Faced with Eriri's invitation, there was no way Mirei Shinohara could refuse. In fact, this unexpected surprise made her want to jump up and cheer on the spot. All the disappointment she had felt just moments ago vanished entirely.
"I want to come too!"
Without the slightest hesitation, Mirei nodded immediately, afraid that even a moment of delay would cost her this chance.
Receiving Mirei's reply, Eriri smiled and gave her a slight nod, then turned and continued pulling Wakaba Hiiro toward the classroom door.
Mirei, meanwhile, followed close behind them like a loyal little tagalong.
...
The school cafeteria wasn't far from the classroom building. At Eriri's walking pace with the other two girls, they arrived in less than five minutes.
This was despite Wakaba Hiiro slowing things down by being half-dragged along by Eriri.
It was currently the peak of lunchtime, with waves of students pouring out of classrooms. Some, like Eriri's group, headed to the cafeteria, while others went toward the nearby snack shop.
Although some students brought bento from home, they weren't the majority. Over half chose to get lunch from the cafeteria or school store.
Naturally, the arrival of Eriri and her companions caused quite a stir.
Of course, the main reason for the commotion was Eriri herself—her beauty was simply too overwhelming.
The secondary reason was Wakaba Hiiro.
Formerly the most beautiful girl in school, Wakaba had always attracted attention.
But those who had paid attention to her before had never once seen her interact with others—let alone go to the cafeteria with someone else. The scene was nearly unbelievable.
As for Mirei Shinohara, walking behind them, she was entirely ignored by the onlookers.
While Mirei was indeed a pretty girl, under different circumstances, she would have had her own share of attention wherever she went.
But compared to Eriri and Wakaba Hiiro, the gap was as vast as that between fireflies and the bright moon.
Despite how eye-catching the two were, no one was bold enough to strike up a conversation.
Wakaba, though reluctant to come to the cafeteria with Eriri, had gone along with it this far and no longer struggled. She simply ordered her lunch like a good student.
The entire mealtime passed uneventfully. Wakaba ate her lunch in silence, and Eriri didn't tease her during the meal.
As for Mirei, she initially kept trying to strike up conversation with Eriri, but after realizing that Eriri wasn't especially interested, she stopped, afraid of annoying her.
She had fallen from the center of the class's female circle to a pitiful little sycophant.
After lunch, the three returned directly to the classroom.
On the way back, although Wakaba insisted she could walk just fine, Eriri still dragged her forward under the pretext of not wanting her to trip, just like earlier.
Time flew by, and before long it was already past 3 p.m.
School was over for the day.
"Sawamura-san, want to go to karaoke with us?"
After the teacher left the room, Mirei Shinohara excitedly invited Eriri.
Nearby, several girls turned expectant eyes toward Eriri.
These girls were Mirei's usual group of friends, and they had also planned to go to karaoke.
While none of them had the courage to approach Eriri after being rejected, they still secretly hoped to become friends with her.
This alone highlighted just how different Eriri was from other pretty girls.
If it had been any other girl who treated the rest of the class with such cold indifference, she would undoubtedly have ended up isolated and ostracized by the other girls.
Wakaba Hiiro was the perfect example of that.
But Eriri was different. No matter how aloof she acted toward her classmates, the girls wouldn't resent her. Instead, they'd blame themselves for not being good enough to deserve her attention.
"I'll pass. You all have fun."
Eriri shook her head and declined Mirei Shinohara's invitation. Then, she turned her gaze to Wakaba Hiiro, who was packing her textbooks.
"Thanks for sharing your textbook with me today. I'm heading home now—see you tomorrow."
After saying her goodbyes, Eriri left the classroom without hesitation. She didn't press Wakaba further. After all, they now lived next door to each other. It wouldn't be long before they met again.
Watching Eriri's departing figure, Mirei Shinohara suddenly lost all interest in karaoke.
Just as she was about to tell her friends that the outing was canceled, she caught sight of Wakaba Hiiro, who had finished packing and was getting ready to leave the classroom.
A surge of negativity welled up inside her. She immediately wanted to teach Wakaba a lesson.
But just as she was about to call someone over to act with her, she remembered what Eriri had said to her earlier—and the life lessons implied within.
Her impulsive thoughts were doused like a cold bucket of water.
Because of their shared lunch experience, during the short breaks between classes in the afternoon, Eriri hadn't ignored Mirei like she had in the morning. Instead, she actually exchanged a few words with her.
Of course, this was mostly for the sake of "training" her.
Through those brief conversations, Mirei came to understand what kind of people Eriri liked—and what kind she disliked.
She knew that if she really went and taught Wakaba a lesson, she would become exactly the kind of person Eriri hated.
And if Eriri found out, then she could kiss any future connection with her goodbye.
With that realization, she gave up the idea of going after Wakaba entirely.
She stopped paying attention to Wakaba and turned to rejoin her group of friends.
...
After leaving school, Eriri didn't use teleportation to return home. Instead, she walked like a normal student.
Her house wasn't far from school—a short ten-minute walk at most.
