The gaming room became completely silent the moment Zaboru stepped through the door.
Only seconds earlier, the Bakudan Boys had been shouting at one another over their latest Gotcha Force victory. Rikki had been proudly claiming responsibility for the win, Sakaki was already disputing that claim, Kumogi had been halfway through another insult, and Sawada was probably preparing to tell all three of them to shut up.
Now?
Nothing.
Four grown men sat stiffly in front of their ZEPS 4 consoles as though their principal had suddenly walked into a classroom.
Zaboru looked between them and immediately started laughing. "Hey, relax. Come on, how many times have I caught you guys doing this already? I told you before, I'm cool with it."
None of them relaxed.
Zaboru sighed dramatically. "Seriously? You're acting like I found you stealing hardware."
The truth was that the Bakudan Boys were probably the only ZAGE employees shameless enough to regularly occupy a company gaming room this late at night purely for personal matches. Most employees had already gone home long before 21:00 unless they were dealing with deadlines, overtime, maintenance, or a particularly stubborn development problem. Sakaki, Sawada, Kumogi and Rikki, however, had known one another since long before joining ZAGE and treated Friday-night gaming almost like a sacred tradition.
They also had a slightly different relationship with Zaboru than most employees.
Especially Sakaki.
Years ago, before ZAGE became the monster it was today, Sakaki had already known Zaboru when he still worked part-time around the old Bakudan Boys environment and Zaboru himself was just an unusually talented high-school kid obsessed with games. Back then, nobody could have imagined that the same teenager would eventually become their employer and one of the most powerful businessmen in the world.
Unfortunately, knowing your boss before he became your boss didn't make him less terrifying once he actually signed your paycheck.
Sakaki swallowed. "U-Um... Boss?"
"Yeah?"
"Aren't you supposed to be in America?"
Zaboru's smile disappeared.
He slowly tilted his head.
"Is there a problem with me being here?"
Sakaki froze.
Rikki immediately elbowed him in the stomach. "Ow—"
"He means welcome back, Boss!" Rikki said quickly, suddenly sitting far straighter than normal. "He's very happy to see you. We're all extremely happy."
Kumogi stared at him.
Sawada adjusted his glasses.
Sakaki clutched his stomach. "You bastard..."
Zaboru managed to hold the expression for another two seconds before bursting out laughing. "Hahahaha! I'm messing with you! Damn, you guys are still easy."
The four men collectively exhaled.
Rikki immediately glared at Sakaki. "Why would you phrase it like that!?"
"I asked a normal question!"
"You sounded like you wanted him to leave!"
"I DIDN'T!"
Zaboru walked farther inside. "See? Five seconds and you're already fighting again."
Sawada rubbed his forehead. "Welcome back, Boss."
"Thanks, Sawada."
Zaboru glanced toward the monitors. The bright VICTORY screen from their most recent Gotcha Force match was still visible. "Looks like you actually won this one. Congratulations."
Rikki immediately recovered his confidence. "Exactly! Because I carried—"
"No," Sakaki said.
Kumogi nodded. "Definitely no."
Sawada simply sighed.
Zaboru laughed again. "Yeah, I saw enough of the match to know that's bullshit."
Rikki's face went blank.
"You... saw it?"
"Oh, yeah."
"How much?"
Zaboru thought for a moment. "Enough."
Rikki slowly looked toward Kumogi.
Kumogi looked toward Sakaki.
Sakaki looked toward Sawada.
Sawada immediately understood what they were worried about.
Zaboru's grin widened. "Tactical frogs."
Sakaki's face turned red.
"Boss!"
"HAHAHAHA!"
Kumogi nearly folded over laughing. "He saw it! He fucking saw it!"
Zaboru pointed toward Kumogi next. "And you really do have terrible aim."
Kumogi stopped laughing.
Rikki exploded.
"HAHAHAHA! THANK YOU, BOSS!"
Zaboru then looked toward him.
"And you need to learn what the word wait means."
Rikki immediately became silent.
Sawada covered his mouth, unsuccessfully hiding a smile.
Finally Zaboru turned toward him. "Sawada, I'm sorry."
Sawada blinked. "For what?"
"For what these three put you through."
For the first time that night, Sawada laughed openly. "Thank you, Boss. Finally somebody understands."
