At ten in the morning, at the company.
After finishing a meeting with the employees, Ichin returned to his office. Yukino was sitting on the sofa inside, quietly reading a book related to her major.
Seeing Ichin come in, Yukino pointed to the phone he had left on his desk.
"Utaha called just now. I answered it for you."
"Utaha called?" Ichin walked over to check his phone. "What did she say?"
"They were about to board the plane, so she called to ask if you were at the company. I told her you were in a meeting, so she didn't say much else. Utaha said she'd call again after they arrive."
"After they land, huh? That'll probably be in the afternoon."
Sitting down beside Yukino and pulling her into his arms, Ichin glanced at the textbook she was holding.
"How's the studying going?"
Yukino nodded and leaned comfortably against him.
"It's going well. It's just that if I really go through with it, the time for starting my own law firm will be delayed by two years."
"Two years isn't a big deal. Continuing your education is the most suitable choice, isn't it?"
Given Yukino's field of study, continuing to study further was definitely the best path. After that, if she also obtained her lawyer's qualification, everything would be fully optimized. Once she opened her law firm, with the connections of her university mentors, it would be easy to recruit classmates from the same cohort, and she could also build many connections within the industry. In every aspect, it was far better than simply graduating in her senior year and immediately entering the workforce.
Her family had already discussed this with her and fully supported her pursuing postgraduate studies.
In the end, Yukino made up her mind to focus on preparing for the postgraduate entrance exam, though she still felt a bit regretful that the start of her career would be delayed by two years.
Snuggling lightly against Ichin's chest, Yukino turned a page of her book and asked while reading,
"What should we have for lunch today?"
"What do you feel like eating? Since your period started, there are quite a few things you shouldn't eat right now. You need to be careful. No iced drinks, no spicy or numbing foods, and no cold-natured fruits either. Hmm… how about we find a Cantonese restaurant for lunch?"
"Cantonese cuisine? That works."
Yukino didn't have much of an appetite at the moment, but Cantonese food was indeed a suitable choice.
"Alright, it's settled then. Keep reading. If you get tired, take a break. I'll check if there's a good Cantonese restaurant nearby."
Returning to his seat, Ichin picked up his phone and started searching.
He actually wasn't very familiar with the restaurants around the company.
After searching for a while, he finally found a Cantonese restaurant that was a bit farther away. It would take about twenty minutes to drive there, but that wasn't really a problem. He directly called and made a reservation.
At 11:15, Ichin took Yukino with him and drove to the reserved Cantonese restaurant for lunch.
At 1:30 in the afternoon, Utaha called.
"Ichin, Ichin! We've arrived in Guizhou! We've already reached the hotel we booked!"
Glancing at Yukino, who had just fallen asleep on the sofa, Ichin slowly stood up, picked up his phone, and walked out of the office.
"Pretty fast. How are you planning to deal with lunch?"
"This hotel has its own restaurant, and it's pretty good. We're planning to go down and eat a little later, then take a nice walk around the area tonight," Utaha said, explaining their plans for the day before asking, "I heard the sound of a door opening just now. Aren't you in your own office?"
"Yeah. After we got back from lunch, Yukino fell asleep. If I talk on the phone inside, I'll wake her up."
"Yukino fell asleep, huh." Utaha glanced toward the door. Their room here was a suite. She was sharing it with Eriri and Haruno, while Ichin's parents were staying in another double room. At the moment, Eriri and Haruno were both in their rooms unpacking and organizing their things.
"For the next few days, Ichin, you won't be lonely anymore. Yukino can keep you company~~"
"That's definitely nice. I was really surprised when I woke up this morning."
After chatting briefly with Utaha and also explaining Yukino's situation to Haruno, who had come over to join the conversation, Ichin ended the call. He planned to wait until the evening to see the photos Utaha would send him of the scenery and the food they tried.
During that week, Ichin basically spent his days going back and forth between the company and home. Yukino accompanied him to the company every day. While Ichin worked, she studied. It all went smoothly, and the days felt quite fulfilling.
At night, Ichin naturally didn't have to sleep alone.
Even though Yukino was on her period, it didn't stop the two of them from quietly sleeping together.
On Sunday afternoon, everyone who had gone out traveling for a week finally returned. In fact, they had even played an extra day compared to the original plan, which meant their return to Tokyo would also be delayed by one day.
While Ichin was busy doing something in the bedroom, he heard movement outside.
Then the door burst open with a bang, and Haruno's voice came through.
"Ichin, we're back~~~"
"I heard you, I heard you. Don't scare people like that, okay?"
Ichin turned around helplessly and looked at Haruno as she walked in.
"Did you have fun?"
"Very fun! We went to a lot of places, but it still feels like we didn't play enough. Next time we'll keep going!"
"Okay, as long as you had fun."
Saving his work on the computer, Ichin followed Haruno out of the room and into the living room.
In the living room, as soon as Utaha saw Ichin come out, she hurried over and hugged him tightly.
"Ichin, I missed you."
"I missed you too." Ichin held Utaha and looked at her face. "You must be a little tired, but you definitely had a great time, right?"
Utaha smiled and nodded.
"We bought you lots of delicious things. Come take a look."
They had indeed bought quite a lot. They even brought back two extra suitcases, and once opened they were filled with all kinds of food and some souvenirs.
Of course, not everything was for Ichin. Some of the items were gifts for people like Kou and the others.
After looking through everything they had bought, Ichin said to everyone,
"Alright, you all should rest now. I'll go buy groceries and make dinner tonight."
Yukino said from the side, "I'll go with you."
Just as she was about to stand up, Ichin's mother grabbed her arm.
"Yukino, you don't need to go. Buying groceries is easy enough for Ichin. You're not fully recovered yet, so don't run around."
Ichin also smiled.
"Yeah, just stay home. I'll go by myself."
Then he looked at Utaha and Haruno, who seemed eager to follow.
"You two as well. Don't come along. Learn from Eriri."
Eriri, who had been lying on the sofa the entire time, shifted her eyes toward Ichin and said weakly,
"I'm just a little carsick. That taxi on the way back was really unreliable!"
"But you're the only one like that, aren't you? So you really should work on exercising more. After we go back, join Yukino and me for morning runs. I'll even ask Aunt Sayuri to supervise you."
"Ah! No way!"
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