Chapter 53
There were no schools near here, but a hoard of male students in uniforms stepped off the train . A corporate employee stared at the door with a hesitant look, before making the sudden decision to step off the train just as the door was about to close, and was followed by several other employees .
“Are all these people really here for Dragon Warrior 3…?”
“We should be getting off here as well . ”
With a doubtful mind, Mr . Shige and I stepped out of the Akiba station only to be greeted by a huge crowd in front of the station .
“Hoh… Isn’t today a weekday? Why are there so many people here!?”
“Y . . . Yeah . ”
Lines were formed in front of every game shop; the Dragon Warrior theme song was blaring from the speakers to create a lively atmosphere .
In the middle of the event was a female reporter who was covering the current situation of Akiba into the camera .
“The release date for the highly anticipated Dragon Warrior 3 game has finally arrived . There’s a huge crowd gathered here in Akihabara, Tokyo, and despite today being a weekday, many students in school uniforms are standing in line to buy the game . It seems that there are many corporate employees here as well . Let’s have a talk with someone standing in line . ”
However, everyone was covering their face like a criminal because they were too shy to appear on TV . Why were they embarrassed when they came out here to buy a game today? Oh, they must have been worried about being caught skipping school or work!
As no one wanted to talk with the female reporter, she started looking around helplessly . At that moment, she spotted me and Mr . Shige . Mr . Shige, who was beside me, muttered under his breath .
“Woah… That reporter is hot . She’s just my type~ . ”
“Excuse me, you guys are company employees, right!?”
Oh? Is she trying to interview us? My prediction was correct; the reporter gestured the cameraman who was taking pictures to follow her and ran
over to us . As a result, Mr . Shige turned red and shouted at me .
“Hey!! Let’s run!!”
“What? Why?”
“Oh? Uhm… We’re going to be recorded . ”
“What’s wrong with being recorded?”
As a matter of fact, this was an incredible opportunity for me .
“Hello, I’m Katsura Misato from Fuji TV . Would you like to talk with me about today’s event?”
I almost bursted out in laughter when I heard her name . With her appearance and name… She would turn into a huge star in 1995…
“Excuse me? Would you…”
“Ah, my friend over here would love to be inter…”
As I turned my head to my right, Mr . Shige had vanished into the crowd and was staring at me, hidden from view…
“You seem to be a corporate employee; why are you here today on a weekday morning? Are you here to buy the Dragon Warrior 3?”
Ms . Masato seemed anxious to start the interview and dived straight into the questions .
I responded .
“No . ”
“What?”
Ms . Misato’s face turned into shock as my answer went outside her prediction .
The gamers in the plaza started to gather around me as the interview seemed to intrigue them . Or maybe it might’ve been because of Ms . Misato’s face~
They didn’t want to be interviewed themselves, but they were fine with watching someone else being interviewed . Ms . Misato hesitated for a moment before brightly smiling and started asking her questions again .
“Then what business do you have in Akihabara today?”
“I came here to analyze the market; I am an employee at Mintendo . ”
“Ah~ That’s great . So you wanted to see the reception of Dragon Warrior 3 today~”
She really wanted to turn the topic around to Dragon Warrior 3, didn’t she . . .
So I responded .
“No . ”
“What?”
Her left eyebrow twitched ever so slightly . She seemed to be getting annoyed as the interview wasn’t going her way . After all, the people that she hoped to interview were students or employees who skipped school or their job to buy the Dragon Warrior title .
“Th, then what market are you trying to analyze?”
“Dragon Warrior 3 isn’t the only game being released today . ”
“Ah . that’s right . What’s the title of the other game?”
“Psychic Battle . ”
At that moment, one person from the crowd spoke .
“What? Psychic Battle is being released today too?”
“I’ve never head that before… I thought the FamiTong magazine said Psychic Battle was going to be released around spring time . ”
“Right? Now we have more titles to purchase!”
“Then which one should I buy?”
“What’s there to think about? Just buy both!! I’m going to buy both and survive this month with ramen, and ramen only . ”
“Oh!! Right!! A true man would not hesitate in buying both!!”
“Woooah!!!!”
In response to the last man’s words, the crowd roared in agreement . Right . There was nothing to think about . Of course, that was only if they had enough money to spare . I asked Ms . Misato, who was shocked speechless by the crowd’s reaction .
“Is this a live broadcast?”
“No, the footage will be edited before airing in the evening news . ”
“Then can I have a word?”
“Ah, sure . Go ahead . ”
With Ms . Misato’s permission, I took out a golden ticket from my jacket and showed it to the camera . Due to that slightly gloomy weather, it wasn’t overly ostentatious, but it was enough to draw the attention of the crowd .
