long as your ideas are good, interesting, and creative, there's always a chance to give them a try."
Really?
Hearing Aoki Haruhi's words from nearby, Akanishi Ken and Sakata Taiji were shocked.
The president is so shameless, lying right in front of the students.
Before this, when have they ever seen any game designer come from a programming or art background?
Oh, except for the president himself.
***
"Um..." Just then, Hidetaka Miyazaki timidly raised his hand.
Aoki Haruhi quickly encouraged him with his eyes, "Please, go ahead and speak your mind."
"I... I have never played a game before," Miyazaki said. "I've only read game strategy guides, but I'm interested in games. No, because I've never played a game, I don't even know if I'm truly interested in them. Can someone like me really participate in game development?"
"Yes, you can," Aoki Haruhi nodded earnestly.
At this moment, Hidetaka Miyazaki had yet to meet his fated game; today was a turning point.
It's just that what this guy needs to do in the future is experience more games to spark his imagination and creativity.
"If you don't understand games," Aoki pondered for a moment, then turned back to look at the programmers debugging the games, "come intern at Pokeni, and we can provide you with the corresponding game consoles. If you don't have the means at home, you can use the company's testing rooms.
Miyazaki-kun, whenever you want to experience a game, just do it here. If your school allows it, you can even take the testing consoles back with you, as long as you don't damage them or leak any confidential information."
Eh?
Miyazaki Hidetaka was stunned for a moment.
It seemed he hadn't expected Aoki to know his name directly.
But he quickly realized—
Today
He could only say that President Aoki was truly a very charismatic entrepreneur; he could remember even insignificant people like them, and he had clearly done his homework beforehand.
This level of thoughtfulness alone was incredibly moving.
And...
To think there were free games to play in this world.
This was just too good to be true, right?
The other students looked at each other, unable to help but smile happily.
***
After sending off the college students, Aoki Haruhi returned to his office and sat down.
He was happy.
From his observations just now, it was clear that Old Thief Miyazaki was extremely interested in game development.
But this was only natural.
After all, in his previous life, Hidetaka Miyazaki was someone who gave up a high-paying job at Oracle to make games, even taking a pay cut to less than half of his original salary to enter the industry.
And he had made that career change at the "advanced age" of 29.
One must remember that Japan has a system of lifetime employment; once he left Oracle, his future would be full of uncertainty.
Quitting under such circumstances truly required immense courage, as well as a great passion for games.
So even if Hidetaka Miyazaki didn't make games today, he would still end up in the gaming industry in the future.
The only thing that worried Aoki Haruhi was—
Right now, apart from his imagination and creativity, Hidetaka Miyazaki was essentially a blank slate.
But that didn't matter, because Aoki Haruhi knew this guy had the potential and talent to become a top-tier producer.
What he needed was time and experience; he needed to be trained and polished at a game company.
He was confident that in just a few years, he could polish Hidetaka Miyazaki from a rough gem into a shining treasure.
As for the other students who came to visit, Aoki Haruhi upheld the principle of hiring based on merit. As long as they performed well during their internships at the company, he would hire those he could.
After all, Keio University was one of the best universities in Japan.
***
Not long after the visit, Hidetaka Miyazaki and a few students from Keio University signed their names on the internship contracts.
They would only come to the company for their internship around the winter break in December.
"Excellent."
Aoki Haruhi couldn't help but feel secretly delighted.
With Old Thief Miyazaki secured, Pokeni had gained another remarkable producer for the future.
Ayase Akane glanced at him, feeling she was finding it increasingly difficult to fathom what their president was thinking.
***
After August, another Pokeni game, "Blanket Man," entered its finalization phase.
This game was a galgame developed by a small team of only six people, with Ishino Mika serving as the producer, newcomer Jun Maeda as the scenario planner, and Yokoyama as the lead artist.
It was a small-scale production with a small team, and members of other departments in the company didn't seem to have high hopes for them.
Kogahara Tsubakiaki was "no longer there," and the script wasn't written by Wada.
It felt as though the President was just conducting an experiment on a low budget, patching together a few "newcomers." If it sold well, great; if not, it would just serve as training for the newbies.
Yes, newcomers.
This was Ishino Mika's first time as a producer.
Jun Maeda had just graduated this year and only joined the company in April.
And as for the artist, Yokoyama, while he had worked on the art for a few galgames before, this was his first time taking on the role of lead artist for independent creation.
What was even more terrifying was the considerable difficulty of this creative project.
Because the President must have lost his mind, he actually asked Yokoyama to blend the current style of Japanese manga with the style of French illustrator Sempé to create something entirely new.
According to Aoki Haruhi's original words, "Blanket Man" needed a dreamlike, childlike innocence, while simultaneously incorporating the style of Your Name to craft a unique game with a distinct Japanese flavor.
Yokoyama thought—
Is this even something a human being can do?
This request was even more outrageous than when they were making The Mermaid's Heart.
Back then, the requirement was to combine horror and suspense with aesthetic healing...
In short, just thinking about it gave Yokoyama a headache, and every time the dead of night arrived, he felt the urge to just quit.
However, whenever he thought about Aoki Haruhi saying, "Perhaps this will be the crowning moment of your artistic career, a true work of art," Yokoyama felt a fire coursing through his veins.
***
After showing the original artwork style to Aoki, the artist Yokoyama's heart nearly jumped out of his chest.
Because Aoki stared at it for a long, long time.
The air in the entire conference room was unusually stifling, as if it had solidified.
"Wow. This is exactly what I wanted," Aoki said.
A dreamy quality.
To be precise, Yokoyama had used colored pencils and watercolors to increase color saturation, giving the entire image a gorgeous, fairy-tale hue.
Yet, in terms of character design, it was based primarily on the style of Japanese manga.
It looked quite surreal.
A work like this would either be a masterpiece, a work of art, and praised to the high heavens, or it would be a piece of crap, criticized for being absolutely nothing.
It was filled with extreme uncertainty, and it wasn't out of the question that it might end up with dismal results.
So, it wasn't unreasonable for the employees to suspect that Aoki was using Blanket Man as a test subject.
"Hmm, it's settled. If this game can actually be made, whether it's good or bad, it will definitely leave a mark in gaming history."
Hiss...
Yokoyama signaled that he didn't quite understand the President's words.
What did he mean by "whether it's good or bad"?
Is this settled, or is it not?
***
However, at the thought of Aoki saying, "Perhaps this will be the greatest highlight of your artistic career, a work of art," Yokoyama felt a fire flowing through his veins.
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