Early the next morning, after Takuya had brought in reinforcements, Section Chief Nohara—eyes red from exhaustion—personally waited at the company entrance to receive the two top students Professor Yonezawa had sent.
Both were in their early twenties.
One wore thick glasses and looked sharply focused; the other was more energetic, his gaze wandering curiously across Sega's posters and figurines.
"Thank you both for coming."
Nohara handed them his business card with a courtesy so respectful it caught the two students off guard.
Inside the meeting room, he laid out every error log and code document the team had compiled over the past several days. Without a single wasted word, he went straight to the main issue:
"The failure happens during the third handshake. The server keeps rejecting our connection request. We've tried multiple packet formats—none worked."
The bespectacled student pushed up his glasses, flipped rapidly through the documents, and gave a dismissive snort.
"You haven't fully understood RFC821. Your client's header encapsulation is incorrect."
The other student moved to the computer, ran the relevant module in debug a few times, then skimmed the code.
"Not just that," he said with a grin. "Sega's server definitely has a custom security check. Your program doesn't support it. Easy fix."
The two of them complemented each other perfectly. In barely ten minutes, they dissected the problem that had troubled the entire team for days.
Nohara's face flushed and paled by turns—embarrassed at being schooled by juniors, yet overjoyed to finally see a breakthrough.
He took a deep breath and bowed deeply.
"Please—help us."
With these two "cheat-code–level" reinforcements, the atmosphere in the software development group changed instantly.
The former tension and gloom disappeared, replaced by the crisp clatter of keyboards and bursts of spirited technical debate.
The two Tokyo Tech students rewrote the core communication module within half a day—and successfully established a stable connection to the server.
When CONNECTION ESTABLISHED appeared in green on the screen, the whole office erupted in cheers.
Nohara pumped his fist, feeling the weight lodged in his chest for days finally lift.
When Takuya stepped back into the development room, he was met with a scene full of energy and momentum.
"Executive Nakayama!"
Nohara hurried over, invigorated.
"The communication issue is completely solved. We're finishing the last optimizations and integration. We'll meet the deadline!"
"Good."
Takuya nodded, glancing at the two students now discussing details with Nishino and Mikazuki.
"So? Are the reinforcements my professor arranged helpful?"
"Helpful? They're lifesavers!"
Nohara sighed.
"They're true experts in network communication. Executive Nakayama… this time, I really got stuck in a dead end."
Takuya patted his shoulder.
"Remember—let professionals handle professional work."
---
A week later, the final version of the email client was completed and officially entered internal testing.
According to plan, the first people to try it were the logistics and international dispatch teams at both the Tokyo headquarters and the Redwood City office in the U.S.
To ensure a smooth start, the development team even sent two core programmers to America for on-site installation and training.
During training in Tokyo, several senior employees stared in confusion at the new software interface.
"Executive Nakayama… is this really more reliable than fax?"
A veteran team leader hesitated.
"If we send something and they say they didn't get it—what then? Fax at least gives us a sheet of proof."
The programmer laughed and demonstrated:
"Look—we added a read receipt. The moment they open the email, we get notified. And all records are permanently stored on the server, down to the second. No one can deny anything."
To show them, he sent a test email to the U.S. headquarters.
Subject: Hello from Tokyo!
Not five seconds later, a notification popped up.
A new message—from the Redwood City logistics supervisor.
Content: Received!
The entire meeting room applauded.
This was the first trans-Pacific email exchanged between Sega's two headquarters.
The trial run officially began.
At first, people still printed emails to check against fax copies—out of habit.
But soon they discovered the advantages.
A goods list with hundreds of rows—once requiring grueling manual comparison—could now be opened in Excel. A few simple functions, and the check and tally were done in minutes.
The efficiency boost was visible to the naked eye.
Tasks that used to take half a day—document sorting, faxing, confirmations—were now finished in an hour.
With the time saved, some employees even had time to brew a coffee and chat a little.
---
A week later, the first detailed internal test report was neatly placed on Takuya's desk.
Every number in the report hit like a bullet—directly striking the weaknesses of traditional office processes.
Takuya closed the report, satisfied, a smile forming on his lips.
He picked up the phone and dialed.
The call connected.
A calm voice answered—Professor Jun Murai.
"Good afternoon, Professor Murai. This is Nakayama from Sega."
"Nakayama-kun," Murai replied, tone steady, as if he had expected the call.
"How is your testing progressing?"
"Our internal testing has produced its first report," Takuya replied, full of confidence.
"Oh? Send it to me."
Murai remained composed, serious.
"I can. But professor…"
Takuya paused, letting the bait drop slowly.
"I'm afraid some things can't be felt from numbers alone. For example—workflow efficiency increased by three hundred and twenty percent."
Silence.
Even the air seemed to freeze.
Three hundred and twenty percent?
Wasn't that the kind of exaggerated number found in marketing brochures?
"You said—how much?"
For the first time, Murai's composure cracked.
"Three hundred and twenty percent, professor."
Takuya repeated clearly.
"And—paper use and fax consumables down over seventy percent.
Communication confirmation time between Tokyo and Redwood City reduced by sixty percent."
With each number, Murai's breathing grew heavier.
For the WIDE Project team—who had been building the infrastructure for years—these results were a shockwave.
They had been paving the road, but had never seen this clearly how fast the cars could run.
"…There's no need to send the report."
At last, Murai made his decision, firm and direct.
"We'll come in person. We want to observe your trial operation."
Takuya's smile deepened.
"Sega will be ready to welcome you and the entire WIDE team at any time, Professor Murai."
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