[Game] Chapter 227: Perfecting the Music

Dinner was ready, and everyone gathered around the table, chatting as they ate.

Ichin took a sip of chicken soup, let out a satisfied sigh, and said, “Getting the game on the Switch is basically no problem. They’re actually really eager for us to launch—ideally within six months. Of course, that’s impossible. We’ll just stick to our own pace. By the way, Hazuki, I haven’t checked the sales numbers these past few days. How are things looking?”

“Sales, huh
”

Hazuki swallowed a bite of meat and smiled. “As of yesterday, Hollow Knight reached 970,000 units sold, and Slay the Spire hit 980,000. Hollow Knight saw a big boost of nearly 60,000 thanks to its first discount. Judging by the current sales trends, both games should break the one-million mark by the end of this month.”

“That’s even better than I expected!”

A grin spread across Ichin’s face. Slay the Spire crossing a million was already a sure thing, given how long it had been on the market. But Hollow Knight, which had only launched last November and hadn’t even been out for three months, was already approaching the million mark.

While the pricing strategy certainly played a role, Ichin had read plenty of user reviews to know that the real reason was the game’s quality.

A combination of quality, content volume, and price—those factors together had driven Hollow Knight’s rapid sales climb.

“Hmm
 we can start working on Hollow Knight’s post-launch updates now. Let’s do a basic update first, and maybe add a new area that unlocks before the final section. It’s not a huge workload. Hazuki, Umiko, I’ll leave that part to you two.”

“What about you, Ichin-kun?”

“As for me
” Ichin tapped the table lightly. “There’s still a lot of music left to finish for Persona.”

In terms of music, Ichin was the only one in the studio capable of handling that side of development. No one else could really help.

Sure, he could outsource the work to a partner studio—but he didn’t believe anyone else could fully capture the exact sound and feel he wanted. So, he’d decided to do it all himself.

It might take more time, but the result would be the best and most fitting for the game.

Of course, once the compositions were complete, he could get professional arrangers to help with orchestration—since his skills in that area weren’t quite up to par.

After dinner, everyone returned to their tasks. Ichin, however, went to the lounge area alone, sat on the sofa with a notebook, and began writing slowly.

After jotting down some notes, he picked up his laptop and started working on the composition software, trying to bring the music to life. If something didn’t feel right, he’d tweak it again and again.

Even though Ichin had already written music before, he was still very much a beginner. There was no shortcut—this process would take time.

Over an hour later, Utaha came over with a cup of hot tea and sat beside him.

“Have something to drink. You’ve been at it for a while.”

Rubbing his eyes, Ichin set the laptop aside and took the cup from her, sipping gratefully.

“Has everyone gone home?”

“Mhm, they have. Only Kƍ is still here,” Utaha nodded. “Everyone saw how focused you were, so they didn’t want to interrupt you.”

She glanced at the notebook in Ichin’s hands, which was filled with scribbled notes, countless edits, and visible signs of wear. Just from that, she could tell how much energy he had poured into it.

“How about continuing later? Take a shower, relax, and reset your mind a bit?”

Ichin didn’t insist on pushing through. He nodded, stood up with Utaha, and brought his things with him back to the work area.

Yagami Kƍ wasn’t working at the moment. She was lounging around, munching on snacks while watching the latest anime episode.

When she saw Ichin coming out, she paused the video and asked, “Heading home? You’ve got class tomorrow, don’t overdo it. Writing music is a creative process—you can’t rush it.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t force it,” Ichin replied.

As soon as they got home, Utaha handed him a change of clothes and practically pushed him into the bathroom.

With a bang, the bathroom door shut behind him. Ichin scratched his head and turned back around.

“Sigh, it’s not like I’m even that tired. And if you really wanted me to relax
 wouldn’t you come in and shower with me?”

Well, whatever. Time to take a bath.

Over the next few days, Ichin was completely immersed in composing. Even during school hours, most of his time was spent working on music. His backpack was stuffed with multiple books on composition.

Finally, after a lot of effort, Ichin managed to complete two BGM tracks for daily scenes and story events, as well as one iconic theme for the game.

Now that this track was done, he decided against having the wind instrument club’s music teacher arrange it. Instead, he wanted to find someone more professional.

But who?

In this world, there was no Shoji Meguro—the composer best known for Persona’s iconic soundtracks. If Ichin wanted someone who could handle this properly, he’d need a musician skilled not only in pop music, but also in orchestral and jazz styles.

That kind of talent was rare—especially in Japan.

He twirled a pen between his fingers, then looked over at Eriri, who was chatting with Yukino about some juicy celebrity gossip.

“Eriri, is Aunt Sayuri free today? I want to treat you both to dinner.”

“Dinner?” Eriri turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow. “What’s with the sudden invitation? You need a favor or something?”

Ichin waved his notebook and said, “I’m looking for a good musician to help arrange my tracks. But you know I don’t have many connections. Aunt Sayuri knows a lot of people in Tokyo’s music scene—I was hoping she could help.”

“A composer, huh? Got it. I’ll call Mom and ask.”

Without hesitation, Eriri pulled out her phone and made the call.

It connected quickly, and she said, “Hey Mom, are you free tonight? Ichin wants to treat us to dinner, and he’d like to ask for your help finding a good arranger. Uh-huh, okay, got it.”

After hanging up, Eriri gave Ichin a thumbs-up. “Mom’s driving over in a bit. You can go ahead and book a restaurant now. Yukino, wanna come with us? It’s not every day you get a free meal like this.”

Not every day? I think we eat for free at the studio quite often


The second princess grumbled inwardly, then shook her head. “Nah, I already made dinner plans with my sister today. We’ve got it set.”

“Ah, I see. Oh well, next time then.”

The Service Club hadn’t received many requests this semester, but one of their previous cases was starting to make some progress.

That girl, who had submitted the request, joined the soccer club and gradually got closer to her crush, Sato. From the looks of it, things might take a big step forward soon.

After all, next Monday was February 14th—Valentine’s Day.

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