"A new work already? That's so like you, Kashiwagi Eri-sensei~" Shirai Mio said with a beaming smile.
"I told you not to call me by my pen name at school!" Even though the only two people in the Art Club Room were Shirai Mio and Eriri herself, Eriri still wasn't used to being called by her pen name at school.
There was always a mortifying, die-of-embarrassment fear that someone might overhear at any moment.
To keep Shirai Mio from harping on about her new work any further, Eriri put on a curious air and asked, "Have you thought about drawing something new lately? Your last work got a pretty good response, and plenty of people are looking forward to your next one, Shiro-ke-sensei."
"For someone like me, a new work is a piece of cake, isn't it~"
As it happened, she'd just finished all the Volume 1 illustrations for Honkai, and Kasumigaoka Utaha hadn't asked her to draw any illustrations lately either, so if she wanted to draw a new doujinshi, Shirai Mio did have the time for it.
"What kind of work would you like to see, Eriri?"
"You know the one."
"A childhood-friend vanilla-romance doujinshi again?" Shirai Mio tilted her head. She really couldn't muster any interest in vanilla-romance doujinshi.
As if something had just occurred to her, Shirai Mio leaned in close to Eriri with a bright smile and said, "How about this—I'll draw a childhood-friend NTR yuri doujinshi."
"???"
At Shirai Mio's words, Eriri even froze mid-bite. "Why do I get the feeling you've got a special soft spot for NTR?"
"I do not. That's just your imagination."
Though Shirai Mio had seemed to be joking just now, she genuinely did have the urge to draw a doujinshi like that.
Maybe she'd give it a try once she got home tonight.
For some reason she couldn't name, Eriri was suddenly struck by a certain ominous premonition.
She hurriedly shoveled down a few more bites, then handed the bento back to Shirai Mio.
Shirai Mio, for her part, didn't think anything of it. She took the bento back and, while eating, began plotting out the story for her doujinshi.
Seeing Shirai Mio break into a pleased little smile every so often even as she ate, Eriri couldn't help asking, "Just eat your food. Why do you have to sit there grinning while you eat?"
"It's nothing. I just suddenly hit on a pretty good idea. You'll find out once I've drawn it."
"Don't tell me you actually want to draw some childhood-friend NTR yuri doujinshi?"
"Take a guess~"
Long since used to Shirai Mio's antics, Eriri simply rolled her eyes at her, then pulled out her phone and started looking things up.
To make her lie hold together, she had to hurry up and come up with a plot for her new work too.
And so, once the two of them had finished eating, they lapsed into a very, very long stretch of silence, and it wasn't until fifteen minutes before class that they finally finished thinking things through.
This time, when the two of them left, they didn't run into the Art Club President.
That let Eriri quietly breathe a sigh of relief—though even if they had run into her, it wouldn't have mattered. In any case, she had a feeling that in the Art Club President's eyes, her relationship with Shirai Mio could never look innocent anymore.
Back in the classroom, Eriri quietly took out her phone before class started and sent Aki Tomoya a message.
"Tomoya, do you have time this weekend?"
"Saturday should be fine. On Sunday I've got my part-time job. Why?"
"I kind of want to go wander around Akihabara. Come with me."
"Why the sudden urge to go to Akihabara? If there's some game you want to buy, you could've just told me." On the other end, Aki Tomoya was a little puzzled, not understanding why Eriri would suddenly ask him to go to Akihabara on the weekend; he'd actually been planning to stay home and really sink his teeth into the new game he'd just picked up.
Looking at Aki Tomoya's reply, Eriri pressed her lips together. She'd made it this obvious already, and Aki Tomoya still hadn't caught on—she honestly didn't know what more she was supposed to say.
"Anyway, we're meeting at the usual place on Saturday, and you'd absolutely better not stand me up!"
No sooner had she sent that message than the bell for class rang.
Eriri casually stuffed her phone into her desk drawer, then let her gaze settle quietly on the lectern.
Though she looked for all the world like she was paying close attention to the lesson, the faintly vacant look in her eyes gave it away: her mind wasn't on the class at all.
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"Neither the white-haired little bitch nor Shiina Mashiro came to club activities today?" The daily club activities had already begun, but Eriri's gaze was fixed on the two empty seats beside her.
Just as she was wondering why Shirai Mio and Shiina Mashiro hadn't shown up for club, the Art Club President's voice suddenly sounded by her ear. "They took the day off. Said a friend of theirs is going back to her home country tomorrow, so they wanted to spend a bit more time with her today, or something like that."
"Why are you telling me all this?" Eriri said to the Art Club President, none too pleasantly.
"You looked awfully concerned, so I figured I'd let you know," the Art Club President said with a beaming smile.
She'd been observing Eriri for a while now. Just now she'd been staring at Shirai Mio's seat the whole time, and yet she claimed there was nothing between the two of them—if there really was nothing between them, then she'd eat this plaster bust right here on the spot!
"Who said I was concerned about her?" Eriri guiltily avoided the Art Club President's gaze, then turned her attention to her drawing.
Even though today's assignment was to draw the plaster bust, when Eriri finished, she realized that what she'd drawn wasn't any plaster bust at all, but a certain white-haired little bitch.
Though her first instinct was to whisk the drawing out of sight, seeing that the Art Club President was already snickering off to the side, Eriri thought about it and couldn't be bothered.
It had already been seen anyway, so she might as well go ahead and polish the drawing up a bit more.
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
Shirai Mio and Shiina Mashiro had already returned to the apartment.
Since Rita was going back to her home country tomorrow, Shirai Mio had made a stop at the supermarket on the way home and bought a good deal of ingredients; she was planning to make hot pot tonight.
It was simple and convenient, and most important of all, Shirai Mio was in the mood for it.
Seeing Shirai Mio and Shiina Mashiro come back lugging bags of ingredients large and small, Rita said, a little touched, "Is all this for me?"
"What are you imagining? Could you even eat that much?"
"Well, fair enough."
No sooner had she set the things down than Shirai Mio saw Rita pull Shiina Mashiro aside to whisper to her. Any other time, she'd have gone over to intimidate her no matter what, but considering that Rita was leaving for her home country tomorrow, Shirai Mio thought it over and decided to let it slide.
In any case, Rita had already taught Shiina Mashiro everything she should and shouldn't have; whatever else she taught her at this point hardly mattered.
Shirai Mio simply refused to believe that she, a transmigrator, would ever be outdone by Rita.
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