In an instant, the news spread like wildfire among the players.
Many began to worry about the upcoming game, LIFE-LINE.
"What are we going to do? I have a terrible feeling about this. Have you considered that, given Old Thief Kohara's track record, LIFE-LINE is probably going to be another tear-jerker?"
"What do you mean 'probably'? It's a hundred percent certain! All the leaked info says LIFE-LINE and CLANNAD are two sides of the same coin, complementing each other. With CLANNAD being such a tear-jerker, there's no way LIFE-LINE is going to be a happy game."
"Oh, no... I'm too scared to even buy LIFE-LINE now. Honestly, getting the hidden ending in CLANNAD helped me calm down a bit, but I can't even bring myself to recall the rest of the game. Even now, just thinking about the world where you can cry makes my eyes well up again."
"Me too. Even in the hidden ending, hearing Nagisa say, 'Please don't regret meeting me,' completely broke me."
"Ah! Damn it, Old Thief Kohara is someone I love and hate at the same time. I really want to play LIFE-LINE, but I'm afraid my heart won't be able to take it if I do. What if it's even more of a tearjerker than CLANNAD? What if it's even more heartbreaking? What if I can't handle it?"
"That's probably unlikely. CLANNAD is already the gold standard for tearjerkers. Surpassing it would be an incredibly difficult feat."
"But you never know. This is Kogahara Tsubakiaki we're talking about. What kind of sadistic things is he capable of?"
"Well... when you put it that way, it makes sense. The only one who can surpass Kogahara Tsubakiaki is Kogahara Tsubakiaki himself."
The main point was that CLANNAD had traumatized everyone. With that track record, no one dared to believe that any of his subsequent works would have a happy, cheerful tone. Even if the official PVs promised no "knife-wielding" (tragedy), no player would believe it now.
This is how a person's reputation continuously crumbles.
All you could say was that Old Thief Kohara had spent too many days acting like a monster, which was why his reputation was now utterly ruined.
Of course, this kind of ruin wasn't necessarily a bad thing. At the very least, it proved one point—
Kogahara Tsubakiaki is truly a genius.
The games he creates are incredibly immersive and always manage to stir the players' emotions.
"Ah~ I'm so conflicted right now, I don't know what to do. When Old Thief Kohara is gone, I miss him. But when he comes back, I'm terrified."
"I really want to send him a knife, but I'm also afraid I won't get to play such a great game again."
"I'm scared his next game will be even more of a tear-jerker than CLANNAD, but I'm also scared it won't live up to it. Do you guys understand this feeling?"
"Sob sob... I totally get it, I'm feeling the exact same way."
"Wait, do you think there's a possibility?" a more rational netizen replied. "Since Pokeni's official statement said that CLANNAD and LIFE-LINE are complementary mirror images of each other, could this mirror relationship mean—"
"That the two games are opposites in terms of expression and theme?"
"One is a tear-jerker, a real heart-wrencher."
"But the other one is warm and healing?"
"Maybe LIFE-LINE is a lighthearted and pleasant work that can make up for the regrets in CLANNAD?"
"Yeah, it's gotta be like that. Think about it—the official announcement used the word [ Supplement ]. Even if CLANNAD has a hidden ending to give players some closure, does it really complete the story? Are there no other regrets left? Maybe we can find the answers to all that in LIFE-LINE?"
"Hmm... That player actually makes a lot of sense...
Wait, no!
How could that be possible?!
This is Old Thief Kohara we're talking about! Do you know what 'Kogahara Tsubakiaki' means?!"
"Sure, Old Thief Kohara has a habit of stabbing us in the heart, but he's also made plenty of truly healing works. Like the ending of Your Name—isn't it perfect? Even though there are tear-jerking scenes along the way, the male and female leads still end up together in the end, don't they?"
The online forum erupted into a massive debate.
What started as a discussion on whether LIFE-LINE would be a tear-jerker gradually derailed into a debate over whether Kogahara Tsubakiaki had a conscience.
