After ending the stream, Ichin headed to the living room. Sure enough, Kō Yagami and the others were still there, watching TV together.
Peppa the cat was currently nestled comfortably in Rin Toyama's arms, eyes half-closed as he enjoyed the gentle petting.
"Done streaming already, Ichin?" Utaha asked.
"Yeah, after such a big news bomb, I didn't really feel like continuing. Better to let the audience go watch the drama unfold elsewhere," Ichin replied with a smile, sitting down next to Utaha with his cola in hand. "Kō, you guys were really fast. The mont you saw the news, you rushed over. Could've just ssaged , you know?"
"How were we supposed to know you were streaming?" Kō shrugged. "We didn't learn Chinese for nothing, okay? We use Bilibili too. We just aren't that fluent yet."
As she spoke, she pulled out her phone and showed him the Bilibili app on her screen.
Umiko chid in as well, "We were going to text you at first, but then thought—why not just co tell you directly? We could have tea and chat while we're at it. Still early, after all."
"Well, that's true. You guys can drop by anyti if you're free," Ichin said, relaxing into the couch. He let out a sigh. "Man, that really was major news. Sothing like this right at the start of the year… Makes you wonder what else is coming."
Utaha thought for a mont and teased, "Like... Sony going bankrupt?"
"That's a bit much," Ichin chuckled, grabbing her right hand and gently toying with her soft, slender fingers. "Sure, they sold off so buildings, but it's nowhere near bankruptcy. At most, Microsoft's move might ss with their gaming division—though not enough to cause serious damage. But yeah, this surprise attack from Microsoft could definitely shake up Sony's operations for the next year, maybe even longer."
"So basically, no matter what, Sony's in for a rough ride, huh?" Kō said with a grin. "Now I'm suddenly thinking… maybe we should release our next ga on Xbox too?"
"Not a bad idea." Ichin didn't mind the thought at all. "Even though Microsoft's console sales aren't as high as Sony's, their platform ecosystem is solid. And they've got money to burn—tons of gas debut on Ga Pass."
As for the studio's current three titles, Hollow Knight and Slay the Spire could be brought to Xbox easily. Nothing complicated. He figured he'd reach out to soone at Xbox later—if the terms were good, launching on Ga Pass wouldn't be out of the question either.
After all, even their own flagship title, Halo, debuted on Ga Pass. It just showed how little Microsoft seed to care about raw sales—sothing only a company with deep pockets could afford.
He yawned.
Rin Toyama, suddenly feeling drowsy, stretched and said, "Let's leave the business talks for after the holiday. Kō, ti to head back. I'm beat after today's trip."
"Tired already? Alright, let's go," Kō replied.
Umiko nodded as well. Rin gently returned Peppa to Utaha's arms, and the three of them stood up and left Ichin's ho.
After seeing the three of them off, Ichin turned to Utaha.
"Tired? Want to head to bed early today?"
"Sure," Utaha smiled and nodded. "These next two days are for recharging anyway. After that, you're back to work. And don't forget, we also have the Center Exam this month—we should at least go experience it."
"Yeah, that's still pretty important."
Even though they'd already been accepted into the University of Tokyo, both Ichin and Utaha still wanted to take the Center Exam just to see how well they could score when going all out.
After two days of rest back in Tokyo, the New Year holidays ca to an end. Everyone returned to the company and resud work.
At 9:30 in the morning, Ichin and Utaha arrived at the office together, bringing along their cat, Peppa.
While they were away traveling during the New Year break, Peppa had been left with Utaha's parents. You could say he'd been eating very well. Especially with Utaha's mom—she completely ignored their dietary guidelines and fed Peppa to his heart's content every day, three square als.
Eriri had been busy throughout the entire seven-day holiday, and only just got so ti off today to return to work with everyone.
As soon as she arrived, she saw Peppa lounging on a desk and curiously walked over to poke his belly.
"Why does it feel like he's even fatter than before?"
Kō, sitting nearby, chid in, "Because while we were out traveling, Utaha's parents were in charge. You think that cat wouldn't get fat? And this is even after Ichin and Utaha started putting him on a diet again. Orange cats really do eat a ton."
And yet, as she finished saying that, Kō pulled out a dried fish treat and fed it to Peppa—leaving Eriri stunned.
"Didn't you just say he's overeating? Hypocrisy much?"
"Hahaha… I can't help it, it's just a habit at this point."
Kō scratched her head with a sheepish laugh, picked up Peppa for a few snuggles, then set him down and got ready to work.
"Co on, Eriri—ti for your first task of the year!"
"Ohhh! Bring it on!"
About ten minutes later, Ichin walked out of the office after finishing a eting with Hazuki and Umiko. He saw Eriri already at her desk and called out to her:
"Yo, Eriri. Long ti no see. How was your New Year's?"
The mont he brought it up, Eriri made a sour face.
"Ugh, not great. It was a week of pure suffering. The only silver lining was not having to wear those light, floaty dresses for banquets like in sumr."
Hearing her ntion banquets, Shinoda rolled her chair over imdiately, grabbed Eriri's hand, and asked eagerly:
"I'm super curious! What are those fancy banquets you rich girls go to like?"
"Banquets?"
Eriri twitched her lips, clearly not in the mood to talk about it—but seeing everyone gather around, she gave in and reluctantly started explaining.
"There's honestly nothing that exciting. Sure, the venues are a bit fancier, and everyone dresses up nicely. Over the New Year, it's mostly just family and relatives, so those are more bearable. The other banquets, though… it's just people from the sa social circle networking, exchanging contacts, seeing if they can partner up on anything."
"Also," she added with a sigh, "it's where parents try to matchmake their kids when they hit the right age. I've seen it happen so many tis. That's exactly why I stopped going once I got to high school."
"Whoa!!! So that's what it's like!"
Aoba asked curiously, "So Eriri, have you ever run into any eligible bachelors at those parties? Like, guys who tried to hit on you?"
Eriri shot her a dramatic eye-roll.
"Not interested. But if you really want to know, you should ask Haruno-senpai when she shows up. Every ti she goes to a banquet, she ends up being the center of attention for everyone her age."
"Speak of the devil! I heard soone calling my na—Haruno has arrived!"
"???"
*
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