V4C3...

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Part 6

It was concluded that Minori Ayaka

would not be able to finish in time for the launch after all.

Obviously, this was a negative

factor for sales and an additional headache for Kawasegawa.

However, it's not something they

can handle on their own. They decided to at least try to make the main game a

little better...

"...This is going to be

tough"

From the copy of the

administrative chart, there was no indication that anything had changed

dramatically since then.

Instead, it just seems to be

going from bad to worse.

"Let's have a little talk,

with Kawasegawa"

The chime rang, and it was

lunchtime.

I turned down the invitation

from my team members and headed straight for a place.

I knocked on the door of the

only glass-walled room at the far end of 3rd Development Department.

"Come in"

Answering with the tone of the

voice that always remains the same, I open the door.

"Hashiba, what's wrong?"

"Kawasegawa, have you

eaten lunch yet? I was wondering if we could eat together?"

I said, showing her my lunch

box with my hand,

"...What are you

planning?"

She gave me a questioning look.

"Nothing. We used to have

tea together when we were in college."

"Right, I remember there

was a set of strange requests."

...... These parts of her

haven't changed at all.

"Fine. I have no reason to

refuse. Give me a minute."

Anyway, I managed to lure her

out.

There is a medium-sized park a

short walk from my office. There is a futsal field attached to the park, and I

could hear people playing there during their lunch break. There was a bench

nearby that was empty, so we decided to sit on it.

"Is that handmade?"

Kawasegawa spread out a

home-made lunch box, not a ready-made one.

"What is that, you make it

sound like it's unexpected that I made it myself"

"Not really, look, because

I know you're busy."

"I told you before. I said

it might be hard to ask you out to lunch if you're having bento and I'm not."

"Yeah, you said that."

"That's why I was a little

careful! I thought it would make it easier for you to ask me out, so I've been

making it by hand for about a month now, but it seems like you never asked me

out."

Brilliantly, I stepped on a

landmine.

In the past, I had often

stepped into her anger points like this. Every time I did, she snorted and gave

me a hard scolding.

"...Why are you laughing?"

...... Shoot, I did it out of

nostalgia.

"No, it's just that you

haven't changed."

Kawasegawa glared at me,

"You're just as annoying

as you used to be."

As in the old days, she was

firmly told back.

In fact, it's been 10 years,

but in my experience, I used to have this kind of exchange with her until just

about a month ago.

I enjoyed the exchange of

words. So, in this world where everything seems to have changed, I was a little

happy to see her unchanging response.

"I'm really sorry it took

me so long to ask you out. But you are making it carefully..."

The contents of the small bento

box were beautifully composed of three-color rice made with soboro,

sakura-denbu, and egg, and brightly colored side dishes such as chikuzen-ni,

tofu hamburger steak and meatballs, and a salad of potherb mustard.

"It wasn't a conscious

decision. I just wanted to find a balance, something healthy and something that

didn't require a lot of work, and that's how it happened."

I thought that was a very Kawasegawa-like

comment,

"A-Ano... does Hashiba

still like meatballs?"

Suddenly, a question came from

Kawasegawa.

"Eh?"

"L-Look! When we were in

college, we all brought our own food and had a cherry blossom viewing party,

didn't we! At that time, you ate a lot of the food I made..."

Oops, I don't have any memory

of it. I wondered if I had inadvertently forgotten it, or if it was a future

event?

"Y-Yeah, I like it, I

still eat it a lot"

First, I answered that as it

must have been my favorite food,

"Well, if you want... I'll

give it to you."

"Oh, thank you"

I was given one of the two

large meatballs.

But how could she remember all

that? She has always had a good memory, but it seems that it is still in good

shape.

"Shinoaki, she is really

getting good at cooking."

Kawasegawa peeked at my lunch

box,

"Hmm, yeah"

"In the beginning, I used

to bring a failed lunches. I'd bite into burnt hamburgers with happiness."

What can I say... That's

embarrassing. Speaking fondly of a loved one, right? It's brilliant.

"Let's eat anyway. Itadakimasu."

"Yes, Itadakimasu..."

We carefully clasp our hands

together and begin to eat.

"So what do you want to

talk about?"

When I had eaten about half of

it, Kawasegawa started talking to me.

"You said you wanted to

consult. That's what I'm talking about."

"It's about the project..."

It was a secret that I had seen

the progress chart, so I asked her about it only as a concern from the outside,

including the meeting and the matter of Minori Ayaka.

When I spoke in full,

Kawasegawa sighed and said,

"Honestly... it's hard. It's

like you said."

"How bad is it?"

Kawasegawa leaned her back

against the bench and stretched out,

"It's so bad that I want

to fly to Okinawa right now"

Without particularly laughing,

she threw that away.

"That bad..."

Kawasegawa has always been a

person with a sense of responsibility. So, no matter how she made a mistake, she

would not abandon the project she was working on and run away.

