After taking a few more photos, Tanaka Masao finally put away the camera.
He looked at the black tights, and Kasumigaoka Utaha's figure couldn't help but appear in his mind.
"It seems we haven't contacted each other since we last met."
He glanced at the time, saw that it was only eleven o'clock, and, remembering that Kasumigaoka Utaha was a typical night owl who would definitely still be awake, Tanaka Masao took out his phone and sent a message.
"Senior Kasumigaoka, would you like to read a new novel?"
...
Meanwhile, in an Apartment in Tokyo.
Kasumigaoka Utaha was leaning lazily on the bed in her pajamas, with a laptop on her lap.
The computer screen was full of text, and upon closer inspection, it was the second volume of "love metronome."
After finishing the first volume, she had already prepared most of the outline for the second volume; she just needed to continue writing.
Originally, she thought she was exceptionally talented, far surpassing her peers. Her excessive arrogance made her somewhat self-centered, blinding her eyes.
It wasn't until she met Tanaka Masao, a peer even more outstanding than herself, that she began to seriously re-evaluate her own work.
After reading Tanaka Masao's novel and then looking at the second volume of her own novel, she immediately felt it was full of flaws and lacked interest.
So she started revising it, but no matter how she revised it, she wasn't satisfied; instead, she got stuck, unable to write anything.
As everyone knows, nothing frustrates a writer more than writer's block.
If there is, it's a female writer experiencing writer's block during her period.
Stuck in writer's block, Kasumigaoka Utaha couldn't help but start thinking about other things.
"It's all Junior Tanaka's fault for making me feel so awful."
"And it's been two days, yet he hasn't even taken the initiative to contact me."
"My charm should be pretty good, right? Usually, quite a few boys actively try to talk to me."
"With such a good opportunity, why isn't Junior Tanaka taking the initiative to seize it?"
The more Kasumigaoka Utaha thought about it, the more annoyed she became, as if everything had gone wrong since she met Tanaka Masao.
She took out her phone, opened her contacts, and found the chat window with Tanaka Masao.
Looking at the blank conversation, Kasumigaoka Utaha started typing.
"Junior Tanaka, not contacting me for so long, have you forgotten about me, your Senior?"
As soon as she finished typing, she shook her head and deleted the text.
"This won't do; it feels too gentle and doesn't show how angry I am right now."
Thinking this, she typed again.
"Junior Tanaka is so heartless; he already promised me such things, and now he's ignoring me completely."
Looking at the message she had just edited, Kasumigaoka Utaha nodded in satisfaction.
This time, it perfectly fit her style—ambiguous words that spark imagination, showcasing her charm and maturity.
"Such teasing words will surely make Junior Tanaka blush and his heart race, making him hastily type an explanation."
Kasumigaoka Utaha thought this to herself, a smile involuntarily appearing at the corner of her mouth.
However, just as she was about to press the send button, she stopped her finger.
"No, why should I be the one to contact Junior Tanaka first, especially late at night? Doesn't that just mean I'm still thinking about Junior Tanaka at night?"
"That won't do. If he finds out, he'll think I miss him so much and that he's all I think about."
She deleted the typed message again and, somewhat annoyed, tossed her phone aside.
Kasumigaoka Utaha lay on the bed, her right hand resting on her forehead, sighing helplessly.
"Sigh, never mind. Maybe I should go to bed early today. Perhaps I'll find inspiration in my dreams."
Just as she closed her eyes, preparing to sleep, the phone she had tossed aside rang.
Kasumigaoka Utaha picked up her phone with a hint of curiosity, glanced at the sender, and immediately sat up from the bed.
"Junior Tanaka actually sent me a message!"
She felt a little joy in her heart; she had just been thinking about him, and unexpectedly, he contacted her.
When she finished reading the message, she was even happier.
"Has Junior Tanaka written another new novel? To think of showing it to me first, you're quite sensible."
Kasumigaoka Utaha immediately wanted to type a reply saying she wanted to read the new novel.
However, after typing just two words, she stopped again.
"No, replying so quickly would make it seem like I've been holding my phone, waiting for his message."
"And why is Junior Tanaka's inspiration so good that he can write a new novel so quickly?"
Thinking this, Kasumigaoka Utaha pouted her cheeks in slight annoyance and whispered.
"Hmph, I'll deliberately not reply to your message to make you anxious."
"Junior Tanaka must be holding his phone right now, waiting for my reply, right?"
A scene couldn't help but appear in Kasumigaoka Utaha's mind.
Tanaka Masao holding his phone, anxiously waiting for her reply, perhaps even feeling annoyed and uneasy because he thought his wording was inappropriate.
As soon as she imagined such a scene, Kasumigaoka Utaha found it amusing, and her previously irritable mood eased considerably.
...
As for whether our Junior Tanaka was actually holding his phone, anxiously and expectantly waiting for a reply, as his Senior Kasumigaoka imagined?
The answer is, of course, no.
After all, our Tanaka can be said to be a true normie; even if one person doesn't reply to him, he can still chat with others.
However, considering that most of the girls he knew were good kids who went to bed and rested on time every day.
So, there weren't many people Tanaka Masao could chat with late at night.
While Kasumigaoka Utaha hadn't replied, he found our naughty Eriri.
Eriri: "Hey, who are you calling naughty?"
"Hey, Eriri, I have new manga again."
Tanaka Masao sent the message, and Eriri's side replied almost instantly.
"Kuro Yaro (You bastard), you're so disloyal! You actually secretly drew manga by yourself without calling me."
"Have you forgotten our countless nights fighting side by side, staying up all night, and our agreement?!"
"Hey, I just drew a few more doujinshi, but you're making it sound like I did something really bad. Also, did we have any strange agreements?"
"Wait, you said you drew doujinshi."
"Yeah, is there a problem?"
"Then it's fine. I almost forgot your main job. I thought you were drawing serious manga that could be published."
Eriri let out a long sigh of relief. She had thought Tanaka Masao was going to abandon her and run off by himself.
Having successfully transformed, she had fallen in love with her current glamorous identity.
Before, if she wanted to draw illustrations for others, some might not choose her because of her identity as a doujin artist.
But now, her worth had soared, and she had confidence when chatting with others online.
It really echoed the saying: "The past me you ignored, the present me you can't afford."