Ch 65 – 26 May, Weekend with Eriri and Utaha 01

Kouta slowly opened his eyes at the sound of the ringing chime of the bell. The morning alarm came from her phone. It was seven o’clock AM. A bit later than usual, but he wanted to take it easy for today. Kouta pushed away the blanket and sat up. He stepped out of bed after a brief yawn.

Even though Kouta may be thinking of taking it easy, he still finished his usual morning routine. He needed to increase his stamina and muscle too. Seeing what Hibiki did two days ago, makes Kouta sure that in this 2D-like world… He may be capable of becoming that strong.

Which means, Kouta couldn’t skip this morning routine.

As soon as Kouta finished that morning routine. He prepared his breakfast, a simple toast with bacon and salad. After that, he didn’t do his usual work, but he enjoyed his time by drinking coffee and looking on his smartphone, searching for something interesting. Especially, he saw the latest comment and other stuff. Not only about his and Eriri's manga. He also checked the status of their game and video too.

It felt like the viewer was good. On the other hand, the number of people who downloaded Floopy Bird increased significantly each day. Not to mention the video they created. Kouta also asked Eriri to tweet it as Kashiwagi Eri.

Also, when Kouta asked about Satomi, she said that most of the teachers found it interesting to play. It was an easy game to play after all. So it looked like there was some appeal to adults in this world, which is a good thing.

Kouta saw the number and also the income he got, which was, well… of course, not as much as the original. In the end, Floopy Bird became popular in his previous world because some news platforms made a big deal of this game and it hit the internet.

It was neither a bad or good game, just a casual and average one. But since people make a big deal about it. It grew larger than it should have.

Kouta thought making this game was necessary because it was the simplest game he could think of and still did not exist in this world. And just like he thought, the members of the GCC made it within just a few days. If this game followed the previous world, it would become big in two or three months after someone made news about it.

The only thing, Kouta thought that if that happened he might just try to do something about it and in several days, he had been trying to recommend this game to several news outlets in the west… and japan too.

Try making a big deal about something made by just a student… and stuff. Some exaggeration may be a good thing too. Well, it is not as easy as he thought it would be. Not many of them gave a reaction…

Yeah, at least Kouta tried to manipulate the information he knew from the previous world. The only thing he needed was just waiting. He thought of making those news stories himself, but he held back and said he would do it if there was not a good reaction for those news outlets.

Right now, it is much better to let it be as natural as it could be, and that's what Kouta thought.

"Hm…"

And around 11 o’clock A.M, his home intercom started ringing. Kouta wonders who it is, of course he knew Eriri and Utaha would come here today. But, he didn't know which one rang the intercom. Or maybe the two of them will come at the same time? Well, Kouta didn’t think that would happen.

Kouta went to the front door to see his senior. Dressed in a blue themed outfit and with her black long hair fluttered in the breeze, she was alluringly beautiful. Utaha’s look gave the impression of Nadeshiko Yamato perfectly.

Yeah, Kasuigaoka was the ideal Japanese girl—beautiful and talented. With one glance, it was enough to know she was beautiful, and she had a habit of looking down, which was highlighted by her coldness.

"Ah… You’re here, Utaha-senpai… you can just enter my home." Kouta let her into the house.

"Is that so? Please excuse me." Utaha entered the home, took off her shoes, and Kouta immediately gave her slippers.

"You can just wait in the living room. I and Eriri usually work there…" Kouta told Utaha and led her to the living room . "Ah, also since it is near lunch time. How about I prepare lunch first? Utaha can wait here…" Kouta continued, but before he went to prepare lunch. Utaha stopped him.

"Wait!? There is something that I have been thinking about…"

"Hm…? Is there anything?"

"Yeah, what do you think about Eriri?" Utaha’s eyes, especially, were sharp and narrow as she asked him.

"Well…" it was a question that Kouta didn't expect to hear from Utaha at this moment, and that made him think for a second. What a good answer to this question… As Kouta ultimately made this girl fall into his arms. Utaha’s expression was serious, and she glared at him, biting her lip, showing Kouta that side of her for the first time.

Seeing her like that, Kouta didn’t know what happened between her and Eriri, but it felt like something happened, since if not… she wouldn’t act like this.

Kouta wondered what happened, but of course there was nothing he could think of, and Eriri didn’t tell him anything useful at this point either. He thought she might feel jealous or inferior to Eriri, but Kouta knew that was not her character at all. So it must be something else.

But right now, as they stared at each other. Kouta answered her quite honestly.

"I like her as much as I like you, Utaha-senpai. Two of you are important members of our little circle and… someone I want to spend time with for a long time till the future."

Yeah, Kouta was a scumbag. No matter if Utaha was a kind girl or a bad girl… How close they are or not…

What was in his mind was to make her fall into his arms, and he might do anything for it.

"That…" Utaha gasped. Her eyes widened and fixated on Kouta’s expression, as she didn’t see or feel he was lying. It was his sincere answer, and that was kind of the worst possible answer to hear. "What is that… really…" Utaha scratched her cheek, as she was unsure of how to react.

In the end, Kouta's answer sounded like either confession or rejection… or maybe both… which is a womanizer attitude. But at the same time, she felt like he was stalling or just making sure their relationship was at the same status quo.

"Really…" Utaha blushed for a second and turned her face away, but Kouta could see something pinkish on her ear.  She might have found Kouta’s answer the worst one, but she never expected to hear Kouta say he liked her, which made her heart beat faster.

Yeah, Utaha never expected her to be this easy. She took a deep breath and turned her head toward Kouta, and said.

"Is that so… Yeah, I'm a bit curious about this since I heard from Eriri how close you two are since she had a sleepover at your home. So I thought the two of you might be dating?"

"Wait… Well, we’re not dating."

Kouta told her the truth: they weren't dating, but rather had an illicit relationship that Utaha never would have expected they had.

"Okay, then… ah by the way… I bought you something…" Utaha changed the conversation and gave Kouta a tote bag.

"Hm? What is this? A surprise gift?"

"Well, of course no… It’s my older uniform that I don’t use anymore…" Utaha answered with a big smile on her face.

"That…"

"Yeah, isn’t that unfair… You had such fun in your club… Even though you promised to wear it. So this time, I came for those promises… Yeah, Kouta-kun. I want you to wear this today…" Utaha looked at Kouta excitedly, with stars in her eyes showing how enthusiastic she was.

"Well… but don’t forget my request too…" Kouta is already used for this. That he didn't have any complaints at all.