[Game] Chapter 431-432

Chapter 431: A New Neighbor Next Door

Yukino’s cooking had improved by leaps and bounds—thanks to both her experience living alone after high school and the guidance of Ichin’s mother.

Her dishes were still on the lighter side, but the taste was excellent.

After eating their fill, the four of them brewed tea and sat together in the living room to relax and chat.

The cats, having had their dinner too, were all curled up together, eyes half-closed in lazy contentment, unwilling to move.

Taking a sip of hot tea, Ichin said,

“Yukino, your cooking’s gotten even better. I think you’ve already surpassed me.”

“Of course she has.”

Haruno grinned.

“Godmother’s passed on everything she knows to Yukino—not just to you and Utaha.”

“That’s true.”

Looking at Yukino, Ichin suddenly remembered what he had discussed with Utaha before leaving work, and added,

“Yukino, are you free Thursday afternoon? I’ll be tied up with work and probably won’t make it back for dinner, so can you keep Utaha company?”

Yukino, who had just been about to scoop up one of the cats, looked at him and nodded.

“Work, huh? Got it. I don’t have many classes Thursday afternoon—I can go with Utaha-senpai.”

Utaha smiled, surprised that Ichin brought it up before she could.

“In that case, Thursday afternoon we’ll go shopping, then find a nice place to eat dinner. And we won’t bring Ichin.”

Haruno perked up, looking interested.

“I’ll be stuck at work so I can’t shop, but count me in for dinner!”

And so, the three women launched into plans for Thursday’s outing, paying no mind at all to Ichin sitting right there.

Not that he minded—he’d be busy anyway—so he let them chat about restaurants and shopping as much as they liked.

Around eight in the evening, Ichin and Utaha left Yukino’s place and drove home.

After letting the cats out of their carriers, Utaha glanced at him.

“Ichin, I’ll go take a bath first, okay?”

“Yeah, go ahead.”

Ichin opened the laptop on the coffee table.

“I’ll work on a few things in the meantime.”

He intended to use the time at home to push forward with some game project plans.

After a good night’s rest, he and Utaha got up at eight sharp the next morning.

They didn’t have first-period classes today, so they could head to school a little later.

Once they’d washed up, had breakfast, and played with the two cats a bit, it was time to leave.

But as soon as they stepped outside, they noticed that the apartment next door was in the middle of a move.

The neighbors had been a family of three. They hadn’t interacted much, but whenever they did, the relationship was friendly.

After a morning greeting, Ichin asked what was happening.

It turned out the father had received a promotion, requiring him to transfer to the company’s Kyoto headquarters. So they were moving out these few days, and the apartment itself was being put up for sale.

Ichin and Utaha watched as the family loaded their belongings onto the moving company’s truck, then drove off in their own car.

Smiling, Utaha said softly,

“What a nice family atmosphere.”

“Yeah, it really is.”

Ichin nodded, then glanced at her with a teasing smile.

“What’s this—are you feeling a little envious?”

Utaha clasped her hands behind her back and shook her head.

“Not really. It’s not like our relationship is any weaker than that family of three.”

“I’ll agree with that.”

Ichin crossed his arms, thought for a moment, and analyzed,

“Hmm… could it be about marriage? Or children? But I’m not at that stage yet—we’ll have to wait a while.”

“There is a little of that.”

Hugging Ichin’s arm, Utaha smiled.

“Even though I like kids, I’m not in a rush. I still want to enjoy more time with just you first.”

“And if my mom starts pushing us?”

Hearing that, Utaha frowned slightly, looking troubled.

“In that case… maybe we’d just have to hurry up and have kids.”

“If you don’t want to in the short term, you can just tell her directly. She won’t force you.”

“I know. I don’t dislike the idea—I just think it should happen naturally.”

She looked at Ichin, her eyes narrowing in a smile.

“Honestly, I’m kind of looking forward to our child. She’d definitely be beautiful, don’t you think?”