“Inside a select few Psychic Battle cartridges will be this golden ticket . Whoever finds the golden ticket will gain automatic admission to Mintendo’s sponsored Psychic Battle event . ”
In response, one man who had been standing behind me yelled out .
“What kind of an event1? We can’t enter without that ticket?”
“No, you can gain entrance without the ticket . All you have to do is bring a cartridge of psychic battle with the entire game cleared . In the Psychic Battle event, you can purchase various products; we’re also planning to host a competition with prize money for the participants . Please read this month’s edition of the FamiTong magazine for specific details . ”
“So the all-cleared cartridge itself can be the entrance ticket as well… Very unique!”
“I tried Psyhic Battle out at the last Mintendo event, and the difficulty level is no joke . The prize for clearing 2 stages was a free demo cartridge, so I tried three times, yet I couldn’t even clear the first stage…”
“Really? Sh*t . . . Should I buy Psychic Battle instead of Dragon Warrior? I don’t have much money left…”
The news regarding Psychic Battle began to spread at a breakneck pace . Misato looked around with vacant eyes before coming to her senses and backed away from me .
“You, what did you do just now!?”
“I’m in the middle of promoting a game that I made?”
She immediately realized that she’d been used by me and instantly turned red . Looking at her face, it seemed like she was ready to explode .
“If you didn’t like that, you can edit it out later . ”
“Of course!! You’re using our news channel to promote your own product; I’m at a loss for words!!”
“Haha, I’m sorry . Then, I’ll be off~”
I turned my back to the fuming Misato and called out to Mr . Shige who was still hiding in the crowd .
“Mr . Shige!! Come on!!”
“Uh? Oh, right~”
Mr . Shige took a few glances at Ms . Misato while he ran towards me .
“Hey, weren’t you nervous?”
“What’s there to be nervous about? It wasn’t even a live broadcast . ”
“That huge camera was placed right in front of your nose, and the beautiful reporter was asking questions right next to you; you’re telling me you weren’t nervous at all!?”
“That aside, I’m getting hungry, and we have time to spare; shall we go out for breakfast?”
“You want to have a meal in this situation? When Super Marigee was first released, I couldn’t touch a glass of water for the whole day . ”
“My Psychic Battle will be completely sold out in 10 minutes . Let’s have a meal first; we can walk around and watch the Dragon Warrior sales after . ”
“In 10 minutes? What’re you talking about? And what’s the deal with that golden ticket!?”
“I’ll tell you in the restaurant . ”
&
Mr . Shige and I walked to a Yoshinoya around the train station . A Yoshinoya was a chain restaurant specializing in beef bowls; there was bound to be one near a train station . In exchange for a cheap price, the food was also ordinary…
The restaurant could be called the combination of Mcdonald's, a rapidly growing fast food chain, and a traditional Japanese restaurant .
I stirred the steaming beef bowl as I talked to Mr . Shige .
“There’s 200 . ”
“What is?”
“The total number of Psychic Battle cartridges in stock today . ”
“Pfftt!!”
Mr . Shige spurted the water out from his mouth .
“Eyy… We’re eating right now…”
“Hey! Does that make any sense? Why did you only have 200 in stock?”
“That’s why today was a surprise release day . ”
“Even then… Anyways, 200 cartridges will definitely be sold out in 10 minutes . So you’re going to release 200 cartridges every day?”
“No, I’ll release 100 cartridges after three days .
“Cough… Cough…”
Mr . Shige started continuously coughing while holding the cup of water as if he had a cold . I patted his back a few times and went back to eating my meal .
“What was the golden ticket for?”
“It’s a golden ticket, just like it’s name . Mr . Shige, are you familiar with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?”
“Yes, it’s a children’s book . ”
“A children’s book? It’s a piece of marketing genius . ”
“Marketing genius, huh?”
“There are only 5 golden tickets hidden amongst the hundreds of millions of chocolates that are distributed throughout the entire world . Compared to Willy Wonka, I’m being incredibly generous by distributing 500 tickets within Japan only . ”
In response, Mr . Shige looked at me with a stunned look on his face . Every game developer wanted his game to be enjoyed by many people . But seeing me deny selling to people who wanted to buy my game, it was no wonder he was shocked .
After a while, Mr . Shige spoke while chewing on a piece of beef .
“Actually, I was a bit jealous of you because of the overwhelming reception of Psychic Battle . That’s why even though it may have seemed petty, I proposed the popularity competition with Super Marigee 3 . But,”
Mr . Shige stared at me for a while before opening his mouth again .
“Would you have done the same if Super Marigee 3 was being released today?”
“Yes . ”
“Scary B*stard . ”