193 Bus (2/2)
The bus drove on past Genhana High School.
The tortuous time continued for Mayuzumi.
The large group of men and women that had got on the bus together finally exited the bus three stops later.
By this time, Mayuzumi was completely curled up into a ball. She was shivering with both hands covering her face and crying softly.
Seiji was overcome by guilt upon seeing this sight.
Some passengers noticed the situation and were looking questioningly in their direction.
Seiji didn’t care about what others thought. He just hoped that nobody would do something like call the police, as that would be awkward…
‘We should have taken a taxi after all!’
He sighed to himself, but there was no use in crying over spilled milk.
”Sensei, they’ve gotten off the bus already. Let’s get off the bus as well at the next stop.”
Mayuzumi sniffled and somehow managed to stop her crying as she nodded.
The two of them got off at the next stop.
After leaving the bus stop, they went to a nearby coffee café.
There were very few customers in this store at this time.
Seiji had Mayuzumi sit in a seat by the corner while he asked the male waiter for a kettle of black tea before he sat down across from her.
He wanted to say something, but stopped himself because he felt that perhaps temporary silence would be better for her.
Moments later, the waiter brought their black tea. Seiji stood up to receive it from him and placed it on their table himself.
When he finished pouring the tea and placed a cup in front of Mayuzumi, the manga author finally spoke again.
”Thank you…”
”Sensei, are you alright?”
”I think… I’m a little better.”
Mayuzumi reached out and cupped her hands around the warm teacup as she revealed a weak smile.
Her eyes were red, her face was still pale, and it was easy to see that she wasn’t feeling too good.
”You can slowly relax in here. There are very few people, and it’s pretty quiet,” Seiji said gently as he took a sip of his own tea.
‘Hmm… this tea doesn’t seem all that good. I must have had too much good tea at the president’s residence, making me pickier than before.’
Thinking about the tea’s quality and the techniques for making tea… Houjou-senpai’s figure appeared in his mind.
Seiji’s mouth gradually arced upwards.
”I just recalled someone who’s quite excellent at making tea…” He started a conversation.
This person was a maid to the current student council president, and an ex-student council president herself, plus she had the rather ridiculous nickname of ”Smiling Executioner.”
Black-and-white maid attire looked perfectly beautiful on her, and she was supremely skilled at making tea as well as cooking and could even bake desserts such as red bean cakes.
‘There’s actually a girl like this in real life?’
Mayuzumi was interested in the conversation topic that Seiji chose.
As a female manga author as well as otaku lady, she was quite interested in the concept of maids. Hearing about such a person in reality would naturally catch her attention.
Seiji used Houjou-senpai as a topic to catch her interest, and after she responded, he chatted about what he knew about the maid before moving on to another topic of conversation.
And so, the atmosphere finally became less tense.
The two of them had so much fun chatting that it seemed like they were unable to stop!
After all, this was a conversation between an otaku and a female otaku manga artist.
They had common interests, so after they broke the ice, they chatted on endlessly about a multitude of different topics.
Without realizing it, they even finished their kettle of black tea, and, as both of them were still in the right mood, they ordered a new kettle of green tea.
They also ordered various confectioneries to complement their tea.
They had forgotten about their original objective of touring the school festival and lost themselves in conversation.
”Eh? It’s going to develop in that direction!?” Seiji exclaimed in surprise after learning about the newest scenario in the ”Honey Candy Girl” anime.
”What a wondrous development. However, after considering it closely, there has indeed been foreshadowing for this.”
He praised Mayuzumi’s amazing story writing abilities as an author for several seconds before he realized something.
”Wait a moment—this new development hasn’t been revealed yet, right? Is it really alright to… give me such a spoiler?”
The female manga author’s smile froze solid.
”This… I just happened to casually say it, so it shouldn’t be a problem… right?” She awkwardly averted her gaze.
Seiji was at a loss for how to respond.
‘Hey, this is obviously a problem!’
”Sensei’s creation is hugely popular, and spoiling something that hasn’t been publicized yet could be rather troublesome... You should be more cautious.”
”Wah… will Haruta-kun tell other people?” Mayuzumi lowered her head slightly as she realized she had made a mistake.
”Of course not—I’ll guard the secret to my death!” An indescribable light flashed through Seiji’s eyes. ”But still, it’s bad to give spoilers, so let’s not do that again, Sensei.”
”Wahh… Haruta-kun, you sound rather like Saki.”
Saki, that was Saki Yoshizawa, the editor.
Of course, Mayuzumi knew that Seiji was acquainted with Editor Yoshizawa and that they were collaborating on a story together.
”Oh, since you mentioned Editor Yoshizawa… Sensei, what type of person do you think she is?”
Seiji took a sip of tea and asked a casual question.