“You’re already assuming it’ll be a daughter?”

“That’s called intuition.”

Ichin chuckled, twirling his keyring.

“Alright then, intuition it is. Anyway, we should get going.”

That morning their classes were fully scheduled, so by the time they finished, there wasn’t much time left to head to the company.

When the last class ended in the afternoon, Ichin packed up, picked up Utaha from her class, and the two went home together.

As soon as they got upstairs, they saw two real estate agents inspecting the apartment next door.

When Ichin unlocked their own door, he could still hear their conversation faintly.

“We need to check this carefully, no cutting corners.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not about to miss out on a bonus.”

After closing the door, Ichin said in surprise,

“Didn’t expect that. Just one day, and the place next door is already sold.”

Utaha nodded in agreement.

“That really was fast. Remember, before you moved in here, this place had been empty for nearly half a year. And yet the unit next door found a buyer so quickly. I wonder what kind of new neighbor we’ll get.”

“Who knows? We’ll find out soon enough. Anyway, I’ll start dinner—you go ahead and rest.”

Sure enough, by Wednesday, as the two were heading out, people had already arrived to begin renovations on the apartment next door. They’d brought plenty of materials, even new flooring. Clearly they planned a full remodel, rather than keeping the old owner’s style.

By Thursday, Ichin had finished his morning class and headed straight to the company to prepare for the afternoon meeting with New Northeastern Pictures. Utaha, meanwhile, stayed at campus since she still had classes.

At lunch, Utaha naturally ate with Yukino.

The two went together to the cafeteria. With plenty of students sneaking glances at them, they each ordered food, found an empty table, and sat down to eat.

Utaha had ramen. After sipping a little of the broth, she looked at Yukino’s face and said,

“Do you have a lot of coursework lately? Even with makeup, I can still see a bit of dark circles.”

Yukino didn’t deny it and nodded.

“Mm. These past few days, with classes picking up, there’s a lot more to memorize. Some of it is pretty difficult.”

Utaha recalled something.

“When Nene was still in college, she said the same thing. Not only did she have to memorize the material, she had to organize it all clearly in her mind, and go through tons of case studies so she could tell them apart when similar ones came up. I got curious and looked at their law textbooks once—no wonder, it was ridiculously complicated. So Yukino, it’s good to take things seriously, but don’t push yourself too hard.”

“Mm, I won’t.”

Taking a bite of rice, Yukino said, “But this way, it’s more of a challenge.”

***

Chapter 432: A Newly Opened Pet Supply Store

Yukino had only one class that afternoon, but Utaha had two. So after Yukino finished hers, Utaha dragged her along to her classroom to keep her company.

At university, “sitting in” on classes wasn’t unusual. And with Yukino’s strong background in literature, tagging along to a literature lecture wasn’t boring for her at all—she was actually interested.

When Utaha’s classmates saw her bring Yukino, they all looked curious.

“K—Kasumigaoka-san, who’s this?”

“She’s so pretty!”

“I think I’ve seen her before. You three often eat together, right? You and Ichin too.”

Holding Yukino’s hand, Utaha smiled and introduced her:

“Mm~ she’s someone Ichin’s mother considers a goddaughter, so I treat her like my younger sister. This is Yukinoshita Yukino, a freshman in the law faculty.”

“Ehh?!”

The girls crowding around all looked at Yukino with curiosity. One of them suddenly remembered something.

“Oh, I recall—back at the start of the semester, there were photos of her posted on the school forum. But they got deleted pretty quickly.”

Utaha nodded.

“Yep, that was her. Since the photos were taken without permission, we had the admin remove the post.”

After chatting for a bit, class began, and everyone returned to their seats.

Utaha leaned over to Yukino and whispered:

“Don’t be fooled by how gossipy they seem—they’re actually nice people. Anyway, the professor’s here, let’s pay attention.”

