Feeling dejected, Aoki Haruhi retraced his steps. After walking for a while, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was amiss.
It was only when he reached a traffic light and saw a crowd of drunken office workers spilling out of a izakaya that it hit him.
Holy shit!
My briefcase is still at the Tsuda house.
He hurried back up the slope that had filled him with both joy and sorrow. From a distance, he spotted two figures huddled around his briefcase, whispering suspiciously.
"I told you not to mess with guys in suits. They're all broke."
"Ugh, you were right. This guy's briefcase only has game cartridges—not even much cash."
So they were thieves.
"Leave him something to eat."
With that, they stuffed the cartridges back into the briefcase and fled.
What the...
June 11th, the game officially launched.
However, given that Pokeni was an obscure company and their previous title, Heart of the Sword, had sold disastrously, only a handful of distributors had tentatively ordered Pokeni's Onmyōji on a trial basis.
Current pre-orders stood at fewer than 2,000 units.
The bulk of these came from Tsuda, who had secured them through personal connections.
Pokeni still had nearly 10,000 unsold copies in stock.
Aoki Haruhi wasn't particularly worried.
As Ayase Akane, the HR representative, put it, "People are calmer when they're about to die." He figured most employees were probably waiting for the results, ready to flee at a moment's notice.
Who gave the President such confidence to produce 10,000 units from the start, plus 100 collector's editions? If this doesn't make money, we'll be in deep trouble.
The President, however, seemed completely unfazed.
Only when Aoki Haruhi saw Ayase Akane packing her desk into a rolling suitcase did his eyelids twitch slightly.
"What are you doing? I didn't assign you any business trips. Why are you packing so much stuff?"
"I..."
Ayase Akane coughed, indicating that her own actions were actually quite slow. "You should have seen Mr. Akanishi from the main program. He's been moving company belongings home like an ant carrying grain for the past week."
But the HR manager had been with the President for two or three years, earning Aoki Haruhi's deep trust. Revealing this now would inevitably be hurtful.
So she hinted indirectly, "President, do you know Yang Xiu?"
"Hmm?" Aoki Haruhi looked up and glanced at her. "What do you mean?"
Well, you're Japanese, and you actually know about the Three Kingdoms?
"I'm Yang Xiu," Ayase Akane said.
"But I'm not Cao Cao. Besides, I'm not the kind of husband who'd be betrayed by his wife. Don't worry, you're not as clever as Yang Xiu. Even if you knew my secret, I wouldn't kill you."
"This..." Ayase Akane blinked uncomfortably.
She took off her glasses and tucked them into her pocket.
"What I mean is, I'm Yang Xiu, and you're Cao Cao. Have you heard the story of the 'chicken ribs'?"
"Chicken ribs?"
Aoki Haruhi still remembered the textbook lesson about Yang Xiu's death.
He suddenly understood. "You! Ayase Akane! After all I've done for you, you're trying to abandon me?"
"President, we have to eat too."
"We?" Aoki Haruhi caught a key detail. "Who else?"
"Uh..."
"Want to grab a drink later?"
"Yeah, let's go!"
"After working so hard, we definitely need to unwind."
"What about you, Furukawa? Coming along?"
"I'll pass. You guys have fun."
"Ugh, Furukawa's always such a killjoy."
"Never mind, he's probably just eager to get home and play his Koukou game."
"It's not Koukou, it's an RPG—a role-playing game," Furukawa emphasized.
"Yeah, same difference."
How could they possibly think that? Furukawa thought.
"Ew! You think pixel girls are more interesting than real ones?"
"Whatever, he just doesn't get the appeal of a real hottie. And we'll never understand Furukawa either. See ya, Furukawa!"
"Okay, bye."
The group bid each other farewell at the company entrance.
Watching them walk away with their swaggering strides, Furukawa couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
These normies... how could they ever understand the magic of games?
Koze Furukawa was an ordinary office worker in Tokyo.
But he wasn't quite ordinary. He was socially awkward, while his colleagues loved to go for drinks after work, Koze's greatest pleasure was returning home to play video games.
His apartment was piled high with game cartridges, with a small corner dedicated to his collection of game figures.
Years later, Koze Furukawa would be the textbook definition of a shut-in.
"Why would I bother with real girls when games are so much more fun?" Koze Furukawa sighed.
Dating was just too much trouble. Trying to understand girls' thoughts and keep them happy was harder for him than any exam.
Games were complicated too, but with a little thought, you could always find a way to beat them. Trying to "beat" a girl in real life—
At least, Koze Furukawa hadn't succeeded yet.
He was practically developing PTSD.
Still, the "koukuchi" game Hayamikawa had mentioned earlier had piqued his interest.
He'd played through all his cartridges countless times. Maybe it was time to check for any new releases?
As he thought this, he walked with practiced ease toward the game store on the corner.
"Welcome," the store clerk said, clasping his hands over his chest and bowing slightly. A smile bloomed on his face as he recognized Furukawa, a familiar face who regularly stopped by to check for new releases.
"Sangokushi 2 is coming out soon," the clerk said, adjusting his glasses with a grin.
"Really?" Koze Furukawa's eyes lit up.
"But not Namco's Sangokushi 2—it's Koei's Sangokushi 2."
"Ugh!" Furukawa wrinkled his nose in disdain. "What's the fun in that?"
Namco's Sangokushi 2 later became the legendary Bao Wang De Da Lu (Overlord's Continent), while Koei's Sangokushi 2 was the actual Sangokushi 2. Some say if Namco had stuck with the Sangokushi series, Koei might have never gained prominence. That's how exceptional Namco's Sangokushi series was.
"Feel free to look around. Nothing major has been released lately," the clerk sighed.
"Okay."
Furukawa, briefcase in hand, wandered between the shelves, his eyes scanning the displayed cartridges from top to bottom.
"But wait..." The clerk frowned in thought, then suddenly remembered something.
"There's a new release that came out a couple of days ago. Looked pretty good. What was it called...?"
"Oh, right—Onmyōji."
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