After the other two arrived, Ichin saved the speech draft he had been working on, and Utaha shut off her Switch. The four of them left school together.
As soon as they stepped into the company building, they were greeted by Shinoda Hajime waiting excitedly at the entrance.
She rushed over, tugged at Ichin's shirt, and said to the group, "Quick, quick, something huge happened!"
"Hm?"
All four of them looked at her in unison.
Something huge? What kind of big news could happen in the company?
Ichin asked curiously, "Did someone start dating?"
"Well… you could put it that way, but it's not a person."
Not a person?
Ichin instantly connected the dots. His eyes widened in shock as he looked at Hajime.
"You mean… Peppa?"
"Exactly, exactly!!" Hajime nodded enthusiastically. "Peppa and Sesame!"
Holy crap, Ichin thought. Please don't tell me they were live-streamed or something…
Everyone hurried inside. Ichin glanced over toward the cat tree area and found only Mozuku and Mochi lazily lounging there, eyes half-closed, completely uninterested in their surroundings.
As for Peppa and Sesame? Nowhere to be found.
Hazuki was over in the art section. When she saw the group coming, she chuckled and pointed toward the meeting room.
"The two little ones have been holed up in the meeting room since this afternoon. Good thing we didn't need to use it. Plus, the soundproofing is decent."
Soundproofing.
"…Hazuki, I strongly suspect you're making a dirty joke."
Hazuki shrugged and looked at Ichin and Yukino.
"Wanna go check on them? Honestly, none of us have dared peek inside. They're young and in love—we figured it's more appropriate for you owners to take a look."
"Yeah, we definitely should," Ichin agreed.
He looked over at Yukino. "Let's go, Yukino. Time to inspect the situation."
Yukino's cheeks flushed red. She hadn't expected this to happen so quickly.
Deep breaths… deep breaths… She nodded and followed Ichin and Utaha toward the meeting room.
Eiriri quickly put down her bag and chased after them.
"Wait for me! This is about the cat I'll be raising in the future!"
Aside from Ichin's group, Hajime, Yagami Kou, and Aoba also tagged along, curious to witness the aftermath. A whole crowd gathered at the door to the meeting room.
Ichin didn't hesitate—he pushed the door open.
The moment it opened, they heard the meowing of two cats. Then, Peppa and the little white cat Sesame poked their heads out from under the table and trotted over to Ichin's feet, affectionately rubbing against him.
Ichin laughed as he scooped Peppa into his arms.
"Alright, be honest—what were you two up to all afternoon?"
Peppa meowed twice at Ichin, then squirmed in his arms, clearly wanting to go to Sesame, who had been picked up by Yukino.
And it wasn't just Peppa. Sesame was also wriggling to get free.
Ichin and Yukino had no choice but to set the two cats down. Immediately, they scurried out of the room and hopped onto a cat tree, where they began grooming each other lovingly.
"Hm~~~"
Even though they hadn't seen anything, Ichin could guess what happened. Looks like Peppa had successfully wooed Little Sesame.
He turned to Yukino.
"Looks like there's no separating these two anytime soon. How about letting Peppa stay at your place for a few days? In return, we'll take care of Mochi at ours. During the day, we can monitor them through your apartment's cameras."
Yukino had already been planning to take Peppa home, so when Ichin brought it up, she agreed right away.
"Alright. Then I'll leave Mochi in your and Utaha-senpai's care."
"Don't worry—we'll take good care of her. Kō will also bring her to the office during the day, so you can see her when you drop by."
After making arrangements, everyone returned to their work.
Eiriri and Yukino sat side by side. As they booted up their computers, Eiriri asked excitedly,
"Yukino, if Sesame really does get pregnant, how many kittens do you think she'll have?"
"For a first litter, and given Sesame's size… probably not too many. I'd estimate two, maybe three at most."
"Either way is fine!"
Eiriri clung to Yukino's arm, full of excitement. "But you promised, okay? I want one of the kittens! I'll take good care of it!"
Yagami Kō also joined the conversation.
"Yukino, save one for me too? Our dorm has plenty of space—I can definitely take care of one! Watching you guys with your cats has made me really want one. Whether it's Peppa or Sesame, they're both gorgeous. Their kittens will definitely be adorable!"
Peppa might've just been a regular orange tabby, and Sesame a plain white cat, but both had sleek fur, good proportions, and very cute faces. There was no way their kittens would turn out ugly.
And let's be honest—cats in general don't really come out "ugly." Even the chonky, derpy-faced Garfield cats had their charm. Hairless cats, too, had their own unique fanbase.
Yukino thought about Kou's request for a moment, then replied,
"If Sesame really does have a litter, and there are three, then yes, you can have one. But if it's only two, I want to keep one for myself."
After all, it would be her cat's kitten—of course she'd want to raise at least one.
"No problem!"
Yagami Kō beamed. "If we don't get three, I'll just adopt one from a shelter. It's all the same. Let's work hard over the next few weeks—once Persona launches, we can finally shift gears and start thinking about pets."
In the office, with the air conditioning turned on, Utaha sat on the couch, took a sip of coffee, and sighed.
"Such a shame. I was really hoping we'd get to see some live-action cat romance footage!"
"I was thinking the same thing," Ichin chuckled as he opened his laptop.
"But the odds were low. They probably already finished, or maybe they were just getting close. Once they're staying at Yukino's, we might catch something on the camera feed."
He then opened the company's internal email system and began reading through the reviews and feedback submitted to his inbox regarding Arceus.
There were quite a few. He carefully read each one, highlighting the most important reviews. Once sorted, he planned to compile and forward them to Nintendo and Game Freak.
*
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