When it ca to shopping for clothes, it was mostly Ichin's mom and Utaha who were picking things out. Ichin himself didn't really need much.
Still, after browsing around for a while, the two ended up choosing a sweater for Ichin and a jacket for his dad.
And surprisingly, the jacket for Ichin's dad was paid for by Utaha.
Although the Ichin family wasn't short on money, Utaha insisted on it as a gesture of goodwill and swiped her card without hesitation.
After all, she _was_ a bit of a rich girl—buying sothing for her boyfriend's parents wasn't a big deal to her.
Once the shopping was done, there was still plenty of ti left in the day, so the three decided to stop by a dessert café in the mall for afternoon tea.
As they rode the escalator up to the fifth floor, a girl on the fourth floor, following alongside her parents, happened to glance over curiously in Ichin's direction. She paused, took out her phone, and snapped a photo.
By the ti they reached the café, placed their order, and sat down, Ichin took out his phone—only to see several ssages from his high school classmates.
He opened them and saw they were asking if he was at the mall, and telling him to check the class group chat.
Ichin had never left the class chat, even after going abroad. He had just muted the notifications.
When he opened it, the chat was already buzzing with activity—and to no surprise, it involved him.
Scrolling up, he found the source: soone had taken a photo from behind of the three of them on the escalator.
The sender? A girl from his class—actually, the forr vice class rep.
Ichin thought for a mont, then decided to send a ssage.
> "Yeah, it's . Just got back yesterday. Took so ti off for the New Year."
As soon as he hit send, the chat went silent for three seconds—then exploded.
Luckily, the group was a new, student-only chat with no teachers in it. Otherwise, they wouldn't have dared get this wild.
Seeing that people were all asking who the girl next to him was, Ichin didn't hide it and typed:
> "My girlfriend. Brought her ho for the New Year to et my family."
Naturally, the replies flooded in instantly.
The guys were mostly variations of envy, jealousy, and exaggerated heartbreak—plus a chorus demanding he "post a pic!"
The girls didn't say much, but a few bold ones chid in:
> "Wuwuwu! My youth is officially over!"
> "It hasn't even been a full year yet! How did soone steal him away already?!"
> "Unforgivable! He was the class heartthrob!"
Reading the ssages, Ichin let out a helpless laugh.
Suddenly, a spoon was held out in front of him—topped with three sweet taro balls.
He looked over at Utaha, opened his mouth to eat, then handed her his phone. "Wanna see? One of my old classmates saw us earlier."
"Huh? Really?"
Utaha hadn't been planning to look at his phone, but since he offered, she didn't mind.
As she scrolled through the group chat, she saw quite a few people asking Ichin to post a photo.
"They're asking you to post a pic... of ?"
"Yeah," Ichin chuckled. "They all want to know who 'stole' away. They keep shouting for a photo. So? Want to send one?"
"I don't mind."
Then, with one arm wrapped around Ichin's, Utaha held the phone with the other, and the two of them took a sweet, cozy selfie together—and sent it straight into the chat.
After sending the photo, Utaha was still holding Ichin's phone and decided to send another ssage to the group chat:
> "Hi everyone, I'm Ichin's girlfriend, Kasumigaoka Utaha. Nice to et you all!
> By the way, I didn't use any beauty filter for the photo."
That last line—"no beauty filter"—was a psychological nuke dropped on the group.
The vice class rep had already ntioned in the chat that the girl with Ichin looked quite pretty, but no one had paid it much attention.
Now that the photo was out, it was clear—this wasn't just "pretty." This was full-on _school idol_ level beauty.
So of the girls who had been a bit upset earlier fell completely silent. In the end, all they could do was quietly send their blessings.
There was really nothing else they could do. The couple had already t each other's families. They were a perfect match—handso and talented guy, gorgeous and elegant girl. Who were they, this bunch of salty onlookers, to object?
After scrolling through the amusing chaos in the chat for a while, Utaha noticed a new ssage co in and handed the phone back to Ichin.
He glanced at it—it was from a few close high school friends, asking if he wanted to et up over the New Year break for a al.
Ichin didn't even hesitate—he politely declined and said they should save the reunion for after graduation.
Right now, those guys should focus on their studies.
Across the table, Ichin's mom noticed their little interaction and asked curiously, "Did you run into so classmates? You can invite them over, you know. I _am_ still in the parents' chat group."
"No need," Ichin replied with a shake of his head. "It was a girl—our class's vice rep, actually. We're not really that close, so it'd be a little awkward."
Hearing that, his mom didn't press the issue.
Even if she _was_ the vice class rep, that didn't matter. Compared to Utaha—her future daughter-in-law—everyone else was secondary.
After finishing their desserts, the three of them wandered around the mall a little more before heading ho.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing as a family at ho, preparing for the arrival of Lunar New Year's Eve.
When the big day arrived, they were all ready to go by 4:00 p.m. Ichin's dad drove them into the city center to the large restaurant where they had booked their New Year's Eve dinner.
They arrived at 4:30, the last to show up. Ichin's uncle (his father's elder brother) and his mother's younger brother had both already arrived with their families about ten minutes earlier.
Walking beside Utaha and holding her hand, Ichin's mom whispered to her with a smile,
"Don't be nervous. When I tell you who's who, just greet them, and afterward, you can just sit tight and collect your red envelopes."
The mont the words "red envelopes" were ntioned, any nervousness Utaha had completely evaporated.
She smiled and nodded, "Got it!"
They arrived at Private Room No. 1 and opened the door to find the room already bustling with conversation—everyone was already seated and lively, just waiting for their group.
The mont Ichin and his family entered, everyone turned to look.
Naturally, all eyes landed on Utaha, who stood between Ichin and his mother.
The reactions from the crowd made Ichin's mom very pleased. She was imnsely satisfied with her future daughter-in-law—how could her relatives not be surprised?
With a beaming smile, she pulled Utaha over to greet the relatives.
They made the rounds to greet both Ichin's uncle's and his maternal uncle's families, and Utaha walked away with several large red envelopes in hand.
Of course, Ichin received so too. Since not everyone knew he already had his own career, the red envelopes kept coming.
He happily accepted them all. While the money itself wasn't a big deal, the aning behind the gesture mattered much more.
Once everyone was seated and there was still so ti before the al started, the conversation flowed naturally around the table.
...
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