Five minutes later, Nene came back with a conflicted expression on her face.
Seeing her like that, Ruri curiously asked, "Well? How was it?"
Nene stuck out her tongue in disgust and said, "Forget it, you guys really don't want to know. I seriously don't understand how Ichin managed to design monsters like that. I feel like my sanity points are almost gone."
Seeing Nene's reaction, Ruri and Eriri exchanged glances, both becoming a little frightened.
Just what kind of monsters had he designed?
At the same time, though, it made them even more curious.
There was no helping it. The more unknown something was, the more it tempted people's curiosity.
In the end, however, neither of them actually went to ask Ichin. They forcefully suppressed their curiosity instead. After all, just like Ichin said, they'd find out next week anyway.
After the testing session ended, Ichin assigned a new task. Using gameplay footage recorded during previous tests, along with saved testing clips and already completed CG content, the team would create a gameplay showcase video for Bloodborne.
There were only a little over five months left before release, so it was about time they gradually started revealing the game's content.
After assigning the task, Ichin continued his own work with the programming team. Video production was no longer like the company's early days where he had to personally handle everything. They already had professional staff dedicated to that area now.
At five in the afternoon, Ichin left work early, picked Utaha up from the publishing company, and returned home together with her.
Dinner was already being prepared. Yukino was busy working in the kitchen, and even Haruno had unusually stepped into the kitchen to help wash vegetables and do other simple tasks.
Seeing Ichin and Utaha return, Haruno happily said, "Yay! Ichin, I'll leave the rest to you! I'm going to rest now! Time for a bath first!"
Watching her sister dash upstairs in a flash, Yukino said with a slightly annoyed expression, "Honestly, Sister really hates staying in the kitchen any longer than necessary."
Ichin smiled and replied, "It's fine. Haruno-nee helps with housework normally anyway. If she doesn't want to deal with the kitchen, that's okay. How much of dinner's done? I'll help."
Yukino nodded before handing the vegetable cutting task over to Ichin. She also picked up an apron and helped tie it onto him.
"The wedding photos arrived this afternoon," Yukino said softly. "Let's look at them together tonight."
Naturally, Ichin had already noticed the delivery box sitting in the living room. He turned around, hugged Yukino, and smiled.
"You're really not going to secretly look at them first? Can you actually hold back?"
A faint smile appeared on Yukino's lips. "I'm okay. I'd rather look at them together."
Ichin leaned over and kissed Yukino before helping smooth out her bangs. "Alright then, we'll look at them together tonight."
After dinner, the four of them sat together on the sofa in the living room. Yukino personally opened the delivery box and took out the wedding photo album inside.
Haruno looked at Yukino, who was squeezed between Ichin and Utaha, and said gloomily, "Can you make some room for me? It's hard to see like this."
Hearing that, Yukino pointed at the carpet in front of her. "Then… Sister, how about sitting here?"
"Am I really your biological sister? You're making me sit on the floor?"
"Then what should we do?"
"I'll hold Yukino. Yukino, how about sitting on my lap?"
"No!"
Yukino rejected the idea without hesitation. "Sister would definitely tickle me. I'd rather sit on Ichin's lap instead."
Seeing Yukino look at him, Ichin naturally had no objections. He immediately lifted Yukino onto his lap.
"There, Haruno-nee. Is this fine now?"
Haruno nodded and stared eagerly at the wedding album in Yukino's hands. "Hurry up and open it already!"
Holding the album carefully, Yukino suppressed the excitement in her heart and opened it.
On the very first page, everyone saw a photo of Ichin and Yukino embracing each other. Dressed in her wedding gown, Yukino wore a blissful smile while gazing at Ichin.
"Oh!" Haruno widened her eyes and said curiously, "Yukino's wedding dress in this set looks really beautiful too. And that smile is amazing."
Ichin also nodded with a smile. "Exactly. The current Yukino is completely different from high school Yukino."
A shy expression appeared on Yukino's face. "The difference isn't that huge, okay? I smiled back then too. I just didn't feel the need to smile at everyone."
Utaha nodded in agreement. "That's true. But Yukino really does look prettier when she smiles more."
As they continued flipping through the photos one by one, the quality was undeniably excellent. The different scenes, the interactions between Ichin and Yukino, and the camera angles used during the shoot had all been captured perfectly.
Half an hour later, after finishing the album, Yukino closed it with complete satisfaction.
Leaning against Ichin's chest, she softly whispered, "Thank you."
Wrapping his arms around Yukino's slender waist, Ichin smiled and said, "There's no need to say that between us, right? Though if Yukino really wants to thank me, there are plenty of ways to do it."
As he spoke, Ichin puckered his lips with an extremely obvious meaning.
If it were only the two of them and Utaha, Yukino naturally wouldn't have minded. But Haruno was sitting right there watching them, and Yukino definitely didn't have that much courage.
Rolling her eyes at Ichin, she climbed out of his lap and carried the photo album upstairs.
"I'm going to put this away."
After watching Yukino leave, Ichin turned around and immediately saw Haruno facing him with her lips puckered as well.
"Tsk tsk tsk, and you're still doing that? You really are pretending I don't exist. I bet you did it on purpose!"
Ichin simply smiled without caring. "I'm ordering milk tea. Haruno-nee, want some?"
"Yes!!!"
She instantly forgot about the previous topic completely.
After ordering the milk tea, Ichin brought up Hajime's situation with Utaha.
"Eh~~ so Hajime's getting dragged into blind dates too now? That's actually pretty interesting." Utaha smiled and nodded. "But if the guy might not be great, then yeah, it's definitely worth being careful. She's our good friend after all."
"Exactly, that's what I thought too. So Utaha, are you coming with us on Sunday?"
"I'll pass," Utaha waved her hand. "You and Haruno-san go together. I'm planning to go shopping with Yukino."
She continued, "Didn't Hajime say she didn't want to be watched? The two of you going is enough. Once you guys are done, everyone can meet up and hang out together afterward."
"That works too."
Since Utaha had already said so, Ichin took out his phone and started searching for restaurants near the blind date location for Sunday. They could all have dinner outside afterward or something.
"Ichin, Ichin, do they have roast duck nearby? I suddenly want roast duck!"
"There's roast duck in Shinjuku, though it's a little far."
"That's fine, we'll be driving!" Haruno said excitedly. "How about roast duck? Roast duck! Utaha, what do you think? I'll treat everyone!"
Utaha narrowed her eyes happily. "Roast duck, huh? That actually sounds pretty good. It's been a long time since I've had it."
Since Haruno wanted it badly enough to offer to pay herself, there was no need to hesitate anymore.
...
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