Opening the project proposal, Utaha began reading through it bit by bit.
Although it wasn't a project from her own company, since Akane had personally come to her, Utaha naturally had to take a look first.
If the proposal was genuinely good, she really wouldn't mind getting involved.
After spending about ten minutes, Utaha quickly finished reading through the proposal, which was still in its early stages.
Closing the file, she looked at Akane and said, "I didn't expect that after your last game, you'd switch genres and move on to developing an RPG. A modern setting with some mysterious elements, dual perspectives for the male and female protagonists… Even though I've never personally developed a game, I've seen quite a lot while working alongside Ichin. This isn't an easy project to make. But putting that aside, I really can't figure out why you, Miss Kosaka, would want to collaborate with me."
"There are two reasons."
Holding up two fingers, Akane said with a smile, "First, I truly lack a writer suitable for an RPG game script—especially for this project, which requires a lot of content focused on depicting the evolving relationship between the male and female leads. My standards in this area are very high, and the scriptwriters at my company don't quite meet them yet. You, Utako Kasumi-sensei, are a perfect fit for my requirements—and we already know each other. Even though Ichin and I are in the same industry and technically competitors, I still wanted to give it a try.
"As for the second reason, I watched the TV drama you worked on as the scriptwriter yesterday. That completely cemented my resolve to bring you into this project, no matter what."
Good grief—you watch idol dramas too?
Ichin honestly hadn't expected that.
Listening to Akane, Utaha nodded, handed the proposal back to her, and then looked at Ichin.
The moment he met Utaha's gaze, Ichin understood what she was thinking and smiled. "Alright. Do it the way you want."
Returning his smile, Utaha turned to Akane. "Then… I'll be in your care. I'll be joining this project."
Akane let out a huge sigh of relief and smiled as she shook Utaha's hand. "Thank you for joining us, Utako Kasumi-sensei. Then it's settled. You can come by my place sometime in the next couple of days—I'll have the cooperation agreement prepared."
Utaha nodded. "Sure. I'll contact you before I come. But there's one thing—I'm a fourth-year student right now, so I still have classes to attend. I won't be able to come over every day. Is that okay?"
"That's absolutely fine!"
Akane had already taken that into consideration when inviting Utaha to be the game's scriptwriter, so she naturally had no objections.
Turning to Ichin, Akane said, "Ichin-kun, how about I treat everyone to dinner tonight? I think that aside from working with Utako Kasumi-sensei, there's definitely room for cooperation between us as well."
"Oh?"
Ichin raised an eyebrow. "That's no problem at all. But if I bring a couple more people along besides Utaha, that's fine too, right?"
"Of course."
Standing up, Akane Kosaka looked at Ichin and Utaha and said, "Then I'll head back first to take care of some things. I'll send you the dinner location later. Let's have a good drink tonight."
After seeing Akane Kosaka off and returning to the office, Utaha directly sat down on Ichin's lap, wrapped her arms around his neck, and said, "Ichin, you're really not angry? About me joining Akane Kosaka's project?"
"Of course not. Haven't I said this already?"
Ichin smiled. "Since you think the project is suitable, then go and do it properly. It'll also help you accumulate more experience in scriptwriting, which will only benefit you. You already know about the projects I have lined up—I don't need your help for now. I can handle things on my own."
Kissing Ichin on the cheek, Utaha said, "Then you're not worried that after I join, the project I help make might pose a threat to our company?"
"Do you think that's possible?"
Ichin looked at Utaha, his eyes brimming with confidence. "It's just one project. I've got nearly ten projects in hand right now—I can pick one or two to develop at any time. There's no need to worry about Akane Kosaka posing any kind of threat to me. And an RPG game—without even knowing the specifics, I don't think it'll affect Persona in the slightest. You have to remember, we already have two games that surpassed ten million in sales, and another that broke five million. Compared to that, I should be more worried about whether she can even catch up."
Utaha laughed and cupped Ichin's cheeks with both hands, looking straight at him. "Then let's wait and see how much I can boost a game's sales. While I'm at it, I can also act as a spy for you and get a feel for Akane Kosaka's development strength."
"Then do your best~~"
Utaha joining Akane Kosaka's project didn't cause much of a stir.
Just as Ichin had said, the gap in strength between the two sides was still very obvious, and Utaha hadn't been poached outright—she'd simply been invited to collaborate.
Worrying that the other side could close the gap just by relying on a single scriptwriter was unrealistic.
After beginning her collaboration with Akane Kosaka, aside from attending classes and coming to the company as usual, Utaha would also occasionally go over there for meetings, discussing the script and various aspects of the game.
Because of the agreement in place, she never told Ichin anything about the project's content.
Although Akane Kosaka didn't mind Utaha sharing details with Ichin, Utaha had her own professional ethics. Even if it was her own man, she wouldn't casually disclose things she shouldn't.
Just like that, April slowly passed, and time moved into May.
After announcing the completion of development in mid-April, the GARO game was finally released in May.
Thanks to several rounds of online and offline advertising and two livestream events, the game's pre-orders climbed past ninety thousand, approaching the hundred-thousand mark.
On May 9th, the media review scores were also released.
Although it was a fan-oriented tokusatsu adaptation game, GARO received surprisingly good ratings from the media. Most outlets gave it scores of 8/10, 80/100, or higher. The media highly praised the game's impact feedback, combat system, visuals, music, and faithfulness to the original story.
For a fan-oriented game, this absolutely exceeded expectations. Even players who weren't tokusatsu fans could definitely find enjoyment in it.
Media reviews like these made the many fans eagerly awaiting the GARO game even more excited.
Amid the anticipation of countless players, on May 10th, the game officially unlocked.
Looking at the impressive first-day sales that broke two hundred thousand units, Ichin smiled and began planning for the sequel.
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