New Game

“WHAT!?”, I yelled.

The girl in front of me got startled, and took some five steps back at breakneck speeds.

“Oh- I’m sorry, I-”, I stuttered.

Slowly, she peeked from behind the couch, and walked back to me. I did the best I could to remain silent and motionless, so as to avoid startling her again. However, the hoodie was back on her head, hiding her entire face.

Wait, what am I doing? Is she some kind of wild animal!?

Some incomprehensible sounds started coming out of her hoodie, as if she was trying to speak with both hands covering her mouth.

“Sorry… I can’t hear you under that hoodie. All this noise in the venue isn’t helping…”, I regrettably informed her, a hand scratching the back of my head.

She took off her hoodie again, slowly and shyly, yet again revealing a blushing face.

“I’m sorry!”, she blurted out, seemingly startled by the loudness of her own voice. “It’s- uhh- It’s-a-pleasure to meet you, Toki²! I’m Sora Saejima, developer of Soejima productions”, she spoke, now with an adjusted volume, and took a deep bow as her hand stood out, expecting to be shook.

I bowed back slightly, and shook her hand.

“It’s my honor entirely, Soejima-sensei…”, I mumbled.

I had no thoughts; my head was empty.

However, a single word came to my mind.

Dweeb.

“As you can see, Toki-boy, she’s very shy. That’s why I was the one who had to sign the papers to formalize Soejima Productions as a studio. And, since neither of my kids were of age at the time… The studio is under my name. However, I don’t interfere with Sora’s work. She does it however she sees fit, and she loves developing games”, Mr. Saejima spoke clearly.

The girl — sorry, the real Soejima-sensei — shook her head eagerly.

“She also adores your feedback and the way you play her games, Toki-boy. She’s the one who insisted on meeting you in-person today, you know”, he explained.

Meanwhile, Soejima shook her head even more eagerly.

“Which is why… Wait, I’m not your interpreter, Sora. Talk to him properly, will you?”, Daigo asked, and Soejima widened her eyes more than I thought humanly possible.

“Uhh- Well- Tokitsu…”, she stumbled through her words.

“Yes?”, I gave her a second to breathe.

“Could- Could you please… Test my new game!?”, she begged, bowing way too deep yet again.

Shock. Thoughts, racing. Mind, blank.

The most legendary game developer in modern day just asked me to test their newest game. Not just that, but I’ve gained access to exclusive knowledge about who they really are. This information alone would be worth millions.

“I… Made it with you in mind”, Soejima — Sora Saejima — added.

It was now my turn to blush. My favorite game developer… Made a game just for me!? I can’t explain what happened in the following moments, for it’s beyond description.

The light hit her eyes funny, bounced off her hair in an unusual way. The shadows highlighted her delicate face, the colors made her blushing cheeks stand out. Her shy smile came into view, and it wouldn’t go away.

I don’t know what it was, or how it happened; the world grew a little more vivid, slightly more bright and colorful. If I’d known who she was, I would have been even more excited to meet her. Maybe it was just the surprise factor, but…

My heart skipped a beat.

I realized I’d been silent for far too long, so I forced a reply to come out.

“It would be an honor”, and I bowed.

“Yay!”, her smile widened.

I couldn’t help but notice her father and brother clenching their fists, as if they were proud of Soejima-sensei’s accomplishment.

Suddenly, someone knocked at the door.

“Soejima-sensei, your 10 minutes are up! Are you good to go?”, the guy who was managing the line asked.

“Going!”, Mr. Daigo replied promptly. “I’ll let you two discuss the details, then. My work here is done, but the world needs me out there”, he said dramatically, falling back into the persona he had been putting on in order to preserve his daughter’s identity.

“I’m going out too, there’s so much I wanna see! Good luck with the new game, you two”, her brother, Soma, then left with Daigo.

“Bye~”, they hummed together, as they closed the door.

Thus, I found myself alone with my idol.

“So, Soejima-sensei, what kind of game is it?”, I asked, walking calmly to the couch.

“Ah- Aaa- Well- Um- You see-”, she went right back to stumbling with her words. Then, before my very eyes, a cloud of dust emerged. Soejima had disappeared. My eyes went to the couch, where a comforter’s silhouette was suspiciously reminiscent of hers.

Out of it, a single hand emerged, pointing to a laptop on a table across the room.

“It’s called… ‘Restart!’...”, she mumbled from under the covers.

“Huh”, I seated myself at the table, where I was met with the game’s title screen. It was in her typical cute pixel art style, but I could notice her composition and coloring had matured a bit since her last game.

“Does it have music yet?”, I asked.

“Yeah… Put on the headphones”, she mumbled, still from under her covers.

Thus, I obeyed her request.

I didn’t expect, however, to be met with a mixture of music and sound effects, so thoughtfully composed that the wave of emotion that hit me in that very instant made me feel like I could cry. It was an ethereal soundscape, and it complimented the visuals beautifully, despite the stark contrast between high-quality orchestration and the pixel art designs.

I was instantly taken to the world of the game — a game I didn’t even know existed up until that point — all without having pressed a single button.

There it was, once again. The unequivocal magic of Soejima’s game design. I fell in love with it harder than ever before, and faster than ever before. Meeting Soejima gave me a newfound, deeper appreciation for her work.

To think she’d pulled this and her other works on her own, had me even more enchanted.

With all of that coursing through my mind, I proceeded to playing the game.