章節 40: First Signature Session

A residential house in Tokyo.

Waking up early in the morning, as soon as Tachibana Tsukiko came out of the bedroom, she smelled a seductive aroma from the kitchen. After passing a corner of the corridor, she found someone busy in the kitchen.

She didn't need to see it to know that his eldest daughter, Tachibana Hina was busy making bento.

"Hina, you've been acting strangely lately."

Tsukiko leaned against the door frame and looked inside. Because her ex-husband cheated on her and left the family, she is responsible for raising her two daughters alone. She was quite surprised by the recent changes in his eldest daughter.

Making bentos was a normal thing, but based on her understanding of her daughter, Hina shouldn't keep making them every day, and every time she prepared two copies, who was the other prepared for?

"What's wrong, mom?" Hina deliberately pretends not to know what she's talking about, guiltily frying meatballs.

"I don't know you yet. If you're in a relationship, don't hide it from me. Even though your father was unreliable and I was heartbroken by a man, I still support you in finding a boyfriend." Tsukiko said with a sigh.

She was someone who had experienced it, so she didn't know her daughter's character.

There are only a few reasons that can make her change, including falling in love, which makes people change the fastest.

"Not! Mom, I'm really not in a relationship! It's just… forget it, I won't hide that I have a boyfriend, so don't worry."

In the middle of talking, Hina turned around and gave her mother a hug.

"Rui convinced me." Tsukiko shook her head under Hina's sullen expression.

"Instead of caring about me, it's better to care about whether Rui will fall in love early or not," Hina said on purpose.

Just as Tsukiko wanted to refute.

"Good morning, mother, Onee-san, what are you talking about?"

While the two were talking, the last member of the family had already gotten up and walked out of the bedroom. The short-haired high school girl spoke with an expressionless face, as if she were born with such a personality.

"I spoke to your big sister about the issue of her falling in love but refusing to admit it." Tsukiko clapped her eldest daughter's hand.

"Huh, Hina Onee-san is in a relationship? Is it a colleague at school or something?"

Tachibana Rui was a little surprised, especially because it was too sudden.

"Oh, I said no! Why don't you believe me, hum! I go!"

Placing the last of the fried meatballs into the bento box, Hina ran to the entrance while pouting, putting on flat shoes and leaving the house as if she were running away.

"This child..." Tsukiko had no way of dealing with it.

After dropping out and coming to school, Hina forgot about being forced to ask questions by her mother, and she was clearly in a much happier mood.

But when the third class started, she realized that there was one person missing in the class.

Isn't Hasegawa Asahi here? !

Thinking about why Asahi wasn't there, Hina was in a bit of a daze throughout class until she returned to the staff room after class.

"You said Asahi? He seems to be attending some kind of autograph session today, so he's taking some time off."

Knowing the reason from Chihiro's mouth, although Hina was a little disappointed, she still calmed down. Asahi was in a better state, but she was too lonely when she went to the roof alone during the day.

At first, Hina is embarrassed and annoyed, but gradually she gets used to it, and now she feels a little uncomfortable without Asahi by her side.

Another bento was given to Chihiro, and it was Hina who came to the roof, sitting where Asahi usually sat, thinking about what he was doing now, and it seemed he had only heard about the autograph session.

...

At this time.

Asahi who Hina was talking about, was waiting with Utaha to start the autograph session.

For some reason, the signing session was delayed by an hour and is now ready to start.

Seeing Utaha sitting at the signing table, Asahi couldn't help but nod, and now she completely matches the girl in his memory.

A pure white headband, straight black hair in a feminine style, and black stockings under a short skirt.

These few characteristics alone perfectly reflect Kasumigaoka Utaha's personality.

Since the autograph session was about to start, there were already hundreds of book fan groups outside, so Asahi just greeted Utaha, then sat down and watched with Sonoko.

"Sonoko, except for the night when you came to Sakurasou to pick up the script and left in a hurry, have you been avoiding me lately?"

After sitting down, Asahi spoke in a voice only the two of them could hear.

"Ahaha, I've been too busy with work recently." Sonoko laughed dryly.

Asahi looked at her sideways with playful eyes, and Sonoko looked at her guiltily. The promise she made to make him look good was long forgotten.

He didn't say anything else, after all, this was not a good opportunity, and Asahi didn't want to make an accident, so he knocked down Sonoko and shut up rationally.

Seeing the bookstore staff open the door, Utaha, who was sitting at the signing table silently looked at Asahi from the corner of her eye, couldn't hold back her nervousness, and focused on the autograph session again. Holding your first autograph session can be uncomfortable.

"Don't be nervous, it's okay." Asahi saw Utaha pretending to be calm, and comforted her in a gentle tone.

"Okay."

As soon as the words fell, an extremely excited teenager rushed in the door.

"Finally… I finally got first place!"

The boy was out of breath, wearing big round black-rimmed glasses and a white and green striped shirt. His appearance and demeanor are unobtrusive, like an ordinary otaku who would never be found after being thrown into the crowd of passersby.

At this moment, he was as excited as a diehard fan to see his idol, standing across the table babbling words of praise.

Utaha had no experience, and this was the first time she had met such a passionate book fan, she turned her head in confusion and looked to Asahi for help.

Asahi didn't help her, but looked at her with encouraging eyes. Everyone has firsts, so it's okay to step up.

Perhaps drawing strength from his eyes, Utaha sighed slightly, raised his head and faced the boy who never covered his face with a polite smile: "Hello."

"Hello, Kasumi Utako sensei! My name is Aki Tomoya, and I am your loyal fan. I fell in love with this work after reading the first volume [Love Metronome]. I heard that the second volume will be released today, and I..."

Patiently listening to a boy named Aki Tomoya talk about the interesting and bright things about his work. Utaha couldn't help but turn his eyes full of inexplicable emotion toward Asahi who was chatting with Sonoko.

Actually, this piece was written by her and Asahi together.