AN :
AN: Guys sorry I'm extrremly busy these days for real so today i can only post one chapter...
Sunday, 13 June 2001
In the pale light of early morning, Zaboru pedaled steadily through the quiet streets of Tokyo aboard his trusted bicycle, the Silver Wrecker.
The roads were still relatively empty. Most shops had not opened yet, only a few delivery trucks moved between buildings, and the usual noise of the city had not fully awakened. The cool morning wind brushed against Zaboru's face as he rode, making the trip feel strangely peaceful compared to the endless meetings, development plans, and corporate responsibilities that usually filled his days.
Anyone who recognized him would probably find the sight ridiculous. Zaboru Renkonan, the owner of one of the most powerful entertainment companies in the world, could have used a luxury car, a private driver, or even a helicopter if he felt particularly unreasonable.
Instead, he was happily pedaling through Tokyo on an old bicycle with a dramatic name.
Zaboru lightly patted the handlebar and chuckled. "Still going strong, huh, Silver Wrecker? Don't listen to those people asking me to replace you. They don't understand loyalty."
The bicycle naturally gave no answer, but Zaboru nodded as though it had agreed with him.
His destination was one of ZAGE's offices, although not the enormous fifty-two-story ZAGE Tower that currently dominated the company's public image.
He was heading toward ZAGE's original headquarters.
The old office complex consisted of five medium-sized apartment buildings that had once been purchased, connected, and heavily modified until they operated almost like a single large structure. From the outside, it had never possessed the overwhelming grandeur of ZAGE Tower. There were no walls of reflective glass, no dramatic lobby, no enormous glowing ZAGE emblem suspended above the entrance.
Yet for Zaboru, those old buildings possessed something the new tower could never reproduce.
History.
It was inside those cramped rooms that countless arguments, ideas, disasters, and breakthroughs had occurred. It was where exhausted employees had slept beneath their desks after long development sessions, where primitive console prototypes had overheated at the worst possible moments, and where games that later changed the industry had first existed as messy sketches pinned to walls.
Last year, Zaboru had decided that the old headquarters should be preserved and transformed into the ZAGE Museum.
Technically, ZAGE was only around ten years old. By the standards of most companies, that was not ancient enough to justify a museum. Some people had even laughed when they first heard the proposal, wondering what ZAGE could possibly display after only one decade.
Zaboru had disagreed completely.
Ten years might not sound long, but those ten years had transformed the entertainment industry. ZAGE had grown from a tiny and overly ambitious company into a worldwide force. ZEPS 1, ZEPS 2, ZEPS 3, ZGB, ZGBA, arcades, games, animation, music, online services, and countless other projects had emerged during that short period.
More importantly, there were stories behind all of them.
Zaboru had no intention of letting those stories vanish inside storage rooms or forgotten filing cabinets.
The museum was not ready to open to the general public yet. For now, it would serve mainly as a carefully maintained archive and private exhibition space for ZAGE employees, trusted guests, developers, and possibly selected school groups later. Zaboru already had a large personal collection on the fifty-first floor of ZAGE Tower, but that collection was different. I
This museum would not focus only on Zaboru.
It would preserve the story of ZAGE itself.
Naturally, if ZAGE continued growing, this old office complex would eventually become too small. One day, they might need to construct an enormous purpose-built museum capable of displaying every console, game, prototype, document, machine, and piece of artwork connected to ZAGE's history.
But for now, returning the company's history to the place where much of it had begun felt right.
Zaboru had entrusted the renovation to NAGOYA Construction, one of the construction companies he trusted most. NAGOYA Construction had also helped build ZAGE Tower, and its workers had become extremely familiar with Zaboru's unusual requests.
The company's president, Shoto Nagoya, had an especially deep personal connection with Zaboru. During the Kobe Incident in 1996, Zaboru had helped Shoto's family like many others Families when they were trapped in a dangerous situation. Shoto had never forgotten that. Since then, he had treated every project connected to Zaboru with a level of care that sometimes frightened even his own employees.
It also helped that Zaboru paid extremely well and never tried to destroy contractors by cutting budgets after construction began.
As one NAGOYA Construction worker once said, "Working for Zaboru is stressful because his ideas are strange, but at least the man pays us enough to survive his imagination."
For the ZAGE side of the project, Zaboru had originally asked one of the company's earliest employees which also ZAGE Head of Marketing team, Shinsuke Yamaguchi, to personally supervise the museum. Shinsuke had immediately refused, claiming that his current responsibilities already left him with barely enough time to remember what his own house looked like.
