Chapter 102: Game Plan Part 2

Fu sighed, as he headed over to Fuku's room. Why? Well, it had been a little bit since their meeting on making the game and as the one managing that project, he needed to check in on everyone to see how much progress they made.

First, he'd checked in with Ken and Amai. The two of them were currently working on the gameplay. Right now they'd have Ken create an in-game battle, using some stand-in models, and allow Amai to test it, giving her feedback and telling Ken what to change. It was a somewhat tedious process, made worse by Ken's ten-minute time limit, but they were making progress very steadily, and they said that after a week or two they should have the gameplay down, and could move on to mini-game development.

After that, he'd check in on Yami, and take his drawings and notes on the monsters for the game. Unfortunately, Yami's drawings, while not bad, weren't amazing, and would need to be taken to Fuku to get some improvements.

Then he'd see Fuku, hand her Yami's drawings, and then check on her work, that being her writing for the story and side stories her drawings of the world and environments, her re-drawings of the monsters, and her drawings of the characters.

Although Shiruku said she would handle the character designs, what she meant was their clothing(which to be fair was very important.). Shiruku couldn't draw anything but clothes very well, so she'd leave it Fuku to draw the character, and then Shiruku would make an outfit for them.

In other words, Fuku had a whole lot of work to do.

He honestly felt bad for the girl. She likely felt trapped doing an awful amount of work, after all, given who Fuku was, there was no way she was going to back down or try to ask for less work, she was probably worried she'd disappoint someone.

Depending on how things were going with her, he may have to intervene on her behalf.

Fu sighed. Assuming she'll let me.

Fuku was still a bit scared of him after the chocolate incident, and so she got very uncomfortable and defensive(more so than usual) whenever she was alone with him. So he may need to call in Kiba or something.

Once Fu reached Fuku's room, he knocked on the door. "Fuku, it's me Fu. I've come to check on your progress, and bring you some of Yami's drawings."

"Come in!" Fu was shocked by how quick that response came. Normally when Fuku lets someone into her room, even Eri, Kiba, or Kei, there is a bit of hesitation. But she responded almost instantly this time. And there was not a trace of fear in her voice.

Something was off here.

He went inside, and what he saw, confirmed that thought.

The room was filled to the brim with papers. Papers all over the place. On the floor, on the wall, there were garbage bags filled with papers, and her desk and table had huge stacks of papers on them.

Fuku herself was working on her computer at her desk typing furiously, looking even more disheveled than usual. Her hair was completely out of control, not that it was neat before, but now it looked like Fuku was no longer making any effort to take care of it, she had huge bags under her eyes, and her clothes looked like she'd been wearing them for a while.

"Papers," Fuku said firmly, holding out her hand towards Fu, while not looking away from the computer and continuing to type with one hand.

"Ok." Fu was a bit taken off guard by how out of character Fuku was acting.

He handed her the papers, and the moment they touched her hand, she snatched them away, at remarkable speeds, and looked at them closely.

She squinted at them, looking them over thoroughly, before putting them to the side. "Is he rushing these? The lines are all wrong and-"

Fuku started rambling to herself, and Fu found himself lost pretty quickly.

"Uh, Fuku?" Fu tried to get her attention.

"Huh?" Fuku looked towards him as if she just remembered he was here. "Oh, right you have to check on my work. I'll send it to you in an email."

"You also have to send Shiruku the character designs." Fu reminded her.

"Right, I'll email her too," Fuku told him, getting started on the process.

"Ok. When was the last time you slept, or ate, or showered?" Fu asked.

"Huh?" Fuku blinked for a while as if Fu saying that broke her out of some kind of trance. She then lifted up her arm and smelled herself. "Ack! Oh! Ok shower time! I completely forgot about that! Wait! Fu's in my room!?"

"Uh…yeah. I've been here the whole time." Fu gave her a curious look. "Who do you think you've been talking to?"

"I-I-I-I don't know I was just…I was just in some kind of trance." Fuku answered nervously, blushingly heavily out of embarrassment. "I was so focused on my work, that I didn't really notice who I was working with."

