Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

by Gabrielle Zevin

When he’d gone to speak to Unfair about his grand plan for selling Ichigo, Dov had one question: “So, Ichigo’s a boy, right?” “We didn’t see them that way,” Sam said. “Them?” Dov said. “What Sam thought, and I agree, is that gender doesn’t matter at that age. So, we never identify Ichigo’s gender,” Sadie explained. “That’s clever,” Dov said, “and it absolutely will not work. You want to sell this game in Walmart, right? You want to sell this game to people in the heartland. Marx, you’re practical, what do you think?” “I’m completely down with what Sadie and Sam are doing,” Marx said carefully, loyally. “And it didn’t affect my play at all. I’m a guy and I saw Ichigo as a boy.” “There!” Dov said. “That’s exactly it. That’s exactly my point. Ichigo should be a boy. Guys, I admire your creativity, but why put yourselves at a disadvantage for some bullshit Harvard thesis idea that no one will ever notice anyway?” “Dov, why is Ichigo definitely a boy? Why can’t Ichigo be a girl?” Sadie said. “You know perfectly well that games with female main characters sell fewer copies,” Dov said. “But Dead Sea has a girl MC,” Sadie protested. “And it’s sold, what? A million copies?” “Worldwide, yes, more than that even. But in the States, only about 750K.” “That’s an enormous hit,” Sadie said. “It would have sold twice that if I hadn’t made the Wraith a girl. But I didn’t have me as an adviser.” Sadie was shredding a piece of notebook paper into a tidy pile. Dov put his hand over her hand t...