That night after Umiko returned, everyone enjoyed a big feast together. They all drank quite a bit too—so much that none of them could drive afterward. In the end, they simply booked a few rooms at a nearby hotel and stayed for the night.
At eight in the morning, Ichin and Utaha—who had collapsed straight into bed the moment they entered the room—got up on time. After washing up, they headed to the hotel's buffet hall for breakfast, where they happened to see Umiko and Nene as well.
"Morning, Umiko, Nene."
The two girls, picking out their breakfast, looked over and greeted them with a smile.
Grabbing a plate, adding two slices of bacon and a fried egg, Ichin asked, "Umiko, how's the first night back in Tokyo? Sleeping in a hotel right after returning—does it feel strange?"
"Not at all."
Umiko smiled. "I had a pillow in my arms, so I slept very comfortably."
She had just finished saying that when Sakura Nene muttered from the side, "But I didn't sleep as well… I woke up because I couldn't breathe…"
Last night, Ichin had arranged for Umiko and Nene to share a room. Umiko, who wasn't drunk, naturally didn't refuse. As for Nene, with her terrible alcohol tolerance, two beers had her completely wasted, and she was carried back by Umiko.
She said she woke up from being smothered, but there wasn't the slightest hint of complaint on her face.
Ichin and Umiko exchanged a glance and laughed.
After everyone picked their breakfast, they found an empty table and sat down to eat.
Taking a sip of milk, Ichin asked, "Umiko, I forgot to ask—your place in Tokyo has been empty for a long time. Is it still okay to move back in today?"
"Of course."
Umiko nodded. "I gave my house key to Nene ages ago. She's been calling cleaners over every month to tidy things up, so everything should be fresh and clean. I can go straight back. Oh, right—Nene, are you going to live with me from now on?"
"Eh?"
Nene froze mid-chew, her face turning bright red. "W-wait… you mean… co-co-co—"
"Yes, cohabiting."
"Uu…"
Nene shrank her neck and, under the gaze of the three, stayed silent for a long moment before whispering, "I-I mean, it's fine… I just need to go home and pack first."
"No problem."
Umiko's expression brightened. "Tell me when you're ready; I'll pick you up."
Watching the two, Utaha leaned close to Ichin and whispered, "Ichin… aren't these two a little too unreserved?"
"It's normal." Ichin nodded. "Umiko was never the shy type. And we all know about the two of them anyway—no need to hide anything, right? If it were Rin or Kou, their reactions would be worse than Nene's. Ah—speak of the devil."
At the buffet entrance, Ichin spotted Yagami Kou and the others walking in together.
Everyone seemed to be up early today; one by one they came down for breakfast. The buffet here was pretty good, plenty of variety, and everyone looked quite satisfied.
After eating and resting a bit, everyone went home. Umiko headed back to her long-unvisited place to clean up, and tomorrow she'd be returning to work at the company.
The company's group chat exploded with news of her return. Besides the newer employees who had never met Umiko, everyone else was thrilled.
Especially the programmers in the Tales of Berseria-like project team—they all knew Umiko would be taking over Ichin's workload and leading them upon her return. They were beyond excited.
After all, Ichin was the boss. Working directly under your boss was inevitably a bit nerve-wracking. Not everyone was like Sakura Nene or Narumi—veteran employees who never seemed nervous around him.
Back at home, Utaha glanced at the messages, then smiled at Ichin. "Ichin, you really do have authority in the company."
"Isn't that obvious?"
Ichin shrugged. "I mean, I am the boss. I can relax during off-hours, but I'm pretty strict when it comes to work. Anyway, enough about that—I need to clean the litter box. They've made a mess again. Peppa's appetite is getting ridiculous, and now George is copying him."
Patting the heads of the two cats at his feet, Ichin sighed and headed toward the litter box.
Utaha chuckled and picked up the cat teaser stick, playing with the cats to give them a bit of daily exercise—so they wouldn't keep getting fatter.
When Umiko visited the new office building, she was just as surprised as everyone else had been, and very pleased with the new work environment. She quickly took over Ichin's role and officially joined the Tales of Berseria programming team as their lead.
Meanwhile, Ichin focused on cutscenes and music production for the game.
Just like that, a month passed in the blink of an eye, and October arrived.
In that month, Apex's popularity continued to rise. A week after launch, the Steam concurrent player count soared past the one-million mark, overtaking Cyberpunk 2077 and reaching 5th place in Steam's all-time charts, with clear momentum toward 4th.
On other platforms, the game's heat was just as strong. Across various streaming sites, Apex quickly became the new top category.
Seeing a similar game suddenly surpass them, PUBG grew anxious. Their concurrency was nowhere near what it used to be, and they rushed out several new events. But with no fresh content, no new maps for nearly a year, and gameplay that hadn't evolved, just staying in the top few had already been commendable. Trying to catch up to Apex's explosive rise with a few events was simply impossible.
Ichin, of course, wasn't careless. He focused heavily on live ops and anti-cheat efforts, upgrading Apex's cheat-detection system multiple times. The report function also saw continuous improvements throughout the month.
Cheat developers improved fast, but once a cheat appeared and players reported it, it rarely survived more than thirty minutes.
As long as cheat makers couldn't find new breakthroughs, Apex's environment would remain clean—and continue thriving.
And today, Ichin decided to pause his work. After breakfast with Utaha, he drove to Todai.
Because today was the college's Sports Festival.
Not only Ichin and Utaha—Yagami Kou and the others had taken leave to come play around campus and cheer for Yukino in her tennis match.
Early in the morning, Yukino had gone to college by herself to prepare. As for Haruno—she was still asleep, but Ichin believed that before Yukino's match began, she would definitely show up.
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