Chapter 261 -262: Wasn't He Chasing You?
When Kaede and Ishigami Yuu played together, the number of popular multiplayer games they both played was limited, so they ultimately chose Apex.
Previously, Eriri had played with them, making exactly three people for the squad, but now they had to add a random teammate.
Although the Duos mode was available, they weren't trying to rank up, and playing as a trio meant the random player could draw some enemy fire, giving them time to chat.
Entering the game and landing in a secluded spot, Kaede asked while looting, "Ishigami, it looks like your school's Sports Festival is about to start, right?"
"That's right, it starts next week." Ishigami Yuu nodded, but when he mentioned the Sports Festival, his entire demeanor suddenly became subdued again.
"What's wrong? You sound unhappy. Don't tell me you signed up for something you didn't want to participate in?"
"The competitions themselves are fine." Ishigami Yuu said while looting room after room. "I was in the track and field club in middle school, and my stamina is decent. The relay race isn't too hard for me; it's just a matter of whether or not we can place. However, I don't know what I was thinking before, but I actually signed up for the Cheer Squad..."
"...Wait a minute, the Cheer Squad? You, Ishigami?"
Kaede immediately stopped moving his character and said in shock, "The Cheer Squad you're talking about, is that the one that performs the cheering routines during the halftime of the matches?"
"Yes..."
"Pfft! S-Sorry, I really couldn't hold it in." Kaede continued moving forward with his left hand on the keyboard, while his right hand covered his mouth as he struggled to suppress his laughter for a moment before saying, "What kind of performance is it exactly? Like a cheerleading routine?"
"Something like that... And the seniors in our Cheer Squad are very creative. They want the boys to wear the girls' school uniforms and the girls to wear the boys' school uniforms for the performance."
Thinking that Kaede wouldn't be coming to the school to watch the event, Ishigami Yuu, adopting a "what's done is done" attitude, just blurted it out.
"Cross-dressing... Pfft! How incredibly talented! Hahaha! It's such a pity I can't be there in person. No, I definitely have to ask Senior Shirogane or Shinomiya-senpai to take a couple of pictures for me to see!"
"...I knew I shouldn't have told you, Asakura."
"Hahaha, sorry, sorry. It's rare to hear something so interesting. I'm not laughing at you, Ishigami." After laughing, Kaede followed the large, fat Gibraltar controlled by Ishigami and asked, "But for the cross-dressing, whose school uniform did you borrow? Fujiwara-senpai's?"
"No, she would question me on the spot about whether I was going to use it for something improper. Shinomiya-senpai lent me her uniform after she found out."
Recalling how she had dragged him into putting on makeup when he tried on the uniform that day, Ishigami Yuu felt a little fortunate. Luckily, it hadn't happened after the "egg swap" incident, or it wouldn't have been as simple as just trying on clothes and putting on makeup.
"Ah~~~ Shinomiya-senpai."
Kaede wasn't too surprised by this. Although Shinomiya Kaguya occasionally had bursts of mischief and teased Ishigami, and Ishigami was quite afraid of her, in Shinomiya Kaguya's view, Ishigami Yuu had always been a reliable junior, and she would still help him out when something like this happened.
After thinking for a moment, Kaede said with a smile, "Since Shinomiya-senpai helped you so much, what do you have to be afraid of? You represent the Student Council. No one else would dare laugh at you, or they would be questioning the judgment of Senior Shirogane and Shinomiya-senpai."
"Although what you said is a bit exaggerated, I intended to do a good job anyway." Ishigami Yuu sighed and said, "It would be even better if Shinomiya-senpai didn't schedule so much work for me before and after my rehearsals."
"That's not up to you. Just treat it as training from your senior." Just as he spoke, Kaede spotted a few moving dots in his field of vision. He immediately leaned forward slightly. "There are people ahead. Come on, Ishigami, you and that random teammate push forward, and I'll snipe from the back!"
"...You really know how to slack off."
Although Ishigami Yuu said that, considering Kaede's decent sniping skills demonstrated during their previous games, he could only grudgingly throw an ultimate ability far away and then rush forward with his gun drawn.
While the game was heating up, Eriri and Usami's conversation in the living room finally got down to business.