Instead, he assigned one of his trusted subordinates, Yuuki Kato, to oversee the historical organization, descriptions, and overall presentation.
Zaboru knew Yuuki's name from reports, but they had never properly met.
That was about to change.
After nearly an hour of relaxed cycling, Zaboru finally arrived at the old ZAGE office complex. He stopped in front of the familiar buildings, placed one foot on the ground, and remained there for several seconds without moving.
The exterior had been cleaned and restored, but the original form was still recognizable. The old ZAGE sign remained near the entrance, polished but not replaced. Even the slightly awkward shape of the connected apartment buildings had been preserved.
Zaboru smiled.
For a moment, he could almost see the old days again. Employees running between buildings while carrying documents. Young developers sleeping beside prototype machines. Yugo shouting too loudly in the hallway. Shinsuke arguing about marketing expenses. Sayuri threatening to murder anyone who submitted incomplete financial reports.
Zaboru chuckled quietly. "It really hasn't changed that much."
He parked the Silver Wrecker carefully and walked toward the entrance. Waiting for him there were three men: Shinsuke Yamaguchi, Yuuki Kato, and Shoto Nagoya.
Shinsuke immediately grinned when he saw him. "Hello, Boss. You're still using that bicycle, I see."
Zaboru glanced back at the Silver Wrecker before replying proudly, "Of course. It still works, Shin-san. Why would I betray a loyal partner just because I can afford something shinier? beside this "Silver Wrecker" is mythical item you know?"
Shoto laughed, while Shinsuke shook his head and said, "One day, that bicycle is going to collapse beneath you out of pure exhaustion."
Zaboru placed a hand over his chest as though deeply offended. "You clearly underestimated my strongest partner Shoto-san."
Shinsuke stared at him for a moment before looking at Shoto. "See? This is the man running our company."
Shoto nodded solemnly. "That explains many things."
Zaboru laughed and then turned back toward Shinsuke. "Still, I'm surprised you're here. Why aren't you enjoying your weekend?"
Shinsuke casually patted the shoulder of the enormous young man beside him. "I wanted to see how this guy's work turned out. Besides, if he made a mess of ZAGE history, I wanted to be present when you destroyed his confidence."
The young man immediately stiffened.
Zaboru finally looked at him properly—and had to tilt his head upward.
Yuuki Kato stood at approximately 199 centimeters tall pure Japanese. Combined with his broad shoulders and nervous posture, he looked like a giant who had accidentally wandered into a museum project and was now terrified someone might ask him to speak.
Zaboru's eyes widened slightly. "Whoa. You really are tall are you pure Japanese?. Shin-san has told me a lot about you, but this is the first time we've actually met, right?"
Yuuki looked completely overwhelmed when Zaboru offered his hand. Despite being nearly two meters tall, he somehow appeared smaller under the weight of his nervousness.
"U-Um... Boss and.. yes i'm 100% Japanese," Yuuki stammered as he carefully accepted the handshake. "My name is Yuuki Kato. It's an honor to finally meet you."
Zaboru smiled warmly. "Nice to meet you too, Yuu."
Yuuki froze.
Shinsuke raised an eyebrow. "That was fast. He already gave you a nickname."
Yuuki's face slowly turned red, and Zaboru chuckled at his reaction. "Don't worry. It means I like you."
"That might make him even more nervous," Shinsuke said.
Yuuki was one of the relatively rare ZAGE employees Zaboru had never personally reviewed before hiring. Normally, even when Zaboru did not conduct the interview himself, he at least looked through the applicant's résumé and profile. With his Deep Memory Dive, one glance was enough for him to preserve those details almost permanently.
However, there were exceptions.
Zaboru deeply trusted the oldest members of ZAGE, especially people like Shinsuke Yamaguchi, head of marketing; Sayuri Yamaguchi, head of finance; and Yuna Kanai, head of ZAGE subsidiaries. When those people hired someone directly beneath them, Zaboru usually did not interfere unless something felt suspicious.
The same trust extended to Zanichi and several major leaders managing ZAGE's international branches.
As the company grew, Zaboru had learned that trust was necessary. He could not personally examine every single employee forever, no matter how strong his memory became.
After greeting Yuuki, Zaboru turned toward Shoto Nagoya and smiled. "Anyway Shoto-san, it's good to see you looking healthy."
Shoto nodded respectfully. "Thank you, Boss. And it's good to see you too. We've been renovating this place for more than a year. Structurally, we preserved as much as possible, but the inside received more than a slight touch." Shoto grinned before adding, "Actually, calling it a slight touch might be a lie. Some of my workers said this project was less like renovation and more like carefully performing surgery on history."