Even if it was a joke, the

level of wanting to run away must mean that the situation is so severe that it

is out of control.

"You already know the

details of the project, right?"

"Mostly. Originally, the

project was to develop titles owned by other companies for social media... or I

heard."

"Yes, that's the best

selling point... It's Succeedsoft's signature title."

I couldn't hide my surprise at

the name of the manufacturer that suddenly popped up.

"Eh ?! Is Succeedsoft your

partner?"

Kawasegawa looked at me

strangely,

"You didn't know? It's too

surprising that you don't know..."

"N-No, of course I

know."

By knowing, I mean that I

"knew" the name of the manufacturer, but of course I didn't know that

it was the owner of this title.

How could I forget? In the

world of 2016, the three members of the Platinum generation were supposed to

come together to create a dream game title. Succeedsoft was the publisher and

creator of that title.

At that time, I would never

have gotten involved with the manufacturer, no matter how many things went

wrong. I thought it was ironic that now that I had returned to the past and

then to the present, I would be involved, albeit indirectly.

However, the title Mystic

Clockwork was not familiar to me. Was it a title that came about after 2016

when I was gone, or was it a title that resulted from me changing the world?

"But if they are such a

large manufacturer, they will have made the setting materials and the character

designs, so it will be relatively easy to do..."

As I was about to say

something, Kawasegawa placed the document in front of me with a bitter

expression.

"This is?"

"This is a request from the

large manufacturer. It's a request to revise the material we submitted."

Flipping through it lightly, I

understood the reason for Kawasegawa's bitter face.

The characters used in the main

software had to be converted into 3D for this game, and it had already taken

more than 10 times revisions just to do so. The pointers were quite detailed,

which alone highlighted the difficulty of the process. In addition, the check

itself was not done immediately, and it was not uncommon to have to wait a week

depending on the situation at the client.

"You didn't set the number

of retakes?"

"If we had made a

decision, none of this would have happened. By the time I received the project,

the contract had already been signed."

This project was not the

original idea of Kawasegawa. It was conceived and put together by the president

and another director who was there at the time, and when that director quit,

Kawasegawa took over.

"Next is the illustration

for the card. This one's even tougher."

I flipped through the document

and found a list of illustrators.

These are some of the most

famous people I know. However, I have noticed a slight inclination along with

them.

"Isn't this selection a

little biased?"

"That's obvious, they

specified that we should use these."

...... I was almost dizzy.

When making a request for this

type of illustration, the requesting party sets parameters in advance. For

example, a person who has a reputation for meeting deadlines, or a person who

has absolute confidence in the quality of the work, etc. After assigning the

areas of expertise, the schedule is set and the request is made.

However, when a client is

designated as in this case, it is very difficult to set a schedule, and at

worst, it may cause delays for everyone who requested it. The reason for the

yellow and red work charts is now clear.

(Even the manufacturers I

admired so much have a lot of things to deal with when it comes to working.)

In my former world, I longed

for Succeedsoft so much that it was a pleasure to work with them. But in

reality, there were a lot of difficulties.

Endless checks, unrestricted

clients. On top of that, the project was built in-house, which was unfamiliar

and full of bugs. From the beginning, it was as if they were making it to be

delayed.

"The system is also built

by us, so if there is an error in the engine, it will affect the script, and

because of the delay in the art materials, the implementation will remain

tentative. This makes it difficult to decide on the direction of the game, and

we end up having to start over after the illustrations arrive. Naturally, the

tests had to be redone as well, so we couldn't move forward from version A at all.

I feel like I'm doing everything I shouldn't be doing. "

Kawasegawa smiles bitterly.

The way she smiled, somewhat

self-mockingly, showed a sense of expertise in a bad way.

"Hey, Kawasegawa"

"I know what you're going

to say. Extend the release, or change the specs. Either way, it could lead to a

major accident... right?"

As expected, she understood the

situation and how to deal with it.

"But it's impossible. The

first contract we signed was a disaster, and the subsequent actions we've taken

have been so backward that there's no way we can bring it back now. Even the

main character designed by Minori Ayaka, which was the centerpiece of the

project, was implemented later, and if the release is delayed from here,

everything could be torn apart."

Ha~a, she sighed deeply.

"I'm sorry to worry you.

But I can't deal with it right now, and it can't be helped."

Kawasegawa was clearly

depressed. She must have been fighting for a long time in her own way, and now

the result was that she couldn't do anything about it.

However, it didn't seem like

her. She should have been the one who had repeatedly done her best until the

very end.

"If there's anything I can

do, just let me know. That's not like you, Kawasegawa."

But she just smiled helplessly

at my words,

"That's not like you, huh.

You're the only one who can say that."

In the end, she just said a

line that didn't sound like her.

"Look, we're almost out of

time. Let's eat."

"Yes....... "

The rest of the lunch box was

clearly less tasty than before.

Part 7

After the lunch break, I headed

straight for the president's office.