With the two little Cats lying on her lap, Eriri stroked their fur while saying, "Mizuki, why haven't you taken any action this whole month since school started? You're dragging your feet too much!"
"Huh? What action?"
Usami, who thought this was just a casual chat between good friends, didn't understand what Eriri meant at all.
"What else could it be? It's about Uchimaki, of course!" Eriri said with an expression of disappointment. "You've known each other for over half a year now—from April to almost October—and your relationship hasn't progressed at all. You don't intend to keep things like this for all three years of high school, do you?"
At this, Usami completely understood. Sitting on her bedroom bed, she instantly hugged the pillow in her arms and said with a blush, "Eriri, what nonsense are you talking about?"
"I'm not talking nonsense at all," Eriri pressed, "Although I'm not trying to rush you, Mizuki, you really haven't done anything these past few days! Don't tell me you've lost interest in Uchimaki; if so, then everything I said is irrelevant."
"..."
Usami's face was red as she watched her restless feet twitching. How could she deny it?
Eriri naturally understood this silent reaction and said, "See? When I ask if you don't like him, you don't say anything. So you must like him, right? Everyone knows Uchimaki's personality—he's a blockhead, even more clueless than those'steel-straight men' people talk about online. With a boy like that, you can't possibly expect him to pursue you, can you?"
With things laid out so clearly, Usami also understood that if she didn't give up, she really couldn't avoid this topic. Her voice dropped as she said, "I... I know all that, but I don't have any experience. How am I supposed to know what to do?"
"Isn't that simple?"
Eriri immediately said proudly, "I have experience! I'll help you, I'll give you ideas!"
"But wasn't it Asakura-kun who pursued you, Eriri?"
"...Shut up, Mizuki! Don't argue with me about things like this!" Eriri retorted loudly, then continued, "Anyway, these things are interconnected. It's better to have me help you figure things out than for you to hesitate alone, right? And think about it, aren't we going to Hokkaido for a trip in winter? At that time, Kaede-kun and I will share a room. If you don't make any progress, won't you have to stay in a room by yourself?"
Upon hearing this, Usami thought, that's actually true!
Wait, no, the implication in that... Steam instantly rose from Usami's head.
"Even if we started dating, it wouldn't progress that quickly!!!!!"
Usami never imagined that Eriri was urging her to act quickly because she was worried about Usami having to sleep in a room alone when they went on the trip later!
She immediately burst out, furiously ranting to Eriri on the other end of the phone: "I haven't even succeeded with the first step yet, Eriri! Can you please not think so far ahead! And even if we did start dating, there's no way we'd do that on our first trip out!!!!!"
Hearing Usami's outburst, Eriri quickly moved her phone away from her ear, grinned, and waited for her to finish before bringing the phone back: "I was just worried you'd be scared sleeping alone then, you know?"
"Then the two of us can share a room, and the three boys can share a room, wouldn't that be fine?"
"Uh... that might not work. Kaede-kun and I have already agreed."
As Eriri spoke, Usami's mind instantly conjured up some things that would need to be censored.
Although these were commonplace for Kaede and Eriri, who were already living together, for Usami, who was still a young girl, they were not something she could easily accept.
Taking a deep breath, Usami forced herself to calm down before saying, "Then I'll just sleep in a room by myself. What's there to be scared of?"
"Uh... are you really planning to do that, Mizuki?"
"Otherwise?"
Eriri scratched her cheek, not expecting her friend to actually intend to do that, so she said, "Actually, there's another way: we could invite another girl to come along and share a room with you. I'm planning to ask Utaha, but I haven't talked to her yet."
"Kasumigaoka-senpai, I have no problem with that. Anyway, if there's no one, I'll just have a room to myself. Even if you beg me, Eriri, I won't share a room with you, to avoid you talking in your sleep in the middle of the night, shouting Asakura-kun's name."
"I wouldn't! I never talk in my sleep!"
After refuting, Eriri said, "In any case! Whether you sleep in a room alone, Mizuki, or Utaha comes along, you can't avoid the Uchimaki problem, you know?"
"I know!" Pulling her legs back and leaning against the wall, Usami said with puffed cheeks, "But with Uchimaki-san's personality, what do you think I should do? He's not the same type as Asakura-kun; I don't think you'll have a solution, Eriri."
