Chapter 257: Not Many Can Fight
Seeing Aisaka Taiga's stance with the fruit knife, Eriri knew she couldn't use it, and Kushieda Minori next to her was pretty much the same.
After Eriri came over, she looked at the yellow peach in Aisaka Taiga's hand and said, "Alright, let me cut these. Don't cut your hand."
"Hehehe."
Aisaka Taiga gave an embarrassed laugh and handed over the items in her hand: "Thank you, Eriri."
Shaking her head, Eriri quickly cut all the yellow peaches and strawberries that Aisaka Taiga was about to use.
"Alright, now you two should work on the cream. That shouldn't be a problem, right?"
Aisaka Taiga patted her chest and confidently declared, "Don't worry, I practiced yesterday, no problem!"
After watching for a while and confirming that Aisaka Taiga's production sequence was correct, Eriri returned to her own group.
She didn't need to worry about Usami's side; Takasu Ryuji's skill level was much higher than hers.
As for Utaha, since she only needed to hold the electric egg beater, as long as nothing spilled out, there would be no problem.
After confirming that it was well-whipped, Eriri told Utaha to turn off the egg beater.
Looking at the cream clinging to the mixer, Utaha showed a surprised expression: "Oh!!! Although I've seen cakes being made before, this is the first time I've whipped cream myself. It feels so magical!"
"Alright, stop marveling here and go check if the cake batter is ready for me."
"You really know how to order people around."
After a small complaint about Eriri, Utaha left the apartment and went upstairs.
She rang the doorbell, and a few seconds later, Kaede came to open the door.
Seeing Utaha standing at the door, Kaede asked, "Senior, did something happen downstairs?"
"No, it didn't."
Shaking her head, Utaha walked in and said, "Eriri asked me to come and see how much longer your cakes will take."
Kaede shrugged and said with a smile, "About ten more minutes."
Hearing this, Utaha came to the kitchen and looked at the two cakes inside through the oven door.
"Hmm~~ It looks pretty good. We should have something delicious this afternoon."
"Is the cream being made over there?"
"It's being made, yes." Utaha straightened up and said with a light chuckle, "The cream for our group was made by me."
"Hmm... I thought cream was pretty simple? Heavy cream plus caster sugar, and the rest is up to the mixer?"
"Asakura-kun," Utaha said, looking at Kaede with a helpless expression, "usually at times like this, you're supposed to praise a girl, you know?"
Kaede spread his hands, smiling, "If it were Eriri, I would definitely praise her. But for you, Senior, I don't think you need it."
"..."
Utaha fell silent, then took a deep breath and said, "Asakura-kun, I don't know if Eriri saved the galaxy in her previous life to find a boyfriend like you."
At this moment, Kitamura Yusaku, who had been sitting on the sofa playing games and acting like he was invisible, finally spoke up: "Exactly, sometimes I feel that way too."
Kaede looked at the two of them, speechless, and said, "Is it that serious?"
With one hand on her forehead, Utaha said, "I always have this inexplicable feeling of being fed dog food. Forget it, forget it, I'm already used to it."
Utaha didn't go back to the other side; she stayed there and chatted with Kaede about recent light novel trends while waiting.
"Speaking of which, Asakura-kun, the anime adaptation of your light novel has received excellent reviews."
When discussing light novel adaptations, the Konosuba anime naturally came up. Utaha recalled, "Among the new anime this October, Konosuba's rating seems to have surpassed many light novel adaptations."
"No choice, who told other anime to be so bad?"
Speaking of light novel adaptations, Kaede also felt quite helpless: "Currently, the only one that seems strong is 'Cautious Hero'. However, there are many amazing works in other anime genres. Kitamura, have you watched any of those?"
Kitamura Yusaku thought for a moment and said, "I haven't watched many. Besides Konosuba, I've only watched FGO and Beastars so far. To be honest, I initially watched Beastars with the intention of testing the waters, as the online reviews for the manga were very high. But after watching it, I found it was really good, and the production quality in all aspects exceeded my expectations!"
"Beastars, huh." Utaha also knew about this anime and said, "I followed the manga when it was being serialized. The entire worldview gave a very unique feeling. Oh, by the way, it's said that the author of Beastars, Itagaki Paru-sensei, is the daughter of Itagaki Keisuke, the author of Baki."
"You know about it too? Yes, they are father and daughter."
"Wait." Kitamura Yusaku, realizing belatedly, interjected, "The Baki you're talking about, it wouldn't happen to be that Baki, the fighting manga series with a very distinctive art style and exaggerated muscles, would it?"
Kaede and Utaha both nodded.
Utaha said, "That's right, it's Baki. At first, I didn't believe it, because the difference in their art styles was truly too great. But it wasn't until the anime aired and Itagaki Paru-sensei appeared on a show that their father-daughter relationship was uncovered. Beastars is truly a wonderful work, it's just that the magazine it's serialized in, 'Weekly Shonen Champion,' is a bit inferior compared to the other big three magazines. If it had been published in another magazine, perhaps its popularity would be even higher?"
"That's all possible, but it's only a possibility."
Kaede said with a smile, "Although the popularity and scale of that magazine can't compare to Jump and the other three, it's still decent. And when it comes to manga, it's not simply a matter of changing publishers; sometimes the editor's role is also huge. And now that Beastars has been adapted into an anime, as long as the manga's plot doesn't have issues, its popularity will only grow."
Utaha thought for a moment and asked, "It seems Itagaki Paru-sensei hasn't made any live appearances, has she? I'm a bit curious."
"She really hasn't made any live appearances."
Glancing at Utaha, Kaede said, "But Senior, let's not call the pot black. You only made a small appearance at a signing event, and I'll also be wearing a mask when I go on shows."
"There's nothing we can do about it. Girls need to protect themselves well when they're out and about~~"
Just as she was speaking, there was a "ding~~" sound from the oven, indicating the cake batter was baked.