Right before the end of the workday, Ichin left his office and headed down to the fourth floor, where he found Sayuri chatting with Eriri.
"Eriri, Aunt Sayuri, want to have dinner together tonight? Utaha and Yukino already picked a restaurant."
Seeing Ichin approach, Sayuri smiled and shook her head.
"No need, I already reserved a restaurant earlier. I'll be taking Eriri there after she gets off work."
"Alright then. Let's eat together another time. I'll head out first."
After informing Yagami Kou and the others, Ichin left the company.
Once he was gone, Sayuri rubbed her chin and asked curiously,
"Besides Utaha… Yukino is joining dinner too? That's a bit surprising."
"What's surprising about it?"
Eriri looked puzzled. "Those three are all from Todai. And as far as I know, Yukino and Utaha each only had one afternoon class today. Going out together afterward is completely normal."
"Hmm~~ maybe so."
Sayuri nodded ambiguously, then smiled at her daughter.
"You're pretty much done here, right? Pack up—Mom's treating you to a feast!"
"Yay! What are we eating?"
"Hot pot!"
"Ehhh, boring~~"
Meanwhile, Ichin drove out of the company parking lot and followed the location pin Utaha sent him earlier, arriving at a Cantonese restaurant in Ginza.
"There's actually a new Cantonese place here? If Utaha hadn't messaged me, I'd never have known."
After parking, he glanced at the luxurious storefront and followed the staff inside.
The interior was elegant but surprisingly comfortable—not overly extravagant just because it was in Ginza.
If it had been excessively flashy, Utaha and Yukino probably wouldn't have chosen it.
Before long, Ichin reached the table where Utaha and Yukino were seated. The two girls were each holding menus, picking out what they wanted for dinner.
Seeing him arrive, Utaha instantly lit up with a bright smile.
"Come quick, Ichin, we were waiting for you! We haven't ordered yet!"
She immediately waved at a nearby server. "Waiter, we're ready to order!"
Ichin sat down with a smile and took the menu Utaha handed him.
"Did you buy anything while shopping this afternoon?"
"We did~ Bought some clothes."
Utaha said, "A few stores had new arrivals, so Yukino and I browsed around and bought a few pieces. We also picked up some accessories. Oh, and we chose two coats for you! You didn't buy any new winter coats this year, right? I saw one that suited you really well, so we just bought it. It's in Yukino's car. Try it on when we get home."
Ichin nodded. "Mm, I'm sure you two picked good ones. What do you want to drink? I'll get a fresh orange juice."
"I'll have milk tea," Utaha said. "Since we found this place earlier, I held back from buying milk tea this afternoon. Yukino, milk tea for you too?"
Yukino looked down at her menu and replied, "I'll have lemon tea."
Once drinks were ordered, Ichin began choosing the dishes. Among the three of them, he was the most familiar with Cantonese cuisine—Utaha was second, and Yukino last—so naturally the responsibility of ordering fell to him.
Neither girl was picky, aside from Yukino eating less meat than average, so choosing dishes was easy enough.
After flipping through the entire menu, Ichin asked the server which dishes were the most popular.
He then ordered: white-cut chicken, crispy roast goose, steamed mandarin fish, shiitake mushrooms with choy sum, and finally a pig-stomach soup.
"Four dishes and one soup—more than enough for the three of us. Whatever we can't finish, we'll pack up and bring home for the cats' supper."
After handing the menu back, Ichin smiled once the server left.
"The dishes here look pretty good. I just don't know how authentic their Cantonese flavors will be."
Utaha sipped her hot tea and sounded quite anticipation:
"They should be good. I checked online reviews, and a lot of people rated this place highly—plus the photos looked convincing."
Yukino added calmly, "But the prices are a bit high."
"Normal. It's Ginza—no point hoping for cheap food here. And it's not like we come all the time. If you really like Cantonese cuisine, you can study it at home. It's not that hard, right? You already have the basics."
Cantonese cuisine, as one of the Eight Major Cuisines, had countless dishes. Aside from some complicated ones, many were easy to learn and quite healthy.
"Hmm~~~"
Ichin rubbed his chin with interest.
"Come to think of it, one of the cafeteria chefs at the company actually knows Cantonese cooking. I'll ask him tomorrow—maybe have him make roast goose every now and then? And since we're ordering roast goose here tonight, I can compare which one tastes better."
Without noticing it, Ichin's foodie nature was being completely awakened.
Soon, the drinks and dishes arrived. Unsurprisingly for a restaurant daring to operate in Ginza at high prices, the food was excellent.
Especially the roast goose and white-cut chicken—Ichin couldn't find a single flaw.
Not only him—Utaha and Yukino were also fully satisfied and ended up eating more than expected.
After finishing, they packed up the leftovers and headed home.
When they arrived, Ichin unsurprisingly saw Haruno already sitting in the living room.
Setting the takeaway box on the table, Ichin sighed helplessly.
"Haruno-nee, can't you go back to your own place? If I'd known, I wouldn't have given you a key."
Placing Peppa the cat on the sofa, Haruno happily bounced over.
"Ooh, what yummy things did you bring back?"
"We had Cantonese food tonight. There was a little roast goose and white-cut chicken left, so we packed it."
"Oh! Perfect timing—I'm hungry. Let me have it!"
Not being polite in the slightest, Haruno ran to the kitchen, grabbed chopsticks, and sat down to dig in.
"Mmm! It's delicious!"
Ichin poured her a cup of water and sat beside her.
"You didn't have dinner?"
"I did," Haruno said after swallowing. "But I had meetings all afternoon and ended up missing the proper dinner hour. I just grabbed something quick at the company cafeteria. Now I'm hungry again. By the way, where's Utaha?"
Just then, Utaha and Yukino walked in, carrying several shopping bags each.
The moment Yukino saw her older sister, she immediately looked enlightened.
"I knew it—your shoes were here but you weren't, so of course you'd be here. And hey, why are you stealing the cats' food?"
"Eh? The cats'?"
Still chewing chicken, Haruno turned to look at Ichin.
Ichin nodded with a grin.
"Yeah, we intended to pack it for the cats' supper. But it's fine if you eat it."
"Well, first come, first served!"
Saying that, she happily picked up another piece of roast goose and popped it into her mouth.
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