Worried, Missing, Fond
Worried, missing you, liking you. Ding. Ding. Diring—
My fingertips, which had been gently poking at Ruru’s soft belly, froze. Notifications were popping up one after another on my panel. I had only turned on message alerts while leaving the mental space, so it was obvious who had sent them without even looking.
‘Adel, even your messages are this chatty?’
Yaruru, who had been staring at the panel screen beside me, tilted her head.
“…What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Hmm…”
“Don’t tell me that’s Adel?”
“Well, I did tell her how to contact me… so it probably is.”
Honestly, I could tell it was Adel just from the way she wrote. In the short time since I’d left, the message count had already surpassed fifty. Yaruru, still holding Ruru in her arms, made a slightly disgusted face. Just moments ago she had been worrying that Adel might be suspicious or dangerous, but seeing the flood of messages seemed to ease her concerns a little.
“Even her messages are ridiculously loud.”
Agreed. Only Adel could make text feel this noisy.
“…Eeeh?! Now that I think about it, how can she even send messages?!”
“Ah.”
“Chase! Don’t tell me she’s not a spirit but a ghost!”
“…I already told you earlier. She was sealed inside an artifact.”
“What does that have to do with this?”
Yaruru looked momentarily frightened by my calm expression, and her grip on Ruru loosened.
…Sniff. That’s a little disappointing. Maybe Adel’s cheeks would feel just as—
“Chase?”
“Ah? Yeah. Adel’s still inside the artifact for now. She doesn’t know anything about what’s happening outside.”
This was the scenario Adel and I had prepared to explain things to Yaruru. Communication between the game developer’s assistant and helper was necessary, but we needed a convenient excuse to skip unnecessary details.
“Somehow the mana panel and the artifact got linked, so Adel can use some of its functions. Mainly messaging and the bulletin board.”
“…That’s even possible?”
“I don’t know the principle either. But if it’s an artifact from the Magic Empire era and a spirit, it should be feasible, right?”
“That’s way too suspicious.”
“Mmm.”
“Still, if it’s an artifact, maybe it makes sense.”
As expected. The all-purpose artifact excuse. It wasn’t a flawless setting, but she wasn’t the type to nitpick every little detail. What Yaruru had wanted to confirm was whether Adel was dangerous or not. That was all.
“Ah, right.”
The message count had now passed 99+. I snapped back to attention and finally replied to Adel.
I couldn’t help but chuckle the moment I read the long message.
‘So very Adel.’
Even in this situation, she was still trying to sell her own cuteness.
“Why’d you suddenly laugh?”
“Oh, it’s just… she’s most curious about what you think of her.”
When I casually showed Yaruru the message, she shook her head.
“…She’s such an airhead.”
I decided to send Yaruru’s exact words to Adel. After all, I was curious how she would react—and how she would talk to someone other than me.
“…”
This time I didn’t read the messages out loud. There was no point; Yaruru’s reaction was obvious. Instead, I summarized.
“She says she’s lively and lovable.”
“Saying that just makes her sound even more like an airhead… Haah.”
“Ahahaha——”
Right. Because she was an unidentified spirit with no contractor, she had seemed scary at first. But after actually talking with her, all that showed on Yaruru’s face was exhaustion. Yeah. She wasn’t scary after all. Fortunately, Yaruru didn’t press further after seeing Adel’s messages, and we spent some time chatting about random things.
The main topic of conversation was me—GameDevLike.
“Chase, you made a game without even telling your assistant?!”
“Ack, no, wait—”
“Hand it over right now! I want to play too… Ah.”
“…”
I ended up taking the role of the sacrifice in the process, but… ‘I hope this helps them get closer.’ After all, both Adel and Yaruru were indispensable assistants to me. Without them, I would’ve had to suffer alone… and I couldn’t let that happen.
‘Nice assist, Adel.’
“Right…! I completely forgot about the new game.”
“Now that you mention it, quite a bit of time has already passed.”
“Chase! Every hour counts!”
One game developer. One artificial spirit. One spirit user and one spirit. It was a ragtag combination, but for a game themed around spirits, it was more reliable than any tank-healer setup.
“But I’ve got a question.”
“Go ahead, assistant. What is it?”
“I get that spirits are cute. But is that really enough?”
I nodded at Yaruru’s question. She had a valid concern—especially since she wasn’t familiar with raising or pet-simulation games.
‘Honestly, even in my past life I wasn’t interested in this genre, so I don’t know much either…’
“This new game is the complete opposite of Retrieval ERROR in terms of genre.”
“That’s obvious.”
“…Yaruru, I’m counting on you with Adel.”
“Leave it to me.”
After giving Adel Yaruru’s bulletin board nickname, I continued explaining.
“Last time, the important thing was making players unable to put down the panel even while feeling scared.”
“Exactly.”
“This time, we’re going the opposite direction.”
I chose my words carefully and explained in detail. This wasn’t about the game’s systems yet. We were still in the planning stage, so right now I needed to get both Yaruru and Adel to understand the concept I had in mind.
