The Takakura Club was located in Tokyo's Katsushika Ward. Inside the club were flowing streams, gardens, and dry rock landscapes. At first glance, it looked like a standard Japanese estate, but in reality it was decorated with extravagant luxury and packed with all kinds of electronic equipment.
Haruki Kadokawa often held gatherings here, inviting all sorts of questionable friends to party through the night.
As the president of the Kadokawa Shoten Group, Haruki Kadokawa was himself a quintessential second-generation tycoon. After inheriting his father's business, he expanded the Kadokawa Group even further.
Kadokawa Haruki's creed was simple: profit above all else. As long as the money was sufficient, there was nothing the Kadokawa Group wouldn't do.
Overall, Kadokawa Haruki didn't have a very good reputation in Japan. His behavior was flamboyant and overbearing, with no sense of restraint. Apart from money, he cared about almost nothing—not even family. It had reached the point where even his own brother, Kadokawa Tsuguhiko, had parted ways with him.
That said, Kadokawa Haruki's achievements were undeniable.
The Kadokawa Group was deeply intertwined with publishing, games, animation, manga, film, figures, and more. In later years, even Bandai would have close ties with Kadokawa. Titles like the Dark Souls series and Elden Ring were all published and distributed with Kadokawa's involvement.
The Kadokawa Group was also the parent company of FromSoftware, the developer behind Dark Souls.
Because Kobayashi Tetsu knew all of this, when he stepped into the Takakura Club, he couldn't help but feel a sense of anticipation.
The impact of the royalty system was profound, fundamentally because there was no strong distribution channel capable of bypassing it.
The Kadokawa Group wasn't sufficient to become such a channel either, but it could at least alleviate the effects of the royalty system to some extent.
Of course, that would take time. The 1980s were still too early.
With complicated thoughts in mind, Kobayashi Tetsu entered the club alongside Yamashina Makoto. Passing through the garden, they finally arrived at the main hall.
The moment they stepped inside, several pairs of eyes turned toward them.
At thirty-six, Yamashina Makoto could even be considered young here. Some of the people present were clearly already in their forties or even fifties.
But they all shared one thing in common.
They wore faces that looked as though they had never been bullied in their lives.
In this small circle, every single person came from a family with significant accomplishments in the previous generation.
Standing there, Kobayashi Tetsu was clearly the youngest of them all.
Two Kobayashi Tetsus put together would only barely make up the average age here.
His gaze shifted to the man seated in the place of honor. In his forties, with neatly styled hair, he was dressed like a legendary eccentric—a pink checkered suit.
Haruki Kadokawa.
"Well, this is rare. You're awfully young."
Kadokawa Haruki had both legs propped up on the coffee table and crooked his finger at Kobayashi Tetsu.
"Come over. Pay your respects."
Kobayashi Tetsu asked calmly, "Why?"
"Because I'm the host here! Because I'm the president of the Kadokawa Shoten Group! Because I have hundreds of billions—trillions—even in assets! Is that enough? If you don't know the rules, don't come. This is a playground for adults, not a place for snot-nosed kids to amuse themselves!"
Kobayashi Tetsu nodded. "That's true. I don't have that much. I only have two hundred million."
He added, "In cash."
Kadokawa Haruki instantly lowered his legs.
Two hundred million in assets and two hundred million in cash were entirely different concepts.
In an instant, the man who had seemed so unserious a moment ago became solemn.
"And may I ask who you are?"
Yamashina Makoto said, "Brother Haruki, this is Kobayashi Tetsu—the owner of Atlus, the one that's been making waves lately."
Kadokawa Haruki dragged out a long "Oh."
"Atlus? The Atlus that made Kobayashi Blocks? And all those games—rumor has it even Nintendo got played. So you're that Kobayashi."
He sized Kobayashi Tetsu up and sighed. "I heard you're Masayoshi Nakayama's illegitimate son."
Kobayashi Tetsu: ??
How could that be possible?
Kadokawa Haruki immediately burst into laughter. "Just rumors. People say Atlus gets treated like Sega's favorite child. If you weren't Nakayama Masayoshi's bastard, how else could you get that kind of treatment? But now that I see you in person, I know it can't be true. That old Nakayama couldn't possibly produce a kid this good-looking."
