While Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Zanki were meeting on that same day, Zaboru was doing something completely different. Instead of sitting in a tense business discussion, he was casually hanging out with the higher-ups of ZAGE's Japanese teams. This was not a meeting at all. It was just a relaxed gathering, and Zaboru had even invited them to the 52nd floor, which for him and his family was less like an office floor and more like a private house inside ZAGE Tower.
Of course, not everyone could attend. The one who had pushed for this gathering the hardest was Yugo Kanai, the overall lead of ZAGE's Japanese side, and yes, the entire thing had happened because Yugo practically begged Zaboru for it. He had asked with the kind of desperate sincerity usually reserved for people requesting a miracle, a blessing, or front-row seats to heaven itself. To Yugo, spending casual time with Boss-sama outside work was not just a nice break. It was practically a sacred event.
Zaboru had only chuckled at that level of devotion, but in the end he agreed. After all, the work for the day was already done, and it was already 19:00. There was no real reason to refuse... especially when Yugo looked like he might actually start glowing from happiness the moment Zaboru said yes.
Shigeru Miyamoto, the top leader of Team NIWA, let out a long sigh as he looked around the 52nd floor. "Well, I'll be damned. I never expected the 52nd floor of ZAGE Tower to literally be your house, Boss." His voice carried the kind of disbelief that came from realizing your company president had quietly turned the top floor into a warm private home while everyone else was still surviving on office chairs and free coffee.
Hideo Kojima, one of the leaders of Team NOVA, drank some sake and immediately said, "This is my dream. If I ever get rich enough, I'll build some multibillion global company and make the top floor my personal suite. Maybe I'll even add a theater room just for classic movies."
Shinji Mikami, leader of Team IZAN, instantly sighed and pointed at him. "Yeah, before you do that, make sure you pay the goddamn Premium Dumpling Ramen you still owe me from the ZAGE Tavern restaurant, Hideo."
Hideo frowned as if he had just been deeply insulted. "Hey! That's cheap! I've treated you multiple times!"
Meanwhile, Yugo, who looked far too star-struck to be acting like a normal top leader, immediately jumped in. "Damn it, Hideo! You're not paying again!? You definitely spent your money on those old classic movies again, right!?" He said it like an outraged citizen accusing a criminal of stealing national treasure. Then he suddenly turned to Zaboru with bright eyes and added, "Boss-sama, please look at this man. He is unworthy of cinema and noodles. He also loves feet! I swear!."
Hideo Kojima was pissed. "Shut up, bastard and who said I like feet!, you freak!."
Yugo looked personally delighted to be insulted back, which only made him seem even more hopelessly devoted to the whole atmosphere. If Zaboru told him to jump off the balcony for a new game idea, he would probably ask whether he should spin in midair to make the landing more elegant.
Zaboru chuckled and said, "Well, feel free to eat anything in the fridge. There's a lot of stuff in there. And you too, Masahiro-chan, don't be shy. Look at Toshi, he's already gone wild."
Masahiro Sakurai, the leader of Team KODO, looked visibly awkward because compared to the others here, he was still newer and less used to this kind of shameless casual atmosphere. Toshi, meanwhile, as the leader of Team FUMA, had absolutely no such problem. The moment he opened the fridge, his entire soul seemed to leave his body.
"DAYUM, BOSS! YOU HAVE FOOD!? ARE THESE GYOZA!?"
Shinji Mikami groaned so hard it sounded almost spiritual. "Toshi, you bastard, hearing you shout makes my hairline decrease in real time."
That did not stop Toshi at all. He was already holding the gyoza tray with the expression of a man who had found treasure. "Boss lives like a king," he declared. "No, wait, not a king. A final boss. A secret boss. An unlockable one."
Yugo immediately nodded far too enthusiastically. "Of course Boss-sama is a hidden boss! Even his fridge has legendary loot!"
Hideo snorted into his sake. "You worship him too much. At this point if Boss breathes near you, you'll probably call it inspiration."
Yugo placed one hand on his chest and answered with complete seriousness, "It is inspiration."
The entire room broke into laughter again.
Then Shinji Mikami walked over to Zaboru dramatically and pointed at his own receding front hair. "BOSS! I beg you, save my hairline! Look at what I've sacrificed for ZAGE!" He said it like a tragic war veteran displaying an old wound earned in battle. "Do you understand how cruel fate is? I gave this company my youth, my sleep, my patience, and now it has taken my forehead too!"