Judging from the incident with Minori

Ayaka, I seemed to have gained the trust of the president to some extent. If

that was the case, he might be able to listen to some of my opinions about the

software.

Most importantly, it was

impossible to leave Kawasegawa alone when she was suffering so much.

I knocked on the door of the

president's office, confirmed that there was a response, and opened the door.

"Excuse me"

When I entered the room after

bowing, the president spread his hands in a grand gesture.

"Oh, Hashiba-kun. Ah,

maybe that? Did you come here to report that Minori Ayaka created a new

character?"

"No, you're wrong..."

"What, I am wrong?"

The president looked

disappointed all at once and put his hand down.

For better or worse, I guess

this ease of understanding is what makes him unique.

"It's a little related to

that, president."

"What?"

I'll get to the point without

preamble.

"Mystic Clockwork, can you

postpone the release?"

I thought he would be more

surprised, but he just looked at me and didn't make any noticeable response.

He slowly walked back to his

seat and sat down,

"...No, I can't do

that."

He said this in a calm tone,

not in his usual somewhat playful way.

"Why? Because if we go on

like this, there will definitely be bugs, and we might even encounter

unexpected problems."

Judging from the state of the

Kawasegawa earlier, the development seemed to be in quite a difficult

situation. It was obvious that if they released it on time, it would be rough.

"Bugs and problems can be

crushed when they appear. That's why there's a maintenance period."

"But we should do in

advance what we know ahead of time. And yet, we can't just leave it at that."

It would be foolish to march

forward knowing that we would fall into a hole. It would be better to stop the

advance, block the hole or build a bridge, and then move on.

However,

"You don't get it, do you!"

The president loudly denied it.

"You know that this is a

critical time for our company. We've been struggling for five years now, and

we're about to go public, sales are finally solid, and our accountant has given

us the seal of approval. Are you going to let that opportunity go down the

drain!"

When he talked about money, it

was indeed hard to talk back.

When I was working for a

bishojo game company, I was involved in the management of the company, albeit

reluctantly. I was only asked by the president to do the accounting work after

the accountant ran away, but it was clear that everything looked different when

I looked at company management from the standpoint of handling money.

Running a company is expensive

anyway. Especially in the case of a software development company, there is no

regular income, so the company will be in the red for a long time until the

software is sold. It's a risky business, where you have to pay back the

deficits accumulated over many months at once with the expectation of a large

surplus.

As long as the software sells

well, it's good. Especially if it is a hit, the company will have enough

working capital to last for many years, and the money will be well spent on

development. However, if a game is released after a long period of development

struggles in sales, the company is instantly lost.

I can understand why the

president would want to go public to raise money and rush the release of the

product in order to reduce the anxiety. I understand it.

"However, if the release

is moved by three months, it will not affect the sales of this fiscal year, and

we can manage..."

"While we're waiting, I'm

sure our competitors will hit us with limited events. And we'll be left out of

the news."

"That is......."

It was a good argument. The

current social game industry was already a red ocean, a market where if you

were not careful even a little, your rivals would be ahead of you. No matter

what I said, it was obvious that if we made the time to "wait" we

would be at a disadvantage that way.

"Development is always

asking us to wait. I guess we need time to make something good. But, you know,

this world is all about timing. If you lose the timing, you will lose what you

will gain. Besides, if we release the product on time, it will change the trust

of the market. "

The slightly joking tone of

voice that he had used up until now was completely gone. The words of a

business owner who had built this company to such a scale carried weight.

I couldn't defend myself

against him any longer.

It was frustrating, but I am

only a developer's eye on this matter. I can see the quality of the finished

product, but I don't know anything about money. If I were to say anything more

about it, I would be told that "I didn't understand".

"You understand, so I want

you to put all your energy into creating your team and persuading Minori Ayaka

to join us, for the good of the company and for the good of everyone!"

The president got up from his

seat and patted me on the shoulder,

"Nice, I have faith in you,

so please do your duty to the best of your ability!"

I silently bowed my head and

left the president's office. I was frustrated that I hadn't been able to change

anything in the end, even though Kawasegawa was being pushed into a corner.

Part 8

I had another stopover in

Shinjuku.

I walked to the third street

and entered an izakaya that I used to frequent when I was a bishojo game

maker. The izakaya, built near a historic theater, had long been famous

for attracting people from the industry. (Note: a type of Japanese bar in

which a variety of small, typically inexpensive, dishes and snacks are served

to accompany the alcoholic drinks.)

"Welcome! Are you

alone?"

I nodded and took a seat in the

back. I ordered a highball and some pickled nozawana, and sipped the

highball as soon as it came. (Note: a Japanese leaf vegetable, often

pickled. It is of the same species as the common turnip and one of a Japanese

variety of mustard leaf. Its leaves are approximately 60–90 cm long.)

