Chapter 148: Release Day
After returning home, Eriri wasn't playing games; instead, she was watching anime on her tablet.
Hearing the door open, Eriri looked up and smiled, saying, "Kaede-kun, you're back. How did things go?"
"It was just a fuss over nothing. The moment I walked in, I knew nothing serious had happened."
Changing into his slippers, Kaede walked into the living room. After sitting down next to Eriri, he immediately pulled her into his embrace and glanced at the tablet. "You're watching Taiga?"
Tsuburaya's latest New Generation ultraman, ultraman Taiga, had aired in early July. After watching the previous series, R/B, on and off, Kaede had been following this one episode by episode. He hadn't expected Eriri, who usually didn't watch it much, to start watching it too.
"Hehe, I was bored and watched a bit. Didn't you like it, Kaede-kun? I was curious, so I checked it out and found this one is actually pretty good."
Eriri smiled, paused the first episode she was watching, and looked at Kaede, saying, "Tell me, what exactly happened with Takasu-san?"
"Because someone secretly snuck into his house while he was out buying groceries."
"Huh? A thief?! That *is* a big deal!"
"No, no, no, it wasn't a thief." Kaede shook his head, smiling, and said, "It was Oosaka Taiga."
"...Taiga?"
Eriri was slow to react. She frowned and thought for a moment before asking, "How did Taiga manage to get into Takasu's house?"
"Because the window ledge of her apartment is right across from the Takasu Family Home balcony. She can just climb across by opening the window."
Blinking her eyes, Eriri still couldn't quite grasp it.
Kaede could only continue explaining to her: "You probably already know this, right? Although Oosaka lives in this apartment building, she lives alone. Her family rarely, if ever, visits. Just by looking at her, you can tell her ability to live independently isn't great. I don't know what she was thinking, but she decided to sneak over to the Takasu Family Home to mooch food. That's what led to Takasu calling me."
This time, Eriri finally understood. She realized, "That's true. When we chatted before, Taiga said she couldn't cook. If Kushieda didn't occasionally come over to make her meals, she'd probably be stuck eating takeout or convenience store bentos all the time. But... why Takasu? If she wanted to mooch food, wouldn't our place or Kushieda's place be more convenient?"
"Because she'd be subjected to public displays of affection if she came here, and Kushieda's place is a bit far."
"...A simple and direct reason." Eriri covered her mouth and chuckled softly. "Actually, I wouldn't mind if Taiga came over occasionally to mooch a meal."
"I mind."
Kissing Eriri on the cheek, Kaede said, "While I'm happy to engage in public displays of affection, I don't want our world for two to be disturbed, especially by someone with Oosaka's rowdy personality."
As he spoke, his hands started to wander.
The mischievous hands on her legs made Eriri tremble slightly. She shifted her legs, feeling a little ticklish, and turned her head to look at Kaede with a flushed face. "Kaede-kun... didn't we agree to draw manga after we got back?"
"Sorry, it's mainly because Eriri is just too cute, I couldn't help myself."
Holding Eriri and pressing her down onto the sofa, Kaede chuckled, "Just for a little while."
In this position, Eriri couldn't escape. She could only close her eyes and gently tilt her head back. The lip gloss she had reapplied after dinner made Eriri's lips look incredibly tempting right now... Although he was extremely tempted, since the next day was the release date for Jump, Kaede had to postpone that time.
Eriri had said she wanted to personally buy a newly released copy of Jump to see their serialized manga, and if she couldn't wake up the next day, that would be truly terrible.
At 7:30 AM, Kaede woke up first.
Sitting up, the shirtless Kaede glanced at Eriri, who was curled up naked in the blanket beside him. He chuckled, leaned down, and gently hugged her, whispering in Eriri's ear, "It's morning. Time to get up, Eriri."
The feel of his skin made Eriri feel as if she had found a safe harbor. She snuggled further into Kaede's embrace before slowly opening her eyes.
"Ugh... Kaede-kun, is it morning?"
"That's right, it's half past seven. We agreed to go buy the newly released Jump today, you haven't forgotten, have you?"
"I haven't forgotten..."
Eriri was now fully awake and clearly aware of their current situation.
She didn't know how it happened last night, but she had genuinely fallen asleep just like that. Although there were many arguments online about the health benefits of sleeping naked, Eriri really wasn't used to it.
Even if she hadn't felt anything while sleeping last night, the feeling of awkwardness upon waking up this morning was something she truly needed to get used to.
After giving Eriri a morning kiss, Kaede quickly got dressed.
Glancing at Eriri, who was still lying in bed, wrapped motionlessly in the blanket, he smiled and said, "Now that you're awake, don't dawdle. I'm going to exercise first. Hurry up and get up, Eriri."
"I know!"
Only after Kaede left did Eriri reluctantly climb out of bed, wrapped in the blanket, and walk to the wardrobe to take out her clothes.
Besides her own room, Eriri had moved some of her clothes over to Kaede's side. Kaede had suggested this; it was unlikely Eriri would have thought of it herself.
After washing up, Eriri came to the living room and saw Kaede jogging slowly on the treadmill.
"Kaede-kun, you should go wash up too. You've been running for quite a while."
"Just a little longer, there are still three minutes until my scheduled time." Kaede said while maintaining a steady jog. "Eriri, what should we have for breakfast? We don't have many ingredients at home, and we don't have enough time to cook something now."
Eriri nodded and suggested, "Hmm~~ Let's keep it simple this morning. We can just buy something from the convenience store. On the way back, we can buy more ingredients for tomorrow too! We should buy plenty of meat, but vegetables won't keep if we buy too much, unless it's something like potatoes."
Since there were two of them living together, they had to consider these things carefully. Kaede himself didn't mind, but since Eriri was here, he naturally couldn't let her feel deprived.
"Alright, then on our way back, we'll buy plenty of things Eriri likes. How about green peppers?"
"Anything but that! Kaede-kun, you're teasing me again!"
After exercising, washing up, and changing clothes, Kaede took Eriri, who was still protesting about not eating green peppers, out the door.
"Kaede-kun, Kaede-kun, seriously, no green peppers, okay?"
Holding Kaede's arm, Eriri looked anxious as she spoke.
When she was at home, her mother often forced her to eat green peppers. Since moving out, Eriri truly never wanted to see that vegetable again.