For the next few days, after school, Ichin would head straight to the gaming club to have its members help test his game. These members were genuinely skilled; within just a few days, the fastest among them had already reached Ascension Level 6, and even those with slower progress managed to hit Ascension Level 3 with both characters.
On the other hand, a certain blonde-haired girl had also been diligently playing every day. But up to now, she had only cleared the game once with each character, and even reaching Ascension Level 1 had been an enormous struggle.
Watching Eriri's progress on the computer screen, Ichin sighed and remarked, "Sawamura-san, I think I finally understand—this type of game just isn't suited for you."
"Urusai!"
Eriri retorted angrily, glaring at her screen showing yet another game over. "It's not me; it's your game's difficulty! There's something wrong with it!"
"Umm… but the members of the gaming club have already reached Ascension Level 6…"
"..."
Eriri was instantly deflated, blushing with embarrassment as she stayed silent for a long moment before shouting, "Aaaah! What am I supposed to do?! I just can't beat it!"
Utaha couldn't hold back her laughter. "I think Ichin-kun's right—you really aren't cut out for this game. And you fit the bill of someone who's bad at it but totally addicted."
"Hmph! Mind your own business!" Eriri shot Utaha a glare before seriously evaluating the game on the screen. "Although I can't climb the higher difficulties, the game is actually quite fun. Ichin, are you planning to release it soon?"
"Yeah, pretty soon. I'll fix the bugs collected over the past few days and optimize the game a bit. Then, I'll launch it on Steam. After that, I'll reach out to a few content creators and streamers for promotion, and then I'll focus on completing the rest of the game. Now that the foundation is set, the remaining updates should go quickly. I think I can release the full version within three months."
Listening to Ichin's plan, Eriri couldn't help but feel astonished. Counting on her fingers, she muttered, "According to what you said, you started development in March, and it's now the end of April. So in just two months, you've already created a fully playable early access version, and then you'll finish the full version in three more months… You really developed this game all by yourself?"
"Yup, didn't I already say that?" Ichin replied with a grin. "You can call me a genius—I'm not one to boast, though."
"Tch, so full of yourself," Eriri grumbled, but deep down, she was genuinely impressed. Thanks to her family's involvement in doujin circles, she had met many other indie game developers.
However, the games those teams created couldn't hold a candle to Ichin's work in terms of quality. Plus, their development times were significantly longer, usually taking about a year to complete a single game.
Considering all this, it really wasn't an exaggeration to call Ichin a genius.
But being a proud tsundere, Eriri wouldn't praise him so easily. Instead, she turned back to her screen and continued playing. Despite her lack of skill, the game was undeniably addictive. When it officially launched, she planned to make her mother buy a copy and watch her struggle with it—sweet revenge!
Before long, it was 5 PM. Although it was Friday, Ichin didn't intend to stay at school any longer than necessary. After packing up his things, he left the school with Utaha and Eriri by his side.
After leaving the school gates, Eriri headed in the opposite direction from Ichin and Utaha. After saying their goodbyes, she went on her way alone. Ichin, meanwhile, walked alongside Utaha, pushing his bicycle.
They had known each other for about two months now, and they were friends. Walking home together like this didn't bother Utaha in the slightest.
Pushing his bike, Ichin asked, "How's the second volume of your novel coming along?"
Talking about her novel brought a smile to Utaha's face. "Pretty well. I showed the new outline to my editor, and she was quite pleased. She suggested I lean towards a more lighthearted and humorous approach to broaden the audience."
"That makes sense," Ichin nodded in agreement. "If you kept going with the tone of the first volume, while it'd stick to the pure romance genre, the audience would remain quite limited. The new approach can attract readers who don't usually read romance novels—after all, it's still a light novel."
"I have you to thank for that, Ichin-kun. Your suggestions were spot-on. As expected from you."
"Why does that sound a little off?" Ichin frowned slightly.
"It's nothing!" Utaha chuckled softly behind her hand. "I'm simply complimenting your vast knowledge. I could never come up with such interesting ideas on my own."
"Please, stop. I already regret giving you those suggestions. Don't go getting weird ideas about me!" Ichin protested, looking slightly exasperated.
Seeing his frustrated expression, Utaha's smile grew even brighter.
"I can't help it," she said, "I've been to your place several times, and I noticed that your room is excessively clean. It doesn't look like the room of a typical teenage boy at all. There aren't even any suspicious collections under your bed."
Ichin stared at her, shocked. "You looked under my bed?! When did that happen?"
Utaha thoughtfully tapped her chin. "Oh, a couple of days ago. The math teacher gave us some intentionally difficult problems, so I came over to discuss them. When you went to grab some drinks, I got curious and took a peek. Sorry, Ichin-kun, but it was for research. Too bad I didn't find anything interesting."
"Of course you didn't!" Ichin sighed, exasperated. "I'm not like those guys in novels or manga. Who still hides stuff under their bed these days? Isn't it way more convenient to just keep it on a computer hard drive?"
"Oh my, so it's on your computer, huh?" Utaha grinned slyly.
"Don't get your hopes up. You won't find anything," Ichin said with a shrug. "It's not on this laptop anyway; it's on my PC back home in China. And before I came abroad, I encrypted and hid all those files. No one's finding them."
Ichin's former self had been quite cautious. Knowing he couldn't take all his stuff with him, he had encrypted and hidden several hundred gigabytes worth of collections. He even set a complex startup password for his computer and locked the cabinet with his collectible figures, keeping the key on him at all times. He was wary of any potential little invaders, thanks to all the horror stories he'd seen online.
"You came prepared. What a shame," Utaha said with a mock sigh of disappointment. She had been curious to see what kind of collection a boy like Ichin might have, but it seemed like she would never get the chance.
Ichin, on the other hand, was curious. "Aren't you writing a novel? Do you really need to collect that kind of material?"
"The protagonist in my story is a guy, after all. It wouldn't be realistic for him to have zero worldly desires, right?"
"Well, I guess that's true…" Ichin said, thinking it over. "Whatever. Even if I did have a collection, you wouldn't be able to find it anyway."
…
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