The bursting carbonated water

and the thick alcohol soaked into my brain. I wasn't a strong drinker to begin

with, so by the time I was halfway through the bottle, the edges of my vision

began to cloud over as if I had been in soft focus.

"I can't... do anything."

In the end, there was nothing I

could do for Kawasegawa. My request for postponement went unheeded, and the

only thing I could do was to send someone from my own team to help.

I decided to take the

initiative in checking and debugging in my free time as well.

However, even after touching it

a little, I knew that there were many bad bombs in this app. There was nothing

I could do about it.

"Here you go~, pickled nozawana!"

A pile of nozawana was

placed on the table.

Kishida had reminded me to stay

away from Team A as much as possible. It seemed like a natural response, since

the boss of his team was about to step on an obvious landmine.

On the surface, this is a title

that everyone expects a lot from, but in reality, it is a project that is

treated as if it were a tumor. That is the true nature of the title that

Kawasegawa is working on.

Even though I knew that, I

could do nothing for her.

"I can't do anything"

I thought I could do anything.

I was going to do anything.

But the one that came out

without the cheat of time and experience was a safe management position with

just a little bit of connections and trust.

Instead of saving someone, I

couldn't save anyone, and crushed their dreams one after another.

Build a happy family on top of

that corpses.

It seems like I have a choice,

but actually there is no one choice.

So I guess this is an epilogue

after all.

After the bad ending route is

confirmed, disguised as a happy ending.

The player has no choice, no

right to control the game, just click and flip through the calendar.

Was I even needed in this world?

"This... is..."

The carbonation in the highball

was so strong that it hurt.

Part 9

Two months passed in the blink

of an eye.

Mystic Clockwork was released

"without incident". Even with the staff working tirelessly to make

adjustments, bugs continued to appear and the server went down, but for the

time being, they were able to get off to a good start.

But of course, this didn't mean

that the members' work was done, the A-Team members were working on adjustments

and maintenance on their days off, and there was no sign of a new character

design coming from Minori Ayaka.

"Ne~e, Okaa-san,

please draw a horse!"

Maki grabbed a scribble pad and

colored pencils and climbed into Shinoaki's lap, begging for help.

"Hmm, I'm sorry. I'm not

very good at drawing."

Shinoaki was clearly troubled.

"Maki, come over here. Otou-san

will draw a horse."

"Un"

When I said that, Maki came

running towards me straightforwardly.

"Sorry, Otou-san"

Shinoaki said apologetically.

"It's okay. Now, Maki,

what kind of horse shall we make?"

"Anone, I want a

zebra!"

She pointed to a zebra in a

picture book and asked me to draw it for her.

"Okay, then wait a minute."

When it came time to face a

blank sheet of paper, my hand stopped.

In the past, Shinoaki was very

good at drawing all kinds of things, not just people. There was no limit of

what he could draw in terms of backgrounds and characters, and he liked to draw

in general and was still very good at it.

(The scene is moving in my

head. I stop it at some point and draw it as it is)

I remembered what Shinoaki had

said to me. The pictures she drew were always full of a sense of dynamism, as

if they were about to start moving.

But she doesn't draw anymore.

She even refuses to draw when

her beloved daughter asks her to.

"...Hmm, how about

this?"

Except for the black-and-white

stripes and the four legs, there was nothing particularly zebra-like about this

piece.

"Otou-san, you're not very

good!"

The result of wrestling with

the scribble book for 30 minutes was a relentless evaluation.

"Hey, even though Otou-san

drew it for you."

Shinoaki warned her softly,

"Then Maki will draw it!"

Maki didn't seem to mind, and

seemed to be working on her own drawing again.

We both sigh lightly.

"Otou-san, I saw your

smartphone light up a while ago."

"Ah, thank you. What's it

about..."

At the voice of Shinoaki, I

reached out and grabbed my smartphone.

"It's an app update"

It was the Mystic Clockwork

update notification.

After the service was launched,

the application had undergone several updates. It was within our expectation

since they had been working on that plan from the beginning, but the reputation

within the company was that there were fewer problems than they had expected.

I'm sure Kawasegawa did

everything she could.

"The one Kawasegawa-san

mentioned before?"

"Yes, I've been playing it

since it launched, but there's been a lot of updates."

"Hmm... I wonder if I

should try it too."

Shinoaki, surprisingly, was

playing a smartphone game. She gave me her honest impressions as a player,

which I used as a reference.

"You should try it, the

overall quality is excellent."

"Un, I'll try to play it

later."

I updated it for the time being

and locked my smartphone.

"Shall we go out for

dinner today"

"Eh, what's wrong suddenly?"

Shinoaki was surprised and

checked a calendar.

"It's not like it's a

special day or anything. It's just that okaa-san always has to cook for me, so

at least for today, you know."

If nothing is going to change

in this everyday life, the least I can do is to take care of everyone. The only

thing I could do was to make her and her child happy, since the future had been

remade. That's all I could imagine with my poor mind.

