Chapter 47 Golden Week
Uchimaki Subaru and Usami Mizuki went out to buy paint, which shouldn't have taken much time, but unexpectedly, they only returned to the Art Club almost an hour later.
"President, we bought the paint!"
Watching Usami put the paint away, the president, who had already had a good nap, sat on the sofa and asked, "Usami, why were you so slow? It's almost five o'clock."
"Hehehe, we had a little incident along the way."
Then, Usami told everyone what had happened outside.
It turned out that their trip to buy paint was initially smooth, but on the way back, they encountered a woman who was looking for her lost daughter.
After being asked for help, the two naturally started searching nearby. Luckily, they eventually found the girl, but it took quite a while to convince the little girl that they weren't bad people.
"In the end, Uchimaki-san was amazing. He drew a picture of the little girl's mother, which made the girl trust us, and then we were finally able to take her to find her mother."
Uchimaki Subaru also smiled and said, "Fortunately, I have a good memory and remembered what the lady looked like, otherwise it would have been quite difficult."
The others were stunned as they listened to the two recount the story.
Eriri said in surprise, "I didn't expect something like that to happen. It's a good thing you found her. And it's also fortunate that there was another girl protecting the child before you arrived."
"Mhm!" Usami nodded. "We just don't know what that girl looked like. Judging by her uniform, she should be a middle schooler, blonde, but she was wearing an ultraman mask, so we don't know her exact appearance. If we meet her again later, it will be hard to thank her."
Kaede said, "She probably didn't want to be recognized. If fate allows it, you'll definitely meet her again later, so don't worry about it."
If Kaede remembered correctly, that middle school girl was a character from the original plot, though Kaede couldn't recall her exact name. He just didn't know if she would also enroll at Toyosaki later.
She should be a pretty interesting kid.
Although the paint was bought, it seemed they wouldn't be using it today. Kaede and Eriri had both been working on homework earlier and had just finished, so they definitely wouldn't be drawing anymore.
Usami and Uchimaki Subaru also felt they couldn't draw properly today, so after resting for a while, everyone concluded the day's club activities together.
The next few days were unusually calm, and Kaede's life became regular again.
He attended classes steadily, participated in Art Club activities as usual, and everyone discussed what they should paint for the school festival.
After a site inspection, they found several canvases were quite large and required careful planning.
As for the evenings, the original plan to play games with Eriri was temporarily canceled because Eriri intended to rush out all the illustrations for love metronome before Golden Week at the end of the month.
Just like that, the first month of high school passed smoothly.
Golden Week, a full seven-day holiday. Kaede was at home pondering how to allocate his time.
Eriri had just finished her light novel illustration work, so he could definitely ask her out, but he still needed to carefully consider where to go.
Before Kaede could extend an invitation, Eriri called him first.
"Asakura!"
The moment the call connected, Kaede was startled by Eriri's shouting over the phone.
"What's wrong?"
"Right after Golden Week, we have the Midterm Exams, right?"
"That's right. Didn't we talk about this before?"
"..."
The sudden silence on the other end gave Kaede a bad feeling: "Eriri, you didn't, by any chance, forget, did you?"
"I... I didn't forget!" Eriri quickly explained, "It's just that, because of work, I haven't been studying much these past few days. It wasn't until Mizuki messaged me just now, asking if I wanted to spend a few days during Golden Week studying together, that I remembered. Ugh... I haven't even unwrapped the new game I bought, and now I don't even feel like playing games anymore!"
"Your grades shouldn't be that bad, should they?"
"My grades are okay!" Eriri, who was sitting on her bedroom bed hugging a pillow, said, "Although my family doesn't object to my otaku hobbies, and they've always allowed me to work as a doujin artist, the prerequisite is that my grades cannot slip. The requirement hasn't changed since high school: every subject score must be at least 80 points. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but I haven't studied much these past few days, so I'm a little nervous..."
80 points in every subject, huh? That means at least upper-middle level?
For Eriri's family, such a requirement was reasonable. After all, she was a young lady, and while they were already very tolerant of her hobbies, academics were equally important.
Kaede thought for a moment and asked, "You're not suggesting that I should join you, are you?"
"That's right! Because Mizuki also invited Uchimaki-san. His grades are only average, and he's always thinking about drawing his wife. Mizuki feels that as fellow Art Club members, they can't let his grades drop."
Rubbing his chin, Kaede felt it was a little strange.
Well, it doesn't matter, but he guessed Usami might have developed feelings for Uchimaki? That seemed like the only possibility.
He just felt a little sorry for Usami. That Uchimaki guy was genuinely too dense, perhaps even more severe than that Takasu kid. He wouldn't even consider 3D girls.
Although Kaede admitted that 2D girls certainly had all sorts of wonderful qualities, what good was it if you couldn't touch them?
"Alright, when are we holding the study session?"
"The day after tomorrow. We'll rest tomorrow first. As for the location, I found a family restaurant. The environment is nice, the price isn't expensive, and their desserts are delicious!"
"...Don't just think about eating once we get there. We are going there to study."
"I know! I was just mentioning it!"
After teasing Eriri, Kaede suddenly thought of something and asked, "About the study session... can I bring two more people?"
"Your two friends?"
"That's right." Kaede nodded. "That Takasu guy cares a lot about his grades, and as for Kitamura, since he wants to join the Student Council later, the Midterm Exams results are even more crucial for him."
"Understood. Then I'll go ask Mizuki, since she was the one who suggested this."
"Okay, I'll leave it to you."
After hanging up, Eriri went to ask Usami Mizuki about it. Usami didn't object and readily agreed, as besides Kaede, the class president of Class C would also be joining, and having one more person with good academic results was a good thing.
She just didn't know if that Takasu Ryuji was really easy to get along with.
Usami had seen Takasu Ryuji's appearance before and felt slightly uneasy.