Of course, in a certain sense, the two topics were closely linked.
Whether LIFE-LINE would be a tear-jerker truly depended on whether Kogahara Tsubakiaki had a conscience.
"Wow~ These players are really interesting, aren't they?"
As she read the comments on the forum, Tsuda Nao couldn't help but sigh in admiration, a knowing smile spreading across her face.
It was late at night, a rare moment of respite for Aoki Haruhi. He had taken this opportunity to "visit" Tsuda Nao.
Though he called it a visit, he was actually staying the night.
Tsuda Nao had just finished drying her hair, which now cascaded over her shoulders. She wore a simple nightgown, looking as fresh and delicate as a lotus flower emerging from the water. A faint blush graced her cheeks, and her eyes, shimmering with an endless tenderness, were fixed on the screen.
From the side of her face, down to her chin and collarbone, every line was perfectly illuminated by the soft light.
Aoki Haruhi, fresh from the shower, felt a stir in his heart as he saw her.
"You're so beautiful."
He embraced her from behind.
Tsuda Nao giggled but didn't turn around, her eyes still glued to the computer screen.
"This forum is really interesting. How did you think of this?"
"I want to make one for DUN, too," Tsuda Nao said.
"Huh?" Aoki Haruhi blinked in surprise.
"Don't you think it's actually very useful?" Tsuda Nao murmured, reading through the players' feedback. "With a forum, we'll have an extra promotional channel. And the best part is, it's free—the audience will just flock in on their own."
"DUN's works also really need feedback from the audience. We can see what they like, which works are more popular, and what areas still need improvement. It's like we can directly see the changes in the players' mindsets, which in turn can guide the company to make improvements. It's all benefits and no harm."
Tsuda Nao's long eyelashes fluttered as she said, "And we can also use the forum to guide the audience's purchasing tendencies, and even create new hype. The forum is truly a great invention."
Aoki Haruhi clicked his tongue.
As expected of a fox, she understood the role of the forum so quickly.
"Actually, the world is changing quite fast right now. This thing called the internet was still so inconspicuous a year or two ago, and almost no one would have thought it would have anything to do with their own lives. Although I was also one of the first people to get in touch with the network, I didn't know what this thing was useful for other than sending emails and having some simple communication and interaction with others."
Tsuda Nao tilted her head and remarked with a sigh, "But, Aoki-san, I know now."
She turned her head and smiled slightly.
Seeing Aoki Haruhi leaning on her shoulder, she raised her hand to wrap around his neck and leaned in.
Wow~
Aoki Haruhi licked his lips.
Tsuda is as domineering as a queen, he thought.
Two minutes later.
Tsuda Nao returned to her computer, blinking as she lost herself in thought.
The future was hazy.
Yet, a beam of light pierced through the dense fog. A powerful premonition surged within her heart.
"The era is about to change," Tsuda said.
"Huh?" Aoki Haruhi blinked, taken aback.
This woman's intuition is terrifyingly sharp.
The era was indeed about to change.
Whether others noticed or not, the world's progress never waited for human will.
A seemingly insignificant gadget could trigger a massive earthquake, sweeping across the land like a storm, utterly transforming the world.
And right now, Aoki Haruhi stood at the very center of this transformation.
By building forums and developing server frameworks, he was already preparing for the future.
He was likely one of the very catalysts driving this change.
But the exact outcome remained uncertain.
Even those who could glimpse the future couldn't always control the course of events. Sometimes, the best approach was to prepare and then let nature take its course.
"Aoki-san, what do you think the world will be like in the future?" Tsuda Nao asked.
"Huh?"
Why ask that all of a sudden?
Aoki Haruhi froze for a moment.
A breeze wafted in from outside, causing the wind chime on the windowsill to tinkle softly. The gentle night wind brushed against Tsuda Nao's cheek. In the dim light, the seemingly aloof beauty before him gazed at him with wide, sparkling eyes, brimming with curiosity.