Zaboru's interest immediately sharpened. "That sounds promising."
Shoto gestured toward the entrance. "Then let's go inside."
The four men entered together.
The moment Zaboru crossed the threshold, he stopped.
The internal layout had not been redesigned into a modern, unfamiliar museum. Instead, the original structure of the old ZAGE headquarters had been carefully preserved and highlighted. The hallways remained in their familiar positions, the room sizes were largely unchanged, and even certain marks on the walls had been protected beneath clear display panels.
The difference was presentation.
Elegant signs now identified each historical space.
COMPOSER ROOM
VIDEO GAME TESTING ROOM
MAIN MEETING ROOM
EARLY HARDWARE WORKSHOP
MARKETING ROOM
ZABORU'S OFFICE
Inside every area were photographs, written descriptions, preserved furniture, original equipment, prototypes, employee notes, and replicas positioned so carefully that the entire building felt suspended between office and museum.
It was not merely clean.
It felt alive.
Zaboru slowly walked into the old Composer Room. The original desks had been restored, several outdated instruments were displayed behind protective glass, and early handwritten music notes had been framed along the walls. One corner contained photographs of exhausted composers sleeping beside audio equipment after working through the night.
Beneath one photograph was a small description:
"In the early days of ZAGE, sleep was not scheduled. It simply attacked whenever the music finally sounded right."
Zaboru stared at it for a moment before laughing. "Damn. That's painfully accurate."
Shinsuke grinned. "Yuu wrote that one."
Zaboru looked back at Yuuki, who immediately became nervous again.
They continued into the Video Game Testing Room. Several original CRT televisions and worn controllers were displayed across the room. Old testing reports had been preserved inside glass tables, including pages filled with angry handwritten notes.
One note simply read:
"THE BOSS IS IMPOSSIBLE. HE FOUND THREE BUGS IN TEN MINUTES AND THEN ASKED WHY WE LOOKED TIRED."
Zaboru stared at the note in silence.
Shinsuke glanced at him and said, "Historical evidence."
Zaboru pointed at the display. "Who wrote that?"
Shinsuke smiled innocently. "Museum confidentiality."
Shoto laughed, while Yuuki lowered his face to hide a smile.
They moved deeper into the building until they reached one of the central exhibitions. There, mounted along a wide wall, was a large photograph taken in 1991.
The image showed a much younger Zaboru standing beside Shinsuke, Sayuri, Yuna, and Yugo. All of them were dressed as game characters while standing near a van loaded with early ZEPS 1 prototypes. In front of them, a long line of children waited excitedly for their chance to try the strange new machine.
Zaboru remembered that day vividly.
They had lacked proper promotional money. They had no enormous event hall, no famous television campaign, and no guarantee that the public would care. So they loaded the prototypes into a van, wore ridiculous costumes, and went directly to a park to let children play.
At the time, it had felt desperate.
Looking at it now, it felt historic.
Beside the photograph was Yuuki's description:
"A Park in 1991—Where Everything Began
The children waiting in this line did not know they were touching the beginning of something that would one day reach the entire world. To them, ZEPS 1 was simply a strange little machine brought by strangely dressed adults inside an old van.
To ZAGE, it was a gamble.
To history, it became the first heartbeat of a new entertainment era."
Zaboru remained silent for several seconds.
Then he looked toward Yuuki. "You wrote this?"
Yuuki stiffened before slowly nodding.
Zaboru read the description once more, his expression softening. "Damn. The writing is interesting as hell. I didn't expect this."
Shinsuke proudly patted Yuuki's back hard enough to make the giant stumble slightly. "That's Yuu-chan's specialty. He can barely speak when people stare at him, but put a pen in his hand and suddenly he becomes unstoppable."
Yuuki's face turned red. "Shin-san..."
Shinsuke ignored him and continued, "He's also a complete ZAGE game maniac. He knows release dates, development stories, old advertisements, hidden details, and probably what everyone ate during important recorded meetings. Who could summarize ZAGE history better than someone that obsessed?"
Yuuki quietly muttered, "I don't know what everyone ate."
Shinsuke looked at him. "Yet."
Zaboru laughed warmly. The description had genuinely affected him. It did not merely state facts. It captured how small and uncertain ZAGE had once been, while also showing how much that moment later came to mean.
"You did well, Yuu," Zaboru said sincerely.
Yuuki looked as though someone had suddenly removed every working word from his mind.
