Chapter 27: Eriri Stays Up Late Reading a Novel
That evening, after Kaede returned home, he received an invitation from Eriri to play games together.
This could be considered their standard weekend activity. Although Eriri was an otaku who loved gaming, her skill level in many games was only average; she was someone with low skill but a high addiction.
As for Kaede, aside from a few exceptions, he could generally play well after studying a game briefly. Playing with Eriri didn't pose too much difficulty, and it was quite enjoyable.
Tonight was the same; they were playing *Tom Clancy's The Division 2*.
Although the game's reviews weren't great and it had several flaws, Kaede's goal, when playing with Eriri, who wasn't skilled at shooters, wasn't the game itself, but the fun of playing as a team.
Whenever he saw Eriri failing to hit enemies while aiming, getting focused down herself, and then loudly begging him to rescue her, Kaede always wore an amused smile.
Although it sounded mean, seeing a teammate struggle was indeed one of the joys of team gaming.
After playing for over an hour, around eight o'clock, just as Eriri was preparing to advance to the next objective with Kaede, a knock came at her door.
Having no choice, she told Kaede, took off her headphones, turned around, and saw her mother, Sawamura Sayuri, who had opened the door and was smiling at her.
"Mom, what is it?"
"Eriri is playing games? I have something to discuss with you." Sawamura Sayuri glanced at the TV in front of Eriri and the glowing phone connected to the headphones next to her, then mouthed a word with a smile.
Work related.
Understanding, Eriri puffed out her cheeks in annoyance, then put her headphones back on and said, "Asakura, something has come up on my end. Let's stop playing for today. Sorry."
"It's fine. We weren't doing any difficult progression anyway. We can play again when we have time. Go take care of your business."
"Mhm, good night then."
"Good night. See you at school tomorrow."
After ending the voice chat, Kaede exited the game while pondering, "Hmm... Editor Machida must have contacted someone. They must be talking about that matter. That was pretty fast."
Shifting focus back to Eriri, she quit the game and looked at her mother who had walked in, asking, "So, what kind of work is it exactly?"
Sawamura Sayuri didn't answer immediately, but looked at Eriri with a smile: "A boy?"
"Huh?"
Eriri was stunned for a moment, then realized what was implied, her face flushing as she glared at her mother and insisted, "He's just a classmate!"
"Ah, I didn't say what your relationship was. I was just asking if the person you were playing with was a boy or a girl."
Covering her mouth with a light laugh, Sawamura Sayuri looked at her increasingly embarrassed daughter. After noting down the surname of the boy her daughter had mentioned, she finally got to the point: "Alright, I won't tease you anymore, Eriri. The work I want to talk about is from an editor at Fushikawa Bunko."
"Fushikawa?" Eriri was familiar with light novel publishers and immediately asked, "Is it work illustrating a light novel?"
"That's right. It's for the novel that recently won the Newcomer Award gold prize. They are looking for an illustrator before publication. According to them, the new novelist, Utako Kasumi-sensei, searched around and ultimately settled on your art style, saying that if you can collaborate, compensation won't be an issue."
"That generous?" Eriri was well aware of the going rate for light novel illustrations. If the other party said that, it meant there was room to increase the compensation, and Eriri was very confident in her own abilities.
"However... I don't know anything about the author's work yet. I can't just accept a light novel illustration job blindly."
Sawamura Sayuri smiled and pulled out a USB flash drive, handing it to Eriri: "The agency is also well aware of this. After negotiation, they agreed to let you look at a portion of the manuscript for the first volume first. If you think the work is good, you can go to the Bunko for an interview next week."
"To hand out an unpublished novel like this, they must be truly determined."
Taking the USB drive, Eriri walked to her computer desk, turned on her computer, and said, "Then I'll take a look first. If the novel is good, I don't mind discussing it. Utako Kasumi? So that new author is female?"
"Yes, and supposedly quite young."
"That's not bad then. Not some greasy middle-aged man. If the work is good, I can meet her then."
While muttering, Eriri opened the document on the USB drive and started reading.
"love metronome, huh... I wonder what kind of romance novel it is."
Seeing Eriri begin to read seriously, Sawamura Sayuri quietly left the room, returned to her study, and picked up her phone to make a call... Monday morning.
Kaede rode his bicycle leisurely along the road toward school.
When he was still some distance from the school, he saw Eriri walking slowly along the side of the road.
This girl really doesn't take the family car to school, does she?
Thinking this, Kaede rode his bike up beside Eriri and rang his bell.
Startled by the sound, Eriri turned around, saw Kaede, and patted her chest: "Oh, it's just you, Asakura. You scared me."
"Seriously? You got startled by that?"
Getting off his bike and pushing it alongside Eriri, Kaede observed her expression and asked, "Didn't sleep well?"
"Mhm..."
Rubbing her eyes sleepily, Eriri said, "I stayed up quite late reading the novel last night. Although the word count wasn't huge, I always read slowly, and it was almost two in the morning when I finished."
"That really is late."
Kaede calculated that if Eriri went to sleep at two and woke up at seven-thirty, she only got about five and a half hours of sleep, which was definitely not enough for a teenager her age.
And judging by what Eriri said, she was probably reading Utaha's love metronome last night?
Looking at Eriri, Kaede advised, "You should try to stay up late less often, especially since you have school."
"Yesterday was a special case, just this once. I'll just take a nap at noon."
"You're not going to ask me to nap with you again, are you?"
"Baka! It's not sleeping together!!!"
Hearing Kaede's teasing, Eriri indignantly picked up her school bag and swung it at him.
Unbeknownst to them, their interaction was witnessed by Takasu Ryuji, who was also walking to school not far behind them.