After that, Kadokawa Haruki made a formal gesture of invitation.
"Please, have a seat, Lin-kun."
Although the Kadokawa Group was a publishing giant, publishing had never been a high-margin industry. While their assets were considerable, their cash flow wasn't particularly strong.
That was why the Kadokawa Group later branched into multiple industries—film, animation, manga, games, music, and more.
When it came to liquid cash on hand, Kadokawa Haruki absolutely couldn't pull out trillions of yen.
After taking their seats and chatting for a while, Kobayashi Tetsu came to know the others present.
Some were in chemicals, others in construction—an impressively diverse mix.
At one point, Kadokawa Haruki casually asked, "Kobayashi-kun, you're so young yet already successful. You must have deep insights into the game industry. What do you think about the Kadokawa Group entering games?"
Kobayashi Tetsu shrugged. "Sounds good. Games are essentially part of publishing. For Kadokawa to enter the field would be mutually beneficial. But to get into this industry, you need actual works."
Kadokawa Haruki grinned, revealing a mouthful of distinctive bad teeth.
"Then would Atlus be interested in making a game for the Kadokawa Group? We'd pay, of course!"
Kobayashi Tetsu tilted his head slightly.
It sounded nice, but there was no way he'd agree to that.
The Kadokawa Group might be a powerful publishing channel, but in the 1980s it couldn't break the royalty system and had no platform of its own. He'd have to be crazy to make games for Kadokawa.
That said—
Games weren't limited to video games.
Kobayashi Tetsu lightly tapped the table and suddenly said, "Electronic games are unlikely. But board games or similar products could work."
Meeting Kadokawa Haruki's curious gaze, Kobayashi Tetsu continued, "When I was studying in the U.S., I once envisioned a game based on heroes from the Sengoku period—"
There was a hugely popular computer game in the future. You could use Ancient Sword, Wine, Fire Attack!
No—wait.
Muramasa Blade, Wine, Fire Attack!
After just a few lines, Kobayashi Tetsu abruptly stopped.
Kadokawa Haruki sucked in a sharp breath.
Leaving a hole unfilled—terrifying!
Even though Kobayashi Tetsu had only briefly described part of the rules and mentioned using famous historical generals as characters, Kadokawa Haruki instantly concluded—
This was definitely a board game with enormous potential.
But Kobayashi Tetsu refused to say another word.
Kadokawa Haruki let out a long, gloomy sigh.
"So it seems Lin-kun doesn't intend to continue."
"No choice. Without a written agreement, I wouldn't dare go on," Kobayashi Tetsu shook his head, then smoothly changed the topic, no longer mentioning Sengoku Kill.
"Board games are secondary," he said. "I wonder if the Kadokawa Group would be interested in collaborating with Atlus on some additional publishing projects?"
Kadokawa Haruki slammed the table immediately.
"Books, audiovisual media—Kadokawa has no problem with any of that!"
Kobayashi Tetsu grinned.
In that case, they could work with Atlus to publish game strategy guides.
The royalty system never said manufacturers weren't allowed to publish their own guidebooks.
They could even release video tutorials for a small group of players.
Can't clear the game? No problem! President Kobayashi personally records a full playthrough, teaching you step by step how to beat it!
Strategy guides, standalone volumes, tie-in manga—all of it could be handled by the Kadokawa Group, specialists in book publishing. Atlus itself didn't have the capability to do these things, but now they could simply outsource them to Kadokawa.
As for board games, licensing them to Kadokawa wasn't a problem either.
After all, Kobayashi Tetsu was only licensing the board game. The electronic versions and other designs would remain with him. Kadokawa would still have to pay him to operate the board game version.
Later, once computer hardware improved, Kobayashi Tetsu could naturally roll out PC versions—and even mobile versions.
That said, he figured he'd need to change the company branding. Maybe create a third development division under Atlus—call it Yoka Studio.
Otherwise, if people discovered that Atlus was running Sengoku Kill—
The backlash alone might drive Atlus's negative reviews through the roof.
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