for his most exciting side job yet—a gig that would have been big even for someone with years of experience in the field he was trying to break into. He was designing what had unexpectedly turned out to be the most anticipated feature of the upcoming Anime Con: the Reject Squad Ultra escape room.
Gus had leapt at the opportunity, which he’d been recommended for by one of his architecture school classmates, before watching a single episode of the show. The content hadn’t mattered to him, really. After all, if he pulled it off, he’d make a name for himself in the escape room design world and his hobby, an outgrowth of his obsession with puzzles and his obsession with design, could become a solid stream of income.
His task was to design a multiroom escape experience based on the romance anime, a take on “Sleeping Beauty” set at a military academy. It had been seen as a longshot, but the show had taken off, and its popularity had exploded since he’d accepted the job. He was confident in his abilities, but he was facing three logistical problems: he knew almost nothing about anime, nothing about Reject Squad Ultra, and less than nothing about romance.
Whenever he was solving a hard puzzle, there was a moment where it felt like he’d never find a solution, but there was also usually a corresponding moment where everything clicked into place with blinding clarity. He’d designed several pieces of the escape room, but he was still waiting for the aha moment to come, for everything to fall into place. It was a challenge, but Gus excelled at solving complex problems, so he supposed he would figure it out eventually. Unlike his previous escape room designs, completed at his leisure, he didn’t have unlimited time to wait for eventually to happen.
He glanced nervously at the time, and then at the image that topped the show’s video streaming page. The heroine, Aurora, a brown-skinned girl with curly black hair and a big sword, frowned up at Phil, nicknamed Charming, a dark-haired boy in a military uniform who met her anger with a sly smile. Gus had watched all twelve episodes and the supplemental OVA, whatever OVA stood for, and didn’t really get it. Aurora frustrated him because her emotional reactions trended toward over the top anger. Charming was anything but; the character enjoyed picking on Aurora and getting knocked into brick walls with the flat of a sword. Gus wasn’t sure what was romantic about that. The villain, the evil queen Briar Rose, was forgiven in the end without so much as a flesh wound, making all the fighting and drama of the previous episodes seem pointless.
Gus was missing something about this show, something that made people fall in love with the characters and the world . . . something he had to recreate for a true immersive experience.
He released a puff of frustrated air and then checked the time and his email again, looking at the confirmation from Reggie that she would call him that night.
He’d been surprised when her email had shown up in his inbox that morning, for a few reasons. He’d started The Puzzle Zone at his brother’s prompting during a low point in his life after having moved back home, because “someone wants to hear you talk about puzzles for hours, and it sure as shit isn’t me.” Dave hadn’t meant it in a bad way—bluntness was a Nguyen brother trait, one that sometimes got them in trouble because lots of people didn’t share their affinity for bypassing the sugarcoating.
Dave had set up the Streamlive account and Gus had gone along with it, expecting to jettison his thoughts into the void. He always talked when he worked on puzzles, and he’d figured talking on camera could serve as life skills practice, too. While he had no problem talking to his family members and close friends, his interactions with coworkers and strangers were minimal and sometimes flat out awkward. That was why the zero next to his viewer count hadn’t bothered him. It’d been freeing, being able to talk without worrying about whether he was being too weird, too specific, too focused.
On the fifth night of streaming, a notification had popped up.
1 new viewer! 26InchRims just tuned in.
Gus had stammered over his words. He’d started to second-guess what he was saying, like he did in real life. Sweat had broken out in the creases alongside his nose, and then he’d started to get angry.