The door to the home theater room opened, and Ichin and Yukino ran in one after another. Yukino grabbed the hem of Ichin's shirt stubbornly and said, "Hurry up and delete them! Delete them already!"
Meanwhile, Ichin showed no intention of agreeing and simply dragged Yukino into the room with him.
Watching the two of them, Haruno smiled and asked, "What's going on? Delete what? Lewd pictures?"
"Of course not!"
Yukino loudly refuted her before explaining, "It's photos of me when I was little! I have no idea what Mother was thinking, actually showing them to him!"
Ichin stopped walking and handed the milk tea in his hand to Yukino. "Come on, there's no way I'm deleting them. Besides, Yukino, you've seen my childhood photos too, haven't you? We're even."
Yukino took a sip of milk tea and sat down unhappily.
What he said was true, but knowing that Ichin had saved her childhood photos on his phone still made her unbearably embarrassed.
Once everyone sat down, Utaha finally said, "Alright, now that everyone's here, let's look at the wedding photos first. Yukino, should we look at yours or mine first?"
Holding her milk tea, Yukino lightly kicked Ichin several more times under the table before saying, "Let's look at yours first, Utaha."
And just like that, the four of them began viewing the wedding photos in the home theater room.
The photos had turned out extremely well. The editing was excellent, and everyone was very satisfied with them, making them even more excited for the finished copies that would be delivered later.
Afterward, Yukino went back to studying, while Ichin stayed in the home theater room to watch a movie with Utaha and Haruno.
As they watched, they also chatted about recent work.
"Ichin, can Bloodborne release this year?"
"It probably can."
Ichin nodded and said, "The release date is tentatively set for December, though we haven't announced it yet. The Steam store page is already up, though. We really do need to finalize the exact release date and pricing within this month. If development goes smoothly, I'd still prefer releasing it in November so we can push sales during those final two months of the year."
So far this year, the company had only released Salt and Sanctuary, along with continuing operations for Apex and Fall Guys.
Although the sales of their other games had improved somewhat during the first half of the year and the company's revenue was still doing very well, Ichin still wanted to speed things up.
Still, it should be fine. The company had been continuously hiring new employees lately, so as long as the newcomers were assigned to the Bloodborne development team and the workflow was adjusted properly, things should proceed smoothly.
Hearing Ichin's words, Haruno could tell how much confidence and anticipation he had for Bloodborne, so she smiled and said, "Then do your best. But you still have to prepare for the wedding during the second half of the year, so your schedule's probably going to get even tighter."
Utaha also spoke up at this point. "That part's actually not too bad. The most troublesome thing, the wedding photos, is already finished. As for the wedding banquet, we don't really need to worry about it ourselves. We just need to remember the wedding procedures later and make sure nothing goes wrong. Everything else is being handled by the wedding team. We're not paying them all that money for nothing."
Haruno nodded. "That's true. There's less than half a year left now, huh? Time really flies. By the way, when are you guys planning to have children? Don't tell me you're waiting several more years?"
Ichin and Utaha exchanged glances before Ichin answered, "Haruno-nee, Utaha and I are only twenty-three, you know. It's still early. Maybe in another couple of years. And it's not just us either. Yukino's still in graduate school."
The moment the topic shifted to her, Yukino quickly said, "You don't need to include me in this discussion. I still have a long way to go. After graduating, I'm planning to open my own law firm immediately, so I'm not considering children anytime soon. Utaha can go first."
Utaha narrowed her eyes at Yukino. "Yukino, did you forget what we agreed on? Ideally, we'd have children around the same time. That way the kids could go to school together and have playmates, right?"
"Hm? When did you two discuss that?"
Ichin looked at them with a confused expression. "How come I didn't know about this?"
Utaha smiled and poked Ichin's cheek. "Obviously because you were already asleep back then, so you couldn't hear us."
Alright then, Ichin instantly understood when the two of them must have had that conversation.
As for Haruno, she took a sip of milk tea from the side with a look of disgust. "You three are seriously too much. Save these private topics for your bedroom, okay? Can't you see your dear big sister is still here?"
"Well, we don't treat you as an outsider anyway."
Utaha smiled as she wrapped her arm around Haruno's. "Or what, Haruno-san? Are you getting jealous and tired of being single?"
"No no no, being single is great!"
Haruno shook her head repeatedly before standing up and walking out of the home theater room. "I'm heading back to my room. I don't want to stay here eating dog food any longer."
After Haruno left, the three of them also left the home theater room. Yukino returned to studying, while Ichin and Utaha headed to the bathroom to shower and soak in the bath together.
After washing up, the two of them lay inside the spacious bathtub. Utaha leaned against Ichin's shoulder and said, "Ichin, if I say I also want to wait a little longer before having children, you won't get upset, right?"
"Of course not."
Ichin smiled and shook his head. "We really are still young. We can spend these next few years properly enjoying life. Besides, I also want to use this time to further expand the company and grow its scale even more. So there's no need to rush. The only thing we really need to worry about is our parents. They'll probably be more anxious about it."
"Hehe, that's true."
Holding onto Ichin's arm, Utaha narrowed her eyes happily. "Then let's wait another two years. At the very least, I want to finish my current novel first. I'm also hoping to find a chance to participate in writing a screenplay for a movie."
"A movie, huh? That actually sounds great. So what kind of movie script do you want to write, Utaha? Maybe I could even invest in it."
"Hmph, I knew you'd say that."
Utaha lifted her chin proudly. "I'm still planning it out, so there's no rush. But if I really can't find investors, I'll definitely ask Ichin to invest."
Friday morning, after breakfast, Ichin dropped Utaha off at the publishing company before heading to work himself.
With Haruno and Yukino at home, there was no need to worry about nobody being there to receive the delivery.
But the moment he arrived at the company, before he could even reach the development department, he was suddenly grabbed by Hajime, who popped out from the side.
"Ichin, Ichin! I need to ask you something!"
Hajime's sudden appearance startled Ichin, and he replied irritably, "Hajime, can't you approach people normally?"
"Hehehe~~"
Hajime awkwardly stuck out her tongue and said, "If I asked inside, everyone would overhear us."
"So what exactly is it?"
"My mom wants to arrange a blind date for me. And it's the kind I absolutely can't refuse and have to attend. What do you think I should do?"
"Good grief, it's finally your turn, huh?"
...