The news of Jaden and Erina's engagement wasn't shared with many people.
It was essentially limited to those within Totsuki, Old Man Yugi, and Erina's security detail.
The captain of Erina's security team was Mukuro Ikusaba, the advisor was Kure Fuki, Karura served as an executive, and the core members were mainly elites from the Kure Clan. In addition, there were non-roster professionals such as Tsumugi Shirogane-and even Adam, who had graduated from Arkham.
The structure was simple, and the number of people wasn't large, but in terms of pure combat strength, it far surpassed even Katahara Metsudo's Katahara Security Team.
The engagement ceremony itself was also simple.
There was no excessive extravagance, no unnecessary grandeur.
However, after the ceremony ended, when everyone sat down to eat and Jaden began chatting with the elders-Old Man Yugi, Dojima Gin, and Nakiri Senzaemon-those on Erina's side, including Kure Fuki and the others, couldn't help but feel a little emotional watching Jaden and Erina finally become engaged.
Hisako and Alice both felt that this engagement had come far too late.
Alice, who proudly referred to herself as the President of the Marriage-Pressure Association, announced on the spot that the association was officially disbanded as of today.
Karura and Mukuro Ikusaba simply offered their blessings. Kure Fuki, however, glanced at Karura's reaction and sighed helplessly, recalling the original purpose behind her and Karura's arrival here.
But she didn't actually have any complaints.
If anything, she could be considered half a member of the Marriage-Pressure Association herself.
After all, she hadn't originally come for emotional reasons. And now that she was Erina's personal guard, even if she couldn't find an opportunity with Jaden, she could always consider arranging a marriage between the next generation of the Kure Clan and Jaden and Erina's future child.
The Kure Clan was essentially bound to Totsuki at this point; the two were already tightly linked.
Even if she wanted to leave now, she couldn't.
And even if someone asked her to leave-she wouldn't.
After all...
Kure Fuki, who had originally been the only one seriously carrying out the Kure Clan's mission, now leaned over next to Karura and took a bowl of fried rice from her hands.
Ahem.
It tasted amazing.
Totsuki's food was excellent, the work was easy, the boss was agreeable, and her colleagues were incredibly fun to be around. She had absolutely no desire to leave.
In fact, now that Jaden and Erina were successfully engaged and the Kure Clan's original mission had effectively been half-abandoned, she felt even more relaxed and happy staying at Totsuki.
She, Karura, Mukuro Ikusaba, and Tsumugi Shirogane-the four members of the security team-huddled together, quietly eating while soaking in the atmosphere.
It was at that moment that several members of the Kure Clan approached Kure Fuki and spoke to her. After making a few arrangements, she walked over to Erina.
"Erina, Kaguya and Chika have arrived."
Although she mentioned Kaguya Shinomiya and Chika Fujiwara, in reality, they hadn't come alone.
Sanzenin Mikado and Athena Tennousu were with them as well.
After all, this was a royal engagement-there was no way the two of them would be absent.
In fact, Sanzenin Mikado had originally wanted to bring Nagi Sanzenin along too. Unfortunately, Nagi overslept.
She stubbornly treated her bed like a fortress, and if it weren't for her, Sanzenin Mikado and Athena Tennousu wouldn't even have arrived late.
In the end, Nagi still didn't make it.
But that wasn't surprising.
Nagi Sanzenin had never been fond of going out. When she heard Jaden was getting engaged, she simply told Sanzenin Mikado to bring a gift on her behalf.
As for herself...
She was probably just waking up now-or maybe already playing games.
"That's... a lot of gifts," Jaden said.
Looking at the list-which resembled a menu-he flipped through a few pages and quickly lost interest.
Erina, however, smiled as she read through it and nodded.
"Thank you. But you've already brought so many gifts today-please don't overdo it again when we hold the wedding."
At her words, Sanzenin Mikado pulled a thick "dictionary" out of her bag. Athena Tennousu and Kaguya Shinomiya followed suit, each producing similar items.
Seeing this, Erina couldn't help but smile wryly.
"It seems we'll need to reserve a large warehouse for the wedding... Jaden, remember to note that down."
"Got it," Jaden replied.
They had already been organizing and preparing for the wedding recently. The overall framework was set; the rest were flexible details like this. Making a note was enough.
At that moment, Chika Fujiwara skipped over, took out a document, and handed it to Erina.
"Hehe, I heard you two got engaged, so I brought this~"
Chika Fujiwara's gift wasn't an expensive object-but in another sense, it was extremely valuable.
It was a marriage registration form.
If anyone else had brought it, it wouldn't have mattered much, since Jaden and Erina were still slightly underage.
But what Chika Fujiwara brought was different.
Despite how unreliable she often appeared, she was a legitimate administrator of the Far East.
In certain respects, her words were effectively law.
Since she brought it, that meant the document was fully valid-even with their ages.
Jaden and Erina exchanged a glance, then smiled at Chika.
"That was thoughtful."
Although the engagement ceremony had already concluded, since Chika had brought this, they naturally signed the registration form and handed it back to her to be processed.
In a sense, from this moment on, Jaden and Erina were officially husband and wife.
Yet after everything was over and the guests had left, when the two of them were finally alone, they didn't feel an immediate, dramatic change.
It felt the same as usual.
And yet... sitting together felt subtly different.
Normally, when they were together, they chatted endlessly about all kinds of things. But tonight, sitting side by side, neither quite knew what to say.
In the end, Jaden spoke first.
"Erina, the renovation of the marital home has already started, and the wedding framework is set. The remaining details-things we might add later or need to adjust-can be handled gradually. What about your side?"
Erina blinked.
"I've handed most of Totsuki's work over to Hisako and Alice~"
"But Jaden, didn't you forget about the Kengan match for your 'Demon Spear' title? If we're planning a world tour, we'll probably have to wait until that match is finished."
Jaden nodded, recalling it as well.
"That's true. I still need to find someone to participate in that match. We'll have to wait a bit."
"But the good thing is, I don't need to fight personally-so we can watch it together."
"Mhm."
Erina had no objections.
The day had been filled with the engagement ceremony, and now the sky outside was gradually darkening.
Although they had often lived together before when things were quiet, now that their relationship had been formally defined, the feeling was entirely different.
Especially now-Jaden had mostly wrapped up his necessary affairs, and Erina had handed Totsuki over to Alice and the others. All those complicated matters faded into the background.
They were more relaxed.
In their eyes, aside from each other, many things that once demanded attention quietly lost their importance.
At the same time, the way they thought about the future began to change.
They were no longer simply handling their own responsibilities while considering the other person as an extension.
They had entered a new stage-
One where they would think about everything together, as two people bound side by side.
From this moment on,
They quietly completed their first farewell to their past selves.