"Ah, tunnel vision." Fu deduced. "I think Kiba told me about that once. Something to do with archery."

"Oh yeah," Fuku recalled her experiences with archery. "The whole world just kinda fades away, and the only thing I can focus on is the target."

"I guess the same thing happens whenever you get really into something," Fu noted. "Well, at least you seem a lot less afraid of things when you're like that. Although you definitely need a schedule if you keep working like this then your gonna end up like dad."

Fuku paled, as she imagined just collapsing like Izuku did. Although on second thought that didn't sound like such a terrible idea, because boy was she tired.

"Look, for now, I'll send those emails, and you can go take a shower then a nap," Fu told her. "We can work on a work schedule for you tomorrow, until then no more working for today."

"Huh! But I still have so much to do!" Fuku argued, sounding and looking desperate. "I've only just gotten to the beginning of the third arc! I still haven't done any of the side quests, or character quests! And I only designed the first area I still need to make a lot more! Yami's drawings need to get redrawn, and Shiruku's waiting for me to give her those character designs and AH!"

Fuku's rant stopped abruptly when Fu flicked her on the forehead.

"What was that for!?" Fuku pouted, looking at Fu with teary eyes while she rubbed her forehead.

"You were ranting, when you should be showering," Fu told her. "This project doesn't even have a deadline. And while I appreciate you giving this your all, everyone appreciates that, we also care about you, and want you to take care of yourself. You are NOT repeating what happened to dad. Now get in the shower and get to bed, or I will have Kiba come in here, and make you."

Fuku turned pale as a sheet and dashed into the bathroom as fast as possible. "Yes sir!"

Fu sighed and shook his head. This project is going to kill me…good thing I can't really die then.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Hey Ken," Fu said as he walked into Ken's room, finding the boy leisurely relaxing on his bed, listening to music on his phone.

"Yeah?" Ken turned off his music and gave Fu his full attention. "Something wrong?"

"Funny you should be listening to music because I realized we completely forgot to address the music in our game." Fu pointed out.

"Ah crap!" Ken's eyes went wide, as he realized he'd forgotten something really important. "Uhhhhhhhh. Do we know anyone who can do good music?"

"I mean I've heard Jiro's pretty good at music, but I don't think she'd be willing to do a soundtrack for a game," Fu told him. "And no one else would be a good fit either. So I don't really know what we're gonna do."

"Uh. Neither do I." Ken admitted.

After stating that neither of them knew what they were doing, there was a brief moment of silence as they both stared at each other, and one solution came to mind.

"Go to Izuku for help?" Ken ask.

"We're going to Izuku for help." Fu agreed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So you need someone to make a soundtrack for the game." Izuku pondered.

Ken and Fu were now in Izuku's office, sitting in two chairs in front of his desk.

"Yeah, no one around here really fits the bill for a composer, so we're kinda stuck," Ken admitted somewhat sheepishly. "Think you can help us out?"

"Hmmm." Izuku took a few minutes to think about the issue, before giving a solution. "Well, when you finish the game, I can hire some musicians, send them the game, and they can create music for it. This way they can judge what music fits a certain area or character or event. You guys can listen to the tracks and see if you like them, and then you add them to the game, and ship it out."

"That sounds great!" Ken cheered, looking ecstatic to have resolved this issue. "Yeah let's do that!"

Fu nodded. "Well, I'm glad to finally have that sorted out. Thanks, dad."

"Yeah, thanks Izuku! You're the man!" Ken praised him, looking absolutely hyped.

"Aww, I'm doing my job." Izuku chuckled, blushing slightly at the praise as he gave them a huge grin. "I'm really overjoyed that you guys are doing a group project like this. Learning how to work together to accomplish a big goal. Especially one that'll support you all in the future. So I want to do everything in my power to make sure this goes well. Speaking of which, I made some calls, and I have something you may be interested in."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"We're putting All Might in the game!" Ken shouted ecstatically.

"WHAT!?"

Currently, the development team, consisting of Kiba, Fu, Ken, Fuku, Yami, Amai, and Shiruku, was once again gathered in Ken's room for another meeting.

