While Aya Tsukino was fully focused on pressure-washing a motorcycle in the game, Takayuki had already pulled over another laptop and started coding a different game.
The Unreal Engine was incredibly powerful, but no matter how powerful it was, it couldn't possibly cover every type of gameplay out there.
Sometimes, the core mechanics of a game—or the transitions between multiple gameplay systems—still required a good grasp of programming to handle. These parts couldn't be fully modularized yet.
That said, according to the Unreal Engine development team themselves, they had entered a deep collaboration with the Benedict AI Lab, and together they were working on Unreal Engine 6.
The standout feature of Unreal Engine 6? The integration of artificial intelligence.
And this AI wouldn't just apply to in-game NPC behavior.
It could also assist with the game development process itself.
In the future, developers would be able to give natural-language instructions to the engine's AI assistant, and the AI would generate the necessary game code accordingly—dramatically reducing development time.
The Unreal Engine dev team was incredibly excited about this. They described it as the trumpet heralding a new era for video games.
...
...
And Takayuki largely agreed.
Video games truly might undergo a fundamental shift thanks to AI.
No—maybe the entire world would.
That thought flashed through Takayuki's mind as he returned to his work.
At that moment, at one end of the dining table sat Takayuki, fully immersed in developing another game. On the other end was Aya, entirely focused on pressure-washing a giant house in the game. The two of them passed the time in silence.
Meanwhile, the family housekeeper was cleaning up the dishes and tidying the home.
The housekeeper, a woman in her fifties, usually helped Takayuki and Aya with light housework or occasionally cooked when they didn't feel like doing it themselves. It was a pretty relaxed job.
She cherished it deeply.
Still, from time to time, she found herself curious about the work her employers did.
Video games.
Her own child loved them too—and had even said they wanted to become a game developer someday.
She was open-minded about that. After all, her employers were both developers themselves, and through them, she could see the potential of this industry.
Now, her child had started trying to make games too, and she was wondering if she should introduce her child to her employer.
But at the same time, she worried it might disrupt these "important people's" lives or work. That dilemma kept her conflicted.
And so, in the house, the three of them quietly focused on their own tasks, without disturbing each other.
Time passed, minute by minute. Things at the company were being handled by others. Unless something major came up, no one would interrupt Takayuki.
Before long, it was past 9 p.m. It wasn't until Takayuki felt his stomach grumble with hunger that he finally looked up and noticed that Aya was still sitting in the same spot, her eyes fixed on the screen.
"Sir, I've already prepared the meal. I can serve it anytime," the housekeeper said, noticing Takayuki finally taking a break.
"Thanks, I appreciate it," Takayuki replied and then walked over to Aya, glancing at her laptop screen.
Displayed on it was still Spray and Pray Simulator.
By now, Aya had progressed into the mid-game: she was cleaning a massive castle. Judging by her speed, she was playing fairly quickly.
In the corner of her screen, a variety show was also playing.
Wearing headphones, Aya was intensely pressure-washing the castle in-game while listening to the show, completely unaware that Takayuki was now standing behind her.
When the housekeeper brought out the food, Takayuki gently tapped Aya on the shoulder, breaking her concentration.
Aya quickly came back to her senses.
It wasn't the kind of game that demanded full immersion—you could stop at any time.
Just pause, then pick it back up later.
But once you started playing… it was weirdly hard to stop.
That had been Takayuki's own experience the first time he played the game.
Initially, like Aya, he thought: "It's just spraying stuff—what's so fun about that?"
But once he got into it, he realized it wasn't that simple.
If he kept underestimating it, he'd be making a mistake.
He still remembered how he watched hundreds of episodes of One Piece while cleaning in-game at the same time.
It was a textbook "time-killer" game.
But unlike Civilization or similar time-sinks, this game didn't require much concentration.
Its value was more in simply keeping you… from being idle.
Yeah, that was it. Just not being idle. Giving your hands something to do.
It sounded ridiculous, but somehow, it worked.
"So? What do you think of the game I made?" Takayuki asked, with a half-smile.
Aya removed her headphones, reluctantly pausing the variety show. She'd just reached a funny segment where a comedian was getting pranked, but whatever—she could watch it later.
Answering Takayuki's question, she bluntly said, "This game's not very fun."
"But you've been playing for hours," Takayuki said, pointing to the clock.
"Uh… really?" Aya blinked, surprised at how quickly time had passed.
She remembered thinking the second level was kind of boring.
But… it wasn't the game that felt boring—it was more that playing it without something else going on felt dull.
So she instinctively opened her variety show app, watched it in the corner, and absentmindedly kept cleaning.
Before she knew it, she'd lost track of time.
It was such a strange feeling.
"This game… isn't exactly fun."
"But you did play it for a long time, didn't you?"
"That… that's just because I was watching the show. I wasn't even really—"
She trailed off.
Takayuki simply waited for her to finish.
"Fine," she muttered. "I admit it. There's something… different about this game."