"While I don't have 100% confidence, Uchimaki's problem is actually quite obvious."
Eriri said with a smile, "He actually only likes two-dimensional girls, but he doesn't reject interacting with three-dimensional girls. Whether it's me, or you, or girls like Oogami and the others, Uchimaki has no problem communicating. So, for him, the issue isn't shyness or anything; it's that he subconsciously believes two-dimensional girls are better than three-dimensional ones. Therefore, we just need to change that mindset of his!"
Usami listened, and it sounded quite reasonable. She couldn't help but ask, "Change it... How do I do that?"
"It's simple, do you know cosplay?"
"Yes, I know, character role-playing." Usami nodded, then suddenly understood, "Eriri, are you telling me to cosplay a character Uchimaki-san likes?"
"It doesn't have to be a character Uchimaki likes; you just need to make his original perception waver, so he realizes that three-dimensional girls can also be very attractive!"
Eriri mused, "If I remember correctly, there's a shop near Akihabara that specializes in selling various cosplay costumes and also offers try-on and photo services. Mizuki, you can find an opportunity to invite Uchimaki out, perhaps using the excuse of wanting to learn about manga or anime, and then go to that shop to try cosplay. Boys have absolutely no resistance to girls' cosplay!"
Listening to Eriri's confident words, Usami asked, "Um, have you tried it, Eriri?"
"Uh... I haven't, but I've discussed similar topics with Kaede-kun." Eriri shook her twin tails and said, "Leaving me aside for now, the main thing is you, Mizuki. No matter how you launch your offensive later, you must first ask Uchimaki out, you know? If the boy doesn't take the initiative, then the girl should. One side always has to make the first move. Once you take that first step, everything else will be easier!"
"Ask him out, huh..."
Usami had never done anything like this before. Her face was red, and she seemed a bit flustered: "Um, I'll think about it carefully these two days."
"You're not going to give up even after I've said all this, are you?"
"Of course, I won't give up, but you have to give me some time to adjust, right?" Usami said loudly, "I'm a girl, I'm bound to be shy!"
"Mm-hmm, that's true, I overlooked that."
Eriri never thought Usami would succeed on her first try. Compared to herself or Shinomiya Kaguya, Usami and Uchimaki's situation was actually the most difficult.
After chatting for a while longer and helping Usami brainstorm ways to invite him, the two ended their call for the day.
After hanging up and letting the Cat play by itself, Eriri returned to the studio.
Pushing the door open, she saw Asakura-kun talking rapidly, his attention focused on the computer screen.
"Two, two, the last two, go, go, go! Beautiful!!!"
After losing the previous round surrounded by several groups, in the second round, Kaede and Ishigami Yuu encountered a relatively reliable random teammate and finally successfully got a chicken dinner.
After cheering, Kaede felt his computer chair being pulled. He turned his head to look at Eriri, who had just entered, and said with a smile, "Are you done with your call? Want to play together?"
"Sure! Let's play a round!"
Ishigami Yuu, on the other end of the voice chat, heard Eriri had arrived and didn't immediately start the next round, waiting for Eriri to join.
Opening the game, Eriri also joined the voice chat. After greeting Ishigami Yuu, Eriri, who had just been talking about romance, brought it up again when she encountered Ishigami Yuu: "Ishigami-kun, have you met any girls you like recently?"
"...As expected of Sawamura, you've hit my fatal weakness directly."
Ishigami Yuu felt two arrows instantly pierce his back, and he said calmly, "I have never harbored such extravagant hopes. My greatest fortune now is just being able to safely get through three years of high school."
"D-do you really feel that way?"
While matching for a game, Eriri said in surprise, "Setting everything else aside, there are two excellent girls just within the Student Council! Whether it's Chika-senpai or Iino, who just joined, are neither of them to your liking, Ishigami?"
"..."
Ishigami Yuu fell into a long silence. The game had already entered the parachuting phase when he finally spoke, "Let's not talk about Iino for now, but Fujiwara-senpai... Sawamura, are you trying to make me die young?"
From Ishigami's perspective, in a certain sense, Fujiwara Chika was an existence even more terrifying than Shinomiya Kaguya.