In crossover anime, who isn't a childhood friend?

Thinking of this, Kasumigaoka Utaha smiled at Eriri, whose mind was currently in a daze and reflecting on why she had gone to all that trouble, and extended her right hand.

"Thank you, Eriri-san. Let's get along well from now on."

"...!"

Who wants to get along with you?! You shameless bastard who's only just met someone and already wants to interfere with their carefully planned outing!

Eriri took a deep breath.

But as the saying goes, you can't hit a smiling face.

Finally, she shakily reached out and shook hands with Kasumigaoka.

Her small mouth remained pursed, not uttering a word; this was her last act of stubbornness.

Not long after that.

The other side of the city.

Yukino Yukinoshita, who had just finished her cram school class, received a call from Eriri.

As soon as the call connected, a voice filled with both grievance and urgency came through.

"Yukino! Listen to me—!"

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

It's very hot today.

Takanashi Toka silently complained that her school was stingy, not even turning on the air conditioning when students went to the gymnasium for summer activities.

She gently fanned her cheeks with her palm as she returned home.

As she stepped into the entryway, she glanced at the neatly arranged row of shoes.

She recognized the shoes of her sworn brother and Rikka, and there were also three pairs of women's shoes.

Her first thought was that Qianye's three good friends had come to her house, but when she got to the living room, she realized that wasn't the case.

Saeko Busujima and Eriri were familiar faces, but there was another unfamiliar girl she had never met before.

"Ah, Sister Shihua, you're back..."

With the introduction of Chiyo, Takanashi Touka and Kasumigaoka Utaha greeted each other.

Especially Kasumigaoka, after learning that the person in front of her was Minamoto no Chiya's older sister, the smile on her face became even wider.

She, who was originally sitting, even stood up and bowed slightly to the other person as a sign of respect.

cut--!

Eriri held a glass of cold drink in her hand and looked at Kasumigaoka's deliberately ingratiating smile towards Toka. She felt that this woman was really too scheming and too good at putting on an act!

Generally speaking, would someone choose to go to someone's house to bother them before they've gotten to know each other and their relationship isn't that deep?

It's obvious that it won't happen!

What Qianye said earlier was entirely out of politeness.

This guy, not only did he agree to it, but he also had the audacity to actually follow us!

"Eri, are you feeling unwell today?"

Saeko Busujima noticed that Eriri kept making strange faces and smirking on her lips on the way from school to here, so she worriedly asked her what was wrong.

She was completely dragged to the Minamoto family by Eriri. Originally, her plan was similar to Minamoto Chiyo's: to go home and change her clothes before going to the fireworks festival to meet everyone.

After practicing kendo all afternoon, she was covered in sweat, and as a girl who likes to be clean, she would feel a little uncomfortable.

But there was no way around it. Eriri said that if we went to the venue to gather, there would be too many people watching the fireworks and we might not be able to get together. So, she just grabbed Eriri's arm and came along with us.

"Ah, no, no! I just drank the cold drink too fast, and my stomach is a little uncomfortable... Haha!"

Eriri was enlightened and realized that she had been too obvious in her dislike for Kasumigaoka Utaha.

This won't do. The education she received from childhood doesn't allow her to do something so rude.

Even if you hate it in your heart, you still have to put on a good show.

After all, she had just called Yukino, and she was telling herself to stay calm and not let preconceived notions affect her emotions.

Saeko-senpai is a good example. After getting to know her properly, you'll find that she's a very nice person.

Maybe it will be the same this time?

It's always good to have more friends.

Eriri decided to listen to Yukino for the time being.

I plan to suppress my dissatisfaction for now and wait and see how things go regarding Kasumigaoka Utaha.

The book "Love Metronome" is also quite good. Someone who can write such a dreamy and youthful campus novel can't possibly be a bad person.

Here, Toka smiled and welcomed Kasumigaoka Gen Chiya's new friend to her home.

The two exchanged a few polite words and left a good impression on each other.

Seeing that there were only some meager biscuits on the coffee table to serve the guests, Shihua immediately turned around and went to the kitchen to peel some fruit for everyone.

Yuan Qianye got up and followed her into the kitchen, standing beside her to help.

The Yuan family's house is not large, so the two sisters have to share a room, and the kitchen and living room are naturally very close to each other.

To prevent their conversation from being overheard by the guests in the living room, Shihua deliberately moved closer to her sworn brother.