"I'm happy, then I'll see

what I can come up with."

"Yeah, we'll be out in an

hour or so."

And there.

"Are, there's a

call... wait a minute."

Surprised by the sudden sound

of my smartphone, I check who it is.

"Eh, Morishita-san...?"

Although I recognized the name,

it was the first time I had received a phone call.

"Company employee?"

"Yeah, but I don't usually

get calls..."

After all, we usually meet at

the office, so there is no reason to call.

Besides, she was a member of

Kawasegawa's team, so she had no direct business with me. If there was, it

would have been the case of Minori Ayaka the other day.

I wondered if something had

happened to Ayaka. I didn't have a good feeling about it.

" ......Hello"

I answered the call. After a

moment, she replied.

I think the talk itself took

less than two minutes. What she said was very straightforward. I listened to

the call, checked the situation on the PC at hand, and hung up immediately.

"Sorry, Shinoaki"

With my smartphone in my hand,

I looked back at her.

"Let's eat out some other time.

I have to go."

Part 10

I got off the train at

Meiji-jingumae station and walked quickly to the office. I already knew about

the situation on the way to the office.

"It's the chance of the

gacha. There's a rumor going around that they're giving out different rates for

each account."

As soon as I left the house, I

resumed the call. Morishita-san's voice was trembling.

"I never heard of such a

specification? Did you really do it..."

"No, I would never do

anything like that!"

First of all, the premise is

that Mystic Clockwork has been extremely buggy since the beginning of its

service. This led to rampant pranks that took advantage of the holes in the

specifications, and even bugs that were not actually there were spread through

image collages.

"This time, the appearance

rate of the gacha wasn't very good."

The rate of SSR was also

suppressed to the extent that it was vilified as prehistoric. And due to the

frequent bugs, dissatisfaction was slowly building up among the users.

At this stage, however, the

situation was not yet fatal. The progress of the game itself was fine, and the

graphics, music, and other parts of the game were perfectly fine, so it was

just a matter of a few malicious users instigating the problem.

However, just one week after

the launch of the service, things took a sudden turn today.

"Do you know Suenomori Yuuta-san?"

Of course I know, he is the

voice actor who plays the main character in this movie. He was very popular

among young people, and if he held an event, tickets would almost certainly be

difficult to obtain.

"The fact that

Suenomori-san got a series of SSR raised suspicions that he was

cheating."

The user who made the

accusation tweeted that the internal data had been manipulated and that the

rate of SSR appearance was being manipulated for each account. The frustration

that had built up there ignited and exploded.

"But the specifications

were a hoax, right? If you could just explain it properly."

"...And that's where we

made a big mistake."

The official SNS manager of

Mystic Clockwork was the type of person who was serious but would say an

unnecessary word.

He gave a good explanation for

the hoax and showed evidence that the image was a malicious collage. However,

he added an unnecessary word.

"He said that there are

many extremely malicious users in this work, and that they are hindering the

operation..."

I held my head. It's true that

the official in charge must have had a lot on his mind. However, blaming the

users, who are probably the most confused at the moment, in the flow of

comments of explanation and apology is the biggest NG.

Naturally, the replies field

became hell, and the word "malicious" became a trending topic:

"I'm sorry for being a malicious user", "I'm going to quit this

game because it's malicious", "It's a malicious manufacturer, so it

only gets malicious users, damn it". The app went into indefinite

long-term maintenance and the company had an emergency meeting.

"The president is calling

Kawasegawa-san and asking her to take responsibility. So far, we've been

patient in dealing with the situation, but Kawasegawa-san hasn't been home for

three days..."

I hold my smartphone between my

shoulders and touch my commuter pass to the ticket gate.

"I'll hurry up for now.

Oh, and call Kishida. Tell him it's urgent, from me."

"I got it"

"Then I'll get on the

train and we can continue when I get there."

I hung up the call and got on

the train.

In terms of the content, it was

a mistake caused by a poor initial response. If we are sincere and polite, we

can start over, although the damage is deep.

But I had been feeling a bit

nervous. It was rare for a project to look so glamorous on the outside, but to

be in such shambles on the inside. The fact that it was only a bug of that

level or somebody did their best, it wouldn't stop at that level.

"I hope nothing outrageous

has happened..."

Whenever I have this kind of

anxiety, something terrible happens.

Feeling the premonition, I took

the Sunday train and headed for Harajuku.

As soon as I arrived at the

office, I hurried to the third floor where the development was located. As I got

into the elevator, the person who came in after me said, "Excuse me,

please go to the second floor first."

"Morishita-san?"

The person who walked in was

the owner of the phone from earlier.

"I'm sorry, but

Kawasegawa-san said she wanted to tell Hashiba-san first."

I got off at the second floor

and headed straight for the conference room.

The phone was ringing

incessantly from the floor above me. It seemed to be coming from the fourth

floor, where the sales and support departments were located.