That instantly made the room explode again. Even Toshi, who was still holding the gyoza tray like sacred treasure, nearly choked from laughing. Yugo, meanwhile, looked genuinely moved by the speech, as if Shinji had just delivered the final words of a fallen hero. "Boss-sama," Yugo said with complete seriousness, "if anyone can save a man's hairline, it is you."
Hideo Kojima snorted into his sake. "What kind of faith is that? At this point you think Boss can do anything."
Yugo turned to him without hesitation. "He can."
"See?" Hideo groaned. "This is exactly why you're hopeless."
Satoru Iwata, one of the higher-ups of Team NIWA, was currently enjoying Zenshin's drawings nearby, but even he could not help chuckling at that. "Shinji-san, I think that's because you color and bleach your hair too often... not because you work at ZAGE."
Shinji turned to him with the expression of a betrayed man. "Iwata-san, I came to Boss for sympathy, not scientific analysis."
Iwata only smiled and adjusted his glasses slightly. "Unfortunately, science arrived first."
Everyone laughed even harder after that, especially because Shinji looked genuinely offended by how quickly the room accepted that explanation. Even Zaboru laughing too hard at how seriously Shinji was treating the situation.
Zaboru, meanwhile, was quietly enjoying all of this. He had not expected that so many of the legends and works from his previous life would end up circling back into moments like this, and now these people did not just see him as their boss. They also saw him as a friend. That was still a strange feeling for him sometimes, but not an unpleasant one.
Then suddenly, Toshi, who had already eaten far too many dumplings from Zaboru's fridge, raised his voice again. "BOSS! I heard you really gave money and training to the AKAI KUMA TEAM!? Will Japan at least win Counter-Strike or DoTA? Come on, Boss, we are the creators of those games! Why can't we dominate too!?"
Yugo instantly grinned, his eyes practically sparkling with dangerous levels of faith. "If we want to dominate, then why not let Boss-sama join the Japanese team!? Boss-sama is invincible! Nobody can beat him!" The way he said it made it sound less like a suggestion and more like a sacred truth written into the laws of nature.
Hideo immediately groaned. "Here we go again. Yugo is about to found the Church of Boss-sama Esports."
Yugo pointed at him without hesitation. "I don't need to found it. It already exists in my heart."
That made Toshi laugh so hard he nearly dropped another dumpling. "Damn, Yugo, you're hopeless! But honestly..." He turned back to Zaboru with exaggerated seriousness. "If Boss joins, the enemy teams might just surrender before the match even starts."
Zaboru chuckled. It was true that he was really good, probably far too good for his own peace, but he had no real interest in joining any team like that. Before he could answer properly, Shinji Mikami let out a long, tired sigh, then straightened his posture slightly as if some ancient spirit of wisdom had suddenly descended into him.
"Yugo," Shinji said in a calm voice that sounded far too grand for such a stupid topic, "you understand nothing." He even raised one finger in the air like a wandering sage about to reveal the secret of the universe. "A true hidden boss does not join the tournament from the beginning. That would be vulgar. That would be common. That would reduce Boss-san to the level of ordinary participants."
The room immediately went quiet, mostly because everyone wanted to see how far Shinji was willing to commit to this nonsense.
Shinji continued with complete seriousness. "No. First, the heroes must struggle. First, the challengers must climb. First, one among them must become champion through blood, sweat, and broken controllers. Only then..." He paused dramatically and narrowed his eyes. "Only then does the hidden boss appear."
Toshi was already shaking from laughter. Hideo lowered his sake cup and muttered, "Why does he sound like an old mountain master explaining martial arts?"
But Shinji was not finished.
"If Boss-san enters from the beginning, there is no mystery. No legend. No fear. But if the champion finally stands at the peak, proud and exhausted, and then suddenly Boss-san appears..." Shinji put one hand on his chest and gave a solemn nod. "That is when the soul truly leaves the body."
At that point, even Masahiro had to cover his mouth because he was trying too hard not to laugh.
Yugo, meanwhile, looked like he had just received a divine revelation. "...I understand," he whispered.
Shinji turned toward him slowly, as if blessing a disciple. "Good. You are still stupid, but now you are slightly less stupid."
That completely destroyed the room. Toshi nearly fell sideways laughing, Hideo started coughing into his sake, and even Satoru Iwata had to turn away for a second because his shoulders were shaking. Shigeru Miyamoto was outright laughing now, while Yugo somehow looked both offended and enlightened at the same time.
