Chapter 82: Worrying About Height?
After leaving the house, Kaede rode his bike toward the station where he had agreed to meet Eriri.
After arriving and seeing that Eriri hadn't arrived yet, he began to wait.
However, while waiting, Kaede realized something that made him feel a little uneasy.
That was, he had planned to confess, but how exactly should he go about confessing?
"..."
Silently taking out his phone, Kaede instinctively wanted to search online, but he stopped himself the next second.
It was well known that those on the internet were silly netizens, so Kaede felt it was better to try a different approach.
After thinking for a moment, he dialed Utaha's number.
After waiting for more than ten seconds, the call connected, and Utaha's slightly drowsy voice came through.
"Asakura-kun, disturbing a beautiful girl's beauty sleep will bring down divine punishment on you!"
"Sorry, Senpai. I mainly wanted to consult you about something."
Kaede's tone was very sincere, which surprised Utaha and woke her up quite a bit.
Still curled up in her blanket, Utaha asked, "So, what is it?"
"I wanted to ask, how do you plan to have the male and female leads confess in your novel, Senpai?"
"..."
Utaha was silent for a moment. Her recently awakened mind gradually started working, and a playful smile appeared on her face: "Asakura-kun, are you going to confess today?"
"I just have the idea, but I suddenly realized that I don't really know much about this kind of thing. Since Senpai writes youth romance novels, you must have drawn experience from many works, so I wanted to ask for your help."
Kaede wouldn't ask his parents, as he had already heard their story, and it was honestly... relatively ordinary and simple. Furthermore, their time was different from the present, so Kaede felt it was better to ask a girl closer to his age.
Utaha, who hadn't expected Kaede to ask this question, sat up immediately, smoothed her long hair, and said, "About that... actually, I can't really say much, since I only have theoretical knowledge. Asakura-kun, just stay calm. I think for this kind of thing, it's enough just to express your feelings!"
"Emmm~~"
Kaede thought about it. That did seem right. Making elaborate, messy preparations wouldn't suit his style.
Exhaling, Kaede said, "I understand. Thank you for your suggestion, Senpai."
"Are we done? If so, I'm going back to sleep." Lying back down, Utaha said, "If you succeed, Asakura-kun, remember to treat me to something!"
"No problem. I won't disturb you anymore, Senpai. See you next week at school."
Hanging up the phone, Kaede scratched his head and began to adjust his mindset, thinking about how he should act during today's outing.
After waiting for about ten minutes, a bus stopped in front of him, and Eriri, wearing a dress and white stockings, stepped off.
Seeing Kaede already waiting there, Eriri quickly came up to him and said, "Sorry I'm late."
"It's fine. We still have fifteen minutes until the agreed time, and it's only right for the guy to arrive early and wait." After admiring Eriri's outfit for the day, Kaede smiled and said, "Let's go. You decided the morning itinerary."
"Mhm, mhm!"
Blushing slightly, Eriri smiled and nodded, walking toward their destination with Kaede.
After only a few steps, Kaede noticed Eriri occasionally stealing glances at him before immediately turning her head away.
"...Do I have something on my face?"
Thinking something was stuck to his face, Kaede nearly took out his phone to check his reflection.
Eriri shook her head repeatedly. "No, no. I just feel like I'm a bit taller now, hehe!"
"?"
Kaede lowered his gaze and saw the small leather shoes Eriri was wearing had a slight heel.
Kaede hadn't expected Eriri to pull a stunt like this, and he couldn't help but laugh. "That's unnecessary. That little bit of height increase from the shoes won't do much. Besides, Eriri, your height isn't short. I estimate you'll easily reach 160 cm within a year."
"Huh? Only 160 cm?"
"Although this might sound a bit impolite, Aunt Sayuri's height is only considered average for Japanese women. Eriri, you've already surpassed the master. This is perfectly fine."
"I see..."
Her clasped hands involuntarily squeezed once. Eriri asked softly, "Then, what do you think? Is it better for a girl to be tall or short?"
As she asked, Eriri was inevitably worried, because in this country, due to the average male height and some inexplicable male chauvinism, if a woman grew too tall, many men would be intimidated and afraid to approach her.
However, Eriri didn't hear any rejecting thoughts regarding these issues in Kaede's reply.
"About that, I haven't really thought that much about height. In my opinion, being tall has its benefits, and being petite has its advantages. As for some people disliking women who are too tall, that's simply because they themselves are short and feel inferior. If it were me, I wouldn't have that sense of inferiority."
Then, Kaede reached out, compared his height with Eriri's, and said with a smile, "See? Shoes like that are useless on you. You'd need at least ten-centimeter heels, right?"
"Ten centimeters... Are you trying to kill me?"
Imagining what ten-centimeter heels looked like, Eriri felt that if she wore those, she might not even know how to walk.
"That's true. Also, I heard that wearing high heels too often is bad for your feet, but I'm not entirely sure. For Eriri, the way you are now is perfectly fine. There's no need to worry too much about your height."
Although Eriri's height was average among girls her age, she excelled in other areas; her figure was slender yet well-proportioned. Kaede had noticed during gym class that Eriri's waist was actually very thin, and the curve extending from her waist to her hips was beautiful.
Hmm, no, he couldn't think about it anymore. If he did, Kaede felt like he wouldn't be able to control his gaze. He could only change the subject and talk about other things.
Soon, the two arrived at the place Eriri had chosen for the morning: a large game store.
Meanwhile, Takasu Ryuji, who was supposed to be busy with housework at home on the weekend, had also left early today and arrived at his destination full of anticipation.
Today was his first day working!