Tetsuya stopped his car near a café. After parking, he and Utaha got out together, causing the people around them to stare in admiration at how attractive the two of them were.
Some even mistook them for a couple,well-matched husband and wife.
This made Utaha blush. She averted her gaze shyly, hurriedly calming herself down, then secretly glanced toward Tetsuya, only to find him smiling as he looked at her.
"..." Utaha flinched, not knowing what to say, and could only grab Tetsuya and pull him into the café.
Meanwhile, inside the café.
A woman with fair skin, short dark-blue hair, and light-blue eyes sat in one of the seats while sipping her coffee. She was wearing a black work blazer over a white button-up shirt and a knee-length black pencil skirt.
Her eyes repeatedly glanced toward the door, as if she were waiting for someone.
She was Sonoko Machida, Utaha's editor.
"That girl is taking forever."
In the middle of Sonoko's complaint, the café door opened, and she saw Utaha walk in. Seeing her, Sonoko immediately let out a sigh of relief, glad she wouldn't have to wait any longer.
However, just as she was about to greet her, Utaha seemed to be coming in with someone, and it was a man!
Sonoko was so shocked that she nearly spilled her coffee.
"Ah!"
Her cry drew attention, and Utaha, who had entered with Tetsuya, heard it as well. Upon seeing Sonoko, Utaha immediately brought Tetsuya over.
Sonoko covered her mouth in embarrassment, quickly steadying her coffee cup before looking at Utaha and the man who had sat down in front of her.
"Sorry for making you wait, Sonoko," Utaha said after setting down her bag, while Tetsuya sat quietly beside her.
Sonoko sighed lightly. Seeing how calm Utaha was after making her wait for half an hour irritated her enough to make her grit her teeth, but she eventually composed herself and said, "It's fine."
"I see. But as an apology, I'll pay for your coffee," Utaha said, which made Sonoko feel a little better.
Then Sonoko shifted her gaze to Tetsuya sitting next to Utaha. Her mature mind processed what she was seeing, and suddenly a shocked expression appeared on her face.
"K-Kiyohara Hiragiri-sensei?!"
Kiyohara Hiragiri was the pen name Tetsuya used for all of his novels. He had already written five novels, and because all of them were inspired by famous works from his previous world, they quickly became popular, one of them even received a manga adaptation.
Because of that, Tetsuya had attended many Comic-Cons and light novel conventions, meeting thousands of fans (who were shocked by how young he was).
Sonoko was one of those fans. She had met him several times, the last time being when Tetsuya was still in middle school. Even though his appearance had clearly changed with age, Sonoko could still recognize the face of one of her favorite authors.
So shocked was she that she looked at Utaha and hurriedly asked, "Utaha! Tell me, how did you end up coming here with Kiyohara Hiragiri-sensei?!"
"Actually, Tetsuya-kun is my junior at school. Today, I asked him to accompany me here," Utaha replied.
Sonoko was so jealous that she looked at Utaha with envy. She suddenly wanted to go back to her own high school days and spend time with her favorite author.
Utaha, who was being stared at so intensely by Sonoko, remained completely unaffected and calmly ordered a cup of cappuccino.
Tetsuya looked at the shocked Sonoko and smiled. They already knew each other, but this was their first meeting with Sonoko as Utaha's editor, not as one of Tetsuya's fans.
Well, Tetsuya already knew that Sonoko was Utaha's editor, but Sonoko clearly hadn't expected Utaha to show up with Tetsuya.
"Ahem! Ahem!" Sonoko coughed a few times and looked at Tetsuya. "Kiyohara-sensei, it's nice to see you again. I didn't know you were Utaha's junior at her school. I knew you were young, but I'm still surprised she came with you."
Tetsuya smiled and nodded lightly. "It's been a while, Sonoko-san. Also, please don't call me by my pen name. My name is Tetsuya Hiratsuji, just call me Tetsuya, or whatever you like."
"Then I'll call you Tetsuya-kun!" Sonoko said happily.
