Game Developer in the World of Anime

After lunch, everyone went out again for some more shopping and bought a bunch of cat-related items—cat trees, toys, and all sorts of things.

Once they were done, they dropped Yukino off at her house, said goodbye to Hazuki, and then saw Eriri home as well. After that, Ichin and Utaha returned to their place with the little orange kitten they had adopted.

They carried everything inside, and after arranging everything neatly in the living room, Utaha finally opened the cat carrier.

A few seconds after the flap came open, the little orange kitty slowly stepped out, looking around curiously.

Utaha scratched the little guy's head and smiled. "This is your new home now. Go on, take a look around."

As she spoke, she gently picked the kitten up and placed it in the soft cat bed in the living room.

The nearby cat tree was a bit too tall for such a young kitten, except for the very bottom level which it could climb. But give it another few months, and the little one would be bouncing all over it in no time.

They had picked out the most expensive and comfy cat bed they could find. The moment the kitten lay in it, it rolled around a few times, clearly enjoying itself, before getting up and continuing its curious exploration of its new surroundings.

Upon spotting the litter box, the little furball immediately darted over, pawed at the litter instinctively, and confidently marked its territory with its very first pee in the new home.

Seeing how naturally the kitten adapted, Utaha looked over at Ichin happily. "Looks like taking care of this one won't be too hard, huh, Ichin?"

"Yeah, it's pretty bold for such a small thing."

Ichin nodded as he watched the kitten finish up in the litter box, give the litter a few more swipes, and then start strutting confidently across the living room floor. He let out a small sigh of relief.

"I was worried it might just pee all over the place, but looks like we're safe on that front."

Utaha walked over and scooped the kitten into her arms, then turned to Ichin and asked, "So, Ichin, what should we name this little one?"

"A name, huh?"

Ichin leaned in closer, studying the silly, round face of the orange kitten. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Hmm, it looks really cute now, but give it a little time and it's bound to go from cat to pig. We might as well name it Peppa."

(T/N: Thank god its not Little Orange!)

"Peppa?"

Utaha shot Ichin an annoyed look, then took the kitten over to the couch.

She turned on the TV and, while watching, took out the cat teaser stick they had just bought and started playing with the kitten.

"Come on, Ichin, be serious. What name should we actually go with?"

"I'm really not great at naming cats," Ichin admitted, sitting beside her and watching the energetic orange kitten play. "Where I'm from, like ten percent of cats are just called 'Mimi', and the rest have names that are all over the place. Honestly, I still think Peppa is a great name—it suits an orange cat's grown-up look. After all, there's that saying: 'Nine out of ten orange cats are fat, and the last one breaks the bed.'"

Utaha froze, the teaser stick paused mid-air. She looked down at the little orange kitten lying on her lap, staring wide-eyed at the toy, and began to wonder... would it really end up like that?

But she quickly brushed off the thought. After all, Hazuki's cat Mozuku wasn't even an orange tabby and had still grown to be bigger than most orange cats. Surely their little kitten wouldn't get that fat… right?

As for the Name…

After thinking for over ten minutes, Utaha ultimately decided to go with the name Ichin suggested.

"From now on, you'll be called Peppa. It's okay if you get fat—we can afford to feed you well."

Since they were now raising a cat at home, Utaha also informed her parents about it after dinner.

Her parents didn't object at all. They weren't against having pets, and with Utaha going to school during the day and her father at work, her mother could take care of the little orange kitten Peppa and pass the time with it.

Because Peppa was still very young, Ichin and Utaha didn't plan on bringing her to the studio just yet. After school, unless she had something specific to do at the studio, Utaha usually went straight home to look after the kitten.

One day after school, Ichin arrived at the studio. After putting his things down, he headed straight to the programming team.

"Umiko, how's the setup for the prologue part of the game going?"

"Just a little more to go. Once I run a final check on the code, we can start testing," Umiko replied, her eyes fixed on the screen. "By the way, how's the cutscene animation coming along from Kyoto Animation?"

Ichin gave her a reassuring look. "It'll be done by next week. The voiceover for the prologue animation will also be wrapped up by then. We'll get the final video delivered directly. For now, let's focus on finishing up this part. If it's ready to run, we'll begin internal testing."

"Alright, give me two more days. We can do an initial test the day after tomorrow."

The game's progress could be described as going extremely well.

From the music, to the animation, to the core gameplay—everything was moving forward in an organized and efficient manner.

What started as just a demo has now evolved into a full framework of the game's world map. The main areas were already explorable, and the remaining zones were in production. By the end of May, all the maps representing real-world locations in the game would be complete.

As for the main cast's character models, initially only the protagonist could move around the map. Now, Ichin had added a feature that allowed players to switch the controlled character. However, this switch feature was limited to dungeon segments—only the protagonist was playable in the "real world" sections of the game.

Even so, Ichin was confident that players would love it. After all, when the female characters of the main cast put on their Phantom Thief outfits, and players got to view them up close… well, no one was going to complain about that.

Just as Ichin left the programming room, he was immediately cornered by Aoba and Momiji Mochizuki.

"What's going on with you two?" Ichin asked curiously. "Did you run out of snacks again? I restocked just last week. You two eat way too much."

"That's not it at all!"

Aoba's face turned red as she loudly retorted, "We've still got plenty of snacks left. We wanted to ask about the cat! Why didn't you bring her with you, Ichin-kun?"

"Oh, you mean Peppa?" Ichin realized. "She's still a kitten. There's no reason to bring her out just yet. Once she's a little older, maybe. If you really want to see her, come over on the weekend. She's not shy at all. When Utaha's mom met her for the first time, she picked her right up, and the little one didn't even struggle."

Aoba and Momiji exchanged a glance, then declared in unison, "Then we'll come over on Saturday!"

After seeing photos of both Yukino's and Ichin's adopted kittens, the two had long wanted to meet them in person. Unfortunately, Yukino's kitten was still way too tiny to bring outside, and Ichin's Peppa hadn't matured enough either, so the only option was for them to visit.

Once the Saturday visit to Ichin's home was confirmed, Aoba returned to her seat and happily said, "Great! I get to see the kitten this weekend!"

Yagami Ko, sitting nearby, grinned. "Hehe, we already saw her the day Peppa was brought home. She really is super cute!"

Ko had recently come to appreciate the many perks of living in the dorms. Not only did she get to share meals, but now there was even a kitten to cuddle—a tiny, sweet baby kitten, completely different from Mozuku.

Mozuku, who was lounging lazily on a nearby cat tree, seemed to sense something and slowly lifted her head. She glanced around, then lazily flopped back down.

...

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