The word count is quite long.
It was written as follows:
[Come and take a look, this is my conjecture about "Patema Inverted":
Thanks to Pokeni for making such a great game that allows us to have an extraordinary experience.
The fact that Famitsu could give this game a perfect score is enough to prove the point.
"Patema Inverted" Afterthoughts (1): Patema Inverted
The theme is novel, and the story is quite creative. This type is rare; at least, so far, I haven't seen a setting like this.
I really must praise the scriptwriter, Gen Urobuchi.
However, I didn't fully understand it. It should be that the female protagonist lives underground, and the male protagonist also lives underground. The worlds they live in are connected by a danger zone, which is why the female protagonist accidentally fell into the male protagonist's world. That's what I feel it is.
At the end, when seeing the scenery, the female protagonist is normal, while the male protagonist is inverted.
...]
Currently, this person had only posted their impressions (Part 1).
But Aoki Haruhi was extremely excited, because this was an exciting moment worthy of being recorded in history.
Just think about it: in the future, when Pokeni games are all over the world and have successfully established milestone after milestone, how will players look back at the very first post in the forum?
This post is also a milestone in its own right.
For this reason, Aoki Haruhi carefully examined the speaker's profile:
[Autumn Cicada]
There wasn't much of a description below, but judging from the writing style and some rather cute vocabulary used, it was likely a girl.
Who would have thought, there are girls among our players.
No, that's not right. Pokeni games are famously well-liked by girls, too.
And "Patema Inverted" isn't a galgame to begin with.
What does this post signify?
It signifies that not only do we have players who can go online, but we also have female players, which further demonstrates how broad Pokeni's audience is.
"Yes, yes, this is great! Finally, we have players!"
Aoki Haruhi expressed extreme excitement.
This was a good omen.
Where there is a first, there will be a second... a single spark can start a prairie fire.
***
"Great!"
Aoki Haruhi dashed out of the room, wanting to share his excitement with his colleagues.
But just then, Aoki suddenly caught a glimpse of something—the little HR sitting across the room was typing in a small window, and it was a window he recognized all too well.
Curious, he quietly crept up behind Ayase Akane.
Isn't that the Pokeni community forum?
He saw the little HR writing:
[My thoughts on "Patema Inverted" (Part 2)
Why is this such a game with great potential to be discovered?
That's because, blah, blah, blah...]
Seeing this, Aoki fell completely silent.
Before Ayase Akane noticed him, he quietly retreated back to his office.
A while later, Ayase Akane gave a start and, a bit belatedly, turned around.
She saw the President sitting dejectedly in his chair.
In this era, the "Ge You slouch" didn't exist yet, but that was exactly the pose Aoki was in.
Even though he felt grateful deep down that his own employee was trying to salvage the situation, his pride had taken a massive hit.
Sometimes, Aoki even thought that it would have been better if Ayase Akane hadn't tried to save face for him at all.
As president, he couldn't bring himself to say such things; not only would it dampen the employees' enthusiasm, but it would also hurt the little HR.
Who else but me could be such a kind-hearted president? I suppose I'll just have to shoulder all the pain myself.
"What's wrong with the president?" Ayase Akane asked the little HR (a newly hired young girl) sitting across from her, feeling puzzled.
The other girl stood up, took a look, and shook her head like a rattle.
"I don't know either."
"Is that so..." Ayase Akane frowned. He must be feeling upset because no one has been posting on the forum lately, right?
Looks like I need to write a bit more.
Should I ask others to help, so we can all post together? At the very least, let's not let the president be so embarrassed.
"Oh, that's right," just then, Ayase Akane suddenly remembered something. "Wasn't someone standing behind me just now? I felt like I was being stared at by something strange.
Could the company be haunted?"
"Eh?" The young girl smiled slightly. "I happen to know about that. The president came by earlier. I saw he wasn't saying anything, so I didn't dare to disturb you."
"Oh, the president was here? No wonder... Wait—what?!"
Ayase Akane was completely stunned.
***
She finally understood why the President was so despondent.
Yes, for a President so proud and haughty, if he were to discover the truth—that there were no so-called "real players" posting, and that everything was just written by company employees to comfort him—his mood must be absolutely terrible.
Ayase Akane could especially empathize with this.
Ever since she grew up and discovered that her Christmas presents were actually bought by her parents and secretly placed in her room while she slept at night, she had never believed in Santa Claus again.
That blow was truly immense for a young little girl.
The President's mood right now was probably similar.
Thinking of this, Ayase Akane couldn't help but feel a pang of distress.
She stood up from her chair and walked silently into Aogi Haruhi's office.
She saw Aogi Haruhi with his eyes closed, lost in thought.
"President, I was wrong," Ayase Akane apologized meekly.
When you make a mistake, you have to stand tall and take responsibility.
Mainly, as the company's leader, the President couldn't just fall into despair and despondency over this little setback.
Come to think of it, one could only blame this forum; it was too out of touch.
No, that wasn't quite right.
"How many people in the whole country even own a computer right now? And of those, the number who have actually played our game is even smaller. Not everyone can post online, either. It's perfectly normal that there's no one."
