After Ichin and his family sat down, Utaha found herself seated between Ichin's mother on her right and Ichin himself on her left. Sitting on Ichin's other side was his older cousin—nine years his senior and already married.
This cousin had started working at a bank after graduating from university. She had met her husband during college, and the two got married soon after graduation. Now, they even had a child. You could say they were incredibly efficient.
Looking curiously at Ichin and Utaha, the cousin asked, "Ichin, how did you two meet? If Auntie hadn't called a few days ago, we wouldn't even know you had a girlfriend."
"Well, we're still students, so Mom didn't want too many people to know. That's understandable," Ichin replied with a smile. "But now that things are going really well between me and Utaha, it's fine if everyone knows. We're in the same class, and I live in an apartment next to hers. We met even before the official school term started."
"Neighbors too? That's fate if I've ever seen it."
The cousin looked at Utaha, impressed by her beauty—and pleasantly surprised that she spoke such fluent Chinese. She felt genuinely happy for her younger cousin.
"Looking at how happy Auntie is, I take it your grades haven't dropped? If they had, I doubt she'd be smiling like that."
"Don't worry—still top of the year," Ichin said proudly, lifting his chin slightly. "Utaha used to be number one, but now she's second."
Utaha, who had been quiet up to this point, shot him an exasperated glance. "It was just a few points! I'll beat you next time for sure."
"Heh, I won't give you the chance."
Some of the elders nearby overheard their banter and relaxed. They'd had some concerns earlier, but now they felt there was nothing to worry about.
One's currently first in the year, and the other used to be—what more could you ask for?
Even though they were attending a Japanese high school, once everyone found out Ichin was going to study abroad, they looked into Toyogasaki High. It had a very high academic reputation—comparable to the top three high schools in Shanghai, if you wanted a reference point.
The cousin had brought her baby along today as well. Since the meal hadn't started yet, Ichin and Utaha went over to take a look at the sleeping infant in the stroller.
Kneeling beside the stroller, Utaha whispered, "So cute… Her cheeks are so round and chubby."
Being praised for her child was the greatest joy for the cousin.
"She really is adorable. But taking care of her is no joke. The next few years won't be easy—there's so much to think about and manage."
She gently patted Utaha's head and added, "But you two don't have to rush. Enjoy your time together for a few more years."
Utaha blushed and gave a small nod. She glanced at Ichin beside her, then leaned close to his ear and softly asked, "Ichin, do you like boys or girls more?"
"Huh?"
Ichin blinked in surprise. Once he caught on, he replied, "Girls, I think. I imagine she'd be just as cute as you, Utaha."
He had no preference for sons over daughters. In fact, Ichin genuinely liked the idea of having a daughter more.
Of course, the main reason was that boys tend to be more mischievous. Ichin himself had always been relatively well-behaved, but growing up, he'd seen far too many troublemaking boys. To protect his future blood pressure, he figured having a daughter was definitely the better choice.
"A daughter, huh?"
That answer was exactly what Utaha had expected.
She felt the same way. If she ever had kids in the future, she would also prefer a girl. But if it turned out to be a boy, that was fine too—worst case, she could just buy him lots of cute little dresses when he was young.
While the group was still gathered around the baby, Ichin's cousin's wife walked over holding their nearly three-year-old son and joined in the conversation.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Ichin's father and a few of the other older men—including Ichin's uncle, cousin, and cousin's husband—were also deep in conversation. Their topic, naturally, was more career- and work-focused.
Since there were kids around, no one smoked, and they all sipped tea as they chatted.
Glancing over at Ichin, his uncle smiled and asked, "Ichin seems to be doing well in school. What about university? Planning to come back here for it, or stay over there?"
After taking a sip of tea, Ichin's father nodded and replied, "We've already discussed it. He plans to stay in Japan for university. After all, he already has a girlfriend there—staying put might help give the girl a bit more peace of mind. Besides, if he ever wants to visit, flights are easy. Based on his grades and his teachers' evaluations, he has a good shot at getting into the University of Tokyo. Ichin, you're planning to major in Computer Science, right?"
Ichin turned his head when he heard his father's voice and answered, "Yeah, Computer Science. Honestly, it's the only major I'd even consider."
"The only one?" his cousin asked curiously. "Aren't you good at both liberal arts and science? And you've got a real talent for languages, too. A language major would make job hunting pretty easy, right? Computer Science is popular right now thanks to the internet economy, sure, but it's also a tough field—lots of overtime and not a very optimistic job market."
His cousin wasn't wrong, but those points didn't really apply to Ichin.
Ichin's father chuckled and patted his stomach, saying, "Hahaha, no need to worry about that. Xiao Fang, do you play games?"
"Games?" his cousin nodded. "Not that much—mostly just League of Legends and some mobile games with my wife. Why, is Ichin planning to go into game development?"
"Not planning—he _already is_," Ichin's father said proudly. "That kid taught himself art and programming. After he moved to Japan, he developed his own game entirely by himself, and it sold really well. Later, he even formed a game development studio. They're already working on their third game now. Ichin, how many sales do you guys have so far?"
Ichin counted on his fingers and said, "Hmm… Both of the first two games have sold around 900,000 copies. Starting today, there's a Spring Festival sale on Steam for the China region. The first game is going on discount, and the second one is getting its first discount too. If we're lucky, one of them might cross the one million mark. As for the new game we're developing, it's still a long way from release—at least another year."
"One million copies?!"
Both his cousin and his cousin's husband were stunned. They quickly asked, "What are your games called? And how much do they sell for?"
"Slay the Spire" and "Hollow Knight,"" Ichin replied. "In the Chinese market, the full prices are 58 and 68 yuan. Pretty typical for indie games."
Those prices really weren't high—just a tenth of a single 648-yuan in-app purchase in your average gacha mobile game.
But after hearing about the sales numbers and looking up some info, the two young men—who weren't much older than Ichin—fell completely silent.
...
❇❇❇
Support me on Patreon - Read Up to 40+ Advanced Chapters There!
patreon.com/RedX43
❇❇❇