"TRAITOR!" Sakaki shouted.
The tension finally disappeared. Sakaki, Kumogi and Rikki settled back into their chairs, while Zaboru casually pulled another seat over and sat beside them.
For several seconds he looked at the four men thoughtfully.
Then he smiled.
"Actually, watching you guys gave me an idea."
That sentence immediately made Sawada suspicious.
Whenever Zaboru said he had an idea, the outcome could range from a minor quality-of-life feature to an entirely new business division.
Sawada cautiously asked, "What kind of idea?"
"Nothing dangerous."
Nobody believed him.
Zaboru chuckled. "Seriously. I was watching you guys play, and you're entertaining."
Sakaki raised an eyebrow. "Entertaining?"
"Yeah. Your teamwork is surprisingly good when you aren't sabotaging yourselves. You're all decent players, you understand games, and at the same time you're also complete idiots when you're together."
Kumogi frowned. "Boss, that somehow sounds like a compliment and insult at the same time."
"Because it is."
Rikki nodded. "Fair."
Zaboru leaned forward and rested his arms against his knees. "So what if you guys started a channel?"
All four stared at him.
"A... channel?" Sakaki asked.
"Yeah. YouTube. Streaming. Recorded multiplayer sessions. Whatever works." Zaboru gestured around the gaming room. "Not your personal channel either. I'm thinking something under ZAGE itself. We build an internal entertainment channel where ZAGE employees actually play games instead of everything being trailers, developer interviews and official presentations."
Their expressions slowly changed.
Zaboru continued, "You four would basically just do what you're already doing. Sit together, play games, argue, talk about mechanics, laugh at each other's mistakes. Sometimes livestream it, sometimes upload edited recordings."
Rikki blinked. "You want people to watch... us doing this?"
"Exactly."
Kumogi looked around the room. "Including the insults?"
"Probably not every single thing you say."
Sawada immediately looked at Rikki.
Rikki frowned. "Why are you looking at me?"
"No reason."
"There is definitely a reason."
Zaboru laughed. "Obviously we establish basic rules. No leaking confidential development stuff. Don't accidentally announce unreleased games. Don't say anything that's going to make HR hunt all five of us down."
Rikki pointed toward himself. "Why did you look at me when you said that?"
"Instinct."
Sakaki and Kumogi immediately laughed.
Sawada, however, remained thoughtful. "Boss, I understand the concept, but unlike you, we don't exactly have experience performing for an audience. You already know how to entertain people. You do interviews, ZAGE videos, music performances... all kinds of things. We're just playing games."
Zaboru immediately shook his head. "That's exactly where you're wrong, Sawada."
Sawada raised an eyebrow.
"You think people want every gaming video to be four professionals sitting perfectly straight and explaining frame data for two hours?"
"Well... no."
"They want personality too." Zaboru pointed at them one by one. "Sakaki screams whenever somebody insults his frogs. Kumogi acts confident until he misses three shots in a row. Rikki makes terrible decisions and then spends five minutes explaining why they were actually genius decisions."
"Hey."
"And you somehow keep all of them functional."
Sawada couldn't really argue.
Zaboru continued, "The fact that you're not trying to perform is what makes it work. Your chemistry already exists. If you deliberately try to become comedians, you'll probably ruin it. Just be yourselves."
Sakaki's hesitation lasted approximately three seconds.
Then he grinned.
"I'm in."
The other three looked toward him.
Sawada sighed. "You didn't even think about it."
"What is there to think about?" Sakaki spread his arms. "Come on, guys! Boss is basically offering to pay us extra money for doing what we already do every Friday!"
Zaboru immediately pointed toward him. "Exactly!"
Sakaki continued enthusiastically, "We play games, talk shit, and somehow that's work now!"
Kumogi scratched his chin. "When you put it like that..."
Rikki nodded slowly. "That's actually a very convincing business model."
Sawada stared at all of them. "I hate that this makes sense."
Zaboru laughed. "Don't worry. You'll get additional compensation whenever you're doing official streams or recorded content outside your normal responsibilities. ZAGE will provide the equipment, room, cameras, proper microphones, capture setup, editing support—the whole thing."
That immediately got Sawada's attention.
"So it wouldn't interfere with our actual development work?"
