Everyone was already at this age, so whether it was dating on their own or being set up on blind dates by family, Ichin wasn't surprised at all.
Looking at the anxious Hajime in front of him, Ichin smiled and said, "It's just a blind date, isn't it? Why don't you want everyone to know about it?"
"Isn't that obvious?"
Hajime pulled Ichin closer and whispered, "Look at what happened to Hazuki-san as an example. Didn't everyone secretly watch when she met her blind date before? I don't want something like that happening to me!"
"Oh~~ so that's why."
Ichin nodded in realization, finally understanding why Hajime was being so cautious and nervous. "So this blind date really isn't something you can refuse?"
"Exactly. My mom asked one of her close friends to arrange it for me, so there's really no way for me to reject it. I can only go and meet him once."
"Mhm, yeah, situations like that really are hard to turn down." Ichin crossed his arms and looked at Hajime before smiling. "But honestly, if you go this time, I bet the guy's definitely going to become interested in you. Looks like you're about to gain another admirer."
"Don't just stand there making sarcastic comments! How can you say I'll suddenly gain another admirer just like that?"
"Isn't that normal?" Ichin spread his hands helplessly. "Hajime, you're already really popular in the company to begin with. You've got a good personality, a great figure, and you're energetic too. Nobody dislikes cheerful girls like you, right? Since there's no avoiding this blind date anymore, I think you should focus on how to reject him properly in person. Though, I guess there's also a chance the guy turns out excellent in every way and you end up liking him."
"Impossible. Absolutely impossible!"
Hajime took out her phone and pulled up a photo. "My mom already sent me a picture of the guy, and I know a little about him too."
"You even got a photo?"
Ichin looked at the picture on Hajime's phone and saw a casually dressed young man. His looks weren't bad, but… wasn't that hairstyle a little too edgy? And he looked like he was wearing makeup too.
"He looks kind of unreliable."
"Right? Right?! That's exactly what I thought too!" Hajime said gloomily. "My mom said he works in sales at some company and often wins monthly sales champion titles, so his income is supposedly really good. But I don't care about how much money he makes. I'm doing perfectly fine myself. Instead of income, I'd rather look at someone's personality and interests. Just looking at him already kills any interest I could've had, but I still have to force myself to go meet him once."
"Then just go meet him once. It's not a huge deal."
Ichin smiled and said, "At least go once so your mother doesn't lose face in front of her friend, right? Since you're not interested anyway, you can just reject him afterward. Oh right, you didn't give him your contact information already, did you?"
"Of course not! I'm not an idiot. There's no way I'd hand it over that easily. What if he ends up clinging to me? Then I'd have to change my phone number!"
Placing her hands on her hips, Hajime looked at Ichin pleadingly. "Ichin, don't tell anyone else about this, okay? Oh, and can you help me on Sunday? It'd be even better if you brought Haruno-san too!"
"Hm? Didn't you say you didn't want people watching?"
"I really don't want that, but if I'm going to meet a blind date alone as a girl, it's not exactly safe either, right? Originally I wanted to ask Yun, but she's way too skinny and weak to be useful at all!"
"Hajime, you're going on a blind date, not going to a fight."
"Hehe, I know that already. So are you helping or not?"
"Isn't your mother going with you?"
"She said she's just an old lady and doesn't want to get involved, so she told us young people to talk by ourselves. Or that I could find a friend to accompany me."
Ichin rubbed his chin and thought for a moment before saying, "Alright. Today's Friday, and you're meeting him on Sunday, right? I'll call Haruno-nee at noon and ask her first. I'll give you an answer this afternoon. Sound good?"
"Okay~~ Then I'm counting on you!"
Hajime nodded happily, completely unconcerned about whether Haruno would agree or not. After all, not only Hajime, but everyone knew Haruno's personality very well. There was no way she'd miss something this interesting.
At noon, after finishing lunch and returning to his office, Ichin called Haruno and told her about Hajime's situation.
"Oh!!! So it's finally her turn too?" Haruno had just finished lunch with Yukino and was currently lying on the sofa as she laughed. "No problem. We'll go together on Sunday. I'll accompany her to meet the blind date. Nothing will go wrong!"
Ichin wasn't surprised that Haruno agreed, though he hadn't expected her to directly accompany Hajime to meet the guy.
Still, maybe that really was the right choice.
"Alright then, it's settled. Oh right, Haruno-nee, has the package arrived yet?"
"Nope, not yet."
As she spoke, Haruno glanced toward upstairs, amusement visible in her eyes. "You know, Ichin, Yukino's basically been waiting for the delivery all day today. She hasn't said it out loud, but there's no way she can hide how excited she is."
Ichin laughed as well. "I can totally imagine it. No need to rush though, it should arrive this afternoon."
Right as he said that, Ichin heard the sound of a doorbell ringing from Haruno's side of the phone.
"Ichin, wait a second."
After saying that, Haruno carried her phone over to open the door, and Ichin could hear that it was the delivery person.
After signing for the package, Haruno walked back inside with the parcel box in one hand and her phone in the other.
"I checked the shipping info. It's the wedding photo album. Ah, Yukino came downstairs too. I'll stop talking now, Ichin. We'll wait and look at it together once you guys come home tonight."
"Mhm. You and Yukino can look at it first. I need to get back to work too."
After working in his office for another half hour, Ichin received a message from the development team asking him to come participate in live boss testing.
About seventy percent of the regular enemies in the game had already been completed and tested. Next up was the detailed development of each boss, along with tuning their animations and stats.
Leaving the office and heading to the Bloodborne development team area, Ichin saw quite a few people gathered around several computers watching. The ones actively testing were Eriri, Gokou Ruri, and Nene, while one extra computer nearby had clearly been left open for Ichin.
Seeing him arrive, Umiko waved at him. "Come on over. They already started, you're the only one missing. Right now there are two bosses to test: Father Gascoigne and Darkbeast Paarl. Which one first?"
"Let's start with Father Gascoigne. Better warm up against a humanoid boss first."
Pulling out the chair and sitting down, Ichin opened the test build and picked up the controller.
While waiting for the session to begin, Ichin glanced over at Eriri's screen beside him. She was also fighting Father Gascoigne and was continuously getting hit by the boss's axe. She'd already been cornered.
Then she died.
"Ahhhh! That's the third time already! Why can't I even reach phase two?!!!"
Third attempt already in such a short time?
As expected of Eriri.
...
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