When the yawning Yusuke Kato picked up the vibrating cell phone, the time had already reached 12:15 noon.
"Ah, please put your phone away, Yusuke. It's a video call now~?"
"...Um - sorry."
After reacting with a slight delay, he turned the screen of his mobile phone towards him, and at the same time took his eyes on the girl wearing the uniform of a convenience store worker.
"...Morning, don't you need to go to work? Sayu."
While speaking, he also dragged his body and sat up from the bed in the guest room.
The girl in the picture smiled helplessly, "Well, it's my rest time now... Did you stay up late again last night?"
Kato Yusuke nodded at this, and then slowly said: "That's what I said, but unfortunately there is still no progress on Eiriri's side."
"Hey, that's it..."
Sayu tilted her head slightly and said, "But isn't the time very tight? What are you going to do in that case? Ah...and the hair here is sticking up, Yusuke."
Following the position indicated by the girl, he raised his hand and smoothed the messy hair, trying to smooth it out. Unfortunately, the other party was particularly stubborn, so it took him more than three times longer than expected to finally solve it.
.
But the good thing is that after all this trouble, Kato Yusuke's hazy brain gradually regained consciousness.
At this moment.
"Yeah, the rare photo has been captured~"
Accompanied by a clear and melodious voice, the girl made happy gestures on her lips. The corners of her lowered eyes curved down when she smiled, as endearing as a slightly curved crescent moon.
"...Are you taking a screenshot?"
After he asked this question, Sayu immediately nodded his head in a hurry.
"Yeah~ Yusuke is happy too?"
"...No, not at all."
Kato Yusuke shook his head noncommittally, "It would be better to say that I have no idea what the fun of this kind of photo is."
The other party said in a long voice: "Eh~~? It's obviously very cute? It's like a small animal."
The tone seemed rather regretful.
Then she kept saying "Yes, yes" as if remembering something, and said excitedly to him: "Listen to me, Yusuke~ Asami took me to a super-wonderful park last night! Next time
Shall we go together too? Go look at the stars."
"garden?"
"Yeah, it's a park built on a hill and covered with grass!"
"Is this so..."
Kato Yusuke couldn't help but be a little confused, "But can't you see stars everywhere? Is it necessary to go there specially?"
Sayu waved his hands to deny this, with a rare serious expression on his face: "It's not that simple. I think it's a scenery that can only be seen there. Really. I never thought that I could see something like that in Tokyo."
There were so many stars that it really shocked me."
There was deep surprise in his tone, as if he was still immersed in the scene described in his mouth, which made Yusuke couldn't help but smile,
"Well, it does sound interesting. Then I'll ask you to take me there next time."
After he finished speaking, he added: "How are you getting along with Asami these two days? Sayu."
The girl nodded vigorously, "Yeah - very good. We talked about a lot of topics and played video games together, because we also learned a lot about Asami. And then..."
Having said this, Sayu narrowed her eyes slightly, smiled, and said in a gentle tone: "It turns out that Asami wants to be a novelist in the future, and I think she will definitely be able to become one."
After hearing this, Yusuke Kato showed moderate surprise on his face, "Does the novelist mean the light novel type? Like Kasumi Shiko-sensei."
"Hmm - probably not."
The girl shook her head and said, "I think Mami is talking about traditional literary works. After all, her articles are carefully written and organized, and her style is completely different from light novels."
Then he changed his words, with a wry smile on his face, "Although her mother is very opposed to this because she wants her to become a lawyer like herself.
The two had numerous quarrels over this incident, so Asami dressed herself up like this to deliberately go against her parents, but she is actually a quite gentle person."
A family combination of a lawyer and a politician...
Kato Yusuke thought silently and replied: "Although it is not incomprehensible, the method is very childish."
"Wow, what's going on with your prejudice against Asami? Is there really something in it that I don't know about?"
"Well, I can think of a lot, but for now, just taking you away from me is enough to start a war."
"……Eh--?"
Sayu blinked his eyes in confusion, and then burst out laughing: "Oh - you are really exaggerating. When will this gentleman plan to take me home?"
"let me see……"
Kato Yusuke pretended to be thoughtful and said: "Then it will be fine tomorrow."
"Eh heh...?"
The girl who was joking couldn't help but be stunned: "Really? But what should we do about work?"
I heard someone say: "No problem, I will try my best to help until tomorrow morning. If Yinglili still has no idea by then, I will have to draw it."
"Hey~~ But can that girl accept this kind of thing?"
"I don't know, but I will find a way to convince her."
"Ahaha, that's it."
Sayu on the screen showed a joking smile and said with a double entendre: "It's really reliable, so go for it! Father~"
◇
After washing up in the bathroom, Kato Yusuke walked out of the room.
Since he didn't find anyone in Yinglili's room, he dialed the other party's phone number and walked around the spacious mansion.
It wasn't until he came to the kitchen on the first floor that this trip finally paid off. But the picture that greeted his eyes made people feel deeply confused.
I saw that slender figure with the iconic twin tails standing in front of the kitchen counter, studying something on a pile of pots and pans, looking extremely focused.
"……What are you doing?"
"babble!"
After he asked, the girl's body immediately trembled as if she was frightened, and then she suddenly came back to her senses, turned around, glared at him, and spoke fiercely.
"What...what's your purpose of sneaking up behind others? You know, I almost got chopped off just now!"
And through this turn, Kato Yusuke also succeeded in seeing the other party's front face clearly.
Apron, kitchen knife, recipe book.
In short, it's the look of a bad housewife, full of incongruity.
After looking up and down the other person for a while, he couldn't help but frown and said: "Because you didn't answer my phone after I called several times, so I came down to find you... But what are you doing dressed like this?
"
In response to this, Yinglili responded like this.
"What else can I do? Because Sophia and the others are on leave today, and I'm hungry again, so I'm planning to cook something to eat. You'll understand at a glance, right?"