Chapter 38: The First Club Conflict
"Um, haven't the others arrived yet?"
Seeing only Kato Megumi and Aragaki Takiya in the living room, Aki Tomoya asked somewhat uncertainly.
"Yeah, Eriri should be here soon. As for Kasumigaoka Senpai, I'm not too sure yet."
Adhering to the mindset that the guest comes first, Aragaki Takiya prepared to open the refrigerator to get a cold drink for Aki Tomoya. Of course, before deciding, he naturally had to ask for the other's opinion.
"Aki-san, would you like juice or barley tea?"
"Ah? Um, barley tea, I guess..."
Startled by Aragaki Takiya's voice, Aki Tomoya gave an honest answer. He wasn't very interested in overly sweet drinks, so he simply chose barley tea as his cold beverage.
"Sure."
Hearing Aki Tomoya's answer, Aragaki Takiya took a can of barley tea from the fridge and handed it to him. However, Aki Tomoya's focus wasn't there; his gaze had already fallen upon two identical bottles of juice on the table.
"Is that Kato and Aragaki's choice?"
Even though they were just two identical bottles of juice, in Aki Tomoya's eyes, it was a completely different concept.
"Just like this, two bottles of juice placed together... but what if they mix them up? What if Aragaki drinks Kato's bottle..."
At this moment, Aki Tomoya's mind flashed back to a classic scene from a romance light novel. The male and female protagonists' drink bottles were placed together, then accidentally mixed up, leading to an indirect kiss through the bottles, and eventually becoming a couple... "That kind of thing is absolutely not okay!!!"
Whenever he thought of this, Aki Tomoya felt a pang of heartache. He remembered the scene on the slope that day; although he wasn't the one who caught that white beret, he absolutely would not allow his self-designated heroine to have close contact with another boy!
"Um..."
Knock knock knock~
Aki Tomoya was about to say something, but a knocking sound came from the entryway. Aragaki Takiya had a good idea of who it was, so he went straight to open the door.
"Brother! I'm back~"
As soon as the door opened, a golden figure rushed in impatiently. It was Aragaki Moeha, who hadn't returned home all night.
"Pffft! Cough cough cough..."
The sudden impact made Aragaki Takiya cough, but he still steadily caught the Little Loli who had lunged at him. She looked very happy; her current mental state was much better than when he first met her.
"Guh... It's so hot. Aragaki, do you have any cold drinks at home? I'm so thirsty..."
Outside the door, besides Aragaki Moeha, there was another blonde—naturally Eriri. However, her current state wasn't great; her white forehead was covered in sweat, clearly showing how hot she was.
"I do. Eriri, you should come in first. I'll get you one right now..."
Noticing the sweating Eriri, Aragaki Takiya quickly set down Aragaki Moeha to get Eriri a cold drink. After asking as usual, he got the answer: juice.
Gulp gulp gulp... "Hah! That feels great!"
After drinking more than half of the ice-cold juice in one go, the Blonde Girl let out a satisfied sound. She was now quite fond of Aragaki Takiya; not only did he have a very cute younger sister, but even the juice he bought was her favorite kind.
"Hmm? So that means only Kasumigaoka Senpai is left?"
Looking at Eriri slumped on the sofa, Aragaki Takiya opened a bottle of juice for Aragaki Moeha. Unfortunately, there was no sign of the girl with long black hair behind them. It had to be said, she really did inherit the traits of a procrastinating author, even being late in person now.
"Oh right, I think I saw Kasumigaoka just now. She seemed to be waiting at a traffic light, so she should be here in a moment..."
Slumped on the sofa, Eriri seemed to remember something and sat up to answer.
Sure enough, not long after Eriri finished speaking, the apartment door was knocked upon.
"Sorry, I'm a bit late today..."
The visitor was indeed Kasumigaoka Utaha. Thanks to the weather outside, her current state was exactly the same as Eriri's when she had just entered. If there was any difference, it was probably that the black-haired girl before him had it worse; even the strands of hair on her forehead were damp with sweat.
"Well, if I'd known, I would've suggested scheduling the club meeting for the morning. Coming over at one in the afternoon is indeed a bit of an ordeal..."
Aragaki Takiya grumbled internally, but his hands didn't slow down. He familiarly handed a chilled wet wipe to Kasumigaoka Utaha, who thanked him and began wiping her forehead.
Before long, everyone in the club returned to their normal state—except for Aki Tomoya. Since his earlier speech had been interrupted by Eriri, he was still hesitating whether to say what he hadn't finished.
"Hey, Tomoya, these are the drafts I've finished revising over the last few days. See if anything needs changing."
While Aki Tomoya was still hesitating, Eriri handed over the finished drafts. Helplessly, Aki Tomoya had to set aside what he was thinking. He planned to handle the club business first and then explain what happened earlier. But before that, he had to keep a close eye on the juice bottles on the table to prevent the scene he didn't want to see.
"Okay, let me take a look..."
Taking the drafts, Aki Tomoya began to look over the results of Eriri's hard work. However, after looking through them, he felt more and more like something was missing.
"Um, Eriri, these drafts..."
"Hmm? What's wrong..."
"They haven't met expectations at all!"
"What?!"
Hearing Aki Tomoya's words, Eriri froze on the spot. But soon her face turned red—from anger, of course.
"Then may I ask, exactly where did they fail to meet your expectations?"
Eriri was now practically gritting her teeth. After all, she was a somewhat famous artist, and she had put more effort into these drawings than into her own doujinshi. Aki Tomoya's rejection was pushing her to her limit.
"Whew whew forget it, don't get angry. I want to see exactly what isn't up to standard."
Just as Eriri was trying to calm herself down, Aki Tomoya's next words directly set her off.
"I can't quite put it into words, but I just feel like the girl in the drawings isn't the heroine I imagined at all. It's just not the same."
"Uh..."
Seeing the enraged Eriri, Aragaki Takiya quickly pulled Aragaki Moeha over and covered her ears while facing her toward him. The next scene might be a bit violent; Children shouldn't watch.
"You can't even say why, yet you just flat-out deny the results of someone's hard work. I don't think you want to make this game properly at all, Tomoya..."
Perhaps it was the calm before the storm; Eriri's voice was no longer as frantic, but the emotion in her eyes made Aki Tomoya shudder.
"I... I can't explain it, but Eriri, your drafts just don't give me that heart-pounding feeling at all..."
Noticing Eriri's current state, Aki Tomoya's voice gradually weakened. If it were their usual bickering, he would be confident in settling it, but this was the first time he had seen Eriri like this.
"Hmm, it feels like Sawamura-san is really angry..."
On the other side, Kato Megumi was whispering to Aragaki Takiya. There was no choice; anyone with eyes could see Eriri was on the verge of an explosion, so it was better to speak softly.
"There's nothing we can do about this. Let's wait a bit and then try to mediate..."
Stroking Aragaki Moeha's little head, Aragaki Takiya felt a bit strange. From their time together yesterday, Eriri had seemed like an easy person to get along with. So why did she become so different when it came to Aki Tomoya?
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