The lecture wasn’t too difficult for Yukino to follow, and the professor’s teaching style was engaging, so she listened seriously.

After class, Utaha and Yukino left campus to go shopping.

But instead of heading to their usual mall, Utaha insisted they drive a bit farther to a different one.

Once they parked and stood before the large shopping center, Yukino asked curiously,

“Why did we come here?”

Utaha’s eyes sparkled with anticipation.

“I saw online that a new pet supply store opened here. They’ve got lots of new toys, premium cat food and canned meals, and even grooming services. I thought it’d be nice to check it out. Interested?”

Ever since she started keeping cats, Utaha’s interests had expanded from just writing novels to diving deep into feline care. She often researched tips on raising cats. The moment she’d learned about this new shop, she’d wanted to come—and today was the perfect chance, especially with fellow cat-lover Yukino.

Naturally, Yukino was intrigued and agreed right away. Together they entered the mall.

Taking the elevator up to the fourth floor, they soon found the new store and stepped inside.

The place was warmly decorated, giving off a cozy vibe. Quite a few people were browsing with their pets in tow.

Through a pane of glass, they could see a Labrador being bathed by staff. Judging from its relaxed posture, the dog seemed to be enjoying the treatment, not squirming at all.

After glancing around, Yukino remarked,

“This shop looks pretty good. Let’s take a look.”

“Yeah, let’s browse.” Utaha agreed.

They started in the toy section.

Both of them kept cats, so most of their toys at home were feather wands or battery-powered toy mice. Each of their homes already had a couple of cat towers—more than enough.

Utaha picked up a box containing a remote-controlled toy mouse.

“This looks fun. Should we try it out?”

Yukino tilted her head.

“Utaha-senapi, do you think Peppa and George would even be interested? They’re rescues, and they never really developed hunting instincts.”

“That’s fine. I’m not expecting them to catch mice—our house doesn’t have any anyway.” Holding the toy, Utaha explained,

“The main thing is exercise. When Ichin and I are out, I check the cameras, and most of the time they’re just lying around—in their beds, on the sofa, or on the cat tower. Hardly any activity. Just climbing the tower isn’t nearly enough, especially for orange cats. And lately George is starting to copy Peppa’s laziness too. We need to watch out.”

Under Peppa’s influence—and after playing around with Mozuku at the company—George had already adopted a “lazy lounging cat” lifestyle.

But that couldn’t go on. They couldn’t let the cats’ weight creep up unchecked.

A bit over ten pounds was fine, but pushing close to twenty or more would be unhealthy and potentially dangerous.

Utaha also wanted Peppa and George to be healthy enough to one day grow up alongside her and Ichin’s future child—so they had to take care of them properly.

Hearing this, Yukino thought about her own cats’ activity levels and picked out two toys as well.

As for treats, both their homes had plenty, so there was no need to buy more—though cutting back on snacks in the future seemed wise.

After they’d finished selecting items, they saw the Labrador being led out after its bath and blow-dry. Its chocolate-colored coat gleamed beautifully, and the dog looked in excellent shape.

The owner was clearly pleased, buying some chew toys before leaving with their pet.

Next, a Ragdoll cat was brought in for a bath.

Watching, Utaha and Yukino immediately decided to book weekend grooming services for their cats.

Bathing them at home wasn’t impossible. For Utaha, splitting the work with Ichin was manageable. But for Yukino, handling four cats alone was a huge task—exhausting by the end.

Finding a professional shop that offered quality bathing and grooming was a godsend.

They made an appointment for Saturday, left their contact info, and exited the store.

Checking the time, Utaha said,

“There’s still a while before Haruno-nee gets off work. Let’s wander around, look at some clothes, maybe find a nice restaurant. If we like something, we’ll just eat here. Ichin hasn’t sent me a message yet—he’s probably not joining us for dinner.”

Yukino nodded and followed at her side as they strolled deeper into the mall.

***