Ayase Akane looked at Aogi Haruhi like a child who had done something wrong. "I shouldn't have impersonated a player to give you false hope and misguide your judgment, President. Instead, I just ended up hurting you more. Really, I was wrong."
The little HR stood with her hands at her sides.
Outside, the sunlight streamed through the window, casting a long shadow across the room.
The wind blew, stirring the curtains. Aogi slowly looked up.
"Huh?"
He looked at Ayase with a puzzled expression. "You were wrong? You weren't wrong at all."
Hiss...
Even in the sweltering heat of July, Ayase felt a bone-chilling cold.
The President must be being sarcastic.
This guy was always like this, smiling with his mouth but not his eyes. It was especially terrifying when he used that kind of ironic tone.
He must be furious.
That was what the little HR thought.
But Aogi's face lit up with a smile as he turned the computer screen toward Ayase.
"Look, because of the post you just made, there are two new comments!"
"Eh?" Ayase was quite surprised.
She walked behind the President, leaned over, and looked carefully; there really were two comments:
[This friend said it so well, it's just like my experience.]
[I didn't really understand the game's plot at first either, but after listening to your explanation, I completely understand it now. Your writing ability is really strong.]
Seeing this, Ayase Akane couldn't help but curl her lips into a smile.
However, she quickly calmed down.
"President, are you sure these are voices of real players?"
Uh...
Aoki Haruhi really wanted to raise his hand and knock her on the head a couple of times.
"This time I checked the backend, and I can see the corresponding IPs," Aoki said. "These two newly registered users aren't at the company, but your [Autumn Cicada] is obviously from the company's network address."
"Ah, this..."
Ayase Akane was stunned for a moment, then suddenly became happy.
"That's great! President, we finally have real player comments!"
She grasped Aoki Haruhi's hands tightly, the gloom on her face swept away.
These two real players saved me!
That's great!
"Yes, indeed!" Aoki Haruhi was also deeply infected by her joy.
It was just a small pity that the first post on the Pokeni Community wasn't made by a player.
This milestone always felt a bit less than honorable.
So, this matter had to be kept hidden forever.
"Great. Ayase-san, you wrote it really well."
"No, no," Ayase Akane said with a smile, "It's all because the game itself is so good."
"Then keep up the good work." Aoki Haruhi took her hands in his. "I'm counting on you for the subsequent posts as well."
"Eh?"
Ayase Akane was slightly taken aback, and her heart skipped a beat.
"Subsequent posts... President, what do you mean by that?"
"Didn't you write the 'Review (Part 1)'? I saw that the players' feedback was quite good, so keep writing parts two, three, and so on. It would be best if you could keep going until part 10," Aoki Haruhi said.
Nani?!
"President!"
President, please try acting like a human being!
Ayase Akane really wanted to slap herself hard in the face. Isn't this just digging a hole for herself to jump into?
What on earth did I do this for?
"President, I'm an HR! Please don't forget what my actual job is, okay?"
Originally, she only wanted to give the President some face so his newly developed Pokeni Community wouldn't be too deserted, which is why she wrote those review posts.
She never expected this shameless President to actually assign it to her as a task!
It's simply ungrateful.
"My job isn't to write posts, President."
"Okay, but look below, players gave your posts very high praise. They think these few review posts of yours truly voiced their inner thoughts."
"Eh? Really?"
Ayase Akane was happy for just a second before her face darkened again. "But this won't do, either."
After a pause, the little HR said gloomily:
"I need a raise!"
***
I never thought you were that kind of little HR.
But this line feels like I've heard it somewhere before; it sounds all too familiar, doesn't it?
For Aoki Haruhi, adding money was practically a piece of cake.
He agreed without a second thought.
However, the little HR's consoling gesture reminded Aoki of something.
In fact, there are some things in life where obsessing over the truth behind them only makes you unhappy.
Besides, in his past life, Aoki had never known a game company that didn't engage in "false advertising."
Either they would have their own people post and upvote the content, or they would hire professional operations teams to write copy and build hype.
Hiring internet trolls was also a very common practice.
With that in mind, Aoki did some self-reflection afterward and assigned his employees a posting quota.
Each person had to post at least 5 times a day on the Pokeni community forum.
This was a mandatory order, and those who completed the task by the end of the month would receive a bonus.
The bonus wasn't a huge amount, but it wasn't insignificant either—about 30,000 yen, enough for them to have one good meal every day.
***
Although the employees were dissatisfied with the increased workload, they all beamed with joy the moment they heard about the bonus, especially since posting five times a day really wasn't much.
"Who exactly is the genius that came up with this idea, actually making the employees post the threads themselves?"
Hearing everyone's comments, the little HR staffer couldn't help but shudder.
It felt as if someone had pricked her with a needle.
The junior HR girl sitting opposite her asked with concern, "Senior, what's wrong?"
I...
Ayase Akane opened her mouth, unable to voice her bitterness.
Who could have guessed that the President was such a black-hearted guy!
Time moved into the end of July.
Pokeni's two new games: CLANNAD and LIFE-LINE had both completed production.
The testers had checked them over, and there were no problems.
Everything was ready.
Just waiting for the release.
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