For a fleeting moment—a truly, truly fleeting moment—Aoki Haruhi felt an overwhelming urge to confess the truth: that he was a time traveler from the future.
He opened his mouth to speak, but ultimately held back.
He gave a wry smile. "I don't know either."
"Huh?" The light in Tsuda Nao's eyes suddenly dimmed.
"But if you ask me, I'd guess..." Aoki Haruhi pondered, leaning back onto the bed. His eyes remained fixed on the beautiful woman before him as he delved into his memories. "What will the world become?"
"Let's start with the gaming industry. In the future, game consoles might become a niche market unique to Japan. But you can't say that for sure. As computers evolve, their performance, graphics, processing power, audio equipment... everything will catch up. It's possible that PC gaming will become the global mainstream."
"Hmm..."
Tsuda Nao blinked, pondering the scenario Aoki Haruhi had painted. "So you're saying consoles will be replaced by computers?"
"It's possible," Aoki Haruhi said with a smile. "The foundation of game operation is binary; the layer above that is code. In reality, a game console is just a type of computer. All our games are built on coding, it's just that some are hard-wired into cartridges. In comparison, computers are more direct. They can run software directly without needing hardware conversion. By the way, future software probably won't even look like what we see today."
Aoki Haruhi couldn't help but chuckle as he spoke.
Once games can be downloaded online, cartridges and discs will become obsolete. When that happens, distributors like Hattori Yuji might even go bankrupt.
"Eh? If not like this, then what will it be like?" Tsuda Nao's willow-leaf brows furrowed, unable to imagine what Aoki Haruhi was describing.
"I can't say for sure," Aoki Haruhi smiled, waving his hand in the air. "Maybe it will just be whoosh—and go straight into your brain."
"Heh, that sounds completely unreliable. How could such a thing even exist?" Tsuda rolled her eyes at him.
"We've set up a forum now, but network transmission speeds are still very slow," Aoki Haruhi continued. "But in a few years, if we can develop faster cables that can transmit larger amounts of data and create a convenient, high-speed global network...
"By then, we won't just be able to post text online. We'll be able to share images, cartoons, TV shows...
"Players might even be able to browse all the games we've made on the Pokeni website and watch other players' gameplay right there.
"And who knows? Maybe DUN's videos will be available to watch online too."
Hearing this, Tsuda Nao froze.
Suddenly, a tremor ran through her entire body.
A wave of immense terror washed over her, like an endless abyss.
Seeing this, Aoki Haruhi quickly stepped forward and touched her arm. "Nao-chan, are you okay?"
"I..."
Tsuda Nao finally snapped out of it and shook her head.
"I don't know why, but I suddenly felt this terrible sense of dread, like nothing I've ever experienced before."
Tsuda herself couldn't explain it, but Aoki Haruhi's description had been so vivid that she truly felt the terror of the future.
Aoki Haruhi looked at her in confusion, not understanding why she had reacted this way.
Yes, the future can actually be a frightening thing.
Tsuda Nao suddenly understood.
"Hmm... I don't really like this kind of development model," she said seriously. "If people can watch our films and TV shows on the internet, how will we make money? Without videotapes or DVDs, what are we supposed to sell?"
"Well, of course..." Aoki Haruhi tilted his head, unsure how to explain the VIP system, online purchasing, or the concept of free content monetized through traffic.
After all, those things were still a long way off.
So, after a moment's thought, he simply smiled gently.
"You're right. How can we sell anything without a physical product?"
"Exactly," Tsuda Nao nodded. "That's why this is impossible. DUN needs to make money to support its employees, after all."
"Yeah."
Though he agreed with her, Aoki Haruhi's mind had already wandered far away.
The thought of DUN's movies being available on the internet... how exciting.
Ah...
Now that I think about it, it's a real shame. I've never even properly watched any of DUN's movies.
Beside him, Tsuda Nao watched Aoki Haruhi's entranced expression and couldn't help but roll her eyes.
This guy... you can tell just by looking at him that his mind is filled with all sorts of nonsense!