Game Developer in the World of Anime

Utaha Kasumigaoka stayed at Ichin's house for a little while but eventually headed home, as Ichin needed to get back to work, and she didn't want to interrupt him.

After returning home, Utaha went straight to her bedroom and opened her laptop. She started typing a few lines, but suddenly, her motivation faded. After procrastinating a bit, she closed the document and opened Steam instead, navigating to the Slay the Spire game page.

Although she knew that Ichin's game sales were gradually increasing and had achieved significant success on the first day, she had bought her own copy but hadn't yet taken a good look at the game's reviews.

Scrolling down to the review section, she filtered it to display her preferred language. To her surprise, there were already over a hundred reviews. This was quite impressive considering that Ichin's promotional efforts in this region consisted of only three streamers—far less than what he could achieve in his own country.

Most of the reviews were overwhelmingly positive. Some praised the game's engaging mechanics, while others noted its challenging difficulty.

After reading through a few reviews with a smile, Utaha decided to launch the game. She had previously played a test version at Ichin's place, but now that the official release version was out, she hadn't tried it yet.

"Even if I have to start from scratch, it won't be a problem for me. I'll play a few rounds and then get back to writing," she said to herself and dove into the game.

That same evening, apart from working on the development of the third character, the Defect, Ichin also took some time to browse various domestic websites and check out the streams and videos of different gaming content creators.

As prime streaming hours approached, more and more streamers, both big and small, started showcasing Slay the Spire on their channels, riding the wave of attention from viewers and word-of-mouth promotions in various forums.

Although many viewers opted to be "cloud gamers" (viewers who watch streams without playing), some were tempted to purchase the game after seeing the affordable price tag. After all, with Steam's two-hour refund policy, they could always return it if they didn't enjoy it—provided they hadn't been frequently requesting refunds before.

As a result, Ichin saw another spike in sales that evening.

Switching between various streams with a smile, Ichin muttered, "As long as I keep up with updates, I won't need to worry too much about sales or ratings."

With this in mind, he logged into his Bilibili account and updated his username. He chose the same name as his studio's alias on Steam, derived from the initials of his name.

"Even though it's just me right now, I can still start using the studio name. No harm in that," he thought.

After updating the name and profile signature, Ichin closed the browser and went back to work. His plan for this account was to eventually create and upload update videos for the game. But there was no rush; once he had more progress to showcase, he could always reach out to some content creators to help promote the videos.

The Next Morning

Ichin woke up on time, did his morning exercise, and had breakfast before heading out early. He didn't see Utaha when he left, so he wasn't sure if she had already left or hadn't come out yet. He decided not to knock on her door to ask and instead got on his bike and set off.

On his way to school, Ichin passed the intersection where he had witnessed an accident on the first day of the semester.

"That accident," he mused, "the school only mentioned it briefly during the opening ceremony. I think it was a first-year student… I wonder how their family is doing now."

He shook his head, dismissing the thought as the traffic light turned green, and continued pedaling forward.

As Ichin approached the school gate, he noticed Eriri Spencer Sawamura stepping out of a sedan. She looked utterly exhausted, dark circles under her eyes, and was yawning non-stop.

Ichin got off his bike and walked up beside her, greeting her, "Good morning! Judging by those dark circles, did you stay up all night?"

"Ah!" Eriri jumped in surprise, fully waking up in an instant. She relaxed once she realized it was Ichin. "Oh, it's just you. Good morning."

"Tsk tsk, someone who didn't know better might think we're in the same grade. I'm your senior, you know," Ichin teased, a smirk playing on his lips. Then he asked, "You look really tired. Don't tell me you were up all night gaming? How's your progress?"

Eriri didn't bother to deny it. She admitted directly, "Yeah, I pulled an all-nighter. Cleared the game with two characters. Even managed to beat Ascension 1 with the Ironclad."

"Oh? Not bad! Seems like you've improved," Ichin said, genuinely impressed.

Hearing Ichin's praise, Eriri lifted her chin proudly, "Hmph! What do you expect? I mean, it's a simple game for someone like me."

From her tone, one might assume she was exceptionally skilled. But the reality was that her progress was built on countless failed attempts. Still, Ichin didn't point this out. After all, he'd need her help as a game tester in the future. Even though Eriri wasn't the most skilled gamer, she'd played a lot of different games and could provide valuable feedback.

Since he needed to park his bike, Ichin didn't continue chatting. He headed toward the bike parking area while Eriri walked into the school building alone.

Just as she entered, two girls from her class caught up to her and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Sawamura-san, was that Ichin-senpai from the second year?" one of the girls asked.

"Yeah, yeah! He's so tall and good-looking. Come on, tell us, is he your boyfriend?" the other added.

"Huh?" Eriri was momentarily stunned, and her face flushed bright red. "No way! We just happen to know each other!"

"Really?" one girl questioned skeptically.

"You're blushing so much; it's hard to believe there's nothing going on," the other teased.

"There's nothing going on!" Eriri protested loudly. "That guy's in the same class as Kasumigaoka Utaha! I only know him because of her, that's all. If anything, it's those two who seem like they have something going on!"

She couldn't help but recall the scenes she had witnessed at school and outside, where Ichin and Utaha seemed to share some sort of connection. She sank into a sea of gossip-filled thoughts.

"Huh?"

"Kasumigaoka-senpai?"

The two girls exchanged glances, their curiosity piqued even further. Though Eriri's situation was intriguing, the idea of gossip involving the famous school beauty, Kasumigaoka Utaha, was even more enticing.

Unaware that he had become the topic of gossip, Ichin finished parking his bike and headed upstairs to his classroom.

After greeting a few classmates with a quick "Good morning," Ichin made his way to his seat. Utaha Kasumigaoka had already arrived earlier. Before he could say anything to her, she spoke first.

"You came with Sawamura?"

"Yeah, we just happened to run into each other," Ichin replied instinctively. Then, he froze and turned to look at her.

How did she know that?

…

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