That afternoon, when Utaha and Yukino arrived at the company together, they also heard about Hazuki's situation.
"Huh! She's going on a matchmaking date, Hazuki?"
Utaha's eyes lit up as she said in an extremely nosy tone, "Ichin, I want to go too!"
Ichin smiled and nodded. "Even if you didn't say it, I'd have taken you along. I know you'd be curious. What about you, Yukino? Want to come take a look on Saturday too?"
Yukino was naturally curious about it as well, so she nodded. "Mm, I want to go too."
After settling their weekend plans, Ichin also told Utaha about choosing the bridesmaids.
"Utaha, you don't have anything on this afternoon, so go find them in a bit and pick a few bridesmaids."
"Okay, I'll head down right now."
Utaha was extremely excited about choosing the bridesmaid lineup for the wedding. The only problem was that there were too many candidates. It was impossible to include everyone, so she had no choice but to make some reluctant cuts.
After Utaha went downstairs to pick people, only Ichin and Yukino were left in the office.
Ichin beckoned to her and had her sit on his lap, then held her in his arms as he said, "When the time comes, I'll have a bridesmaid dress designed for you that's different from everyone else's."
Leaning against Ichin's chest, Yukino shook her head. "No need. Something similar to everyone else's is fine. The star of this wedding is Utaha, after all. You don't need to put extra thought into my side of things. Besides, haven't you already done a lot for me?"
Listening to her words, gently stroking her hair, Ichin gave a wry smile. "But I still feel like it's not enough."
"It's fine, as long as I think it's enough."
Tilting her head up, she kissed Ichin on the cheek and said with a smile, "You should prepare yourself mentally instead. Godmother already told me that the wedding preparations are going to be very busy. On top of that, there's no way you can just put company matters aside, so you're definitely going to be so busy your feet won't touch the ground. It's a shame I'll probably have classes then, otherwise I could go along and help."
"Just focus on your classes. I can handle these things."
Ichin had never forgotten how, in his previous life, he had worked himself to death staying up late and pulling overtime. Compared to that, managing wedding preparations while handling company matters was hardly enough to stump him.
Looking at Yukino's face, Ichin suddenly found himself unable to resist, and lowered his head to kiss her directly.
After being affectionate for a while, Ichin smiled and said, "At lunch, Kō and the others said they want to be godmothers to our future kids. So Yukino, I'll be counting on you for that too in the future. By the way, do you like boys or girls?"
Dazed from the kissing, Yukino took a breath and half-closed her eyes as she said, "Either is fine. But don't forget what Mother said. One of our children will need to inherit the Yukinoshita family."
"That may be true, but we can just have two, can't we?"
Ichin had almost forgotten about that, but it was not really a big issue.
"When the time comes, one can inherit the Yukinoshita family, and the other can either help manage my company or become a lawyer like you. Or they can do whatever they want. With the foundation we'll have built up by then, no matter what our children want to do, we'll be able to help pave the way for them."
"Children..."
Just talking about it made Yukino start to look forward to it as well. "But I still have graduate college to finish first, so it won't be happening anytime soon."
"It's fine. Utaha hasn't planned on having children immediately after the wedding either. We're still young."
Lightly patting Yukino on the butt, Ichin said, "Alright, didn't you say you were going to stay in the office and read this afternoon? I should go downstairs and keep working too. Do you want coffee or tea?"
"Tea. I already had coffee this morning."
"Alright, I'll make some."
After Ichin left, Yukino sat in his office chair, her face glowing with a happy smile. Just like she had said, life as it was now was already very good.
On Utaha's side, the bridesmaid picks were settled very quickly. Aside from Haruno and Yukino, the five chosen bridesmaids were Eriri, Hajime Shinoda, Yun Iijima, Tsubame Narumi, and Momiji Mochizuki.
Utaha had originally wanted to ask Hifumi as well, but bridesmaids would be expected to handle some small activities and games during the event, and with Hifumi's personality, she was not really suited for that. So Utaha could only give up on the idea regretfully.
As for the others who were not chosen, they would serve as part of the friends and family group instead.
Looking at the chosen girls, Utaha said, "The bridesmaid dresses won't be needed for the wedding here, so they'll be prepared in Shanghai. When the time comes to choose them, you'll all have to come with me."
"No problem!"
Hajime said happily, "Just let us know when the time's set!"
Yun Iijima smiled as well. "Exactly. I've never worn a bridesmaid dress before, so I'm really looking forward to it."
As for the few who were not picked, they were not too disappointed. They had mostly just wanted to join in the fun anyway.
Kō smiled and gently patted Aoba's head as she looked at her. "Even if you can't be a bridesmaid, Aoba, you can still be the flower girl, right?"
"Ahhh! Kō! I'm gonna kill you!!!"
"Hahahahaha!!!"
Watching the lively scene in front of her, Utaha found herself looking forward to her November wedding even more.
As for the early preparations for the wedding, Ichin's parents handled those, so neither Ichin nor Utaha had to worry much. Then, one month after returning to Tokyo, they finally welcomed their graduation ceremony.
"We've finally graduated."
Looking at the certificate in his hand, Ichin could not help but feel deeply moved. Just like that, he had already graduated.
A few minutes later, Utaha, now changed out of her graduation gown, walked over holding her own diploma.
"Ichin, does your class have any activities planned?"
"No. A few classmates are planning to submit resumes to my company, though. I'm actually looking forward to seeing if they make it through." Ichin shook his head. "What about your side?"
Utaha smiled. "Yep. My classmates are planning to have one last dinner together today to celebrate graduation. It probably won't be so easy to get everyone together again in the future. They asked me to bring you too. Everyone's allowed to bring their partner."
"Alright, then I'll go with you."
Over the past few years, Ichin had gotten to know quite a few of Utaha's classmates. Especially some of the girls she was close with, he interacted with them fairly often.
Now that everyone had graduated, it was only natural to attend this final gathering.
After the graduation dinner that evening, Ichin and Utaha returned home together.
Haruno and Yukino had already gotten back earlier, and after dinner, they were in the living room playing with the cats.
When they saw Ichin and Utaha come in, Haruno smiled and waved the cat teaser in her hand. "Congratulations, you two. You've finally graduated."
...
RedX43's Note:
➤ Want More? Get up to +50 Extra Chapters on Patreon!
➤ [email protected]/RedX43
➤ +300 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter Drop!
➤ Thanks for the support! 🙌