At lunch break the next day, Art Lead Sakata Taiji and Programming Lead Akanishi Ken were up on the rooftop catching some breeze.
They were smoking and chatting idly.
"Ever since Shinkai Makoto went back to school, I feel like something's missing."
Akanishi Ken bit down on the filter of his cigarette, shielding it from the wind with one hand while flicking his lighter with the other.
Click, click. The lighter sparked an orange-red flame.
He lowered his head, brought the cigarette to the flame, took a deep drag, and successfully lit it.
"You're not kidding." Sakata Taiji glanced over at the wooden bench where Shinkai Makoto usually liked to lie down. It was empty now; only he and Akanishi Ken were on the rooftop.
"Even though that kid Shinkai Makoto didn't usually say much and just liked lying on the bench staring at the sky, he was really quite strange. You could say his presence was incredibly weak."
"I hadn't really noticed it before, but now that he's gone, I realize it does make a difference."
"That's what is called companionship," Akanishi Ken smiled. "When someone is always lying there, you're just not used to it when they're gone."
"He's not gone, he just went back to school," Sakata Taiji corrected him.
He actually quite liked Shinkai. Although the kid was a bit introverted and had that little hobby of sky-gazing, his key animation skills were genuinely strong.
And there was nothing wrong with loving the sky or the vast sea of stars.
As Kant said, there are two things that fill the mind with ever-new and increasing admiration and awe the more frequently and persistently we reflect on them—
The moral law within us, and the starry heavens above us.
Come to think of it, Sakata Taiji was actually a little envious of Shinkai. He was in his twenties, yet his eyes were still so pure, and he could still gaze at the sky with such persistence.
Full of an artist's romantic aura and possessing the ultimate ideal of an artist.
"After 'The Witcher' is finished, I'm going to put in a request with the President too," Sakata Taiji said, looking at the distant sky.
"Huh? A request for what?"
"A request to go on a field trip!" Sakata Taiji said decisively.
After saying that, he let out a wicked laugh, "We artists need inspiration too. If we don't go out to experience the world and keep working behind closed doors like this, it just won't work."
"Damn you!" Akanishi Ken was green with envy.
It was called a field trip, but in reality, it was just traveling.
Unfortunately, programmers didn't have such an excuse.
Artists go out to collect inspiration, sketch, and experience life, like Hayao Miyazaki, who traveled abroad to gather material for his animated films.
What would you do on a programmer's field trip? Find code in the scenery?
So at Pokeni, an artist's field trip was a perfectly legitimate thing—it counted as a company-sponsored vacation.
Seeing the look of envy, jealousy, and hatred on Akanishi Ken's face, Sakata Taiji laughed so hard he doubled over.
After catching his breath, the two of them had already finished two cigarettes while standing on the rooftop.
Sakata Taiji exhaled a ring of smoke, watching the sun peek out from behind the clouds in the distance. "Akanishi-san, have you ever noticed that our president is quite a strange person?"
"How so?"
"Just look at the strange and unusual talent the company recruits. Aside from Yoko Shimomura, who was poached from Capcom and whose talent was already proven, the others didn't seem reliable at all in the beginning.
Shirakawa, who had never done game music before and was already at Nihon Falcom, was dragged back by the president.
That guy Wada, he completely volunteered himself at a player focus group, and the scary part is that the president actually dared to hire him.
There was no one to vet them, either.
Later, there was Shinji Mikami, whose written test and interview were a complete failure, and Capcom didn't even want him, yet the president somehow took a special liking to him.
And now..."
Sakata Taiji glanced back behind him, making sure no one was there, before saying cautiously, "Is the new guy, Jun Maeda, also a bit strange?"
"He's a bit more lively than I imagined. The strange thing is probably that he's a total baseball nut, isn't it?" Akanishi Ken chuckled. "He clearly looks like someone who'd be terrible at baseball, yet he loves to have it constantly on his lips.
And, he's especially fond of Kogahara Tsubakiaki.
Maybe he'll turn out to be another Gen Urobuchi."
"Please, no..." Sakata Taiji shuddered, waving his hands frantically. "Don't bring me another Gen Urobuchi. Between Kogahara Tsubakiaki and Gen Urobuchi, haven't we been put through enough already?"