Everyone but Fu(who already knew this), and Yami(whose expression barely ever changed) looked absolutely flabbergasted.

"What do you mean we're putting All Might in the game!?" Fuku asked him, completely taken aback by this news. "I thought we couldn't use real people or heroes in the game because we don't have the rights to them or something?"

"Well Izuku's friend's with All Might, so he made some calls, and managed to buy the right to use All Might in our game, for super cheap!" Ken explained, his body twitching with joy and excitement. "And not only that, Izuku called U.A. and we got permission to use the entire U.A. staff as well! Except for Midnight. If we put her in, we'd have to raise the rating of the game, so we're leaving her out."

"Not only that, but we got permission to use first-year U.A. students in the game as well, so long as we get them to sign a contract," Fu explained. "And if we release this game right after the sports festival, U.A. and the students will be on everyone's minds, meaning more people will buy a game with them in it, and that means more money for us. A LOT more money."

"Oh yes!" Shiruku cheered, imaging all the cash coming in. "We're gonna be rich!"

"Aren't you guys already rich?" Amai asked.

'But how are we going to fit them all in?" Kiba asked, not seeming as excited. In fact, she looked pretty skeptical of the idea. "Our game takes place in an alternate fantasy world, how are we gonna fit heroes from the real world into here?"

"I dunno. Fuku's the writer, I'll leave that up to her." Ken shrugged.

"Huh?" Fuku let out a confused, stressed, and tired noise from her mouth all at the same time.

On the one hand, Kiba was right, it would be kinda weird to throw in U.A. stuff into a fantasy world. But on the other, money. So. Much. Money.

Fortunately, Amai had an idea.

"Why don't we make them summons?" Amai suggested casually. "Why don't we say that Eri the time-space god can summon heroes from across the multiverse for a moment to help in battle or something."

"That's perfect! Thank you!" Fuku shouted, letting out a sigh of relief. "Thank you so much!"

"Also, I think we should make All Might a preorder bonus," Amai suggested. "That way not only can get the preorders up, we can also subtly advertise that he's in the game, without making it the focus. Let's say that if you preorder you get him at the start of the game, but if you don't you still get him in-game, but much later."

"That feels a bit scummy," Kiba said skeptically.

"But not too scummy." Amai pointed out. "Trust me game companies have done much, much worse. And that'll make us a whole lot of money."

"Sounds great to me!" Ken said, giving her the thumbs up. "Let's do that!"

"So now we have to decide who in 1A to ask to be in the game, and how to ask them," Fu said. "Obviously, we not putting Bakugo Katsuki into the game. Can anyone add someone else who shouldn't be in it?"

"Momo and Mineta," Shiruku added. "As lovely as Momo is, her costume will make us have to increase the game's rating, so that's a no-go. And Mineta is apparently a huge pervert, so if he does something really bad, it might affect the game's sales."

"Good point." Fu nodded, writing that down. "Anyone else have any objections."

Everyone shook their heads.

"Alright, well then how are we going to ask them?" Fu asked. "Most of them should just say yes if we ask, but I think Koda might say no because he's shy. Shinso will almost definitely say no, because he wants to be an underground hero, and won't even be in the sports festival so he can stay as secretive as possible. And Todoroki might say no because he's anti-social, and Yonda made him really upset so he probably won't want to do us any favors."

"Well, I don't really care too much about Koda or Shinso, so that's fine, but we NEED Todoroki in this game," Ken stated. "He's the number 2 hero's son, and he has a crazy cool quirk!? He's gonna do great in the sports festival, which means more people will want to have him in a game! Which means more money!"

"But how do we convince him?" Shiruku asked, looking a bit worried. "He doesn't need money, he doesn't care about clothes, and I don't know what we could offer him to get him to agree to this?"

For a while, the room was silent, before everyone eventually came to the same conclusion.

"Ask Izuku for help?" Ken offered.

"Yeah." Everyone agreed.

"Alright, with that settled, I would like to know when I can get the first trailer for the game?" Kiba asked imapaiently. "I want to reveal the game's existence to the public with a trailer, so until then we can't really start advertising."

