At 1:30 in the afternoon, the door to Ichin's office was quietly pushed open. Yukino poked her head inside and found that Ichin was still asleep.
Carrying two bags, Yukino carefully walked in. She had just finished setting the things down when she heard Ichin's groggy voice.
"You're back?"
Turning around, Yukino looked at Ichin, who was still lying on the sofa rubbing his eyes, and walked over.
"Did I wake you?"
Ichin shook his head, picked up the phone on the coffee table, and glanced at it.
"It's about time I got up anyway. Where's Utaha?"
"She's downstairs. Everyone's discussing some silky topic, and they're also deciding on afternoon tea, so they asked me to come up and put the things away."
As she spoke, Yukino walked to the door, took down the sign hanging on it, and closed the door.
"Afternoon tea—do you want milk tea? I can go down and tell Utaha."
"No milk tea today. I'll make some coffee later."
Still lying on the sofa, Ichin beckoned to Yukino.
When she came closer, Ichin took her hand and gently pulled her onto himself.
Falling into Ichin's arms—especially in the office—Yukino said shyly,
"This is the company, you know."
"It's fine. It's my office. Even if someone wants to come in, they have to knock."
Holding Yukino, Ichin leaned his face toward her neck, closed his eyes, and breathed in her scent.
It was very comfortable. Though different from Utaha's, it was still a smell that made him feel at ease.
Feeling the strength of Ichin's arms, Yukino stopped struggling. She also closed her eyes, quietly wrapped her arms around him, and enjoyed the brief moment of peace.
However—
"Ichin-kun! We're ordering milk tea—what do you want to dri—"
The office door was suddenly pushed open. Kō Yagami walked in with a smile, but that smile froze halfway.
Looking at the two people hugging on the sofa, Kō felt her heart nearly stop.
Swallowing, she turned her head and looked around, putting on an act as she said,
"Ah—where's Ichin? I'll go look for him."
The moment Yukino noticed Kō, she jumped out of Ichin's arms, her knee even coming down hard on Ichin's thigh. The pain made Ichin suck in a sharp breath.
Clutching his thigh as he sat up, Ichin looked at Kō, who was about to inch her way out, and said,
"Kō, stop pretending. Come in and sit."
Then, with one hand holding Yukino, he sent a message to Utaha downstairs, asking her to come up.
Two minutes later, Utaha entered the office and immediately saw Kō sitting alone on a chair, her expression unfocused and clearly nervous, as well as Yukino sitting beside Ichin, her face burning red.
Sharp as ever, Utaha instantly understood what was going on and said with a smile,
"What, Kō, did you interrupt them while they were doing something nice?"
Rolling his eyes at Utaha, Ichin said,
"This one's done it several times already—coming into my office without knocking. I just happened to forget about her."
In the company, people like Kō, Umiko, and Hazuki could normally enter Ichin's office directly. But Hazuki and Umiko would at least put on a show and knock before coming in. Only Kō would usually skip that step and just push the door open.
Ichin had gotten used to it and never really minded. After all, she was one of his core members, and if there were business partners in the office, she would knock properly.
But of all days, it just had to be today—and she just happened to walk in at that moment.
Kō, who had still been tense, clearly froze when she saw Utaha's reaction. Her mouth slowly fell open.
"Uh… you… you three?"
Utaha walked over with a smile, sat down between Yukino and Ichin, and said to him,
"Alright, Ichin, leave this to me. Go handle your own work. Oh, aren't you drinking milk tea?"
"I'll have coffee. If I want something later, I'll just steal some from you or Yukino." Ichin shook his head and stood up.
"Then I'll head downstairs."
With that, he went down to the pantry, made himself a cup of coffee, and then headed over to the GARO development team to help with patching the AI for several bosses and adjusting part of the data.
Back in the office, after Utaha sent a message to Rin saying there was no need to order milk tea for Ichin, she looked at Kō, who was no longer nervous but now full of gossip.
"Kō, if you want to ask, just ask."
Seeing Kō's expression, Yukino knew there was no way to avoid this today. She stopped overthinking and gradually calmed down.
Thinking about it carefully, it made sense. Everyone spent so much time together with Ichin—so long as she kept coming here, it was only a matter of time before things were discovered.
And not just at the company. Being found out by Haruno was only a matter of time as well. Getting nervous now was really unnecessary.
Her gaze moving back and forth between Utaha and Yukino, Kō pondered for a moment before cautiously asking,
"You and Ichin…"
Utaha smiled and nodded.
"Yep, just like you're thinking."
"Hiss—!!! How did things even develop to this point? I did notice something before. It felt like the way Ichin and Yukino interacted suddenly became a lot more intimate, but I didn't think too much of it. Honestly, this really shocked me—especially your reaction, Utaha."
Utaha and Yukino exchanged a glance, smiles on their lips, and Utaha said,
"Well, there are quite a few factors involved. In any case, you don't need to worry, Kō. This is something I agreed to. And when Ichin first faced the two of us together, he was the one who got scared."
"Scared?"
Utaha nodded.
"The details aren't something I can really tell you, but the three of us are doing great right now. So don't worry."
"That much I can see," Kō said, still concerned. "But what about Yukino's family? They probably wouldn't agree to something like this, right?"
At this point, after several minutes of silence, Yukino finally spoke.
"I did think about my family. But in the end, emotion won over reason. We'll deal with what comes later when it comes. Anyway, it's impossible for me to like anyone else."
The last sentence was spoken with absolute firmness.
"Tsk tsk tsk."
Rubbing her chin, Kō was completely astonished.
"I have to say, Ichin's luck with romance is really something—to be loved like this by both of you. But Utaha, have you ever thought about what if someone else also sets their sights on him—"
"We've talked about that already," Utaha said confidently, folding her arms.
"With Yukino and me around, I don't think Ichin would be tempted by anyone else. And Kō, you should also consider this—even if Ichin's stamina is good, he's not a superhero."
"Uh… that's true."
The sudden acceleration of the car made Kō burst out laughing. Then, as scenes from certain doujinshi flashed through her mind, her eyes lit up once again.
---
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