"Then you'd better act fast," Akanishi Ken said with a smile. "Once the President and Wada get through brainwashing him, it's only a matter of time before Jun Maeda becomes the next Gen Urobuchi."
"Uh..."
Sakata Taiji's mouth twitched.
How am I supposed to brainwash him... Do I really stand a chance against the President?
"Regardless, before Jun Maeda learns to constantly change requirements, you need to help him develop the good habit of being cautious.
Also, tell him about the power of love and justice, and to stop thinking about handing out tragedy all the time.
Following the same path as Kogahara Tsubakiaki and Gen Urobuchi is a road of no return, and there's no future on that path."
"Heh, you talk such a big game, why don't you do it yourself?"
"I don't have the time," Akanishi Ken smiled. "Besides, the rework here isn't as exaggerated as what you guys go through. I don't find it unbearable."
Rather than "unbearable," Akanishi had long gotten used to enjoying it. Every time the President had him redo something, he always received a slew of strange and bizarre new requirements.
It wasn't entirely a bad thing; at the very least, his programming skills had improved by leaps and bounds. Pokeni's programmers could now be considered the best in the country.
All of this was thanks to Aoki Haruhi.
It was essentially a devil's training.
"They're so young. Our team. The average age was already just over 20, and now that Jun Maeda has joined, it's pulled down even further."
"I'm over 30 and somehow the oldest one here. That wouldn't happen in any other company," Sakata Taiji grumbled.
Akanishi Ken frowned deeply.
In reality, he was about the same age as Sakata Taiji.
"There's nothing wrong with being young, is there?" Akanishi said. "It makes our company look youthful and energetic."
In the gaming industry, Pokeni is indeed a relatively young company, and it consists mostly of young people. It's hard to imagine someone like Gen Urobuchi, at just 20 years old, being able to shoulder such heavy responsibilities alone.
Although Shinji Mikami is 27, he has only been in the industry for a mere two years.
Thinking about it carefully now, Ken Akanishi feels a sense of lingering fear.
Whether it's Nintendo, Sega, or Capcom, their founding teams are no longer young, and they all have well-established systems for training newcomers.
But since its inception, Pokeni has relied entirely on these young people to just charge ahead.
Even the slightest mistake along the way could have plunged the entire company into an irreversible abyss.
It's a miracle they haven't gone bankrupt.
What's even more terrifying is that Pokeni has actually managed to develop so well.
When not thinking about it, it all felt like a matter of course, but now that he reflects on it, Ken Akanishi feels a chill down his spine.
He carefully thought it over and his eyes suddenly widened.
The source of it all lies nowhere else but with Haruhi Aoki.
His name is truly fitting!
Sakata Taiji nodded. "Hmm, experience is something that can definitely be acquired through accumulation, but creativity is extremely precious. The rarest thing is that the young people in our company are all quite creative."
"If it were me, I wouldn't be able to manage them at all," Akanishi Ken sighed sincerely.
Up until now, probably only Aoki Haruhi could have done this.
That is why Akanishi Ken really admired him.
If one had to say, Aoki Haruhi is the true genius.
His insight is terrifyingly sharp; whether it's Mikami Shinji, Gen Urobuchi, the intern Makoto Shinkai, or even the newly arrived Jun Maeda, they all seem to display extraordinary talent.
Just being able to discover these people and bring them together is impressive enough.
What's even more formidable is that, for anyone else, such a team would probably be a headache. Having too many people with strong opinions in one company isn't necessarily a good thing; it could potentially lead to nothing getting done.
But Aoki Haruhi handles it with absolute ease.
Wada and Mikami are utilized in completely different ways.
And yet, both are able to exert 100% of their strength and value in their respective fields—what a terrifying thing that is.
Now, Akanishi Ken is quite looking forward to seeing how "Jun Maeda," whom the president thinks highly of, will perform.
After two weeks of working at Pokeni, Jun Maeda was called into the president's office.
"Did you call for me, President?"
Jun Maeda pushed the door open, sat down on the sofa, brushed his long bangs aside, and looked directly at Aoki Haruhi.
"Yes," Aoki nodded. "I want you to be in charge of the copy for the new game, including the story script."
"Really?!" Jun Maeda asked, surprised.
"That's great!"
He had been wanting to leave The Witcher for some time now.