"Are those all complaint

calls?"

"Yes. The support staff is

doing their best to help, but the customer's words are so harsh that a woman

just walked out saying she couldn't take it anymore..."

It seems that a number other

than support was posted on an anonymous message board, and all calls from other

departments had to be switched to mobile phones for communication.

"...This is bad. We need

to decide what to do soon."

She sighed at my words.

"But with the president in

such a state, it's going to be difficult to decide right away."

"What is that state?"

"The president was ranting

in the development office all the time... and fights have happened."

It seemed that there was an

immediate headache talk at hand.

"That's why Kawasegawa-san

said to come to the second floor to think about what to do."

"It's probably for the

best"

It's better to divide the

members into separate groups who will make calm decisions rather than have them

all confused.

Only in the "Bali"

next to the first conference room we entered, the door was open and the light

was leaking out.

"Here?"

"Yes"

I knocked lightly on the open

door and went straight in.

"Ah......"

Kawasegawa, who was inside,

looked at me.

"Why? I'm sure you weren't

called, don’t tell me, the president is."

"No, it's my own judgment."

I hid the fact that

Morishita-san called me, because it would be her fault.

"I got the gist of it.

What's going on now?"

Kawasegawa chuckled. It was an

exhausted laugh.

"Understand? We made a

mistake in our official response, and we'll be fine as long as we make the

appropriate apologies for it... That level is been over for a long time."

"...As I thought, there's

something more than that going on?"

It seems that my bad

premonition was right.

"It would've been better

if there was something."

There was a pile of paper in

front of Kawasegawa.

"Do you know what this

is?"

"I don't know. Is it a

printout of the complaint?"

"If so, it might have been

better to deal with it."

Flipping through the top sheet

of paper, I saw the cover.

"Bug report on game

engines..."

And that's when I realized how

bad things were.

"I'll explain

everything."

Kawasegawa spoke plainly, as if

it were someone else's problem.

The game engine for this work

was original in-house, as explained before.

Game production, especially the

so-called "programming" part, can be divided into two main parts: the

construction of the main game system, and the insertion of direction and other

elements. The system part, the construction of the game engine, is difficult to

produce and requires a high level of skill.

Therefore, sometimes the

original system is lent to us for a fee. In the past, general-purpose engines

such as KIRI KIRI and N-SK were used in the production of bishojo games.

However, there are limitations

in terms of production and other operations, not to mention the usage fees.

That's why every company, ideally, would like to build their own engine. This

was the main reason why the president insisted on in-house development.

This time, Attraction Point

took the decision to do so. But it was too unprepared and not something we

would have done with another company's title.

"It was my fault. I didn't

expect the engine to be so badly wrecked."

This time, the engine created

by our own programmers had been made in such a way that the word "mere

show" was very appropriate.

The selling point was the

production. The advantage was the ability to apply two or three layers of flashy

effects, but the disadvantages were that the game tended to crash if you didn't

have the latest model and it was basically too heavy.

"Did you not notice it in

the test of the version?"

"Where I was implementing

it, I wasn't doing that much heavy processing. I thought it would work, because

the test on the effect alone passed without any problems..."

The story that they are

currently releasing as the first part is up to episode 4, but they already knew

that a fatal progression error would occur when they implemented episode 5.

When they decided to have the

engine tested by a third-party company, without telling the programmers, they

received a pile of bug reports.

"We'll have to have the

programmers send out all the documentation, and we'll have to bring in outside

help to refurbish it."

"I can't"

"Why?"

"Because they ran away.

After we got the bug report, they completely dropped all communication."

……This is.

It was visible hell. A black

box that can't be answered reliably by inputting data into it, and having to go

through trial and error every time you touch it to make sure it doesn't

explode, on a regular basis.

This problem on top of the

ruckus over the appearance rate of the gacha alone is too severe.

"It's not often that you

can turn around such a bad situation by hiring a programmer. I'll give it a try

for now, but I don't think we should get our hopes up."

Kawasegawa closed her eyes and

breathed a sigh.

"We're going to have to

spend all of our energy every month for the rest of our lives supporting the tattered

main structure and patching it up. They're going to keep it up for a year no

matter how unpopular it is, so that means we're in for a year of hell from here

on out. "

I've heard that there are 15

episodes in the first part of the scenario.

This means that they have to

deal with the bomb for 11 more episodes.

"No, that's... too much."

The members of Team A have been

working tirelessly up to this point.

If the work is not rewarded and

the work is even harder than before, it is not surprising that some members may

not be able to keep their spirits up.

"It can't be helped,

because it happened..."

"It can't be helped, right..."

Morishita-san also looked down

in distress.

"Come on, let's do this.

The flames are still burning as we speak, and we need to get to development and

do some first aid..."

Kawasegawa deliberately said

cheerfully, trying to soften the atmosphere. At the same time she stood up, we

also stood up and left the conference room.

