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[Game] Chapter 157: The Giant Watermelon
🕑 Added 2025-03-05 19:02:18 +0000 UTCNow that his own classmates knew, it was only a matter of time before the entire school found out.
Sure enough, during a break, Ichin pulled out his phone and logged into the school forum—only to find multiple discussion threads about him.
After scrolling through two pages, he sighed and closed the browser.
Why was everyone obsessing over the fact that his studio was full of girls? Couldn’t anyone just focus on the game itself?
Society was in decline. People had lost their priorities.
One way or another, Ichin’s popularity at Toyogasaki Academy had skyrocketed yet again. Originally, people were only curious about his status as an international student, his top-ranking grades, and his relationship with Kasumigaoka Utaha. But now, there was a new topic of interest—his rising status as a star in the gaming industry.
Naturally, this also caught the attention of the school administration.
Previously, the only teacher aware of his game development activities was Hiratsuka Shizuka. But now, from the principal down to the first-year teachers, nearly everyone knew about it.
Thankfully, the teachers were much more restrained than the students and didn’t bother Ichin about it.
The first day of school was fairly relaxed, and after their afternoon classes, Ichin and Utaha decided to head home.
As they were walking downstairs, Ichin’s phone vibrated.
It was a message from Eriri.
He glanced at the screen and then turned to Utaha. “Eriri just texted—she wants to come to the studio. She’s asking if we’ve left yet. Want to go back with her?”
“Sure, let’s wait for her downstairs,” Utaha agreed.
Ichin quickly replied to Eriri, and after waiting in the lobby for a bit, they spotted her jogging toward them.
“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Eriri said, slightly out of breath, her school bag slung over her shoulder.
Ichin glanced behind her. “Just you? Yukino isn’t coming?”
“Yeah, Haruno-nee is taking her out for dinner today, so she’s not coming with me.” Eriri brushed her slightly messy bangs aside and added, “Besides, it’s only the first day of school. The Service Club probably doesn’t have any requests yet, so it’s not like she needs to be at the clubroom.”
“Does your Service Club ever actually get any requests?”
Utaha’s merciless remark earned her a sharp glare from Eriri.
“Hey, don’t put it like that. Isn’t it a good thing that there are no requests? We get to enjoy a peaceful afternoon drinking tea and reading books. Mark my words—I’m making a bold prediction: this semester, the Service Club will get exactly zero requests!”
That… felt like she just set up a major flag.
Leaving the school, the three of them hopped on the bus and headed toward the studio.
If they were just going home, Ichin and Utaha would normally get off at the stop closest to their apartment. But today, they planned to swing by the supermarket to pick up ingredients for dinner at the studio.
After a quick grocery run, they each carried a bag—Utaha with vegetables, Eriri with snacks, and Ichin with meat.
As they walked, Eriri asked curiously, “Is Rin cooking tonight?”
Ichin nodded. “Yeah, Rin’s in charge, and Yun is helping her. Those two are handling dinner today.”
Just as he finished speaking, Ichin noticed a nearby fruit shop. Out front was a neat row of large watermelons.
“Hmm… hold on, let’s grab one more thing.”
Ten minutes later, Ichin had paid for their purchase, and the three of them were now seated inside a delivery van provided by the store.
After all, buying four giant watermelons in one go made Ichin a VIP customer. Given how difficult it would be to carry them, the shop owner generously offered to deliver both the melons and their group straight to their doorstep.
Ding-dong!
Inside the studio, everyone who had been focused on their work suddenly heard the doorbell ring.
Yagami Kō turned toward the front door, puzzled. "At this time? Who could it be? Ichin and the others have keys."
"Why don't we just check?"
Shinoda got up from her seat and jogged over to the entrance.
"Huh? Isn't this Ichin?"
As she spoke, she pulled open the door.
"Ohhhhhhh!!!!"
Her excited exclamation immediately piqued everyone's curiosity. What was going on?
Then, they saw Shinoda walking inside, carrying a giant watermelon in her arms.
"Everyone! We've got watermelon!"
Iijima Yun remained unfazed. "It's just watermelon. It's not like we haven’t had it before."
One watermelon wasn’t unusual… but why were there three more sitting on the floor behind them?
"You bought this many?"
Setting down the bags he was carrying, Ichin chuckled. "We passed by a fruit shop on the way back, and the watermelons looked great, so I bought a few. Now we’ve got fruit for the next few days. I’ll cut two of them and put them in the fridge to chill."
Watermelons in Japan were expensive. Since the country didn’t import them, relying solely on domestic production and premium marketing strategies, their prices remained high year-round.
Over the summer, Ichin had frequently brought various fruits to the studio—sometimes including watermelon—but buying four whole watermelons at once was a first.
Bringing them to the kitchen, he washed a knife, then swiftly sliced two of the watermelons in half with a few quick strokes.
Looking at the deep red, juicy flesh inside, Ichin nodded in satisfaction. "Looks good. Should be really sweet."
Just as he was about to wrap the slices in plastic and refrigerate them, Aoba and Momiji approached, eyes gleaming with interest. Momiji even swallowed her saliva eagerly.
Ichin smirked. "You two want some?"
He then cut off a slice for each of them.
"Just a little. The rest is for after dinner."
Momiji thanked him, glanced toward the kitchen entrance to make sure no one else was coming, then quickly chomped down her slice in two bites.
"As long as no one sees, it doesn’t count as sneaking food."
Aoba observed her actions thoughtfully, nodded in understanding, and followed suit—finishing her own piece in record time.
With the watermelon stored in the fridge, Ichin handed over the kitchen to Toyama Rin and Iijima Yun, then headed to his workstation and powered on his computer.
"Hazuki, how’s today’s progress?"
"Not bad," Hazuki replied, adjusting her glasses and handing him a work schedule. "Take a look. We've completed all the tasks planned up to today. I’ve already double-checked everything, but you might want to review it too."
Ichin glanced at the task board, filled with a long list of assignments for each team member, and nodded in satisfaction. "Looks good. At this pace, we should be able to finish development by November."
Yagami Kō, who had been listening nearby, leaned in with anticipation in her eyes. "So… are we setting the release date now?"
Slay the Spire had been mostly developed by Ichin alone, with the rest of the team only contributing to later updates.
But Hollow Knight was the first full-scale game they had all worked on together since joining the studio.
Naturally, they were beyond eager to see it hit the market.
...
