"'Afternoon Empty Classroom'?"
Looking at the poster—a blonde beauty and a white-haired beauty gazing soulfully into each other's eyes—Eriri couldn't help raising an eyebrow. What was with this bizarre sense of déjà vu?
She had a distinct feeling of foreboding.
And what really took her by surprise was the author's name on the poster: "Wants to Cuddle with Pretty Girls."
That pen name was extremely familiar to Eriri—wasn't it the owner of the group chat? Up to now, all she'd known was that the group owner was a big-name artist who drew yuri books full-time. She'd never once realized that this big-name artist was, in fact, her own Club President.
Then again, that might have something to do with the fact that she'd never paid attention to yuri books before.
"The Club President's booth sure looks popular~" Mio remarked, gazing at the long line up ahead.
"Don't you chat in the group all the time? You're telling me you've never followed the owner's work?"
"Of course I've followed it—the owner's lewd art is top-of-the-line!" Mio gave a thumbs-up.
"I pulled you into that group so you'd learn and get better, not so you could mooch lewd pics!" Eriri was suddenly struck by the feeling that this girl was a lost cause.
Mio reached over and ruffled Eriri's head. "I'm just joking. Honestly, I never expected the President to be the group owner either. Hey—want to give her a little scare in a bit?"
"President, you wouldn't want your classmates finding out you draw doujinshi, now would you?" Mio mimicked the exact tone Yukinoshita Haruno had used on her yesterday, putting on a little performance right there in front of Eriri.
Faced with Mio's startlingly convincing act, for one brief instant Eriri actually felt as though she were the one being threatened. Snapping back to herself, she said, voice a touch unnatural, "Great acting. Don't ever do it again."
"Eh!?"
Aki Tomoya, standing in line behind the two of them, genuinely wanted to know what on earth they were talking about—but Mio and Eriri kept whispering back and forth, so the most he could catch was the shifting of their expressions.
He let out a soft sigh and turned his attention to the poster on the booth.
Looking at the two pretty girls printed there, then back at Mio and Eriri up ahead—why did the pair on the poster look so much like the pair in front of him?
And since when did Eriri start paying attention to yuri books? If he remembered right, she'd never had any interest in this stuff before. What had changed her? ...Mio?
After a dozen-odd minutes, Mio and Eriri finally made it to the very front of the line.
"Long time no see, President~"
The Club President, head down and busy restocking, froze mid-motion at the sound of Eriri's all-too-familiar voice. She reflexively looked up—and there was Eriri's amiable smile, with Mio beside her smiling a greeting of her own.
"E-Eriri, what a coincidence." The Club President, who absolutely had not expected Eriri to turn up here, forced out a couple of dry laughs and tried to play it cute and bluff her way through as if she had no idea about anything. Unfortunately for her, Eriri wasn't buying it for a second.
"Yeah, what a coincidence. I wonder if the President might explain what exactly is going on with this doujin?"
"It's... it's exactly what it looks like. But don't worry, this doujin is all-ages—there's absolutely nothing weird about it."
"Is that really so?"
The Club President nodded hard. "Of course it's true. I'm your President—would I really lie to you about something like this?"
Eriri let out a soft sigh. She wanted to explain that she and Mio were nothing more than friends—but on second thought, she let it drop. The other girl had already gone and drawn the whole doujin; no amount of explaining was going to get through to her now.
"I'll let it slide this time. Since it's the President's work, give me thre—no, two will do."
"Isn't it usually three?" Mio asked beside her, curious.
"I'm not out to spread the gospel. Two's plenty."
Even she couldn't exactly go around evangelizing a yuri book modeled on herself and Mio, now could she? Though, credit where it's due, the President had drawn it rather well—if only she'd drawn her own chest a little bigger.
Just like in that unfinished work of hers.
Cough cough.
"President, I'll take three~"
Compared to dealing with Eriri, the Club President was visibly more at ease when it came to Mio. As she handed the books over, she added with a sunny little smile, "Let me know your thoughts once you've read it, okay? I'll fix whatever's lacking next time~"
"Sure thing, no problem."
"What in the world are you two whispering about?"
"Nothing, nothing at all."
Having finished their shopping, Mio walked off to the side with Eriri.
Around the same time, Aki Tomoya reached the front of the line. Truth be told, he had no real interest in yuri books—he'd just been preoccupied with other thoughts and somehow ended up in the queue without quite meaning to. Figuring he'd come this far, and having half-caught some of the exchange between Eriri and the author—he couldn't make most of it out, but he gathered the two seemed to be acquaintances—he decided that, in that case, he might as well buy a copy too.
The moment Aki Tomoya finished paying, he turned to glance around and soon spotted Mio and Eriri not far off. Just as he was about to head their way, he suddenly saw Mio plant a kiss on Eriri's cheek.
What surprised him even more was that Eriri, having been kissed, didn't blow up on the spot the way he'd imagined. She merely shot Mio a helpless look, seemed to grumble a couple of words, and that was the end of it.
As if she'd long since grown used to this sort of thing from Mio.
Done lecturing Mio, Eriri turned her attention back toward Aki Tomoya.
Noticing that he didn't seem to have spotted her, Eriri raised a hand and waved. "Tomoya, over here."
"Ah—right."
Coming back to himself, Aki Tomoya walked over to join the two of them, at a loss for a moment over what he ought to say.
Right now everything just felt vaguely off to him—and he had the distinct sense he'd become a third wheel.
"What's up? You look kind of out of it."
"It's—it's nothing. Let's keep looking around." With that, Aki Tomoya took the lead and headed off ahead of them.
Watching his back, Eriri tilted her head. It took her a good while to put it together—when Mio kissed her just now, Aki Tomoya hadn't gone and seen it, had he?
Now that she really thought about it, every time she spent time with Mio, something like this seemed to happen.
Still, these days, this level of horsing around between girls was pretty run-of-the-mill. There probably wasn't any need to explain it... right?
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