That's what the company

decided. And everything is already working on that basis. There's nothing I can

do about it now.

We don't have time, and we

can't make any changes now.

It can't be helped because the

president says so.

It can't be helped because of

such specifications.

I'm not in charge of it, so it

can't be helped.

It can't be helped, because it

can't be helped.

There's nothing I can do about

it.

"........."

My heart thumped.

And my foot stopped.

"What's wrong, Hashiba?"

Kawasegawa turned around.

"Hashiba-san...?"

Morishita-san was also looking

at me with a curious look.

I looked down.

The sound of my heart was

racing.

My breathing becomes visibly

more ragged.

It can not be helped?

Because the company decided?

Because it's already happening?

Is that the reason why the

staff who have worked so hard for the next year must endure more hell?

Even though I can see it, just

leave it there and walk away?

"Such a thing……"

I start over, come all this

way, and then stand back and pretend that nothing's changed?

Using all the excuses, am I going

to end the epilogue without doing anything about it?

Am I going to stay that way,

wrapped up in temporary happiness?

"Such a thing......!"

I tried to say.

But the movement stopped there.

My mouth just breathed out as if my tongue had been cut out, and my eyes, which

should have been looking forward, slowly looked down.

A lonely smile appeared to my

mind.

His smile, he said, "I was

jealous of you," which was too sad for a creator to say.

He left without letting me say

a word.

If I go out on a limb here, the

same thing that happened then might happen again.

And beyond that, in the future,

is a world where there is no one left.

Even though I witnessed the

current situation and they despaired so much, was I still going to make a move?

Was I going to foolishly act

like a competent person without learning anything?

I've come this far and still

don't understand my standing.

"....."

It was as if a huge nail had

been driven into both my legs and my heart.

I couldn't say anything. There

was nothing I could say.

If I move, everyone will be

unhappy.

"Hashiba, let's go?"

I heard a voice, and I.

"Ah, Ye... Yeah"

I replied without further ado

and followed Kawasegawa.

Part 11

We took the elevator to the

third floor and opened the door to the development room.

As it was a holiday, there were

not that many staff members who came out. However, all the members of Team A

who were involved in the project were there, and they all looked tired.

In the center of the room, a

man in an aloha shirt walked around restlessly with his hands on his hips.

There was no way I could be

wrong, it was the president himself.

"Kawasegawa-kun! Where did

you go, hurry up and deal with this!"

As soon as the president saw

Kawasegawa's face, he yelled at her in a loud voice.

When she approaches the

president,

"As I mentioned earlier,

if we continue to not solve the root of the problem, we will not be able to

solve it...!"

"Something like destroying

everything, there is no way we do that!"

Kawasegawa tried to be as calm

as possible, but the president didn't seem to listen to her.

"Hashiba-san..."

Morishita-san gives me a desperate

look.

But I was not going to meddle

in this situation anymore.

" ......Sorry"

I turned away from her and

headed for my seat.

I had come all this way, but

there was nothing I could do.

Because if I meddle, everything

will be ruined.

...... Then it's much better to

do nothing at all.

"Listen, don't do anything

unnecessary! Then everything will be fine!"

The president's voice echoed. I

think he's right.

Everything I've done has been

unnecessary. That's why everyone quit as creators. They were ruined because of

me.

Turned on the monitor and

started up the PC that had been in sleep mode.

The argument going on a short

distance away seemed to be audible far away.

Eventually, I could no longer

hear their voices. Shutting out the sounds of my surroundings, I shut myself

away in my own world.

Without saying a word, I

checked my new mail. I started replying mechanically to some of the emails that

had arrived. Thank you very much for your help. Thank you very much. It's a

wonderful illustration. I have confirmed your progress. The monotonous sound of

typing on the keyboard gradually hardened my closed shell.

I should have done this from the

beginning. If I had just stayed in the gray world I was in and stayed out of

everyone's way, I wouldn't have made anyone miserable.

One of the emails I received

was a reply from the composer who had sent me a request the other day. I

machine-like clicked on the link to the text as well. It said that the music he

had recently uploaded was good for reference and that he wanted me to listen to

it. I put on my headphones and looked at the screen.

It was the usual lively page

with no particular change. Banners of various colors lined the page, and event

announcements from famous singers and live performers were lined up like a

mountain. There was nothing particularly different from the pages I used to

love to visit.

I selected "My Page"

from the top right corner of the screen to follow the link from my list. If you

look at NicoRepo, you can see the videos uploaded in date order, so I just had

to look there.

NicoRepo was displayed.

I looked at the list in order

from the top, and just at the third one, for a moment, my eyes went wide and

blurry.

"......Eh"

There was something there that

I couldn't believe.

I rubbed my eyes many times to

make sure it wasn't a mistake.

But no matter what I do,

there's,

"N@NA's... new

video..."

The other day, she had just

announced that she was going to quit posting videos, and there was a video of

her.