Between the school and her house, there was a train station. So it wasn't long before Eriri reached a busy street in front of the station, where foot traffic grew significantly heavier.
Ignoring the curious glances being thrown her way, Eriri made her way through the station area and continued toward a nearby residential street.
After walking another two minutes along the residential road, she stopped in front of a house with a nameplate that read "Wakaba."
It was clear that this standalone house served as Wakaba Hiiro's base for living the life of a normal high school student.
As for the house Eriri had purchased, it was located directly to the left of Wakaba's—also a standalone home. The two houses were separated by less than a meter.
However, because both properties had enclosed yards, the gates were divided by walls. To visit one another, you'd have to go around the yards.
Without pausing at Wakaba's place, Eriri continued walking forward a few more meters and stepped into the yard marked "Sawamura."
"I'm home!"
Pushing open the gate and entering the entryway, Eriri called out into the house.
As her voice echoed, the sound of calm footsteps approached from inside.
"Welcome home, milady."
Standing before Eriri was a stunning woman dressed in a classic black-and-white maid outfit. She was none other than Aoi Kujou.
In truth, over the coming months, Eriri wouldn't be living alone in this world.
Since her role here was that of a wealthy young lady from a respectable family, naturally, she would also need a personal maid to take care of her daily needs.
So after setting up her house, Eriri returned to the Saekano world and brought Aoi Kujou over.
Aoi was more than satisfied with Eriri's arrangement.
Her greatest wish had always been to stay by Eriri's side. Yet when Eriri traveled to other worlds before, she rarely brought Aoi along.
Even in the Saekano world, Aoi seldom had chances to be alone with Eriri.
Now, she finally had the opportunity to live together with Eriri for a few months—a dream come true.
As for who would take care of meals back at home in her absence, there was nothing to worry about.
Not only had Yumemi's cooking skills improved significantly after assisting Aoi for so long, the villa was also home to several highly skilled android maids.
Although their cooking couldn't quite compare to Aoi's, it was more than sufficient for daily meals.
"Aoi, is the gift for visiting the neighbors ready?"
After entering the living room, Eriri smiled as she asked Aoi Kujou from her seat on the sofa.
"Yes, it's ready."
Aoi nodded and brought out a small cake, neatly packaged in a gift box, from the kitchen and placed it on the coffee table in front of Eriri.
"Great, thank you. Now we just have to wait for our neighbor to get home. I'm sure she'll love this gift."
Eriri knew Wakaba Hiiro's personality very well.
Even though they were now neighbors, trying to enter Wakaba's house like a normal person would be impossible.
After all, she was a hardcore shut-in who would retreat to her room and game as soon as she got home, ignoring the outside world entirely.
That's why Eriri's plan was to tempt Wakaba with delicious food. Even an eldritch god wouldn't be able to resist culinary delight.
Of course, even if Wakaba somehow withstood the temptation, Eriri had other methods. This was simply her gentler backup plan.
Meanwhile, Wakaba Hiiro had already crossed through the bustling streets near the station and was about to enter the residential area.
She had no idea that Eriri had become her neighbor and was already making preparations to "invade her house."
Four minutes later, Wakaba arrived at her front door.
Just as she pulled out her keys to unlock the door, a familiar voice called out behind her.
"Ara ara~ Isn't this Wakaba-san? What a coincidence! If I had known you lived here too, I would've walked back with you."
Wakaba's hand, which had been turning the key, paused. That voice was unmistakably familiar.
But in the next moment, she resumed as if nothing had happened. After unlocking the door, she turned around.
"Sawamura-san, why are you here?" Wakaba asked coldly.
After spending a whole day with Eriri, Wakaba had realized that ignoring her would only invite worse consequences.
But truthfully, she didn't dislike talking to Eriri.
"Oh, I just moved here, so I thought I'd drop by to greet the neighbors. Imagine my surprise when I saw Wakaba-san unlocking her door!"
Putting on a cheerful face, Eriri stepped closer to Wakaba.
"This must be fate! Not only are we desk neighbors, but now we're neighbors at home too! I'm so happy!"
Hearing this, Wakaba fell silent.
Even she couldn't help but feel it was too much of a coincidence.
Still, she didn't believe Eriri had deliberately orchestrated all this. From what she sensed, everything about Eriri's presence and actions seemed perfectly natural.
There had been no signs of outside interference.
Add to that her subconscious fondness for Eriri, and Wakaba began to think perhaps they truly were fated.
For beings like them, fate was very real.
Watching Wakaba's silence, Eriri chuckled inwardly.
Though she hadn't peeked into Wakaba's thoughts, she could roughly guess what was on her mind.
"Oh, right! Wakaba-san, I brought a gift for my visit. I hope you like it."
As if she had just remembered, Eriri presented the gift box in her hand to Wakaba.
Staring at the beautifully wrapped box in front of her, Wakaba was silent for a moment before finally reaching out and accepting it.
"Thank you."
The sweet scent of cake wafting from the box made Wakaba suddenly wonder if she should reconsider how she treated Eriri from now on.
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