After handing over the documents, Shizuka Hiratsuka said, "At the end of October, the internal interviews for the University of Tokyo will begin. It's scheduled for a Saturday, and I'll be going with you two. Make sure you prepare well, understood?"
"That's pretty soon."
Looking over the details on the notice, Ichin said, "Got it. We'll definitely be ready. This concerns our college future, after all."
Utaha added, "But Hiratsuka-sensei, do you really need to come with us? It's just an interview, not like we're some inexperienced kids who've never seen the world."
"It's not up to you whether I go or not. As your homeroom teacher, I'm required to accompany you," Hiratsuka replied, rolling her eyes. "It won't just be me—the grade director will be coming as well. But once we get to the interview site, I'll be the one staying with you. The grade director has meetings with teachers from other schools and officials from Todai."
Ichin and Utaha understood. This was the University of Tokyo after all. Their teachers probably took it even more seriously than they did.
After that matter was settled, the two returned to class.
They hadn't looked at the posted rankings, but they'd already seen the results back in the office.
"Still second in the grade this time," Utaha said with her chin propped on her hand, smiling at Ichin. "But Ichin, I'm just a few points behind you now. I'll definitely overtake you next time."
"Yeah, I really do need to start paying more attention."
Ichin nodded. He hadn't expected Utaha to improve so steadily—now she was getting perfect scores in the sciences just like him.
If he got careless in any future test, it really was possible she'd overtake him.
"You really are forcing me to take exams even more seriously from now on."
Hearing that, Utaha's smile grew even brighter.
That afternoon, when Ichin arrived at the office and confirmed that no one had been secretly feeding Peppa like before, he finally felt at ease.
Just after placing Peppa back onto the cat tree to play with Mozuku, he heard Hajime's voice from behind.
"Ichin-kun, you're going to the Todai interview?"
"Yeah, we found out this morning," Ichin replied, sitting back down with the art team. As soon as he did, Utaha popped a soft candy into his mouth. "We're going at the end of the month. It's not a big deal, just an interview. Pretty simple."
"Simple?! It's the University of Tokyo! The University of Tokyo!"
Despite Hajime's dramatic reaction, Ichin remained calm. He waved her off and said, "It's just Todai. Even without the recommendation slot, Utaha and I could pass the entrance exam easily. And not just us—don't forget about Nene. Her university is top-tier too, and she got in just as easily."
From the side, Aoba chimed in in agreement: "That's true. Nene was always super nervous after every exam in high school, but when the results came out, she always aced them. A total hidden genius."
"Exactly," Ichin said, looking at Hajime. "So don't make such a fuss over Todai. Sure, it's a prestigious collage—but just graduating from a top university doesn't guarantee success. Hazuki graduated from a top collage too. Ask her—how many of her classmates are doing better than she is now? The collage matters, but so do your major and personal effort."
Hazuki, who had been secretly taking photos of Hifumi, sighed and reluctantly put down her phone after hearing her name called.
"Ichin's right. Getting into university is one thing—how you spend the next four years is what really matters. Anyway, I've got work to do. You guys keep chatting."
Before she could even finish her sentence, Hifumi rushed over, face red, and snatched her phone away to delete the candid shots.
"Ah! Don't delete them! I finally found the perfect angle!"
Hazuki mournfully took her phone back and checked it. Luckily, the photos of everyone else were still intact.
Then, she got a message from Hifumi.
Send me those Aoba pics, or I'll tell Ko and Rin you were secretly photographing them again.
Attached was a devilish emoji sticker.
"...Are you learning from Aoba now?"
Left with no choice, Hazuki gave in and sent the recently snapped pictures of Aoba to Hifumi, then returned to her office with a gloomy expression.
She shut the door, sat down, and leaned back in her chair with a stretch.
"Aiyaa… looks like everyone's got something going on. Really interesting. Hmm… since I'm free tonight, maybe I'll see if Shizuka and Haruno are up for dinner and drinks."
Meanwhile, after checking on everyone's work progress, Ichin returned to the office with Utaha.
He opened his laptop and synced up with the Shanghai studio. Over there, they were already working on replacing the voiceovers in the Chinese version of the PV2 video file Ichin had sent them.
For the second livestream, the PV shown on Bilibili and YouTube would still use Japanese voiceovers. But once the Chinese-dubbed version was complete, Ichin planned to upload that version too.
After all, it had been promised from the beginning: the game would feature full Chinese voice acting. Players could choose not to use it, but the option had to be there.
Most gamers who played major single-player titles didn't expect every game to have full Chinese voice acting—subtitles were usually enough. But if it was available, it was naturally welcomed.
Take Resident Evil and Tomb Raider for example—their Chinese dubs might take some getting used to, but they were considered some of the best in the field. In games with a lot of story content, Chinese voice acting allowed players to focus more on the visuals and narrative, rather than constantly reading subtitles.
So yes, Chinese dubbing definitely had its advantages.
After checking the voiceover progress, Ichin also reviewed the recruitment status of the Shanghai studio.
To boost development efficiency, improve team coordination, and prepare for future projects, Ichin had planned for both the Tokyo and Shanghai studios to continue hiring.
The hiring expansion wasn't massive—mostly focused on programmers and skilled 3D modelers.
Whether they ended up developing Titanfall, Apex Legends, or Dark Souls, 3D modeling would be a huge workload, and Ichin's standards would be high.
***
🔥 Want more? 🔥
Unlock 25+ early chapters on my Patreon!
👉 Patreon.com/RedX43