I felt a light touch of fear and decided to change the subject.

“B-by the way, Yamazaki, what are you studying at school? Is it anime, after all? Are you painting cels and stuff?”

Yamazaki shook his head. “Even though the school is called the Yoyogi Animation Institute, there are many different departments. I’m in the Game Creation department.”

Game Creation? The second I heard that phrase, it excited me. “Game creator.” That had resonance; the title sounded so cutting-edge. The glamor industry of the modern age. The number one job that elementary students wanted. I pictured an industry giant driving around in a Lamborghini, being entertained at a high-class club in Ginza. He had wads of cash flying around as he was wooed by headhunters, hanging out amid the huge, long lines for his latest super-popular game. Then, some dreadful high school student would steal one of these in-demand games from an elementary school kid, and the story would be picked up by the six o’clock news. The game creator would be filthy rich.

It was high-salaried, with a yearly pay of one hundred million yen! It was so cool! It was perfect!

Finishing off my coffee in one gulp, I grabbed Yamazaki’s hand. “Let’s try to become game creators together!”

It was already past eleven o’clock at night. Yamazaki was sipping his tenth cup of instant coffee, and I was so hungry that I made some instant ramen.

Yamazaki grew angry. “Don’t just take food from someone’s stockpile without asking!”

I bowed my head in apology and put some pepper on the noodles. While I was slurping at the ramen, Yamazaki stammered, “I-It would be impossible for beginners to make games.”

“You have to help me with that.”

“Modern games are a comprehensive art. A decent game can be created only by mixing various specialized skills. Someone like you couldn’t do it, Satou.”

“After not seeing you for a short while, you’ve started speaking really insolently, haven’t you?” was what I felt like saying to give him a hard time. After thinking about it, however, I realized he’d actually been insolent for a long time. Yeah, that was true. Even though he’d been a weakling, he was the kind of guy who said whatever he wanted to whomever he wanted. He’d openly call his classmates idiots or tell them to go away. That’s why he was picked on. It was totally his own fault.

He’d spoken politely to me; but once he found out that I’d become an unemployed, dropout hikikomori, it was only a matter of time before he started making fun of me, calling me “worthless” to my face. All that didn’t matter, though. For now, I had to do whatever it took to become a game creator. I had to become an industry insider. Please, Yamazaki…