After wrapping up all his tasks at E3, Ichin attended one last official livestream event the next day, wandered around the venue for a bit, and then booked a night flight home.
He had originally planned to stream from his hotel after the exhibition—to chat casually with fans about the announcements—but the hotel's internet connection turned out to be terrible, barely good enough to send a few pictures, let alone support a livestream. So he could only post a short notice, promising to stream again once he got back home.
It was a red-eye flight. After a night of half-asleep hours in the air, he and the others finally landed in Tokyo, exhausted and bleary-eyed.
Not one of the five people in their group looked remotely awake. Thankfully, they'd already expected this—so instead of driving themselves home, Haruno had arranged for a company driver to take everyone back.
Hazuki, too, decided to head to Ichin's place rather than her own apartment, planning to crash in the guest room and catch up on sleep before adjusting to the time difference.
Under the faint morning sky, the Yukinoshita family's driver dropped everyone off at their apartment complex.
They made it upstairs, but despite being dead tired, none of them could fall asleep right away. Jet lag, combined with the adrenaline of travel, had completely messed up their rhythm. So the group ended up slumping together in Ichin's living room, half-watching a late-night TV program until well past midnight, before finally dispersing to their rooms.
Though they were back, Ichin had no intention of going to class or work until his brain stopped feeling like mush.
After a full day of rest at home, both he and Utaha finally recovered their usual energy.
When Ichin came out of the shower, Utaha was already in the living room, playing with the cats.
During the days they'd been away, the cats had been cared for by Utaha's mother—and she'd also helped look after Yukino's cats—so everything had been smooth. Eat, sleep, play, repeat—none of them had missed a beat.
Looking back now, it was actually quite convenient that the two of them hadn't moved out to live alone after getting together. When they were too tired to cook, they could always wander over to Utaha's parents' place for a meal.
Sitting beside her, Ichin ran his fingers through her silky hair and asked,
"Hungry? What do you want for lunch?"
Utaha tilted her head slightly.
"Ichin, I think we're out of groceries. We ate at my parents' place yesterday, remember?"
"Ah, right," Ichin chuckled. "If we're eating at home, I can go out and buy some now. It's only ten in the morning—plenty of time."
Utaha picked up Peppa from her lap and set the cat aside.
"Hmm, why don't we just eat at the company instead? The cafeteria chef's so good. I saw the pictures Ko-san posted in the group—sweet and sour ribs today."
"Sounds good to me," Ichin smiled. "Let's go then."
Since Utaha had suggested it, Ichin naturally agreed. After changing clothes, they packed up their two cats and set off for the company.
On the way, they stopped by Yukino's apartment to pick her up—and her cats as well.
Haruno had already gone to work that morning. Yukino herself had taken a few extra days off from school and planned to go back tomorrow to officially report in and prepare for her final exams.
She sat in the backseat with Utaha, their two cat carriers beside them—four cats in total. Ichin's cats, Peppa and George, were settled in the front passenger seat.
Scrolling through her phone, Utaha said to Ichin as he drove,
"Ichin, tomorrow afternoon after classes, I've a meeting to discuss some details about the drama script. So I won't go to the office with you, okay? They'll pick me up when they're done."
"Got it," Ichin nodded. "You'll be home for dinner though, right?"
"Of course~ I'll count on you to cook!"
Yukino glanced over curiously at Utaha's phone.
"So the drama's almost ready to start filming?"
"Mm, yeah—it's close. The actors have been confirmed, and the set construction's underway. Tomorrow's meeting will cover some of that too."
Then Utaha began chatting about the drama's production—little behind-the-scenes details she'd learned since joining the script team. Some were insider stories, others were unspoken industry "rules," even bits of gossip the public didn't know. Both Yukino and Ichin, listening up front, found themselves stunned by how shady the TV world could be.
Before long, they arrived at the company building—and right at the entrance, they saw Kō Yagami pacing around, checking in on her art team's progress.
"Oh! Ichin, you guys finally made it back!" she called.
Ichin smiled.
"Yeah, we ran out of food at home, so we figured we'd come here for lunch. I'll be getting back to work this afternoon. How's progress been while I was gone, Kō?"
"Progress? Excellent as always!" she said with a grin and a thumbs-up. "But honestly, compared to our team, there's something else you should deal with first. HR's been drowning in new résumés since you left! They wanted to wait until you were back from E3 before processing them, so we had them pre-screen the stack for you."
"Right, that's definitely something I need to handle."
Ichin nodded, told Utaha and Yukino to hang around downstairs, and went up to his office.
Before E3, they'd already posted a number of open positions, and over May and June he'd interviewed several candidates—about ten new hires in total.
But after his big E3 appearance and the wave of new game announcements, the company's reputation had exploded. In just two or three days, over forty new résumés had arrived—and even that morning, more were still coming in.
Looking at the thick, neatly sorted stack HR had placed on his desk, Ichin felt a headache coming on.
Still, he wasn't complaining—having so many people eager to join was a good problem to have. He'd just have to sift through them carefully and bring in as many talented or promising applicants as possible.
There were still plenty of empty desks waiting to be filled.
He spent the rest of the morning reviewing applications in his office, while downstairs Utaha and Yukino had grabbed two laptops and started playing Fall Guys together.
Since they weren't returning to school until tomorrow, there was nothing urgent on their schedules—it was a perfect day to relax.
By lunchtime, everyone gathered in the company cafeteria.
The chef's cooking did not disappoint—the sweet and sour ribs and tomato beef stew more than made up for the bland meals Ichin had endured in Los Angeles.
Well, that wasn't quite fair—last night's dinner at Utaha's parents' place had been excellent too.
In any case, after two big bowls of food, Ichin's energy was fully restored. That afternoon, he threw himself back into work, while Utaha and Yukino went out together for a bit of shopping.
---
RedX43's Note:
➤ Want More? Get up to +70 Extra Chapters on Patreon!
➤ [email protected]/RedX43
➤ +300 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter Drop!
➤ Thanks for the support! 🙌