Returning to His Alma Mater

The next day, Nakayama Takuya returned to his alma mater Tokyo Institute of Technology, carrying a beautifully packaged gift box.

The Ookayama Campus remains unchanged; the ginkgo leaves are turning slightly yellow in the autumn wind, and the air is filled with a mixture of the scent of books and grass.

Walking along the familiar campus paths, watching the young faces passing by, Nakayama Takuya felt as if he had become that student again, fresh out of college, full of confusion and anticipation for the future.

However, he is now impeccably dressed in a suit, the Patek Philippe on his wrist reflecting shimmering light in the sunlight. He is no longer the naive young man who wore a cheap shirt and got completely drunk at his graduation party.

He took a deep breath and felt his nerves, which had been tense for several days, relax considerably.

Nakayama Takuya easily found the gray teaching building of the Faculty of Engineering, walked up the stairs, and arrived at the office of his mentor, Akinori Yonezawa, which he remembered.

The door wasn't locked; he knocked, then pushed it open and entered.

It was quiet inside, with only a few unfamiliar young teaching assistants engrossed in organizing materials. Hearing the noise, one of them, without looking up, replied, "Please come in."

His advisor, Professor Akinori Yonezawa, was not present.

"Excuse me, who are you looking for?" a young man wearing glasses asked, looking up.

Nakayama Takuya was about to speak, a familiar figure walked out from the inner office and paused for a moment when she saw him.

"Takuya? Nakayama Takuya?"

His face was full of surprise and delight. "It really is you! You disappeared after graduation, what brings you back to school all of a sudden?"

Nakayama Takuya recognized the other person; it was Yukihiko Yamashita, a senior two years his senior.

Back in school, this senior was a well-known academic star who devoted himself entirely to research.

"Senior Yamashita, it's been a long time."

"I just missed my teachers and seniors," Nakayama Takuya greeted with a smile, placing the gift he was carrying on the empty table beside him. "Looks like you've stayed on to teach at the university?"

"Just messing around," Nakayama Takuya said modestly, "Working odd jobs at a video game company."

"Video games?" Yukihiko Yamashita's interest was immediately piqued. He leaned forward and lowered his voice, "Oh? Which one?"

Nintendo? Or Capcom? I heard from my students that their Street Fighter game is really good!

Nakayama Takuya almost burst out laughing. His senior was still the same as ever, full of curiosity about everything.

"Senior, that's Capcom. I'm with Sega."

"Sega!" Yukihiko Yamashita slapped his thigh. "That's a big company! I know! My son keeps asking to play with your thing—that blue hedgehog!"

"Sonic the Hedgehog," Nakayama Takuya added with a laugh.

"Yes, yes, that's it!" Yukihiko Yamashita became more and more excited as he spoke. "That game is amazing, the sense of speed is incredible! I've played it a few times. Takuya, what do you do in it? Are you a programmer? Or a planner?"

"A little bit of everything," Nakayama Takuya shrugged, speaking in a relaxed tone. "I'm currently the operations manager, and I've been involved in projects like Sonic the Hedgehog, Fatal Fury Pokémon, and Golden Sun."

The office fell silent instantly.

Yukihiko Yamashita was somewhat stunned.

Operations - Executive Director?

Isn't that a senior executive at the board level?

He looked at the junior in front of him, who was several years younger than him and had once followed him around asking questions, and he was a little confused.

"You—you brat!" Yukihiko Yamashita pointed at him, finally managing to stammer out, "You're not kidding me, are you?"

"Do you think I would dare joke about something like this with you?" Nakayama Takuya spread his hands innocently.

"I only got into Sega because of my father's connections. I introduced Tetris and developed the Fatal Fury and Pokémon Electronic Pet, which led to my promotion to executive director."

"Oh My God!"

Looking at Yukihiko Yamashita Nakayama Takuya Yamashita's eyes were filled with a mixture of shock, envy, and a sense of pride.

"You're pretty good, kid! You've only been out of school for a few years! Even with your father's connections, your achievements are still remarkable!"

If Professor Yonezawa knew, he'd be so happy he'd have a couple of drinks!

Seeing his senior's face flushed with excitement, Nakayama Takuya felt a warm glow in his heart.

He smiled and smoothly steered the conversation back on track.

"To be honest, I came back today specifically to visit my teacher. Besides catching up, there's something very important I'd like to ask him for advice on."

The two were chatting happily when the office door was suddenly pushed open with a creak.

An elderly man wearing a gray suit, with gray hair that was neatly combed, walked in.

The old man paused for a moment when he saw that besides Yukihiko Yamashita and his teaching assistant, there was also a young man in a sharp suit in the office.

He adjusted his reading glasses and carefully examined Nakayama Takuya.

This face looks familiar, but I can't quite place it.

"Teacher!" Yukihiko Yamashita immediately stood up and greeted him respectfully.

Nakayama Takuya quickly stood up and bowed deeply to the old man. "Mr. Yonezawa, it's been a long time. I'm Nakayama Takuya."

"Nakayama - Takuya?" Professor Akinori Yonezawa murmured the name, and the floodgates of memory finally opened.

He remembered; it was that quick-witted student who always liked to daydream in class.

However, the young man before him exuded an air of nobility, and the watch on his wrist gleamed with a calm luster under the light. He was completely different from the boy in the plain shirt I remembered.

"Oh! It's you!" Professor Yonezawa's face lit up with a look of sudden realization and delight. "You graduated and didn't even come back to visit your teacher."

I thought you'd forgotten about this old man!

"Not at all," Nakayama Takuya said with a smile, presenting the gift box with both hands. "I just wanted to come back and report to you as soon as I achieved a little success."

Yukihiko Yamashita, who had been holding back for a while, blurted out, "Teacher, don't underestimate Takuya! He's not just achieved a little success now; he's the Executive Director of Operations at Sega!"

"Executive Director?" Professor Yonezawa raised his eyebrows, his hand pausing slightly as he took the gift box.

He sized up his former student, his eyes full of inquiry.

Executive Director? That's a board-level position at a major corporation. How many years has this kid been out of school?

"Sega's managing director?" Professor Yonezawa clicked his tongue, half-jokingly saying, "I remember in my information theory class back in the day, you were the one who loved to sleep in the last row. What, is being Sega's managing director so easy? You couldn't have gotten this position just because your father is the president, could you?"

"It's all thanks to your excellent teaching back then, teacher, that I was able to keep up with the pace even when I was lazy. Besides, didn't I also come up with something special for my graduation project?" Nakayama Takuya said with a straight face, spouting nonsense.

"Hahaha!" A burst of laughter rang out in the office, and even the teaching assistants who were buried in their work couldn't help but look up.

Professor Yonezawa pointed at him, laughing and scolding, "You little rascal, still so glib! You call that modified MSX electronic mini pachinko toilet your graduation project?"

"Pfft!" The last few who hadn't laughed started laughing too. It turned out that the outrageous design they'd seen was just this guy's wild imagination.