Chapter 128. The Mini-Game Festival Begins!
For fear of arousing public outrage, Seele wisely chose to squeeze in with Kaguya tonight, and will probably have to squeeze in with Bronya tomorrow as well.
In the bedroom, Bronya, satisfied at last, shed all her impatience and leaned against him with attachment.
A thin sheet covered their somewhat tired bodies.
Their legs were intertwined.
Bronya hugged him tighter, nuzzling vigorously against his neck.
"How's your game coming along?"
Gently stroking Bronya's warm, smooth back, Xander asked casually.
"Progress is pretty good."
Lifting her head to look at Xander, Bronya immediately smiled with pride.
Modeling, animations, and stage design are all more or less complete.
After the tempering she received on the Pokémon development team, a small-scale game like this is simply a piece of cake for the Scarlet Devil Mansion production team as they are now.
In just over a month they've entered the polish and optimization phase.
Thinking of those three newbies on Xander's side and that casual puzzle mini-game, Bronya simply couldn't hold back her grin.
Hmph.
She could finally win one.
Win!
"What, feeling like you've already won?"
This attitude made Xander's lips curl into a smile as well.
His arm, wrapped around her shoulder, moved forward to grasp that softness.
The sudden squeeze made Bronya let out a soft moan.
She then shot him a reproachful glance and retorted defiantly, "Of course it's definitely going to be much better than your little zombie game!"
"And you've got the nerve to say that?
While I wasn't around, the fifty-plus of you bullied three newcomers.
Aren't you embarrassed?!"
To get accurate first-hand progress from Sugisaki Ken's team, they had been pestered to the point of exhaustion during that period.
Aside from those three, everyone else were seniors, so it wasn't easy to say much.
And since they were all from the same company, and under the boss lady's instruction, no one acted with malice.
With no other choice, Xander directly handed over his private office, moved three computers in, and let them use it as a temporary office.
"T-that was just fair business competition!!"
"We're one family!!!"
Bronya immediately started acting shameless and turned her head away from him.
He understood Bronya's competitive streak clearly, but Xander felt no worry at all.
With Plants vs. Zombies in hand, he couldn't imagine even the slightest possibility of failure.
Even up to the time he crossed over, this game was still being explored by players for new ways to play, with its popularity hardly waning.
Whether in fun or strategy, it could practically be called the peak of casual gaming.
Let Bronya be happy for a while.
Once the Mini-Game Festival started, she probably wouldn't be laughing.
He changed the subject and chatted with Bronya about small matters of life and work.
Before long, the two of them were in each other's arms and, under the cover of night, slowly drifted into sleep.
After spending a few good days at home keeping Bronya and Kaguya company, he finally hurried to the company under the barrage of more than ten SOS messages from his three bros.
Looking up at the Anti-Entropy skyscraper, Xander sighed.
He was obviously the head of this company, yet this was actually his first time setting foot here.
He even needed Bronya and Kaguya to lead the way to find things.
Floors 13 to 16 were the office area Cocolia had allocated to their company.
The four of them took the elevator and quickly arrived at the executive level.
Seele had come along today as well.
Partly to learn the layout with him, and partly because she planned to start handling some company affairs.
As the boss's trainee personal secretary, she had to work hard if she wanted to go full-time.
Upon entering the office area, Bronya and Kaguya, who had been relaxed at his side, immediately put on different expressions.
Faces serious, smiles in place, aura fully on, they walked like strong career women.
Employees buried at their workstations greeted them respectfully upon hearing the noise.
But when they saw Xander at their side, they couldn't help shouting with excitement.
They couldn't help it.
During that year at Anti-Entropy HQ, watching him win over the veteran staff step by step, this boss had become everyone's idol.
Somewhat embarrassed, Xander waved to his passionate little fans and quickly sped up his pace to retreat to his office.
Suppressing their laughter, Bronya and Kaguya calmed the excited employees, then headed to different places to handle matters that needed their decisions.
Seele also tightened her little expression, found the relevant person in charge, and began handing over some work.
As soon as he returned to the office, Xander saw Sugisaki Ken and the other two scratching their heads constantly.
"Weren't things going smoothly before?
Why are you suddenly stuck?"
Casually hanging his coat on the rack by the door, Xander walked in and asked with a smile.
Only then did the focused trio notice him.
