Game Developer in the World of Anime

With the holiday break over, it was time to return to school. However, since today was also the first official day of the studio's operation, Ichin had called his homeroom teacher, Shizuka Hiratsuka, the day before to ask for a day off.

When she heard his reason for the leave, Hiratsuka was a bit stunned.

"Wait… you've already started a studio? That quickly?"

Although she was aware that Ichin's self-developed game had been released, Hiratsuka hadn't had any time to play games and relax during the break, as she was busy visiting her family.

Given Ichin's strong academic record, Hiratsuka agreed to the day off but insisted on coming by herself to confirm that Ichin wasn't lying.

Ichin had no objections and provided her with the address.

At around 9:30 AM, Aoba Suzukaze, who lived closest to the studio, arrived at the apartment building. She was wearing her so-called "work uniform," which looked suspiciously like a high school uniform.

Taking the elevator up, Aoba's heart was filled with excitement. Although their previous company, Eagle Jump, had disbanded due to unforeseen circumstances after a year, it was fortunate that fate had allowed her and her close friends to work together again.

"I wonder how long Hazuki-senpai will need to rest before joining us… Hopefully, another company doesn't snatch her away."

With these thoughts swirling in her head, Aoba exited the elevator and reached the studio's door, where she took out her key. Since their office wasn't in a commercial building, Ichin had given everyone a key for convenience.

Upon entering, she noticed a pair of men's sneakers near the entrance.

"Huh?"

Aoba tilted her head in confusion. The studio only had one male employee, and that was their boss, Ichin.

After putting on her indoor slippers, she headed to the workspace and, sure enough, saw Ichin engrossed in work at his computer.

"Ichin-kun? Aren't you going to school today?"

Ichin turned around at the sound of Aoba's voice, "Good morning, Aoba. You're pretty early, even though work doesn't start until ten."

Ichin hadn't set an early start time of nine o'clock but had instead chosen to stick with their previous schedule of starting at ten and ending at 6:30 in the evening.

"Well, since today is the first day of the studio's operations, I decided to take a day off from school."

"You just took a day off?" Aoba asked, placing her bag down. "Is the school okay with that? And what about your grades?"

"Don't worry about it," Ichin replied casually while continuing his programming. "I'm ranked first in our grade, so academics aren't an issue. It's easy for me to handle. Oh, by the way, I brewed some coffee over there. Feel free to help yourself; there's milk and sugar too. If you prefer tea, we have both black and green tea—some high-quality leaves my dad sent over."

"Wow! Got it," Aoba responded, impressed by Ichin's casual mention of his top rank. She turned on her computer and eagerly went to pour herself a cup of coffee, adding milk and sugar.

Returning to her seat, Aoba's mood instantly shifted to excitement. "Ichin-kun, can I start working on Slay the Spire now?"

"Absolutely. I have some new monsters that need creating. You can help with their design. All the references and concept materials are in the shared folder."

"No problem!" Aoba clenched her tiny fists in determination. After thoroughly reviewing her assigned tasks, she found some rough sketches of the new monsters in the extensive development files and began drawing them in the game's style.

Aoba Suzukaze, who was already familiar with the development process, quickly got into her rhythm. Soon after, as the rest of the team arrived one by one, the studio grew lively.

When everyone saw Ichin still at the studio, they were as surprised as Aoba had been. Ichin had to explain the situation over and over, mentioning that his homeroom teacher would be coming by soon to check up on things.

At 10 o'clock, the doorbell rang.

"Looks like my homeroom teacher is here. You guys keep working; I'll go answer the door."

Ichin got up and headed to the entrance. Opening the door, he saw Shizuka Hiratsuka standing there, dressed in her usual white lab coat.

"Good morning, Hiratsuka-sensei. Please come in."

"Morning," she replied.

As soon as she entered, Hiratsuka noticed the various pairs of women's shoes lined up by the entrance, feeling a bit odd about it. When she stepped into the living room, she could no longer keep her thoughts to herself. "Hey, hey, hey! Are you sure this is a game development studio and not a kingdom of women? Why are all the employees female?"

The rest of the team noticed Hiratsuka as well, and Rin Toyama exclaimed in surprise, "Wait, this is Ichin's homeroom teacher? She's so young!"

"Ahaha, thanks for the compliment," Hiratsuka replied, immediately cheered up. "Hello, everyone, I'm Ichin's homeroom teacher, Shizuka Hiratsuka."

Being called young put Hiratsuka in a better mood, but she still turned to Ichin, expecting an explanation.

With a shrug, Ichin explained, "It's perfectly normal. They were all employees of a game development company called Eagle Jump. After the company disbanded, I happened to meet them and extended an invitation. They're all professionals, or I wouldn't have recruited them."

"Is that so…?" Hiratsuka still seemed skeptical, so Ichin walked over to Kō Yagami's desk, pointing at her. "This is Kō Yagami, responsible for character design. She was the lead character designer for the Fairies Story series. If I recall correctly, there's an interview with her online."

He returned to his computer and quickly searched for the interview.

Kō, who was a bit slow to catch on, looked over just as Ichin brought up the interview on his screen. Her usually composed face turned bright red, and she jumped to her feet, rushing towards him.

"Stop it! Don't show that!!"

But it was too late. Ichin had already pulled up the interview, pointing at her photo. "See? Here it is. She's quite well-known in the industry—a true professional."

"Don't look!!"

Kō covered the screen with her hand, but her reaction had already drawn everyone's attention. They all left their seats and gathered around Ichin's desk, looking at the interview photos of Kō.

Aoba chuckled, "Is this a different interview? I remember seeing one in a magazine too. Yagami-senpai looks so pretty when she's all dressed up! Why does she always dress so casually?"

"Shut up! Stop looking!!"

Kō's face was burning red as she pushed everyone away one by one, then grabbed Ichin's mouse to close the browser.

Only then did Hiratsuka finally believe Ichin. It was clear that this studio was serious.

Fairies Story, huh? Hiratsuka had played that game before and was quite surprised to see that Ichin had recruited such a talented group of people.

…

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