Takuya Nakayama rose from his seat, walked to the water dispenser in the corner, filled two cups with warm water, and returned to hand one to Sato.
"Aside from that collaboration with Sony on the optical disc player, we've barely taken the initiative to track cutting-edge hardware technology these past few years. After all, those new technologies come with exorbitant R&D and trial-and-error costs in their early stages—it's easy to step into a pitfall. We've grown accustomed to eating a pre-cooked meal, so we naturally stopped watching the upstream suppliers' laboratories to see what kind of rice they were planting."
Hideki Sato accepted the paper cup with both hands, gripping it tightly, his palms sweating slightly.
The more his future big boss spoke with such calm composure, the more guilt he felt.
"Managing Director, I will immediately overhaul the Hardware Department's intelligence-gathering mechanism upon my return. I'll keep a dead-on watch on the R&D activities of the top semiconductor companies. This kind of blind spot will never happen again!"
"No need to be so tense. Drink some water," Takuya Nakayama said, waving a hand as he sank back into his executive chair. "We've identified the problem; we just need to fix it. Sega is a major player now. We need to spend the money we need to spend and build the intelligence channels we need to build. Don't be stingy with that budget. The most critical thing right now is that Sharp screen—it's the lifeblood of our new handheld console."
He clasped his hands on the table, leaning forward slightly as his gaze sharpened.
"Tomorrow morning, I want you to personally lead a team to Sharp's headquarters. Use whatever means necessary—be it relentless persuasion or throwing money at them—but you must secure an engineering sample. Even if it's just a half-finished prototype, bring it back for a power-on test. I need to see the results with my own eyes."
"Understood!" Sato nodded vigorously.
"There are also a few critical parameters that must be finalized on-site," Takuya Nakayama said, holding up three fingers to list his points clearly. "First, the interface specifications. Second, the physical dimensions of the screen. Third, the peak power consumption. Ask them if there will be any major changes to these three core metrics after they finalize the design."
Hideki Sato immediately pulled a notebook from his pocket, uncapped his pen, and scribbled notes rapidly.
"If we can lock down those three parameters, we won't have to wait any longer for the motherboard's trace routing and mold design," Sato said, his mind already racing to keep up with his boss. "We can go straight into the matching and debugging phase, completely finalizing the technical framework. That would buy us at least two months!"
"Exactly. That's exactly the effect I'm looking for." Takuya Nakayama nodded in satisfaction. "Once the hardware framework is finalized, the development kits can be produced. Time is of the essence. We need to get the game development plans running even before the hardware is ready. How's Yuji Naka's team doing with the low-level system work?"
"They're making excellent progress. After all, it's based on the mature Mega Drive architecture. They're primarily focusing on the compatibility layer and optimizing for handheld features. The Software Department has been working overtime lately."
"Good. You go to Sharp tomorrow, and I'll visit Yuji Naka personally." Takuya Nakayama stood up and strode to the coat rack, grabbing his suit jacket. "We can't rely solely on third-party manufacturers for the new handheld's launch. Sega's first-party team must deliver a super-hit that can instantly ignite the market and establish our dominance!"
Hideki Sato closed his notebook and stood up. After a moment's hesitation, he asked, "Managing Director, what if Sharp takes this opportunity to make outrageous demands and impose harsh conditions—"
"As long as they can guarantee the technical specifications will be finalized in the second half of the year and the goods delivered on schedule next year, without delaying our launch plan," Takuya Nakayama said as he donned his coat and composedly straightened his collar, a smile of absolute confidence playing on his lips. "They can name their price! Sega has nothing else right now but a cash flow so massive it's a problem. Tell Sharp's representative: if the quality is up to par, we'll buy out the entire capacity of their first production line! Let them go all out!"
The next morning, Tokyo's sky was a leaden gray, clouds hanging low as if ready to burst into a drizzle.
Inside the Sega Headquarters Building, the Software Development Department was already a chaotic hive of activity.
Telephones rang incessantly. Programmers, clutching coffee mugs, hurried through the corridors, their dark circles growing heavier by the hour.
Takuya Nakayama, carrying a three-tiered luxury bento box picked up from a high-end Ginza restaurant on his way, and two steaming cups of freshly brewed black coffee, nudged open Yuji Naka's office door with his elbow.
The room was shrouded in darkness, heavy blackout curtains drawn tight, making it feel like a vampire's lair.
Four or five CRT monitors sat side by side on the massive desk, emitting a faint, ghostly glow.
The surface was buried under piles of discarded printouts, empty convenience store bento boxes, a chaotic tangle of cables, and test motherboards. There was barely any room left to even set down a cup of water.
Yuji Naka, his hair a bird's nest of a mess, was furiously hammering away at the keyboard, his eyes glued to the assembly code on the screens.
In his left hand, he clutched a half-eaten, rock-hard rice ball. His right hand danced across the keys with such speed that he didn't even notice anyone had entered the room.
"I say, Director Naka, are you planning to hatch a bird in here?" Takuya Nakayama walked over and carefully placed a deluxe bento box on the only clear spot on the desk. He slid a hot coffee toward Yuji and teased, "Hurry up and throw away that fossilized rice ball. I'd hate for Sega's Chief Producer to be carted off in an ambulance with food poisoning. Tomorrow's gaming headlines would be a disaster."
Yuji finally snapped back to reality. He shoved the rest of the rice ball into his mouth, chewed twice, and swallowed it hard. Then, he grabbed a tissue from the desk and hastily wiped his hands.
He glanced at the elegant bento box on the table, then at Takuya Nakayama, and grinned. "Managing Director, you've come at the perfect time. I was just complaining that this rice ball is tasteless."
He pulled the tab on a can, took a large gulp of hot coffee, and sighed in satisfaction.
"How's the progress? I hope you haven't worn yourself out, oh great one." Takuya Nakayama pulled over a folding chair and sat down beside him, his posture relaxed.
"Even my burps taste like code." Yuji Naka tapped the Enter key a few times. The code on the screen scrolled rapidly before stopping on a debug interface with white text on a black background.
"We've completely disassembled the Mega Drive's development kit over the past few days," Yuji Naka said, his eyes instantly igniting with passion as he pointed to the rows of hexadecimal memory addresses on the screen. "The new handheld's dual-core architecture—the MC68000 and the Z80—sounds like it's in the same vein as the Mega Drive, but the actual operating mechanisms are different. Especially the memory addressing and audio I/O scheduling—they're practically two completely different sets of traffic rules."
Takuya Nakayama leaned in to examine the parameters on the screen.
Though he wasn't a front-line programmer, his memories from his past life combined with his recent intensive study made him very clear on these low-level logic details.
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