Chapter 71: Huh? There Isn't?
In the evening, Eriri returned home.
Sawamura Sayuri, who was watching TV in the living room, saw Eriri come back and was about to speak, but then realized that Eriri hadn't even noticed her. Eriri passed by her, humming a song with a smile on her face, and went upstairs.
"...Did something good happen?"
Under Sawamura Sayuri's gaze, Eriri went upstairs and entered her room.
She threw down her bag, flopped onto the large bed, grabbed the cushion she had bought two days ago, and giggled foolishly.
Meanwhile, Kaede also returned home.
"I'm home~"
"Welcome back. How was your day?"
After changing his shoes and entering, Kaede took the first volume of love metronome out of his bag and handed it to his mother, saying, "Here, the novel."
"Thank you, Kaede."
Taking the novel, Asakura Reiko looked at her son and asked, "Were you at the bookstore all day today?"
Shaking his head, Kaede said, "In the morning, I went to check out a few bookstores. At noon, my Senpai's editor, Editor Machida, came over and treated us to lunch. In the afternoon, my Senpai and the editor went to the Bunko, and Eriri and I sat for a while at a Cat Café."
Listening to Kaede's reply, Asakura Reiko smiled with satisfaction. After putting the novel away, she said, "Alright, Kaede, go rest for a bit. Mom will prepare dinner."
After returning to his room, Kaede stretched, sat down in his computer chair, and exhaled.
"Ayaya, I almost couldn't stop myself from confessing. I need to find a suitable time, and the location needs careful consideration too."
On the way home after leaving the Cat Café in the afternoon, Kaede looked at Eriri beside him, and this thought had popped into his head more than once.
Fortunately, he held back. Although he felt Eriri would most likely agree, he ultimately decided he needed to find a better environment and time.
Call it a bit of an obsession... A new week arrived, and it was time for school again.
Since it was her turn for class duty today, Eriri woke up early and took the bus to school.
"Ugh... I'm so sleepy... I shouldn't have stayed up so late drawing yesterday."
Covering her mouth as she yawned, Eriri walked toward the school building, still slightly groggy.
Just as she was about to enter, Eriri saw a girl in her line of sight carefully looking around, doing something while holding an object in her hand.
Seeing this, Eriri slowed her steps, filled with a bit of confusion.
Then she watched as the girl opened a shoe locker, placed what looked like an envelope inside, closed it, and quickly hurried away.
Another girl delivering a love letter?
Seeing the girl leave, Eriri walked into the school building.
She hadn't thought much of it, but when she looked toward where the girl had placed the letter, Eriri unexpectedly saw the name marked on the shoe locker.
Kaede.
"...No, seriously?"
She looked left and right, and seeing that no one had entered yet, Eriri quietly walked over and opened Kaede's shoe locker.
The next moment, Eriri's expression darkened, because there wasn't just one love letter inside—there were five.
"What the heck, so many..."
She originally intended to close it immediately, but seeing that no one was around, Eriri thought for a moment, swallowed, reached in, took all the love letters out, stuffed them into her own backpack, and then quickly ran to her locker, changed her shoes, and rushed toward her classroom.
Although Eriri didn't believe Kaede would accept confessions from girls he didn't even know, instinctively, she still didn't want Kaede to see those things.
However, after returning to her classroom and starting her duties, Eriri couldn't help but feel regret.
"I... I wonder if what I did was a bit much?"
She thought about whether she should immediately go and put the items back, but quickly heard footsteps and numerous voices outside the classroom, immediately abandoning the idea.
After more than ten minutes, the school began to fill up with people, and Kaede arrived at school, riding his bicycle.
After changing his shoes and arriving in the classroom, just as he sat down, Takasu Ryuji excitedly walked over and said to him, "Asakura, I saw Kushieda-san yesterday! She's working at another store too!"
Kaede was already used to this kind of thing. While taking out his weekend homework to hand in, he replied, "Is that so? Did you say hello to her?"
"..."
Sure enough, hearing no reply from Takasu Ryuji, Kaede looked up at him and said with a look of disappointment, "You guy, you're too useless, aren't you? Sometimes I really wish your personality could be as fierce as your eyes—no, one-third of that, or even one-tenth of that would be enough. Maybe then you wouldn't be in this situation."
"Uh... isn't that a bit of an exaggeration?"
Kaede looked at the embarrassed Takasu Ryuji and shook his head, saying, "You really need to temper your personality better. At the very least, you shouldn't be unable to even talk to girls, right? Didn't things go smoothly during Golden Week? You were able to communicate normally with Usami and Eriri."
"These... these two things can't be compared!"
"Why can't they?" After asking rhetorically, Kaede waved his hand and said, "Anyway, you really need to temper your personality. Why don't you find a part-time job where you can interact with more people to train yourself?"
Pointing to his eyes, Takasu Ryuji asked, "Emmm~~ With these eyes of mine, will I be able to manage?"
"How will you know if you don't try?"
"Uh... I'll do my best."
Just then, the classroom's back door opened, and Kitamura Yusaku walked in, smiling as he said, "You two are already here? What are you talking about?"
"Nothing much, just complaining about Takasu's personality." After helping Takasu Ryuji cover up, Kaede asked, "You're quite early today."
"I can't help it. After joining the Student Council, things have piled up. Luckily, the Softball Club doesn't have practice today, or I'd be even more exhausted." After explaining, Kitamura Yusaku put his arm around Kaede's shoulder and said with a smile, "You guy, you're probably going to be busy again today, right?"
"Huh? What is it?" Kaede looked at Kitamura Yusaku, confused.
"Don't play dumb, I saw it." Kitamura Yusaku adjusted his glasses and whispered, "Love letters. I saw them when I came in this morning. A girl was stuffing love letters into your shoe locker."
Hearing this, Takasu Ryuji also looked at Kaede in surprise, his eyes gleaming with envy.
Ignoring his gaze, Kaede frowned and said, "Love letters? No, when I opened my shoe locker, there were only my own shoes inside, nothing else."
"Eh? There aren't any? That's impossible."
Kitamura Yusaku rubbed his chin, looking puzzled, "That can't be right, I saw it with my own eyes. Did something go wrong?"
Kitamura Yusaku's expression didn't look like he was lying, which made both Kaede and Takasu Ryuji feel confused.