After searching around, Ichin finally entrusted the task of taking care of the cats to Umiko and Nene.
Once Ichin and the others left on Sunday, Umiko and the girls would move into the villa, living there while helping look after the cats.
Although they could have asked Sawamura Sayuri, who lived nearby, for help, she had plenty of her own matters to deal with, so it was better to ask Umiko and Nene instead.
Coincidentally, the two of them did not have much going on during their time off. Aside from researching various programming topics, they mostly just played games, so it did not really matter where they stayed.
After accepting the task, Nene happily raised both hands in the air.
"Yay! Living in a villa!"
Umiko smiled beside her and said, "I know you are happy, but do not neglect taking care of the cats, alright?"
"Relax, I will not forget. I really like their cats anyway. Right, George?"
As she spoke, Nene picked up George, who had come to her feet, opened a bag of freeze-dried cat treats on the table, and fed him one.
Their cats were already very familiar with Nene and the others, so leaving them in their care for a few days would not cause any problems.
Patting George on the head, Ichin said to Umiko and Nene, "We are leaving on Sunday. If you can, why not move in on Saturday?"
Umiko nodded. "Sure. Nene and I will come over on Saturday."
After settling the matter of the cats, Ichin left the Berseria team and headed over to the Monster Train development team.
Over the past few days, the development team had managed to put together a game demo that allowed for relatively complete playtesting.
Some of the monsters and card illustrations in the game had not been designed yet, but that did not have much impact. This demo was mainly meant to test the overall game flow.
Sitting down, Ichin selected the starting Hellhorned clan and began playing.
The Hellhorned were relatively well-rounded, but their weakness was a lack of AoE capabilities. However, that was not a major issue. As long as the deck was built properly and transitioned smoothly into the mid and late stages, the run could still work.
After about twenty minutes of gameplay, Ichin's luck in this run was average. By the late game his damage output was a little lacking, and he was ultimately defeated.
Even though he lost, the overall flow of the game had no problems. This card set had already been completed, with only the card illustrations and character portraits needing further refinement. The remaining issues were just a few small problems encountered during gameplay, which could be fixed easily.
After listing out all the problems, Ichin went over to the art team and checked the character illustrations for the other clans currently in production, pointing out several areas that needed modification.
Once he finished checking the Monster Train team's work, Ichin returned to his office and handled tasks that did not require him to be physically present with the development teams. He would head back to them again in the afternoon.
When the clock reached three in the afternoon, Ichin packed up his things, left the company, and set off for Chiba.
The last time he had gone to Chiba was at the beginning of the year. Half a year had already passed since then. With his parents visiting Tokyo, it was indeed a good opportunity to pay a visit.
There was not much to say about the trip to Chiba. They had been there several times already. After visiting the Yukinoshita family and having dinner together, Ichin accompanied his parents around Chiba for a day before returning to Tokyo the following afternoon.
Then Sunday arrived, the day they would return to China.
Umiko and Nene had already come to the house on Saturday. When it was time to depart on Sunday, Ichin did not let them see them off. In the middle of summer, even driving outside was unbearably hot.
When they had arrived, it had only been his parents. Now, on the day of departure, it was much livelier. Ichin himself, Utaha, Yukino, Haruno, and Eriri made a total of five additional people.
After a two-hour flight, they arrived in Shanghai. Ichin's parents drove one car, and they called another outside the airport. Everyone headed straight home without stopping.
There was no choice. The temperature in July was simply too hot. No one wanted to linger outside buying things. Everything could wait until they got home and put down their luggage.
Compared to the time they had returned during the Spring Festival, and Utaha and Yukino who had come along before, Haruno and Eriri were clearly the happiest this time.
Haruno had been overwhelmed with all kinds of work before, busy to the point of exhaustion. This time she finally had a chance to properly relax and enjoy herself.
Eriri was much the same. The academic pressure before her vacation had been intense, and she had rarely had the chance to go out and travel. Now she could finally visit somewhere farther away.
After arriving home, Ichin and Utaha stayed at his own house for the next few days, while Eriri stayed downstairs with Haruno and Yukino in their place. Before Ichin's parents had departed earlier, they had already hired housekeeping to thoroughly clean everything.
Dragging their luggage into the house, Haruno happily stretched.
"So comfortable. It has been a long time since I came here. We can really have fun these next few days. Yukino, Eriri, have you planned where we should go? Ichin probably will not have time to come with us. Besides going to the company, he also has to attend a high school class reunion."
"Huh? He is going to a class reunion?" Eriri had not heard about this before and said in surprise. "As for where to go, I have not really thought about it. We have already been to most of the places worth visiting in Shanghai. Maybe somewhere nearby? What about you, Yukino?"
Turning on the air conditioner in the living room with the remote, Yukino thought for a moment before replying.
"If we want to relax and go out, there is not much to do in Shanghai itself. Let us go somewhere a little farther away. Besides, we have a whole week this time. Even if you want to go somewhere farther, it will not be a problem."
"That is true. Flying is convenient anyway."
Eriri nodded, then pulled her suitcase along.
"Alright, let us talk about it later. Which room am I staying in? After we settle our things, we still need to go upstairs to Ichin's house."
"Come on, Eriri, I will take you there," Haruno said with a smile as she grabbed Eriri's hand. "By the way, do you want to share a room with your big sister tonight?"
Eriri immediately showed a look of disgust.
"I will pass. Haruno-nee, that expression of yours looks exactly like some creepy old man trying to lure little girls."
Yukino could not help but laugh at the side.
She had to admit, Eriri had evolved quite a bit. She could even tease Haruno now.
After briefly organizing their luggage in the room, the three of them went upstairs to Ichin's home.
Since they had been away for several days, the house currently had no supplies, so they needed to go out and buy some. That task was handed to Ichin and his father.
When the girls came upstairs, Ichin had just stepped out earlier to buy some fruit and drinks at the supermarket outside the residential complex. After that, he and his father went out again to purchase groceries for cooking.
There was no helping it.
That was the status of the youngest man in the family hierarchy.
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