Chapter 67. I Don't Know If I Should Throw It or Not?
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After hearing about Kiyoshi Yuuma's situation that evening, Tsuda Nao was shocked.
"Eh~ Do you think you're the male protagonist of a Japanese manga?" She looked at Kiyoshi Yuuma with reproachful eyes. "If that's the case, you might as well have gone with Sega from the start."
"If you hadn't said those harsh words, you could still develop games for Nintendo in the future. But now you've cut off even that fallback option."
"Acting impulsively, young man."
The corners of Kiyoshi Yuuma's mouth twitched sharply twice.
"But well... it was pretty cool."
"If Pokeni goes bankrupt, why not come work at DUN?" Tsuda Nao said.
"Hey, please don't casually raise such flags!"
...
June 4, 1991.
Pokeni's Mermaid's Heart successfully signed an agreement with Sega, obtaining authorization to release it on the MD.
The game officially entered the pre-sale phase.
...
Tokyo.
Ginza.
Bagus Billiards Hall.
Naoe Mika was an ordinary employee at Tokyo Bank, 23 years old this year, and very beautiful.
Tonight she attended a group date. After dinner, several people in the group insisted on continuing to the billiards hall to play pool.
She wasn't very interested in tonight's date prospects, but out of politeness, she still came here with her companions.
"Naoe, won't you play together?" her companion called out.
"Mm mm" She shook her head. "You guys play. I don't know how. I'll just watch you."
Saying she didn't know how to play was definitely a lie—it was just about the people.
Today's date prospect was a fairly ordinary guy.
An ordinary office worker, ordinary checkered shirt, ordinary shoes, and even the watch he wore was as ordinary as could be.
His conversation was also boring.
Naoe Mika couldn't muster any interest at all.
However, next door...
She turned her gaze toward the neighboring table.
By the adjacent pool table stood a guy with a good physique and quite handsome looks.
Probably in his 20s, with gentle eyes, his entire person emanated an indescribable charm.
Playing against him was a balding middle-aged man.
The young man's clothes weren't designer brands, though his watch was pretty nice.
The middle-aged man clearly had money—his Rolex watch was worth at least 10 million yen.
Like her, these two had brought three women along.
They were all quite pretty, but as a woman, Naoe could tell at a glance that these girls had a particularly heavy air of the streets about them—probably hostesses from some nightclub.
Now it was the handsome man's turn to play, but the three girls had no interest in watching him. They were only telling vulgar jokes to the bald old man beside them.
Although it was noisy, one could tell that not a single smile on these people's faces was genuine.
"President Hattori, Mermaid's Heart will definitely be a big seller this time. Rather than scrambling for stock later, why not pre-order more in one go?"
The handsome man spoke as he bent down, aligning his cue with the white ball.
There weren't many balls left on the table, and this angle was quite good too.
Seeing his serious posture, Naoe Mika's heart skipped a beat.
Ping!
A crisp sound.
The white ball rolled out like lightning, going straight toward the red ball on the opposite side.
Patter...
The red ball bounced beside the corner pocket but didn't go in, rolling for two seconds before stopping.
"Ah~ What a shame!" Kiyoshi Yuuma couldn't help but let out a light sigh.
Ugh!
What the heck.
His posture looked quite impressive, but surprisingly he was this bad.
"Hahaha, President Kiyoshi, your pool skills aren't very good either."
The balding man beside him picked up the cue, preparing to take his turn.
Naoe was surprised.
President?
Eh?
He's a President at such a young age?
He doesn't look like it though.
Could he be a second generation?
...
"President Kiyoshi, we're old friends after all. I'll definitely look after you well." Hattori Hiroyuki said while aiming at a red ball.
Ping!
With a light sound.
The red ball went cleanly into the pocket.
He observed the layout of the balls on the table, then moved to the other side.
"But, why did Pokeni choose Sega's MD this time instead of the SFC? I'm very curious."
The corner of Kiyoshi Yuuma's mouth twitched. He certainly couldn't say he'd been given the boot by Yamauchi Hiroshi.
Otherwise, given Nintendo's influence, Hattori might not allow his game to be stocked.
"Of course, it's the result of comprehensive consideration. The MD has its own advantages—high operational efficiency, fast speed, plus good support for game performance, so that's why Pokeni chose Sega." Kiyoshi Yuuma responded smoothly.
Hattori Hiroyuki didn't probe too deeply into this.
Situations like Pokeni's were quite common—the previous game was released on Nintendo, the next one became Sega.
Some even played both sides, taking the same game but changing the name and graphics to release simultaneously on Nintendo and Sega.
However...
According to the information he had obtained, Pokeni must have encountered some trouble.
Nintendo's SFC sales were good right now, so they would definitely be stricter with approvals.
Pokeni's main focus was galgames, which would inevitably face numerous difficulties in the approval process.
Hattori Hiroyuki understood this.
Everyone was experienced—it went without saying.
They played for about half an hour.
Hattori Hiroyuki won overwhelmingly.
"Ah~ I chose the wrong sport!" Kiyoshi Yuuma let out a long sigh. "I didn't expect President Hattori's pool skills to be so formidable—it's like facing a professional player!"
"Not at all, not at all."
Although he said this, Hattori Hiroyuki appeared very happy.
"Well then, I'll be going first."
Hattori Hiroyuki left with his arms around several beauties. "Oh, President Kiyoshi, come to Tojun tomorrow to sign the agreement. We'll pre-purchase 5,000 copies of Mermaid's Heart."
"Yes! Thank you so much!"
Kiyoshi Yuuma bowed slightly to him.
After seeing Hattori Hiroyuki leave with the three beauties, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Great, another one secured."
...
In Naoe Mika's line of sight, Kiyoshi Yuuma stood up and re-racked the balls on the pool table.
Bang!
A powerful break, scattering them directly.
Then...
This young President seemed like a completely different person, his gaze becoming sharp.
Clack clack clack clack...
Under his shots, every stroke resulted in a ball going in.
Naoe's eyes nearly popped out.
Eh?!
Just now he performed so weakly...
So this young President's pool skills are actually this excellent?
...
Hattori Hiroyuki got into the car to the hotel with several beauties—still the familiar driver.
"Kiyoshi Yuuma has grown."
Hattori leaned back in his seat, murmuring.
The first time he met Kiyoshi Yuuma, this guy was still a hot-blooded, blunt, and impetuous young upstart.
But just now, even though he clearly had superior pool skills, he kept intentionally or unintentionally letting him win.
This showed that Kiyoshi Yuuma had begun to understand some social etiquette.
Some things were more important than simply making games.
It had to be said, the grown-up Kiyoshi Yuuma truly made Hattori Hiroyuki feel somewhat afraid.
What an annoying guy...
He's becoming more and more like Tsuda Nao.
Thinking this, Hattori Hiroyuki took the cartridge out of his bag.
He looked at it for a while.
This time the driver obediently pulled the car over to the side of the road.
After waiting about 5 seconds.
"President, don't you have anything to throw away?"
What the...
Hattori Hiroyuki looked at the Mermaid's Heart cartridge in his hand.
I don't know whether I should throw it away or not.