Friday, close to the end of the workday.
Ichin finished up the tasks at hand, then pulled up the pre-order data for GARO over the past couple of days.
As a tokusatsu adaptation made primarily for fans, Ichin hadn't set his sales expectations very high. Still, judging by the results over these two days, the game's pre-order performance was fairly decent.
On Steam alone, pre-orders were just under thirty thousand.
"This really isn't bad," Ichin muttered. "Looks like there are quite a few tokusatsu fans in there, along with players who are interested in GARO. Of course, the price probably plays a role too."
This time, the game wasn't priced very high—on Steam it was only around 20 USD, while on the Switch and other platforms the pricing differed slightly.
The official account had already explained this price difference early on after pre-orders opened.
Even so, if this game sold well, there was a high chance a sequel would be developed. By the time the second installment came around, the combat system could be further refined. Ichin could even integrate the combat system from Berseria into it, expanding the overall content even more—at which point, raising the price a little would be perfectly reasonable.
"Going by the current pre-order trend, total sales should easily break five hundred thousand. The development costs will be recouped for sure. After that, with discounts and such, it'll just be a matter of how much profit we make. The objective's basically been achieved."
Stretching lazily, Ichin closed the page and prepared to call it a day.
Yukino wasn't at the company today. She'd gone over to Haruno's place around three in the afternoon. The two of them were heading back to Chiba and would be staying there for a couple of days.
Haruno was going back mainly to attend a banquet with their parents, and she also had a meeting with several partner companies scheduled for Monday.
As for Yukino, she was going back mostly to see her parents. She didn't need to take part in running the family business, and her future plans were already set—becoming a lawyer, opening her own law firm, and then directly taking over the family company's legal affairs.
Legal work, once outsourced to law firms, was a significant expense for most companies. Having Yukino handle it herself was actually a very good solution. On top of that, since she was family, she was far more trustworthy than anyone else.
Once Yukino graduated, obtained her lawyer's license, and opened her firm, she could recruit a few outstanding classmates from the same major. With business coming in from both the Yukinoshita family and Ichin's company, it would be an exceptionally strong start—one that could grow smoothly and rapidly.
"Two whole days… She'll be back on Monday. Yukino suddenly going back like this—it feels a bit strange not having her around," Ichin said as he shut down his computer, grabbed his wallet and keys, and left the office.
Downstairs, he called over Utaha, who was chatting with Yagami Kō, and the two of them headed out for dinner.
Seeing Ichin arrive, Utaha smiled, stood up, linked her arm through his, and said to Yagami Kō, "Then we'll be heading off first, Kō."
Kō smiled and waved. "Alright, see you tomorrow."
After leaving the company and getting into the car, Ichin glanced at Utaha in the passenger seat. "What do you feel like eating tonight?"
Utaha thought for a moment. "It's that time for me today, so let's keep it simple. Ramen sounds good."
"Sure. Then ramen it is. The place we went to before with Hiratsuka-sensei?"
"Mm, that one. It tastes pretty good."
With dinner decided, Ichin started the car and drove toward their destination.
Twenty minutes later, they arrived at the ramen shop they'd visited once before. Coincidentally—or perhaps not—they ran into Hiratsuka Shizuka there.
"Oh! You two!" Hiratsuka Shizuka said with a smile as she was in the middle of eating her noodles. "Did you end up liking this place? By the way, where are Haruno and Yukino? Aren't they usually eating together with you?"
There was no one sitting across from her, so Ichin and Utaha simply took the empty seats.
After ordering two bowls of ramen and a plate of tonkatsu, Ichin explained, "They went back to Chiba. Haruno-nee has things to take care of, and Yukino went back to see her parents. After all, it's already spring break. What about you, Hiratsuka-sensei? School's on break too—aren't you going back to Chiba?"
Like Haruno and Yukino, Hiratsuka Shizuka's family was also in Chiba. After teaching for a year at Sobu High in Chiba, she'd transferred to Toyogasaki in Tokyo and had been working there ever since.
Slurping a mouthful of ramen, Hiratsuka Shizuka said, "I went back for the first couple of days after the break started, but the moment I got home, my parents dragged me into blind dates. After dealing with one of them, I ran back here."
So she'd fled.
Utaha laughed. "But Hiratsuka-sensei, avoiding it forever isn't really a solution, is it? It's not like when Ichin and I were still in high school. We're already about to be seniors, and you're in your thirties now. Though, honestly, you can't tell at all—Hiratsuka-sensei, you haven't changed a bit."
"Don't think I'll just ignore the part about my age because you added that last line," Hiratsuka Shizuka said irritably, rolling her eyes. "It's not like I don't want to get married. But this isn't something you can do by just grabbing someone off the street. You have to find someone who really matches you in every way, right?"
"That's true," Ichin agreed. "As long as you're comfortable with it, we fully support you going at your own pace. But you shouldn't just stay at home all the time either. Since it's vacation now, try going to a few mixers or social gatherings. If I remember correctly, Sonoko-nee has been going to some lately too, hasn't she?"
Utaha nodded. "That's right. Sonoko-nee is in a similar situation to Hiratsuka-sensei. I think you could give her a call later—going together would probably feel more reassuring."
"Oh! That does sound like a good idea," Hiratsuka Shizuka said.
She thought it over. She'd already quit smoking and hadn't touched a cigarette for nearly half a year now. Maybe going to mixers would go better than before?
As for the blind dates her family arranged—she had no expectations there at all. With her looks and figure, couldn't they at least find her someone decent?
Shaking her head, Hiratsuka Shizuka decided not to dwell on those annoying thoughts. Just then, Ichin and Utaha's ramen arrived, and the three of them chatted about other things as they ate.
Ichin talked a bit about the games his company was developing, Utaha mentioned the progress of her new novel, and Hiratsuka Shizuka—rarely enough—also spoke about the class she was currently in charge of.
---
RedX43's Note:
➤ Want More? Get up to +50 Extra Chapters on Patreon!
➤ [email protected]/RedX43
➤ +300 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter Drop!
➤ Thanks for the support! 🙌