After dinner, Utaha's parents also arrived with their luggage. They would stay here for the night and head to the airport together the next morning.
Haruno and Sonoko finished a bottle of red wine together, then opened another and emptied that one too. After drinking, the two of them went straight to rest.
Ichin, however, stayed fairly restrained and only drank a single glass. So after Utaha's parents arrived, he was still able to chat with them in the living room.
By ten at night, since everyone needed to head to the airport early the next morning, they all went to bed rather early.
Inside the bedroom, Utaha happily hugged Ichin and said, "Ichin, just thinking about trying on wedding dresses makes me so excited."
Ichin smiled.
"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it too. Hurry up and sleep, we have to get up early tomorrow."
"Mhm, good night, Ichin."
"Good night, Utaha."
They slept until morning, and at seven o'clock sharp, Ichin and Utaha got up on time.
However, by the time they woke up, Utaha's parents were already awake. Her father had gone out for a morning run, while her mother was in the kitchen preparing breakfast.
After washing up, Utaha also went to the kitchen to help her mother, while Ichin, as usual, headed to the gym to work out.
When he finished exercising and came out, Yukino, Haruno, and Sonoko had all gotten up as well.
Although they had drunk quite a bit the previous night, since it had only been wine and not mixed with anything else, none of them really felt hungover.
After breakfast, everyone packed their luggage and drove to the airport.
Of course, they did not forget Eriri and brought her along too.
After arriving at the airport, they waited for a few minutes before the others gradually arrived as well. Soon, it was almost time to board.
Sonoko Machida, who had come to see them off, linked arms with Utaha and said, "Utaha, don't worry about the novel for now. You can deal with it after you come back. There are only a few parts that need revisions anyway."
Utaha smiled and nodded.
"Mhm, I know. Besides, I didn't even bring my laptop this time, so you won't have any chance to make me work."
"Alright then, hurry up and go. I'm heading home to get some rest too. See you next week~~~"
After passing through security, everyone boarded the plane smoothly and found their respective seats.
Ichin and Utaha sat down, put away their belongings, and after the plane took off, they put on their earphones and rested while listening to music.
The flight was not long. A quick nap later, it was already almost time to land when they opened their eyes again.
Taking off her eye mask, Utaha stretched comfortably and leaned against Ichin's shoulder.
"Ichin, where are we having lunch?"
"I honestly don't know. Mom and Dad made the reservation. As long as the food's good, that's all that matters. They're probably already on the way to the restaurant by now, and the cars picking us up should already be waiting outside the airport."
Utaha happily hugged his arm.
"Hehe, it's been so long since I last saw Dad and Mom. It's just a shame we're only staying for such a short time."
"Don't worry. Over the next few months, we'll be coming back often."
Very soon, the plane landed.
After getting off and collecting their luggage, Ichin's group quickly found the people sent to pick them up. They were drivers arranged by Ichin's father.
After meeting up, the group followed the drivers out of the airport, where three cars were already waiting outside. Everyone got in and headed straight toward the restaurant where a private room had been reserved.
Inside the third car, Hajime happily looked out at the scenery outside the window and said:
"It's been so long since I came here to have fun! And this time we came in spring, so the weather's amazing. Way better than autumn or winter!"
Beside her, Yun Iijima nodded in agreement.
"That's true. Tomorrow we can go out and properly look around. There are way more milk tea shops here than in Japan, and there are so many more brands too. I want to see if I can find some really good ones!"
"Oh! I want milk tea too! But we can drink it today as well, right?"
"Yeah, yeah! After we get settled this afternoon, let's go out and have fun!"
Hearing the two of them chatting excitedly, Narumi Tsubame, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, turned around and said:
"You girls really aren't tired at all after a two hour flight?"
"Not tired, but I'm kind of hungry! Momiji, you too, right?"
Sitting by the window, Momiji Mochizuki turned around, nodded, and very obviously swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
She was genuinely hungry, and craving food too.
"…"
Narumi let out a sigh, turned back around, and sat properly again, no longer wanting to talk to those three overly energetic girls in the back.
After nearly an hour of driving, the group finally arrived at the restaurant for lunch.
After getting out of the cars, there was no need to take the luggage. The drivers would also be eating here, and after lunch they still needed to drive everyone home.
Entering the restaurant and giving the private room number to the staff, the group smoothly made their way over.
Pushing open the door, they found that Ichin's parents had indeed already been waiting there.
The moment Ichin's mother saw everyone arrive, she happily stood up and walked over to hug Utaha.
"Utaha, it's been such a long time since you last came."
"Mhm, Mom."
Utaha happily hugged her mother-in-law back as well.
After hugging her daughter-in-law, Ichin's parents also exchanged greetings with Utaha's parents after such a long time, and everyone took their seats together.
Out of everyone present, the happiest person was undoubtedly Ichin's mother.
At this moment, she held Utaha's hand with her right hand and Yukino's with her left, the two girls seated on either side of her, while the smile on her face practically bloomed nonstop.
After asking the staff to start serving the dishes, Ichin's mother smiled at Yukino and asked:
"Are your graduate courses exhausting?"
Yukino smiled and shook her head.
"It was a little tiring at first, but I've already gotten used to it now. It's been pretty good. Every day feels very fulfilling."
"That's good then."
Ichin's mother smiled and gently rubbed Yukino's head.
"I can tell you haven't been neglecting your nutrition. Your cheeks have gotten a little rounder. Eat more later too, we ordered a lot of things you girls like."
"Mhm... eh?"
Yukino blinked blankly, then hurriedly took out her phone and opened the selfie camera to check herself.
"Did they really get rounder?"
On the other side, Haruno laughed and said:
"Godmother, you really shouldn't say things like that too often. Yukino doesn't want to gain weight. If you keep saying that, she's really going to start dieting."
Ichin's mother said completely unconcerned:
"It's fine, she's not actually fat, is she? Eating more is a good thing."
But the more they talked about it, the more Yukino felt like she really had gained weight.
However, once the staff began bringing out steaming hot dishes one after another, Yukino could not help feeling tempted again.
Only now did she realize that the foodie tendencies Ichin had spoiled into her might actually become quite a troublesome problem.
No, I need to control myself!
As lunch began, everyone happily chatted while eating. Completely unlike Yukino, Momiji had never suffered from worries like that. Holding her chopsticks, she simply kept eating bite after bite without hesitation.
Eriri had also recovered from the discomfort from the flight and car ride. Her appetite improved considerably, and while eating, she listened to everyone discussing where they should go and have fun today and tomorrow.
.....
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