I Have a Friend

Although it seemed like everyone had grown used to such scenes, the truth was that there weren't that many girls who had such intimate interactions with Eriri. It was just that the frequency of these interactions with each girl was high enough that it gave off the impression of normalcy.

Arifureta's casual attitude left Akino Yukinoshita feeling both envious and jealous, but in the end, she silently focused on finishing her breakfast.

...

After breakfast, Eriri, Arifureta, and a few others headed off to school. Normally, unless there was some special circumstance, Eriri wouldn't intentionally skip class. Although, since the start of the school year, she hadn't attended very many days of school anyway.

"Good morning, Lady Eriri."

As usual, outside the gates of Yumenosaki Private Academy, a chorus of greetings from various students filled the air, but most of these greetings came from female students.

Perhaps it was due to Eriri's introduction during the class meeting or the rumors circulating around school, but she had become incredibly popular among the female students. In fact, a fan club had even been established in her honor, with over 90% of the female students in the school as members. Not a single male student was part of the club.

Rumor had it that the president of the fan club was none other than the current student council president, a beautiful girl with long black hair who also happened to be the heiress of a wealthy family.

Privately, the members of the club referred to Eriri as "Onee-sama." Even upperclassmen in their second or third year called her that.

Of course, Eriri was fully aware of the existence of this fan club, but she didn't mind it.

Even Arifureta, Shea, and Megumi Kato had joined the fan club while Eriri was off visiting other worlds.

By now, everyone in the school knew about the close relationship between Eriri and Arifureta, Shea, and Megumi. Surprisingly, the fan club members didn't seem to mind Eriri's "harem," and in fact, the trio held very high status within the club—nearly on par with the president.

This was largely because the only photos of Eriri's private life circulating within the club came from these three. In their efforts to gain access to more candid photos, the fan club members were more than willing to meet any request from Arifureta, Shea, and Megumi.

"Good morning, everyone," Eriri said with a smile, waving to the students lined up along the path. Her casual greeting sent the girls into a frenzy.

"Woohoo! Onee-sama smiled at me! Guhahaha!"

"Get a grip, minors aren't allowed to drink! That smile was for me!"

"Onee-sama is still so beautiful... I'm in heaven."

"....."

The excited murmurs spread among the crowd, though they tried to keep their voices low. However, for Eriri, it made no difference; she could hear them all perfectly.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Eriri's influence among the students far exceeded that of the school's leadership.

Amid the sea of greetings, Eriri, Arifureta, and Shea made their way to the school lobby.

When Eriri opened her shoe locker, it was exactly as she expected: her locker was stuffed full of colorful envelopes, so full that her indoor shoes were buried beneath them.

The letters were all love letters from Eriri's admirers. Curiously, not a single one of these letters was signed, making it clear that the senders didn't expect any response from her.

Eriri reached in and pulled out a stack of letters from the top, causing the rest to cascade out of the locker like a waterfall.

This was a routine Eriri had become accustomed to, so Shea pulled a large bag out of her school bag and expertly stuffed all the letters from Eriri's locker inside.

Afterward, she also collected the letters from Arifureta's and her own lockers. However, the combined number of letters they received was less than one-tenth of what Eriri had received, highlighting just how popular Eriri was at school.

By all rights, Arifureta and Shea were both top-tier beauties—Arifureta's looks even surpassed Shea's and Megumi Kato's, falling just slightly short of Eriri's. They should have received far more letters.

But Eriri's radiance was so overwhelming that it drew nearly all the attention to her, leading to the current situation.

At that moment, a beautiful girl with a white headband, radiant features, and a stunning figure—Utaha Kasumigaoka —approached the trio, already wearing her indoor shoes.

"Good morning, Sawamura-san, Arifureta-san, Shea-san."

She then glanced at the bag Shea was holding and chuckled. "Sawamura-san, you're as popular as ever, I see."

"Good morning, Utaha-senpai. You seem to be in a good mood. Did something nice happen recently?" Eriri turned and gave Utaha Kasumigaoka a quick look.

Arifureta and Shea followed suit, greeting Utaha with a smile.

It had been a few days since Eriri last saw Utaha, and they had only kept in touch via LINE, the messaging app. Compared to before, Utaha looked much more refreshed today, with an obvious sparkle in her eyes.

As for why Utaha seemed so upbeat, Eriri knew very well. A few days ago, Eriri had promoted Utaha's novel Love Metronome on Twitter, reviving the book that was on the verge of being discontinued.

Sales had surged, and the publishers were ordering reprints non-stop.

Of course, her readership had changed entirely. These days, Love Metronome was almost exclusively read by the yuri community.

"Eh? Was it that obvious?" Utaha touched her delicate face in surprise.

"Of course. Even I can tell," Shea chimed in with a smile, tying up the bag of letters. "It's been a while, Utaha-senpai."

"Yeah, it's been several days."

Utaha had been busy writing the second volume of Love Metronome, spending most of her days napping in class. After the second volume was released, she had been worried about sales.

