Friday, October 25
Inside the headquarters of Sonaya Corporation, Hikaru Kurata—the current CEO and largest shareholder—sat in his expansive office, his fingers drumming rhythmically against the polished wooden desk. The tension in the room was suffocating. His Chief Technology Officer, Aoyama Kagesu, and Head Engineer, Makoto Matsuda, stood stiffly before him, their foreheads glistening with sweat. A sleek gaming console, ZEPS, rested on the table between them like an uninvited guest.
Sonaya had been under the Kurata family's control for generations, ever since Hikaru's great-grandfather, Hijimura Kurata, founded the company 70 years ago. It was a legacy of innovation, of dominance in the technology sector. And now, that very legacy was being challenged by a teenager.
Hikaru took a deep breath, his voice cold and calculated. "So, do you know what this is?"
Aoyama swallowed hard. "I-it's a ZEPS home gaming console, Hikaru-san…"
Hikaru's expression darkened instantly. "Didn't I tell you years ago that we should enter the gaming console market?"
Aoyama hesitated before nodding. "Y-yes, Hikaru-san. That was your idea…"
"And what did you say back then?" His voice was dangerously low, like a blade being unsheathed.
Makoto, his throat dry, stammered, "W-we thought… making a successful home console was impossible…"
The sound of Hikaru's fist slamming against the desk made both men jump. The impact sent a coffee mug clattering to the floor, spilling its contents like blood pooling after a fatal wound.
"Impossible?" Hikaru's eyes burned with fury. "And yet here it is! This ZEPS exists! A high school student managed to create something you two deemed impossible! Tell me, is my company—the largest tech corporation in Japan, a company that competes on a global scale—so incompetent that a teenager has outperformed both my CTO and Head Engineer?"
Aoyama and Makoto broke into cold sweats.
"Do you have any idea how humiliating this is?" Hikaru's voice dropped into a low growl. "While I was waiting for my so-called experts to tell me when the video game market was ready, some high school brat was already reshaping the industry!"
Aoyama dared to speak. "W-we've been looking into that as well, Hikaru-san… In fact, the founder of ZAGE, the company behind ZEPS, is the son of one of our employees… Zanichi Renkonan, the director of our PC division."
Hikaru's brow twitched. "Is that so?" He leaned back, exhaling sharply before his gaze turned razor-sharp again. "I don't give a damn whose son he is—it doesn't change the fact that you two have utterly failed me."
Aoyama and Makoto flinched as Hikaru continued. "I pay you both millions every month, and you couldn't even dream of making this?! Worse yet, I always believed home consoles could make a comeback, but you two blinded me with your incompetence!"
Makoto, desperate to salvage the situation, spoke hastily. "W-we can develop our own version, Hikaru-san! We'll tweak the design, adjust the software to avoid copyright issues… We can do this!"
Hikaru's sharp eyes locked onto him. "Then do it."
He turned to Aoyama. "Transfer Zanichi Renkonan to the video game division as the Head Director. I want him working on this immediately."
Then, he pointed at Makoto. "You—develop the console and games. Figure out what makes ZEPS tick, reverse-engineer it, and create something even better."
Finally, he fixed Aoyama with an icy glare. "Your job is to ensure that our console isn't just functional—it must dominate the market and surpass ZEPS. Do you understand?"
Both men nodded vigorously. "Y-yes, Hikaru-san!"
Hikaru exhaled sharply, his fury barely restrained. "Analyze their hardware. Study their game design and mechanics. If possible, bribe Zanichi to leak his son's secrets—but don't force him. I don't play dirty with hostages."
He then smirked. "And if you can, start poaching programmers from ZAGE. I don't care how much you have to pay them—just get it done."
His tone turned deadly serious. "You have five months to bring me a working prototype. Budget is not an issue. Just don't fail me again. Now, get out."
Aoyama and Makoto bowed deeply. "Yes, Hikaru-san! We'll create a new Home Console Division right away!" With that, they scrambled out of the office, eager to avoid further wrath.
As the door slammed shut, Hikaru sighed and leaned back in his chair, his eyes drifting back to the ZEPS console. Slowly, he picked up the controller and began playing, his fingers moving across the buttons as he immersed himself in Super Mario.
'This… This is brilliant,' he thought. 'The technology itself isn't even that groundbreaking—but the design, the vision, the execution… That's what makes it a masterpiece.'
A smirk formed on his lips.
"Zaboru Renkonan, huh? It would be great if he worked under me…"
Then, a more ambitious thought crossed his mind.
"Or maybe… I should just buy ZAGE instead?"
Chuckling to himself, Hikaru continued playing, already envisioning a future where he controlled the home gaming console market.
To be continued…
*Power stones , and did you notice i manage to upload plenty of chapters everyday?, thats because my works here on stagnant period lol , well basically some dude fuck our databases , and my tech team trying to fix it lol , i`m as a Quality Assurance Engineer really become slightly idle and not much work like usual lol*