"Well, me and Ken should have most of the core gameplay things done in a couple of days, Fuku's finished enough of the plot, and world design for us to put it in a trailer," Amai explained. "Has Izuku finished negotiations about what consoles we can put it on?"

"Yeah, he said it's gonna be on all three consoles, and P.C." Fu explained. "Although we will need to make the graphics for the Nintendo port a bit worse because their system isn't as powerful as Microsoft's or Sony's."

"Alright, and we have an idea of the release date, so the only thing we need is for Shiruku to finish up the designs for the characters in the beginning of the game," Amai said. "Shiruku what's your progress on that?"

"I should have them done in a little less than a week." Shiruku estimated. "I have to make sure they're absolutely perfect so more people want to buy the game!"

"Great, so that means we should be able to put together a trailer in a week or two," Amai said.

"Until then, I do still think we can advertise the game without revealing it yet," Fu added. "By making class 1A look cooler, we can make people want to purchase the game more. So, let's show them fighting us, or the Grimm, and looking cool, and then have Kiba post them. No live streams, just prerecorded videos, so we can cut out anything that may make them seem not so cool. Also don't overdo it, and make sure to still do plenty of regular videos, so people don't feel like your selling out."

"As if my loyal minions would accuse me of such a thing!" Kiba gasped, somewhat offended.

"That's a great idea Fu! I'll have to get everyone in on it!" Ken patted Fu on the back. "Man this is going great!"

"I can feel my soul being consumed by capitalism." Kiba sighed, shaking her head. "But at least I can give back to Caretaker."

"Alright, everyone! Move out!" Ken ordered. "Time is money! Our money! Let's go!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I'm guessing you want me to be in that game?" Shoto asked.

Izuku and Shoto were in Izuku's office, now late into the night, sitting across from each other on the couches, with some food and drinks on the table in front of them.

"Uh…yeah. I'm guessing the others told you." Izuku rubbed the back of his head, in embarrassment, his face bright red. "I know it's a bit…not in good taste to ask someone a favor after you've done something terrible to them, but…"

"It's not your fault," Shoto replied coldly, as he ate his Soba. "Given your position, I can't expect you to keep all of them in line. Not to mention one predicted that an eight-year-old would do something like that. I also don't blame the other children in the house either."

"Thank you." Izuku bowed.

"That being said," Shoto added, sinking back into the couch. "I don't particularly care about being in this game of theirs. I'm not exactly against it, but I don't see any real reason to agree to it either."

"I guess that's more than fair." Izuku sighed, before taking a deep breath and getting ready to deliver his pitch. "Well, you can think of it as a publicity trade."

"A publicity trade?" Shoto repeated curiously.

"Yeah. We use you in the game and we get publicity from it." Izuku explained. "And in return, people see that you lent your image these kids, all of whom have tragic backstories, and think better of you for it, which increases the public's opinion of you, which will be useful for becoming number 1. Believe me, making the public like you, is a key element to being number 1. Wash is a great rescue hero, but everyone knows he's only in the top 10 because he's popular with kids."

Shoto mauled it over, staying silent while he contemplated the offer, the only sound coming out of him was the sound of him slurping Soba.

Izuku waited with bated breath for his response.

After a few minutes, Shoto finished his Soba, and set the bowl down on the table, before looking up at Izuku and giving his response. "I have…been making attempts to talk more with my classmates. In an effort to change myself from how I used to be. And I've figured out rather quickly, that I am not good with people. So I'm going to need as much good publicity as I can get."

"So…is that a yes?" Izuku asked, hesitantly.

"Yes, not to mention it'll likely get my father out of my face for a while," Shoto added. "And at this point, I want to interact with him as little as possible."

"That's completely fair. I'm glad to see you're doing well after what Yonda did to you." Izuku said to him, taking a folded contract out of his pocket.

"Hmmm. By the way, do you mind if I refer to her as a Demon Spawn?" Shoto asked.

Izuku sighed. "I'd like to say yes. But I don't think she cares, and she can read your thoughts, so…it really doesn't matter what I answer here does it?"

"Demon Spawn it is," Todoroki said, as he signed the contract.