091. Nan Qinli's Text Message

After that, Jiang Yu and the others spent the entire lunch break here. It wasn’t until the bell signaling the start of afternoon classes rang that they finally brought an end to their planning meeting, which had been filled with all sorts of bickering and banter alongside discussions of their schedule.

Overall, everyone in the club had high praise for the proposal. Still, aside from the two who had received Jiang Yu’s crash course yesterday at his house, the other two—especially a certain blonde twin-tailed girl—were completely lost when it came to most of the concepts.

Of course, as far as the work of an illustrator was concerned, there was no real need to grasp the intricacies of relativity, quantum mechanics, or M-theory.

On the way back to the classroom, Jiang Yu mulled over his work schedule for the near future and realized that, at least for April, aside from “The Witch’s House,” a game he hadn’t even decided on a release date for yet, there was nothing particularly urgent on his plate.

Maybe it was time to start writing the second volume of “Spring Monogatari”? Or consider the next project to release under the club’s name? On second thought, perhaps it would be better to simply enjoy the leisurely high school life he’d never really experienced before.

With this thought, Jiang Yu’s mind felt suddenly clear. This first week of the new school term had seen one task after another come crashing down on him, leaving him feeling thoroughly harried.

Now that he finally had some free time, how could he not take the chance to slack off for once?

What’s that? The “dreams” I declared earlier? This is just a temporary break, that’s all—

Lost in his thoughts, Jiang Yu didn’t even notice how he sat down at his desk or when the teacher began the lesson.

Fortunately, at Toyonoki Private Academy, the teachers tended to turn a blind eye to students with excellent grades or outstanding abilities. Just look at Utaha Kasumigaoka, who slept through class every day—so long as she maintained her top ranking, the teachers never said a word. And Aki Tomoya also napped openly in class without any trouble from the teachers.

Although, in Tomoya’s case, perhaps the teachers had simply given up, knowing it was pointless to intervene.

Truly, being a top student meant you could do as you pleased. The previous Jiang Yu had always achieved excellent results at this school, so none of the teachers ever bothered him for daydreaming, napping, writing novels, or drawing in class.

On this rare occasion that he tried to pay attention in class, Jiang Yu soon found his vision growing hazy, thanks to staying up late writing the proposal the night before and then exhausting himself in a lunchtime meeting instead of napping. Before long, he was sound asleep at his desk.

By the time Megumi Kato woke him, it was already the end of the school day.

Groggily sitting up and rubbing his swollen eyes, Jiang Yu mumbled half-asleep, “Oh, it’s you, Kato... Is something wrong... Ahh...”

He finished with a huge yawn.

Megumi Kato frowned slightly, her usual calm tone tinged with resignation. “School’s over, you know? Shouldn’t you be heading home, Jiang Yu? Don’t you usually have to cook for Umaru?”

“Huh... School’s over already...?! It’s really over?!” At first, he sounded indifferent, but then Jiang Yu suddenly sat up in shock.

“Did writing that dense proposal sap your ability to think straight?” Megumi calmly retorted.

“Hey! Kato, don’t let Kasumigaoka-senpai rub off on you! You need to be a unique and charming heroine, you know!” Jiang Yu exclaimed, surprised by Megumi’s unexpected comeback.

“Aren’t those words a bit redundant?” Megumi replied blandly.

Kato, are you correcting my grammar now? This isn’t the language section of the old college entrance exam!

“By the way... where’s Tomoya?” Jiang Yu belatedly glanced at Aki Tomoya’s seat, but his friend, who he’d assumed would also be napping, was nowhere to be found.

“As for Aki, he left right after school. When I finished packing up and saw you were still asleep, I decided to wake you...”

With that, Megumi picked up her bag, clearly ready to head home.

Suddenly remembering that he still had to cook dinner and go to work, Jiang Yu hurriedly gathered his things. “You go on ahead, Kato. I’ll be right behind you.”

“Alright, see you tomorrow.” Footsteps sounded quietly as she left.

“See you tomorrow,” Jiang Yu replied, too busy packing up to look up.

For some reason, Jiang Yu thought he heard a faint sigh from Megumi, tinged with resignation. Not sure whether he imagined it or not, he quickly stopped thinking about it, grabbed his things, and hurried out of the school.

Lost in a stream of pointless thoughts as he walked briskly, Jiang Yu naturally overtook and completely ignored Megumi Kato, who was walking at a normal pace. With a subtly complicated expression, she watched him disappear around the corner of the school gate.

Because he spent most of the walk home running, Jiang Yu had already started preparing dinner by the time Umaru Doma finally arrived home.

After dinner and a short rest, Jiang Yu picked up his uniform and headed out to work.

Upon arriving at the café and discovering that Ayane Mizuno wasn’t on shift that day, Jiang Yu couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. She might be a good senior, but her fondness for teasing people could be a bit much for him.

In his good mood, Jiang Yu naturally began playing lively tunes on the piano, which earned him yet more appreciation from the regulars—after all, up until now he’d mostly played gentle, soothing pieces while working, and no one had expected him to handle upbeat music so effortlessly.

After collecting his pay and bidding farewell to Kyoko Kato, Jiang Yu habitually checked his phone, and to his surprise, found a message that wasn’t just another app notification.

It was from Umaru: “I just realized it’s Monday! No wonder I felt sluggish all day at school~ So, Onii-chan, can you bring back the latest Jump? Last week’s ONE PIECE was right at the best part!”

Oh? Jiang Yu hadn’t realized Umaru was a fan of One Piece. Then again, it only went to show just how insanely popular that manga was.

In his previous life, the so-called “big three” manga had always been a thing, with One Piece reigning unchallenged at the top. Even though Naruto had the bonus of its national flavor, it still couldn’t match the popularity of the pirates’ adventures on the high seas—not in Japan, anyway.

The other message was from... Kotori Minami?

“Good evening, Jiang Yu! Here’s some good news: Nishikino has finished the demo for our new song. And guess what? The person you mentioned turned out to be the same one Honoka had in mind! (lol) So we’ve decided—our First Live will be held at school this Friday! So... if you’re free, we hope you’ll come! Umi and Honoka said they’d love to meet you, too. (bows)”