Chapter 197: Problems Encountered in Manga
Eriri's excited state lasted for almost the entire morning. Even when she ran into Utaha while going to the cafeteria for lunch, Eriri brought up the matter.
This led to Utaha, who was eating alone and then shared a table with Kaede and Eriri, not eating much of her lunch because her stomach was already full.
Looking at the half-bowl of rice left in front of her, she said, "Thank you both. If this happens a few more times, my weight will definitely drop a lot..."
Kaede heard her and couldn't help but laugh, patting Eriri's head beside him and saying, "Alright, alright, why are you suddenly so excited? If you keep this up, the whole school will know."
"Ugh... I know, I know." Eriri also said a little awkwardly, "It's just that when people ask, I can't help but tell them. I'll be more careful next time..."
Resting her chin on one hand, Utaha looked at Eriri and said, "I really didn't expect it, Eriri. You've changed another stage compared to before. You're truly a different person compared to when I first met you."
"Eh? Is it that exaggerated?"
Eriri listened, couldn't help but touch her cheek, and said confusedly, "I don't feel any change."
"Oh, you have."
Utaha said, "At least you've become much more straightforward. You mostly say what you think. I think this should be Asakura-kun's credit, right? It's said that when two people spend a long time together, they gradually become similar."
"Similar?"
Eriri thought for a moment, glanced at Kaede beside her, and showed a sweet smile: "Hehe, it seems so."
Utaha smiled bitterly and shook her head. It seemed she would have to endure this public display of affection for a long time.
In the afternoon, Art Club activity.
Eriri was drawing the manga she was working on when she suddenly stopped, then gestured with both hands.
"Hmm... like this? It doesn't seem quite right either."
Kaede, who was revising the storyboards, noticed the movement from Eriri's side, stopped writing, and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Kaede-kun."
Eriri turned her head, gesturing with both hands in a sword-wielding stance, and said, "I'm having trouble drawing the protagonist gracefully wielding a sword. It just feels off!"
Uchimaki Subaru on the other side asked, "Is it a combat move? Sawamura hasn't drawn these before, right?"
Eriri nodded. She used to draw doujinshi, and had never drawn combat-type scenes before.
The president, who was lying on her side playing with her phone, said, "Regarding this, why don't you go to the Kendo Club for some pointers?"
However, Eriri immediately said, "It's no use. I've watched some Kendo videos and drawn some rough sketches myself, but it always feels wrong. What I want isn't the specific moves of Kendo, but rather... hmm, how should I put it? It needs to be elegant, cool, and fit the protagonist's characteristics, but without making people who know about it think I'm just drawing randomly."
Eriri's demands were indeed many, but also reasonable. As a manga artist, striving for perfection in details is very normal.
Kaede didn't have a very good solution for Eriri's distress. After thinking for a moment, he could only say, "If you're talking about ordinary combat, Eriri, I've learned a bit, but I don't really know much about Kendo. How about after school, we go buy some manga and then find some anime with this kind of combat to watch?"
"Hmm! That's decided!" Eriri clenched her small fists and said, "We have to get this done today, otherwise I won't be in the mood to draw later! Ah, no, no, Kaede-kun, let's go now!"
With that, she immediately turned off her computer and forcefully pulled Kaede out.
There was nothing Kaede could do but go along with Eriri's wishes. He tidied up his things and said to the other three members of the Art Club, "Well then, we'll be heading off. See you all tomorrow."
"We're leaving now, bye-bye!"
"Bang"
The door of the Art Club room closed. Usami said, "They're really decisive, just rushed out like that."
Uchimaki Subaru said, "It's normal. Manga artists' schedules are very tight to begin with, not to mention they're weekly releases. Even if they have some backlog, they can't keep procrastinating."
Usami listened, nodded in understanding, and then continued with her own practice... After leaving school, Kaede and Eriri went directly to a nearby bookstore to pick out manga.
"Ah, they have the complete rurouni kenshin here! Let's buy it, let's buy it!"
Eriri said without hesitation when she saw the rurouni kenshin tankōbon on the bookshelf.
Kaede looked at the long row of rurouni kenshin tankōbon on the bookshelf and sighed: "It's a good thing it's not the old edition of the tankōbon, otherwise there would be a full 28 volumes, even more than these."
Even so, since Eriri said so, buying the set was naturally no problem. Kaede directly called over the bookstore owner, who went to the warehouse and brought out a brand new complete set.
"Eriri, do you want any other manga?"
"Others~~" Eriri scanned around and shook her head, "Just this set of manga for now. When we get back, we'll look for anime to watch. We really need to study it carefully!"
Eriri originally thought she could draw it without problems, but when she actually started today, she realized that those few rough sketches were not much use at all.
After paying, the 22 volumes of manga were quite heavy to carry.
Weighing them in his hand, Kaede said to Eriri, "Let's go. We've bought the manga, now it's time to buy groceries."
"Okay!"
Eriri happily agreed, looking at the bag in Kaede's hand and asking, "Kaede-kun, is it heavy? Do you want me to take some?"
"No need, this weight is fine for me." Kaede affectionately pinched Eriri's cheek and said, "However, after we buy groceries, I'll let you carry some of the vegetables, Eriri."
"No problem!"
Since school had started, although they still adhered to the principle of cooking themselves, to avoid wasting too much time, they chose relatively simple dishes for dinner.
They bought a pile of vegetables and meat, and even saw a good watermelon and bought one. The two returned home satisfied.
However, just as he put down the things in his hands, Kaede belatedly realized that he seemed to have forgotten to buy something.
Condoms... he hadn't bought any.
Scratching his head in annoyance, Kaede glanced towards the bedroom, where Eriri had gone to change clothes.
So, when Eriri came out after changing, Kaede said to her, "Eriri, I'm going to the convenience store. I forgot to buy something. You can wash the vegetables first."
"Eh?"
Looking at Kaede, who had quickly changed his shoes, Eriri didn't even have time to ask what he was buying before he had already left.
Tilting her head, Eriri muttered to herself, "What on earth could it be?"