"You're really popular, you've made another new friend."

And she's the same girl with such high looks and outstanding appearance.

Yuan Qianye was a little confused: "Why use 'again'?"

These words left Shihua speechless. She had just blurted it out without thinking, and she didn't know why she had added the word "again".

Suppressing the inexplicable emotions in her heart, she didn't answer the question and started another topic: "But it's really amazing that Kasumigaoka-san has become a writer at such a young age."

“She’s a light novel author,” Gen Chiya corrected her.

Shihua had just returned home from the sweltering heat outside. Before she could even sit down, she was sweating, but there was no unpleasant smell on her body.

On the contrary, it seemed that the increased body temperature and accelerated evaporation made the faint fragrance on her body become even stronger.

The smell... makes it even more intoxicating...

"Light novel authors are authors, Eriri is an author too, and you're already making money online at such a young age... These days, middle school students seem so exaggerated."

"If we're really talking about it, Sister Shihua, you're also very impressive, a national gymnastics champion."

"My sport is a niche sport, so the competition isn't fierce. Besides, I only won a championship in one event, so it's not very prestigious. I don't need to keep talking about it."

"That's true, but I still respect you a lot. Others may not know, but I do all sorts of physical exercises whenever I have time. Thanks to you, I now have a comprehensive understanding of the professional terms and movements in gymnastics."

"If you don't want the trouble of helping me, just say so. I'll ask Rikka to help you in the future."

"Forget it, Rikka's little shoulders can't support Toka-nee's thighs."

"Are you subtly implying that I've gained weight again...?"

"No, don't label me like that. I meant that Rikka's lively personality makes it impossible for her to stand still and cooperate with you..."

In the kitchen, the sworn siblings worked together seamlessly to process various fruits while whispering to each other in hushed tones.

In the living room, it was the simple-minded Rikka who kept initiating conversations.

As for the person she's focusing on today, it's naturally a new face, Kasumigaoka Utaha.

"...Kasumigaoka-san, you really went to Fantastic Bunko!"

Rikka is somewhat of an otaku, and she is involved in manga, light novels, and anime.

Fantastic Bunko is a well-known company in the industry, mainly engaged in light novel business, and has incubated many well-known ACG-related IPs.

Among them are works and anime characters that Rikka really likes, so she was very excited when she learned that Kasumigaoka Utaha was signed to this company.

"Well, after all, we drafted the contract in the Fantastic Library office building."

Kasumigaoka Utaha answered with a smile.

She answered every question from Rikka, this lovely girl, and maintained the patience a kindergarten teacher has when dealing with children.

After all, she is the younger sister of Minamoto Chiya, the male protagonist who is of paramount importance in her life.

"Signing a contract? That sounds so cool!" Rikka exclaimed. Then, as if she had suddenly thought of something, she looked at Eriri beside her and said, "So, does that mean Eriri, like Kasumigaoka, can be considered a creator?"

Kasumigaoka blinked, puzzled. "Huh? What does that mean?"

"cough!"

Eriri realized something was wrong, but because she accidentally choked on her drink, she couldn't stop it immediately.

In that short time, Rikka, who is simple-minded and proud of her friends, blurted out: "Because Eriri is a manga artist."

"Eh—" Kasumigaoka was genuinely surprised.

You can't judge a book by its cover, she really didn't expect that her underdeveloped, elementary school-aged golden retriever would have a talent for drawing.

"No, I'm not really a manga artist!" After Saeko Busujima patted her back a few times to help her catch her breath, Eriri finally came to her senses. "I'm just an illustrator who likes to draw. I haven't reached the level of a manga artist. I'm still far from it!"

"But on your website, under many of your publicly released comic works, aren't all the netizens who like your work saying 'May you live a long and peaceful life, thank you, Kashiwagi Eri-sensei'?"

"That...that's just a nickname! People only say it because they think it's funny!"

"I guess I just think it's fun, so I won't choose to directly buy your work to show my support. In short, Eriri herself is talented."

"No, those... just benefited from the original work..."

Rikka and Eriri chatted back and forth, while Kasumigaoka Utaha, initially confused, seemed to finally understand something.

She seized an opportunity to interrupt their conversation and asked Rikka, "Um... Rikka-chan, could it be that what Sawamura-san drew was... a doujinshi?"

"Yes!" Rikka Takanashi nodded vigorously.