Hazuki didn't keep Ichin waiting long. After two minutes of thought, she accepted the task.

"Alright, since you trust me this much, of course I'll give it my full focus and make sure this project is done well."

Even though she accepted, there was no rush—after all, some things take priority, and the Persona project still required much of Hazuki's attention.

After chatting a bit more, Ichin left Hazuki's office.

As soon as he stepped out, he noticed the office was much more crowded than before. People from the programming team, HR, and finance had all gathered in one spot, buzzing with excitement.

Curious, Ichin walked over and saw that Aoba's seat had been taken over—by none other than Ruri.

Tapping Umiko on the shoulder, Ichin quietly asked, "What's going on?"

Seeing it was Ichin, Umiko lowered her voice and chuckled, "Looks like Ruri saw Aoba and Nene dueling while she was out getting coffee. She got the itch to try it out, and turns out—she's got talent. Picked it up instantly."

In front of everyone, Ruri stayed focused despite the chatter and attention. She carefully kept her distance from the Lothric Knight on screen.

After adjusting her position, Ruri moved in, and the moment the knight swung its longsword, she timed her parry perfectly.

Clang!

A crisp sound rang out. The Lothric Knight staggered back from the deflection. Ruri immediately followed up with a critical strike, slicing off half of its HP in one hit.

Cheers erupted from the crowd around her.

Aoba exclaimed excitedly, "That's a parry! It's definitely tough to pull off. Ruri, you're amazing!"

Ruri blushed slightly at the compliment and replied softly, "It's not that hard once you get the timing down. Plus, this is just a test build. I think once Ichin-kun starts full development, the combat will feel even better."

Watching from behind, Ichin was just as surprised by her skill. He had only come to take a quick look, but now he was eager to see how Ruri would handle the katana guy.

Soon enough, Ruri reached the top of the tower and encountered the katana guy.

Thanks to watching Aoba and Nene's earlier attempts, she already knew the katana guy could parry. So when he assumed a parry stance, she didn't charge in recklessly. Instead, she patiently waited until he switched to offense, blocked, and landed three clean strikes in return.

After landing one successful sequence, Ruri knew she only needed two more to win.

But just as victory seemed within reach—something unexpected happened. While trying to roll and dodge an incoming attack, Ruri accidentally rolled off the tower.

"Ah! Huh? Ahhh!?"

She thought she was doomed. But then, surprisingly, the katana guy took two delayed steps forward and slashed once—before falling off the edge himself.

One after the other, both characters plummeted down. Due to fall damage, both of their health bars hit zero. A poetic double KO.

Stroking his chin, Ichin mused, "Hmm... well, I guess that still counts as a clear."

Originally, Ichin had included the mechanic that knocking the katana guy off the tower would also be a valid strategy. No one had figured it out yet—until now.

It might not have been the cleanest method, but hey—the boss was dead.

Returning the controller to Aoba, Ruri stood up with a satisfied smile. "Even though it's just a test, the combat system and logic are really well done. There's still a lot left unfinished, sure—but it's clear this has huge potential."

Just as she finished speaking, Ichin's voice came from behind.

"Your instincts are right, Ruri. There are still quite a few systems unfinished. Once Persona wraps up next year, this project can officially begin."

"Eek! Ichin-kun!"

His sudden appearance startled Ruri. She quickly grabbed her coffee cup and said, "I-I'll get back to work now!"

Ichin chuckled and waved his hand. "No rush. I heard from Umiko that you finished your tasks really quickly today. A few minutes of fun won't hurt. You've been with us a while now, you should be used to our laid-back vibe. No need to be so uptight."

Blushing, Ruri nodded and trotted back to the programming team.

After she left, the others slowly dispersed and went back to their tasks as well.

Ichin gently patted Aoba on the head as she sat back at her desk. "So, did you win?"

"Hehe, Nene and I both failed the first round," Aoba admitted. "But in the second round, I beat her by over ten seconds! Saved myself a dinner bill tonight!"

Glancing over at Nene, who still looked a little sulky, Ichin said with mild surprise, "That's unexpected. I thought Nene would win, honestly."

After all, Ichin and everyone else knew Nene was a strong gamer—especially when it came to action-heavy titles. She generally had an edge over Aoba in games like these.

With the duel over, Ichin reminded both girls to delete the test build, then headed back to his office with Utaha, who had also watched the whole spectacle.

Time to get back to work.

Utaha was already deep into the second volume of her novel, working on the final few scenes.

Volume one had sold really well. Several bookstores had already restocked it twice, and online forums were buzzing with discussions.

The second volume hadn't even been officially announced yet, but Kyoto Animation had already reached out, asking about adapting it into an anime.

They had clearly realized that although their in-house library had plenty of novels, adapting any of them into anime required lots of rewrites—new characters, revised settings, and so on. It was a hassle.

Meanwhile, at Fushikawa, they already had several light novel authors besides Kasumi Utako whose works were well-suited for anime adaptations.

Thanks to Utako, Kyoto Animation had even started considering a deeper partnership with Fushikawa in the future.

As for Utaha herself, beyond having the right of first refusal for anime adaptations, the higher-ups at the publishing house had also decided not to make her attend public events or signings anymore.

She didn't need them.

Her work alone was enough to sell. And minimizing those extra publicity costs made life easier for the publisher too—not to mention it helped them avoid accusations of over-marketing their authors.

*

Author's Note:

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