By Wednesday, everything related to choosing the wedding outfits had been settled, including the schedule for the wedding photoshoot afterward. Ichin then brought everyone onto the plane, leaving Shanghai and returning to Tokyo.
After getting off the plane, everyone returned to their respective homes. Ichin's parents also bought ingredients together with them and headed to the villa, planning to have dinner there before going back.
By the time they got home, it was three in the afternoon, still before the company's closing time, so Umiko and Nene had not returned yet.
The moment she entered the house, Yukino impatiently rushed toward the cats at home and started hugging and cuddling them one by one.
Utaha also happily joined in, petting the cats together with Yukino, while Haruno dragged her luggage upstairs to organize her things.
After greeting Utaha's parents and having them sit on the sofa, Ichin carried the groceries into the kitchen, boiled water for tea, and at the same time sent a message to Umiko and Nene, who were still at work, reminding them to come home for dinner instead of eating outside.
When Umiko and Nene received Ichin's message at the company, both of them revealed surprised expressions before immediately informing everyone else that Ichin had returned.
"Eh~~ Ichin's back?"
After hearing the news, Kō Yagami carried her coffee over to the programming department, glanced at Umiko's phone, and said:
"Umiko, tell Ichin that Rin and I are coming over for free dinner tonight!"
Umiko laughed.
"I'm not saying that for you. If you want free food, go ask Ichin yourself. Besides, I'm not even sure he bought enough ingredients today. Adding you two might make it insufficient."
"Tch, there'll definitely be enough. I'm calling him right now."
As she spoke, Kō took out her phone and called Ichin.
Hearing his phone ring while working on dinner in the kitchen, Ichin looked at the caller ID and immediately guessed why Kō was calling.
The moment he answered, he directly said:
"You want to come mooch dinner?"
"Eh? How did you guess that?"
Listening to the stunned tone from the other end of the line, Ichin laughed.
"Kō, it's not like we just met yesterday. We haven't revealed any of the progress from this trip yet, so once I came back today, you were definitely going to get curious. And since I asked Umiko and Nene to come over for dinner, do you really think you could hold yourself back?"
"Hehehe, Ichin really understands me."
Kō scratched her cheek with a grin.
"So Rin and I can come over tonight?"
"Sure. I bought plenty of ingredients at the supermarket earlier. Just come over after work."
"Alright, then we'll head there after we get off work~~~"
After hanging up, Ichin thought for a moment before calling Momiji Mochizuki and Narumi Tsubame, who had already gotten home, telling them to come over for dinner after putting away their luggage.
As for Yun and Hajime, the two were already lying around at home when Ichin called. Since they also lived with their families, they decided not to come over.
Just after putting down his phone, Utaha walked into the kitchen and hugged Ichin from behind around the waist.
"Which little sister were you calling just now?"
"Technically they'd count as older sisters."
Ichin smiled.
"I was calling Momiji and Tsubame, asking them to come over for dinner later. Kō and Rin are coming too."
"Eh~ Sounds lively."
Utaha smiled as she rolled up her sleeves.
"I'll help too. Yukino will come over in a bit as well."
"Alright. We've got quite a lot to cook, so we should speed things up."
At 6:15 in the evening, Umiko, Nene, Kō, Rin, Momiji, and Narumi all arrived one after another, perfectly timed with Ichin finishing dinner.
Just like in Shanghai over the past few days, tonight's dinner was once again a huge gathering of people eating together.
After everyone sat down, Utaha's mother smiled and said:
"Ichin, your side really is lively. There are always so many people eating together."
Utaha's father also added:
"That's right. A team atmosphere like yours is actually quite rare. With everyone being this united, it's no wonder your careers keep progressing so smoothly."
Hearing such praise made Kō and the others feel a little embarrassed.
Umiko smiled and said:
"Actually, it's mainly because Ichin leads us well. In game development, technical skill alone isn't enough. More importantly, you need good ideas to make games that are fun and accepted by players."
Utaha's father nodded.
Although he was already fairly old, after his daughter started dating Ichin, he had gone out of his way to learn more about the gaming industry and had even played the games developed by Ichin's studio himself, so he knew just how high their quality was.
Taking a sip of red wine, he said:
"Ichin is very important, but every one of you team members is indispensable too, so there's no need to be modest. Come on, hurry up and eat. You've all worked the whole day."
And so everyone happily began dinner together.
After eating and drinking their fill, Utaha's parents headed home first around seven thirty, while everyone else gathered in the home theater upstairs and sat around chatting about their experiences in Shanghai over the past few days.
The moment everyone sat down, before anyone even had time to touch the fruit, Kō excitedly said:
"Hurry hurry hurry! You definitely took pictures while trying on the dresses, right? Show us!"
"Don't rush~~"
Utaha leisurely took out her tablet, connected it to the projector, and started showing everyone the photos she had imported onto it.
The very first picture was of Hajime and Yun wearing their bridesmaid dresses.
"Oh!!! Those dresses are really nice!"
The moment Kō saw the photos, her eyes lit up instantly.
"They're so cute!"
Rin also smiled and nodded.
"Mhm, they really are great. They match those two perfectly. Too bad they didn't come tonight."
Utaha smiled.
"Actually, Hajime didn't choose this outfit at first. The first dress was nice too, but the style didn't suit her very well, so she switched to this one later."
"Eh~ Hurry, show us the others! I want to see Momiji and Tsubame's!"
The moment Narumi got called out by name, she immediately blushed and waved her hands nervously.
"Um... can mine wait until later?"
"Nope, yours is next~~"
Utaha laughed as she swiped the screen to the next photo.
In the picture, Narumi wore a light blue dress, her cheeks slightly red as she awkwardly posed with a very unaccustomed expression toward being photographed.
Utaha smiled and explained:
"Tsubame was really shy. At first she didn't even want to take pictures. We had to persuade her for ages before she finally agreed."
After admiring the photo for a moment, Rin said:
"But doesn't it look really nice? And you even changed her hairstyle too."
Haruno added from the side:
"A side ponytail didn't really suit the dress, so I had the stylist at the shop do something simple for her. By the time of the actual wedding, every bridesmaid will definitely be fully made up with proper styling. We can't be careless about that."
And after that, it was finally Momiji's turn.
...
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