The Second Luncheon
11:30 AM. Too ordinary. And from some odd travel guide he learned that being little late for high-contexted society was considered a show of manner. Very well, he thought, no problems for me. He decided to get dressed at 10:03 AM. He had more than well learned that traffic in middle of Tokyo city was horrible. Cars move faster in American parking lot. Which was rather an overstatement.
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It was a place called Q. What was this? Was this place owned by retired James Bond movie cast? As a foreigner, he had no idea why the place was named Q, because he didn't know who the owner was. In fact, he was suprised that the owner was a Japanese. Wait, this is Japan after all.
Miss Sakurada didn't show up until 11:37 AM. It did not occur to Isaac that his plan was thwarted and she showed up at a random time on purpose. As she walked into the restaurant, Isaac was busy looking at the menu.
"Tempura Udon... 18 dollars," he muttered to himself as he read the description of the food which looked the cheapest, "Sushi Plate... 34 dollars. Ridiculous."
He had never eaten, much less even seen, such expensive foods. He never liked food for their value, but for their taste. In fact, he was sure he had less than 20 types of food his entire life. Today, it might very possibly increase by 10%.
"Mr. Hayden?" called an accented male voice in English.
"Yes?"
As he turned to see the caller, the first thing that came into his peripheral view was the big pink circle at the entrance. Then his eyes focused into view as the pink circle got smaller. There she was, Aiko Sakurada, next to... that must be Mr. Kenta. He was shocked the first time they'd met, but this time surely beat the first. Oh boy, he thought. He still couldn't believe that a girl (but he was unsure, because he never asked her age, and that travel guide said not to ask women their age, size, or their weight), could run a corporation that big, and what baffled him more was that Hayden Games was practically in her hands. If it was less outrageous, he could have judged that her style was cute, with much generousity on his part.
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Isaac was shocked again. The check came out to be well more than $200 dollars, but actual amount of the food might have costed less than $30. I guess I should give more credit for the "scenery price", he thought. The restaurant, Q, was very well decorated in traditional Japanese architecture curiously blended with futuristic design. He, however, strained to see the correlation of the restaurant to its name.
Raith would have loved it and ordered most expensive food in the restaurant, and with Silas around, they would have ordered that particular dish twice for that very reason. And that's one of the two reasons he didn't bring them with him,
All throughout lunch, Aiko Sakurada, or maybe Sakurada Aiko, he was confused, didn't stop talking. Both to Kenta, the man to who he apologized for his idea that he was a secretary, and him. He didn't even catch what she was saying, because he actually did try to eat whatever food was there. It mostly ended with Mr. Kenta whispering to her. She seem to be well educated in English, and without the obvious accent, she might have been mistaken for an American college student.
But in business matters, it was Kenta who did the most talking. Often, he whispered to her, but he was the one talking directly, about business, to Isaac.
"Well, Miss Sakurada, I mean Miss Aiko," said Isaac, "I do greatly appreciate your enthusiastic support for Hayden Games. But I came to propose some new ideas that we've been cooking up - I mean: come up with.
"First, the initial game: General of the Army, will be turned into a series called: Masters of War. And following GENOA, we are planning on 3 more games in the series, plus an expansion pack. Secondly, we were wondering if Karui Kiba Corporation was interested in buying the exclusivity of the game we are planning to develope after the release of Ferret Wars: The Eight Ocean. I believe I've sent to Mr. Kenta the related documents, and I do trust that you've read it. But I will let you know that it will be an enormous project and will probably take 2 years to complete, simply, 9 quarters; however we will try to finish as quickly as possible. Thirdly, following the completion of the Prometheus AI Engine, Hayden Games will develop a new Hephaestus Physics Engine. Here are the related documents, please read them over later. But I will tell you the main features now. Hephaestus will render the entire virtual world utilizing the concept called 'particle effect'. This concept will affect individual particles, as opposed to an entire object as a whole, to render the molecular precision of the physics in video game world. Lastly, we are also planning to develope a game called: 'Order of the Ferrets'. It will use primarily the same technique to bring about another Real Time Action Role Playing Game with an option for multiplayer co-op. We will, of course differentiate the two, The Eight Ocean and Order of the Ferrets, by unique storylines and features. The OotF will be a trilogy game: the first being the Great Forest, followed by Ocean Voyage, and Starflight, in respective order. I have a great plan for this game.
"Now, all these I've said, we cannot do without the aid from Karui Kiba. And we will, in return, make them all Light Complex exclusive."
There, he said it.
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Eugene was having a wonderful time as the sole supervisor of the company, for the moment. He didn't like being the sole supervisor because so he could pick on the employees but rather, he could do whatever he wanted, like playing video game in his office. His excuse was "beta-testing", but it seemed to Isaac that he tested rather too frequently.
Suddenly a phone rang. He picked it up, "Hello?"
"Hello, Isaac Hayden? I am Phil Greenberg. I understand you are working on a basketball game, and..."
"Whoa, hold on there. Mr. Hayden is on a business trip. I will get you on the line with him..."
Then in the screen, his ferret was blown up by an enemy tank.
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Now he just waited for her response. Then his cell phone rang.
"Excuse me. Aiko-san, Kenta-san."
He quickly picked it up and answered the phone. It was Eugene.
"What is it, Mr. Hong? I'm talking to Miss Sakurada, I mean Aiko." He quickly changed the name after a quick glance at her.
"Phil Greenburg? Who is he? Put me on the line. ... This is Isaac Hayden, speaking."
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He was on the phone for a while. The man was saying something along the lines of, more or less accurately, him working for Hayden Games' Mad Skilz. For that, he wants to go to every single basketball game in the world, and if he could give him money to do so, for his... experience in real basketball games.
Without even responding, he just hung up the phone, and returned his gaze to Miss Aiko, and Mister Kenta. It seemed they just finished deliberating her decision.
