Chapter 66: How to Heat Up the Atmosphere
After spending over half an hour in Eriri's room, Sawamura Sayuri finally left her daughter deep in thought and went out.
After her mother left, it took Eriri quite a while to snap out of her daze. Puffing out her cheeks, she muttered, "I don't have that much guts like you!"
She lost interest in touching her computer, threw herself onto the bed, hugged a pillow, rolled around twice, and then gazed at the ceiling, mumbling, "Hmm... I'll take it easy for now. I'll call Asakura back after dinner."
After dinner, Kaede, who was busy in his room, received a call from Eriri.
"Good evening, Eriri. Are you done being busy?"
Hearing Kaede's voice, Eriri felt a little guilty and spoke in a quieter voice: "Mhm, I'm free now. Sorry about having to leave suddenly this afternoon."
"It's alright."
Kaede smiled and said, "Senior Kasumigaoka contacted you, right? About going together on Sunday to check out her novel's release status."
"Yes, she did. We'll go together then."
Sitting in her computer chair with her legs hugged to her chest, Eriri smiled, a slight blush on her face, and asked, "What do you think her novel's first-day sales will be like?"
"Hmm... Since the theme is quite different from mainstream light novel, it might not be a huge immediate hit, but the reviews from people who read it later will definitely be good. Spreading little by little, the sales should still be very decent."
"I see... That's not bad then."
Eriri nodded. She was aware of the limitations of Utaha's novel. Compared to the more lighthearted and cheerful light novel, her novel felt more like youthful literature, meaning its audience couldn't possibly be as large as konosuba.
However, Eriri had already finished the first volume and felt that even if the sales couldn't reach the top, it was definitely a high-quality novel, and its popularity wouldn't be low.
It was just that after discussing this matter, Eriri suddenly became nervous and didn't know what to say. She instantly forgot the conversations she had planned.
Kaede found it strange when Eriri on the other end of the phone fell silent. But it wasn't a big deal, and Eriri hadn't said she wanted to stop talking, so Kaede said, "Eriri, you don't have anything planned for tonight, do you?"
"No, I don't."
"Then do you want to play games together? You must have been quite tired from the Midterm Exams, and besides the group tasks for the Art Club, you also had to draw manga for submission, right? It's Friday today, so let's relax by playing games together."
Kaede wasn't actually very good at talking to girls, but Eriri was special. Since she was an otaku girl, there were many topics he could discuss with her, and playing games together could quickly liven up the atmosphere.
After hearing this, Eriri first breathed a sigh of relief, then happily agreed: "Okay, let's play games!"
"Then you decide. What should we play?"
"Hmm~~~" Eriri pondered for a moment, looking at the icons on her desktop, and decided, "I want to challenge myself. Let's play APEX!"
APEX, a battle royale game set in the same world as the game Titanfall, was a new game released in February of this year, 2019.
If Kaede remembered correctly, over a million players played this game on the day it was released, making it a massive hit.
Although its popularity had decreased slightly by May, it was still a very popular multiplayer battle royale game.
Hearing Eriri choose this game, Kaede laughed and said, "A challenge to yourself, indeed. Shooting games are quite difficult for you. But be mentally prepared, I'm only average at this game too."
Although Kaede played some shooting games like COD and Battlefield, he played battle royale games very rarely, only having touched Fortnite a bit and barely ever playing PUBG. However, APEX also involved the use of hero abilities, so it wasn't purely a gunfight game, and he figured he could manage if he practiced more.
"Hmph hmph!" Eriri's mood lifted, and she said confidently, "Before, I didn't have teammates, and matching with strangers alone was boring. I also don't like voice chatting with strangers. Starting now, I'm going to practice seriously!"
"Then I look forward to it."
Without further ado, they logged into the game. Eriri's friend request had already been accepted, so he sent an invitation, and the two of them, plus one random player, started the game.
Of course, they didn't use the in-game voice chat. Kaede only used other software to voice chat with Eriri. Even when the first random player they matched with saw Eriri's name, assumed she was a girl, and started typing flirtatious messages, neither of them paid any attention. The two of them stuck together throughout the entire match.
For some reason, this lonely matched player received tons of critical hits.
Kaede and Eriri played APEX all night long, and Kaede, wearing headphones, kept hearing Eriri's various cute exclamations.
Although concentrating while playing FPS games can be exhausting, staying up late isn't unbearable when playing with a girl... Sunday, 8:00 AM.
After getting up early, brushing his teeth, washing his face, and changing his clothes.
Standing in front of the full-length mirror, looking at his outfit, Kaede stretched his legs and mused, "I feel like I've grown taller again recently."
Since he was at the age where he was still growing, Kaede felt that the frequency with which he bought clothes had increased.
Coming downstairs, there were lines drawn on a wall in the living room where his family had previously measured his height, currently marked up to 180 cm.
He stood next to it and found he had already reached 177 cm.
"Hmm... at this rate, I guess I'll reach 180 cm by the end of the year."
Although a boy over 170 cm in Japan was definitely not considered short, Kaede still hoped to reach 180 cm. Currently, it seemed this wish would be easily realized.
Coming out of the kitchen, Asakura Reiko saw her son's action and came over curiously to look: "Oh my, Kaede, are you already this tall? Your mom didn't even notice!"
"Since you see me every day, it's normal not to notice subtle changes," Kaede said with a smile. "If I went abroad to study in high school and only came back once every six months, you would definitely notice the change in my height."
His father, who was reading the newspaper, looked over and asked, "Do you want to study abroad? It's quite beneficial for personal growth, whether it's expanding your horizons or developing your ability to live independently."
"Emmm~~~ I don't have that idea right now."
Shrugging his shoulders, Kaede walked over to the dining table, sat down, and started eating breakfast.