Early morning at the Sega Headquarters.
Nakayama Takuya pushed open his office door.
A cup of black coffee sat on the desk, heat rising from it.
Before the door was fully closed, Tadashi Takezaki of the Public Relations Department squeezed in, clutching a folder.
Taking long strides, his leather shoes made no sound on the carpet, an aura of impatience radiating from his entire being.
"Senior Managing Director." Tadashi Takezaki slapped the folder onto the desk and flipped to the first page. "Exact news coming from Kyoto."
Nakayama Takuya pulled out his chair, sat down, and picked up the coffee cup.
"Yokoi Gunpei got into a car accident on the expressway last night. He's gone."
The coffee cup hovered in mid-air.
Nakayama Takuya raised his head and stared at Tadashi Takezaki.
"Last night's incident. His car broke down, he got out to check the chassis, and was hit by a car from behind." Tadashi Takezaki spoke at a blistering speed. "Nintendo's General Affairs Department rushed him to the hospital overnight, but they couldn't save him. Word only started spreading through the circles this morning."
Nakayama Takuya placed the cup back onto its coaster.
Leaning back into his chair, his gaze fell upon those few lines of brief intelligence in the folder.
Yokoi Gunpei was dead.
Nakayama Takuya tapped his fingers twice on the armrest.
A thing like fate truly defied all reason.
The trajectory of this lifetime had long been turned completely upside down by him.
Nintendo had been pressed so hard by Sega's GamePocket that they could barely breathe, possessing zero energy left to bother with that doomed Virtual Boy.
Consequently, Yokoi Gunpei had neither shouldered the blame and resigned due to the disastrous failure of the VB, nor had he left Nintendo to found Koto Laboratory.
He had