Chapter 325: Really Didn't Notice
When they arrived at the restaurant, Machida Sonoko hadn't arrived yet. She still had a bit of work to finish and would only be able to make it in half an hour.
However, it wasn't quite dinner time yet, so they weren't in a hurry and chatted while drinking tea in the private room.
Hearing Eriri mention her juniors, she surprisingly said, "Wait, those two Chuunibyou juniors you mentioned—I remember you saying before that they weren't in the same grade, right? How did they both manage to get into Toyosaki now?"
"Uh... huh? Oh, right!"
Eriri froze for a moment before realizing it, then looked at Kaede. "Kaede-kun, why didn't you mention it?"
"I didn't pay attention either. Who cares about that?" Kaede shrugged and said, "Dekomori Sanae probably had good grades and skipped a year. They have such a close relationship that if one was in middle school and the other in high school, Dekomori Sanae probably wouldn't have liked it, so she just skipped a grade? Anyway, skipping grades isn't uncommon these days. For a Chuunibyou like her, whether the people around her are a year older or not isn't important to her."
To be honest, if Utaha hadn't brought it up, Kaede really wouldn't have thought of it. After all, the last time he saw those two girls was last year, and it wasn't until school started today that he realized they had both gotten into Toyosaki.
Taking a sip of tea, Kaede sighed with emotion, "It's a good thing there are only these few. If Honoka and the others hadn't gone to Otonokizaka and came to Toyosaki instead, it would truly be a chaotic spectacle."
Eriri nodded in agreement. "Exactly! During lunch and break time, Mizuki and I went for a walk and noticed that the quality of the female freshmen this year is even higher than when we entered last year. Since it's already like this, if Honoka and the others joined, the boys would absolutely go crazy."
To be fair, that was true. Honoka, Umi, and Kotori represented three different types of beautiful girls. If they were all gathered together, no adolescent boy wouldn't pay attention to them.
Kaede himself?
They had known each other for so long that if he were going to be aroused, he would have been already. They were sisters, all sisters.
"Sigh... Let's not talk about those two. Every time I run into them, they give me a headache." Sighing, Eriri waved at Utaha, took out her phone, and said with a smile, "Hehe, let me show you the new person our Art Club recruited. She's really cute, has blonde hair just like me, and her name is Colette!"
Then, Utaha saw a photo of Eriri and Colette together on Eriri's phone.
"Mm~~~ She is indeed very cute."
Utaha leaned closer to the phone and nodded, saying, "She shouldn't be half-Japanese, right?"
"That's right, she's not mixed, but she's been in Japan for six or seven years, so there are absolutely no issues with the language, and she loves drawing!" Eriri said with a smile. "From now on, besides drawing manga during club activities, I have another thing I can do, which is mentoring Colette. Ah~~~ I feel like it will be very rewarding!"
Watching Eriri start to fantasize, Utaha shook her head helplessly. "You really are... something. Asakura-kun, aren't you going to rein her in?"
"Isn't this a good thing?"
Kaede scrolled through his phone indifferently and said, "Colette is indeed a very interesting junior. She's lively, and her joining the Art Club hasn't made anyone feel uncomfortable. Eriri has developed a lot of interest in being a Senpai now, and I won't stop her, as long as it doesn't interfere with her regular work and studies."
"Mm~~~ So that's how it is."
Nodding, Utaha looked at Eriri and said, "So, would you say this counts as a hidden sister complex trait?"
"Of course not!" Eriri retorted without hesitation. "I'm an all-complex!"
"...I almost forgot. Your scope of interest is much wider than mine."
After chatting for a while longer and Utaha and Eriri finalizing the date for the illustrations, Machida Sonoko finally arrived.
"Sorry, sorry for being late!" As soon as she entered the private room, Machida Sonoko apologized. "I had a lot of things to deal with, but I rushed over as soon as I finished."
"It's fine. There's absolutely no rush on time."
Kaede smiled as he poured Machida Sonoko a cup of tea and asked, "You didn't speed, did you?"
"Don't worry, I'm an old hand. I know exactly how much to press the accelerator." Taking the teacup and drinking a large gulp, Machida Sonoko gave everyone a thumbs up. "Alright, have you guys ordered yet? If not, let's call the waiter over. I've been busy all day and I'm starving."
After calling the waiter and ordering a bunch of food, Machida Sonoko didn't order alcohol and drank cola just like everyone else.
As the dishes arrived one by one, Machida Sonoko quickly ate a few bites, which seemed to relieve her hunger quite a bit. Her eating speed slowed down, and she started chatting with everyone.
Biting into a piece of tempura and nodding in satisfaction, Machida Sonoko asked, "How was your first day of school? The freshmen must have been quite lively, right?"
"It was alright, about the same as when we entered last year."
Eriri picked out the shredded carrots in her bowl and said, "It's just that I feel like this batch of freshmen is even more gossipy than last year's. It's only been one morning, and the news about Kaede-kun and I being engaged has already spread everywhere. Everyone knows."
"Ah~~~ Is that so?"
Machida Sonoko sounded somewhat surprised yet unsurprised. "After all, you're both wearing matching rings. It's normal for people to see them, get curious, and then gather information. But Eriri, you can relax, no one will come trying to confess to Kaede now, right?"
"Hmm, that's true."
Eriri nodded in agreement, saying, "While I'm not too worried, the main thing is that it's quite troublesome if people come looking for us. Frankly, if today's representative speech had still been Utaha's, Kaede-kun and I might have received a little less attention."
"Don't drag me into this," Utaha said without hesitation.
"Opening ceremony speeches are a torment. You have to write a draft for the teacher to check, and then wait backstage. I don't have that kind of patience. I think it's perfectly fine to let Asakura-kun handle it. At least in my opinion, he performed better than I did back then."
"No… I don't want to go next time."
Kaede also refused, saying, "Something like this, once is enough. I don't want to become a regular, it's quite boring. While I don't get stage fright, I also don't like the feeling of giving a speech. Sitting below and slacking off is much more my style."
"Exactly, exactly, slacking off is so much better!"
Eriri smiled and picked out the shredded carrots, placing them in Kaede's bowl, earning her a roll of his eyes.
"You two…"
Sighing, Utaha felt like she was falling further and further behind their rhythm. They were just chatting, and suddenly they started dishing out dog food.