Saturday, 8 a.m.
Because there was a special activity today, going to check out Hazuki's blind date, Ichin didn't sleep in and had set his alarm for eight.
However, the moment he opened his eyes, he found that both sides of the bed were already empty.
"They're already up?"
Ichin thought he might have set the alarm wrong, but when he grabbed his phone, it was indeed 8 a.m.
Up this early?
Scratching his head, Ichin got out of bed, got dressed, and walked out of the bedroom.
As soon as he went downstairs, he heard voices coming from the TV.
Looking over, he saw Utaha, Yukino, and Haruno all dressed in tight workout clothes, sitting in front of the TV and following along with a yoga video.
This was a rare sight. At home, usually only Haruno did yoga, while Utaha and Yukino would at most use the treadmill.
Walking over with a smile, Ichin said, "What's going on today? All three of you are doing yoga?"
While stretching her body, Utaha turned her head and replied, "To maintain our figures. Running alone isn't enough. Yoga is actually a pretty good method, and it also improves flexibility."
Haruno, sitting between the two, added, "For girls, maintaining a good figure is very important, especially for people like us. Ichin, do you want to join? It feels really good!"
"I'll pass."
Ichin shook his head repeatedly and turned to head upstairs.
"I'll go change and then head to the gym."
Yoga wasn't his thing. He had already planned out a full workout routine, including running and various strength training exercises.
Even though he didn't have time to go to an outside gym with a personal trainer, he had still paid professionals to design a program for him. All he needed to do was follow it.
After finishing his workout and taking a shower, Ichin came back downstairs. Utaha and the others had already finished and prepared breakfast.
Today's breakfast was egg and ham sandwiches along with soy milk. Simple, but nutritious and tasty.
Taking a bite of a sandwich, Ichin said, "Hazuki's meeting with her blind date is scheduled for the afternoon, and we already know the café location. We just need to head there a bit early. For lunch, do you want to eat at home or go out?"
Haruno immediately raised her hand. "Let's eat out! I want yakiniku!"
Ichin laughed. "Haruno, you just finished exercising and now you want yakiniku? Wasn't that workout pointless?"
"What nonsense!"
Haruno glared at him and explained, "I'm not doing yoga to lose weight, just to maintain my figure. My weight is already stable, and with regular exercise, there's no way I'll gain weight!"
After saying that, she even struck a confident pose with her head held high.
Even though she had changed out of her yoga outfit into loose casual clothes, her graceful figure was still clearly visible.
What she said wasn't wrong. She didn't need to lose weight at all, just maintain it.
"Yakiniku, huh? That works. What about you two, Utaha and Yukino? What do you want to eat?"
Compared to Haruno, Ichin cared more about Utaha and Yukino's opinions.
Taking a sip of soy milk, Utaha said, "Yakiniku sounds good. It's been a while since we last had it."
Yukino nodded as well. "Yes, yakiniku is fine."
"Alright, then let's find a place near that café. I told Kō and the others yesterday that everyone would move separately and just arrive at the agreed time."
Taking out his phone, Ichin searched for nearby yakiniku restaurants.
"Found one. How about Jojoen? That's the only yakiniku place around there."
The three of them nodded in agreement, and just like that, their lunch spot was decided.
Jojoen might be a chain restaurant, but the taste was still quite good, and they had eaten there before while traveling, so it was a safe choice.
After breakfast, there was still plenty of time before lunch. Ichin took his laptop and leisurely worked on a proposal in the living room, while Utaha and the other two watched TV and scrolled through their phones, chatting about gossip.
Looking at forum posts on her phone, Haruno said in surprise, "Wow! There have been so many celebrity scandals lately!"
Yukino nodded in agreement. "I knew that industry was messy, but I didn't expect it to be this exaggerated. Utaha, when you were involved in that TV drama production before, did you notice anything like this?"
"Me?" Utaha tapped her chin and recalled, "The cast in my production were mostly rising actors, not big stars yet, so it was relatively fine. I didn't see any messy stuff like that. Plus, I was introduced by Aunt Sayuri, so I had some backing. Even if there were things like that, they wouldn't casually let me know, since it would leave a bad impression."
"That makes sense," Haruno said with a smile. "Honestly, it's better not to get involved in that kind of industry. For someone like Utaha, just writing scripts is enough. There's no need to deal with anything else. As for Ichin, even though he's in the gaming industry, just relying on that alone, he's built up enough connections and strength over the years. And he's a foreigner. After you get married, no one will dare to mess with you."
Haruno's words were a bit exaggerated, but there was truth to them.
Even though Ichin usually kept a low profile, the strong annual game sales, combined with merchandise and collaborations, brought in profits that even some veteran game developers couldn't ignore.
Not to mention, Ichin had good relationships with many companies both within and outside the industry. If someone really caused trouble, it wouldn't end peacefully.
Even without being involved in the entertainment industry, not just anyone would dare to provoke them.
These days, strength was what truly mattered, no matter the field.
Ichin smiled. "It's not that extreme. We just focus on our own work and don't go around causing trouble. But we're not afraid of it either."
Even without him taking action personally, just a few words from him would be enough to make those so-called celebrities uncomfortable.
Leaning over to look at the gossip on the phone, Ichin said, "Although we've gone a bit off-topic, these recent scandals are really outrageous, and there's solid evidence too. Seriously…"
He had always known the Japanese entertainment industry was chaotic, but he didn't expect it to be this ridiculous or involve so many people.
Only a very small number of individuals could probably stay completely clean.
Ichin was also glad that from the very beginning, his marketing strategy hadn't relied on hiring so-called top-tier actors for advertisements. Instead, they focused mainly on in-game footage, at most hiring a few voice actors for narration.
Yeah, better to keep doing it that way in the future.
...
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