Training was exhausting, and Tetsu Fuyukawa, clad only in Muay Thai shorts, was drenched in sweat, his muscles glistening. Miyako Miyano, held tightly against his chest in mid-air, was no different.
Her thin white judo uniform, soaked with sweat, clung to Tetsu's abs and chest.
Their lips met, and in the heat of the moment, Tetsu's grip on Miyako's arms tightened, his strength making her eyes roll back. Her pale, delicate feet, dangling in the air, curled instinctively before going limp, hanging loosely.
The training room fell silent, save for the soft ticking of the clock.
After a long moment, their lips parted.
"You jerk," Miyako muttered.
"Didn't like it?" Tetsu teased.
Letting go, he allowed the slightly wobbly Miyako to slump onto the tatami mat. Without bothering to hide the obvious bulge in his shorts, he ignored her flushed, sneaky glance and grabbed two bottles of mineral water from the side.
"Like it, my foot! That was absolutely the last time!" Miyako snapped, taking a sip of water. Her eyes still held a faint pinkish glow, but she quickly put on a cold, composed face.
Classic tsundere, Tetsu thought, rolling his eyes. He pulled off his boxing gloves, sat cross-legged on the tatami, and took a swig of water, changing the subject. "So, what happened at the company meeting today? You seem stressed out."
"None of your business, junior!" Miyako shot back.
"Feeling sassy again, huh?"
"…"
Her lips, red and slightly swollen, met Tetsu's intense gaze. Miyako tried to act tough, but her eyes betrayed her as she glared at him. "Who do you think you're talking to, huh? No respect for your seniors! Fine, since you worked hard just now, I'll let you in on it. This morning, the guys from Department 3 signed a bet with me at the meeting."
"A bet?" Tetsu asked, wiping sweat from his chin, curiosity piqued as he sipped his water.
Miyako's expression turned serious as she nodded. "Yeah, a bet. I want to secure the rights to develop an ARPG from Department 3. But… even though they haven't produced anything great in years, they're NTsoft's veteran department. And, most importantly, President Asai came from Department 3.
During the meeting, my proposal hit a wall. They told me I need to use the ten billion yen I currently have to create a product that sells over 100,000 units before they'll let me touch ARPGs. If I can't hit that mark with our next two projects, Department 4's budget for the next game gets slashed in half."
"100,000 units?" Tetsu blinked, not entirely shocked but still processing.
Miyako's face darkened. ARPGs—action role-playing games—are a subset of RPGs, like Sekiro, Dark Souls, NieR: Automata, or Devil May Cry. They're heavy on character progression but lean more toward action-packed gameplay. The ARPG market is bigger, with a wider audience, but compared to the fighting games Department 4 has been making, ARPGs require a much larger investment to succeed.
High investment, high reward—but also high risk.
In this case, the company was testing Miyako, the new department head, to prove herself before granting her funding and creative control. It was a reasonable demand… on the surface.
Due to NTsoft's internal politics, Department 4 was stuck making fighting games, a genre that once ruled the gaming world with titles like The King of Fighters and Street Fighter.
But with the rise of the internet and the steep learning curve of fighting games, they've fallen out of favor in today's fast-paced world. These games demand time and skill to master, and their audience has dwindled. Even sequels to iconic IPs struggle to sell unless they're big-budget, iterative blockbusters.
If Miyako couldn't hit 100,000 sales, she couldn't break into other genres. But staying in fighting games made reaching 100,000 sales nearly impossible.
It was a vicious cycle.
Seeing Miyako's frustrated, exhausted expression, Tetsu shrugged. "Sounds like they're trying to scare off the loud, new kid on the block. Your plans are stepping on a lot of toes, after all."
"I know!" Miyako chugged the rest of her water, her slender fingers crushing the bottle with a crunch. Her eyes burned with defiance. "Big, old company? Famous game devs? They're all garbage! Cowards!
That Yosuke Nobi—bragging to women over drinks about being a 'big-shot department head' or 'the games I made back in the day' or 'my wife adores me.' But in reality, he's just a spineless loser who buries his head in the sand when challenged!
Why does a guy like that get to hog all the resources just because he was born a decade earlier? Spineless jerk! The entire board is full of spineless jerks!"
"Whoa, calm down," Tetsu said, chuckling. He'd met tough women before, but one who'd openly call the board a bunch of spineless cowards? That was new.
She's a riot, he thought.
Noticing her mix of anger, exasperation, and fatigue, Tetsu playfully flicked her glossy red lips and grinned. "Yelling here won't change anything. Just make a game that sells 100,000 copies, and they'll have to watch us snatch their precious resources, right?"
"Touch me again, and I'm calling the cops! I said that was the last time!" Miyako swatted his hand away, glaring. "And what's this 'just make a game that sells 100,000 copies' nonsense? For a classic IP sequel or a big-budget project, 100,000 is easy. But with just ten billion yen?
That's not enough to turn our fighting game IPs into trendy open-world games. And you know how hard it is to break 100,000 sales with a fighting game these days? In the past two years, only two fighting games hit that mark, and they only did because of massive production and marketing budgets. Both of those games lost money!
Get how tough this is now, you cocky kid? You might be good at throwing punches, but you've got a lot to learn about game development, you silly little brother."
The pressure was clearly getting to her, and Miyako unloaded a torrent of complaints, topping it off with a teasing jab at Tetsu. Her tone was playful, not truly dismissive, but it carried a provocative edge—like an older sister lecturing her younger brother.
Tetsu didn't retaliate physically. Instead, he smirked. "100,000 sales is tough for a niche genre or a new IP. So, how about we make another bet?"