Only now did she have a bit of free time. But she would soon have to prepare for a book signing event arranged by her publisher, Fujikawa Fantastic Bunko.

With the headline of "Genius High School Girl Author," the event was sure to boost her popularity, but it would also make it impossible to keep her identity as Kasumi Utaha a secret.

Not that she had ever intended to hide her identity.

She could already imagine the girls from Eriri's fan club coming to her book signing to ask for autographs.

The thought brought a smile to Utaha's face.

"Yeah, something nice did happen recently, but I'll keep it a secret for now. You'll find out in a few days."

"Oh my, I didn't expect Utaha-senpai to be so mysterious," Eriri teased, causing Utaha to blush slightly with embarrassment.

"Well then, I won't pry. By the way, Utaha-senpai, have you read the novel Love Metronome?"

At the mention of her novel, Utaha's eyes sparkled. "Of course I have! Sawamura-san, are you a fan too?"

"Hmm... I didn't like the first volume, but the second volume was pretty good."

"That's wonderful."

Utaha was overjoyed. She never would have expected Eriri to be a reader of Love Metronome. Knowing that the person she admired had read and liked her work was the best feeling.

"I heard that Kasumi Utaha-sensei is hosting a book signing event on April 30th at Fujikawa Fantastic Bookstore. You should attend if you can. Word is that she's a beautiful high school girl."

Utaha nervously shared the information, feeling her heart race as she spoke.

"April 30th? That's next Saturday. But Utaha-senpai, how did you know? I follow Kasumi-sensei on Twitter, and I didn't see any announcements. Fujikawa Fantastic hasn't posted anything about it either."

Utaha thought to herself, "Of course you haven't seen it. I only found out from my editor yesterday."

She couldn't wait to see Eriri's reaction when she discovered Kasumi Utaha-sensei was actually her.

"I have a friend—"

"Is that friend you?"

"Cough, cough… don't interrupt me." Utaha glared at Eriri, feeling embarrassed by the interruption.

After composing herself, she continued, "I have a friend who's also an author at Fujikawa Fantastic Bunko. She heard the news from her editor and, knowing I like Kasumi-sensei's works, told me in advance."

"Oh, I see." Eriri's tone was drawn out and slightly teasing.

"Well… Kasumi-sensei might announce it on Twitter in the next couple of days," Utaha said, turning her head away from Eriri to hide her flustered expression.

"Anyway, I'd better get going. Classes are about to start. If you need anything, just contact me on LINE."

Utaha pulled out her phone, waving it in the air before quickly turning and heading to the second-year classrooms. Her footsteps were noticeably hurried.

As she sat down at her desk, Utaha suddenly realized, "Shoot! I forgot to ask for Eriri's Twitter account!"

She slumped onto her desk, feeling deflated.

"Ugh… such a failure."

Several minutes passed before Utaha finally pulled herself together.

She took a deep breath and unlocked her phone, her wallpaper showing a beautiful photo of Eriri standing under a cherry blossom tree in a white dress.

After silently admiring the picture for several seconds, Utaha opened LINE and tapped on the top contact on her list—the one she had pinned and marked as a special favorite.

Entering the chat, she thought for a moment before typing out a message.

"Sawamura-san, could you tell me your Twitter ID? I'd like to check out your page."

As she stared at the text, Utaha shook her head and deleted the entire message.

Propping her chin on her hand, she thought for a bit longer before typing out a new message.

"Sawamura-san, what's your Twitter handle? I want to follow you."

Her finger hovered over the send button for what felt like an eternity, but in the end, she couldn't muster the courage to hit it.

"Sigh… forget it. I'll ask her later."

She put her phone away, the screen fading to black with Eriri's photo still on display.

...

When Eriri, Arifureta, and Shea entered Class 1-E, the room, which had been lively with chatter, suddenly fell silent.

Moments later, as the students recovered from their trance-like admiration of Eriri's beauty, the noise resumed.

Even though the students often secretly stared at Eriri, every time they saw her after a break, they couldn't help but feel amazed all over again.

There was still about half an hour before class started, and by then, Megumi Kato had already arrived.

Since Eriri had transformed Megumi into a superhuman, she had never slept in or been late to class again. Sleep was no longer a necessity for her.

"Good morning, Megumi-chan," Eriri greeted, sitting down at her desk and turning to face Megumi.

Arifureta and Shea also warmly greeted Megumi.

"Good morning," Megumi replied with a soft smile. "Were you all off on another adventure yesterday? You didn't come to school."

Megumi's strength was still at Level 2, Stage 9. Although she was already one of the strongest individuals in the Saekano world, her power paled compared to the other chat group members—except for the newcomers, of course.

Eriri planned to upgrade Megumi's and Aoi's abilities again in the coming days, now that they had recovered enough to handle another boost of Eriri's cosmic energy.

"It was nothing major. We just went to another world to watch a show in the morning, and in the afternoon, we hosted some guests from that world, so we didn't make it to school."