Chapter 192: Not Eating Dinner at Home Tonight
The following day at noon, Eriri received a call from Shinomiya Kaguya. She had successfully added Shirogane Miyuki as a LINE friend, and the other two members of the Student Council as well, of course.
Shinomiya Kaguya, currently alone, smiled as she spoke into her phone: "Everyone was very shocked when they saw I bought a new phone. Especially the President; it seems he never expected me to take the initiative to add him as a friend. He was completely dumbfounded."
Eriri was naturally with Kaede at this moment. Leaning on Kaede's shoulder, she smiled, exchanged a look with him when she heard Shinomiya Kaguya's words, and said: "So, Senpai, what are you planning to do next? Regarding LINE, you could all create a group chat together. Aren't you the Student Council? You could make a Student Council chat group."
"That's already set up."
Shinomiya Kaguya happily said: "And everyone uploaded a lot of photos, which instantly brought back many memories for me. However, what I'm more concerned about now is how to video call the President."
"Video calling Senior Shirogane, huh."
Eriri thought for a moment, and combining it with what Shinomiya Kaguya had just said, she suggested: "Senpai, you probably noticed that LINE actually allows for multi-person video calls. If you feel too shy to contact Senior Shirogane directly at first, then find a reason, or devise an opportunity, to have a full Student Council internal video call. Wouldn't that work? After doing it a few times, you can then use work as an excuse to contact the Senior individually. If you ask me, Senpai, you are still too shy. You should know there is a saying in Huaxia (China): 'For a man to pursue a woman, it's separated by a mountain; for a woman to pursue a man, it's separated by a layer of gauze.' When a girl takes the initiative, as long as the other person has a good impression of her, it will happen in minutes!"
Listening to Eriri speak so eloquently, Kaede's expression gradually became amused.
You talk a big game, so why haven't I seen you take the initiative?
Eriri noticed this, immediately reacted, and punched Kaede while blushing.
Shinomiya Kaguya did not notice the situation on the other end of the phone and was considering the feasibility of Eriri's suggestion.
"Hmm... this method works. I'll go and design something later. Compared to the series of actions I took previously, this is much simpler! Thank you, Eriri. I'll treat you to a meal when I have time. I have to hang up now."
"Mhm, you can contact me if anything comes up. Bye, Kaguya-senpai."
After hanging up the phone, Eriri immediately puffed out her cheeks and pounced on Kaede: "How dare you look at me like that! I was just giving advice!"
"Hahaha, I just thought it was really out of character for you, Eriri, to say those things!"
"What do you mean, 'out of character'?" Eriri said discontentedly. "I grow too!!!"
"Growth, huh~~~"
Kaede's gaze involuntarily swept back and forth over Eriri's body. Of course, he was just pretending; Kaede already knew exactly what she looked like beneath her clothes.
"There certainly has been growth. Both Eriri and I have converted theoretical knowledge into practice. The growth in that area has been immense."
"Aah, aah, aah, Kaede-kun!!!"
Although shy, the helpless Eriri could only snatch the juice she had bought for Kaede and start drinking it herself.
"I'm not letting you have any!"
Watching Eriri's actions, Kaede was completely unhurried. He waited until Eriri had just taken a sip, then leaned over and snatched half of the drink from her mouth before she could swallow it, then smiled and said under Eriri's flushed gaze: "It tastes better this way."
"Ugh..."
Eriri felt that for a long time to come, she truly had no way to deal with him; she was completely wrapped around his finger... Two ordinary yet interesting days passed, and finally, the day Kaede had planned arrived.
After classes in the afternoon, Kaede checked the text message on his phone, confirmed that the restaurant for today was fine, and then left the classroom. After meeting Eriri, they went to the Art Club together.
Last semester, after the Art Club participated in a competition and won two prizes, this previously unknown minor club suddenly became famous.
After the new semester began, some people wanted to join, but surprisingly, the club president rejected them all.
"If there are too many people, it will get noisy."
The president, lying sideways on the sofa and yawning, said: "Besides, don't Asakura and Sawamura still need to draw manga? They aren't planning on exposing their identities, so right now, the Art Club only needs enough members to maintain its operation."
Although he was very lazy, this Senior occasionally thought about many things.
After sitting down, Kaede and Eriri continued drawing their manga.
Before they could start today's practice, Usami came up beside them and asked curiously: "Eriri, Asakura-kun, the ratings for your manga online have been getting higher recently. Have you been paying attention?"
"Huh? The ratings went up?"
Eriri looked at Usami in surprise, then glanced at Kaede: "Kaede-kun, did you know?"
"I'm not sure."
While opening his storyboards, Kaede said: "We only need to pay attention to the rankings within the magazine. If those aren't good, then we're truly finished. Currently, our ranking is in the middle, but that's because the manga just started serialization. I estimate that by the end of the year, according to the plot arrangement, once the intensity of the battles increases, the ranking will definitely go up."
Regarding the magazine's popularity rankings, besides reader votes, internal discussions within the editorial department actually account for a large portion of the weight. Relying solely on reader votes wouldn't be appropriate; there needs to be internal balancing.
Kaede had chatted with his editor before. Editor Izumi, who had seen their manga outline, had no concerns about their ranking before the end of the year and even thought they had a chance to aim for the top spots.
A ranking around tenth place was not what Kaede and Eriri hoped for. Their goal was to break into the top ten, or even the top five, by the end of the year.
Eriri nodded after hearing Kaede's words: "That's right. Online reviews actually don't affect us much, especially since most of them are good reviews. What matters is the serialization ranking each time."
At this point, the president also joined in the fun, saying with a smile: "I've seen more than that, you know. Ever since the interview about the two of you was released in the last issue, all the readers know that you two are not just partners, but also a couple, and they are all trying to figure out how to get you to appear in person."
"Eh? That happened too?"
This was the first time Eriri had heard this, and she said worriedly: "It looks like we need to be more cautious in the future. At least until college, we can't let anyone discover our identities."
"Alright, don't worry too much about those things." Kaede patted Eriri's head, looked at her, and said, "Let's get started quickly. After we finish, we'll go back and change clothes. We're eating dinner out tonight."
"Eh? Kaede-kun, why didn't I know about this?"
"Because I arranged it," Kaede said with a smile. "We need to eat out occasionally. Don't you want to go, Eriri?"
"I do!"
Eat delicious food outside? Why would Eriri refuse? She quickly entered work mode.