After grabbing lunch outside and taking a short break at home, Ichin and Utaha headed downstairs.

Kō had just finished helping Rin pack and came into the living room.

Checking the messages in the group chat, Ichin said, "Looks like Aoba and Nene are pretty interested. Even Umiko, who went to drop off Tsubame and Momiji, seems interested too. So it'll probably be just our little group going."

Rin, who had been busy packing and hadn't checked the group chat, asked, "Eriri's not coming? This kind of trip seems right up her alley."

"She is interested," Ichin replied with a smile, "But unfortunately, as a proper young lady, she's super busy during New Year's. Running all over with her parents visiting relatives and elders. Same goes for Yukino—she already went home a few days ago."

"Geez, must be tough being a rich young lady," Kō commented. "Oh right, Yukino and Haruno are our company shareholders. Are you planning to pay them a New Year's visit, Ichin?"

"Yup. We already agreed—I'll visit them on the 2nd, and then we'll head out to Rin's on the 3rd."

Since they were not only shareholders but also close friends, a formal visit made sense both personally and professionally.

"A proper rich family, huh? Wonder if I'll ever get to visit one someday."

Seeing Kō's curious expression, Utaha added, "Yukino's house might be hard, but Eriri's? You could probably visit there anytime."

"True," Kō nodded. "Plus, Eriri once mentioned her mom, Sayuri, is a hardcore otaku—and a fujoshi at that. Now that makes me curious."

Sayuri Sawamura's fujoshi tendencies had become common knowledge in the company once Eriri got close with everyone.

Everyone in the company had their own nerdy passions, and Kō's were especially broad—she liked to explore all sorts of subcultures, including fujoshi favorites.

She might actually hit it off chatting with Sayuri.

---

A bit later, with Rin's shinkansen time approaching, Kō prepared to drive her to the station. Originally, they were going to wait for Umiko to return first, but she still hadn't come back, so they had to leave.

After the two of them left, Ichin and Utaha returned to their house.

While playing with the cat on the couch, Utaha asked, "Ichin, now that it's the year-end holiday, are you really not planning to release any Persona updates? PV3 and PV4 are both finished, and neither has been released yet."

"No rush. We'll do it tomorrow."

Ichin leaned back lazily on the sofa, flipping through TV channels. "I'll release PV3 tomorrow night. Too bad the Chinese voiceover still isn't ready. So we'll have to go with the Japanese dub version for now—with subtitles."

If the Chinese voiceover team kept progressing, both PV3 and PV4 should be ready in Chinese by the end of the New Year holiday.

PV3 mainly featured content from the game's main story—introducing the backstory, worldbuilding, and key elements of the narrative.

Some of it had already been teased during live streams, but presenting it with visuals in a proper PV would help players better understand the game.

PV3 also marked the debut of new main storyline bosses and additional protagonist team members.

---

The Last Day of the Year

Ichin enjoyed sleeping in until 10 a.m. After a relaxing lunch at home with Utaha, he headed to the bedroom, opened his laptop, logged into Bilibili, and uploaded the completed PV3.

An hour later, just as he was about to head next door, the video passed review.

As soon as it went live, Ichin posted an update:

"On the final day of the year, here's Persona PV3! The Chinese dub will probably be ready around the Spring Festival, so for now please enjoy the subtitled Japanese version. This PV includes tons of info everyone's been curious about, plus new characters make their debut! Also, the game development is going smoothly—don't worry about the release date, it'll probably be earlier than expected."

After posting that, Ichin and Utaha headed next door to help her mother prepare for the New Year's feast.

Half an hour later, Umiko came upstairs with some fruit in hand and said, "I've got the BBQ ready downstairs. Once dinner starts, I'll bring it up."

Utaha's mom smiled brightly and said, "Thank you so much, Umiko! Sounds like we're in for a great dinner tonight. Oh, by the way—do you all want to have some drinks tonight? My husband's boss gave us a really nice bottle. Everyone can have a little. Except Utaha, of course. But Ichin, you can have some."

Ichin, who was preparing chicken wings, replied, "Sure! What kind of alcohol is it—sake or wine?"

"Sake."

"Even better, then."

Everyone kept busy with the dinner prep while Utaha's dad went out for a quick shopping run at his wife's request.

As she flipped the meat, Umiko said, "Ichin, I saw your PV before coming up. It's already trending—it's blowing up!"

"Yeah?"

Ichin, knife in hand, looked to Utaha. "Utaha, check it out for me on your phone. Let's see how the view count's doing."

"Trending already? That's awesome!"

Utaha opened Bilibili on her phone, found the video Ichin had just uploaded, and sure enough—it was already on the trending page.

Even though it had only been an hour, it had already surpassed 100,000 views and over 10,000 people were watching it live.

"Look, Ichin! Tons of people are watching!"

Ichin glanced at the screen Utaha held up and smiled. "Nice. Seems like people really liked this PV. If I get the chance in a few days, I might do a livestream and reveal a bit more."

Since the release date wasn't far off, as long as he didn't spoil core story content, he had no problem sharing a little more with excited fans.

---

By 6:30 p.m., dinner was ready. Everyone gathered around the table to enjoy their New Year's Eve feast.

The TV in the living room was already on, waiting for the start of the Kōhaku Uta Gassen in half an hour.

Although it wasn't midnight yet, their phones were already buzzing with New Year greetings from friends and relatives.

*