Utaha narrowed her eyes at her, but chose to remain silent and sipped her cappuccino. Then she took out a USB drive from her bag, containing the draft of the latest volume of Metronome in Love, and handed it to Sonoko.
"Let me take a look," Sonoko said, taking the USB drive, plugging it into her laptop, and carefully reading through the draft.
Whether it was just her imagination or not, Utaha felt that Sonoko seemed more focused than usual. She wondered if it was because Kiyohara Hiragiri-sensei,no, Tetsuya-kun, was there.
Whatever the case, Utaha turned to Tetsuya sitting beside her. "Tetsuya-kun, do you want some coffee?"
"You want to share yours with me, Utaha-senpai? Okay," Tetsuya nodded.
Utaha rolled her eyes. "Of course not. Order your own."
Tetsuya looked at her hesitantly. "But senpai, you're paying, right?"
"..." Utaha fell silent.
She pinched Tetsuya's arm, wondering if this man really wasn't embarrassed asking a woman to pay. Even though she had offered, it was just polite talk, okay?!
Feeling awkward just sitting there, she sighed.
"I'm kidding," Tetsuya said with a grin. With his physique, Utaha's pinch didn't hurt at all, he just found it amusing.
But his expression made Utaha feel a little guilty, so she let go and sighed.
"Fine. Order your coffee. I'll pay," Utaha finally agreed.
Tetsuya happily accepted and casually ordered a coffee along with a strawberry soft cake. Utaha looked at him speechlessly, she had ordered food too, but in the end, she also wanted a strawberry soft cake.
They joked around and looked like a couple, making the other customers in the café feel like they were being force-fed romance.
Even Sonoko, who was focused on reading Utaha's draft, noticed this and frowned deeply, feeling jealous of Utaha. After a while, Sonoko finished her review and couldn't help coughing a few times.
"Ahem!"
"Are you done?" Utaha asked, but she froze when she saw Tetsuya poke her pretty cheek with strawberry cream.
Tetsuya laughed, but a moment later, strawberry cream appeared on his own forehead. Utaha wiped her face with a napkin and smiled at him.
"..." Sonoko watched this in silence, holding herself back from slamming her laptop shut.
She felt like she had been fed an entire bag of dog food.
"All right, Utaha-senpai. Stop joking around, let's be serious. Look at Sonoko-san," Tetsuya said.
Utaha wanted to complain, who started joking first?! But seeing Sonoko's dark expression and the stares from other café patrons made her feel embarrassed.
Utaha quickly coughed to compose herself.
"Ahem! So, Sonoko, how is it? Are there any problems?"
"...No. Actually, your writing has improved," Sonoko replied after a brief pause, sighing as she looked at the two of them.
Utaha nodded. "I learned from Tetsuya-kun."
"Oh, I see..." Sonoko gained some understanding. Even though Tetsuya had only written five novels so far, his writing ability was indeed outstanding.
Should she say "as expected of my favorite author"? After all, he'd been writing novels since he was ten years old.
"To be honest, I didn't get anything in return," Tetsuya complained as he drank his coffee.
Utaha raised an eyebrow and looked at him. "Oh? Were you expecting payment? Isn't spending time with your senpai fun enough?"
Tetsuya sighed and shook his head in disappointment. "Utaha-senpai, you don't think I'm some lecherous guy who's happy just spending time with a beautiful girl, do you?"
"Oh? Aren't you?" Utaha looked at him, genuinely surprised.
"..." Tetsuya fell silent. "I'm not."
Utaha thought seriously for a moment. "Hmm… all right. Let's think about it later."
"Really?"
"Yes."
The two nodded.
"I'm telling you, can you two stop acting like a couple here? Are you really dating him, Utaha?!" Sonoko finally couldn't hold it in anymore and voiced her complaint, glaring at them suspiciously.
Utaha's ears turned red. She stopped joking with Tetsuya and looked at her editor.
After a bit more discussion, Sonoko left first, as she had to return to the publishing company to take care of the new volume of Metronome in Love by the author Kasumi Utako.
Meanwhile, after paying the bill, Tetsuya and Utaha also left the café.