After introducing everyone in the studio, Ichin invited Shizuka Hiratsuka to sit at an empty computer. He booted up the machine and asked, "Hiratsuka-sensei, have you tried the game I developed?"

  "Uh, no, I haven't," Hiratsuka replied.

  "Well, since you're here today, why not give it a try?" Ichin suggested.

  Hiratsuka didn't refuse and let Ichin set up the computer while asking, "By the way, how are your game's sales doing?"

  As he opened the game's program, Ichin casually replied, "I checked this morning, and it's already sold over 250,000 copies. It's doing surprisingly well."

  "250,000? 250,000 copies?!" Hiratsuka was shocked and asked, "How much is your game priced at?"

  "In Japan, it's set at 1,200 yen. Not too expensive, right?" Ichin said.

  The price indeed wasn't high, but Hiratsuka quickly did the math in her head. Even with a low price, the sheer number of copies sold added up quickly.

  "1,200 yen per copy, and 250,000 copies... wait, is this global sales?"

  "Yeah, it's worldwide," Ichin confirmed. "The pricing varies a bit between regions, but the differences aren't too significant."

  Hiratsuka mentally calcuted the revenue and realized that Ichin had made more money in a few days than she could earn in several years.

  "Is making games really this profitable?"

  "You can't generalize like that," Kō Yagami interjected, spinning her chair to face Hiratsuka. "Most games are made by rge development companies. Even if their games sell well, they have to cover a lot of costs—saries during development, equipment, office space, and ongoing marketing and advertising expenses. Those are all significant expenditures."

  "But in Ichin's case, he developed the game independently and didn't spend much on promotion, so his profit margins are much higher compared to big studios. That's one of the advantages of indie games. However, it comes with its own risks. If the game isn't good enough or doesn't reach many pyers, it won't sell well, and the developer won't make enough to cover their time and effort."

  Ichin nodded in agreement. "Exactly. Profit and risk always go hand in hand. Fortunately, the gaming industry is still rgely driven by quality. As long as the game is captivating, even if it's not perfect in every aspect, people will still support it. It's just a matter of how long it takes to break even."

  After hearing Ichin and Kō's expnation, Hiratsuka quickly grasped the situation.

  Gncing around at the eight-person studio, she asked, "Now that you've set up a studio, do you feel confident about your next game?"

  "If I wasn't confident, I wouldn't have established the studio so soon," Ichin said with a smile, handing the mouse over to Hiratsuka. "Alright, Hiratsuka-sensei, give it a try."

  "Alright then, let's see what your game is all about," she said, taking the mouse and putting on the headset. She began pying Sy the Spire, genuinely curious about Ichin's work.

  While Hiratsuka got into the game, Ichin walked over to Umiko Ahagon.

  "Umiko-senpai, how's the programming going?" he asked.

  Umiko Ahagon's Movements Didn't Stop, She Nodded and Said:

  "Your core program design is excellent. When filling in content, it can greatly prevent some bugs from appearing. I checked earlier—are you pnning to allow mod support?"

  "That's right," Ichin confirmed. "I won't be continuously updating this game forever. Once the original four characters are completed and the in-game optimizations are in pce, that's enough. After enabling mod support and with a rge pyer base, the game's popurity can be maintained steadily."

  "That's a very good idea," Umiko praised. "This is one of the advantages of PC games over console games. By the way, have you considered developing a console version?"

  "Of course," Ichin said with a smile. "Why not seize a money-making opportunity? But with our current limited staff and only this one newly released game, I haven't pnned to jump into the console market just yet. Let's wait a bit—after Hollow Knight is released and Sy the Spire's popurity stabilizes, we can start thinking about porting to consoles."

  "Alright, you're the boss," Umiko replied and continued her programming work. Ichin returned to his seat to resume his tasks.

  Meanwhile, Shizuka Hiratsuka had gotten a hang of the game after exploring the first two rooms and seemed quite engrossed. Despite being a teacher now, she had a history of reading manga and pying games, so her learning curve wasn't steep. In fact, she was progressing faster than Eriri, and had easily cleared the first floor boss and reached the second.

  Midway through his work, Ichin got up to brew some tea and gnced at Hiratsuka's screen, finding that she was already in the third floor. He was pleasantly surprised by her progress. Judging by her expression, it was clear she was fully immersed in the game, and Ichin felt happy to have won over another pyer.

  By 11:30 AM, after failing once, Hiratsuka managed to clear the game at an impressive speed, unlocking the higher difficulty mode.

  Taking off her headset, she exhaled and said while looking at the game screen, "That was a pretty good game."

  She then gnced at her watch.

  "Great for passing the time. I'll probably py it during the holidays," she commented.

  Hearing this, Ichin grinned. "If you enjoyed it, Hiratsuka-sensei, I can give you a game key. You can activate it directly on your Steam account."

  Hiratsuka waved her hand. "No need. I can't take advantage of my own student. It's only 1,200 yen, so I'll just buy it myself ter. Consider it my support for your venture. Anyway, it's getting te. I'll be heading out now. Make sure you come to css tomorrow. Letting you take today off was already the limit, understood?"

  "Not staying for lunch? We were just about to order some takeout," Ichin offered.

  "No, thanks," Hiratsuka smiled. "It's rare for me to have free time at this hour, so I pn to visit a restaurant I haven't been to in a while."

  After seeing Hiratsuka off, Ichin turned to the others and asked, "Is anyone bringing their own lunch? I'll order some takeout for the rest."

  Only Hifumi Takimoto raised her hand hesitantly, while the rest didn't bring their own food.

  Ichin let them choose for themselves and ordered from a local bento pce he had tried before and found quite good.

  After pcing the order, Ichin addressed the group, "The kitchen here is fully equipped. Right now, we're just using it for making tea and coffee, but it's more than enough for cooking. If you don't want to keep ordering takeout, especially with the weather getting hot, you can buy some ingredients and cook meals here at the studio."

  His words were met with a profound silence.

  Ichin immediately understood—no one here knew how to cook.

  …