Hope flared in their eyes as though they had seen a savior.
They exchanged looks, and Sugisaki Ken stepped forward to explain.
Scratching his head, he said a little awkwardly, "Our cross-play tests between PC and mobile were fine before, but when it came to the AR device, because it's the latest tech, we just couldn't get PvZ to port nicely.
And Kazuto tried developing separately on the AR device, but then cross-play became a problem..."
They talked at length.
Xander didn't interrupt, only nodded from time to time.
The problem wasn't difficult for him, but it was a bit of a challenge for the three new hires.
The approaches the trio proposed were all somewhat feasible.
They had just made small or big mistakes in certain steps, and, frankly, were taking the long way around in places.
When Sugisaki Ken finished, Xander didn't give the correct solution directly.
Instead, he carefully explained the connection points between the AR device and the PC side.
At the end, he also gave them Sakura's work email, telling them they could ask her about small questions they couldn't solve.
In terms of AR programming, Sakura was quite experienced.
"By the way, didn't I write in the task sheet that I'd take point on the AR device this time?
Why did you three just go ahead and do it?
No wonder you sounded so hesitant on the phone when you told me what was going on~"
They worked straight through to the end of the day.
He let Seele and the others go home first.
Tomorrow was the weekend, and Xander was planning to go out on the town with his three bros he hadn't seen for a month and have some fun.
"W-well, we'll need it sooner or later anyway.
We figured there's no harm in learning now..."
Inside the karaoke room, listening to Kitahara's indescribably screechy singing, Xander chatted with Old Man Kiri and Sugisaki Ken.
Face to face, they were embarrassed to admit they didn't want to hold Xander back.
Naturally, they wanted to work even harder.
This month, they'd heard plenty of legends about Xander's year at Anti-Entropy HQ.
The pressure was enormous.
"Speaking of which—"
Taking a sip of beer, Sugisaki Ken nudged his elbow with a wicked grin.
"With such gorgeous boss ladies at home, is it really okay for you to be out carousing with us?"
At that, Xander froze for a moment, then sighed with a complicated look and patted Sugisaki Ken on the shoulder.
"You don't get it.
It's precisely because of them that I want to go out and have fun."
Sugisaki Ken: "?"
He shook his head and didn't elaborate.
Right now, he could only pin his hopes on Schicksal's gene technology.
...
"Didn't expect it to be the four of us again the second time around."
In just over a month, time flew by once more, and in the blink of an eye it was the day the St. Freya Mini-Game Festival began.
Because Gensokyo Company was participating this time, the exhibition was extraordinarily lively.
The previous gymnasium venues were obviously no longer enough.
After discussion, the school leadership directly included half the open space around the gym as well.
As for the Gensokyo Company's exhibition area, of course it was arranged in the most central, eye-catching position.
"Yeah.
But this time we're participants too."
Old Man Kiri echoed with emotion.
Looking at the finished booth, with cute little plants and chibi zombies painted on it, the big stylized "Plants vs. Zombies" logo was printed across it.
There was no need for extraneous design.
Just set up some simple decorations that represented the game's theme.
Rather than fancy bells and whistles, it was better to put more PCs and phones on the booth.
At this point, they no longer needed special booth shapes to attract attention.
On the strength of "Pokémon designer" alone, their booth would surely be trampled by hordes of passionate players.
"How is it?
All done?"
After finally escaping from a crowd of designers, Xander returned to the trio and asked with a smile.
"More or less.
We've checked all the PCs and phones on the booth—no issues."
As the biggest hot topic of this Mini-Game Festival, Xander's appearance naturally drew everyone's attention.
He was immediately surrounded the moment he came out.
"You didn't send the wrong build to the organizers, did you?"
"Mm, we confirmed it—it's the demo version," Old Man Kiri, who was responsible for that task, replied.
Although it was called a demo, compared to the full version it only lacked a few fun modes like "Random Imitater" and "Scaredy-shroom's Dream."
People who paid for the full version should of course get more than the demo.
Besides, the demo included the entire main campaign.
He hadn't even cut the Endless mode.
It was downright generous.
This wasn't like To the Moon last time.
Cutting the middle of that game would have seriously hurt the experience, and it was precisely the impact of the ending that gave To the Moon such heat.
"Good, then.
Let's grab dinner together in a bit.
Do I need to set something up for you tonight, Iori?