“Because I’m worried, because I miss you, because I like you.”
Those feelings would be what made players turn the game on. Yaruru still looked puzzled, and the panel had gone quiet, so Adel apparently had no strong opinions yet either.
“The spirit doesn’t need to do anything grand.”
This idea had taken shape while watching Ruru. Ruru didn’t perform any amazing feats or save us—she just lay sprawled out lazily…
‘Yet I found myself offering her snacks as if bewitched. And I worried about her a lot, too.’
“Whether she looks hungry, sulky, or sleepy… people’s hearts are surprisingly easy to sway with just those little reactions.”
This was something people who had gained hundreds of thousands of followers just from pet videos in my past life had already proven. I’d even seen cat food-munching videos rack up hundreds of millions of views.
Yaruru gently stroked Ruru’s head and murmured,
“So that’s why you talked about taking care of them.”
“Pretty much. It’s a game that makes you fall for the spirit on the screen. So much that you can’t put the mana panel down.”
The moment I said it, I felt certain.
‘Yeah. This is it.’
There was no need for all sorts of incidents to happen inside the game. Combat? Not necessary. Crisis? Hmm. Just the spirit getting sulky would be enough. What mattered in this game was moving the player’s heart. The small worries that arise whenever you’re not looking at the panel. The desire to see your spirit. Even without the explosive impact of something like Retrieval ERROR, this would clearly linger much longer.
I nodded.
“Romantic… I’m not sure about that, but the analogy’s nice.”
“I understood it first.”
“You both did great.”
The direction I had envisioned for the game received a decent reaction from both of them. It wasn’t an enthusiastic “wow,” but considering the genre, a lukewarm response was fine.
‘It was the same with Dodge the Fireball, Northern Defense, and Retrieval ERROR.’
Whatever the case, this was their first time experiencing something like this, so feeling unfamiliar was natural.
“Then next is… the number of spirits.”
“One spirit per person.”
This time, before I could even finish speaking, Yaruru spoke in a firm voice.
“That part is non-negotiable.”
“Hmm?”
“You can’t approach spirits that way.”
Yaruru’s expression changed slightly as she hugged Ruru.
‘Wouldn’t having more cute things be even better?’
I thought so, but maybe from a spirit user’s perspective there was something that didn’t sit right. Yaruru looked at me as if I had made a mistake and spoke firmly.
“A spirit user only forms a contract once in their lifetime.”
“Yeah, so?”
“If you can contract with multiple spirits even in a game… people will focus more on managing them than on their feelings.”
“…Ah.”
The moment I heard Yaruru’s words, my mind went blank.
‘This is my mistake.’
I had been thinking like a game from my past life and overlooked something important. No matter how cute and lovable I made the spirits, the moment players could contract with multiple ones…
‘From then on, they wouldn’t be able to focus on them as companions.’
Especially if we considered authenticity or how actual spirit users would feel, the difference would be even more pronounced.
“You’re right, Yaruru. Thanks for pointing that out.”
When I said that releasing it like this would have made it neither here nor there, Yaruru scratched the back of her head, looking embarrassed.
“Of course. I’m your assistant, after all.”
“Hehe… It’s nothing.”
I immediately nodded and finalized the setting.
“Alright. One spirit per person. Let’s make it so you can only form a contract once, no exceptions.”
“…”
As expected of an actual spirit and an actual spirit user. Despite their usual laid-back appearances, when it came to their area of expertise, they showed sharp insight. I felt myself breaking into a cold sweat internally.
“Mm-hmm. You shouldn’t treat spirits that way.”
“…Ah.”
It was a somewhat heavy statement, but at the same time, it made sense. Not the fun of collecting, but love and attention that grew so strong it became almost burdensome once you came to your senses. In the end, that was exactly what I was aiming for.
Important! What I’m making is not a collection game!
I quickly jotted down the realization in a memo so I wouldn’t forget. When I raised my head while rubbing my stiff neck, the sky outside the window had already turned red.
“Oh.”
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s already evening.”
It felt like the sun had been high in the sky just moments ago, yet now the room was bathed in sunset hues. Yaruru glanced out the window and widened her eyes.
“Huk…! You’re right.”
“Time flies.”
“So this is why Chase always pulls all-nighters…”
Then Yaruru stared blankly up at the ceiling. For some reason, the look on her face sent a strange chill down my spine.
‘Gulp. What now.’
“Ahem, ahem, ahem.”
Yaruru set Ruru down and opened her mouth.
“I think we’ve covered enough for now.”
“It’s about time we had dinner too.”
At the mention of food, Ruru lifted her head, but Yaruru didn’t even look at her.
“Then let’s eat and get back to work.”
“…Huh?”
Huh? Again? Why was the conversation going there? Hadn’t we already made quite a bit of progress today?
“We got held up because of Adel and Chase.”
“…”
“Once the break ends, we’ll get busy again, so we need to make the game in advance while we can.”
“What do you mean by that…”
“Adel… You too.”
“Then let’s hurry up and eat!”
“Kkuuung— Kyuing!”
“Ah.”