With trembling hands, I tried

to click on the link, but my hand stopped there.

Why, what happened, were the

questions swirling around in my mind. I was confused as my various

thoughts collided with each other. I was thinking about too many things at

once, and it was driving me crazy.

I was so scared to listen to

it. I wanted to close the video, unsubscribe from the community, and I wanted

to seal it all away.

However... my heart strongly

warned me never to do such a thing.

I swallowed the spit. I

breathed in and out over and over again.

Then, with all my will, I

clicked the play button.

As soon as the video started

playing, "A Reason!" was displayed on the black screen!

"Hello, this is N@NA ~ Etto,

first of all, I'm sorry!"

Nanako bowed her head and

showed an awkward smile.

"Iya~, I said I was

going to quit in the last live broadcast, but I couldn't resist posting another

video like this! And it's an original, uwwa, how long ago was that I

posted an original before."

From there, Nanako displayed

thumbnails of old video files and, perhaps to hide her embarrassment, laughed

incessantly as she went back over her past activities.

And,

" ―― A long time ago, when I was in college "

Up to that point, she has

rewound the time.

"There is someone who told

me to sing. That's how I started singing."

I almost stopped breathing.

It was a thought that pierced

through my ears and into my brain.

"Yes, it was that guy's fault.

All... was that guy's fault."

She said "that guy". I

knew right away who she was talking about.

My involvement and interference

with everyone else's affairs set the wheels in motion.

"At first, I didn't know

what to do, so I just wandered around and touched whatever was nearby at the

time. If it made them happy, I thought I should just do that, without really

thinking about it."

Nanako shook her head.

"That wasn't good enough.

I couldn't be anything, and I didn't want to be. Then, there, he... Thanks to him,

I was able to sing."

With a bitter smile,

"But I couldn't do my best

from there. I just relied on him and didn't do anything, and once he was gone,

I got lazy. I blamed it on him and thought it was okay to quit."

I am sure, she stared intensely

into the camera.

"But I just ―― I thought I shouldn't deny what he did."

She nodded heavily, then,

"That's why I have decided

to sing again!"

The screen has changed.

"Now that I've found

something I can get serious about, it would be waste, right"

A bright piano-based intro was

played, and her voice, very energetic, rang out.

I couldn't even look at the

screen properly anymore. I was so overwhelmed with one thought after

another that it took over most of my vision.

Her singing was no longer

something to be talked about in terms of how good or bad she was.

Coincidentally, I had mumbled

the same words as the comment that had come in.

"This girl...... seems to

be enjoying singing"

She was singing like at that

time, on stage at the school festival, jumping up and down.

Unlike her other videos, which

were only made to be made and to be heard well, the song was.

It was sung from the heart by a

girl who loved to sing.

"Thank you, Nanako"

When the video ended, I looked

down and said a few words of thanks.

Normally, this would not be

allowed. I know that.

But in this world full of sins,

I got one salvation from her.

I was helping her open that

first doorway to finding something she could really get into. And she was

grateful for that.

It wasn't an unnecessary thing. I

had found the one proof. In this world, she wasn't the popular singer

N@NA, but she was still Kogure Nanako, who loved to sing.

I once said to Nanako.

Try to find something that

makes you serious. That's when she realized that singing was for her.

She found it. But I am the one

who said something like that, lost seriousness.

And then, unable to do

anything, I began to spend my days only regretting.

"Kawasegawa-kun! Now you

listen to me!"

The president's shouting

brought me back to my senses, and I looked towards where the A team was.

Kawasegawa bit her lip in

frustration and clenched her hands tightly. The other members around her looked

like they had given up and just kept sighing in exhaustion.

They were deprived of the

future they could gain by working hard. No matter how hard they tried, a future

of abuse and lack of appreciation awaited them. But there was no escaping that

fate, and they were forced to endure.

They were not even allowed to

be serious.

I took a breath.

I felt something that had

almost disappeared earlier start to burn inside my body again.

I ask myself again.

Is what I'm about to do really

unnecessary?

Isn't it just an excuse to

pretend to feel guilty?

Do I really want to face the

people who are about to go through long-lasting suffering right in front of me

and just let it happen because it would be better for me to stay out of it?

"There's no way... It

can't be"

helped...!

"I'll definitely do

something about iiiit!"

I clenched my fists and shouted

as hard as I could.

It was the loudest voice that

anyone had heard in that moment.

I was shouting.

"Ha-Hashiba...?"

Everyone in the development

room was looking at me questioningly.

Only one person, Kawasegawa, was

looking at me with surprise.

I heard the sound of the tense

air breaking. In the midst of the atmosphere of absolute impossibility, I made

up my mind.

I get up from my seat and

approach them.

"Let's do it then."

Was that one word directed at

them, or was it directed at myself?

Anyway, I forced myself to make

a big choice in this big pinch.

I believe that this is the

reason why I came to this world ――.