For the next three days, everyone focused solely on testing the demo version of the game, hunting down various bugs.
While there were no major game-breaking bugs, plenty of weird little glitches popped up from time to time. Some included occasional input lag when attacking mid-air or getting stuck for a moment while moving up stairs.
Fortunately, none of these were particularly difficult to fix, and soon, all the issues were resolved.
After clearing the NS version of the demo once more and confirming that no further bugs appeared, Ichin finally set down the console and let out a sigh of relief.
"Looks like we're good. All the bugs are fixed, and the game runs smoothly at 720p on handheld mode and 1080p on console, with a steady 60 FPS. Hazuki, go ahead and submit the game to Nintendo."
"Got it! Sending it over now."
Hazuki was just as excited and immediately contacted their Nintendo representative.
Stretching lazily, Ichin glanced at the time—it was already past 4 PM. He stood up and looked at the team.
"Let's go out for yakiniku tonight! And since tomorrow is Friday, I'll give everyone a three-day break through the weekend. Take some time to rest up!"
"Yay! Three days off!"
Hajime Shinoda cheered and jumped up in excitement. "Perfect! I can finally go home for a bit. My parents have been nagging me about not visiting for ages."
Ichin raised an eyebrow. "Hajime, your hometown is in Tokushima, right?"
"Yep!"
Hajime clasped her hands behind her head, looking nostalgic. "I haven't been back since New Year's—it's been over half a year. This break is just the right time to visit. I'll head home and be back by Sunday night. How about you, Yun? Are you going home too?"
"Me?" Yun shook her head. "Nah, I just went back last week, and my place isn't that far anyway."
Yun, being from Kansai, had a slight Kansai accent when she spoke. Her hometown was in Mie Prefecture, east of Osaka. Compared to Tokushima, which was way down in the southwest, Mie was relatively close to Tokyo.
Like Yun, Hifumi, Rin, and Umiko, who also weren't from Tokyo, decided not to head back either. Meanwhile, Narumi and Momiji were from Hokkaido, which was even farther away, making a short trip home unrealistic.
Seeing that only Hajime planned to travel during the break, Ichin crossed his arms and made a suggestion.
"It's early August now, and the Cologne Game Show is at the end of the month. After our game is showcased there and the demo goes live, how about we take a longer vacation and go on a trip together to unwind?"
"A vacation?"
"A group trip?"
Hearing Ichin's proposal, everyone immediately perked up with curiosity.
Hazuki tapped her chin with a smile and said, "That sounds like a great idea. Our game development is progressing smoothly, and once we officially announce it, we'll be entering the final phase of development. Before that, it would be good to relax a bit and refresh ourselves for the last stretch. But Ichin-kun, if this is a company trip, are you footing the bill?"
"Of course I am! What, you think we're going Dutch?"
Ichin laughed as he opened his laptop and started searching. "Since it's summer, if everyone wants to go to the beach, we could go somewhere close like Izu. If we want to go further, Okinawa is also an option. Umiko, isn't your hometown in Okinawa? That way, we'd even have a free tour guide. And when winter comes, we can take a trip to Hokkaido—after all, we have two people here from there."
"Oh! So it's not just a summer trip, but a winter one too?"
Aoba's eyes sparkled with excitement. "I thought since we're a small studio, we wouldn't have company trips!"
"You've got it all wrong."
Ichin waved his finger at her. "First of all, I love traveling, especially to places I've never been before. Plus, with fewer people, organizing a trip is way easier compared to those big corporate retreats. It's much more relaxing this way. Our studio is small now, but when we grow and start making games with large-scale environments, I could even send our art team on company-funded trips to gather reference materials."
The moment she heard "company-funded trips," Kō Yagami's eyes lit up. "Oh! Now that sounds amazing!"
Many game development studios do sponsor trips for gathering references, but back when Kō worked at Eagle Jump, a small company, there was never a budget for anything like that.
Yet now, with Ichin as their boss, he was casually offering such a perk.
If it were any other boss, she might not take it seriously, but everything Ichin had promised so far, he had followed through on. That made her believe in his words without question.
Ichin chuckled and waved his hand. "But that's something for the future—probably next year at the earliest. For now, let's focus on where we're going at the end of August."
At that moment, Umiko spoke up, "Anywhere is fine—just not Okinawa."
"Why not?"
Aoba tilted her head in confusion. "Isn't that your hometown? You'd know all the best places to go, right?"
Umiko turned away awkwardly, scratching her cheek. "Well, you're not wrong, but if I go back, my parents are definitely going to nag me. I'm already 23, almost 24, and for the past couple of years, every time I go home, they ask if I've found a boyfriend yet. At this point, I'm too scared to go back."
"Whoa!!!"
Aoba's eyes widened in shock. "I can't believe even you're getting pressured to get married! But you're still so young!"
"Young… huh…"
Umiko's face turned a little red as she muttered, "My parents, grandparents, and even my aunts and uncles all got married really young—like at 20. So to them, the fact that I don't even have a boyfriend yet is a huge deal. I mean, I'm only 23! I'm focused on my career right now. Luckily, they're just nagging me for now, but if they ever try to set me up on arranged dates, I think I'd actually lose my mind. So please, Ichin, let's not go to Okinawa."
"I see. Got it."
Ichin nodded. "In that case, let's go to Izu. There's plenty to do there—great seafood, hot springs, and lots of fun activities. How does that sound?"
Everyone was familiar with Izu, so the decision was unanimous. After the Cologne Game Show, they would go on a vacation to Izu.
...
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