Game Developer in the World of Anime

As soon as Ichin entered the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, Kasumigaoka Utaha followed him in.

Taking out two eggs along with some meat and vegetables, Ichin asked, "What's up? You've been writing for so long; aren't you going to take a break?"

Utaha countered, "Weren't you working without a break as well?"

"Alright, you got me there," Ichin conceded with a shake of his head. He placed the ingredients on the counter, tied on an apron, washed his hands, and got ready to make lunch.

"I'm not good at complicated dishes, so I'll just whip up some noodles. That okay with you?"

"Sounds good, I'm not picky."

Standing off to the side and watching him chop the vegetables, Utaha asked, "Is there anything I can help with?"

"Are you sure?" Ichin turned and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "I never saw you lift a finger during our home economics classes at school. At most, you helped rinse the veggies. And if I'm not mistaken, didn't you cause quite a commotion last year?"

"That's not true, you're overthinking it."

"Really?"

Ichin stopped chopping and turned to face her with a skeptical smile. Feeling his gaze, Utaha turned her head slightly and muttered, "I almost burned a hole through the pot, that's all."

"That's all?"

Ichin knew she was downplaying it; the real story was definitely much worse. He sighed and said, "Alright, how about this? You can beat these two eggs for me. I'll use them to make a tomato and egg stir-fry topping."

"No problem, leave it to me."

Utaha gladly accepted the task. Although she had offered to help, chopping vegetables or handling the wok would have been out of her league. But beating some eggs? That, she could manage.

Cracking the eggs into a bowl, Utaha picked up some chopsticks and quickly whisked them, adding, "When my mom makes tamagoyaki at home, I always help her beat the eggs."

As Ichin continued slicing bell peppers and shredding bamboo shoots, he nodded. "Nice, keep at it."

Utaha pouted a little. She could tell Ichin's compliment was just polite encouragement. But what could she do? Cooking was definitely her weak point, even worse than her athletic skills. Accepting this was inevitable.

Soon, the eggs were beaten, and she handed them over to Ichin, who started preparing the stir-fried tomatoes and eggs. While Ichin wasn't exactly a culinary expert, his experience living on his own in his previous life had taught him some basic dishes. Simple home-cooked meals like this weren't a problem.

With the tomato and egg stir-fry done, Ichin also whipped up a dish of shredded pork with bell peppers and bamboo shoots. Finally, he boiled some noodles, and lunch was complete.

Carrying the dishes to the dining table in the living room, Ichin announced, "Add whichever toppings you like. There's also broth, so you can go with either dry or soup noodles."

Utaha nodded, using the shared chopsticks to place a little of each dish onto her noodles. Picking up her own chopsticks, she said, "Itadakimasu!"

Although Ichin had downplayed his skills, Utaha found the food surprisingly good after taking her first bite.

"Not bad at all," she remarked, looking at Ichin. "But if you're this good, why didn't you cook yourself in home economics? Why just assist?"

"Why do more work when you can do less?" Ichin replied casually while eating. "The dishes we learn in home economics aren't that complex, so I figured I'd let the others get a chance."

Utaha nodded in agreement, "True, it's better to let others have that opportunity."

With that, she happily continued eating. Soon, both the noodles and the two dishes were finished. Ichin didn't let his guest handle the dishes and instead cleaned up and brought everything to the kitchen himself, finishing quickly.

When he came back out of the kitchen, he saw Utaha relaxing on the living room sofa, sipping on tea. Ichin said, "Take your time and rest a bit. I'm going back to work."

After Ichin went into his room, Utaha tilted her head slightly and glanced towards the bedroom.

She mumbled softly, "Is this guy really one of those 'straight-laced' types the internet talks about? Here I am, a beautiful girl sitting right here, and all he can think about is developing his game?"

Pulling her legs up and hugging her knees, Utaha rested her chin on them, staring blankly at the TV that was playing a drama, but her mind was clearly preoccupied with other thoughts.

Ten minutes later, the bedroom door opened, and Utaha walked in.

As expected, Ichin was already wearing his headphones and fully engrossed in his development work. Utaha quietly approached him from behind and glanced at the computer screen, where Ichin was steadily designing card after card. She then shifted her gaze to Ichin's neatly made bed.

Utaha let out a small yawn, raised her hand, and gently tapped Ichin on the shoulder.

Removing his headphones, Ichin turned to her and asked, "What's up?"

She pointed at his bed.

"I'm feeling a bit sleepy, Ichin-kun. Can I lie down for a while?"

"Huh?"

Seeing his confused expression, Utaha repeated, "I said, can I lie down for a bit? I'm kind of tired and want to take a nap."

"You…" Ichin hesitated, then finally replied, "You could just go home to sleep, you know."

If Utaha had an anger meter, it would definitely have shot up to 100%. No, make that 1,000%.

With a huff, Utaha ignored him and, under his wide-eyed gaze, went straight to his bed and laid down. She even pulled the covers over herself, turned her back to him, and closed her eyes.

"I'm going to sleep. Keep it quiet," she ordered.

"..."

Ichin was left utterly stunned by her series of actions.

Isn't this a bit too shameless? No, wait, maybe that's not it.

Ichin shook his head. From what he knew, this didn't really fit Utaha's personality. Although he had never dated in his previous life and was fully focused on his work, and now on game development, that didn't mean he was clueless.

After seriously thinking about it for a few minutes and analyzing Utaha's behavior, Ichin suddenly came to a realization.

Wait a minute, is she… interested in me?

He turned to his phone, opened the camera app, and switched to the front-facing camera to examine his own face on the screen. He stroked his chin thoughtfully.

Letting out a silent sigh, he muttered to himself, Sigh, seems like that really might be the case. This is going to be tricky.

If Kasumigaoka Utaha really made a move on him, should he accept it… or accept it?

…