Although they weren't making a shooter right now, guns were still present in the ga—used as secondary weapons by the protagonists. Each character had a different type of firearm: so carried revolvers, others pistols, and so wielded even more outrageous weapons.
Take Haru Okumura, for example—the character from Hifumi's earlier design sketches. This refined heiress wielded a massive axe as her primary weapon, while her ranged weapon was none other than a grenade launcher.
A rich young lady paired with heavy weaponry—this kind of contrast had beco quite popular in recent years. In Haru's case, her character settings added even more flair: her way of relieving stress was chopping wood on her balcony, and during battles, she'd shout out bold, explosive lines, creating a striking contrast with her delicate, elegant appearance.
That said, because she joins the party relatively late in the original ga, Haru's popularity tended to be lower. Still, Ichin personally liked her a lot—second only to Makoto Niijima.
_Maybe I should give Haru more scenes in the mid-to-early parts of the story?_
The idea popped into Ichin's head.
_It wouldn't be a bad idea._
She was one of the main characters, after all. While she already made so early appearances, it didn't feel right to have her just show up and say a line or two. Maybe he could expand her role slightly, giving her more dialogue and screen ti—as long as it didn't disrupt the flow of the overall plot.
With that in mind, Ichin rolled his chair over to Utaha's desk, ready to discuss the scenario changes with her.
---
anwhile, in a spot Ichin wasn't paying attention to, Umiko—who absolutely adored guns—was examining a model handgun in her hands, inspecting it with intense focus.
"Even if it's not a shooter, the gun chanics still need to be solid," she muttered.
She glanced over at Ichin, who was now talking to Utaha, and made a ntal note to bring it up with him later—to make sure the gunplay in the ga felt satisfying and well-crafted.
---
That evening, at ho.
After a warm bath, Utaha returned to their room in a cozy cotton pajama set and found Ichin already back at his desk, deep in work.
Flicking the moisture from her freshly blow-dried hair, she quietly walked over and wrapped her arms around him from behind.
"It's already late. Aren't you tired?" she asked softly.
"I'm good," Ichin replied with a smile as he took off his headphones and leaned back into her hug. "I have classes during the day, so I've got to make the most of my ti at night."
Utaha gave his cheeks a gentle squeeze with both hands. "Working is fine, but now it's your turn to shower, mister."
"Mm, let just finish this part—five minutes," Ichin said, kissing the back of her hand before picking up his stylus again.
Utaha didn't press him further. She sat down next to him, opened her laptop, and resud writing the ga script.
Five minutes later, Ichin wrapped up his drawing, saved the file, and headed to the bathroom.
Soaking in the warm bath, he let out a deep, contented sigh.
This… this was the good life.
Although Ichin hadn't been at the studio during the day, everyone was in good spirits. Even after a few days of vacation, the team had jumped back into their work and was completing their tasks smoothly.
"Still, it's already almost the end of November. There's only about a month and a half left in the year. No need to rush out a demo in that short ti—we should focus on refining the ga's core frawork first. A large-scale project like this needs to be built slowly and carefully. Let's treat it as a way for everyone to grow their skills too."
Scooping up so warm water and splashing it over his face, Ichin muttered to himself as he leaned back in the tub:
"Christmas is coming next month. Maybe we can throw a little party at the studio to lift everyone's spirits. And in January… it's Utaha's birthday. I should start thinking about what to get her."
After soaking for about ten minutes, Ichin got out of the bath, dried off, blow-dried his hair, and returned to the bedroom.
As soon as he opened the door, he was greeted by the sight of Utaha chatting on the phone, smiling brightly as she spoke in Chinese. From the phone's speaker, he could hear his mom's voice.
When she noticed Ichin entering, Utaha waved him over excitedly. "Ichin, your mom's on video call—co say hi!"
"I heard her already."
Ichin smiled, closing the door behind him and sitting beside Utaha. On the screen, his mother appeared on the other end of the call.
"Mom, are you the only one there? Where's Dad?"
"He's taking a shower. He chatted with Utaha for a bit just now," she replied with a cheerful smile. Seeing her son appear on screen made her even more delighted. "Utaha ntioned you gave your team so ti off recently? How's the new ga selling?"
Ichin's mom didn't play gas herself. The only reason she even knew about _Slay the Spire_'s numbers was because Ichin's dad had shown them to her. All she really knew was that a new ga had launched and was getting a lot of attention online—but she had no idea about the actual sales.
"It's doing pretty well. Sales have already passed 500,000 copies."
Ichin responded calmly, as it was within his expectations. "With that, and the previous ga we released, the combined total sales should exceed one million. Plus, with the upcoming autumn and winter sales, we should be able to boost the numbers even more."
There were only two days left until Steam's Autumn Sale began. He didn't plan on discounting _Hollow Knight_ since it had just launched, but _Slay the Spire_ had already been out for over six months—a discount made sense.
He had already made up his mind: once the sale started, he'd slash the price of _Slay the Spire_ by 50%. That should definitely give it a strong sales push.
The ga had already broken even early on, despite being developed entirely by him and supported by only a few team mbers for post-launch updates. At this point, any discount would still be pure profit.
"It's already sold that much? I figured it wouldn't be low since Utaha told to ask, but I didn't expect it to be _this_ successful. That's wonderful!"
His mom was overjoyed to hear how well his ga had done.
Even though their studio wasn't large, it still operated like a real company—monthly salaries, various costs, and overhead added up fast.
Now that Ichin's gas were doing so well, she and his father could finally stop worrying about whether he could financially sustain his passion.
"Oh, by the way," she added, "the year's almost over—are you coming ho for New Year's?"
The sudden question caught Ichin off guard. He hadn't thought that far ahead yet.
New Year's was a major holiday in Japan, and he _could_ take advantage of the break to visit ho. Still, rather than returning for the Western New Year on January 1st, he was leaning toward coming back for Chinese New Year.
"Mom, I think I'll skip coming back for New Year's. I'll take ti off during Spring Festival instead and co ho to celebrate with you guys."
Chinese New Year fell at the end of January. School would have already started again by then, but he could easily take a short leave without issue.
"That works too," his mom replied with a smile, glancing at Utaha on the screen. "In that case, how about bringing Utaha ho with you for Spring Festival? Your dad still hasn't officially t her. And it'd be a good ti for her to et the rest of the family too."
"Eh?"
Utaha hadn't expected the conversation to shift to her. Her cheeks flushed a soft red in surprise.
...
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