Chapter 237: Ueno Zoo Trip
Eriri, who had changed and come out, saw Kaede put down his phone and asked, "Kaede-kun, were you just on the phone?"
"Yes, I asked Mom to come over in the evening to prepare dinner for the Cat, since the two little ones can eat other things now too."
Taking out the eggs, Kaede said, "Then Mom also said that our two families should have dinner together or something tomorrow. She's probably contacting them now."
"Oh, that sounds good too!"
Eriri walked over with a smile and helped place the prepared breakfast on the dining table.
"Although I usually call Mom and Dad, it's even better to go out to eat together!"
"But that's for tomorrow, no rush." Kaede sat down opposite Eriri and said, "Let's eat breakfast first, then we'll go to the Ueno Zoo."
After finishing breakfast and changing into their newly bought clothes, the two happily left the house.
Because she had a backlog of manga chapters and didn't have to work all day, Eriri was in an exceptionally good mood. She had also asked her editor, Editor Izumi, and confirmed that a mangaka like her was indeed quite rare.
Glancing at Kaede beside her, Eriri happily squinted her eyes.
Seeing Eriri's expression, Kaede asked with a smile, "What's wrong? Are you in such a good mood?"
"Hehe, of course!" Eriri said with a blissful expression, "Being able to be a mangaka and still go out and play like this today, I think I'm one of a kind!"
"It seems that's actually true."
Kaede thought for a moment and realized that it did seem to be as Eriri said; many full-time mangaka draw all day long.
However, their high efficiency wasn't without reason. Eriri's drawing speed was already very fast, coupled with Kaede's increasingly skilled storyboarding and very complete scripts, Eriri didn't have to think about plot, character design, and other miscellaneous things like independent mangaka do while drawing. She only needed to fully utilize her drawing skills.
Holding Eriri's hand, Kaede leaned closer to her and said with a smile, "Eriri knows, right? I deserve a lot of credit for how easy this is."
"Of course I know! I've always been very grateful to Kaede-kun!"
"Oh? Is that so?" Kaede narrowed his eyes and whispered, "If that's the case, then Eriri, how about you consider, rewarding me?"
Upon hearing this, Eriri immediately knew what Kaede meant. She instantly thought of the shop they passed a few days ago while shopping, and her face turned red as she glared at Kaede, unable to speak.
But deep down, Eriri couldn't help but start scheming.
"Hmm… It's not good to always reject Kaede-kun's ideas. How about… I find an opportunity to go check it out? But I can't let Kaede-kun know first. I'll ask Utaha to go with me then."
At this moment, Utaha, who had just woken up and started typing at her home, couldn't help but shiver.
Chatting, the two finally arrived at the Ueno Zoo by car.
After buying tickets and entering, Eriri happily said, "Yay, it's been so long since I've been here! Kaede-kun, let's go see the giant pandas first!"
"Of course."
The Ueno Zoo has quite a few animals, seemingly around five hundred species, including rare animals. Among them, the most famous now are probably the rented giant pandas.
After Kaede and Eriri entered, they also headed straight for the panda exhibit. However, there were definitely visitors who arrived earlier than them. It's well-known that people from any country in this world won't refuse these black and white, clumsy big guys.
Upon arriving, many people had already come earlier than them, all watching the giant pandas inside the panda exhibit.
Walking over, Eriri saw the giant panda leisurely eating bamboo inside.
"Wow… so cute!"
Watching the giant panda, completely unfazed by the visitors outside and still eating its breakfast, Eriri's eyes were practically sparkling.
Kaede hadn't seen a giant panda in quite a while either, and he also accompanied Eriri in watching the giant panda.
He didn't know why, but giant pandas seemed to possess a mysterious charm that made people irresistibly fond of them.
After watching for a while, Eriri suddenly had an idea and whispered to Kaede beside her, "Kaede-kun, I have an idea. How about adding a panda to the manga?"
"Hmm?"
Kaede looked at Eriri in surprise: "Are you saying, add a giant panda yokai?"
"Exactly, exactly!" Eriri nodded. "Look, don't they appear in anime and games? Like Kung Fu Panda, or the Pandaren from World of Warcraft. So, adding one to our manga shouldn't be a problem, right? As long as it's arranged properly, it doesn't have to be a main character—just a supporting character in one of the arcs! But we must make them powerful. I know that giant pandas have incredibly strong bite force and strength!"
After hearing this, Kaede pondered it and realized it was indeed feasible.
"There shouldn't be any problem. When I get back tonight, I'll study the script and see where we can fit it in. A panda spirit or demon could certainly be given some unique characteristics, perhaps appearing at a crucial moment to offer the protagonist some help or guidance, acting as a hidden master."
How could Eriri possibly disagree? She had seen many panda characters in anime, manga, and even games, and she loved them. Otherwise, she wouldn't have rushed straight to the panda enclosure the moment they entered the zoo.
"We absolutely have to add it! I want to design the character myself!"
Eriri instantly felt a huge surge of motivation, wishing she could rush home right away to start drawing on her computer.
Hmm... maybe not. Today was for fun; she couldn't just think about work.
After viewing the pandas, Kaede led the still-reluctant Eriri away from the enclosure and began exploring the rest of the zoo. Although the giant pandas were the true stars, the other animals were quite interesting too.
Seeing the tigers, giraffes, and flamingos one by one gradually made Eriri forget about the giant pandas she had seen earlier, focusing her attention on the animals right in front of her.
They ate lunch inside the park and continued happily exploring until three o'clock in the afternoon, when they bought some souvenirs and left the zoo.
"Ah~~ We had so much fun today!" Eriri said after they exited. "I feel like if the weather gets any colder, visiting the zoo won't have the same atmosphere. Coming during autumn was just right."
"In winter, we'll have different forms of entertainment."
Kaede said with a smile, "Don't forget, you wanted to visit Hokkaido, so let's make that one of our winter plans. As for now, it's not dinner time yet, so let's stroll around the area first before eating dinner."
"Shopping!"
Although she had spent the whole day at the zoo, Eriri didn't feel tired the moment she heard the word "shopping."