For the next few days, Mochizuki, Yukinoshita, and Yui Yuigahama continued as usual, spending some time at noon helping Totsuka Saika train his Tennis skills.
With Mochizuki demonstrating his Lv4 ball skills, combined with Yukinoshita's explanations and guidance, Totsuka Saika also made good progress. Totsuka himself was very happy and satisfied.
At this point, Totsuka Saika's request was considered complete.
However, after his Tennis level increased to Lv4, Mochizuki found that practicing with Yui Yuigahama and the others improved his proficiency very slowly. Perhaps his opponents weren't strong enough.
After Totsuka Saika's request was finished, Mochizuki's lunch break time was also freed up again.
Today, Mochizuki, holding the yakisoba bread he bought from the cafeteria, uncharacteristically came to the rooftop he hadn't visited in a long time.
The rooftop was still the same.
Only Kasumigaoka Utaha was sitting there quietly. He didn't know if she had eaten yet.
"Did Kasumigaoka-senpai turn the rooftop into her private territory?" Mochizuki joked.
"Well, pretty much. Before you intruded, only I was here."
For Kasumigaoka, the rooftop was a great place.
Here, there were no annoying stares, only fresh air and a quiet environment, perfect for her to write.
"Then I suppose I've disturbed you."
"That's not necessary."
Kasumigaoka glanced at Mochizuki before speaking.
"So, why haven't you come up recently?"
Mochizuki took a bite of his bread. "Hmm, I've been busy with other things."
"So you just abandoned this poor senior, leaving me here all alone, is that it?"
Although she was talking to Mochizuki, Kasumigaoka Utaha's hands never stopped moving, constantly making "tap tap tap" sounds on her laptop keyboard. The sound was really crisp.
Kasumigaoka Utaha was truly diligent!
Mochizuki swallowed the bread in his mouth. "Senpai, don't say things that can be easily misunderstood."
"But it's the truth."
"Gurgle gurgle~"
As they talked, the sound of a stomach rumbling came.
Mochizuki was eating his bread, so it naturally wasn't his stomach rumbling.
Mochizuki looked at Kasumigaoka strangely. Kasumigaoka had stopped typing, and a blush appeared on her face.
"No, it wasn't me!"
Having her stomach suddenly rumble in front of a junior she knew, or rather, a junior guy, was truly embarrassing.
Even if Kasumigaoka didn't admit it out loud, she knew her denial wasn't convincing at all. It was all because Mochizuki's yakisoba bread smelled too good.
Luckily, Mochizuki only chuckled lightly, which earned him a charmingly resentful glare from Kasumigaoka.
"Don't laugh."
"Senpai, do you want some?"
Mochizuki offered her a bread.
Kasumigaoka hesitated for a moment, looked at Mochizuki's sincere eyes, and reluctantly accepted the bread. The main reason was that she was hungry.
"Thank you."
Moving the laptop from her lap, she tore open the packaging and Kasumigaoka also began to taste the tempting yakisoba bread.
"Mmm..."
Kasumigaoka Utaha first took a cautious small bite, then found that the taste was actually quite good.
She then took two more larger bites in a row, clearly indicating that Kasumigaoka was truly hungry.
Honestly, she was hungry but didn't go eat, and was still typing here. Why work so hard?
"Goo...goo..."
She probably wanted to say it was delicious, but the rest of the words just wouldn't come out.
"Cough... mmm... un un."
Mochizuki found it strange and looked up at Kasumigaoka Utaha. He saw her covering her throat with one hand, her expression seemed pained, her nose was wrinkled, and she was looking at Mochizuki Yo with pleading eyes, especially at the drink in his hand.
Mochizuki quickly realized that she must have choked. How could she be so careless?
Mochizuki looked at the drink in his hand. There was nothing he could do about this.
He had only bought one bottle of green tea, and he had already opened it and started drinking with a straw. He couldn't possibly ask Kasumigaoka Utaha to share it with him. They weren't that close yet.
Mochizuki could only walk over and forcefully pat Kasumigaoka's back to help her.
"Cough!"
"Cough cough cough... cough cough!"
Fortunately, Kasumigaoka finally managed to swallow the bread, which relieved Mochizuki.
Breathing fresh air again, Kasumigaoka's complexion slowly returned to normal. One second she was thinking of buying this bread from the cafeteria next time, the next second that thought was thrown to the back of her mind.
"Thank you!"
Although she said thank you, Kasumigaoka was looking at Mochizuki with a resentful gaze.
Meanwhile, Mochizuki leisurely took another sip of the green tea in his hand.
Mochizuki: It's not that I won't let you drink, it's that I've already drunk from it.
"It's okay, yakisoba bread is quite dry.... *cough*... heh heh...."
"Mm."
Kasumigaoka Utaha wasn't an unreasonable person. She was indeed a bit hungry, and once she tasted it and found it good, she ate a bit too eagerly.
She glanced at the bread still remaining in her hand, more than half left. Since it was given to her, she couldn't waste it.
Although still a little scared, Kasumigaoka Utaha took small bites this time.
....
In the stairwell leading to the rooftop, Aki Tomoya was diligently climbing the stairs step by step.
In his hand, he held a bread and a drink, also bought from the cafeteria, and a light novel-------re:zero − starting life in another world.
Because the classroom was too noisy, Aki Tomoya was currently looking for a quieter place to finish reading this light novel, and then he thought of the rooftop.
Although he had stayed up late last night, there was still some content he hadn't finished reading.
For such an excellent work, Aki Tomoya would absolutely not allow any unexpected disturbances while reading it. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to stand it.
He had to find a place where no one was around to carefully savor it.
Therefore, he didn't secretly read it during class time, even though he was already impatient.
...
Mochizuki and Kasumigaoka, meanwhile, started talking about light novels, as this was pretty much the only topic they had in common.
Kasumigaoka: "How are the sales?"
Mochizuki replied casually: "So-so, I guess. volume 2 currently has sales of around 40,000 copies."
"That many? Is that 'so-so'?"
Kasumigaoka's expression froze slightly, her mouth slightly open, looking at Mochizuki in surprise.
She thought to herself, is the difference this big?! Her Love Meter sold around 13,000 copies for its first volume, which was quite good for a new book, especially within the genre of her work. This time, volume 2 sold nearly 20,000 copies, a growth rate of almost half.
She didn't expect that the combined sales of both volumes were still less than Mochizuki's volume 2. It seems she still needed to work harder!
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