Chapter 41: The Day of Negotiation

After finishing lunch quickly, Utaha didn't let Ichin wash the dishes. She simply took the bento box and left. But just two minutes later, she came back again.

This time, Utaha had brought her laptop along—it was clear she intended to work on her writing here. Considering that a similar situation had happened the previous day, Ichin didn't refuse and let her in.

When they reached Ichin's bedroom, Utaha noticed the walls near his computer desk covered with various sketches. These drawings depicted unfamiliar characters that clearly weren't human and had a completely different art style from Slay the Spire.

"Are these characters for the new game?" Utaha asked.

"Yep, for the new game," Ichin replied as he pulled down one of the sketches from the wall. "What do you think this looks like?"

"Hmm..." Utaha leaned in for a closer look, then guessed, "An insect? The two horns on its head—they look like a stag beetle's?"

"Well, it does resemble one, but in the game's lore, they aren't actually insects. This design is part of the game's entire world-building concept," Ichin explained.

He then briefly outlined the lore of Hollow Knight.

"In this game, there's an ancient, abandoned kingdom buried beneath a small town called Dirtmouth. The protagonist is just a small figure, with the goal of exploring this vast underground world, gaining strength, and defeating a series of enemies."

Utaha listened attentively as Ichin described the game's setting, and after about ten minutes, she excitedly remarked, "This sounds like such an interesting game! With a world like this, you could even write a novel based on it!"

"Maybe, but creating a game like this is still more appealing to me," Ichin said with a smile. "I've set ambitious goals for this one—a Metroidvania-style action game, with a huge map and a decent level of difficulty."

"Metroidvania?" Utaha asked curiously.

"You've heard of Castlevania, right?"

"Yeah, I know about it," Utaha nodded. "I haven't played it much, but I've watched some videos. It's quite an old game, and there haven't been any new releases in recent years."

"Exactly, Castlevania," Ichin confirmed as he opened his computer to show Utaha the provisional layout of his game's regions. Although the layout was still in its rough stages, its complexity was already apparent.

He pointed out that the large map was divided into several regions, each with its unique style and atmosphere.

"At the start, the game map will be completely dark. The areas only light up on the map as the player reaches them. Additionally, every region has a purchasable map that marks various features in that area. When you leave one region and come back, the enemies will respawn. And of course, if you die during exploration, all the monsters will respawn upon revival, except for the bosses."

Listening to Ichin's explanation, Utaha began to grasp the game's difficulty. "So, if I die once at the door of a boss room, I'd have to fight my way back through the area to reach the boss again? That's kind of like Slay the Spire."

"Exactly. But the key difference is that this is an action game. Every death serves a purpose because enemy placements are always fixed. No matter how challenging an area is, you can eventually get through it by learning the controls and getting familiar with it. In Slay the Spire, every run is different."

Utaha nodded thoughtfully, then asked, "So, are the monsters in the game really tough?"

"If I give away too much, it'll ruin the fun!" Ichin replied playfully.

Ichin wagged his finger and smiled, saying, "The game hasn't even started development yet. It's better to keep some mystery for now. Once the demo is ready, you'll get to experience it firsthand."

Hearing this, Utaha held back her curiosity, opened her laptop, and began writing. Ichin, too, organized his materials and resumed working on the game's proposal.

The next day, at nine in the morning.

Ichin woke up early. After having breakfast, he printed two copies of the proposals he had completed the previous day and saved the digital versions on his laptop to take along. As he finished packing up and stepped out of his apartment, he saw Utaha standing at his door.

"Oh my, good morning! I was just about to ring the doorbell," Utaha greeted.

"Good morning. What's up?" Ichin asked.

With a smile, Utaha replied, "You're going to negotiate with those ex-Eagle Jump people, right? Let me come with you."

"You want to come along?" Ichin was surprised. "But I'm going to discuss the studio stuff. I can handle that on my own. Shouldn't you use the time to focus on your writing? You're only a third of the way through your second volume, right?"

Utaha's lips twitched slightly, and she let out a breath. "What, can't I come? I was even thinking about investing in Ichin-kun's studio," she said with a teasing grin.

"Invest?" Ichin raised an eyebrow, and seeing the look on her face, he started to get an inkling of what might be going on. The team from Eagle Jump was all female, and each of them was quite attractive. Could it be that Utaha was feeling… a bit wary?

It seemed like a plausible assumption.

However, Ichin knew that New Game!—the anime in question—was produced by Doga Kobo and featured an all-female cast, making it a light-hearted, yuri-adjacent series with some implied relationships. Utaha's concerns seemed somewhat unnecessary.

But Ichin decided not to bring that up and instead nodded, "Alright, you can come, but as for the investment part, let's discuss that later. You haven't exactly earned that much yet."

Utaha's earnings from the first volume of her novel were still less than what Ichin's game had made in its first week of release.

As they headed towards the stairs, Ichin said, "I'm just starting a studio. Expenses for the venue, equipment, and salaries are already quite substantial. Your funds wouldn't cover much."

"Then, Ichin-kun, do you have enough from your game's revenue?" Utaha asked.

"It can last for a while, but it's definitely not enough," Ichin replied frankly. "So, I called my dad yesterday. He'll support me with some of the space costs. As long as the negotiations go smoothly, I plan to buy two rooms to use as the initial office for the studio."

"You're buying them outright?"

"Of course! Even if I don't need them later, I can sell them off, right? I won't lose too much."

…