Zaboru continued exploring.
One large exhibition room contained every ZAGE game released from the ZEPS 1 era through the company's current releases. Considering the number of games ZAGE had produced, Zaboru expected the display to look overcrowded.
Instead, the organization was astonishingly compact and elegant.
Every title had its own dedicated section containing the original game case, game manual, Z-Card or Z-Coin depending on the release, a small figure of the main character, and a miniature promotional poster. Some sections also included early concept art, notes from developers, prototype cartridges, or photographs from launch events.
The displays were ordered by generation and release date, allowing visitors to physically walk through ZAGE's evolution.
The early ZEPS 1 cases were simple and colorful.
The ZEPS 2 section showed the company's growing confidence, with stronger art direction and increasingly ambitious packaging.
The ZEPS 3 displays looked far more cinematic, polished, and global.
Empty spaces had already been prepared along the walls, with subtle signs indicating where future games would eventually be added.
Zaboru slowly turned in the center of the room, taking everything in.
"This room is insane," he finally said.
Then he grinned.
"I love it."
Shoto laughed proudly. "We had to expand this section heavily. Originally, there wasn't enough room for the complete library, especially if we wanted to leave space for future releases. So we reinforced the building, expanded backward, and added an additional floor section."
Zaboru looked upward in surprise. "You added another floor?"
Shoto nodded. "The original construction was surprisingly suitable for expansion. Though the idea came from this tall young man right here." He pointed toward Yuuki and added, "Honestly, when he started designing the museum layout, he became a demon. Quiet during meetings, but then he would send us twenty pages at night explaining why one display case needed to move thirty centimeters."
Yuuki looked mortified. "It affected the visual timeline."
Shoto raised both hands. "See? Demon."
Shinsuke chuckled. "He once called me at two in the morning because two ZEPS 2 games were displayed in the wrong release order."
Yuuki looked at him seriously. "They were."
"That isn't the point."
"It was historically inaccurate."
Zaboru laughed loudly. The nervous giant suddenly sounded far more confident whenever the museum's accuracy was questioned.
He walked closer and gave Yuuki an approving look. "Well, Yuu, you have my thanks. Really. This is far better than I imagined."
Yuuki's eyes widened. He opened his mouth, but only a confused sound escaped. "U-Um... ah... y..."
Shinsuke lightly smacked him on the back. "Just say it Yuu-chan"
Yuuki straightened so quickly that he almost looked like a soldier receiving orders. "Thank you, Boss!"
Zaboru chuckled. "You're welcome. And relax before you faint from receiving praise."
Yuuki nodded far too seriously, which only made Shoto laugh.
The four of them continued through several more areas. Zaboru saw preserved meeting tables covered with replicas of old documents, walls filled with employee photographs, early console prototypes displayed beside their finished versions, and even a small recreation of the kitchen area where many early ZAGE workers had survived on the ultimate coffee "Instant Coffee".
One sign read:
"ZAGE's First Employee Cafeteria: Technically a Kitchen, Spiritually a Survival Zone."
Zaboru laughed again. "Okay, this museum is insulting us."
Shinsuke shook his head. "No, Boss. It's preserving the truth."
Zaboru could not argue with that.
Yet while each room impressed him, one place continued pulling at his attention.
His old office.
The sign was visible at the end of the hallway.
ZABORU'S OFFICE
Unlike the other rooms, its door remained closed.
Zaboru slowed down as he approached it. He remembered that room extremely well. It had been small, cluttered, overheated, and constantly filled with papers. It was where he had planned games, drafted business strategies, argued with employees, slept beneath his own desk, and dreamed about a future that had once seemed absurdly distant.
Now that future surrounded him.
ZAGE Tower existed.
ZAGE had expanded across the world.
ZEPS 4 was approaching.
Thousands of employees carried the company forward.
Yet behind that closed door was the room where many of those dreams had first been written.
Zaboru stopped directly in front of it.
His grin slowly returned.
"I wonder what you put inside my old office," he said, his voice filled with curiosity. "Hehehe."
Shinsuke, Yuuki, and Shoto exchanged strangely knowing looks behind him.
Zaboru noticed.
His eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"Why are all three of you making that face?"
Shinsuke smiled innocently. "What face?"
"That face. The face people make when they're hiding something from me."
Shoto coughed and looked away, while Yuuki suddenly became fascinated by the ceiling.
Zaboru placed his hand on the doorknob.
For some reason, he felt more nervous opening this room than he had felt while examining the rest of the museum.
Then he slowly began turning the handle.
To be continued.
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