"Wha… why so formal all of a sudden!"
Eriri jumped in surprise, stood up, and took two steps back, looking at Sato with some discomfort.
She quickly came back to her senses, glared at Sato, and said through gritted teeth, "I told you not to call me that name at school!"
"Hmph!"
She snorted and returned to her seat, sitting down again with her arms crossed over her flat chest, one leg slightly raised.
Under her uniform's short skirt, a section of Eriri's thigh was exposed, white as ivory. The part below was wrapped in black stockings, the curve of her calves rising and falling, looking especially graceful.
Sato sat back down and said to Eriri, "So, have you decided what kind of theme you want to draw?"
"Of course not!"
Eriri frowned in frustration and said, "If I had decided, I wouldn't have come to the club room to find you."
Hearing this, Sato took a closer look at Eriri. Only then did he notice that her expression looked somewhat worn out.
"You've worked hard."
Sato looked at Eriri sincerely as he said this.
Eriri glanced at him, then suddenly turned her head away, not daring to meet his eyes. Her cheeks turned red as she said, "This isn't just your problem. Instead of saying that, you might as well help me think of a theme!"
"You're asking so suddenly. Even I don't have any particularly good ideas."
Sato let out a sigh and tilted his head slightly upward, looking at the sky.
The sky was blue, distant, and deep, like a vast ocean, with clouds gathering and rolling.
After relaxing, Sato suddenly noticed the weight in his hand. Straightening his body, he asked Eriri, "Eriri, want some cookies?"
"Huh? Can I?"
"Of course!"
Sato handed Eriri the cookies that Yuigahama Yui had given him earlier.
After taking them, Eriri didn't think much of it. Her slender, fair fingers picked up a cookie and brought it to her mouth.
"Ugh!"
Suddenly, Eriri shuddered, then spat out everything she had just eaten.
Sato froze. This…
Eriri trembled as she raised her head. Her delicate, beautiful face twisted together as she looked at him and said shakily, "Are you sure the person who gave you these cookies doesn't have a grudge against you?"
"What's wrong?"
Sato glanced at the cookie in his hand, swallowed hard, and quickly put it back into the bag.
It seemed Yuigahama Yui might be a disaster in the kitchen.
"There's way too much sugar!"
Eriri's face looked pained as she said, "It's like someone pried your mouth open and kept pouring in white sugar, honey, syrup. It's so cloying that your whole body feels uncomfortable, like countless sticky tentacles are rubbing all over you."
Th-that kind of description… as expected of Eriri.
Sato found it amusing, but soon remembered something else.
If he recalled correctly, when he first met Nakiri Erina at Totsuki, he had heard many similarly strange critiques.
Hmm?
Wait!
Sato suddenly lowered his head and began thinking.
Noticing that Sato had fallen into deep thought, Eriri closed her mouth and looked at him curiously, her black-stockinged legs swinging back and forth…
"Eriri!"
Sato suddenly lifted his head and looked at Eriri, his eyes shining with an unprecedented light.
"What is it?"
"How about we choose a theme related to cooking?"
"Huh? Why did you suddenly think of that? I'm not exactly good at cooking!"
Eriri first looked at him in surprise, then showed a troubled expression.
Sato smiled and said, "Don't you think your description just now was very vivid?"
Vivid?
Eriri recalled what she had just said and began sketching it out in her mind. Her eyes gradually lit up.
"So… you're planning to use the reactions after eating as the core point?!"
"Exactly. What do you think?"
Sato asked eagerly.
"Hmm… that actually sounds pretty good. That means eating great food and not-so-good food would lead to different reactions."
"The latter can be expressed in the style I just described."
"As for the former, it would be a sense of intoxication, satisfaction…"
"Eh?!"
Eriri suddenly lifted her head, her face turning red as she stammered, "Y-you want me to draw in that kind of style?!"
"Looks like you figured it out."
Sato smiled teasingly and said, "What do you think of the idea? The main focus would be the reactions after eating and the expressions."
"Maybe…"
"Maybe what?"
"Maybe you don't need to focus on how to cook. The protagonist could be a gourmet or some other character who travels around for work or other reasons, tasting everyday food from different places."
"If it's just a gourmet, the story might be a bit monotonous. The protagonist could be an office worker who travels frequently for business or some other profession. Every time they travel, they taste local specialties. You can also spice things up with encounters with all kinds of strange customers…"
"There are three main selling points: strange customers, food from different places, and the protagonist's reactions after eating."
"And since you're not good at plotting, you can replace it with a series of short stories. What do you think of that idea?"
Sato turned to look, only to find that Eriri's expression had already gone blank.
"Eriri?"
"Th-this idea is amazing!"
Eriri suddenly jumped up, looking at him with excitement as she said repeatedly, "This way I can avoid my weakness in storytelling, and I can gather material for each chapter directly from real life!"
As for the short stories in each chapter, that wasn't a problem for Eriri. After all, even drawing adult content required small plots.
"So, it's decided?"
"Mm, wait. Let me try drawing one chapter first."
"Alright, you decide."