Chapter 249: Eriri's Savior
Eriri had known about Usami's crush on Uchimaki Subaru for a long time. Although she usually wouldn't bring it up, since Usami had teased her first today, Eriri wouldn't hold back from retaliating.
This kind of mutual teasing among best friends was practically a daily occurrence.
Compared to Eriri, a life winner who was already living with someone, Usami was just a novice who hadn't even taken the first step, so she naturally couldn't contend with Eriri.
But Usami wasn't completely clueless; she still had some methods of counterattack and knew well that "old tricks are fine as long as they work."
So, after buying clothes and leaving the store, her address for Eriri changed from calling her by her name to "Mrs. Asakura."
And this trick indeed worked. If Usami said it jokingly in private, it would be fine, but if she said it directly in public, even Eriri, whose thick skin had been trained, couldn't handle it.
"Mizuki! Don't call me that!!!"
Eriri, blushing, pulled Usami's arm and said.
Usami, on the other hand, looked at Eriri triumphantly and earnestly said, "Eriri, I'm doing this for your own good. If I call you that more now, won't you get used to it when others address you that way in the future?"
"I don't want to get used to that! At least not now!!!"
Eriri held her head in distress, praying for someone to help her.
And just at that moment.
"Oh my, isn't that Eriri? What's wrong?"
Hearing the voice, Eriri turned around and saw Shinomiya Kaguya walking over, accompanied by Fujiwara Chika, who was waving hello.
"Kaguya-senpai? Chika-senpai? What are you two doing here?"
Shinomiya Kaguya walked closer, a hint of resignation on her face, and said, "Fujiwara-san dragged me out. She said autumn had arrived and we needed to buy new clothes."
Shinomiya Kaguya wasn't very enthusiastic about shopping for clothes, because if she wanted something, she could just make a call. Virtually no brand would refuse her, and they would immediately deliver the latest seasonal styles right to her door.
Fujiwara Chika happily said, "Shopping is secondary! I mainly wanted to drag Kaguya-san out to have fun. Whenever it's a day off, she just stays cooped up at home. I don't know how she manages it!"
Upon hearing this, Shinomiya Kaguya replied helplessly, "Fujiwara-san, I am not like you; I have many things I need to attend to."
As she spoke, she looked at Usami next to Eriri: "Eriri, is this your friend?"
"Yes, this is my good friend and classmate, Usami Mizuki!" Eriri said with a smile. "Usami, these two are seniors from Shuchiin, Shinomiya Kaguya and Fujiwara Chika."
Usami immediately introduced herself: "Hello, Seniors. I am Usami Mizuki."
Shinomiya Kaguya had heard Eriri mention this friend before, and she nodded with a smile: "Hello."
Fujiwara Chika also smiled and said, "Hello! Oh, that reminds me, when we were walking over just now, we saw you two discussing something. It looked quite lively!"
Usami immediately laughed and glanced at Eriri beside her.
Eriri gave an awkward smile and shook her head, saying, "It's nothing, just talking about random things. Seniors, since we ran into each other, why don't we shop together!"
Eriri knew exactly what she was doing; with these two present, Usami wouldn't bring up the previous topic again. They were practically her saviors!
Shinomiya Kaguya and Fujiwara Chika exchanged glances. Since they were already planning to shop at the mall, they agreed.
The original party of two had now become four, making things much livelier.
When they arrived at a women's clothing store, Fujiwara Chika, who was quite interested in the newly met Usami, immediately volunteered to help her pick out clothes, which conveniently gave Eriri and Shinomiya Kaguya space to talk.
Walking slightly behind the other two, Eriri quietly asked, "Senior, how are things going with Shirogane-senpai?"
"Hmm..."
When this was mentioned, Shinomiya Kaguya's expression became conflicted, and she whispered, "It's definitely much better than before, but I don't know why, recently in the Student Council, whenever I want to discuss something with the Student Council President or try to have a little interaction, the newly joined Student Council Financial Auditor just happens to walk in and interrupt, causing a series of misunderstandings."
Recalling the events that had transpired over the short span of a week, Shinomiya Kaguya raised her hand to cover her forehead, saying with exhaustion, "If I didn't know that child wasn't doing it on purpose, I would genuinely be angry."
"...Something like that actually happened!"
Eriri looked at Shinomiya Kaguya in surprise, thinking that she hadn't been in touch with Shinomiya Kaguya for only a short while, yet so many unexpected things had occurred.
"However, having a new member in the Student Council is a good thing, right? Anyone you Seniors agree to let join must be capable and have a very good personality."
"That is true," Shinomiya Kaguya nodded. "Although Iino is usually stiff and perhaps a bit overly strict, she is indeed a very excellent student who works hard in all areas. It's just that her style of conduct still needs learning and improvement, otherwise she won't be able to smoothly take over the position of Student Council President in the future."
"...Hmm? Iino?"
A vaguely familiar figure popped up in Eriri's mind. After racking her brain, she finally remembered: "Iino Miko?"
"That's right. The highly justice-driven girl you mentioned when we chatted before, Eriri," Shinomiya Kaguya said with a smile. "I originally thought we wouldn't have any interaction, but it turns out she ran for Student Council President, which certainly caused us quite a bit of trouble."
"Wow! That sounds really interesting!"
Eriri had never participated in a Student Council President election before, and she said curiously, "Senior, let's talk about this topic during lunch. I really want to hear about it!"
"Of course."
Shinomiya Kaguya naturally didn't mind talking about it. After glancing at the two girls ahead who were already chatting enthusiastically, she asked, "I haven't asked yet, did you not come out with Asakura-kun today?"
"Kaede-kun has work today!"
Eriri briefly explained that Kaede was going to appear on an anime promotional program.
"Appearing on a program, huh..." Shinomiya Kaguya nodded. Since acquiring a smartphone these days, besides the skills she had already learned, she had also absorbed a lot of new knowledge from the internet and gained a considerable understanding of online streaming.
It was just unknown when she would discover that Shirogane Miyuki's father was an online streamer.