RedX43
patreon
[Game] Chapter 178: As Expected, Someone Pulled an All-Nighter
🕑 Added 2025-03-26 17:49:34 +0000 UTCAt nine in the morning, after finishing breakfast, Ichin and Utaha headed downstairs to the studio. They found Eriri already there, completely engrossed in her Switch, playing the game with full concentration, completely oblivious to the outside world.
Yagami Kō was awake too, but that was only because Eriri had woken her up. Right now, she was slumped over the desk, trying to catch some sleep.
“Kō, still sleepy?”
Ichin placed a wrapped sandwich in front of her. “Here’s your breakfast.”
Kō twitched her nose, catching the scent of food, and finally opened her eyes.
“Ah, thanks.”
Rubbing her eyes and yawning, Kō said, “The coffee in the kitchen should be ready. Can you check and pour me a cup while you’re at it? I’m so tired.”
“I’ll do it.”
Utaha offered and went into the kitchen. Sure enough, the coffee was brewed. She took out four clean cups, poured the coffee, and brought them out.
“Here you go, Kō.”
“Thanks, Utaha!”
After taking a sip of the coffee, Kō’s eyes lit up as her energy seemed to return.
“Ah, I’m alive again. Eriri barged into my room first thing in the morning, asking where the game was. I couldn’t even get a bit more sleep.”
She then unwrapped her sandwich and took a big bite.
“Ugh, I’ll definitely need a nap at noon. By the way, Ichin, I was playing Hollow Knight until around 2 a.m. last night. I noted down some things that need optimization. Nothing major, just minor issues. I left the notes on your desk.”
Ichin glanced at his desk and sure enough, there was an A4 sheet of paper waiting for him.
“Got it. Kō, if you’re still tired, just go get some sleep. You guys from the art team don’t have much left to do anyway.”
Kō nodded and yawned again.
“If I can’t stay awake, I’ll go rest.”
Meanwhile, Utaha had walked over to Eriri and placed a cup of coffee in front of her.
“How’s the game so far?”
Hearing Utaha’s voice, Eriri finally looked up.
“Huh? Oh, you guys are here! Hehe, the game’s pretty amazing. I already cleared the initial area and I’m making my way through the next parts! Once the full release is out, I’ll buy the Steam version too!”
Ichin couldn’t help but laugh at her words.
“You’re part of the studio now. I can just give you a key. No need to go spend extra money.”
“Oh, right! I totally forgot!”
Eriri suddenly remembered that she was now part of the studio, meaning she didn’t have to buy their own game.
“Hehe, that’s awesome! Employee benefits!”
As she spoke, she noticed Utaha had also taken out her Switch. To her surprise, Utaha’s progress was far ahead of hers.
“Wait, when exactly did you get your hands on the game?”
Utaha’s lips curled into a playful smile. “Yesterday afternoon. It arrived just as we got home from school. But you had already gone home, so I didn’t bother telling you right away. I only texted you last night. As for progress, mine is actually pretty slow. When the others arrive, you can ask them. I bet Shinoda and Nene stayed up all night playing.”
“What?! So I’m the last one to get my hands on it?”
Eriri grumbled, “I should’ve just come over yesterday afternoon instead of listening to my mom and going shopping with her. I didn’t even get the clothes I wanted, but she bought a whole pile of stuff.”
Today, Eriri was wearing a high-waisted dress instead of her usual green tracksuit. Despite heading out early, she had dressed up nicely, not too casually, looking every bit like a beautiful young girl in her prime.
“Clothes, huh?”
Resting her chin on her hand, Utaha said thoughtfully, “It’s already late October. Autumn’s here. I should probably go buy some new clothes, too. Ichin, let’s go shopping for clothes tomorrow, okay?”
“Hmm? Shopping? Sure.”
Ichin had no objections. The clothes he brought with him to Japan were mostly for spring and summer. He definitely needed to get some autumn and winter clothing.
“Autumn already... This year’s almost over, with only two months left.”
Having finished her sandwich, Kō took a sip of her coffee and sighed, “This year’s been a wild ride. Just at the start of the year, Fairy Stories 3 was released, and then the company disbanded. I ended up joining Ichin’s studio and started working on a new game. So much has happened in just half a year.”
“But overall, it’s been mostly good, right?”
Ichin looked at her and said, “I’ll be counting on you to keep contributing to the studio from here on, Kō.”
“Hehe, leave it to me! I’m awesome, after all!”
Kō patted her chest with a proud grin, then grabbed her cup and walked over to her desk. “Alright! Time to keep playing! I’m going to hunt down all the bugs in Hollow Knight over the next few days!”
Having downed most of her coffee, Kō was feeling much more awake and ready to get to work, putting off any thoughts of napping for now.
By around 10 a.m., everyone else had arrived.
Just as Ichin predicted, Shinoda and Nene Sakura both showed up with heavy dark circles under their eyes. Even Aoba had slight bags under her eyes, though not as severe as the other two.
“You guys... Did you all stay up late playing the game?”
The three of them nodded in unison. Aoba replied, “I played until around 1 a.m. before I couldn’t stay awake anymore and went to sleep. Nene crashed at my place last night and didn’t go to sleep until after three.”
“Ahh, but it wasn’t so bad. I can handle staying up until three!”
Rubbing her eyes, Nene leaned against Aoba’s shoulder and said, “When Fairy Stories 3 launched, I pulled an all-nighter, so only staying up until three is easy!”
Despite her heavy dark circles, Nene seemed to be in pretty good spirits.
Shinoda, who also stayed up late, was already off chatting with Eriri about the game.
Looking over at Shinoda, Ichin asked, “Shinoda, I’m planning to do a live stream tonight. Can you be on camera?”
“Live stream? Me?”
Shinoda glanced at Ichin before grinning and giving a big thumbs up. “No problem! Leave it to me! But, I’ll need a nap this afternoon. Otherwise, no amount of makeup will cover up these dark circles!”
Despite her usually carefree personality, Shinoda still cared about her appearance when it came to being on camera.
Since most of them had stayed up late last night, Ichin wasn’t going to push them.
He then gathered everyone’s feedback about the issues they encountered while playing. With that, he started preparing to fix the bugs and make a patch.
...
