After dinner, Ichin's parents and Utaha's parents stayed in the living room drinking tea and playing mahjong, while Ichin returned to the bedroom to lie down for a while.
The aftereffects of baijiu were seriously strong, to the point where he was having a hard time handling it.
Utaha and Yukino did not stay in the living room either. They both came into the bedroom together, with Yukino reading nearby while Utaha let Ichin rest his head on her lap.
Looking at Ichin lying on her thighs, Utaha smiled and gently stroked his head.
"Feeling a little better now?"
"Kind of, I guess. I didn't even drink a full cup and I still ended up like this. Really can't handle it."
"Baijiu isn't something just anyone can drink in the first place. You should stop drinking it in the future."
"That's what I'm thinking too."
With his eyes closed, Ichin comfortably rubbed against Utaha's black stockings with a thoroughly satisfied expression.
Utaha smiled and poked his cheek, letting him fool around however he wanted.
More than half an hour later, Yukino finally finished the textbook chapter she had not completed before dinner and could finally relax.
Seeing Yukino close the book, Utaha said:
"Yukino, Haruno-san and the others still haven't come back yet. What should we do now? Want to watch a movie for a while? Ichin's computer monitor is pretty big."
Yukino nodded.
"Sure."
"Ichin, do you want to watch too?"
Ichin opened his eyes.
"Yeah. Just move the monitor a little so it faces the bed. We can stay here and watch."
So Utaha and Yukino adjusted the computer monitor, turned on the PC, picked a movie, and the three of them sat together on the bed to watch it.
By the time the movie finished, it was already close to ten at night when Haruno finally called. Their group had spent the whole day out having fun and had just returned.
After taking a sip of water, Ichin looked at Utaha and Yukino.
"Want to head over now? Let's see how they managed to play around until this late."
Utaha was not sleepy at all right now, so naturally she had no objections. The three of them headed over together to Haruno's place.
The moment they entered, they saw all six girls squeezed neatly together on the sofa, motionless, while the floor was covered with shopping bags from all kinds of brands.
Clearly, they had gone on a massive shopping spree.
"You girls really went wild today."
Collapsed on the sofa, Haruno waved her hand with a grin.
"Hehe, it's rare to get time to properly shop like this. We bought lots of new clothes!"
Eriri also smiled brightly.
"I even managed to buy a brand new drawing tablet model. I didn't expect there to actually be stock here, so I grabbed it immediately."
The others had also bought many things they liked and were all thoroughly satisfied.
Ichin walked to the fridge, grabbed a can of cola, opened it, took a sip, and asked with a smile:
"So how did you handle dinner?"
"We found a Sichuan restaurant to eat at!"
The moment food was mentioned, Momiji immediately perked up. Recalling the delicious meal from earlier, she unconsciously swallowed again.
"Everything was so good!"
After chatting with everyone for a while longer, Ichin did not disturb their rest any further. After reminding them not to stay up too late, he brought Utaha back with him.
The next day, Sunday, after having breakfast at home, Ichin's whole family headed out together to the hotel where the wedding banquet would be held at the end of the year.
After taking a look around the banquet hall and chatting with the hotel manager, Ichin finally felt reassured and gave up any thoughts of changing the hotel his parents had selected.
After leaving the hotel, Utaha linked arms with Ichin and said:
"I didn't expect wedding banquets at this hotel to already be booked half a year ahead. Good thing our date was available, otherwise we would've had to find another hotel."
Ichin smiled.
"There are a lot of people getting married every year and every month. Besides, this hotel specializes in wedding banquets, so it's more famous and naturally harder to reserve. Come on, it's about time for lunch."
For lunch, Ichin had reserved a local cuisine restaurant, and their timing was perfect when they arrived.
After lunch, the four parents went off on their own to find a teahouse and chat over tea, while Ichin and Utaha drove to meet up with Haruno and the others before spending the afternoon hanging out around the city.
Then came Monday, the real focus of this trip.
Trying on wedding dresses and formalwear.
On Monday morning, Ichin did not even need to knock on doors. Eriri and the others all woke up on time by themselves, completely unlike their lazy Sunday behavior.
Popping a soup dumpling into her mouth, Hajime smiled and said:
"This is my first time experiencing bridesmaid dresses, of course I can't keep sleeping in! Ichin-kun, are we leaving right after breakfast?"
"Yep, we're heading out once we finish eating."
Ichin nodded and continued:
"Besides the bridal shop we're going to this morning, my mom also found another one through a friend's connections. So if we're not satisfied with the fitting this morning, we'll go to the other place in the afternoon."
After taking a sip of milk, Yun pinched her stomach lightly and muttered quietly:
"I've been eating a little too much these past few days... I haven't gained weight, right?"
As for Momiji Mochizuki, who had eaten the most out of everyone, she was still eating right now. In less than two minutes, she had already finished eight soup dumplings and had clearly never even considered the possibility of not fitting into the dresses.
After breakfast, everyone got ready and headed for the bridal shop.
With Ichin driving and two additional cars called over, the whole group set off in a grand, lively procession.
Sitting in the back seat of Ichin's car, Haruno hugged Yukino's arm and asked:
"Ichin, can we try on wedding dresses too later?"
"Of course you can."
While driving, Ichin smiled and said:
"Wedding dresses are meant to be tried on in the first place. Besides, we're major customers here, so something this small is no issue at all. If you or Yukino see one you like later, just go try it on."
Haruno nodded excitedly and immediately started discussing dresses together with Yukino and Utaha.
Very soon, the group arrived at the bridal shop, where the store manager had already been waiting for them. Aside from the cars from Ichin's side, several of the groomsmen from the Magic City studio also arrived a few minutes later.
After entering the shop, Ichin's mother introduced her son and daughter-in-law to the manager.
The manager was a woman close to forty years old with an elegant aura. Looking at Ichin and Utaha standing together, she smiled and said:
"What a visually stunning couple, especially the bride. She's even prettier in person than in the photos you showed me before. I have a feeling all the wedding dresses we prepared today will suit her very well. Come on, I'm sure you've all been waiting impatiently already."
Inside the shop, various styles of suits and dresses hung neatly on racks everywhere, while many formal gowns were also displayed on mannequins.
Stopping in front of a wedding dress with an extremely long train, Eriri widened her eyes.
"Even though I've attended weddings before, actually seeing these dresses in person still makes my heart flutter."
At that moment, Yun walked over with a smile.
"This one really is beautiful, but it's not very suitable for us. It's a strapless design."
"..."
The corner of Eriri's mouth twitched as she realized the issue too. Quietly and naturally, she slowly turned around to look at the other dresses instead.
"Come on, let's check out the others."
.....