The sound of shoes tapping on the floor grew closer, and a girl with long, straight black hair arrived at the table where Yusei and Eriri were sitting.
Without even asking, the girl directly sat down next to Yusei and said with a smile,
"Kazami-kun and Sawamura-san, what a coincidence meeting you here. Do you mind if I join your discussion?"
Eriri, who had been seriously talking about the script, stopped and looked at the girl whose bust size was several times her own, her expression turning serious.
"Kasumigaoka Utaha?"
Yusei had already noticed Utaha approaching and wasn't surprised.
"What brings you to the café suddenly? Meeting someone?"
Utaha gave Yusei a sidelong glance, "Who else would I be meeting besides you?"
"I just came here because I didn't want to stay in the dorm, to find a quiet place outside to write my novel."
"That really is a coincidence. Eriri and I just randomly picked a café," Yusei said.
"Eriri?"
Utaha looked strangely at Yusei and Eriri.
This gaze made Eriri, who had never gotten along well with Utaha, blush slightly.
'I hadn't done anything, so why did it feel like I'd been caught?'
"Hey, staring at people like that is very rude," Eriri said, looking unfavorably at Utaha.
"Ah, indeed, my apologies," Utaha apologized indifferently.
Right now, she was thinking about what relationship Yusei and Eriri had, for him to call her 'Eriri' so familiarly.
Normally, only close friends would call each other that.
Eriri, receiving such a half-hearted apology, naturally didn't press further, merely giving a faint snort.
She stood up preparing to leave, but before going, she looked back at Yusei.
"Then it's settled. I'll send you all those... embarrassing poses you asked for."
After saying this, she deliberately shot a challenging look at Utaha. Knowing about the rumors between Yusei and Utaha, she did this on purpose.
Eriri left, but Utaha grew even more curious.
'Those so-called 'embarrassing poses'... could they be...?'
Noticing Utaha's 'resentful' gaze, Yusei sighed helplessly and pulled up the script on his laptop.
"I asked her to do some illustrations for me. Nice character illustrations," Yusei said, still not revealing she was an Eromanga Artist, as he didn't have her permission.
But everyone knew Eriri was a big name in the art department.
Back in Toyogasaki Academy, she was the ace of the art club.
"Is that so," Utaha felt there was something she didn't know, but she didn't seem to mind, instead smiling at Yusei.
"Yusei-kun, since we've met by chance, how about going on a date?"
Yusei looked embarrassed, pointing at his laptop, "Do people go on dates carrying this?"
"It's fine, I'm the same, aren't I?" Utaha laughed, pointing to her own laptop.
Originally, she had also planned to come to this café to write in peace.
"Come on, let's go out and have some fun. How about I take you to a nice place?" Utaha smiled mysteriously.
Seeing this, Yusei could only agree helplessly, 'It seemed buying the pompom for the little fox would have to wait until later.'
Yusei followed Utaha. This 'nice place' wasn't in central Tokyo, but in a remote mountainous area on the outskirts.
He remembered this place, as it was where he had summoned Hong Hong before.
Following Utaha, Yusei arrived with her at a shrine that seemed to have very few visitors.
It had few visitors because almost no worshippers came here.
The shrine also looked dilapidated from lack of repair. The only decent things were the two stone pillars at the entrance, but strangely, the animals on the pillars weren't majestic creatures like dragons or lions.
Instead, they were two seemingly unrelated, even natural enemy, creatures: a frog and a snake.
On the left, a stone frog crouched on the pillar, and on the right, a snake coiled around the pillar. This strange structure made Yusei feel somewhat curious.
However, although the shrine looked somewhat rundown, there were footprints and signs of cleaning on the steps at the entrance, indicating someone had been here recently.
Seemingly sensing Yusei's confusion, Utaha smiled.
"This is a shrine known and visited only by the nearby villagers. It's very small and hasn't been repaired in a long time. The shrine maiden here has always been just one person, generation after generation, so it seems very desolate."
"Actually, I only found out about this place when I returned to the countryside this summer vacation. My parents never mentioned it before. Because I was bored, I came here to pray and make a wish, and I found it to be especially efficacious. That's why I brought you here this time."
"Efficacious, huh?" Yusei secretly shook his head. He didn't believe in such things.
In his view, the so-called efficacy Utaha experienced was probably just a coincidence in her own life, not some god answering prayers.
But since Utaha wanted to bring him here to make a wish, Yusei decided to play along and make a wish.
And looking at its shabby state, he'll just consider it a charity.
Entering the shrine grounds, a cute girl wearing an ordinary school uniform quickly ran out.
"Are you two here to worship? I'm very sorry, I just got out of class and haven't had time to change into my shrine maiden attire yet," The green-haired girl with a ponytail said apologetically.
Yusei waved his hand, indicating he didn't mind.
Utaha seemed to know this girl, greeting her warmly: "Sanae, give me a great fortune today, okay?"
"Utaha-nee!" the girl smiled sweetly.
Yusei and Utaha followed the procedure, offering incense and tossing coins into the offering box.
However, Yusei skipped the final step of kneeling and praying. First, he had already detected something unusual about this place. Second, he was a man destined to become a King of Gods, so how could he worship another god?
And at that very moment, Yusei's surroundings abruptly changed. The green-haired ponytail girl and Utaha had vanished.
In their place was a completely silent space. The interior of the shrine was the same as before, but some things were missing, and others had been added.
This space looked very similar to the one Athena had created before.
"Won't you two come out?" Yusei looked towards the two stone statues in the center of the main hall.
There was no movement around him.
Seeing this, Yusei directly reached out his hand. A powerful gravitational force activated, and one of the stone statues was directly pulled towards him.
But just then, a voice suddenly rang out.
"Wait, let's talk, human boy."