We're all adults now—no problem~"
Nodding at Sugisaki Ken, Xander waggled his brows at Kitahara with a grin.
"N-no, no.
I'm a good boy.
I don't go to places like that!"
He waved his hands in a panic.
There were places he dared go as a minor, but he lost his nerve as soon as he came of age.
Still a bit pure, Kitahara was fantasizing about giving his first time to his future girlfriend.
"Fine, fine.
Same hotel as last time.
You three go eat.
I've got something to do."
Seeing the three of them flipping him off, Xander didn't mind and added, "Oh, right.
Tomorrow I might only show my face at the beginning.
After that, it's all on you—no problem, right?"
"I feel like we might be short-handed..."
Before Kitahara could finish, Xander cut in at once.
"No problem, huh?
I knew this wouldn't stump you.
Go get 'em, brothers—I'm out!"
With that, he vanished in a flash, leaving his three bros staring in disbelief.
...
"I'm not late, am I?"
At a quiet, secluded restaurant, Xander opened the door and stepped in.
In the spacious private room, Seele, Kiana, and the others were already seated and happily chatting.
"Not late, not late—only half an hour behind, that's all."
Seeing him, Kiana immediately threw in a jab, her tone tinged with a faint grudge.
These past few months, Xander first took Seele traveling all over the world.
After they came back, he'd often run to the company.
She hadn't managed to invite him out to play more than a few times.
And the few times they did meet were simple get-togethers, nowhere near enough to give Sirin the chance for one-on-one time.
"Can't be helped.
If you ask me, you should blame Bronya for this."
Sitting in the spot Seele had specially saved for him, Xander draped an arm over Bronya's shoulder and complained to everyone with dissatisfaction, "This woman didn't leave me a single person from the company.
Was that really necessary?!"
Bronya pried off his hand with mock severity and said coolly, "We're competitors right now."
As soon as the words fell, she couldn't hold back a smile herself.
Yesterday, when he went to Scarlet Devil Mansion to borrow people and found everyone already assigned, he was dumbfounded.
All because he'd casually said a few days ago that their game might not be as good as PvZ?
Was there any need to sulk till now?!
With no choice, the three bros would just have to tough it out.
If they really couldn't keep up, they'd have to ask the Mini-Game Festival's staff for help.
They didn't want to see the Gensokyo Games booth unmanned because the team was exhausted, right?
"I was just telling the truth."
"The show hasn't even started yet.
How can you be so sure?
I say my game is much more fun than your zombie game!"
"Sure, sure.
You're right."
He didn't care about Bronya's take at all.
His control over PvZ was very strict.
Outside the dev group, no one else in the company had played a finished build.
Bronya didn't know the facts, so it was normal for her to say that.
Under the table, he squeezed Bronya's small hand and looked across at Sirin.
"Sirin, want to stream my new game?"
"Huh?"
Not expecting Xander to suddenly talk to her, Sirin froze, then hurriedly said, a little nervous, "I can, but on the first day I was going to play Bronya and Kaguya's..."
"If you play mine first, I can promote you personally~"
"Ah..."
Sirin was moved.
Under Kiana's gaze, she asked timidly, "Will you stream with me?"
"...I'm free tomorrow afternoon, so that works."
He had originally planned to just give it a shout-out in public, but since Sirin put it that way, he naturally wouldn't refuse a friend's request.
"Mm, then I'll play your game tomorrow.
Sorry, Bronya, Kaguya!"
Suppressing her inner excitement, Sirin looked apologetically at Bronya and Kaguya.
"Tsk, isn't this basically cheating!"
Bronya shot a displeased glare at the innocent-looking Xander, but felt no urge to blame Sirin.
As much as she didn't want to admit it, no streamer could refuse the hype generated by Xander appearing in person.
She could fully understand Sirin being tempted into "defection."
"This is just making full use of existing resources.
And for this game, I'm very confident."
"Sophistry!"
Forget it—just Sirin alone won't create too big a gap in heat.
After all, on their side, the original Pokémon dev team's name is no less powerful than Xander's!
"Oh, right—Elysia will also be streaming it tomorrow."
"?"
Bronya took a breath and comforted herself silently.
It's fine.
Elysia is just a travel blogge—
"And Eden."
"????"
...
The next day, the St. Freya Mini-Game Festival officially began!
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