The main issue was that the tasks Gen Urobuchi assigned him were too fragmented; he was either writing lines for a specific character in The Witcher or coming up with names for items and skills...
This was all very different from what Jun Maeda had originally imagined his job would be like.
According to Jun Maeda's expectations, after coming to Pokeni, shouldn't he be writing stories and contributing his creativity so that everyone would be amazed?
Instead, not only was it nothing like that, but he also often ended up arguing incessantly with the lead copywriter, Wada, over various creative ideas.
Both of their ideas were very interesting, but the work could only have one style.
In the end, Shinji Mikami definitely sided with Gen Urobuchi, so many of Jun Maeda's ideas couldn't be adopted.
It was incredibly frustrating for him.
He hadn't expected to receive such great comfort from the president today, which rekindled his hope for the gaming industry.
"Yes. Truly." Aoki Haruhi nodded. "I'm planning to make a brand new galgame."
Since Shinkai Makoto went back to school, Pokeni didn't have any galgames in the works.
Aoki had thought it over and felt it was necessary to make one; it would be a short-term project with a high return on investment.
Before The Witcher was released, it would be the perfect project to bridge the gap.
Previously, Wada didn't have the time, but now that Jun Maeda was here, it was the perfect opportunity for him to try his hand at it, serving as a practice project.
"Hmm, hmm." Jun Maeda nodded vigorously. "So, what kind of galgame are we making next? Or rather, are there any specific requirements?"
"Since it's a galgame, it should naturally be centered around love." Aoki Haruhi paused, then added, "Though, it doesn't strictly have to be. We can have breakthroughs in terms of form and gameplay. As for the specifics..."
The President pondered for two seconds, then smiled meaningfully. "You tell me."
"Eh?" Maeda blinked, not expecting the President to play it so big.
Is this Pokeni's consistent style of doing things?
They want to make a new game, but don't even know what it is yet, and they're letting a newcomer design it...
I have to say, the President really has guts.
And he has so much faith in me.
Although Jun Maeda had been feeling a bit annoyed by Gen Urobuchi lately, seeing the President like this, he suddenly felt that Wada-san was truly kind and reliable.
Aoki Haruhi was looking forward to Clannad; he could even write out the entire script outline for Clannad and throw it at Jun Maeda.
But doing so would be like pulling up seedlings to help them grow—it might do more harm than good.
It would be better to let Jun Maeda develop on his own.
At the very least, he could grow through practice, just like Gen Urobuchi.
Even if he couldn't write Clannad at the start, he would be able to eventually.
He couldn't stifle Jun Maeda's creativity just because of his own impatience for success.
Any ordinary newcomer would probably have been scared off by Aoki Haruhi long ago, but Jun Maeda didn't seem to be backing down in the slightest.
"So I can write whatever I want?" Jun Maeda asked, puzzled.
He had written quite a few novels back in school, but whether that was the same thing as writing for a game was hard to say.
Fortunately, even though he had argued quite a bit with Wada recently, Jun Maeda had still learned a lot and had gained a basic understanding of games.
At the very least, he now knew that games weren't just about telling a simple story; every character's dialogue, the names of the equipment... all of these things had to be thought up and written down by someone.
God said, let there be light.
And then the programmers began to study wave-particle duality, velocity, frequency, heat...
Light was not so easily created.
"It's up to you. First of all, this is a galgame, and secondly, I need a high-quality script that can continue Pokeni's tradition.
"This script needs to showcase your creativity, and at the same time, it must be able to touch the players' hearts. As long as you can achieve these things, the project can move forward."
Aoki Haruhi smiled. "That's how it started with Wada-san, too."
Hearing the name 'Wada,' Jun Maeda's mouth twitched slightly.
"However, given your lack of prior game development experience, I will assign an experienced producer to oversee the new project. You just need to focus on the script."
"Oh."
So, there was still a producer above him.
Jun Maeda was quite curious, though—
With Kogahara Tsubakiaki gone, who at Pokeni could possibly take on the role of producer for a new galgame?
It couldn't be the president himself, could it?
"Alright, President," Jun Maeda nodded earnestly. "I'll have a first draft ready for you to review within a week."
"Great."
Aoki Haruhi expressed his high expectations for Jun Maeda's script, both as a president and from the perspective of a player.
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