Then Shinji looked back at Zaboru and ended with one final wise-sounding nod. "So yes, Boss-san should remain the final challenge waiting beyond the credits. If one of us becomes champion, then we earn the right to challenge him later, just like in fighting games. Right, Boss?"
Zaboru only chuckled and shrugged. "Maybe though."
Meanwhile, Satoru Iwata looked more closely at one of the paintings on the wall before asking, "Boss... your four-year-old made all this?" His voice was full of disbelief as he stared at the picture properly. This was not just a cute child's drawing. It was already a genuine masterpiece in its own strange, fierce way. The image showed a warrior in armor riding a shadow-black horse with smoke rising from its hooves, while holding a scarlet-red sword and cutting down robots around him. The composition was dramatic, the movement felt alive, and the emotion inside it was so strong that everyone in the room felt it immediately. It did not look like a child randomly putting colors together. It looked like someone had poured a real world out of his head and onto the page.
Zaboru chuckled proudly and said, "Yeah, it's Zenshin's work. Cool, right?"
For a second, the room went completely quiet.
Then everyone looked at the painting again.
And then back at Zaboru.
Toshi was the first to react. "Boss, what the hell? That's not normal four-year-old talent. When I was four, my drawings looked like injured potatoes."
Hideo narrowed his eyes at the wall and muttered, "Why does this already feel like concept art for some dark fantasy action game? No, forget concept art. It already looks like a finished key visual."
Even Masahiro, who was usually more restrained, looked genuinely stunned now. "The composition is way too good," he said before catching himself and realizing how absurd it sounded to analyze a four-year-old's work this seriously. "No, seriously... this is already beyond 'cool.'"
Yugo, of course, looked almost emotional. "As expected of Boss-sama's son,"- said with deep conviction, as if this outcome had been written by fate itself.
Satoru Iwata was still staring at the picture with a half-amused, half-bewildered expression. "No, seriously... the sense of action is weirdly strong. Why does it already have momentum? Why does it already have staging?"
Shigeru Miyamoto finally chuckled and said, "Well, the apple really doesn't fall far from the tree then."
Zaboru chuckled and said, "Anyway, eat, guys. Don't let Toshi be the only one enjoying himself here." After that, everyone started heading to the fridge and the nearby table to grab food, and once they opened it properly, the amount inside was honestly ridiculous. Drinks, snacks, fruits, leftovers, prepared meals, dumplings, desserts, and enough random food to support a small emergency meeting for three days were all packed inside. It made the whole place feel even more like a real home instead of some luxury company floor.
Masahiro Sakurai, however, looked far too excited to focus only on food. While holding his plate, he hesitated for a moment before finally asking, "B-Boss... can... can you give us a little sneak peek of ZEPS 4's future? I know we're already learning from the engine direction based on Team Nexus arcade work, and we've been preparing too, but still... I'm really curious about its specs and features... And Zanichi-san is so strict when it comes to development."
Toshi immediately sighed, though he was clearly interested too. "Masa-chan, you really want to talk about work right now...? But honestly, I'm curious too."
Shigeru Miyamoto smiled and added, "I heard it will be a ZAGE masterpiece for years to come..."
Hideo Kojima leaned back with his drink and said, "I'm more curious about what kind of games you want us to make for it..."
Satoru Iwata chuckled and said, "You look beyond excited whenever you talk about this with Zanichi-san, Boss... and honestly, that makes me really interested too."
Zaboru chuckled. The ZAGE teams were already preparing for ZEPS 4 development, but so far most of them were still in the phase of preparing game ideas and exploring the ZEPS 4 development kits. Those kits were not fully complete yet, but they would be soon, especially if everything stayed on schedule for this month. Because of that, Zaboru did not really mind giving them a little sneak peek now.
"Well, because I'm a good boss, I guess I can give you a little sneak peek. Hehehe."
The reaction was immediate.
Toshi nearly dropped his food. "OH SHIT, IT'S REAL!"
Masahiro straightened so fast he almost looked military. "Boss, I'm listening with my entire soul."
Hideo laughed and said, "Look at them. We haven't even heard the specs yet and they already look like cult followers."
Yugo pointed at him with full conviction. "Because this is sacred information, Hideo! Sacred!"
Even Shinji Mikami, who had been pretending to stay relaxed, moved a little closer and said, "Alright, now I'm interested too. Don't hold back, Boss."
Everyone quickly became excited.
To be continue
AN : i want this people really casual with Zaboru though as Zaboru is never strict and "Bullshit" leader like my F*cking boss lol
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