Chapter 212: Shirogane Miyuki Gets Ganked
After tidying up for a while, Kaede finished cleaning and came to the kitchen, intending to help.
But Eriri directly pushed him away, preventing him from coming over: "Alright, alright, you prepared lunch, so let me handle dinner tonight!"
"Really?" Looking at Eriri pushing him out, Kaede said with a smile, "Then I'll enjoy the feeling of being a gentleman."
"Hehe, of course. Leave tonight's dinner to me."
Seeing how enthusiastic Eriri was, Kaede didn't argue with her. He could take over the cooking tomorrow.
He went to the living room, picked up Camilla and placed her on his lap, and turned on the TV to watch.
"Oh, there's an animal show on. Camilla, let's watch it together."
At half past four, the TV program ended. Camilla jumped off the sofa to check on her kittens, while Kaede kept switching channels with the remote control.
Suddenly, he remembered something.
"Shirogane-senpai had a plan today. I wonder how it's going now. Ah, I'm curious, but I can't ask him."
As if hearing Kaede's words, his phone rang at that very moment.
It was Shirogane Miyuki calling.
Picking up and answering, Kaede said, "Senpai?"
"Asakura..."
Shirogane Miyuki's voice came through, carrying a strange sense of having lost all dreams in life.
"Uh... Senpai, what happened to you?"
The commotion on Kaede's end caused Eriri, who was preparing dinner, to stop what she was doing. She jogged over and sat beside Kaede to listen in.
On the other end of the phone, Shirogane Miyuki, who was on his way home, sighed and said, "Well, Shinomiya and I went to the cinema this afternoon. I was planning to have dinner together after the movie and then confess."
"Hearing you say that, did it fail?"
"No, I wouldn't say it failed," Shirogane Miyuki sighed. "Originally, before the movie started this afternoon, I spent some time walking around outside with Shinomiya, and the atmosphere was great. But the problem arose during the movie itself. We had just sat down in the screening room for a few minutes when three people arrived behind us."
"Hmm? Three people?"
"Yes." Covering his face with one hand, Shirogane Miyuki said gloomily, "It was Secretary Fujiwara and her two sisters. They also came to watch a movie today, and by sheer bad luck, they sat in the row right behind us."
"Uh... that's quite a coincidence," Kaede and Eriri nearly burst out laughing at this news. After exchanging glances, Kaede said, "Could it be that your plan was exposed, Senpai?"
"I don't think so," Shirogane Miyuki shook his head. "When she saw Shinomiya and me, Secretary Fujiwara's reaction was genuinely surprised, not feigned, and she's not good at that kind of pretense anyway. Alas, I can only blame myself for not taking precautions in that regard. With Secretary Fujiwara present, after the movie, I quietly discussed it with Shinomiya, and we postponed dinner for today, because we definitely would have been swamped by Secretary Fujiwara afterward."
"Isn't that a shame? Today was a rare opportunity."
"Ah, well, there's nothing we can do about it," Shirogane Miyuki said with a laugh. "Shinomiya strongly agreed with the decision; she understands Secretary Fujiwara better than I do. Plus, before leaving, Shinomiya told me she looks forward to going out together next time. So, next time, I definitely need to be better prepared. Asakura, I'll continue to come to you for advice when I have time. Please help me out."
"Of course. If I can help you, Senpai, I'd be happy to."
"Thank you very much. I've arrived home now. Let's talk again when we have time."
Hanging up the phone, Kaede smiled and looked at Eriri: "Things really don't come easy for Shirogane Miyuki and Shinomiya-senpai. I didn't expect them to run into Fujiwara-senpai and her two sisters today."
Eriri nodded repeatedly and said, "When I called yesterday, Fujiwara-senpai said she couldn't come because she had planned to go shopping with her sisters. I didn't expect them to end up in the same place as Shirogane-senpai and Kaguya-senpai. If I had known, I should have warned Kaguya-senpai."
"Hahaha, some things in this world are just that coincidental," Kaede said with a laugh. "Shinomiya-senpai is usually so shrewd, able to calculate everything perfectly. But because today was a date invited by Shirogane-senpai, she ultimately overlooked other factors."
Eriri sighed, "Love, huh? Even someone like Kaguya-senpai can't maintain her composure."
Wiggling his nose, Kaede said with a smile, "Eriri, I smell something burning."
"Huh? Ah!!! My meat!"
Eriri quickly got up and rushed toward the kitchen.
Although the sauce had almost boiled away, luckily, she found it in time, and the dish was not ruined.
At the dining table, looking at the meat that hadn't burned, Eriri patted her chest and said, "That was close! Otherwise, dinner would have been delayed even longer tonight."
Picking up a piece of beef and putting it in his mouth, Kaede nodded and said, "Mm, it's good. It didn't burn."
Before they started eating, Eriri went to the kitchen again, took a small piece of boiled and chopped beef, and mixed it into the cat food.
"Camilla, dinner time!"
When they were eating their big meal at noon, this little one had been watching from the side, clearly envious, so Eriri decided to give her an extra treat tonight: a little beef.
After Camilla started happily eating her meal, Eriri and Kaede also began their dinner.
After dinner, the two rested for a short while before going out together for a walk.
"Ah~~ The weather is slowly getting cooler."
Holding Kaede's hand, Eriri said happily, "Everything is great, except that I'll have to start wearing more clothes soon."
"That's better than catching a cold, isn't it?"
Kaede looked at Eriri's current outfit; she had already swapped her usual skirt for cropped trousers and wore a shirt on top. She wouldn't feel cold going out at this time of day.
"Hehe, I won't catch a cold. It's been quite a while since I've been sick."
Eriri said proudly, "Plus, since I've started exercising, my health is definitely going to get better and better!"
"Don't be so optimistic. Exercise requires persistence; only consistency yields results. You've only run with me twice. You need to add at least two zeros to that number, right?"
"Can't you let me have a good expectation?"
"I call this starting from the facts."
"Hmph!"
Eriri pouted and turned her head away, looking unhappy.
But within a few seconds, a milk tea shop appeared in Eriri's line of sight. Her expression immediately changed, and she excitedly pulled Kaede toward it.
"Kaede-kun, let's go buy milk tea!"
"..."
Who was just talking about starting to exercise?