"No. This is extra. I'm not turning you guys into full-time entertainers." Zaboru paused. "Unless somehow you become ridiculously popular, then we'll figure that problem out later."
Rikki leaned back. "Imagine becoming famous because Kumogi can't aim."
Kumogi glared at him. "I'll kill you."
"See?" Zaboru pointed between them. "Content."
Sakaki laughed loudly.
Sawada finally surrendered. "Fine. I'm interested."
Kumogi nodded. "Same."
Rikki raised one hand. "Obviously I'm joining."
Zaboru grinned. "Good."
Then Sakaki asked, "What games would we stream?"
"Anything interesting." Zaboru shrugged. "New releases like Gotcha Force, Sengoku Basara, multiplayer ZEPS 4 games. But I actually think older games could be even better sometimes."
Sawada immediately understood. "Older online titles?"
"Exactly. Counter-Strike, Warcraft III, DotA, maybe Team Buddies, fighting games, racing games, whatever still has an audience." Zaboru smiled. "You guys already have history with half of them anyway. People like seeing developers play games they genuinely love."
Rikki suddenly smiled.
"DotA?"
"Yeah."
"How many people?"
"Five per team."
Rikki's smile vanished when he realized where Zaboru was going.
Zaboru's grin widened.
"So if you guys ever need a fifth player..."
Silence.
"I can join."
The Bakudan Boys stared at him.
Rikki slowly pointed toward Zaboru. "Y-You?"
"Yeah."
"With us?"
"That's usually what join means."
Kumogi suddenly sat straighter.
Sakaki swallowed.
Sawada adjusted his glasses again despite them already being perfectly positioned.
The four knew something most casual fans didn't fully appreciate.
Zaboru wasn't merely good at games.
He was absurdly good.
They had watched him dominate genres he barely seemed to practice. Fighting games, shooters, strategy games, racing games—it often felt less like playing with another person and more like inviting one of the developers' secret boss characters into the lobby.
Rikki spoke cautiously. "Boss... I'm not sure we'll be much help to you."
Zaboru stared.
Then laughed.
"What the hell are you talking about? Relax. If I'm on the team, we're definitely winning, right?"
Nobody answered.
Zaboru frowned. "Why is everyone silent?"
Sakaki finally coughed. "Confidence, Boss."
"Exactly!"
Sawada muttered, "That's one word for it."
Zaboru ignored him. "Besides, winning isn't even the important part. Imagine five of us playing DotA and everything going wrong. That might be more entertaining than a clean victory."
Rikki's expression slowly brightened. "So if I accidentally feed—"
"No."
"Okay."
Kumogi laughed.
Rikki sighed. "Fine, Boss. I'm interested. When do we start?"
"Not immediately." Zaboru stood and stretched. "ZAGE needs to prepare the setup first. Proper room, branding, cameras, capture equipment, moderation, scheduling, probably somebody from media to make sure none of you accidentally destroy the company's reputation."
Rikki pointed at himself again. "You looked at me."
"Again, instinct."
"Boss!"
Zaboru laughed. "For now, just prepare yourselves mentally. I'll have somebody contact you once we've got the pilot stream ready."
Sakaki grinned. "This is actually going to be awesome."
Kumogi nodded. "As long as nobody shows the footage from tonight."
Zaboru became suspiciously quiet.
Kumogi slowly looked toward him.
"Boss?"
Zaboru smiled innocently.
"No promises."
All four groaned simultaneously.
Zaboru laughed as he headed toward the door. In a strange way, something new had just begun almost accidentally. Four old friends who had spent years playing games, insulting each other, competing, cooperating and somehow remaining inseparable were about to turn that exact chemistry into entertainment for ZAGE's growing online audience.
Soon, players would know them by the same name they had carried for years.
The Bakudan Boys.
And if Zaboru occasionally joined them?
Things would probably become significantly worse.
Or significantly better.
Most likely both.
Meanwhile, elsewhere on ZAGE's growing online network, another familiar personality had already demonstrated exactly why gaming livestreams could become complete chaos.
Miguel Katayuya, better known online as Toro Kami, was currently streaming Sengoku Basara.
And unlike the Bakudan Boys, nobody needed to convince Miguel to make noise.
His stream was already in complete disorder.
To be continued.
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