"Where is he?"
In front of Akihabara Station, Sawamura Spencer Eriri stood at the spot where she had arranged to meet Aki Tomoya and looked around.
They had agreed on ten in the morning, but it was already almost ten-thirty, and she still had not caught sight of Aki Tomoya.
Several times, she had nearly taken out her phone to message him and ask what was taking so long, but each time she thought better of it. Maybe something urgent had come up.
But half an hour had already passed. Still unable to see him anywhere, Eriri finally took out her phone and prepared to ask what was going on.
At that very moment, Aki Tomoya came into view.
Even though Aki Tomoya was wearing glasses, Eriri could still see the dark circles under his eyes. One glance was enough to tell that he had not been sleeping well these past few days.
"Sorry I'm—" Aki Tomoya broke off halfway through his greeting to yawn. "—late."
"I thought you were going to stand me up," Eriri said with an exceedingly pleasant smile.
"No way. Since I accepted your invitation, I was definitely going to come. I just accidentally stayed up a little too late playing games last night, and my alarm didn't wake me this morning." Aki Tomoya smiled awkwardly.
Then excitement replaced his embarrassment. "Eriri, listen! That game I told you about before is an absolute masterpiece. The story in it…"
As Aki Tomoya's voice steadily grew louder, Eriri genuinely wanted to pretend she did not know him. After a moment's thought, however, she interrupted his impassioned speech. "Listen, friend. We can talk about games while we walk. Also, you're being far too loud. You're disturbing everyone around us."
"Sorry."
Aki Tomoya gave a dry laugh. Whenever he started talking about something he liked, he tended to get carried away.
"So, did you ask me out because there's something you want to buy, or is there something you need to discuss with me?"
As he said that, Aki Tomoya suddenly remembered that it had been a long time since Eriri had talked to him about doujinshi or asked him to buy games for her.
"I just wanted to go out and look around. As for anything related to my work, I don't think this is a very suitable place to discuss it."
On a crowded street like this, she truly did not have the courage to talk about doujinshi.
"Fair enough. Where are we going now?"
"Let's just wander around for a while. I haven't been here in some time either." Eriri started walking as she spoke.
In the past, being alone with Aki Tomoya should have made her incredibly nervous. Yet for some reason, she did not feel nervous in the slightest now. If anything, she felt a little exasperated.
What would it feel like if she had come out with Shirai Mio instead?
Wait, why was she thinking about that white-haired little bitch again?
The whole reason she had invited Aki Tomoya out today was to rediscover how she used to feel. If she kept thinking about that white-haired little bitch, there was no way she would ever find those feelings again.
Pulling back her wandering thoughts, Eriri looked around, then led Aki Tomoya straight into a nearby game store.
The moment they entered, the listless Aki Tomoya suddenly came alive and began hunting for games that caught his interest.
Eriri had been thinking of asking him to recommend a few games, but after seeing that, she could only sigh helplessly.
Forget it. She still had plenty of unopened games at home anyway. She could ask Aki Tomoya after she finished those.
Eriri had only intended to browse casually, but because of Aki Tomoya, they ended up spending quite a while there.
Holding the game he had just bought, Aki Tomoya said somewhat sheepishly, "Um, I saw that a game series I've been following forever had a new installment out, so I couldn't contain my excitement. Where are we going now?"
Eriri glanced at the time. "Let's find somewhere to eat first. Do you have any ideas?"
"I'm fine with anything."
At Aki Tomoya's answer, Eriri narrowed her eyes. She hated hearing "anything is fine."
She had invited Aki Tomoya out today to recapture how she once felt. Then why did this feel more like a spike in blood pressure?
If she had come out with Shirai Mio, things probably would not have turned out like this, right?
There she went thinking about that white-haired little bitch again.
Eriri rubbed between her brows. Even though Aki Tomoya had said he was fine with anything, she certainly was not, so she took out her phone and found a restaurant with decent online reviews.
Just as Eriri picked up the menu and was about to ask for Aki Tomoya's opinion, she saw him looking down and typing excitedly. He was probably chatting with someone.
Forget it. Aki Tomoya would not care about any of this anyway.
After ordering a few things at random, Eriri took out her phone out of boredom. Just as she was wondering what to do, a message arrived.
It was from Shirai Mio.
Eriri did not notice that the moment she received Shirai Mio's message, her expression immediately grew more serious.
"What does that white-haired little bitch want, messaging me out of nowhere?" Eriri wondered as she opened the chat app.
"Eriri, what are you doing?"
In addition to the message, Shirai Mio had sent a custom sticker of herself.
Looking at the chibi Shirai Mio sticker, the corners of Eriri's lips curved into a faint smile. She quickly typed, "About to have lunch."
"Are you by yourself?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Liar. You're clearly with your childhood friend, yet you're claiming you're alone."
Eriri froze when she saw that, then instinctively looked around. Before long, she spotted Shirai Mio in a corner.
That head of white hair was simply too conspicuous.
Noticing Eriri's gaze, Shirai Mio gave her a faint smile, then lowered her head and quickly typed, "I'm hurt. If I hadn't pointed it out, Eriri wouldn't even have noticed I was here."
"I was ordering just now. More importantly, what are you doing here?"
"Would you believe me if I said it was fate?"
"Heh."
"Fine, I'll tell you the truth. My editor had business in the area and happened to need to see me, so I came over to meet her. We just finished talking about work, and I was planning to eat before going home. I didn't expect to run into you."
"By the way, I'm not interrupting your date, am I?"
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